Goddess Fish Tours - Giveaway & At The Round Table with Lindsay Buroker: Encrypted

Lindsay Buroker

Welcome to the Round Table Lindsay. May I offer you a beverage before we begin?

LB:  Zesty Zombie sounds intriguing…. Are the zombies organically grown?

Here's your drink :) delivered by our very own Zar.  Not organically grown but he was saved from a Necromancer turning him to ashes.

Zar the Zombie

BK:  Thank you so much for taking time to chat with me today. It's so nice to have you at the Round Table.

LB: Thanks for giving me the opportunity to appear on your blog!

BK: Please tell us a bit about yourself....

LB:  I've been writing fantasy novels and short stories since I was seven. I've been finishing them since... well, that's a more recent development.

I'm a professional blogger for my day job, and I live in the Seattle area ("area" is code for 'I couldn't afford a house within twenty miles of the city limits and my neighbors have alpacas'). I have two vizslas who are as spoiled as most people's kids. Occasionally they let me leave the house to play tennis, go to the coffee shop, or take a yoga class.

(These are not Lindsay's Dogs,  just wanted to show what they look like)

BK: What inspired you to pen this novel?

LB:  My first novel, The Emperor’s Edge, was fun to write--lots of adventure, mystery, action, etc. (the stuff I enjoy reading!)--but it didn’t have a romance, and that’s something I often like as a reader. With Encrypted, I wanted to try a story where the characters actually got together in the end.

I also wanted to do a lead heroine that wasn’t typical for fantasy. At the time, I was reading The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography, and, over the course of that, I came up with the idea for Tikaya, a geeky philology professor who had to study cryptography to help her nation survive a war.

I’ve always had a fondness for smart, geeky heroes and heroines (I did a guest post last week on “Why the Heroine in my Science Fantasy Romance Is a Geek,” which you can check out if you’re interested). Once I had Tikaya cemented in my mind, it was just a matter of creating a story where she could put her unique skills to use.

BK: What draws you to write in this genre?

LB:  All my stories seem to end up being a blend of high fantasy and science fiction (or science fantasy). I love the idea of creating my own world and sending my characters off on adventures, often with mysteries to solve, but I’m not actually that crazy about magic, which is a staple in fantasy. There’s usually some in my stories, but I’m much more likely to incorporate machines, and I have a particular fondness for industrial-revolution, steam-age settings. Some folks have called my novels steampunk, but they’re really more high fantasy than “punk” anything, but, hey, whatever helps people find them in the bookstore.

BK: How do you keep your writing different from all the other novels in this genre?

LB:  Hah, you can probably tell from the previous answers that my stories don’t fit into any neat genres, so they’re probably “different” just based on that.

When it comes to world-building, I grab things from different parts of history that intrigue me, and when it comes to machines, I’m always game to make something up. I tend to get my ideas from non-fiction rather than other novels in the genre, and I think that helps create a unique world. If all you ever read is medieval fantasy, you’re stories will probably sound like a lot of other medieval fantasy out there.

BK: Who is your favorite character and why?

LB:  In Encrypted, I’ll go with Federias (the love interest). He’s a geek and a warrior. What’s not to love? ;)

BK: Which character would you most invite to dinner?

LB:  My heroine, Tikaya, knows a ton about dead languages and archaeology, so it’d be fun to listen to her talk about work over the dinner table.

BK: What is your favorite part about writing?

LB:  I love writing dialogue. Even though I’m an action-adventure girl, it’s the conversations the characters get to have as a result of their adventures that is fun for me. I definitely like to sprinkle humor in here and there too.

BK: Did you find any particular challenges during the writing of this novel?

LB:  The main characters are both a lot smarter and better educated than I am. I did more research for Encrypted than I usually do (hey, I write fantasy so I can make stuff up, not research, right? *g*), and I was often worried they wouldn’t sound authentic. I was glad to have a couple brainy critique buddies to read through it and point out errors.

BK: Are you currently working on any projects?

LB:  I just published a short novella called Flash Gold, and I’m working on a sequel to The Emperor’s Edge, which I hope to have out in June.

