Author Interview 008: Annie Mars - YA Fantasy Visionary

In this edition of our Author Interview series, we are thrilled to feature Annie Mars, the imaginative mind behind the YA fantasy novel "Saga of the Wild Hunt." Set in the enchanting Toserra Sorose academy, her debut novel invites readers into a world brimming with werecreatures, vampires, faeries, elves, and more. Annie's work draws deeply from various mythologies, creating a rich tapestry of magical adventures. She is also known for her serialized fiction project, "The Kahzer Chronicles," and has a plethora of exciting projects in the pipeline.

Author Interview with Annie Mars: Creating Her Mythical Universe

Annie Mars shared fascinating insights into her creative process, the inspiration behind her novels, and the challenges of blending diverse mythologies into cohesive narratives. From the origins of "Saga of the Wild Hunt" to her upcoming projects, Annie's passion for storytelling and world-building shines through. Readers can look forward to expanded mythological realms and compelling new characters in her future works.

Featured Excerpts

• "After finishing 'Eyes of Glass,' I wasn’t ready to start editing, and an idea popped into my head: 'What happened to the Valkyries when Odin died?'" Annie Mars explained the genesis of her magical school setting.
• "The challenge of blending all these worlds and mythologies is allowing them to shine individually while ensuring everything works cohesively," she pointed out when discussing her approach to incorporating diverse mythologies.
• Reflecting on "The Kahzer Chronicles," Annie said, "Writing for a serialized format is different; chapters are shorter and rely more on hooks to keep readers engaged."

Full Questions and Answers

1. What inspired you to write “Saga of the Wild Hunt,” and how did you develop the idea for the magical school of Toserra Sorose Academy?

I had just typed “the end” on the first Eyes of Glass draft (I wrote that first but loved Wild Hunt so much that I proceeded to publication with Wild Hunt first) and after finishing a project I need to let it sit before reading it (seeing if it makes any sense) and starting editing. I wasn’t anywhere near ready to start writing the second and didn’t know what to do with myself until an idea popped into my head, “What happened to the Valkyries when Odin died?” followed by “What would happen to the rebuilding world if they reappeared?” Now what do I do with that? There’s a town about 90 minutes drive from where I live called Walhalla (Chapters 3 and 4 actually take place there as well as a small part of chapter 1) and the town is in fact, named after the German Walhalla Temple, which of course was named after Valhalla, the home of the Valkyries. We had recently been there, it’s one of our usual holiday day trips and it seemed like a good focal point for the beginning of the novel. I would love to find a way to bring Saga (and maybe her friends) back to the town in the future, but I’m not sure when that will happen.

Once the idea of the return of the Valkyries situated itself, I needed the story and the world. I decided on a young girl, about 15 years of age, so school became the obvious option and from there the world just sort of grew. I’m not a planner, so beyond the characters of Saga, Emory, and Jemima, I didn’t have much else planned. The aim was to have a golden trio scenario, much like Harry Potter, but before long, they became fivesome when Navi and then Tasso joined the group. The world grew as I added in races, various types of shapeshifters, angels, fairies, elves, leprechauns, and vampires (there will be more, book 2 introduces Kitsuné, Tengu, Merfolk, and Daemons) to name a few.

I did a lot of research into the really old boarding schools in countries like the UK. I wanted to know about their setups, boarding structures, and traditions. I didn’t want dormitories in the old sense and decided upon the smaller, more ad hoc student houses that are scattered around the town instead. The houses all have their own histories and traditions, even a typical type of student (ie: Jimpsee House takes the outliers, the oddities, like the Valkyrie, the vegetarian vampire, and the female leprechaun). Then came the classes and the teachers, some of this changed as I wrote, and the personalities of the teachers came through.

Eventually, I came to realize that one of Odin’s children is trying to claim his throne and is willing to do anything to secure it for himself. He’s certain that Saga’s appearance means something and that now is the time to put all of his plans into action.

I guess we’ll see how he goes!

2. Your novel draws heavily from world mythology. How did you approach incorporating various mythologies into your story, and what challenges did you face in blending them together cohesively?

