Our bookseller Ryan, in Dubray Cork interviews author Shauna Lawless on her latest novel, The Land of the Living and the Dead!
Shauna Lawless first came on the scene with The Children of Gods and Fighting Men on the 1st of September 2022, and has since dazzled us with the following entries in her Gael Song trilogy, The Words of Kings and Prophets last September and now the final entry in this arc of her story, The Land of the Living and the Dead, out on the 12th of September.
Her books are a compelling mix of fantasy and historical fiction that have captured the imaginations of many across the world. It fills me with joy to see her books being recommended wholeheartedly on the places I frequent for exciting books, like Booktube, Tiktok, or /r/fantasy, to name a few.
What was your experience like in outlining these books, given the historical framework that everything had to fit in to?
I get asked this question a lot. I think I knew this period of history so well that I was able to weave the story inside the historical elements quite easily. As such, I was able to do a lot of discovery writing – explore the plots and characters because the history almost became the backbone of the story around which everything else revolved.
To write historical fantasy, as opposed to secondary world fantasy, you must really know the time period well, otherwise I think it will show in the writing, and leave readers wondering why you didn’t just create your own world to begin with.
Irish myths often end in tragedy, did you find this constricting when bringing this first trilogy to a close or just part and parcel of the story you’re telling?
Ah well, here’s the thing. Irish history is full of tragedy too. Perhaps this is why writing a piece of historical fiction which includes Irish mythology ended up meshing together so well!
In general, I find that life is full of both joy and tragedy. Not just the lives of kings and queens whose exploits we hear about, but for all people. I think this is why mythology is so full of sadness. We were trying to explain to ourselves how we felt and why. Which makes me think – to write a novel without tragedy might be the most fantastical story of all.
Gormflaith is a very Machiavellian character, do you feel like there’s a line even she wouldn’t cross to achieve her goals?
No, not really. She will do anything that feels right for her. The feelings and hopes of others matter little. She has some affection for certain family members, but when push comes to shove, she will always pick herself.
Dreams of Fire and Dreams of Sorrow were a delight to read, and added a lot to Ronnát’s, Senna’s, and Tomas’ arcs. Following the third novella, will this trend continue in the sequel trilogy?
The first novella, Dreams of Fire, was written to delve more into the mythological elements and focus on the Descendant and Fomorian characters. I wrote the second novella, Dreams of Sorrow, to reward readers of the main series – as it is about a character that has a big reveal at the end of The Words of Kings and Prophets. The third novella delves more into the historical fiction side of the story and features a fan favourite of the main series… but I can say no more!
The idea of magic fading away is a time-honoured theme in fantasy literature. Do you ever see yourself writing of the Tuatha Dé Danánn and the Fomorians at the peak of their powers?
I do think Dreams of Fire gave me a bit of a taste for that, so yes, I think I will. Going backwards to a time where the magic isn’t fading offers so much scope. In my current series the mortal wars are the most prominent, but if I were to go back in time, there is scope to have the war and animosity between the Descendants of the Tuatha Dé Danann and Fomorians take centre stage.
I’d love to know more about the covers for the Gael Song trilogy, who designed them? The Land of the Living and the Dead features some of the Gift-Leaders’ treasures, so it must have been a collaborative process.
My cover artist is called Micaela Alcaino. She is absolutely amazing and is constantly winning awards. Honestly if you look her up on her website, you’ll be astounded by how many familiar covers are there.
We do collaborate. I give her key themes and objects that I want to be included for each book cover. (If you’ve read my books and have looked at the symbols on each cover, you will know how relevant they are.) I absolutely trust her to do an amazing job, so after I give her my ideas, she goes away and researches them, and this also informs her design. I always gasp when I see what she comes up with.
All of us who have signed up to your newsletter (sign up at shaunalawless.com) are aware you have lots of exciting things in the pipeline. Having been writing full-time for one and a half years now, how do you juggle everything?
It’s been a lot of work! I handed in my notice at my day job at the very end of 2022 – and decided that if I wanted to be a full-time author, I really had to do everything to make it work. It’s not easy right now. There are a lot of books coming out every year – more than ever before now that self-publishing has really taken off. To be noticed is hard and I knew that to even have the slightest chance I had to hit the ground running. Writing outside of this series has been fun. My romantasy has been on the go for a long time now. It’s my side project that I turn to when my other work gets too serious, I need a break, or I get a little stuck. The Warhammer project came about because I was asked to write a short story for them, and I thought it would be a wonderful thing to do.
Making writing my full-time job was absolutely the right move. I couldn’t do this whilst also working. It’s funny because when my children were younger, I felt that time was very limited – and it was – but I did get my evenings to myself because they went to bed at 8pm. Now that they are older, and one is a teenager, getting them all to bed by 9;30pm is a miracle, and so I find writing in the evening just impossible. At 8pm, I had an hour or two still left in me. By 9:30pm there is no hope of me starting anything.
You can now shop for The Land of the Living and the Dead on our website!
