Guest Interview: Julia Knight

I pleased to welcome a fellow Romance Diva, Julia Knight, as our guest today. Thanks for joining us at Fierce Romance!

Please tell our readers a little about Julia Knight:

Well, for starters I’m a Brit – born and raised in a sleepy little Sussex village, henc the apparent spelling mistakes in this interview. No matter how often I move away, I always end up coming back. I’m a big fantasy and historical fan too, to geek levels.

What would readers be surprised to know about you?

That I’m a biker chick maybe. I have all the leathers, and the tattoos.

We’ll have to compare tattoos someday! Tell us about your latest book(s)

The Viking’s Sacrifice is a historical about, well, Vikings! Here’s the blurb:

Viking raiders destroyed Wilda’s home. She witnessed the murder of her mother and would have been killed herself if it weren’t for the Viking boy Einar, who saved her from his ruthless brother. The blood and murder left Wilda cold and shorn of feeling.

Eight years later, the heathens return for Wilda. As a captive in the Viking village, she finds protection and silent comfort in the man who once gallantly saved her.

Einar has been cursed to silence by his brother. With the dark net of his brother’s power cast over their village, silence is a small price to pay for his family’s safety. But Einar is immediately drawn to Wilda, and the need to protect her from his brother awakens his Viking courage. Can Einar break his brother’s curse in time to save the village and the woman he loves?


This sounds great! I love the tagline on your website: Fantasy author. Excitement, adventure, and dollops of romance. What made you choose fantasy as a vehicle for your romance? And do you ever write in another subgenre?

Well, it kind of happened by accident – I thought I was writing fantasy but it turns out it was romance. I love the fact that the plot doesn’t have to be just about the romance; there’s a world to explore and other things going on too, other plots. I write historical too when the muse takes me. Again, it’s like exploring another world.


I love getting lost in another world when I'm reading. What are you currently working on?

Just finishing up edits of the second Pirates of Estovan books – fantasy pirates.

Mmm. Fantasy pirates sound very interesting. What do you wish you’d known before you became published?

Just how addictive this writing malarkey is. Now I can’t stop.

We wouldn't want you to stop! Most people think the life of a writer is glamorous. What’s the least glamorous thing you’ve done in the past week?

Heh, one of my ‘real’ jobs is as a bar maid (or ‘wenching’ as I prefer to call it lol). Gosh, so glamorous holding a bucket for a drunken someone to be sick into. Not.

So you're a real wench, huh? Well, you're also a "real" writer. What can we look forward from you in the future?

Well, the aforementioned second pirate book (as yet untitled, but due out in the summer) and perhaps some more pirates after that.

Where can our readers find out more about you and your stories?

My website, http://juliaknight.co.uk has all the details, or you can follow me on twitter @Knight_Julia.

I know I'll be checking you out :)Is there anything you’d like to ask our readers?

As I said above, I love fantasy and historical romances because there’s so much opportunity for external plot to complement the romance. If you read genre romance, which one’s your favourite and why?

The Viking's Sacrifice is available now from Carina and Amazon and all good e-book stores.

Guest interview: Julia Knight

Our special guest today is Julia Knight. First, let me say Happy Birthday, Julia!!


Julia Knight lives in Sussex, UK, with her ever patient husband, two eccentric kids and the world’s daftest dog. When not writing, which isn’t often, she likes motorbikes (men in leather), watching the wrestling (men in not very much apart from muscles, sweat and baby oil) and exploring new ways to get a giggle out of life.

Welcome, Julia! Please tell us about your new release from Carina Press.

Ten Ruby Trick is a piratical fantasy centring on Van Gast, a racketeer who lives for thrills; his lover, the unpredictable Josie, and the mage-bonded slave set to catch them, Holden. Van Gast and Josie delight in pretending they loathe each other, using that to further their scams. Sadly, when Van Gast steals the wrong ship, Holden is ordered to use the racketeer’s “worst enemy” to help flush him out. Things go from bad to worse when Holden discovers that “enemy” is Josie, his own former lover…

Sounds fun and fascinating! What inspired this story?

Lawks, all sorts of things. I was a bit obsessed with pirates at the time—my pirate period!—having just finished an historical erotic novella about them, inspired by a trip to Portsmouth Naval Museum. Then these two scallywags turned up in my head, Van Gast and Josie. She was trying to scam someone by pretending she hated Van Gast, so I wanted to know who they were scamming and why, and it all sort of spiralled from there, especially once I had a certain song in my head—The Unforgiven III by Metallica. Yes, I know it sounds a bit odd, but once I have a song for a book, it really takes off, and that one suits both Van Gast and Holden, and the theme of the book, so well.

I know what you mean. Having a song that fits the story is so inspiring and truly helps me write it. Please tell us about an interesting or unusual quirk one of your characters has.

Well they all have their quirks! Van Gast will always pick the stupid-but-exciting over the sensible-but-dull (and I’m sure we all wish we could do that more often). Josie is capricious and unpredictable, just a blast to write about, and probably my favourite. But the most unusual quirk is probably Holden’s. He’s mage-bound, that is he’s under the control of a mage who directs even his thoughts. He struggles through the whole book between doing what he’s supposed to, and what he wants to, and the best way to keep his mind in order is to look for patterns in everything. He finds order soothing.


Those are great quirks. How do you choose names for your characters?

It depends. Josie and Holden just sort of came with names attached. Van Gast, well I couldn’t think of a good name. Luckily my husband is used to questions such as ‘I need a pirate name. Now!’. Then it stuck, although a friend of mine, after seeing the cover, insists on calling him Van Gasp.


LOL! I agree. Awesome cover! Did you choose the intriguing title of your book and if so how did you do it?

I did, in fact it was almost the first thing I knew about the book, which is unusual for me. It’s the name of a con that Van Gast and Josie used to run, and that now resurfaces in a more menacing manner.

Where is your favorite place in the world?

I can’t say I have one—there are so many places to love! However, I suspect you can spot my love for Marrakech in one of the cities in this book. I have a soft spot for the Norwegian fjords too.

What was the most important thing you learned (the thing that made all the difference) just before you made your first sale?

Just because it’s fantasy doesn’t mean it should be a doorstopper! My first book was, and I blush to admit this, 225 000 words long. More than twice your average book. Once I discovered that a debut book this length was such a hard sell, I trimmed it down to 110 000, and discovered that it became a much better book in the process. So I suppose what I learnt was to take out what wasn’t important to the story.

What’s next for you?

Well, I’m waiting on betas to finish ripping apart, er, critiquing a Viking historical romance and I’m just finishing up a rather dark fantasy noir—no romance, just for a change. After that, I’m going back to Van Gast’s world for a new con trick: Find the Lady.

These sound wonderful! Would you like to ask readers a question?

Staying with the piratical theme—who is your favourite fictional pirate?

Please visit Julia on the web...

Website: http://juliaknight.co.uk

Twitter: @Knight_Julia

Ten Ruby Trick is available at Carina Press and Amazon.

Thanks for being our guest today, Julia! I hope your birthday is wonderful!