INTERVIEW: Sara Omer author of The Gryphon King
Sara Omer is a Pushcart Prize-nominated short story writer. She’s been a technical editor for medical and engineering publications and is now pursuing teaching. You can find her (sometimes unsettling) poetry and prose in places like The Dark, PodCastle, Small Wonders, Strange Horizons, and elsewhere.
[GdM] Hi Sara, thanks for chatting. Your debut dark epic fantasy, The Gryphon King, Book 1 of the Chaos Constellation trilogy (a series title so cool it could also double as a prog rock band) was released on July 8 from Titan Books. Can you give us a rundown of what it’s about and who it will appeal to?
[SO] The Gryphon King is about a conquering warlord who sees the souls of the dying and his enemy, a pegasus-riding princess knight from a powerful empire. She wants nothing more than to get revenge against him, but they’re forced to be allies against a slew of magical beasts and scheming courtiers, and their backs are turned as ancient power reawaken. They’re also nursing tender feelings for the same person. If you like lots of battles, can stomach gore, don’t balk at large casts of characters, and enjoy your grimdark tasting as sweet as baklava and garnished with a bit of romance, this would be the blood-soaked book for you.
[GdM] This is a novel inspired by both the history and mythology of Southwest Asia. Although you’re not the first to take such inspiration in recent years, it still feels a very fresh fantasy landscape, particular your focus on the Turkic peoples and your take on the Ottoman harems (the sultan’s royal family, including his concubines and their children). Talk us through why you chose these myths and history to play with and what areas you found fascinating to weave into the story.
[SO] I haven’t seen a lot of SWANA stories (at least by SWANA authors) inspired by the Ottoman Empire—which is a shame because it’s a special interest of mine. The Ottoman courts were so interesting in their organization and personal brand of opulence and ways of dealing with succession. Particularly the workings of the harem, where concubines, female servants, and princesses were educated for political marriages, and princes, posing threats to succession, were kept in “golden cages.” The viziers, eunuch servants, and queen mother all playing important political roles was a major inspiration for the workings of the Dumakran court, as were many of the stories surrounding Suleiman the Magnificent (like what exactly happened to his heart when he died—look that up because the story is very good and quite romantic!).
Steppe people are portrayed a lot of different ways in fantasy. Often they’re the heavily stereotyped barbarians, which is unfortunate for many reasons. The traditional religions of that area are so beautiful, and the culture is so rich, and they were so innovating and cutting-edge, especially in warfare. So borrowing a bit from the Secret History of the Mongols, animism, and eagle-wielding central Asian Turkic tribes, the Utasoo people were born.
So there’s a bit of pre-Islamic mythos because I’m inspired by those ancient Turkic stories and ancient Sumerian and Mesopotamian stories particularly when it comes to the Dumakran religion—Ereshkigal and Inanna heavily inspired the Nuna and Paga in different ways, and in Pre-Abrahamic myth in the region there were avenging winged goddesses that inspired the Harpy daughters of the Goddess.
[GdM] There are some really fun and simultaneously terrifying monsters in here: the gryphons; the standout murder horses, or pegasuses to give them their proper name (is that their plural? I went down a black hole on this online and sort of gave up, it was intense); and others that are best not to reveal. What’s with the love for monsters, and these monsters in particular?
[SO] Everyone has strong feelings about pegasi versus pegasuses. I’ve seen people leave lovely, gushing reviews and still be unable to make themselves type “pegasuses.” I think it depends on if the word has a Greek or Latin origin, but I’ve heard different things. In Greek myth there’s just the one Pegasus, so I think that complicates things a bit. I thought it would be a more familiar word than the Turkic “tulpar/tulpars.”
All of that aside—I love animals. It might be strange to say, at the rate they’re dying in this book. Ever since I was little I loved nature documentaries. My favourite animal is an orca, which will eat mostly anything (and inspired one of the monsters quite heavily).
I love stories where people form unique and unlikely bonds with magical creatures, but I also think stories where the monsters act like animals and can still make more realistic bonds with humans are interesting. I’d love to hear my cat’s voice in my head and our every interaction be peaches and rainbows, but usually he’s dunking my socks in his water dish, and we still love each other fine, miscommunication and all.
I learned to ride horses when I was very young (and they can be as mean and nearly as man-eating as the ones in the book). Going off the tulpar myth, where godlike winged horses mate with steppe horses, I got to thinking a lot about magical ecosystems, and with the giant roc in Southwest Asian myth, it seemed *magically* possible it could be a common ancestor of both giant flying horses and giant flying lions. I hope readers also spend too much time thinking of how evolution happened in this world.
I wanted to particularly highlight some of my favourite magical beasts that often don’t get their time in the spotlight like dragons. I love dragons too, but look at all the monsters you can ride or make havoc with! All of the monsters exist in SWANA myth or the Mediterranean, so picture me doing my research on what beasts I could include in the region, lighting up with excitement at each new monster.
I could talk about magical animals all day.
[GdM] I’m not stopping you! Alongside the remarkable worldbuilding and monsters and action there’s some classic Machiavellian court politics shenanigans, helped by a lengthy list of characters (44, according to the helpful list at the start of the book). You’ve said you’re inspired by G R R Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, and this has that complex family allegiance/betrayal vibe to it. Was it hard to balance the monster/action stuff with the political shenanigans?
[SO] I think it would be impossible to convey the scope of an imperial harem without having quite a few named characters in the Dumakran court. That sense of claustrophobia is something that defines Nohra’s relationship to her large family. And then when you combine two worlds like Bataar’s and Nohra’s and there’s all those characters interacting, there’s so many warring ideologies and desires that become political machinations.
