Eve of Snows received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.
Following find an interview with author L. James Rice.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
Eve of Snows, June 2018
What’s the book’s first line?
“It will ease your worries to know you aren’t dead, but it shouldn’t.”
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
A young priestess named Eliles stands in the heart of a centuries-old conspiracy destined to unleash holy war or demonic genocide; through lies, manipulation, and murder, she’s on a seventeen-day march to fulfill or defy prophecy.
The classic Hollywood pitch for the Sundering the Gods Saga: Game of Thrones meets The Trail of Tears and Moses.
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
Life. Struggles. Victories. These are the basic elements of the human experience that brought about the character details and themes, but the “story inspiration” is found in tales yet to be told. Eve of Snows was born as backstory to a massive world-building project. The book’s introduction is a piece called “A Forgotten Voice” and in this brief dialogue spoken to a character, but feels written to the reader, there are hints of what the book is really about, which is an underlying world story only beginning to unfold. So, in one respect, I would say the inspiration for Eve of Snows was the necessity to lay a strong foundation for the future, and at some point, I realized the story was too good not to be told in full.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
Entertainment! That’s what great fiction is all about, and if you pick up some themes along the way, all the better. Eve of Snows and the subsequent books in the Sundering the Gods Saga offer the opportunity to read for pure, dark, epic fantasy fun, or you can piece together thematic elements from every plot and subplot, exploring the human condition, applying allegory if you like, and dig as deep as you want.
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?
The first question is, who is the main character? This comes down to a choice between Eliles and Ivin, and I think there is one common trait the two have that several readers have mentioned: modesty. In the world of fantasy, there are a lot classic James Bond types, and there are lots of “damaged” characters with bad attitudes, but while Eliles has seen her share of pain and mental anguish that might have brought out a darkness in others, she is unbroken and powerful while keeping a level head. Ivin is the understated hero, the quiet guy who doesn’t brag about how he will get things done or how he got them done, he just does them and goes about his business.
They remind me of the many ordinary people I’ve met in life, taking things as they come, and doing their best.
If they made your book into a movie, who would you like to see play the main character(s)?
You would have to pull up CGI for that!
Ivin: a young Paul Newman.
Eliles: a young Olivia de Havilland.
Solineus: a young Clint Eastwood.
The Touched: David Bowie.
When did you first decide to become an author?
When I was 12, or thereabouts. A couple of years after reading The Lord of the Rings.
Is this the first book you’ve written?
Yes. I’ve written several screenplays, but Eve of Snows is my first novel.
How much time do you generally spend on your writing?
In a sense, every waking moment, and probably much of the time I’m asleep. Actual keyboard? 3-6 hours per day.
What’s the best and the hardest part of being an indie?
Best part: Complete control over the product.
Hardest part: Marketing.
What’s a great piece of advice that you can share with fellow indie authors?
Persevere.
Would you go traditional if a publisher came calling? If so, why?
Yes, I would. I think Traditional publishers still allow authors to broaden their audience. But it would have to be the right deal at the right time. The notion of being a hybrid is appealing.
Is there something in particular that motivates you (fame? fortune?)
The stories have been building in my head for thirty years, they need to get out.
Which writer, living or dead, do you most admire?
Flip a coin: J.R.R. Tolkien or Charles Dickens.
Which book do you wish you could have written?
I could be obvious from the above answer and say A Tale of Two Cities, or A Christmas Carol, or The Lord of the Rings, but I’ll switch it up and say this:
The Silence of the Lambs, by Thomas Harris. From the prose to the characters, to every detail in the plot structure, this is simply a classic. It really isn’t my style of writing, but it is one great book.