Today we are very excited to share an interview with Author Cinda Williams Chima (Bane of Asgard)!
Meet the Author: Cinda Williams Chima
Cinda Williams Chima is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who writes fantasy for teens of all ages. In addition to the Runestone Saga, her critically acclaimed work includes the Heir Chronicles and the Seven Realms series. She lives in Asheville, North Carolina, and she is always working on her next novel. Find out more at cindachima.com.
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About the Book: The Runestone Saga: Bane of Asgard
The highly anticipated sequel in the acclaimed Runestone Saga from New York Times bestselling author Cinda Williams Chima—with more adventure, mystery, and plot twists than ever before!
Reunited in New Jotunheim, Reginn, Eiric and Liv discover that they are game pieces being played on a hidden board. Eiric’s slaughter of the old council has opened Tyra’s path to power—she now has the perfect excuse to launch a war against the Archipelago. Tyra is also using her dottir, Liv, as a vehicle to raise a dangerous goddess. And Reginn is tasked with crossing the boundary between the living and the dead to gain access to powerful magical secrets.
With Reginn’s help, Eiric escapes prison and returns home to find his brodir and warn the Archipelago of the impending attack. Meanwhile, she remains at the Grove to try to prevent the outbreak of war. Soon, though, Reginn learns her true role in this game: use her power to raise the dead to ensure victory for New Jotunheim. The demon Asger Eldr tells her that she alone can prevent another Ragnarok. But how?
Back in the Archipelago, Eiric agrees to join the king’s forces, though that means taking up arms against his systir, Liv, and Reginn, the spinner who has ensnared his heart. For perhaps the first time in his life, he dreads the coming fight.
As the two sides prepare for an apocalyptic battle, Eiric, Reginn, and Liv find allies and enemies in unexpected places and draw on new strengths as they seek to prevent the destruction of the last of the Nine Worlds.
~Author Chat~
YABC: How was writing the sequel different from the first book?
Writing a sequel can be challenging for a pantser like me. When the plot takes an unexpected turn, or a character reveals hidden agendas, there are times that I wish I could go back and make small changes in Book 1 that foreshadow these events. Short of pasting sticky notes into published books, there’s no getting around what’s in print.
On the other hand, in a sequel, the groundwork is laid when it comes to character and place and conflict. There’s the opportunity for accelerated action on the page, without the clutter of description and narrative and world-building that can slow things down.
YABC: How has the NC flooding impacted the release tour of this book?
The greatest effect has been the cancellation of my hybrid launch event at Malaprops in Asheville, with my friend Nora Carpenter and me in conversation. I’m working out a plan with the store to get preorders signed and out to readers as quickly as possible. Travel in and out of western North Carolina has also been impacted. I am so lucky, however, that my house is still standing, considering so many people lost everything in a place that was thought to be a haven from the most strenuous effects of climate change.
YABC: What research did you do to write this book?
Many people assume that fantasy writing doesn’t require much research, since it’s mostly hand-waving and magic. Not true! Even in secondary world fantasy, such as the Seven Realms, it’s important to get the details right with regard to weapons, castle architecture, horse husbandry, and the like. That convinces the reader that they are in good hands.
The Runestone Saga is my first series since the Heir Chronicles (set in Ohio) to take place in a real place (Viking-age Scandinavia.) I knew Ohio pretty well—even speak the language–but this latest series required considerable research.
The Vikings were dealt a hard hand, but they were survivors. In Viking age Scandinavia, it was too cold to grow wheat, so the primary grain was barley. It was too cold to grow grapes, so mead (made from honey) and wines made from tree fruit were most common. One of their greatest accomplishments was in their ships—light, shallow-draft vessels that could both stand up to heavy seas on the blue ocean and yet could sail far up shallow rivers to target prosperous European towns and cities. First, they raided, and, then, they conquered and settled in present-day England, Ireland, the Scottish Isles, and France.
As I read original sources and their derivations, I became aware of a profound tension in Norse mythology between the pantheon of Norse gods and the practice of sorcery, which was seen as the province of women. Even Odin, who learned the practice of magic from the Vanir gods, came under criticism (mostly from Loki) for being unmanly.
In the poem Voluspa, the sorceress Gullveig visited Asgard, where the gods were so threatened by her practice of seidr—sorcery—that they stabbed her and burned her three times, yet still failed to kill her.
Which raises a question–what happened to Gullveig? Is it possible that she might have survived the calamity of Ragnarok—and be out for revenge? It was said that she brought delight to evil women. That’s a story starter if I ever saw one.
YABC: When did you know you wanted to be a writer?
I began writing in third grade. It was the first thing I did in school that didn’t get me into trouble. I never stopped. It was just something I needed to do. It took me a long time to realize that it might be possible to make a living at it. Though fiction was my first love, my first published work, other than scientific papers, was newspaper articles and personal essays. It wasn’t until my sons were in their teens that I began reading young adult lit. I thought, wouldn’t it be cool if I could write something that they might enjoy reading? So I began to write The Warrior Heir, about a high school boy in Ohio who discovers that he is among the last of a guild of magical warriors. Bane of Asgard is my fifteenth novel.
YABC: How do you keep your ‘voice’ true to the age category you are writing within?
To be honest, I don’t work very hard at it. The Heir Chronicles was my only contemporary fantasy series. At that time I had two actual teenage boys living in my home. I’ve always tried to stay away from popular culture or of-the-moment slang, because it changes so quickly.
One advantage in writing high fantasy is that, in that world, adolescents are basically adults, dealing with adult threats and challenges, getting into adult kinds of trouble. Nobody speaks Old Norse in the present day, so it is unlikely anyone will challenge my use of Viking slang. What is most important in writing books that young adults enjoy is centering them in the story, so that they are the engines of the conflict and resolution. It’s also important to honor the reader by telling them the truth, as you know it. Teens have highly-developed BS detectors.
YABC: What type of scene do you love to write the most?
My favorite scenes involve conflict, because characters change in the crucible of conflict. Conflict is the engine of story, whether it has to do with relationships, power, or warfare. Conflict begins when a character wants something, and I put obstacles in their way.
YABC: What word do you have trouble overusing?
My greatest challenge is coming up with physical business to replace dialogue tags. Suddenly, all of my characters are raking back their hair or narrowing their eyes or rubbing their chins.
YABC: What is your favorite writing space?
Any place that I can see or hear the water.
YABC: What other age group would you consider writing for?
My books are marketed as young adult lit, but, in truth, I write the kinds of books I love to read. When you think about it, in classic adult fantasy, the protagonist is often an adolescent when he comes into power. Certainly, the notion of writing for adults is tempting, simply because it takes gatekeepers out of the picture.
I also love middle grade, because that is the golden age of reading. My first Heir Chronicles books danced along that borderline. In middle grade, books change lives.
YABC: What’s up next for you?
I’ve been playing with a young adult/adult dystopian romance for some time. It remains to be seen whether it comes together in the end.
Title: The Runestone Saga: Bane of Asgard
Author: Cinda Williams Chima
Release Date: October 22, 2024
Publisher: HarperCollins Children’s Books
Genre: Young Adult
Age Range: 13-17
