Today we have an interview with Lorrieann
Russell, author of By Right of Blood. Enjoy!
Jennifer: Where can we
find out more about you and buy your book?
Lorrieann: By Right of Blood is available for in all eBook formats (Kindle, Nook et
al.) now through online book sellers, Amazon.com and Smashwords.com.
On May 29, 2012, a paperback version will be released, also available through
Amazon.
Jennifer: Tell us about
your book.
Lorrieann: William Fylbrigge arrives at
Drumoak in Stonehaven, a frightened, starving, abused child believing he’s been
sent to foster with the demon earl Lord Edward, who eats children and sleeps
under a quilt made of the skin of his victims — a lie he’s been told his entire
young life.
Denied the love and protection
prescribed for him in his father’s will by his scheming older brother Thomas,
William is ill prepared to claim his place among the powerful clan he has been
born into. But, under Lord Edward's guidance and with new friends he
meets at Drumoak beside him, young Will (as he prefers to be called by his friends)
blossoms and thrives, even catching the eye of Lord Edward's youngest daughter.
But Thomas, doesn't want to share what he thinks is rightfully his and Will
soon finds himself in the crosshairs of a paid assassin. And he could lose what
is his By Right of Blood.
By Right of Blood is the first in a trilogy following the life of William
Fylbrigge. This story continues in My Brother’s Keeper, and In The Wake
of Ashes.
Jennifer: Where did you get the
idea for the story?
Lorrieann: The story originated when I was
studying my own genealogy about twelve years ago. I had been following my
paternal grandmother’s line and was able to a man called Thomas Philbrick,
who came to the New World a few years ahead of the pilgrims. In searching
back further, I was able to trace his line back to England and the family name
of “Felbreg” with many different spellings including “Fylbrigge”.
Thomas proved to be a fairly interesting character in his own right, but
what intrigued me more was the single listing of a sibling named William about
20 years his junior. All there was recorded for this young brother was
his name, date of birth, his wedding day, bride’s name (Mehlyndia), and date of
his death, which came only one month after his wedding when he was just 20
years old. The year was 1597, and his place of death was listed as
Aberdeen, Scotland.
In doing more research into that year and that place, I found it to be a
particularly violent year with many, many poor souls tortured and burned alive
for witchcraft.
This left me wondering if young William could have been one of these
unfortunate souls. Certainly, there was nothing in the evidence of his
life that proved he was (or was not) one of the condemned, but the seed
was planted in my mind, and from this, my story grew. I decided that William
deserved a little bit more ‘life ‘.
I
would like to be perfectly clear that my account of William is complete
fiction.
Jennifer: What do you find most
rewarding in writing a book?
Lorrieann: I enjoy the discovery aspect. That
is, watching the story unfold in my head as I write it. I do start with a vague
idea of what the story is about, and the characters involved, but as I write, I
love to allow the story to do the driving. Many times I am surprised by
the turns it takes. I’ve had characters pop into my head fully formed,
out of the blue and just introduce themselves and say “I’m supposed to be here
now”. I enjoy the escape to the alternate world I have created and the
process of bringing it out into the light to share with my readers.
Of course, the ultimate reward is
when a reader tells me they enjoyed the story. When someone tells me that I
made them angry by taking the plot in a certain direction, I like that as well
because I caused them to react. If I can elicit emotion of any kind; a giggle,
a gasp, a tear. . . then I have connected, and I have done my job as a story
teller.
Jennifer: Tell us about
your previous work.
Lorrieann: By Right of Blood was actually the last of the three books that I have
published. The story originally started with My Brother’s Keeper, which
begins on William’s wedding day to Mehlyndia and follows him through his trials
and near demise. I thought that was going to be the entire story, and was
surprised (and pleased) to discover that William was not quite done with me,
and he lead me through In The Wake of Ashes, which took William to the New
World.
Between the time I wrote those
first two books, and By Right of Blood, I published several short
stories, and some poetry. My style is rather eclectic, though I always
tend to have an element of metaphysics. I’ve been told my short stories would
have felt right at home as episodes of the Twilight Zone; some being humorously
quirky, other just a half bubble left of sane.
Jennifer: What other projects do
you have coming up?
Lorrieann: Right now I have several different
irons in the fire. There is one final book in William’s story, working
title “Passages” which I hope will complete his arc, and tie up some unresolved
loose ends for several of the other characters.
I have a completely different
story going that takes place in Manchester, NH around 1960 which is more in
that Twilight Zone area and features the story of twin brothers, separated by
mysterious circumstance, as one disappears into a mysterious yellow light while
exploring the basement of an abandoned theatre, leaving the other to take the
blame for his disappearance.
A third story in the work is a
fantasy romp set in the fictional ethereal plane of “Arcana” where the
archangel Gabriel happens to be the Keeper, though he’d rather be elsewhere. Gabriel
cannot leave until he finds a suitable replacement, so he goes to Earth and
plucks six seemingly random souls from the same odd little town of Ravencroft
and brings them to Arcana where they unwittingly play a game where the ‘winner’
(or loser as it were) becomes the new Keeper of Arcana.
Jennifer: What is your writing
process like--do you outline first or just start writing, etc.?
Lorrieann: I let the story do the
driving. I start writing what I enjoy reading. Once the story gets
into full swing, with several characters and different plots, then I will sit
and outline each subplot and how they will come together in the
end. If I am having trouble with a certain plot, I will put
it aside and move to another and write episodically rather than linearly.
When I have several good episodes, I will put them in logical order, and fill
in the connections.
Jennifer: Tell us a little about
your non-writing life. Family? Pets? Hobbies?
Lorrieann: I am digital artist. I enjoy
creating photorealistic illustrations using a variety of digital media.
I’ve put this to great use in creating my own book covers, and the covers for
several other authors. I enjoy using my design skills to create
embroider patters as well. I’m an avid knitter as well. Aside
from that, my husband and I enjoy hiking in the mountains and
traveling. I am owned by Avalon, the five year old tabby who runs our
household.
Jennifer: When and why did you
decide to become a writer?
Lorrieann: I have
always been a writer for as long as I can remember. I would write
stories and poems for my own amusement, never intending to share them with
a wider audience. I wrote stories for a very select audience:
me. It was after writing a few humorous holiday letters to
friends that someone suggested I should consider being a writer. I
was going on forty at the time, and found myself between jobs with a lot
of time on my hands, so I sat down and began to write.
Jennifer: What is your favorite
genre to read? To write?
Lorrieann: I don’t have a favorite genre. If the story is gripping, I’ll read it no
matter if it’s fantasy, historic fiction, romantic farce, mystery or even
erotic. When I write, I’m not thinking about which genre the story fits,
or will fit. I’m only thinking about where this one story leads to.
Though I must admit that I do enjoy writing gallows humor.
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