It’s post Ragnarök, the Nine Realms were destroyed, and Odin is dead, but the world tree, which is almost the center of all the worlds remains. It’s almost as though the nine realms are the “new world” a place where new possibilities and opportunities lie for everybody, no matter where they come from. Toserra Sorose educates students from many different areas including Faeries and leprechauns from the Celtic realms. Book 2 will introduce students and schools from the extended realms, such as yokai, and tengu from Japanese mythology.

The world as a whole, from the point of view of those living within the Norse Realms, is called the Nine Realms & The Extended Planes. That means that the world tree Yggdrasil holds all of the central realms together. I always knew that I would go beyond the Norse mythologies though when I added werewolves (and other shapeshifters), vampires, leprechauns, sirens, faeries, and angels, so I needed a plan to make that work. So every realm exists on a certain plane of existence, (Upper Realms of the Dead (Heaven) God Realms, Human Realms, Lower Realms, Lower Realms of the Dead (Hell)) and from there, sort of like countries or neighborhoods, other realms that exist on the same plane (ie: Ásgardr & Mount Olympus) exist on the same plane and it is possible to walk or travel from one to another. From the Norse realms, you would return to the center, to Yggdrasil, and go to another plane (say if you wanted to go from Ásgardr to Svartalheim). Other mythologies incorporate other ways to travel between their realms and those provide additional pathways. Aside from that, there are different schools that accept different races and different merchants, travelers, and anyone that the characters might come across during their adventures.

One of the challenges of blending all of these worlds and mythologies together is allowing them to shine on their own, but also making sure that everything works. The biggest thing has been not throwing everything in. I have ideas, but not everything needs to be introduced at once. In Book One, we meet Saga and learn about the world. We know that there are other planes, and it's alluded to that there is more out there, but Saga’s always surprised when someone points out another new race (Merfolk, centaurs, etc). Book 2 will introduce Saga and the reader to several of the other schools, with their student cohorts, while also taking them on a journey through Hades, from the gates of Tartarus to the throne room of the God of Death himself. I will let the story guide me to what needs to be introduced, even if I really want to explore the Chinese Zodiac feast or bring Egyptian mummies to Nýr Ásgardr, it needs to work for the story. Some might be explored as shorter side stories as the world expands. Keep an eye out for Saga’s meeting with the Dragon of Honah Lee and the background story of the new character Tena in the future.

3. Could you share a bit about the process of editing book 2 of the Saga series, especially considering its incorporation of Greek mythology and other new elements?

The biggest thing has been returning to the world of Toserra Sorose after working on other projects. Getting back into the heads of the characters and remembering facts and lore that I’d created, balancing between making sure readers remembered or were able to follow the story without having read the first one because book 2 deals with the fallout from Saga of the Wild Hunt and how everyone is coping with the events that occurred in the previous book. Grief is a particular theme, especially the pain and ramifications of grief that are not dealt with. I wanted to make sure that the characters lost in book 1 weren’t forgotten and never mentioned again, so when the story started to cement itself, the reasoning for going to Hades, had to not only make sense for Vali’s quest to rule over the Nine Realms, but also for someone dealing with a deep and complex grief.

Another issue across all my writing is that while people love my main characters and side characters, my Antagonists are weak! I need to make sure to scatter them more throughout the narrative and do more to explore their motivations. That was one of the major comments on Tournament of Souls, that Vali and his puppet Sidawi needed to be seen more and explored more to make sure readers understood them. Sidawi in particular, is not a bad guy, he’s just lost and alone and being swallowed up by his grief.

It’s the second half of their first year at Toserra Sorose Academy and book 2 features heavily on the inter-school tourney event it was important to get the story to that point but also to explore the aftereffects of Wild Hunt, which is the catalyst for the upcoming events. It’s going to be one hell of a ride!

4. “The Kahzer Chronicles” explores a post-apocalyptic world in a serialized format. What drew you to this format, and how does it influence your storytelling compared to traditional novel writing?

