New interview with fantasy author L.T. Getty

Author L.T. Getty is back with a new interview. This time we’re chatting about her new sword and sorcery fantasy, Witchslayer’s Scion.

L.T. has made the ebook free for the duration of the tour April 26, 2022 through to May 17, 2022.

During her virtual book tour, L.T. will be awarding a $25 gift card to the winner’s choice of an online bookseller to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there too!

L.T. was last here in March of 2020 to talk about her steampunk-horror novel, Dreams of Mariposa.

Bio:
L.T. Getty is a Manitoban paramedic who writes science fiction and fantasy for fun.

Welcome back to Reviews and Interviews, L.T.

Please tell us about your newest release.

Witchslayer’s Scion is my latest release from Champagne Books.
I developed my first fantasy series in Junior High/ High School. No matter how hard I worked at it, I realized I wasn’t skilled enough to tell the story I wanted. Witchslayer’s Scion is a spinoff, set about 35 years prior to the events in the other books, and allowed for me to breathe and delve into different parts of the world I couldn’t spend time on, but also introduce characters we’ll see later and explain some of the questions I think readers might have. The idea is to eventually rewrite the original series and that if the readers have questions, they can piece together the information over multiple books.

The plot is basically about the futility of revenge. The story starts out with a young islander man named Nisiris who hates the Imperium oppressing his people, and he swears vengeance before encountering an island enchantress who takes him as her lover, and he begins down the path of a mage.

Later we meet Koth, a healer who would rather be out hunting. He has a bloodline where some people manifest very strange powers, and mostly healers are the ones who are revered. Strangers arrive in his remote village looking for a child with remarkable abilities, and when they can’t find the one they’re looking for attempt to kidnap a woman, which ultimately results in Koth’s brother’s death. Koth sets out to find the mages responsible and kill them, finding out not only is the world much bigger than what he could have imagined, that his bloodline has a few advantages in fighting mages. It leads him to start questioning why his people are hiding from the rest of the world and why no one is challenging the mages.

Nisiris isn’t the main villain at first but slowly his hatred for the Imperium comes to a boil, mostly because in spite of everything he’s given and sacrificed, he’s looked down on by his own coven, seen as Elza’s plaything. Koth is seen by the rest of his village as someone disgruntled and should embrace his role in society, and he’s more than happy to leave and struggle in the great wide world, frustrated that his people are content to stay hidden from the world and let the myths about their abilities grow.

Their paths are very similar in terms of wanting revenge, and how they go about it. They’re both relatively privileged at times; Nisiris is a member of a coven that’s treated just below royalty; Koth’s powers are revered and if he would just shut up he’d be welcome most places. Nisiris ultimately chooses revenge, whereas towards the end Koth decides to save someone as opposed to sticking to the plan.

Koth’s a bit of an anti-hero, so it is kicking and screaming, but actions speak louder than words.

What inspired you to write this book?
The original series is a science-fantasy, where we’re dealing with people fighting over lost technology and the scope was so epic, I wanted to really felt like I was trying to cram too much into a few books. I really wanted to let the world breathe. In the main timeline, Koth is an older, very experienced individual who other characters go to not so much as a last resort but knowing his methods are brutal. Fear old men who work in a profession where men tend to die young. It’s not so much his origin story, but I prefer to think of it as me world building with an easier plot line than the original.

 

Excerpt from Witchslayer’s Scion:
“You’re not even married and you’ll go to her beck and call?” Koth asked, inspecting his arrowheads as his he and his twin sat at an outdoor table outside the smokehouse.

Bizen got up and left him wordlessly. Koth wondered what happened in Bizen’s mind’s eye, but he could not bridge contact with his twin, who raced through the streets and into the woods. Koth grumbled to himself but grabbed his bow and slung his quiver over his shoulder out of habit. His twin wasn’t as fast a runner as he was, but for once Koth couldn’t keep up with Bizen.

They heard a woman shout, and Koth almost paled when he realized the two strangers were trying to abduct Nuala. Her knife was bloodied, but she fell suddenly. He was still out of arrow range when one finally seized her and threw her across the saddle.

She kicked and tried to fight them off, but one struck her across the face. Koth stopped to draw; he aimed high and loosed an arrow before running again—aiming at the one further from Nuala. His arrow missed, but it drew the attention of the men. They moved together to bind Nuala’s

hands and feet, so when he was in range Koth paused and drew again, and when the closer man turned his horse he caught the left rear flank of the smaller horse. It crashed forward, but its rider did not have Nuala.

