Welcome to my stop on the book tour for A Battle of Past and Present! I’m excited to share a fun interview I took part in especially for this tour. I sat down with Princess Alana’s royal guards and the interview was…entertaining, to say the least. I hope you enjoy!
Moderator: Hello everyone and welcome to a very special interview. Today, a few of Princess Alana’s royal guardsman are going to be interviewing Sharayah Maurice, author of The Chronicles of Tanithor: Age of the Oracle series. Before we get started, why don’t you gentlemen go ahead and introduce yourselves.
Avery: Oh! Me, me! *waves hand enthusiastically in the air* I’ll go. I’ll go first. Hiiii! My name is Tannin Avery. I’m twenty years old and used to be the youngest soldier to enlist in Latera’s military until this guy stole my thunder—
Koa: Well I guess that’s my cue to introduce myself. I’m Koa Kai, the newest member of Alana’s—I mean—Princess Alana’s royal guard. I’m still learning all the rules and procedures for the job…
Captain Pike: *pats Koa on the shoulder* You’re doing great, son. It’ll come naturally soon enough. Hello everyone, my name is Captain Pike…you know what? I don’t think I know my first name. Sharayah, what is my first name?
Sharayah: Oh my goodness! *laughs* I never gave you a first name. Oops. Well, now is as good a time as any! Let’s see…
Avery: OOO! How about George? He looks like a George.
Menard: He doesn’t look like a George.
Moderator: Well hold on a minute. Let’s finish introducing everyone before we ask the author questions. Tomas, why don’t you introduce yourself.
Menard: *humphs* Pretty sure you just introduced me by proxy…*crosses arms and glares at moderator*
Avery: *looks to moderator* Now you stole Menard’s thunder.
Moderator: So sorry, Menard. I just wanted to make sure everyone had a chance to introduce themselves. Would you like to add anything more about yourself?
Menard: No.
Moderator: Okay then…Captain Pike, why don’t you start off the interview with your first question to Sharayah.
Pike: Alright. Sharayah, I believe we just discovered that you never gave me a first name. Have you come up with one for me?
Sharayah: I have. What do you think about Chris?
Pike: Chris Pike… *Avery snorts* *Pike shoots him a look* I like it. Since we are on the subject. How do you come up with your character names?
Sharayah: I spend a lot of time looking up name meanings. Usually each character’s name has something to do with their character, history or personality. Alana’s name was inspired by one of King Triton’s daughters in The Little Mermaid. I thought it was fitting for a girl with the gift of water. Koa’s name means ‘brave’ and Kai means ‘sea.’ Also fitting for his history with the pirates and his bravery as a guard. For Latera’s characters, I always searched for Hawaiian names, ‘beach names’ or popular California names since that is the overall vibe of Latera that I wanted to create.
Pike: I didn’t have a first name until just now. Was there anything specific that inspired my character’s name?
Sharayah: Yes, actually. I literally got the name ‘Captain Pike’ from the 2009 movie, Star Trek. There are also some similarities in the relationship between Pike and Kirk and you and Koa that can be seen in A Bounty of Secrets and Rebellion. The inspiration for your character’s physical attributes also came from the actor who played Captain Pike in that movie.
Avery: Well we all know that my physical attributes were genius inspired!
Menard: Shut up.
Avery: Ah, you’re just jealous that Sharayah described me as better looking than you.
Sharayah: I don’t think I wrote it that way, actually.
Avery: Pretty sure you did. You know, when Koa was meeting us for the first time and you said that Menard was jealous of my good looks…
Sharayah: Technically, I think you made that claim.
Moderator: We are getting off topic here. Avery, do you have a question you would like to ask?
Avery: Yes, in fact I do. Am I, or am I not better looking than Menard?
*Collective groan from the guards*
Avery: It’s an honest question!
Sharayah: I’ll let the readers be the judge of that, Avery.
Menard: Sharayah, I have a question.
Sharayah: Great! Let’s hear it.
Menard: Why did you have to include Avery on our team?
Avery: Because I am the best.
Menard: I wasn’t asking you.
Sharayah: Avery knows how to lighten the mood. With all the serious events happening in Tanithor, his character serves to bring some comedic relief. Plus, he will play a bigger part in the story in later books so I wanted readers to get a sense of the type of person he is.
Avery: You hear that? *smirks at Menard* I’m better looking AND more important than you.
Menard: And full of yourself.
Avery: Oh! Will I get my own POV chapter?
Sharayah: Yes. Though not in book 2 or 3.
Menard: Glory to the All God! Don’t inflate his ego any further. How many books are there going to be anyway?
Sharayah: There will be five total.
Koa: In the last book tour for book 1, you said you were going to write a short story about my past. Is that still in the works?
Sharayah: Yes. My original plan was to make it a pre-order gift for book 2, but the story was a little longer than I thought it would be so now I am planning it to be a novella. Release date to be determined.
Avery: Will I get my own novella?
Menard: All your questions are about yourself.
Avery: What’s wrong with that?
Menard: *rolls eyes*
Sharayah: I don’t have one planned, but I’m not against it.
Menard: I have another question. Sharayah, what is your favorite type of scene to write?
Sharayah: Hmmm. I don’t know that I have a particular favorite. I love spending time in every scene because it’s just so fun to make what is in my head come to life through the written word. Action scenes are really fun, I love those swoony romantic moments, and writing dialogue between my favorite characters is also lots of fun. I love it all!
Avery: Who is your favorite character?
Sharayah: Ahhh, I don’t know if I should answer that…
Avery: It’s okay, you can tell us. Everyone already knows it’s me.
Sharayah: Yeah, no, I’m not going to answer that.
Avery: *whispers loudly to Menard* it’s me, she just doesn’t want you to feel badly.
Moderator: Okay we have time for just a few more questions. Koa, I see your hand is up. What would you like to ask Sharayah?
Koa: Well, as you know, I am an artist. I was just wondering if you are an artist as well?
Sharayah: I wouldn’t call myself an artist, but I do have some knowledge and experience in the arts. Everything you talked with Alana about in regards to art comes from my own knowledge of watercolor, drawing, painting, etc. That was a subject I didn’t have to do any research on as I was writing.
Pike: I have another question. Sharayah, if you could live in one of the four kingdoms of Tanithor, which would it be and why?
Sharayah: That’s a great question! I’d have to say Gaellen—
*collective shouts of dismay*
Sharayah: I’m sorry! Latera is great—wonderful really, but I just love the culture of Gaellen. When creating Gaellen, I drew inspiration from Scotland, a place I’ve always wanted to visit in real life, so Gaellen is like my way of going somewhere I’ve never been. Also, I just love the accents of the Gaellen people.
Moderator: Alright, that’s all the time we have. Thank you so much for joining us on this book tour. I hope you enjoyed this interview!
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