J.A. Pitts is the contributor for this week’s Take Five, a regular series where we ask authors and editors to share five facts about their latest books. Pitts is the author of Honeyed Words, the sequel to 2010’s Black Blade Blues. Honeyed Words will be available to purchase in July 2011.
Sarah Beauhall is a blacksmith, has a night job as a props manager for a low-budget movie, and spends her free time fighting in a medieval re-enactment group. Her world falls apart when she discovers that dragons are real and live among us as shapeshifters; in fact, it is they who have been the secret masters of our world from time immemorial. On top of all this, it appears that Sarah has managed to reforge an ancient sword that everyone suddenly wants…and those who don’t want the weapon want Sarah to take on her destiny and become humanity’s savior.
As Sarah tries to make her way in this new world, she discovers just how little she knows of reality. Fairies and dwarves and giants abound, the fault line of the Pacific Northwest is rife with ancient Norse magic. Odin himself appears with ravens at his side and cryptic advice for the fledgling heroine. And the cherry on the sundae? The discovery that Sarah’s girlfriend is from a family that has been battling these forces for generations and they look to Sarah as their last best hope.
What’s a girl to do when the powers of the world decide that you’re responsible for cleaning up the magical mess?
J.A. Pitts:
1) I wrote the original lyrics used in the book.
2) I listen to music when I write. I run three sound tracks, depending on the type of scene I’m writing: Heavy metal (Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Rob Zombie, etc.), Mellow: CSNY, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, etc. and RUSH. (Any and everything as they are the best band ever.)
3) In the first book of this series, Black Blade Blues, I misstated the Olympic Peninsula as the Cascade Peninsula in the hard back and trade paperback, but corrected it in the mass market. Now, I discover I’ve done something similar in Honeyed Words. If you figure it out, comment on my website www.japitts.net.
4) I once spent three hours trying to find the exact correct name for a horse in this series.
5) I used to ride a motorcycle, but crashed it doing forty miles an hour on a country road, at two in the morning just as it started to rain. Helmet saved my life.
