Author of The Curse of the Dragon Heir.
Joining me today is another of my co-conspirators from the Realm of Darkness boxset. I am chatting with Fantasy author, SR Breaker about her contribution to the boxset, The Curse of the Dragon Heir, which releases tomorrow! October 4th, 2022 and is currently available on preorder.
Helen: Welcome Sara, I am so excited to chat with you about The Curse of the Dragon Heir. Tell us a little about your book.
Sara: My contribution to the Realm of Darkness anthology is a Fae+dragon shifter fantasy romance entitled “Curse of the Dragon Heir.” Set in a second-world mystical land of fantastical magic called Arcadia, it’s a thrilling, slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers, closed-door fantasy romance about a rare Fae mage with no magic who accidentally sets a mysterious evil demon free, except he just might be the key to unlocking her powers. Perfect for fans of “Throne of Glass” and “Shadow and Bone.”
Here’s the description:
Second-born of the High Fae mage family of the Priori clan of Arcadia, Soleia was only expected to do certain things. Mind her dull familial duties. Undergo training to master portal summoning, the rarest form of casting among her people. Free a dangerous demon from a fifty-year-old curse and release him into their village–oops, that was an accident!
If only the Priori elders’ solution wasn’t to bind the evil demon to her to ensure everyone’s safety. If only Soleia hadn’t been lying about actually having any powers all these years. If only the gorgeous demon’s intense gold-red gaze didn’t send delicious shivers up her spine.
Soleia can no longer escape her fate. She has to harness her magic, keep the cursed demon at bay, and somehow keep her secret.
But the demon has secrets too. And while Soleia discovers that he is much more than he seems, a decades-long conflict for the fate of Arcadia comes to light. It could also be the key to unlocking her powers.
Helen: I’m loving the colours of your cover. The beige tones help give a sense of brooding and uncertainty. How did you come up with the design?
Sara: Funny story, I recently realized that all of my fantasy book covers are BLUE. So I seriously made a conscious decision to set this book in the desert. And voila, the cover for “Curse of the Dragon Heir” was born! The aesthetics are partly inspired by the movie “Prince of Persia: Sands of Time”, and honestly, the random wallpapers that keep popping up on my laptop—the beautiful canyons in Utah. I’d love to see them in person one day!
Helen: What made you write a novel for an anthology?
Sara: My decision to participate in this anthology was total spur-of-the-moment. I saw the sign-up sheet on an author friend’s Facebook posts and just went for it. I had never been involved in an anthology before at the time but I always like to try anything once and I’m really glad I did. I can barely believe it’s been a year since! This experience has been most educational, hard work but actually fun! I’ve met so many amazing people in this journey and seeing everyone work together to achieve the same goal is quite inspiring. I can’t wait to see the final product and am very excited to share all our stories with the world!
Helen: I can’t believe the year has gone so fast! We’re in the home straight (or home stretch for those in the US!) and it is so exciting as we build up to the launch. For a moment, let’s go back to the very beginning. What made you first start writing?
Sara: I’ve always loved telling stories. Every day, stories unfold in my head so I decided to write them down. I get ideas from literally everywhere. I’ve often found that my writing is a reaction to something I’ve read or watched. Usually, it’s because whatever it was had a sad, bad, or unsatisfying ending. So I’ll want to create my own version. I love creating because you set your own rules. In my world, anything is possible, and regardless of what struggles I put my characters through, I am guaranteed that they will always have a happy ending because I am in control.
Many books out there are too dark/heavy for my preference. I wanted to create compelling worlds where there is just as much conflict and danger while maintaining an overarching atmosphere of levity and hope.
Helen: Tell us about some of the other books have you written.
Sara: My latest complete series is a YA epic/portal fantasy entitled “The Curse of the Arcadian Stone: Nameless Fay.” It’s about an ancient forest fairy tasked to guard a legendary treasure and a sneaky guy from Earth who had been STUCK in her world for almost a YEAR. The treasure is the ONLY thing that can get him home but if he steals it, she dies. What will he choose, I wonder? Lol.
Interestingly, the first complete series I had written is a YA sci-fi/portal fantasy entitled “Selfless.” It’s about a teenage girl who stumbles into a parallel world and gets mistaken for her genius scientist “alternate self” whose life is in danger. And the hottest guy in school who never noticed her before is now a genius ninja spy scientist who can’t stop risking his life for her. SWOON alert.
Most of my speculative books involve portals and multiverses. I am just fascinated by them.
Helen: I think the unknown intrigues everyone and being unknown gives us authors license to create whatever our brains can think of! What are you currently working on?
Sara: I am currently working on the second book in my current series “The Dragons of Arcadia.” My novel “Curse of the Dragon Heir” which is included in Realm of Darkness is the first book in this new fantasy romance series. Book 2 will be another thrilling, enemies-to-lovers, slow-burn fantasy romance set in the same world as Book 1. I’m so excited to dig in and see where the story goes next!
