Interview and Giveaway The Girl (The Sanctum #1) by Madhuri Blaylock

Published: November 11th, 2013

Description:

The Sanctum, an all-powerful governing body founded by ten families, entrusted to maintain the peace amongst Magicals and ensure the ignorance of humans, has been corrupted by greed and savagery for generations, but is all Wyatt Clayworth has ever known.

A descendant of one of the Founding Families and Class A Warrior, Wyatt has always believed in the ways of The Sanctum, having grown up in the system and thrived under their leadership. A golden boy, renowned for his prowess and skill in battle, Wyatt has never questioned a mission or kill order until the night he crosses paths with a brutally injured and mysterious girl.

Scouring Central Park with his best friend and fellow Class A Warrior, Ryker Morrison, for the hybrid demon prophesied to bring an end to The Sanctum and destroy the world for Magicals and humans alike, Wyatt instead finds Dev and his whole life turns upside down. Told he was hunting a killing machine, hellbent on wreaking havoc and destruction upon all it encounters, Wyatt instead sees nothing more than a broken girl with haunted eyes and a bit of a death wish.

All Dev wants is for Wyatt to either kill her or leave her alone. When he refuses to do either, she finds herself being pulled into his life while being hunted by warriors everywhere she turns. Drawn to one another for reasons they cannot begin to explain to themselves, much less anyone else, Wyatt is determined to protect Dev and help her realize her mission to avenge the deaths of her family at the hands of The Sanctum. His abdication of his duties and his outright rejection of his responsibilities to The Sanctum create a maelstrom of events beyond anyone’s imagination.

MB's INTERVIEW

Thank you, Mrs.Madhuri Blaylock 

How do you transform the rigid “lawyerly” writing style into an artistic one?

I don’t think I ever really fit into the rigid box of legal writing, but rather came to law school already a creative writer and then had to learn to conform to the strict parameters of legal writing. In fact, my legal writing professor told me that one day I would write a great novel, but while I was in her class, I was going to learn to write like a lawyer. 

So it actually hasn’t been that difficult to break away from being a lawyer and escape into the skin of a fiction writer. I’m much happier this way. A colleague and close friend commented on it the other day, telling me that ever since I’ve published The Girl and started working on book II in The Sanctum trilogy, I seem so happy and bright. I definitely feel happy and bright.

What kind of woman is your Dev: damsel in distress or a kick ass heroine? (Does she have a burro?)

Dev is most definitely a kick ass heroine. I had been reading a lot of fantasy and paranormal fiction and was finding myself desiring more from the female characters. I wanted to meet a girl who knew she was powerful and wonderful and amazing all on her own, instead of needing a boy to tell her, so I created Dev. 

She is fully aware of her powers and capabilities, her creation and what makes her special. She has always known she was meant for greatness, so there is no need for anyone to explain that to her. But underneath that hard exterior is a vulnerable girl who’s grieving and in need of a friend.

[I’m sad to report that no, Dev does not have a burro. But I’m betting that if she did, he would be the most kick ass burro around. And he would be named Jagger...cuz he would just be cool like that.]

Paranormal/Fantasy Creatures: different types, different approaches – how are yours?

In The Girl, aside from Dev and the warriors for The Sanctum, the only other Magicals we meet are vampires, faeries and trolls. 

The vamps are the coolest. I love vampires, always have. Everything about them evokes power and sex and desire, but they are also incredibly vicious and deadly, so you never really know what they’re going to do because they’re really capable of anything. 

My trolls are highly intelligent, incredibly tall, very sexy beings, physically unlike the trolls you typically see in books or movies. When I was conducting research on trolls, I happened across a drawing of a very beautiful troll and instantly fell in love with the idea of creating a race of stunningly strange and beautiful trolls. 

Playing a much smaller roll are my faeries, who are incredibly wise, powerful, beautiful beings. They’re generally peaceful creatures but when provoked, can and will resort to and use extreme violence. 

There is room for humor in your books? If yes, why, what kind of humor do you prefer and how hard is to write good lines?

There is a little humor in The Girl; it’s rather necessary to avoid the pratfall of seeming so very serious or too tedious to read. I want my readers’ experience to be enjoyable and part of that is to be able to laugh a little here and there. 

In The Girl, the humor comes from the banter between the characters more so than comical situations or mishaps. I’m not a comedian nor have I ever written comedy, mostly because it seems incredibly difficult and I’m not sure I’m that funny, but I’m fully capable of a good one-liner every so often, so that’s what I’ve tried to interject throughout the novel. Darby, Ryker, Jools, Josiah, and even Carter Breslin each offer moments of levity, although I highly doubt the latter ever intends anything about, involving or concerning himself to be at all funny. 

How credible must be a fantasy world?

I’m not sure it’s so much a matter of credibility as it is a matter of being well thought out and described. Fantasy in and of itself is incredible, it inherently involves a suspension of our belief. It’s then upon the writer to care enough for her world to provide enough detail and description that the fantasy world becomes a reality for the reader. Once you’ve done that, then anything is credible, no matter how fantastical it might be.

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About the author:

Madhuri Blaylock is a lawyer by day, writer and avid shoe and dress buyer at all other times. She lives in Jersey City, but her heart remains firmly planted in Brooklyn via Snellville, Georgia. Her husband, Henry, is also a lawyer, and only a lawyer because he actually likes being a lawyer (go figure), probably always wanted to be a lawyer and is really, really good at all things lawyerly. He's also pretty hot.

She’s got a big kid, Miss Sydney, and a little kid, the one and only Dash. They're awesome and fierce and supremely cool and able to make her laugh at the strangest things. She would love to add a dog, some chickens, a goat and a burro to this crew. Everyone needs a burro.

Some of her favorites, in no particular order: ice cream, Kill Bill, four-inch heels, Matt Damon, tattoos, Laini Taylor, scotch on the rocks, The Sanctum trilogy, random office supplies, Martha's Vineyard, "The Girl" aka my Mini, Rihanna, Doc Martens, tulips, photo booths and dancing like a fool.

One day she plans to grow up. Right now, she’s enjoying the adventure.

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