I Am Not Your Chosen One High Fantasy Humorous M/M Romance by Evelyn Benvie ➱ Book Tour with Giveaway
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Book Title: I Am Not Your Chosen One
Author: Evelyn Benvie
Publisher: Mischief Corner Books
Cover Artist: Natasha Snow
Release Date: June 14, 2022
Genres: High Fantasy Humor, M/M Romance, Demisexual romance
Tropes: Refusal of the Call, Slow Burn Romance
Themes: Found family, self-acceptance, finding home
Heat Rating: 1 flame
Length: 102 000 words
It is the first book in a new series and does not end on a cliffhanger.
Buy Links - Available for Pre-Order
Magic in Allune is dying.
The stars and the goddess call out for a Chosen Hero to save it.
Unfortunately, all they get is Kell.
Blurb
IKell Hồ Sinh Porter is twenty-six years old and desperate to leave his unhappy life and his dead-end town. One night his wish is granted by a mysterious voice—though not in any way he would've imagined—and he finds himself in the semi-magical land of Allune where everyone thinks he’s the “Chosen One.” Kell politely disagrees, and absconds from his duties. On the search for an adventure that doesn’t come with world-saving responsibility attached, he’s joined by companions. Every adventurer needs them, but his turn out to be Ansel, a sheltered fallen angel, and Fre, a half-orlk who wants to be a hero.
Destiny, bad luck, and the gods conspire against him. The Dawn Goddess wants him to take up his Chosen One mantle, which Kell is sure means becoming cannon fodder in an ancient divine war. The Lich King’s demonic minions carry out sporadic attacks in an attempt to kill him and prove he is not the Chosen One. Temperamental elves, talking stars that aren't all that helpful, image-conscious demons, maddening pieces of prophecy that everyone thinks Kell should already know, and his growing feelings for Ansel all mix in a frustrating stew as Kell tries to juggle his feelings, his duties, and all the things trying to kill him. No one asked him if he wanted to be anyone's Chosen One, and he can't begin to understand why he was chosen. Kell needs to figure out who to trust and how to forge his own path before it's too late for Allune and for him.
Excerpt
Kell woke up slowly. Awareness filtered back to him in pieces. Rough wood under his palms. The warmth of the sun on his skin. The low, tumbling murmur of gathered people. Something weighing hot and heavy against his ribcage. The scent of fresh baking and old sweat mixing on his tongue. He wrinkled his nose and blinked his eyes open.
He was lying on a platform near the middle of town, judging by the smell and the noise. That wasn't necessarily troubling in and of itself. But the sky …
It was blue, yes, and the sun was midmorning high and bright enough to make his eyes water. But there were stars speckling the sky all above him, little pink pinpricks of light dusting what should have been a solid-blue backdrop. Kell stared at them hard for a long moment, then closed his eyes again.
Weren't dreams supposed to end when you woke up? What was this, a dream within a dream?
Whatever it was, he didn't feel up to dealing with it right now.
Apparently the world wasn't going to give him a choice. Someone nudged at his leg, gently at first but with increasing insistence.
Someone, Kell thought, with perhaps an edge of bubbling hysteria, or something. He giggled a little, biting his lip to keep the sound in. God, what is with me?
Maybe he had heat stroke. It was unusually warm out now for only being March.
What had happened last night? Fuck it. He didn't remember getting drunk enough to pass out in the middle of the street. He didn't remember planning on drinking at all.
A throat cleared above him, polite but impatient. Oh, well. Time for him to get up anyway before he got cited for public drunkenness or whatever. Kell made an effort to lift his head, but it was hard, and he was tired, and staying here a little longer couldn't hurt, right?
Was public drunkenness even a real crime?
"Oh for the love of Skuache …" someone muttered, and then Kell found himself being gripped firmly on either side and hauled upwards. He let out a yelp of surprise, flailing around as strong arms did their best to hold him steady. The world spun as he opened his eyes, and it took a moment to get his feet under him. He staggered a bit, keeping his eyes trained on his feet for balance until he felt he wouldn't fall over at any moment. Not that his rescuers had any intention of letting him go any time soon, with the way they held onto his arms just this side of too tight.
Shouldn't have wished for the cops last night if this is where it gets me.
"Really, goddess," the person continued to mutter. They sounded close. And important in a kind of college professor way. The kind used to lecturing and looking down on failing students. Kell dubbed him Professor Throat Clearer and entertained a brief image of a stuffy man in tweed giving lectures on how to properly interrupt conversation with discreet noises. It sounded like a fun class. Kell would have taken it.
"I have faith in your efforts, I truly do," Professor Throat Clearer continued, speaking low and to himself. "But I swear, these Chosen get worse every time."
Introduce yourself and your writing
My name is Evelyn and I write queer fantasy, paranormal, and very occasionally sci-fi stories about people who find themselves in strange situations and have to make the best of it. I have a very Millennial sense of humor and that reflects heavily on both my characters and my plots. The stakes are never that high, the characters are never that heroic, and the romance is never that simple, but it’s always there.
Author Interview
Tell us about your new release. What inspired you to write it?
I Am Not Your Chosen One is the story of Kell, an ordinary 26 year old who becomes the Chosen One of a magical world and discovers that a millennium of corruption and infighting has made the position worthless.
I have a love/hate relationship with the chosen one trope in general. It has so much potential for humor and irony but is often used to shoehorn the hero into situations where the outcome is already determined by destiny. I wanted to write something that was both less predictable but not Madoka Magica levels of brutal. I Am Not Your Chosen One is what I came up with.
How did you decide on the title?
The title was actually one of the easiest parts of the book to write and one of the first things I thought of. This book started off as a rather simple “what if the chosen one didn’t want to be the chosen one” trope and the title came directly from that.
What is the hardest part of writing any book?
The middle.
Why M/M?
I don’t set out to write M/M specifically so much as books that are just filled with queerness. So while the main romance is M/M, the world itself is filled with casual non-binary and polyamory acceptance. This book is just really gay, y’all.
What book/s are you reading at the moment?
I’m currently reading the Heartstopper graphic novel series by Alice Oseman (I’m on book 3 now) and The Witch King by H. E. Edgmon.
What novels do you adore/re-read?
Tian Guan Ci Fu (Heaven Official’s Blessing) by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, and the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett
Are any of your characters based on you or people you know?
My main characters are always a little bit based on me. When I have to write a character’s perspective for an entire book (or for the Not Your Chosen series, multiple books), a little bit of my personality and humor is always going to seep in. Kell from I Am Not Your Chosen One definitely shares a lot of qualities with me, but he is still a character in his own right.
Do characters and stories just pop into your head, or do you take your time thinking about and planning them?
Ideas will just pop into my head, but they are often very incomplete. I have characters and stories for at least thirty more books just floating around my head and Google Drive right now, but they will require a lot of thinking and planning to become fully plotted out worlds and books.
Are you a panster or a plotter?
I plot out the major story beats and pants my way between them. The best (or the worst) of both methods.
How often do you write? Do you have a schedule?
HA HA HA no. I have never managed to stick to a schedule in my life. That’s part me and part the ADHD, but I do keep a writing calendar where I keep track of what days I do and don’t write. So I can look at it and see I haven’t written for two weeks and at least know I should feel guilty about that.
What are your writing and personal goals for 2022 and beyond?
I need to finish writing the third and theoretically final book of this series, and then I have so many plans for other books to write. So many. I’m also looking into going back to school for a Master of Library Science degree, but that’s less certain right now. We’ll just have to wait and see what the future holds!
About the Author
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