Helen: Oh can’t wait! Let’s chat a bit about your writing life. How do you fit writing into your daily life?
Sara: As a stay-at-home mom to young children, it can be a challenge to find time to write. I can only imagine how much more difficult it would be if I was working a full-time job too. But for now, I have allocated time in the evenings (as soon as my kids have gone to bed) to write and work on book-related business. Being an independent publisher, my work is almost completely online so I can do many things with just my phone, which is good in some ways, except it also means I’m almost always “on.” So I still do have the same challenges to figure out a work-life balance. It gets more interesting because I’m in a very odd time zone (New Zealand) and would be asleep when most people are awake. So FYI, if I reply late to your message, that’s why. Haha.
Helen: At least your working day is uninterrupted. That is a good thing! Do you find yourself planning out your books or are you a pantster?
Sara: I used to be a 100% pantser. I think this was even the exact reason why my first YA sci-fi/portal fantasy trilogy “Selfless” was largely plot-driven and action-packed. Though I don’t think I could ever be a 100% planner because much of the enjoyment I find in writing is with the discovery part. I like not knowing where my own story goes sometimes. There’s both good and bad in there as well. It can be stressful when you’re on a deadline. Nowadays, I have adapted a few plotting strategies that have helped me churn out words more effectively and ensure my story structure is solid. I often base my rough outlines on a combination of the 3-act structure, The Plot Dot, and a couple of beat sheets.
Helen: I think most authors move to some form of planning as they learn more about the craft. The trick is to keep the creativity free to flow and constrain yourself to a hard plan. Do you have a special place to write or a writing nook?
Sara: I would LOVE to write at a café. Set up my laptop in the corner with my cup of coffee and write all day long. Maybe someday I will be a lot less self-conscious and actually do that. Right now, I have a small corner desk in my bedroom. It’s not much and it’s always a mess but it’s already an improvement from last year when I used to just slouch on the sofa. I also dream of having my own home office someday. Many authors have such beautiful workspaces.
Helen: I dream of having a library with a solid oak desk, lol! Though I wonder if being surrounded by others books might make it more difficult to write? Tough question coming up! Who is your favourite character to write?
Sara: In all my books, I always relate more to the quirky comic relief sidekicks. I simply do not think I am brave enough to be a hero. Lol. In “Curse of the Dragon Heir”, one of the heroine’s best friends is named Tobias. He’s an easy-going Fae mage, hangs out at the pastry cart every morning, enjoys giving sensible advice to his less-sensible friends, and moons over cute guys. If I had to self-insert, he would be my vibe for sure.
Helen: Can’t believ we’re at the end of our time already. Thank you so much for chatting with us today. Just to finish, if you didn’t write fantasy books, what genre would you like to try?
Sara: I actually write across several genres. Growing up, I remember the first books I loved to read were YA romance pocketbooks and that’s why I started writing YA sweet romance first under my pen name “Sara Breaker.” I like sweet, simple stories that always have happy endings. This eventually branched out into my YA sci-fi & fantasy books under my pen name “S. Breaker” where I write nonstop action adventure stories. And now I’m venturing into New Adult fantasy romance under “S. R. Breaker.” All my books are feel-good reads. I’m deeply committed to happy endings because I think everyone needs an escape—specifically, one that leaves you feeling so good, you’ll be virtually bulletproof from the harshness of reality for the rest of the day.
Helen: Thank you, Sara, for joining me today. I wish you lots of luck with all your books. I am so excited to be part of this anthology, it has been a great experience, and I can’t believe the launch is in a few days. It has come around so quickly! You can preorder the anthology here for the insane price of 99c!
Make sure you can check out some of my other posts as I spotlight the authors as they reveal their covers!
About the Author:
S. R. Breaker lives in New Zealand with her husband and two kids. She writes non-stop action adventure, offbeat science fiction and fantasy books.
Suburban mum by day and author by night, she loves to live vicariously through her characters. They don’t have to vacuum all day long and are almost always guaranteed to survive any fantastical or thrilling incidents, no matter how treacherous she writes them.
She likes binge-watching TV shows and reading books that take her to far enough unknown worlds—but then still have enough time to wash the dishes after.
For all the latest news:
Other books by S.R Breaker
Curse of the Arcadian Stone
Link to ebook on Amazon UK | Amazon US
Link to paperback on Amazon UK | Amazon US
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If you enjoy fantasy romance books then you will love my new release SoulBreather, part of the Realm of Darkness Anthology, and my epic fantasy Sentinal series. As a new threat against Remargaren is discovered, only one man can wake the ancient guards who can protect them, only he doesn’t know how. Start the adventure and stay for the journey. Sign up to my newsletter and download a free novella called Sentinals Stirring and get notified when my next books are published.
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Helen Garraway 
Wonderful! Thank you so much, Helen! I enjoyed working on this anthology with you as well. So excited to share all our fantastic stories with the world! 🙂
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