The political backstabbing can be as exciting as the actual backstabbing, and it shows characters fighting on different ground (some are much better armed with a blade, like Nohra, and that can be fun too).
I’ve also said that the politics happen naturally after the fighting, so in that lull after sickle-staffs and sabers have been swung, there’s time for a bit of scheming and deal-making and deal breaking until the next monster attacks.
[GdM] Your main male protagonist, Bataar, is an intriguingly morally grey character; at once a conqueror who wishes to bring peace and prosperity to his conquered kingdoms but also not afraid to shed a lot of blood to get there. Were you influenced by any previous characters, real or otherwise, when writing him? And was it hard to make him likeable enough to empathise with but morally grey enough to be interesting?
[SO] He has some of Ghengis Khan’s flair for making himself a legend and also uses storytelling as a way of achieving and maintaining power through the rumours he spreads. Bataar also has some of Suleiman the Magnificent in him as well—a talent with words (though not poetry) and a real romantic love for his wife. Nohra would like to think Bataar has some Attila—like a weakness for women—but Bataar is too demisexual for that.
I’ve compared him to Ned Stark: a ruthless family man, and recently someone asked if there were Griffith and Guts (Berserk)-coded characters in TGK and I completely blanked, but I do think Bataar has a bit of Griffith in him. Early Golden Age arc deluding himself he’s doing it all for a higher purpose.
I put a lot of myself in Bataar too—we even have the same anxious tic. It was a fine line to make him likable, and I don’t think he works for everyone. Sometimes he’s cruel because a warlord would be to keep power, but he has a good tragic backstory with the Dumakran Empire exploiting the red steppe, and he’s very tender with Qaira and his children, and he deeply regrets the bad things.
[GdM] There’s a clear love of good food in this book, including one outrageously outlandish palace meal that is best read on a full stomach (or perhaps not if you want to torture yourself). Talk us through your favourite meal—however many courses you want (I may regret this).
[SO] I ate hummus for lunch every day in high school. I’m a big fan of dips, so all of the dips and taboullah to start, and some garlic nan and Turkish pizza.
I’ve been a vegetarian for 8 years, and I can say that the best use of a meat substitute is an Impossible kebab, dusted liberally with sumac and drowning in tzatziki.
Persian saffron rice is my favourite because it tastes so buttery and luscious, or sticky rice and some kimchi jjigae with tofu… or creamy mushroom ramen.
Water, Thai tea, iced green tea, lemonade, and mango smoothies to drink (I think ayran tastes too salty).
Pasta—maybe with a lemony garlic sauce, and then dessert.
Pistachio stracciatella ice cream, a fluffy and fruity cake with plenty of whipped cream icing, baklava, and large bowls of very dark cherries.
Thank you.
[GdM] Wow, that was a real thing…
There’s a fluid sense of sexuality in this book: a lot of bi rep, sapphic slow burn, potential poly relationships. What do you think this says about the world and its characters… and why the extreme slow burn?
[SO] This world may have 3 (so far) kinds of horses that would eat you, but it doesn’t have homophobia. The ancient history of the Near East is really interesting in that regard, starting with stories like Enkidu and Gilgamesh predating Achilles and Patrocles, and moving on into queer poetry that can get quite raunchy and then into the orientalists portrayals of same-sex relationships that got quite fetishistic before colonialism rewrote all that history. The nature of the sorts of open relationships in historical imperial harems lends quite easily to speculation.
Slow-burn secondary romances in fantasy are my favourite. All of the buildup and tension just simmering in the background threatening to boil over is so fun. And the romance of The Gryphon King is clearly quite messy, so its road ahead will be fraught. I enjoy that particular kind of torture.
[GdM] Moving on to Sara Omer herself, what’s been your professional background leading up to your debut, and how much of it was directly useful in writing it?
[SO] I’ve interned at a modern art magazine and a children’s book publisher, and I’ve worked editing clinical and basic science medical journals and an engineering magazine. Reviewing clinical images of illnesses definitely impacted the ghoulish disease outbreak in The Gryphon King. I’ve done a bit of my own research in various journals for some of the injuries in the series and have discovered the limits of my own squeamishness.
[GdM] The build-up to publishing your debut in the traditional publishing space is obviously an exciting time but also can be quite a stressful one, too, the word “stressful” doing a lot of heavy lifting there. How have you found it, both the good and the bad?
[SO] The secret is to always be stressed. But it’s been very lovely seeing readers connect with the story, and an honour in general seeing people I don’t know reading the book, this feral story that once was only in my head.
Obviously it’s also stressful for the same reasons, or worse, like when there’s no one reviewing right this second and I’m struck by that brief, silly hopelessness and think I will have to go viral on TikTok to be perceived.
[GdM] I’m thinking of getting stickers with “the secret is to always be stressed” on them now.
How did you spend book launch day?
[SO] I spent my launch day running around London looking for free Wi-Fi spots, using the tube for the first time (getting lost in underground stations), to spend some lovely time at the Titan Headquarters and end the night with a super relaxed launch talk with Super Relaxed Fantasy Club. They really were super relaxed—even if I wasn’t!
[GdM] Finally, what can you tell us about the rest of the ‘Chaos Constellation’ trilogy? And do you have any other future books in the works?
[SO] The future of the Chaos Constellation: There will be at least one wedding! A glimpse into a mysterious world of djinn! More monster entries for the infernal bestiary (including one of my Arthurian favourites)!
I have a few other books on hold to polish up when I get a chance, but I’m excited to start on a few new ideas that have been brewing.
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