Interview with Jeanette O’Hagan
Today I have a video interview with fantasy author Jeanette O’Hagan, as part of the blog tour to launch her new book Blood Crystal. There are some giveaways. Transcript below.
Transcript
G’day. I’m Adam David Collings. Welcome to Stories. Today, I’m joined by fantasy author Jeanette O’Hagan as part of a blog tour celebrating the release of her new book Blood Crystal.
You’ll find links to the next and previous stops on the tour in the description below. And be sure to stick around to the end, because we’ll be doing some giveaways.
Well Hi Jeanette. Thanks for being on the show.
Hi Adam, I’m thrilled to be here.
Could you begin by giving us a quick pitch on what Blood Crystal is about.
Unlikely heroes, thrilling adventure, clash of cultures and an unthinkable choice – Blood Crystal is the second novella in the Under the Mountain series.
The underground realm is under attack from mad Overseer Uzza and the Crystal Heart is failing. Twins Delvina and Retza brave a treacherous journey to seek help from Zadeki and his people. Will they find the answers before it’s too late? Is the blood of Uzza’s children the only way to restore the Crystal Heart? What are the twins prepared to do to save their realm and those they love from certain destruction?
In your underground world, the people are dependant on a device called the crystal heart to provide the power that keeps them alive. Did you have any particular inspiration behind this cool mix of magic and technology?
I knew the lights were failing and I needed an appropriate localised power source that wasn’t purely magical but not totally mundane. I think I’d read somewhere that crystals can use vibrations to store and give power. I thought too of Steam Punk stories but also Science Fiction that uses crystals – for instance the Superman mythology – and also of the Outlands in World of Warcraft. This tied in well with the context as my early origin stories of Nardva focused on stones or crystals, as well as some of the Akrad stories. So I guess a range of influences came together to produce the Crystal Heart.
So Blood Crystal is the second book in the Under The Mountain series, but it’s also part of something much larger, as it’s set in your Nardva fantasy world. Can you tell us about Nardva, and how the Under the Mountain series fits into it?
I began creating stories within Nardva when I was eight or nine. It started as an island but soon expanded, Nardva is a planet of similar size to earth with two moons. Many of my original stories were in the eastern side of the main continental mass in the northern hemisphere, but the first novel I wrote is in the southern hemisphere. The Under the Mountain series are set beneath a towering mountain range that runs down the west coast of one of the southern continents.
What other books and series do you have coming out in the Nardva world?
I have two sequels planned in the Under the Mountain series & a prequel called The Shadows of the Deep – as well as the Akrad’s Legacy series , which relates to the neighbouring area of Tamra. I’ve also written short stories set in the Barakian mountains in the northern continent – and a series of space opera stories set in the far future of Nardva – with two due to be published this year in Futurevision and Quantum Soul.
So, do you think there’ a chance we might see a big epic crossover event someday?
I would have to not only bend space – but also time to achieve it 
