Today Terry Jackman joins us to talk about her new novel, Ashamet, Desert Born. Here is the publisher’s description:
“Headstrong was the least I knew they said about me. Unpredictable, a wicked sense of humour? Gods, I hoped so.”
A desert world. A population of 100 males to every female. And for Ashamet, its prince, a suddenly uncertain future…
All Ashamet wants is the warrior life he already has. But then a divine symbol appears on his arm, closely followed by an attempt on his life. Now nothing’s simple any longer, even less so when a new and very foreign slave seems shocked by both his new surroundings – and his master’s amorous attentions.
Could this innocent young male hold the key to Ashamet’s survival? And to his heart?
Ashamet, Desert Born, is a debut adventure fantasy with an exotic Arabian-style setting and strong elements of same-sex romance.
So what is Terry’s favorite bit?
I loved putting Ashamet’s strong character onto the page, often grinning as much as he did at his less than reverent reactions to his world, and its dangers. I loved Keril’s first appearance, and how different he is – from Ashamet, from the others around him and maybe even from what he first seems? But I’m hoping they’ll be a case of love at first sight for you as much as they were for me and I won’t need to point you in their direction.
So how about something in the book you might not notice so much…
There’s a small scene, a moment tucked between all the adventures, when Ashamet stands back and just accepts what’s in front of him. For once there’s no agenda, no ulterior motive, no threat. It’s an ordinary moment, in a life that so seldom is.
If you take this scene for granted when you come to it in the course of reading the whole book, that’s fine; after all so does Ashamet. But for me the words dropped onto the page from nowhere. They weren’t in the outline. They weren’t even a vague idea in my head, but once they arrived they had to stay, word for word as they first appeared, because they belonged. They were a small bonus moment.
They begin…
The next day found us turning north-west. Four more days took us from the desert’s shifting yellow sands to cloying brown and orange soil. In these parts every village sat beside its jealously protected clay pit. Slaves and free males, stripped to loincloths in the heat and dust, were often caked with it so thoroughly they looked like moving statues.
Houses here had lacquered, peach-tiled walls instead of whitened plaster, every second building open fronted with a dome-shaped, brick-built kiln beneath its awning. Every awning was without exception drab and faded, but the poles that propped them up were always brightly lacquered. Master potters bent at wheels. Young males kneaded slabs of glistening clay on heavy benches…
Ashamet only stays there for one night, enjoys the break in the journey then travels on. Does it add anything vital to the plot? Honestly, I’m not sure it does. But I think it added something to the story, something it would have been a shame to miss.
If you get to that page maybe you’ll tell me what you think?
LINKS
http://publishing.dragonwell.org/
BIO
Terry Jackman, christened Teresa, is married with kids and not pretending to be a guy for the book. Nobody ever calls her anything but Terry, so that’s the most honest name to use.
To go with two names she inhabits two worlds. In one she’s a mild-mannered lady who tutors children and lives quietly in a pretty English village. [Find out more at www.lymmvillage.co.uk ]
In the other she’s secretly on the committee of the British Science Fiction Association, coordinates all their online writers’ groups, writes a regular page for Focus magazine, reads submissions for Albedo One in Ireland and is a ‘top reviewer’ for Netgalley. What else? She is also a member of Milford, and NorthwriteSF, has been known to appear on panels at conventions and does some freelance editing.
When Ashamet goes public the two lives will finally collide. She suspects there’ll be some raised eyebrows so she’s stocking up on fortifying tea and biscuits.
