In 2019, we made it our goal is to work with as many debut authors as possible and spread the word about their debut novels. It was such a success last year that we decided to continue the fun this year as well! Follow us this year as we pick the minds of the 2020 debuts and chat with them. Also stay tuned for news of giveaways, Twitter chats and more!
At the end of 2019, we Tweeted about wanting to discover more debut authors and their books. We ended up finding E. Latimer and her novel WITCHES OF ASH AND RUIN, and we have been interested in it ever since. We are so excited to have E. Latimer on the blog today to answer some of our questions!
E. Latimer is the author of The Strange and Deadly Portraits of Bryony Gray.
E: Thank you! It feels strange and exciting and a little bit scary to finally be releasing a YA fantasy. I’ve been dreaming about this for a very long time.The Book Bratz: In your opinion, what's the best part of the writing process? What's the hardest?
E: Drafting has always been the exciting part for me, and then I have to try to edit the mess I’ve created. I know so many authors who are the opposite and I just can’t fathom enjoying the process of sitting down to fix the disaster I’ve made. To me, drafting is a process of discovery, which is like an adventure. It’s very exciting. It’s sort of like going out into the world, traveling around and discovering new people and places. In contrast, editing is the part when you get home and discover you’re several thousand dollars in debt from said traveling, your cat peed on the, rug, and your roommates threw a big party while you were gone. Now it’s time to get to work and mop up the giant mess you’ve come home to.
The Book Bratz: Where did you get the inspiration for WITCHES OF ASH AND RUIN?
E: I have a real love for witchy women. From the women of Practical Magic dancing around their kitchen at midnight, to the Weasley family and the burrow, I’ve always loved witches and the spaces they inhabit. I wanted to capture something like that, to create a tight-knit group of women who cared about one another like a family, who were pulled together by actual real magic. And also, I’m fascinated by serial killers, so there’s that.The Book Bratz: Who was your favorite character to write? Who was the most difficult?
E: Cora was my favorite. I love morally grey characters and she was just on the edge of not even being a good guy, which I really enjoy. Dayna was probably the most difficult, since she and I share Somatic OCD, and I had to really pace myself while writing the descriptions.
The Book Bratz: This book tackles a lot of important topics, such as OCD and bisexuality. What made you want to approach these?
E: I’ve lived with both for about as long as I can remember, and I can’t ever say I found either one of those things represented in the fantasy books I took out from my local library. And I think I read almost all of them, since I was there every weekend. Things are a lot better now, you can find a lot more mental illness rep in fantasy, and in 2020 I can think of SO many great queer fantasy books coming out (I’m SO excited). But I really wanted to find a way to incorporate that into my own books, because that was always something I missed growing up.
The Book Bratz: What do you hope that readers will take away from WITCHES OF ASH AND RUIN?
E:A good romp, first and foremost. And I wanted people like me to be able to discover themselves in a fantasy novel.
The Book Bratz: Do you plan on returning to the world of WITHCES OF ASH AND RUIN in the future, or do you have any other projects in mind? Can you tell us anything about them?
E: YES. I would love to write a book 2 for Witches of Ash and Ruin. It’s meant to have a book 2, but it completely depends on the publisher and if they decide to give me the green light.
It all depends on if book 1 does okay, so please spread the word!
In the meantime, I’m working on a book about gay plant druids and sexy demon kings.
Title: Witches of Ash and Ruin
Author: E. Latimer
Publisher: Freeform
Publication Date: March 3rd, 2020
Summary: Seventeen-year-old Dayna Walsh is struggling to cope with her somatic OCD; the aftermath of being outed as bisexual in her conservative Irish town; and the return of her long-absent mother, who barely seems like a parent. But all that really matters to her is ascending and finally, finally becoming a full witch-plans that are complicated when another coven, rumored to have a sordid history with black magic, arrives in town with premonitions of death. Dayna immediately finds herself at odds with the bewitchingly frustrating Meiner King, the granddaughter of their coven leader. And then a witch turns up murdered at a local sacred site, along with the blood symbol of the Butcher of Manchester-an infamous serial killer whose trail has long gone cold. The killer's motives are enmeshed in a complex web of witches and gods, and Dayna and Meiner soon find themselves at the center of it all. If they don't stop the Butcher, one of them will be next.
Thank you so much to E. Latimer for stopping by and answering our questions! We are super excited about WITCHES OF ASH AND RUIN and it's out now for all of you to enjoy!
