This just in! An interview with Nikkie Richard. Welcome Nikkie!
SC: Tell me a
little bit about your main character of this book.
NR: Sixteen-year-old Samuel is the bastard son of
a cleric, and has endured shame and isolation all of his life. Like his father, he is destined
to be a servant of Azhuel and the holy roots, but he longs for an ordinary life in the
Whitelands. Most of all, he longs for interpersonal connection. When he eventually becomes the caretaker
of a professed “demon girl” by the mayor of Haid, Samuel
finds himself befriending a genderless humanoid being capable of
thoughtful intelligence and horrific
violence. As a consequence, his ideas of morality, goodness, and the nature of the world are ultimately
challenged in very grown-up ways.
SC: Do you
believe in the paranormal and if so, do you have an experience you can share?
NR: I pride
myself in being a “logic-driven” Aquarius, but in the end, I can’t help but
believe in the paranormal. Most of
the childhood, I grew up in a very 90’s Pentecostal home, which meant everything was centered on the spiritual
world: angels, demons, prophecies, etc. While my own beliefs on
the reality of religion, God, and the afterlife have vastly changed, I
can’t help but acknowledge the
possibility of things beyond our human understanding. The fact that we human beings live on a planet with the
capacity to support life, and that we as a species can contemplate our own existence, is a
miracle in and of itself. If history has taught us anything, it’s that our ability to understand the world
is continuously evolving. Who is to say what is now recognized as paranormal won’t later be
explained in a way we never would’ve thought logically possible?
SC: What
titles are you working on now that you can tell us about?
NR: My biggest upcoming project is a new-adult
queer dystopian novel that’s sort of
a hybrid between Octavia
Butler’s Parable of the Sower and Naomi Alderman’s The Power. I’m also working on the sequel to Demon in the
Whitelands, which will bring a lot more
answers in regards to Zei’s
origins.
SC: Thanks
for joining us today. Let's take a look at your novel now.
Demon in the Whitelands
Book OneNikki Richard
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publisher: Month9Books
Date of Publication: September 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-948671-41-5
ASIN: B07P9WMZQC
Number of pages: 358
Cover Artist: Danielle Doolittle
Book Description:
Sixteen-year-old Samuel, son of a devout cleric, has endured shame and prejudice his entire life. Though he is destined to follow in his father’s footsteps, he longs for an ordinary life in the whitelands away from talk of demons and holy roots.
When the mayor claims to have captured a mute demon-girl, Samuel is forced to become her caretaker. But as Samuel gets to know the prisoner, he finds her not to be very demonlike. Instead, she is intelligent, meek, and an exceptional artist. Despite her seeming goodness, some more concerning things cannot be ignored. Samuel is hard-pressed to reconcile her uncanny strength and speed, one missing arm, ambiguous gender, and the mysterious scars covering most of her body.
Samuel forms a deep attachment to the girl with predator eyes and violent outbursts, against his father’s advice. As their friendship threatens to become something more, Samuel discovers the mayor’s dark intentions. Now, he must decide whether to risk his own execution by setting her free, or watch as the girl is used as a pawn in a dangerous game of oppression, fear, and murder.
Excerpt:
After a while,
the buck quieted its struggle. It panted wildly, its dark tongue hanging out
the crack of its mouth. Samuel got to his knees, drawing closer. The deer
twisted its neck in horror, its dark eyes watching him. They were wide and
black. The eyes of prey.
Samuel reached
inside his jacket and got the knife.
“It’s okay,” he
said softly as he straddled the deer’s torso, making sure to fully secure him
underneath his legs. The buck’s muscles twitched, but the creature could do
nothing. How had the girl felt when she’d been caught in the bear trap, iron
teeth snapping into her leg? Like the buck? Did she think she’d be free?
Somehow, he couldn’t picture her as a deer. She was more like a scrappy wolf
cub.
Or a demon.
About the Author:
Nikki Richard is a sensitive queer writer with moods and coping mechanisms. An MFA graduate from the University of Baltimore, she lives in the city with her hot wife, amazing daughter, and fluffy cat.
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