We chat with author Lindsey Byrd about The Sun Blessed Prince, which follows a prince whose touch creates life meets a soldier chosen by death. But can they forge a future together, from opposite sides of a great war?
Hi, Lindsey! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hi, thank you for having me here! I’m an author and a historian who currently works on the history of antibiotics and tuberculosis in my day job. I’m a proud dog parent and I currently run a YouTube Channel and Spotify Podcast entitled Lindsey Byrd in Writing is Hard where I interview
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I’ve been writing since childhood, making up explanations and trying to find sense and reason in my life. Whenever I couldn’t explain something, I had a story for why it was so. It all continued from there!
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
- The one that made you want to become an author: I don’t think there was a specific book that made me want to be an author, it was a collective effort!
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Inkheart by Cornelia Funke – the idea of reading my characters out of my book or reading myself into a book captivated my childhood and imagination and it will always stay with me.
Your debut novel, The Sun Blessed Prince, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Glacially slow burn political fantasy
What can readers expect?
Don’t expect a romance! There is a slow burn in this book, but it’s the first of a duology and the main couple need to take time to get into a position where a relationship is even on the table for either of them. There is affection, and yearning, and fondness between them for certain – but this book is not about them coming together. What it does instead is delve into the political machinations between two countries at war, as well as the religious and cultures tension surrounding what life and death really mean. The main characters are each dealing with different flash points of tension – coming to terms with the horrors of their own country’s ruling party, facing bigotry as well as internalized shame, and confronting their own trauma that has come at the form of both broken families and broken politics. There’s a found family here, and the end goal message – every life is sacred and deserves to be protected resonates throughout. But it might take a while for some of those characters to actually believe that, and dream of a future where something like love might even be an option for them.
Where did the inspiration for The Sun Blessed Prince come from?
I was inspired by the Netflix movie The Old Guard which follows the tale of a group of immortal warriors trying to make the world a better place. I really appreciated the character dynamics, and (especially as it was released during Covid) I began questioning what it might be like to live forever. From there, I fell into a rabbit hole of: if you could live forever, what would your relationship with life even be? What is life without death? Does it hold any value? And then if someone could influence another person’s life or death, how would that take shape? The tireless efforts of our medical workers during the pandemic led me to question: if you had a group of people who could heal anything at a touch, would they be exploited by society to keep it perpetually evergreen? The rest just fell into place afterwards.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
Much of this book follows extremely flawed characters that are trying their best to do the best they can. Elician, the Sun Blessed Prince, suffers from deep anxiety over ever being discovered as more than he is. Cat is so used to things never going his way that he simply doesn’t expect good things to happen. Fenlia, the third POV character, wants so badly to fit in but feels like she is such a failure at everything she is expected to do that she’ll never properly succeed. They are all so complicated and varied, but what I enjoyed the most is the moments where they found sparks of validation. In this book in particular, the ending is something I think will always stand out to me. The final moments of the book where two characters finally have a much-needed conversation – no lying or obfuscating, no masks or shields, just actually talking to one another and being up front about what they genuinely want out of the world was a scene that I think I’ll hold onto from this book. And to me, it’s the perfect set up for everything that transpires in the second.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
I started writing this book while I was finishing my MA, and I immediately started on the sequel. However, I then began my PhD studies and moved to France. Between the move, the new life experiences, and trying to find a balance – I had to put the series to the side of the line for a while. It took maybe a full year before I finally returned to it, and I did so mainly because I loved it so much and just wanted it done. Once I committed myself to finishing the story, it went quick, but I needed to balance all my educational commitments at the same time which was certainly a challenge. Honestly, I don’t recommend people try to publish a book and do a PhD at the same time. It’s really hard, and very stressful. I only overcame it because I loved the story so much and writing helped me not think about my thesis for a while.
Can you tell us a bit about your process in creating the world that The Sun Blessed Prince is set in?
The magic system for The Sun Blessed Prince came very quickly. I knew I wanted to have life and death and people with opposing powers managing to control either. What took more time to flush out was how the cultures themselves reacted to them. If someone had the ability to heal any wound – in our world they would very quickly be exploited. Anyone with a sick loved one would rush to the Giver as soon as possible. At any moment, if they stopped healing – the guilt and rush of “why can’t you save me too” would arise. We saw some of this with essential workers during Covid, where there was nothing that these workers could do right. They were constantly on the front lines and blamed for any deaths that occurred in their care. I spent a long time agonizing over how to design this culture and how people would react to Givers as a result.
The inverse is true for the Reapers – and for them I looked largely at how society treats those with disease. Fear, rejection, and abandonment. A need to cover up or be removed entirely from society so they cannot inflict their illness on others. Covering their skin, wearing bells – these are all things that we have seen in history with those who showed physical signs of illness that terrified populations. But, within ill populations are support groups and interior communities of those who have all experienced the same prejudice. The Reapers thus have their own community and communication that sets them apart from those who othered them from the outset.
All of this is a really long-winded way of saying that my process is really about fully understanding the culture and impact of who these characters are and what their lives would look like beyond the narrative I’m specifically telling. I then built the world around that culture and used those key points to develop the plot.
This is your debut novel! What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?
I finished my first book when I was a teenager and then wrote countless others in between. I tried off and on to find an agent. I published “On the Subject of Griffons” via the indie press: Riptide Publishing in 2019 but then got swept up in my MA work and set an attempt at a writing career to the side for a bit as I focused on my graduate studies. I never stopped writing though, and at one point had over 2 million words of fanfiction posted on my A03 account. I started writing The Sun Blessed Prince in 2020, and by 2022 felt pretty confident with it and its sequel. I began to query agents again, and honestly it was a very fast experience. I started querying in about February 2023. By March I had two full requests, and by May I had signed my contract with my Agent – Maddy Belton.
We did a lot of editorial edits prior to going out on submission in September 2023, and once we submitted…I was prepared to wait a long time to hear back. Within a few weeks though I had gotten the offer from Bella Pagan at Tor UK. Tor has long been my dream publisher and I was ecstatic.
In October we got the translation rights for the Italian version, and in December I heard that someone at Random House Canada was interested in the book but had ultimately decided to pass. I wasn’t certain I would get North American coverage at that point and my agent suggested we wait for a bit before going back on submission in North America to see if perceptions might change once we had a completely edited book with a cover.
I left for a work conference in January 2024, and when I got back my agent contacted me and said she had some interesting news. The editor at Random House Canada, Amanda Ferreira, couldn’t stop thinking about my book, brought it back to her team and asked them to reconsider their position. They offered me a contract, and I very happily accepted.
Bella and Amanda have been huge champions for this book, and I was so happy I got to work with both of them on bringing it to life.
What’s next for you?
Right now, I’m preparing to work on the edits for the sequel to The Sun Blessed Prince. We hope to have the cover reveal later this summer. I’ll be heading to Worldcon in August and I’m looking forward to talking to everyone there.
I have a few writing projects that are in the works, but I’m finishing up my PhD dissertation and transitioning into a new academic work situation, so things are a little slow at the moment as I try to juggle career paths. I hope I’ll be able to get it out on submission by the end of the year, but we’ll see how it goes!
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up this year?
I’m really looking forward to Katabasis by RF Kuang – that feels very cathartic at the end of my PhD journey!
I’m also looking forward to getting my hands on: M. Stevenson’s Behooved, Brittney Arena’s A Dance of Lies, Shalini Abeysekara’s This Monster of Mine, and Alexandra Kennington’s Blood Beneath the Snow.
