{"id":167154,"date":"2022-06-07T10:51:12","date_gmt":"2022-06-06T23:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/?p=167154"},"modified":"2022-06-09T13:01:25","modified_gmt":"2022-06-09T02:01:25","slug":"brigid-kemmerer-is-going-back-to-emberfall-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/2022\/06\/07\/brigid-kemmerer-is-going-back-to-emberfall-heres-why\/","title":{"rendered":"Brigid Kemmerer is going back to Emberfall \u2014 here’s why!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Brigid<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Brigid Kemmerer is the author of the New York Times bestselling Cursebreaker series, which includes A Curse So Dark and Lonely, A Heart So Fierce and Broken, and A Vow So Bold and Deadly. She has also written the contemporary young adult romances Call It What You Want, More Than We Can Tell, and Letters to the Lost, as well as paranormal young adult stories, including the Elemental series and Thicker Than Water. A full-time writer, Brigid lives in the Baltimore area with her family.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Brigid Kemmerer is here to share a little bit about why she wanted to return to Emberfall, the world of the Cursebreaker series, in her new YA novel, Forging Silver into Stars<\/a><\/strong> (slight spoilers for Cursebreaker ahead!). Read on! <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n
\"Brigid<\/a>

Brigid Kemmerer<\/p><\/div>\n

Why I’m returning to Emberfall in Forging Silver into Stars<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n

When I first wrote A Curse So Dark and Lonely<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, I wasn\u2019t sure it would be a trilogy at all, much less that it would eventually spawn a spinoff series. The original inspiration for Curse<\/em> was my favourite fairy tale \u201cBeauty and the Beast,\u201d which I realise isn\u2019t very unique on the surface. (It is a tale as old as time, right?) But for me, what most captured my imagination was the kingdom outside the castle. We always heard about the prince being turned into a beast, but what about the rest of the royal family? They were gone! Who was ruling the country? Who was in power? Would other kingdoms try to invade? I had to know! When I started writing Curse<\/em>, I immediately took Harper (my \u201cbeauty\u201d) out of the castle and put her among the people to see if she could help them. But once I created the kingdom of Emberfall and the neighbouring queendom of Syhl Shallow, I realised I had worlds and characters I was going to want to keep visiting again and again\u2014and I hoped readers would, too.<\/p>\n\n\n

The Cursebreaker trilogy<\/a><\/strong> ended with our protagonists in love and the warring territories of Emberfall and Syhl Shallow finally at peace. That story was done\u2014but I still had so many more stories to tell. In the original trilogy, I\u2019d introduced a character named Tycho, who was a fifteen-year-old stablehand. Tycho was only supposed to be a minor character, a boy who wasn\u2019t supposed to live long at all. But the very instant I put Tycho on the page, I just fell in love with him. He was so loyal and so earnest, despite his tortured past. In Forging Silver Into Stars<\/em>, Tycho finally gets a chance to be the main character. As the new trilogy is set four years in the future, he\u2019s now nineteen years old and he\u2019s had quite the \u201dglow up\u201d: his devotion and loyalty have paid off, and he\u2019s earned the title of King\u2019s Courier, the only man trusted to carry secret messages between the royal families of Emberfall and Syhl Shallow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Once I created the kingdom of Emberfall and the neighbouring queendom of Syhl Shallow, I realised I had worlds and characters I was going to want to keep visiting again and again\u2014and I hoped readers would, too.’<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But Tycho isn\u2019t the only star of the story. I love showing multiple perspectives so I can really dig into all sides of a story, so in Forging Silver Into Stars<\/em>, readers will see the royal courts from Tycho\u2019s point of view\u2014and the poor town of Briarlock through the eyes of best friends Callyn and Jax. One of the greatest things about writing fantasy is that you can be imaginative and escapist but also still dig into real world issues. What I started with the Cursebreaker series (where characters challenge magic and face adventure while exploring themes like family obligation, grief, personal responsibility, found family, and first love) I took to another level in Forging Silver into Stars<\/em>, where readers will find more adventure and magic and swordplay. But underneath all the fun, readers will find that Tycho, Jax, and Callyn are dealing with themes tackling consent, sexual trauma, abuse, and class differences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s been an amazing journey creating these characters and these worlds, and I\u2019m so excited for my readers to join them on their adventures. I can\u2019t wait to see where else they take me. Readers who are new to my books shouldn\u2019t hesitate to jump right in with Forging Silver into Stars<\/em>, either\u2014reading the previous trilogy isn\u2019t required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Forging Silver into Stars<\/a><\/em> by Brigid Kemmerer (Bloomsbury) is out now.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The bestselling YA author on the inspiration behind Forging Silver into Stars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":167162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[954,8632,14424,2303,12488,6644,10422],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/BrigidKemmererGuestBlog-Social.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167154"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167154"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":167524,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167154\/revisions\/167524"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}