We chat with Benedict Jacka about his new thrilling contemporary fantasy An Inheritance of Magic, which sees the super-rich controlling everything—including magic,
Hi, Benedict! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I’m a British urban fantasy author based in London. I started out writing children’s fantasy, my first published books were children’s non-fantasy, and in 2012 I published the first book in the Alex Verus series, Fated. It was enough of a success that I was able to become a full-time author, and I kept writing and publishing books in the Alex Verus series up until the series finished in 2021.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
Before I can remember! I spent most of my childhood either reading or playing story-related games. I used to read an average of about one book a day, and by the time I was 18 I’d spent more time reading fiction than most people do in their entire lives.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
Weirdly enough, I don’t actually have good answers to any of these! Probably the closest would be The Lord of the Rings – I read it for the first time when I was somewhere between 5 and 10, and I used to go back and re-read it an average of about once a year.
Your latest novel, An Inheritance of Magic, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Urban fantasy with progression elements.
What can readers expect?
Action, danger, a formalised magic system, and an underdog protagonist who has to outthink enemies who are stronger than him. So, similar to Alex Verus, as far as that goes. The world and the protagonist are quite different, though.
Where did the inspiration for An Inheritance of Magic come from?
Strangely enough, economics. In the Alex Verus series, Alex owns a magic shop, but buying and selling are never really important parts of the series. At some point I started wondering how an urban fantasy setting might look if the magical and non-magical economies were integrated. Things kind of snowballed from there.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
Stephen’s cat is a lot of fun.
What’s next for you?
More Inheritance of Magic books! I’ve just finished the first draft of Book 2 – after I’m done with the edits on that, I’ll be starting work on Book 3!
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
Most recent new series that I’ve found and enjoyed is Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman.
You can find Benedict at benedictjacka.co.uk or @BenedictJacka on Twitter.
