New Adult Sci-Fi
Date Published: May 14, 2018
A science Fiction novel tangled in the psychology of being human and the vulnerability of an unconventional Love story
Grace was born a storyteller with a beautifully brilliant mind. Trauma twisted her reality into its own tale of darkness. Now, at eighteen, Grace has found herself on the shores of a shadow world created to heal a generation. A world whose purpose is to release our emotions from the bonds of youth.
But she is not alone. It's a world inhabited by others, those working on their own hearts and one other like herself. An amazing and yet afflicted empath and musician by the name of Kai that Grace feels inexplicably drawn to.
Will she be able to handle the suppressed memories of her youth? Accept the vulnerability necessary to explore her own heart and that of another? Fulfill the true purpose it seems she is destined to serve?
Come along with Grace as she learns to uncover her past, harness her gift, open her heart to love and embrace her future.
Interview
with Jocelyn Bates
Can you tell us a little bit about the
characters in The Storyteller’s Throne?
Grace
is 18 years old, but she’s lived more than a few lifetimes. She’s a
storyteller, though she grapples with what this actually means and how to
harness her own magic with words. She’s
average in many ways on the outside but on the inside she’s navigated pathways
that have brought her into a community of kin that sets her apart from the rest
of us. She has the kind of gift that
doesn’t allow her to be ignorant and so the truth seeks her out. She’s brave, defiant and curious, she’s also
vulnerable and scarred in many ways. The
Storyteller’s Throne is the beginning of her journey into adulthood.
Kai
is also 18 years old. He’s a musician
and an empath and although he is average on the outside, he too has navigated
pathways on the inside that have set him apart from he rest of us. His journey to being 18 was marked with the
ebb and flow of other’s emotions. He can
listen to someone’s heart and play what it’s feeling through his guitar. It’s magic what he does but it also takes a
toll on him as the larger world around him pushes in. He is sensitive and aware of everything
around him. He’s learned from the hearts
of others and feels the loss of his own heart language.
Sen
is someone who walks between worlds. She
is an artist who found the vulnerability in design between worlds so that she
can travel back and forth and be an ally to The Shadow World. She’s a mentor and teacher to Grace at the
same time that she stands alongside her.
Sen is a nurturer and a seer and a protector.
Anika
is Grace’s Shadow self and Hendrix is Kai’s shadow self, together they keep
Grace and Kai on track in the Shadow World.
Can
you tell us a little bit about your next books or what you have planned for the
future?
I
plan on The Storyteller’s Throne to be the first in a series of three. So I’ll
be working on the next installation of the series very soon. I’ve also had some
ideas that I jot down as they come up for other books that I would like to
venture toward in the future. Right now,
I’m helping my kids write some books of their own, since they are excited about
the work I’m doing and want to take part in it.
So we work twice a week on their books.
My son’s book is about the slime kings and my daughter’s book is about a
journey to the top of the world.
How long would you say it takes you to
write a book?
I
wrote this book in 3 months, with a very structured schedule and time
frame. I spent a lot of time just
allowing my mind to free associate and then when it was time to write I was
able to just let everything flow. I’m
not sure if this will be an average for me when I write a book or if The
Storyteller’s Throne was an enigma. But
I think having the time to just allow my mind to wander without writing helps
me when I sit down to pick a book and write it.
What is your favorite childhood book?
As
a child my favorite series was a series of books called sweet Pickles. It’s straight out of the seventies! I enjoyed
the character and stories and looked forward each month to receiving the next
one. I actually kept all the books in
the series for my kids to read, and they also enjoy them.
As
an adult, my favorite childhood book that I get to read with my kids (which I
keep in a special place in our bedroom) is a book called Virginia Wolf by Kyo Maclear. It’s a beautiful story about turning around
bad feelings through artistic expression, and as an arts therapist I truly
appreciate it’s message. I love how the book was illustrated, I love the words
and I even love the fonts chosen. It’s a
pretty awesome book for any kids who has bad feelings sometimes.
If you could spend the day with one of
the characters from The Storyteller’s Throne who would it be? Please tell us
why you chose this particular character, where you would go and what you would
do.
I
think i would spend the day with Kai.
Grace is closer to who I am as a person and I’ve always longed to have
the ability to play guitar and write songs … it’s something that has totally
eluded me, even though I spent most of my teen and young adult years
surrounding myself with musicians and songwriters. I long to hear the music that sets a heart
free. The music that can untangle,
Uncover and unearth everything inside so that it could be felt and released.
What does that music even sound like? I
think maybe I’d spend the time with Kai outdoors, in nature, listening and
maybe even attempting o write a song … what what?!?
What was the hardest scene from The
Storyteller’s Throne to write?
The
hardest scene to write was Grace’s trauma.
It was told both from Grace’s point of view as a child as well as from
her perspective years later. There had
to be a difference in how it was told and I needed to make sure that it was
held to the highest degree of honesty. I
tried to keep it real and not shy away from details but at the same time not
exploiting the trauma itself. It really
is a very fine line between the two.
What made you want to become a writer?
I‘ve
always loved writing. In fact I have
plastic bins of stuff I’ve written from the time I was a teenager. I actually got rid of a bunch of it and it
still takes up at least 3 huge bins. I don’t know if I ever considered being a
writer as a career before recently though.
Writing was always a pretty personal journey that I kept on the pages,
except for poetry that I wrote specifically for the stage. I don’t know … but I feel like with my age,
with what I’ve been through in my life, I’ve gained some kind of something
where I feel like my voice is worth hearing finally and why not put it out there!
Just for fun
(a Favorite song:
Soul Singing - The Black Crowes
(b Favorite book: Spilling Open by
Sabrina Wad Harrison
(c Favorite movie: Almost Famous
(d Favorite tv show: Charmed
(e Favorite Food:
Right now … and this changes frequently … vegan potato skins :)
(f Favorite drink: non-alcoholic - bio
coffee … alcoholic - Fat Tire New Belgian Ale
(g Favorite website: I don’t have much time to be on the internet
… so for the most part I’m on Facebook
You
can follow my writing process on my blog.
I also share tips for daily creativity and artistic inspiration all
around at jocelynbates.com
Thanks so much for visiting with us
today!
About the Author
Jocelyn Bates is a homeschooling mama to three and an arts therapist. She lives in NJ and writes in the elusive quiet that settles in the earliest of hours.
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