Saturday 22 February 2014

Book Promo & Author Interview - A Maiden's Legacy


A Maiden’s Legacy: Destiny comes calling…again.

“Bad memories haunt you and good memories taunt you.”—The Scarlet Omen, 2012

The second book in The Scarlet Omen trilogy, A Maiden’s Legacy charts Anjeli Xavier’s return home after saving the Valley of the Hornbills from three centuries of torture under the vampire reign. In this young adult fantasy novel by newcomer Cinthia Koeksal, the seventeen year-old Anjeli tries to live a normal teenage life but fails miserably as all she can think about are her glory days back in that parallel world of dragons and fairies.

Just as she thinks she is about to go mad from restlessness, she discovers an ancient journal that will shed new light on the prophecy that she was supposed to have already fulfilled in the valley. Anjeli sets out on yet another adventure to Eagle Bay, a place on the other side of Hornbill Mountain. She is entrusted with uniting the Guardians of the Seven Maidens, artifacts that promise to close the gateways between the worlds forever.

What she does not know is that Wan Terakhir, the son of the dead vampire queen, will do whatever it takes to stop her. With the help of his assembled army of pirates, demons, djinns and fallen angels, the sorcerer crosses the gateway to Eagle Bay…and waits for his chance at revenge.
Will Anjeli be able to fulfill her destiny or is black magic something no one can stand up against? Parker Publishing presents A Maiden’s Legacy by Cinthia Koeksal: to be released in April 2014.

About the author
Cinthia Koeksal was born and raised in Malaysia. She now lives in Germany as a Business English Trainer. She has a degree in Business Commerce with majors in Marketing and Management from Monash University but much prefers spending her time "making up almost preposterous stories and sharing them with the world". This is her second novel.


Praise for The Scarlet Omen
“This book has every element of fantasy and surprise you could ever ask for or want. Each character just comes to life while reading this book.”—Tammy Hall, Book Blogger

"The Scarlet Omen transports readers on a fantastic journey to Malaysia and beyond. Cinthia Koeksal cleverly weaves ancient myth into a thoroughly modern teen's life to create an engrossing supernatural saga.”—Peggy Tibbets, Author

“Her style is vividly descriptive, bringing the characters to life, it made me want to visit Malaysia, and Lembah Kenyalang and see the beauty for myself.”-- Gwen Bourgeois, Paranormal Romance Guild

Interview

1) When you write, do you plan the storyline or just go with the flow and see where it takes you? Plotter or Panster?

I have my beginning and my ending in mind before I write a book. I usually have the moral conflicts all mapped out that my protagonist will be facing and his/her opponents. However, the rest is just going with the flow. Sometimes a character will turn around and say, “I’m not doing that!” so I’ll have to figure out how I get to an end which will satisfy all of us J

2) Where do you do most of your writing? Do you have a special spot?

I like writing at airports when I travel! Other than that I make sure I write in as many different parts of the house as I can because I get bored really fast and no one wants to see me bored.

3) Are any of your characters based on people you know?

My characters are a fusion of many people I know, have met and have just passed by. If I see an interesting characteristic in someone I get my Character Notebook out and jot everything down.

4) Who was your favourite author as a child? Who is it now?

I read everything from Enid Blyton when I was a kid. Now I can’t really say who my favourite writer is because there are so many of them. I haven’t come across a writer whose complete set of books has caught my attention so no one shall be put up on a pedestal quite just yet

5) Did you always want to be an author? If not what was your ambition?

Author, astronaut, drummer, singer, engineer, fashion designer, Robert Pattinson’s wife...I had many ambitions. I ended being a Business English Trainer who also writes for fun J

6) A lot of authors have playlists for their books. Do you like to listen to music whilst you write and if so can you give us any recommendations?

That is an awesome question. Yes, I listen to Babel by Mumford & Sons, American Idiot by Greenday, Invaders Must Die by The Prodigy and, yes I’m a geek, Enya for those extreme otherworldly scenes.

7) Can you tell us a bit more about your book and how it came about?

My first novel The Scarlet Omen came about after I realised that there were not many books out there about my home country, Malaysia. We have a very diverse range of myth and legend about our country and I wanted to share it with the world. There were also some issues which I was dealing with at the time and I decided to wrap them all up in a YA Fantasy novel. It is basically about a Malaysian teenager who tries to be a good daughter but daily temptation keeps getting in the way. She constantly fights with her very strict Indian mother and just wants her freedom. Finally, a tragedy befalls her family and Anjeli goes off on a trip with her boyfriend to Borneo to try and clear her mind. She ends up slamming head on into her destiny...a destiny that was carefully placed 300 hundred years ago in the form of a very dubious prophecy.

 My second novel A Maiden’s Legacy is the continuation of Anjeli Xavier’s adventures where she starts to question her “saviour” status. My prologue for it is up on my website (www.thescarletomen.com) under A Maiden’s Legacy Prologue if your readers would like to take a look.

8) What made you want to write for the YA market?

I love YA myself and writing about how Malaysian teenagers go through the same issues as everyone else and how they handle them seemed like a good idea at the time J

9) Do you ever get writers block and if you do, how do you beat it?

Oh, dislike button alert!! Having writer’s block is like taking a walk in a beautiful world on another planet, enjoying the miracle of creation and suddenly being taken captive by sadistic aliens who keep forcing you to walk into a brick wall the whole day. Luckily you kind of learn to escape your alien cell (and climb over that horrible wall) with many years of writing. I take 2 weeks off writing, read something totally unrelated to my genre and then start writing again, even if what comes out is pure gibberish. After a few tries, I’m back in my element and then my friends have to start looking for me again because my fingers have glued themselves to the keyboard.

10) If you could take only 3 things with you onto a desert island what would they be and why?

That depends on how long I’m going to be there. But off the top of my head I’d say a book, a pen and paper. I know, I’d starve to death but I’d rather starve than not have anything to read or write with ;)


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