Featured Interview With Sarah Kennedy
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
My name is Sarah Kennedy. I live in the little town of Delta, PA where I was raised. In fact, I live in the same house still! I have four cats, each as unique as can be and all have been rescued from somewhere or other. Two are boys: Master Shakespeare (because he is VERY dramatic); and Faith (my newbie) who befriended me. Faith and I are just getting to know each other but it is clear he has some baggage despite his young age but nothing a little patience and love can’t heal. The other two are girls, fraternal twins to be exact. Their names are Princess Wigglebutt and SillyNut. They are like two halves of a whole cat. I have a great soft spot for animals.
I play four instruments: the piano, flute, Feadóg( Irish whistle) and Bodhran Drum. I love to read, take long walks and spending time with my family.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I started writing young. I wrote my first “book” at the age of four. It had a red construction paper cover, a yellow yarn binding, a ton of misspelled words and poor artwork but every author has to start somewhere! My writing has improved but unfortunately my artwork hasn’t. Oh, well…
My fascination with books began at the beginning. My parents (especially my mom) were really awesome about reading. Mom would read whole books to my brother and I, a chapter or two at a time. C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia were among the first I remember very clearly and I was pretty little then. Honestly, I can’t remember a single day when books were not a big part of my life, and for that I am extremely thankful.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I will read just about anything! My favorite genre to read really depends on the kind of mood I am in but fantasy and mystery definitely make the top of the list. I love books for the sake of books. I love stories. I don’t care who wrote them! Just tell me a good story and I’ll be hooked!
As far as my own work is concerned, the Prophecy of Hope Saga was conceived in 2007 out of a personal tragedy. The story is a bit more complicated however. Many of the characters in the Prophecy of Hope Saga have been “carried” with me through childhood, through tumult, sorrow, and joy. One, however, had a name that was never written, a story arc that was never acknowledged, and quite frankly was never meant to exist. I never intended to write the Darkness. Writing was survival . . . Light and hope in a season of unimaginable heartache. In 2001, I began working on an untitled novel which was to be the beginning of a series with these long enjoyed characters. Darkness was in the story obviously but only on the fringes and impersonal. Of course, I knew of this character’s existence but it was not until 2007 and the hard, abrupt, unexpected (in some ways) and at the same time inevitable death of my brother, Isaac, that in a haze of grief this character broke through and called himself Sgarrwrath, The One Whose Name is not Spoken, the one who was never meant to exist! Once again, writing was a form of survival. Only this time I resisted it. I wrote other things without much success; always dreaming of writing this fantasy series even submitting it for publication only to be rejected! Finally, in 2010, I did away with my original first book manuscript and began again. The end result was Sgarrwrath, Prequel to the Prophecy of Hope published in August 2011. Mostly for me, but also for those who love books for the sake of books.
I can’t say things have gone as planned since then but if there is one thing this author is sure of, it is that writing is not what I do it is who I am because after the emergence of Sgarrwrath from the shadowed halls of my imagination and the publication of the Prequel in 2011, I discovered that the characters and story had arched beyond just mere survival into something much richer and deeper than ever before. I began work on Arising, Prophecy of Hope Book 1 almost immediately. The story took about a year and a half to write, and was published just this year in January 2014 following immediately upon the high of three honorable mentions! But being an art, the road is never easy and there have been days when I thought, “You can’t do this! Just give up!” I even tried to quit yet the story refuses to be silenced, and for that I am thankful.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
Introducing the Prophecy of Hope Saga, a new and emerging fantasy series!
Sgarrwrath, Prequel to the Prophecy of Hope —
winner of three honorable mentions: Halloween Book Festival Fantasy category (October 2013), New England Book Festival Science Fiction category (January 2014) London Book Festival Genre Based Fiction category (also awarded January 2014).
Cast down from the Kingdom, cursed, condemned, stripped of flesh, bone and identity for his crime, Sgarrwrath has become The One Whose Name is not spoken, the bane of the Light. He has long existed in formless Darkness, held in check by the Guardians’ dominion, but he has never forgotten the object of the lust that first birthed him into being, Sanctus’ Orb of Power. Within the Orb of Power is contained the Source, hidden in Flame, the most mysterious and
powerful entity in the universe. This treasure is the one thing Sgarrwrath craves above all else and it is the one thing that has always been beyond his reach, until now. Even the Guardians, in whose
hearts Flame burns, who breathe and wield its power, have never seen its Source nor harnessed its full potential. They are content to serve the Light. Arawn is not like the others. He is young, untested and he seeks more power though a prophecy reveals the predominance of the Flame belongs to another yet to be revealed. Arawn is easy prey for Sgarrwrath who lures him into Darkness to corrupt Arawn’s Flame to his will in the hope that Flame alone is the key to life, power– everything! Arawn’s brothers, three powerful, incorruptible Guardians
refuse to abandon hope. They journey into Darkness; how far will they go to save him? Will they have the strength to do what must be done even if they are forced to turn the full extent of their power upon Arawn? Or will Sgarrwrath destroy them all?
Arising, Prophecy of Hope Book 1
From Time’s conception the Guardians have led the way. Theirs is a position and a duty given by Sanctus, earned by Trials and kept by Right. They are a force beyond the confines of nature, immortal, wise, just and fair in their ways, and above all, powerful. Their supremacy has been a Golden Age when every Race, nation and living thing were united into one great society led by the wisdom and Light of the Guardians. But that glory has been breached from within by Arawn’s choice. Now Darkness comes.
