Today we're excited to chat with Emily A Duncan author of Wicked Saints.

 Read on for more about Emily, an interview, plus an giveaway! 

Meet Emily A Duncan!

EMILY A. DUNCAN works as a youth services librarian. She received a Master’s degree in library science from Kent State University, which mostly taught her how to find obscure Slavic folklore texts through interlibrary loan systems. When not reading or writing, she enjoys playing copious amounts of video games and dungeons and dragons. Wicked Saints is her first book. She lives in Ohio.  

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Meet Wicked Saints!

A girl who can speak to gods must save her people without destroying herself.

A prince in danger must decide who to trust.

A boy with a monstrous secret waits in the wings. 

Together, they must assassinate the king and stop the war.

In a centuries-long war where beauty and brutality meet, their three paths entwine in a shadowy world of spilled blood and mysterious saints, where a forbidden romance threatens to tip the scales between dark and light. Wicked Saints is the thrilling start to Emily A. Duncan’s devastatingly Gothic Something Dark and Holy trilogy.

Amazon * B & N * Indiebound

~ Author Chat ~

      YABC:  Who is your favorite character in the book?

Oh, definitely the nightmare goth boy, Malachiasz. He was an unexpected addition to the book--when I first introduced him I’d meant for him to only be around for three chapters, just long enough to nudge Nadya in the direction she needed to go before he went off on his own way, but instead he took the plot in his hands and twisted it around to being more about him than I had ever intended. He’s the worst and I adore him.

     YABC:  Which came first, the title or the novel?

The novel! I called it ‘the damn cleric book’ for the entire drafting process. It didn’t have a title until I queried it and then it was Something Dark and Holy (which I had nothing to do with, my friend RJ Anderson titled it!) and then we landed on Wicked Saints after the book sold.

YABC:  scene in the book are you most proud of, and why?

There’s a scene midway through the book where Nadya comes across a wayside shrine on the road and stops to clean it. Malachiasz pauses with her, waiting for her to finish so they can catch up to the others, and they have a long and rather heated discussion about theology. The scene was a later addition but, for me, the heart of the book happens in that moment, where these two kids who are both incredibly set in their own specific beliefs take the time to stop and talk about those differences.

      YABC:  Thinking way back to the beginning,

what’s the most important thing you've learned as a writer from then to now?

Sometimes you just have to let things go. I worked on the same book for eleven straight years of my life, convinced that it was The One. That book was not Wicked Saints. It wasn’t until I acknowledged that I had to let that book go and do something else that I was able to write Wicked Saints, and sometimes that’s all it takes. Sometimes you’re holding onto something that is also holding you back, and you need to step past it to see that.

YABC:  What do you like most about the cover of the book?

It looks like it could be the cover of an edition of Gormenghast and I adore that. Also, it’s very metal.

      YABC:  What new release book are you looking most forward to in 2019?

There are so many! 2019 is a fabulous year for books! But for me especially, Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir! The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman! Wilder Girls by Rory Power! Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson! The Candle and the Flame by Nafiza Azad! King of Fools by Amanda Foody! So many!

      YABC:  What’s up next for you?

I’m still putting the finishing touches on book two, but I am wildly excited for it! My cosmic horror forest road trip book! My weird cerebral nightmare fantasy! If you take the end of Wicked Saints and stretch that bizarre atmosphere out for a full book, that’s this one! It was incredibly difficult to write and I’m very proud of it.

     YABC:  Which character gave you the most trouble when writing your latest book?

~Malachiasz~ I swear, he’s the answer for any character related question I get! But he was a wild card. Most of the drafting process was me thinking I knew what was going on and Malachiasz turning around and shifting all the pieces of the story into a jumbled mess before moving on. And then he proceeded to do that every three chapters until the end.

  YABC:  Which part of the writing process do you enjoy more: Drafting or Revising?

I hate drafting! So much! I much prefer revising, after I’ve gotten the bones of the story figured out and I can go back and rethink how scenes are framed and what’s working or what’s not and what needs to be threaded better. Drafting just frustrates me immensely.

Wicked Saints

By: Emily A Duncan

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Release Date: April 2nd, 2019

*GIVEAWAY DETAILS*

Three winners will each receive a copy of Wicked Saints (Emily A Duncan) ~ (US Only)

 *Click the Rafflecopter link below to enter the giveaway*

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