Shadow of the Soul Blade looks like a great book. What
can you tell us about it?
This is a high paced epic fantasy adventure that will take
the readers side by side with our heroes, as they battle ferocious new monsters
and deadly enemies. The four protagonists, Bastian, Xander, Reinhardt and Kumori,
are forced to fight for their lives in an epic quest to discover why they’ve become
entangled in a plot to overthrow the kingdom, which could ultimately threaten
to destroy the whole world. One of the things my beta readers like best is that
it’s full of twists and turns. As soon as you think you know what’s going on, a
new fact comes in to reshape the perspective of the whole story, while keeping
it all cohesive, and lining everything up to make sense.
Any plans to turn it into a series?
Yes, I created this world about twenty years ago, and have
since been using it as a platform for running role playing game campaigns. I
have reams of paper filled with information on this world, and this first book
only scratches the surface. Shadow of the Soul Blade, is the first book in the
Darkthorne trilogy, which I’m hoping will result in two more trilogies after
this first set is completed.
That’s an amazing cover.
Can you tell us about it?
The cover was drawn by my friend John Ric Detoon. He’s an
amazing artist, and one of my many friends from the Philippines. The cover
features a commissioned piece depicting two of our heroes, Bastian (right) and
Xander (left) skulking through the woods, while one of the Shadow Assassins
from the infamous Ashino clan is lurking behind them, holding the Soul Blade.
But to find out how the blade connects to the Assassin clan, you’ll have to
read the book. And after I received the artwork, I went to work designing the
style and layout of the text over the artwork.
Can you tell us a little about the world of Ashana?
It’s so difficult to just tell a little, but I’ll do my
best. This is a brand-new world, with none of the previously expected fantasy species
or creatures. It’s home to seven continents with various climates, and over
half a dozen sentient species with a range of cultures, which have to survive
amongst nearly a thousand new beastly creatures. The Kandari of Eastern Aestaria are the
closest to humans, but still not quite human. They’re the common species and
speak the common tongue, referred to as Kanish. They share the Aestarian
continent with a sentient feline tribal people called the Selece, from western
Aestaria. The world was once ruled by a pair of all powerful beings, whose
disappearance around ten thousand years ago, has now resulted in their
vulnerability from extra-dimensional beings.
What scene or section did you have the most fun writing?
There’s a scene where all of our heroes end up in prison
together, after being captured for thoughtlessly using aggressive magic openly
in a public area. Once they land in jail, everything around how they end up
getting out of that situation, and all the discussions that happen between
Reinhardt and Xander was the most fun to write. It’s also where the characters
took on their own personas, and started making decisions where it almost felt
more like I was watching a movie than actually writing a book. There’s a part
where the characters will feel like they have their own minds separate from
mine, and that’s when that first happened.
What inspired the idea for the book?
After running twenty years’ worth of campaigns in these
various realms, I had considered in 2018 that I may go back and try to publish
the Darkthorne RPG that spawned the creation of Ashana to begin with. But while
I was revisiting the original material that I had saved, a series of brand-new
stories just kept popping into my head. Different scenes, different characters
interactions. So I just jotted them down. After a while, I was able to string
them into a story, and eventually I was able to elaborate on that story and
turn it into an epic novel.
How did you come up with the title for the book?
Well, in the book, there’s a clan of assassins that is able
to “swim” through shadow, allowing them to pop out nearly anywhere and kill
their victims. Simultaneously, there is an ancient relic called the Soul Blade
that was crafted by the Ashuun for the purpose of killing the old gods. Without
giving any spoilers, I can only say that the Shadow Assassins have a mystical
connection to the Soul Blade, which drives the majority of the plot.
Did anything stick out as particularly challenging when
writing Shadow of the Soul Blade?
Yes, since I was fifteen, I’ve practiced sword combat. I’ve
studied Historical European Martial Arts, with the manuscripts of Pedro Monte,
and later Vincentio Saviolo. I’ve done stage combat and choreography. Along
side my studies of various eastern systems that use the Katana. So, my original
attempt to write combat scenes was surprisingly difficult because I was having
problems getting out of the technical headspace, and only giving the reader
exactly what they needed to know. The original manuscript had enough detail
that I could have handed it to a choreographer, and said, here’s the fight
scene, run it. But the average reader doesn’t care if the swords bind on the
strong, or the weak part of the blade, or where the attacker’s toes are
pointing. Thankfully I got most of that fixed before it went to my beta
readers, and my professional editing team helped me with the rest, so now it’s just
fast paced action from the opening of combat, until it resolves. But that was
one of my biggest challenges.
What do you like to do when not writing?
When I’m not writing, I have a loving wife and five awesome
children, the oldest of which is already out of the house. But that still
leaves me with four kids, three dogs, two cats and a bearded dragon. So much of
my time is spent taking my daughters to Karate, where one just became a
second-degree Shotokan black belt, or violin practice, or you’ll find me on the
soccer fields. In my own time, I fly drones, practice archery, or you’ll find
me at the nearest axe throwing range.
Where can readers find out more about your work?
If someone wants to find out what I’m up to, they can find
me at www.jayroland.net. That’s where I
post all my updates, or they can use one of the links there to find me on
social media.