Prophecies unfold, legends turn real, and a war of mythical proportions endangers the realm in Ilana C. Myer’s epic fantasy The Poet King, the follow-up to her critically-acclaimed Fire Dance.
We had the pleasure of chatting to fantasy author Ilana C. Myer ahead of the release of The Poet King, which is the final instalment in her Harp and Ring Sequence trilogy. She chats about the series coming to an end, her writing process, and more!
You can find Ilana on Twitter and also at her website, which features original art by Galen Dara.
Hi Ilana! Could you tell us a little about yourself?
Hi, there! Inspired by Lloyd Alexander, Tolkien, E. Nesbit, and many more, I drilled down on my love of fantasy from a young age. I wrote my first (never-to-be-published) novel in high school—literally, since as a new immigrant to Israel I didn’t understand the language, so I’d write my fantasy novel instead of taking notes on the class. The novel’s protagonist was angry and alienated for some inexplicable reason.
I began writing Last Song Before Night as an undergraduate. It took seven years. During that time I supported myself first as an administrative assistant in New York, later as a freelance journalist in Jerusalem. I covered social issues, medical and scientific research, and the arts, mostly for the Jerusalem Post. I learned a great deal about the complexities of one of the most complex places in the world.
Later I wrote critical essays about fantasy literature, as well as general fiction, for the Huffington Post, The Globe and Mail, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. If you hated that piece about Tyrion Lannister in LARB, it’s probably the one I wrote.
After moves back and forth between continents, I now reside in the U.S.
The Poet King is the final installment in the Harp and Ring Sequence trilogy, which publishes on March 24th 2020. If you could only use five words to describe it, what would they be?
Let’s try: Epic conclusion to my trilogy!
Can you tell us about the trilogy for those who haven’t read it?
The Harp and Ring Sequence is set in a world where poets wield magical and political power. Last Song Before Night explores the tensions between artistic integrity and political corruption.
This conflict comes to a point in Fire Dance on an expanded political stage, and reaches explosive levels in The Poet King when old magics, long believed to be myth, return with a vengeance.
Without any spoilers, did you always know how the trilogy would end?
A good question that needs a complex answer. I am an admirer of standalone novels, and I wrote Last Song Before Night with every intention of it being a standalone. Consequently the book comes to a complete resolution.
But in the years it took to find representation and a publisher for my debut novel, my subconscious mind went to work. After a trip to Spain I was eagerly reading as much as I could about Al Andalus—and that unexpectedly gave me an idea for a sequel. By the time I found an agent and publisher, I was able to pitch a series. I wrote Fire Dance knowing there would be a third book, and left room for a grand finale. The Poet King is a culmination of seeds sown throughout the trilogy.
Is there a favourite scene or character that you really enjoyed writing in this trilogy?
It would be sacrilege to choose a favorite character! Plus I honestly couldn’t.
There’s a lot of emotional intensity in my books, and there are scenes that fairly killed me to write. Especially towards the end. These scenes end up being the most meaningful to me because, at the time, they demanded so much.
I rolled my eyes when J.K. Rowling described herself “howling” at the end of the Harry Potter series—like, Come on, lady. Years later I met my poetic justice: the ending of Last Song wiped the floor with me. (Feel free to roll your eyes!)
The first installment and your debut novel, Last Song Before Night, published in 2015 with the sequel, Fire Dance, publishing in 2018. What is the most important thing you have learnt over the last few years of writing and publishing this trilogy?
Write for love, or not at all. Unless you’re a huge bestseller, of course. In that case it’s none of my business.
Before I was published, I was aware at all times of the way my life was shaped by my commitment to writing fiction. I could have made more money in a stable career, but I wouldn’t have been writing. Each day, my choice to persist with writing fiction despite the odds was an affirmation of my commitment.
Years in publishing have had a similar effect, accentuated by the brutality of the business. There is no way to move forward in publishing without an honest assessment of what you want from the process. What I want is to produce work that matters deeply to me. That choice comes at a cost, and I accept it.
What’s your writing process like? Has it changed over the course of writing the trilogy?
I read obsessively before I start—as many primary source texts and related works as I can. Sometimes what I read may not have direct bearing on what I plan to write, because you never know where inspiration will come from. Additionally, my somewhat haphazard education has instilled in me the ferocious appetite of the autodidact.
The research doesn’t stop until I’m done. Part of this is because my books tend to have many diverse components—Fire Dance turns on a combination of Celtic and Middle Eastern mythologies, for example—some new challenges arise at all points in the process. Towards the end of The Poet King, I took an 11th hour detour into scholarship on the myth of Orpheus.
What’s next for you?
The next thing is very much in development. We’ll see.
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for us?
I love recommending books, but I like to customize my recommendations for each person. A general recommendation is more tricky.
That said, I believe Wild Swans by Jung Chang and Hope Against Hope by Nadezhda Mandelstam are essential reading for everyone—not only for the history of two distinct totalitarian regimes, but as a means by which to make sense of our time.