The Kahzer Chronicles had been playing in the back of my mind for years and years, being rewritten time and time again. It started life as a fanfiction project, that had all kinds of side projects, and I decided to try working it into its own world, removing the elements of the original fandom and making it into something unique. It was always there, waiting for its time to shine and then I saw an advertisement for a new serialized story app that was focusing on Science fiction and fantasy stories and not romance. That really appealed to me as a way to get my name out there and I debated on which project to submit because I’d also completed Saga of the Wild Hunt at the time. Ultimately, I decided I wanted to pursue Wild Hunt as a published novel, so I applied the bits and pieces I had from The Kahzer Chronicles and wound up being one of the early authors present when the app was finally released in, I think, 2022.

Of course, that put the pressure on getting the story finished, so all my attention went into finishing The Kahzer Chronicles and I worked hard on that for all of 2021 (thank God for countless lockdowns!) Writing for the serialized format was different than the writing I had been doing, the chapters, or episodes as they’re called on Mythrill, are significantly shorter than my chapters and rely more on end-of-episode hooks to entice readers to continue. While it’s possible to write as you go, I’m never quite satisfied with what I’ve done and often decide on something and have to go back and fix that, so I won’t submit a new season until I’m sure it’s finished in its entirety, meaning that readers are getting the best experience possible! So, for me, it doesn’t really vary that much from writing a novel, where everything needs to be done and dusted before you hit publish. I’ll be writing a scene 80,000 words in and decide on something, such as a character trait or a historical event, and then I’ll need to go back and weave that in or at least mention it somewhere.

The Kahzer Chronicles follows Schuyler Van Carisway, one of the few survivors from the world of Kahzer, and her crew aboard the Magnilda, a prototype vessel from the same world. The crew is made up of Kahzerion survivors, sympathizers, and half-breeds, all likely wanted for execution. They work to protect the pockets of Kahzerion society that still exist and try to subvert the current government policies while discovering just WHY the new powers that be wanted the Kahzerion dead.

5. Your upcoming project, “The Detective & The Witch,” combines fantasy, romance, and detective genres. What inspired you to merge these genres, and what can readers expect from this unique blend?

I love crime fiction. Murder mysteries, psychological thrillers, historical, cozies, give them all to me. I’ve even tried my hand at writing some detective fiction, but I doubt that nowadays, when everyone is after authenticity it would pass muster in terms of procedure and scientific facts. I don’t have the resources, contacts, or knowledge to write realistic crime fiction, but that doesn't mean I can’t write a good mystery (hopefully). So, I took a leaf out of Maureen Jenning's book. She writes the Detective Murdoch books (the inspiration for the Murdoch Mysteries TV series). She wanted to write a story about a detective but didn’t want to get into the science of forensics, because now, even if your detective is the most boots-on-the-ground, door-knocking, gut-trusting investigator, there has to be realistic forensic evidence backing up their investigation. As I said, I've tried and it’s hard to fake. So, that's where The Detective & The Witch came up. I wanted a mystery, but I didn't want forensics. I wanted magic.

Detective Ava Larkin is your average homicide cop until one day she finds herself transported to the magical world of Ellora. Her life was predictable, work and home. She's good at what she does but has little else going on in her life. Weylyn is young, eager to learn, and has just been expelled from the Academy of Sorcery. Weylyn literally trips off Ava and after some hesitation, as Ava adjusts to life in a new world, she decides to try and earn her living as a Private Detective, using Weylyn and her magic to do the things the laboratory would have done in her own world.

They're aided (or hindered) by a tiny fae kitten, who seems to cause constant mischief, and the handsome captain of the guard, who has his own secrets, as their seemingly easy suspected infidelity case leads to them being embroiled in a potential plot to take down the entire kingdom. Hopefully, it will be perfect for fans of Legends & Lattes, Apprentice to the Villain, and other cozy, romantic fantasies. Readers can expect culture shock and culture clashes, knights in shining armor, magical mishaps, embarrassing romantic encounters, epic magical battles, exotic creatures, and a mission to save the kingdom, but what will happen when Ava gets the chance to go home?

