An Interview with Jeffe Kennedy, an Author of The Twelve Kingdom Series
Thanks for having me! The
Twelve Kingdoms trilogy is about the three princesses, daughters of
the High King, each more beautiful than the last – and what they
really did.
What kind of reader
would enjoy it?
While some men read the
series, many of my most enthusiastic readers are women. They range
from teens (yes, my books are sexy, but I was reading that stuff at
that age, so I don’t judge) up to women in their older years. I
know of a couple readers in their 80s! Other than that, I think
anyone who enjoys fantasy with women taking strong central roles in
their own heroic journeys, along with smexy romance, will enjoy these
books.
Is The Talon of The
Hawk the last book in series or will there be more?
There will be more! The
Talon of the Hawk wraps up the trilogy of the three princesses, and
ends that particular story arc. But thoughtful readers will notice
that the ending of Talon, while it solves one set of problems, also
introduces a whole new set of issues. I’m writing book 4 right now
– which is, indeed, Dafne’s book (The Pages of the Mind), for all
who’ve asked
- and there will also be at least book 5. Maybe more!
I've only read The Mark
of The Tala (my review), the first book in this series so far, but I really
enjoyed the rich, beautiful imagery. What served as inspiration for
this series?
Thanks! Well, I’d long
had thoughts about the trope of the three princesses, particularly
about who the middle princess might be. She always seems to be
glossed in the stories. Kind of a placeholder, a space between what
the eldest does and what the youngest does. Which seems to be
something many middle children struggle with. I also had a dream
about being trapped in a castle while a monster hunted me outside. My
sister kept promising that I’d be safe, but people were going out
to fight the monster and dying to protect me. I knew I’d have to
leave the castle and face the monster. When I set out to write this
story, I knew it would be about my middle princess and that I’d
have to find out who the monster was.
At last, do you have a
personal favorite among your characters who you would like to meet
face to face, and why?
That’s so difficult to
answer. I pretty much fall in love with all of my heroes, so I’d
love to hang with any of them. At this moment, I’m still pretty
besotted with Harlan, the hero of The Talon of the Hawk. As I’m
writing The Pages of the Mind, it’s starting with him escorting
Dafne and the babies from Annfwn and... well, I just love him! He’s
insightful, caring, protective and, mmm, big and musclebound! *dreamy
sigh*
Thank you so much for all
your answers and for your wonderful books!
Thank YOU and everyone out there for reading!!
Cheers, Karina
Jeffe Kennedy is an award-winning author whose works include non-fiction, poetry, short fiction, and novels. She has been a Ucross Foundation Fellow, received the Wyoming Arts Council Fellowship for Poetry, and was awarded a Frank Nelson Doubleday Memorial Award. Her essays have appeared in many publications, including Redbook.
Her most recent works include a number of fiction series: the fantasy romance novels of A Covenant of Thorns; the contemporary BDSM novellas of the Facets of Passion, and an erotic contemporary serial novel, Master of the Opera. A fourth series, the fantasy trilogy The Twelve Kingdoms, hit the shelves starting in May 2014 and book 1, The Mark of the Tala, received a starred Library Journal review and has been nominated for the RT Book of the Year while the sequel, The Tears of the Rose, has been nominated for best fantasy romance of the year. A fifth series, the highly anticipated erotic romance trilogy, Falling Under, released starting with Going Under, followed by Under His Touch and Under Contract.
She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with two Maine coon cats, plentiful free-range lizards and a very handsome Doctor of Oriental Medicine.
Jeffe can be found online at her website, every Sunday at the popular Word Whores blog, on Facebook, and pretty much constantly on Twitter @jeffekennedy. She is represented by Connor Goldsmith of Fuse Literary.
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