BK: Any advice for new aspiring authors?

LB:  Join a critique group early on. I like online ones, since polite people who would spare your feelings in person have no trouble tearing your work apart behind the anonymity of the internet.

BK: Where can readers find you? (Facebook, twitter, website, blog, etc.)

LB:  I talk about my books and my adventures in e-publishing on my personal site, and you can also find me on Twitter. I’m happy to follow fellow readers and writers back. I’m less active on Facebook, but I’m there if you want to say hi that way. I post to Kindle Geeks now and then too (a blog highlighting geeky non-fiction, fantasy, and science fiction available for the Kindle).

Fun Facts:

BK: Day or Night?

LB:  Night. Morning people perplex me. ;)

BK: Favorite Drink?

LB:  Rice milk vanilla latte with an extra espresso shot

BK: Favorite Movie?

LB:  Shrek

BK: What is a must have to write?

LB:  Heh, I’m more efficient when I don’t have access to the internet.

BK: If you could possess a supernatural power, what would it be and why?

LB:  Eidetic memory

BK:  Thank you so much for being at the Round Table today. It's been such a pleasure chatting with you and I wish you much success in the future.

LB:  It was fun. Thanks!

Blurb:

Professor Tikaya Komitopis isn’t a great beauty, a fearless warrior, or even someone who can walk and chew chicle at the same time, but her cryptography skills earn her wartime notoriety. When enemy marines show up at her family’s plantation, she expects the worst. But they’re not there to kill her. They need her to decode mysterious runes, and they ask for help in the manner typical of a conquering empire: they kidnap her, threaten her family, and throw her in the brig of their fastest steamship.

Her only ally is a fellow prisoner who charms her with a passion for academics as great as her own. Together, they must decipher mind-altering alchemical artifacts, deadly poison rockets, and malevolent technological constructs, all while dodging assassination attempts from a rival power determined the expedition should fail. As if Tikaya didn’t have troubles enough, her new ally turns out to be exiled fleet admiral, Federias Starcrest, the man who recommended taking over her nation. To trust him could be a mistake; to fall in love with him would be a betrayal to her people, her family, and the fiancé she lost in the war. Those runes cloak more than mysteries, however, and he may be the only one who can help her unravel them before their secrets destroy the world.

Excerpt: 

She eyed the bodies in the corner. If enough people attacked at once, she and Rias  could end up like that before dawn.   

No, she decided, watching him standing with his ear cocked. Despite the hour, he was  alert, rifle across his arms, hand on the stock, finger near the trigger. Not tense but  relaxed and ready. She imagined he could fight off superior odds for a long time.  

Rias saw her watching him and lifted his eyebrows.   

Tikaya felt silly to have been caught gazing at him. “I was wondering if you could get  my mind off this for a moment.”   

Rias joined her. He set the rifle butt on the floor and rested his forearms across the  muzzle. He surveyed her, and she felt a self-conscious twinge. No doubt she had strands  of hair sticking out in all directions and dark smudges assailing her eyes.   

“A question.” Rias’s gaze rested on a chalkboard, though he did not seem to focus on  anything. “If someone from Kyatt were to decide to marry a Turgonian, would they be  allowed to live on your island?”   

Tikaya was not sure what she had expected him to ask, but that was not it. “That  wasn’t a marriage proposal, was it?”   

He coughed. “No, no, just hypothetical. If it were a proposal...” He offered his half  smile. “There’d be soft music, excellent food, romantic ambiance...” He tilted his head  toward the corner. “Fewer corpses.”   

“Ah, I wasn’t sure how they did it in the empire. Given your people’s reputation, I  thought bloodshed and mangled bodies might be standard at social gatherings.”   

“Bloodshed perhaps.” 

   

The excerpt was wonderful Lindsay.  Thank you so much again for taking time out to chat with me.  I look forward to reading your work and wish you much success in the future.  Good luck with your tour :).


Giveaway: 


Lindsay is also offering a chance for one lucky commenter from her tour to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card.  Simply leave a comment with your email address to enter :).  

Until next time,