6. “Eyes of Glass” sounds like a thrilling sci-fi dystopian trilogy. What inspired the concept of genetically experimented-on children with unique abilities, and what themes do you explore in this series?

Eyes of Glass follows a girl who escapes from a scientific laboratory where she has been experimented on. Her escape leads to her meeting others just like her, some who the experiments worked on and some who were left permanently disfigured and/or disabled by the experiments. They’re fighting for their freedom, for the rights of low/no-sighted people, who face a desperate life in a country where social status is determined by your level of sightedness.

The answer is a little two-fold, with one half being something silly and the other being personal. The silly answer is the inspiration was a beholder from Dungeons and Dragons. The creature has something like 100 eyes, each of which has some sort of different ability if they look at you, from freezing you to turning you to stone and a whole bunch of other terrible ways for your D&D Character to die. So, I wanted something similar for Juniper, but not to have a face full of hundreds of eyes or eyes on stalks sticking out of her head. The personal answer is that As someone who has grown up with a prosthetic eye, interchangeable eyes seemed like the most obvious course of action. Each set of eyes, all with unique iris and pupil colors and patterns has a different ability. Some seen within the first book are the ability to read languages, see invisible, and turn things to (or from) stone.

But with interchangeable eyes comes those moments of vulnerability, where Juniper cannot see. It’s not just that she is blind, there is nothing in the eye sockets. She doesn’t want to be seen because she’s embarrassed and thinks that she’s some sort of freak. She’s of the belief that without her sight, she isn’t anything because that’s all she’s ever been told. Amongst the other escapees, she meets others who have had various other experiments, from Minnie who like her, has no eyes and the experiments failed on, to the girl Chouette, whose eyes work like those of an owl, able to work telescopically but without the ability to look sideways without turning her whole head. Everyone works together to bring down the mad scientist who did this to them (and need I say more? Mad scientists are cool!).

Doctor Nelson Sage is obsessed with eyes and what his army of “super soldiers” can do for him. One such way he has orchestrated this over many years is by encouraging society to shun anyone without perfect vision. As a result, he has an endless supply of occasionally willing subjects, who have no other choice, subjects who won’t be missed, and parents who gladly hand over their children to him with the reassurance that he can or will help them.

It’s up to Juniper and her friends to discover what it is he wants not only from them and all the others like them but from the entire continent, which he seems intent on dominating.

With no memory of her past, Juniper is also on a Mission to discover who she is and where she came from, but perhaps the greatest lessons she'll learn are that she’s stronger than she ever knew and that the best families, are the ones you choose to belong to.

The first Eyes of Glass book is currently in a second round of edits and I hope to share it with everyone soon! (Actually, it just came back and now I have to go through the suggestions to make the narrative truly shine!)

7. Lastly, as an Australian author, could you recommend some must-reads from Australian literature that you believe everyone should explore?

Off the top of my head, here are some of my favorites, but as I’ll read anything that’s interesting it’s hard to track down who’s Australian and who’s not!

• Jessica Townsend – I know this is children’s fantasy, but if you haven’t heard of Nevermoor, you are missing out on a bright, vibrant world full of interesting characters and even more interesting experiences.
• Alison Goodman – The Benevolent Society of Ill-mannered Ladies. Want some mystery? A historical setting, some romance, and something you can laugh with? I haven’t laughed so hard as I did with this book! You have got to give it a read!
• John Flannagan – I grew up on The Ranger’s Apprentice. I loved the books and I recall having to really make nice with the school librarian to get my name on the list first when a new book came out. The series has been followed up with several spin offs and continuations, so plenty of reading material here for the avid adventurer!
• Kerry Greenwood – Kerry Greenwood is something of an Australian Icon, bringing to the world the marvelous Phryne Fisher, which also became a very successful tv show (and if you can, totally try out the Chinese remake Miss S! It’s so good!) along with other great characters such as Corina Chapman, the baker turned amateur sleuth.

Conclusion