Fighting For Home
Descendants of the Amazoi Book 1
by Kim Richards
Genre: Historical Fantasy
In 300 B.C.—the Greco-Roman Age—tribes of warrior women thrived near the Black Sea. The area is now modern-day Turkey. The Greeks called them Amazoi (meaning Mankiller). Inspired by their story, Fighting for Home sings the tale of one tribe as they battle to save their way of life. Healing magic is real! Ilenea and Saphira, the wolf sisters, battle close to home with others of their generation. A healer priestess named Essla travels to a temple of Artemis at Anthela with her male slave, bringing a call to arms for the pending war. She meets and falls in love with a Roman General. Whatever the outcome, this war changes everyone.
What are your top 10 favorite books/authors?
Preston & Child (their Pendergast Novels); Weiss & Hickman (Dragonlance Series); Hope Clark (The Carolina Slade Mysteries and The Edisto Island Mysteries); Sephera Giron (all her books); Marion Zimmer Bradley (The Mists of Avalon); Doug Clegg (Mordred, Bastard Son and others); Anne Rice; Loren Rhoads (she writes paranomals but I love her books and articles on Cemeteries most); Karina Fabian (SF/F); John Everson (numerous horror books).
Do you prefer to write in silence or with noise? Why?
Music inspires me. It has my entire life. I’m one of those writers who creates a soundtrack for their novel. I generally pick a theme or a character idea and find songs which go with that theme. I play them while I brainstorm and as a way to get myself back into the story each time I sit down to write. (I also buy a scented candle for the same purpose.)
I print out the lyrics. I like to incorporate ideas from the lyrics into my story. Even though I chose the songs based on a theme idea or character, there are always other imagery and themes to explore. I try to incorporate at least one from each song into the novel.
I would like to share a song video with you. It isn’t on my soundtrack for Fighting for Home because it was just released this past spring. Had it been released when I was originally writing this book, it would’ve been on my soundtrack. I did play it during my final editing. It strongly represents how I view the warrior women in this novel.
The song’s by a band and an artist I listen to already. They collaborated to link very different musical styles. I’ve written to both, asking for permission to use it in a book video but have not received a response.
It’s called Song of Women. By The Hu and Lizzy Hale of Halestorm.
Here’s a Youtube link to the video.
Do you write one book at a time or do you have several going at a time?
I have several in varying stages. Book 2 of the Descendants of the Amazoi is written. I plan to revise and edit it next. Book 3 is plotted out.
I have a horror novel about Satan and how he’s tormented women over the years. My protagonist is a young Hispanic gang member trying to save his girl. That one is out in submission. I also have a partially written book about an African demon and his influence over two families over the years. I plan to finish that one and take it to the next Borderlands Writer’s Bootcamp. Then I have a haunted mansion story written which needs some expansion, revision, and editing. I certainly will be busy!
To answer the question, I have these projects but work on each one at a time. It’s common advice to writers to put away a finished story, then come back to revise and edit after time away from it. When I do this, I work on another and don’t sit around.
What is your writing process? For instance, do you do an outline first? Do you do the chapters first?
I brainstorm and then lightly outline. I have many stories I started which went nowhere because I had no idea where I was going when I started. Once I got over the ego trip of thinking I was too good for an outline, I started completing novels. I have to know the destination before I can make the journey successfully.
Once I know the basic timeline, I work out characters and relationships. Themes come into play so I seldom write in a straight line. If there’s a theme throughout, I write those scenes first so they connect across the novel. There’s time to decide their placement later.
I also surround my desk with images of places, people who remind me of a character, objects which come to play. For Fighting for Home, I have maps of ancient Thermadon and Greece. I have images of weapons used at the time and other museum pieces depicting Amazon women. In my research, I discovered the honey bees there are typically white so there’s a photo of a little white bee.
Excerpt 1:
Thup. Thup. The second archer cried out as two of Xanthi’s arrows buried themselves into his thigh and hip. He let his own arrow fly. Leaves rustled where his arrows disappeared among the tree branches. He fumbled with an arrow, trying to notch it quickly when he heard the rustle again.
The archer looked up as Xanthi leaped from the bushes with her spear in hand. There was no time for him to raise his bow before the bronze point burrowed its way through his leather cuirass, seeking the tender flesh beneath.
At his wretched cry, the shield man to the left took a wild swing with his sword. He caught Xanthi just below the left collarbone. It sliced through her leather jerkin, taking breast flesh with it.
Crying out from the pain, she fell to her knees as blood poured from the gash. One hand pressed against the wound as her other fumbled for her knife.
Xanthi’s man turned his attention from her. He should’ve advanced. Celete used it to her advantage and swung her axe up the inside of his shield. It’s blade cleaved his stomach wide open. His guts spilled out over her hand—hot and sticky. He toppled sideways, landing in the dirt before Xanthi. With a roar befitting any lioness, she clawed at his face for what he did to her.
Excerpt 2:
The beast took advantage of that helpless moment to sink its teeth into her neck, beneath the chin. With one twist of its head, it tore a gaping hole in Atanea’s throat.
Atanea tried to cry out to Ilenea to get away, but the sound died before it took form. Her warm blood bubbled up like a fountain, flowing down her shoulders and sides of her neck. She reached a bloody hand toward the girl.
The last thing Atanea saw in this life was an image of her daughter, beyond the moving furred legs, doubled over as if punched in the stomach and screaming. Oh, my baby…her mind cried out. Get away. Ilenea’s screams dimmed into silence. Darkness crowded the edges of Atanea’s vision, growing until it shut out everything and swept her into oblivion. Get away!
Kim Richards is an author, editor, and book formatter. She writes horror, fantasy, science fiction, erotica, non-fiction, and children's books under her name Kim Richards and two pseudonyms: Sharie Silva and Kim Bundy.
Born and raised in Roswell, NM Kim now lives in Northern California where she is supervised by two cats and a small dog. She enjoys sewing, bellydancing, music, movies, and occasionally gardening.
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