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Author Interview: F. James Blair




Name:  F. James Blair.  I'm a CPA (certified public accountant) by profession, living in Eastern Washington state. Besides writing I also maintain a small farm and like to do ultramarathon runs (or at least I did before children came along, hopefully I'll get back to those soon!).

Tell us about your Book:  I could probably spend a couple hours trying to name all the authors that either inspire me or who I try to emulate. Stephen King's Dark Tower series is my knee-jerk reaction, as it was the inspiration for my current series, but I also love the way Brandon Sanderson weaves his worlds so perfectly with his narratives. 

My current series is called Bulletproof Witch. It's probably best described as Weird West, and follows the adventures of a girl named Temperance Whiteoak, the granddaughter of a famous daemon hunter known as "Brimstone". My story follows her adventures as she works not only to maintain her family legacy, but locate the daemon that destroyed her hometown of Cold Valley. Oh, and she also has a talking horse! I don't know why, but everyone seems to fixate on that for some reason. 

The first book (which is really more of a novella) only took about two months from start to finish. After that I spent another eight fleshing out the rest of the world and plotting the remaining story. The biggest challenge was mostly in determining how much I could put into the book without bogging it down. I knew I wanted to keep it brief, more like a a little taste of the world at large, but also it had to be able to stand as a story in its own right. I ended up with a fast-paced pursuit story that teases some of the world at large, and must say I'm rather happy with how it all came together.

What is a Unique Bit of Lore About Your World:  I don't know how interesting this will be to OTHER people, but its something I particularly like about my world. The continent on which my story takes place, Korvana, is split into western and eastern halves by a massive mountain range called "The Divide". However, only the eastern side is inhabited, as no one that has set foot west of the mountains has ever returned. In addition, something from that area plays havoc with my world's climate, making cold winds blow from the west (or "blue westerners" as the locals call them).

What do you Enjoy Developing Most - Characters, Plot, or World:  Definitely the characters, or at least the main character. Temperance continues to reveal new layers of her personality with each step further she takes on her journey. It's both a joy and a constant source of worry for me as I watch her mature, like I have another child who I keep putting in life-threatening situations. I'm actually very worried for that girl's future, but I also can't stop putting her in harm's way. It's very distressing.

Bulletproof Witch: The Delivery of Flesh, is available for $0.99 from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JLDPZM7?ref_=pe_3052080_276849420

My next book will be the fourth in the Bulletproof Witch series, but my next project is actually going to be quite a departure from what I'm writing now. It's an agrarian fantasy called Greenfingers. I can't really reveal much about it yet, but it should be out around this time next year.

I can be found on my blog at www.fjblair.com, or on Reddit at u/fjbwriter.

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