Firewing by Jennifer R. Povey

I’m always happy to share with you when I discover a ‘new-to-me’ author and their latest release. Today I’m pleased to welcome author Jennifer R. Povey to Thoughts in Progress to talk about her upcoming book, FIREWING.

Now join me in giving a warm welcome to Jennifer. Jennifer, welcome. Please tell us about your pending release.

Hi! I’m Jennifer, and I’m here to talk about my latest book, FIREWING.

This is my first venture into full-length epic fantasy and was meant to be a standalone (my muse is laughing in a corner now, although I have other plans before I return to the world of Yirath).

Cat, our MC, started out as a character in an online RPG in a very different theme; there’s really nothing left of the original character except her name, the fact that she has wings, and the fact that she is, yes, quite gay. I went from this starting point for my worldbuilding. I also stole a god wholesale from an old D&D campaign (He doesn’t play an extensive role).

The original Cat was an urban fantasy character who was half-demon. I took that and then went “How do I do something different with the concept of demons?”

The demons of Yirath are not Abrahamic demons. They are the original inhabitants of Yirath, and are reptilian, although they are in many ways closer to dinosaurs than modern reptiles. They were created by a god to be the dominant species of the world.

After a conflict between the gods, a different god decided this wasn’t any fun at all and brought in a second dominant species: Humanity.

Thus, the demons of Yirath are not evil, but they are generally antagonistic to humans, have a different culture (I brought in elements of the ancient conflict between nomads and settlers here), a very different biology and in some ways stronger magic, especially in the area of fire magic.

They are also much better adapted to a world which is hotter and generally dryer than Earth, which led to another decision.

The human inhabitants of Yirath are darker-skinned. This doesn’t mean they map to an Earth ethnicity; they are their own ethnicity and aren’t meant to represent anything. It’s all about the worldbuilding.

So, that’s my process that came into the worldbuilding for this book. As for the story? Without spoilers, it’s about good versus evil not just in the world but in ourselves. It’s about war and peace and how we can never quite avoid the former.

It’s also about transcending who we are now to become who we’re meant to be. I hope that Cat’s journey and struggles resonate with at least somebody and that people have as much fun reading this as I had writing it.

FIREWING will be released in all eBook formats as well as paperback on May 22, 2020. You can pre-order the eBook from these links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087L4WRHK

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1017542

Or check out my Amazon author page for some of my other books: https://www.amazon.com/Jennifer-R-Povey/e/B006MONKKA?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_3&qid=1589394911&sr=1-3

Jennifer, thanks so much for joining us today and sharing this insight in how your book came about.

Author Jennifer R. Povey

Now for those who aren’t familiar with Jennifer, here’s a bit of background on her.

Jennifer R. Povey lives in Northern Virginia with her husband. She writes a variety of speculative fiction, whilst following current affairs and occasionally indulging in horse riding and role-playing games.

She has sold fiction to a number of markets including Analog, Daily Science Fiction, and Third Flatiron, and written RPG supplements for several companies. Her most recent novel is the epic fantasy FIREWING.

Thanks everyone for stopping by today during Jennifer’s visit. What are your thoughts on a story where good versus evil in ourselves as well as in the world? Do you enjoy stories where there are several struggles going on at once?