UFI welcomes Tara Maya Author of The Unfinished Song series. Thanks for Joining us!!
How To Enjoy Epic Fantasy
When I wrote The Unfinished Song series, I wanted to
join two literary traditions: the Young Adult paranormal romance and the
traditional epic fantasy. For readers familiar with both genres, the mix is a fun one, but what about readers who
find traditional epic fantasy a little intimidating?
1. Wander the map.
The map is there, filled with
wondrous names and blank spaces, so you, the reader, can wander around in it. You don’t have to stop
traveling where the book ends, but can meander your way around the world on your own,
imagining what other nooks and crannies you might find, what creatures and dangers, what adventures and
romance. Enjoy!
2. Delight in deep time.
You don’t have to know the names of
all the kings of yore. (See below.) But do reflect on the eon past that have gone into the creation
of this world.
Pretend you are a visiting another
country, a real one, and the guide is telling you about the various epochs as you gaze across the
vine-covered ruins, and suddenly it hits you: These stones were built by people who lived thousands of
years ago. Whoah.
That’s the feeling of wonder that
fantasy seeks to recreate. Whoah….
3. Don’t worry about bit players.
Epic fantasy has a lot of characters.
A multitude of men. Gobs of goblins. Everflowing elves. A whole host of heroes and vast numbers of
villains. And serfs and slaves and peasants and thieves and assassins and gods and five nation’s worth of
royal lineages with fifty dead kings each.
Reading name after name, with umlauts
and apostrophes, you may panic. Does the author actually expect me to
remember all these people?
Nope.
Here’s a secret. Even the author
doesn’t remember half of them. The author is scratching his head wondering, “Did I already name an elf
Galadrinel or was that Galafalel?”
If these characters are not that
important, why do they have names? Why must they be dragged through the scene at all?
The joy of epic fantasy is that it
immerses you in a new world. Would you believe in a world that had only four people in it? No. Would you
believe in a world that had only nameless masses in it? No. A fantasy world invites you to believe
that it is like our world, filled with people who have names, histories and desires of their own which you
will never know. You don’t need to know them right now… you’re with the hero, saving the
world…but you know that they are there, and they are what makes the world worth saving.
4. Re-read.
Of course this only works if you love
the series, but one of the most enjoyable aspects of a fat, juicy epic is that when you re-read it
later, you’re certain to pick up a lot of details and subtleties that you missed the first time around. If the
writer is any good at all, you’ll find that he or she foreshadowed so much more about the themes and
ending of the series than you realized the first time around.
5. Relish your superpowers!
Like all fantasy, the heroes of epic
fantasy have fantastic powers. Mighty thews and magic spells and unique destinies! To be truly epic in
scope, the stakes usually involve the fate of the entire world— and the powers wielded by the
protagonists and antagonists must be equal to that task—vast indeed. And that’s…freakin’ awesome.
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Author Bio: Tara Maya has lived in Africa, Europe and Asia. She’s pounded sorghum with mortar and pestle in a little clay village where the jungle meets the desert, meditated in a Buddhist monastery in the Himalayas and sailed the Volga River to a secret city that was once the heart of the Soviet space program. This first-hand experience, as well as research into the strange and piquant histories of lost civilizations, inspires her writing. Her terrible housekeeping, however, is entirely the fault of pixies.
WingThe Unfinished Song #5
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UMBRAL SERVES THE DEATHSWORN. He exists for one purpose only: to hunt down the last girl with rainbow magic and kill her. Now he has Dindi at his mercy. But he discoverers that the Raptor Riders of Orange Canyon have played with dark magic that threatens all Faeath, and he needs Dindi’s help to stop them.
DINDI BARGINS FOR HER LIFE. She offers to help her captor rescue the White Lady from the Raptor Riders, who plan to use the faery as a pawn in a monstrous scheme. But Dindi will never forget that Umbral murdered someone she loved…and never forgive. She vows to escape and bring him to justice.
A DARKNESS UNCOILS IN ORANGE CANYON. If they can’t work together, the darkness will consume everything.
WELCOME TO FAEARTH…where humans are trapped between the immortal fae and the minions of Death. But one woman and the warrior who loves her will defy every taboo to protect their people.
Come taste the world of Faearth... The first book is available right now for FREE.
The Unfinished Song (Book 1): Initiate
The Unfinished Song (Book 2): Taboo
The Unfinished Song (Book 3): Sacrifice
The Unfinished Song (Book 4): Root
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