“Up! Up, curse you!” the man shouted, and the slender animal scrambled to its feet, leaving a trail of blood as it limped into the forest.

Koth had never seen his brother move so quickly. They knew the game trails, but were it not for the blood, they would have lost sight of where the horses traveled. “I’ll round the bend, you follow them!” Koth shouted, veering from his brother, hoping in their flight the men didn’t know the various natural game paths. Bizen didn’t acknowledge—Koth wondered what sort of people would be low enough to bride-steal and why he didn’t think of it first.

 

What’s the next writing project?
I have written the next two books in the series, so assuming Cassie likes what she sees it’ll at least be a trilogy. I made major cuts to book 3 so you could say I’ve more than sort of started book 4, but if I get is a trilogy, each book is meant that the reader can pick it up and there’s enough for a satisfactory ending, even if I pick up again with the ‘main series’ 35 years later and Koth shows up (I’m tempted to write him out completely) readers would see how he’s matured and changed over a lifetime. If all I get out of that series I developed is Witchslater’s Scion, let’s say I learned a lot writing it, so it’s not a bad thing.

I have several projects that I could rework, so the plan right now is to revisit the main series that this was based on, and fix up one of my science fiction novels. If I get a contract from Champagne Books and a go-ahead to write more books, I’ve got enough of a head start to come back to Book 4 so there wouldn’t be a long break between books, at least on my end.

What is your biggest challenge when writing a new book? (or the biggest challenge with this book)
Focus.

I really enjoy epic fantasy and I’m finishing up Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time, and while some people complain that the books would be better if they were tighter, I really enjoy it when authors take their time to really flesh out the world and minor characters. Other readers hate it when there’s a ton of minor characters – I enjoy it.

That being said, it’s really easy for me to start out with an idea and get it so bogged down with what’s going on in that world that me forget about the main character and the quest. I tend to have too many ideas, so I need to learn to better focus on them as opposed to dallying off into side quests.

So assuming I have time to write the book, the important part is to finish a draft and figure out what the story is about, and if I’m meandering how to tighten it, but also make it feel natural and not like I’m going from plot point to plot point. I think it’s important to respect the creative process and allow the artist to experiment. There’s still creativity needed in problem solving (reigning in the project) and I enjoy editing my work.

If your novels require research – please talk about the process. Do you do the research first and then write, while you’re writing, after the novel is complete and you need to fill in the gaps?

It depends on the novel. Usually I get inspired by what I’m reading and that goes into the book, or I let inspiration lead and then I start doing really hard research after I’ve gushed out the scenes. Obviously this can’t be the case when I wanted to teach Koth how to poison, and I wanted to let Tenagee have early fire-power weapons. I also didn’t want to bog the reader down, so for teaching Koth to poison, I made him do other things to keep the reader interested as opposed to telling them exactly what to do.

Also, my grandmother gave me several of her beautiful but poisonous plants years ago when she was scaling back her garden. Told me where to plant them, where to water them, but neglected to mention that while Monkshood is pretty, one should wash their hands after handling it just to be on the safe side. Even better, wear gloves.

What’s your writing space like? Do you have a particular spot to write where the muse is more active? Please tell us about it.
I got used to writing anywhere and everywhere, because I started writing young and I found that I had to be flexible. Right now, I have an office upstairs, but the natural lighting is nicer on my main floor, so I tend to not be writing in the office unless it’s at night.

What authors do you enjoy reading within or outside of your genre?
I don’t have ‘go to’ authors so much as I like it when I meet other writers and I enjoy it when people loan me books they enjoy so we can talk about them.

I’m more likely to buy a book from a local author or a small press as opposed to anything too popular. It’s not because I’m an elitist so much as I have a budget and I like spending my money on other people’s work and supporting stuff that doesn’t reach as wide of an audience.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers today?
While this book tour is going on, I’m doing a review-only one with Goddess Fish for my middle-grade fantasy novel The Mermaid and the Unicorns. I’m making the ebook free for the duration of the tour April 26, 2022 through to May 17, 2022. So you can follow that tour, comment and follow along and try to win a gift card, as well as get a free copy of the ebook.

Links:
Blog | Amazon US | Amazon CA | Kobo | Goodreads | Champagne Books | Barnes and Noble

Thank you for coming back to Reviews and Interviews!

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