Interview by Brock Eastman Featuring Realm Walkers I am honored to have interviewed Donita K. Paul about her new book series Realm Walkers. Donita is known for being a pioneer in Speculative Christian Fiction and she brought dragons to life in a phenomenal and God honoring way with her best-selling DragonKeeper Chronicles. Now she brings us an exciting new series. I hope you’ll enjoy this brief look into her sure-to-be-best-selling series. Brock: What inspired you to create Realm Walkers? Donita: One day I was thinking about Christopher Columbus. Then I thought about all the people who thought the world was flat. And I wondered what would happen if your world was flat? How would you get from one pancake world to the others? Is there a federation to demand your allegiance? Are there dragons? Of course there are dragons! Brock: Yes dragons! Can we expect any new kinds of dragons in this series? Donita: The dragons we come across in this fantasy realm are mor dragons. They are shapeshifters. Most mor dragons can manage 4 forms. Their dragon form, a fighting form, a flight form, and a camouflage form. Brock: Sounds complex. 4 forms? Do you sketch out what the dragons look like in each of these forms? Could we see a sketch or two if you have one? Donita: I can’t send you pictures. It would have to be a picture of a haystack or a cow or a boulder or a warhorse or . . . When a dragon shifts, the purpose it so look like the object or person or animal. However, on one of my Pinterest boards, I have some rabbits who look like shapeshifters to me. Click here to see them. Brock: How did you come up with the name Cantor D’Ahma? Donita: A cantor is the chief singer of the liturgy in a church. He is also a religious official. In One Realm Beyond, our hero is destined to be a realm walker, who will serve the people as a representative of the God-figure, Primen. Primen is pronounced in two syllables, the first one like mathematical prime, a prime number. D’Ahma indicates that he was trained by someone named Ahma. Brock: Can you describe our main character? Donita: Cantor was given into the care of a very old, retired realm walker, Ahma. He’s an average, healthy young man, eager to fulfill his destiny. He’s been brought up to be a realm walker. Now all he has to do is attend the last of his training, polishing his skills under the watchful eye of the Realm Walker Guild. Oh, and on the way he has to acquire his lifelong partner, a sidekick, called a constant. And this constant will be chosen from the shapeshifting dragons on another plane. Brock: Can you tell us anything about the Guild? Donita: The guild is made up of men who are not realm walkers. Initially, they gathered information and sent the realm walkers to ease the difficulties in a certain area. The realm walkers might teach natives to plow, sow, and harvest. They might build a bridge. They could bring to justice a criminal faction. Over the years, corrupt men gained power within the guild. There are 99 guildmen, and only three are said to be trustworthy, but no one knows which three. Their existence is only seen in hidden ballots when the three vote for righteous acts. Brock: What is a Realm Walker? Donita: All around us, portals are opening and closing. We don’t see them, but realm walkers are born with the ability to see and use the portals. These gateways lead to other planes. This planeary (not misspelled) system includes worlds that are not round, but flat. They resemble pancakes in a roughly formed stack with great spaces between them. There is no space travel. Brock: Wow, very interesting. Care to tell us how you travel between them? And what makes up the space between the planes. Is it a breathable atmosphere. Donita: No breathable air. It is the realm walkers who travel through portals to the different planets, or as they are called here, planes. Brock: How many books can we expect in the Realm Walkers series? Donita: Three! Brock: That’s sad, because we always want more from your creative imagination. Infinite is really the only satisfying answer you could have given me. But we’ll be honored to have these three. Will they be larger (page count) then The DragonKeeper Chronicles? Donita: My books are usually between 90,000 and 110,000 words and these are hitting that same range. Brock: Is the world anyway tied to our beloved Dragon Keeper Chronicles? Donita: No, this is a fresh new world populated with serious folk and a sprinkling of zany individuals. Brock: How has it been getting behind the keyboard again and diving into a new world? Donita: It’s been difficult. I had a stroke in March, and when I started the second book, I couldn’t remember what happened in the first. Also, I had to be patient while my brain retrained to function with one damaged eye. Things are much better now, but I tire easily and I connect with God frequently to get His wonderful power to persevere. Fortunately, the characters are engaging, and they pull me in and let me get carried away! Brock: Thank you so much for bringing us this wonderful look at your new series. So be ready for this exciting new adventure. I’m not sure I have ever told Ms. Paul, but her DragonKeeper Chronicles were the first Christian fiction books I’d read as an adult and they hooked me. In fact they inspired me to take my own work out of the box and get published. So thank you Ms. Paul! You can join her for Monday night chats, and keep up to date with the latest information on this new series or learn about being an author, visit: www.donitakpaul.com. Meet her in the chat room at 7:00 pm Mountain time. One Realm Beyond (Book 1): Cantor D’Ahma has waited his whole life for this day. Born with a gift, the young Realm Walker is finally ready to leave his elderly mentor and accept his role as protector and defender of the realms. But mere hours after he first steps through a portal, Cantor discovers that his job will be more dangerous and difficult than he ever imagined. The realms are not as safe as they once were, and members of the Realm Walkers Guild have become corrupt and can no longer be trusted. To make matters worse, his first assignment—finding a dragon to assist him on his quest—has led him to one who is clearly inept. With the help of his new friends Bixby and Dukmee, Cantor must uncover the secrets of the corrupt Guild before they become too powerful to be stopped. But can his skills progress in time? And will Cantor remember where his true allegiance lies?
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Follow meArchives
May 2024
Categories
All
|