So I mentioned it on social media, but keeping up with all the social… everything… when I am in writing mode is really tough. The Spymaster’s Prize is done now, though, and it’ll be released on Saturday. You can preorder your copy on Amazon here, if you haven’t yet. Otherwise, if you’re waiting for the paperback, it’ll be along in March.
The release of the second Artisan Magic brought up an interesting conversation with a friend, though, and it occurred to me that it might be something worth writing a post about. See, in The Spymaster’s Prize, Elia is accidentally swept off on quite an adventure, but she’s not equipped for it. Like her cousin Thea in the first Artisan Magic book, The Assassin’s Bride, Elia is… well, ordinary.
Over the years, ordinary women seem to have vanished from fantasy fiction. There’s nothing wrong with the hardened warrior women or strong, talented mages. But at some point, the push to have perpetually stronger lead ladies did something to me, specifically: It made me feel like fantasy was no place for me.
It’s cool to have role model characters to look up to, who inspire you and challenge you to reach for new heights. But as an exceptionally ordinary person, it also began to feel a little out of reach, distant from real possibilities for me. As I faced a lot more health challenges over the past year, that became a little bit sharper of an ache. Everywhere I looked, there were either crazy strong, hardcore women who can lay a smackdown on evil and sass everyone along the way… or there were the wilting waifs of much older fantasy, damsels in distress who could do nothing on their own. Where was the in between?
When I settled in to write The Assassin’s Bride, that was one thing I wanted to address, creating a character with generally ordinary skills–those of a seamstress, if a magical one–and no experience with adventure. She could have been me, a woman swept out of the doldrums of hemming trousers and whirled away into something that demanded more. Don’t get me wrong, Thea is wilting flower. Something she does in one of the combat scenes (in which she is an active participant!) is one of my favorite pieces of the whole book. But her strength isn’t defined just by the fact she holds her own in a fight when the cards are down. It comes from that ordinary women are already capable world-shapers, just as we are.
Following that framework, Elia’s story is similar; she’s a homebody and a baker, someone eager to fix the problems of her loved ones, someone who can be caring to a fault. Yet she’s also the first person to bludgeon someone in the story, and she never backs down. Her background isn’t extraordinary, but it’s her strength of spirit and her determination that simply being herself is enough that carries her through the story on the quest that eventually makes her a hero in her own right.
That means the story won’t be for everyone. People who are looking for the formidable fighter or fainting flower won’t find it here, but if you’re looking for a regular person who overcomes challenges and proves they had remarkable strength without ever having to change who they were… well, that’s a different story.