In secret Darkness has festered since the dawn of time but with the shields of the earth crumbling, bringing chaos in the wake of the Great Guardian Exodus, everything is changing. A world hangs in the balances. The earth has turned against its inhabitants; its seasons have been wrung out of their courses and the Sun grows weaker by the hour. A Resistance gathers yet who can tell friend from foe, reality from illusion or even hope from despair? Time passes—its measure diminishing with the Light as both fade more and more into Darkness. Generations rise and fall too soon. No one is safe. Not even the timeless wielders of the Light whose access to the eternal Flame is at the heart of it all. Flame—the most mysterious and valuable substance in the universe. It is life, power, and the promise of so much more yet it is not the prize, but the tool.
A new age has dawned. For Darkness too has access to the Flame so begins the Time of the Prophecy of Hope. Only with the Light fading away, Hope is just a word. All life is bound up in a new kind of war; its only front is the soul; its only weapon is temptation, and there is only one way out, survive the illusion! No one is immune. Not even the Guardians themselves…
Cadclucan—
A Guardian—one in whose heart this treasured Flame burns, one capable of breathing and wielding its untold power. He is the first son of the Mother and Father; Head of Sanctus’ noble legions of the Light who are by their Flame linked irrevocably to the Source. Cadclucan is the creature of Light who once led three of his brothers back in Time to rescue one of their number from the grip of an ancient evil. When the hope of that journey failed, his brother, Arawn, willfully chose to defy the laws of the Light and not even the Flame could withstand the infection that followed. By Arawn’s fall, the Guardian bloodline was broken; the Flame divided and a great war was fought talon to talon, brother against brother till blood rained from the heavens. Now, following the Exodus in which the Guardians retreated into their secret realm, Cadclucan is the last of his kind remaining in the world. He cannot stay; he cannot leave till Mhorag, the Promised Guardian King comes to claim the key to immeasurable power—the Stone of Existence of which he is the Guardian. No peace and no rest remain. Hiding and hunted, Cadclucan faces fear unlike any known to his kind before. It is a fear that comes from within his mind—a mind that is plagued by memories of a black future yet unmade.
Lorshin—
He is the eldest offspring of the fallen, Prince of his race, but he is tortured by his own existence. He lives with his people in a remote and nameless forest to keep all life safe from the insanity brought on by their uncontrollable hunger. It is the curse of all Samhail to hunger for the Flame, which is their lost birthright as the dreaded children of Arawn. Traces of Flame are hidden in the life blood of every living thing. No longer under the protection of the Guardians the monster within has come unleashed. Always hungry, never quite in control, Lorshin stalks the night, and fears the Sun all the while silently harboring the torturous memories of the past. Seeking peace in all the wrong ways, the predator soon becomes prey to the Dark One’s illusion. With a single kiss he enslaves his people to Death.
His crime and its price was foretold in Prophecy, yet he failed to heed its warning. Now Lorshin, as the lover of Death, undertakes a desperate attempt to redeem himself and free his people from everlasting Darkness. Through his bond with his twin, Isentara, who alone escaped slavery, he still knows Light, and Light is a powerful defense, but also through their bond Isentara knows Darkness. Two halves of a whole, separated by forces greater than themselves, they each must ultimately face the Darkness alone.
In the Darkness, strength becomes weakness. Anyone who gets in the way of the Dark One’s will faces a horrible end, and the Dark One wants Lorshin to be his Weapon more Worthy.
Playing dangerous games with the Dark may cost Lorshin more than he knows.
Sgarrwrath—
That dark entity who emerged from the heart of the first created life when Time was still unmeasured. Despite his stolen existence, he is a being who was never meant to exist. Cast down from the Kingdom, stripped of flesh, bone and identity, he remains becoming The One Whose Name is not Spoken, the bane of the Light. Existing in formless Darkness long held at bay by the Guardians’ dominion, Sgarrwrath has never forgotten the object of the lust that first birthed him into being, Sanctus’ Orb of Power.
Within the Orb is contained the Source, hidden in Flame, who is the most incomprehensible and powerful being in the universe and the one thing Sgarrwrath craves above all else. The Source has always been beyond evil’s reach, yet Time has a way of changing everything.
Sgarrwrath never forgot and he never surrendered. His lust, like the Darkness, festered in the recesses of world in love with the Light. Now the ways of the Light lay in ruin and Flame is within his grasp. The time is fast approaching when either Light or Darkness will have to rise and lay claim to the soul of the Source by whom both are now uncomfortably linked. But all moments bare a price.
Darkness grows out of the East, sweeping inch by hard won inch across the world. The Resistance falters until a Prophet, branded by Flame emerges to proclaim the Hope of the Promised.
Sgarrwrath has not grown so strong that he is beyond doubt, and when something not of his making burns into the encroaching shadows of his Void, all his plans come to disruption.
Disruption—
Comes in the form of a mere Human. He was born to this time, and bred to this destiny, being of a pure descent in a long concealed line of Men whose purpose is shrouded in mythology. His name is Armahad. Marked by a Guardian, bearer of the crown of the royal house of Caladrius, he is a man whose face shines like the Sun. Armahad soon finds himself at the center of the war. The Resistance gathers to his throne for refuge, yet he is endowed with all the weaknesses of humanity, and the weight of the world and the Prophecy have come to rest upon his shoulders.
Darkness follows, forcing Armahad to decide whether he is as noble as his ancestors to suffer that others may have Hope or whether he will choose another way.
Four lives bound in Prophecy
A world oppressed and on the brink suddenly embrace the coming of the Colorless.
The Colorless–
Young, unproven Guardians find themselves alone in the face of unimaginable testing, in the grip of ancient evil.
And
There is only one choice for all: Absolute Surrender or Despair.
Who will rise and who will fall? Who will live to fight another day, and what will be the price of this Darkening Age? Trust no Hope.
An epic, dark fantasy saga continues…
The series will continue soon with Mhorag, Prophecy of Hope Book 2.
Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles