Hello and welcome to this Track of Words author interview, where today I’m very pleased to welcome James Logan to talk about his debut fantasy novel The Silverblood Promise, which is out now from Arcadia Books! Like many readers I love a good Epic Fantasy series, and The Silverblood Promise kicks off The Last Legacy in style – it has everything I want in this sort of story, and I absolutely loved it. Given that, I jumped at the chance to chat to James for this interview – so read on to find out all about this brilliant book from characters, world building and influences to magic, themes and the writing process.
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Track of Words: To start things off, could you tell us a bit about The Silverblood Promise and what readers can expect from it?
James Logan: The Silverblood Promise is my love letter to adventure fantasy. While I’ve always enjoyed the classic hero-on-a-quest trope from epic/high fantasy, it’s the gritty, dangerous settings often found in low fantasy and sword and sorcery that have always held the most appeal to me. The Silverblood Promise throws these two elements together, along with a bunch of my favourite tropes – lost civilisations, hair-raising escapes, mysterious technology, snarky sidekicks and exciting sword fights. I wrote the sort of book I love to read. I wanted it to be pacy and gripping, but above all I wanted it to be fun. I’ll leave it to the readers to decide if I’ve succeeded!
ToW: Without spoiling anything, who are the main characters and what do readers need to know about them?
JL: The novel follows the story of Lukan Gardova, a lapsed aristocrat who’s managed to make a mess of his life. An ill-advised duel led to his expulsion from the Academy, and to an estrangement with his father. He’s been travelling ever since, scraping a living through card games and seeking solace at the bottom of the bottle. But when Lukan learns his father has been murdered by persons unknown, he suddenly finds fresh purpose, vowing to seek justice for his father. Little does he know what he’s getting himself into…
Flea is…well, I was going to say she’s Lukan’s sidekick, but that would earn me a kick in the balls, or an elbow in the face. Besides, it wouldn’t be accurate. Flea is very much her own person, a sharp-tongued street urchin who has trouble keeping her mouth closed and her hands to herself. Her chance encounter with Lukan will change the course of both their lives in ways they couldn’t have imagined.
ToW: What can you tell us about the world in which this story is set?
JL: The story takes place on a continent known as the Old Empire, as it was once united under a single banner, but it has since splintered into several city states. Each city has its own distinctive identity. Parva – Lukan’s home city – is the cultural capital, known for its minstrels and playwrights and wine, while Korslakov is the centre of industry and innovation. Saphrona, where The Silverblood Promise is mostly set, is the continent’s centre of commerce, where anything can be bought, and everything has a price.
Saphrona is loosely based on Renaissance Spain, particularly Seville, which I’ve visited twice and where you can clearly see the Arabic architectural influence from the time of the Moorish occupation in the Middle Ages. I’ve always found that fusion of cultures intriguing. Constantinople was also an influence; this idea of a gateway between east and west, creating a melting pot of cultures. That was the starting point for Saphrona.
But the world of The Silverblood Promise is much broader than just the Old Empire. The Southern Queendoms lie just across the Sceptre Sea from Saphrona, while further east lie the ports of the Mourning Sea, and other wonders barely known to the inhabitants of the Old Empire. It’s a world with a rich history, and much of that history was not written by humans…
ToW: I read on your website that you started work on what would become The Silverblood Promise back in 2015. What was the spark that set this particular story off?
JL: The spark was really me telling myself that it was time to put up or shut up. I’d had the dream of writing a fantasy novel, and seeing it published, since I was fifteen, but found myself entering my thirties with nothing to show for it. I’d never even managed a first draft of a novel; all I had were dozens of abandoned manuscripts. I decided that it was time to try and make good on the dream – or abandon it altogether. So in January 2015 I sat down and started writing the opening lines of what – nearly a decade later – would become The Silverblood Promise. Turns out that sometimes dreams do come true.
As far as the story itself goes, the starting point was an idea I had of writing a series where each book took place in a different setting – I thought that would be a good way of keeping the reader’s interest, but also that it would keep it exciting for myself, giving me the chance to explore different locations and cultures in each book. As for the characters, Lukan had been knocking around in my head, in different guises, for many years. His final evolution, Pokemon style, into a roguish, lapsed aristocrat with a penchant for getting into trouble just seemed a natural fit for him. Flea is another character that’s been with me for a long time. Their relationship and associated banter was always intended as a central point for the novel and wider series to pivot around.
ToW: It’s been a while since I last read a big, chunky Epic Fantasy novel, but this felt instantly familiar and comfortable, and I absolutely blasted through it. I imagine you must read a lot of Fantasy, what with your day job – how did you go about telling your own sort of story, balancing the familiar tropes with your own voice?
JL: I’m so glad to hear you raced through it – I wanted to write a ripping yarn packed with action and adventure that would grip the reader and keep them turning the pages, so I’m always thrilled to hear readers say they blasted through the book.
I didn’t approach the writing of the book in a structured way; I didn’t really have a plan, I didn’t have a sense of the tropes I would embrace or how I might put a fresh spin on them. I didn’t even have a firm sense of what the narrative voice would sound like. I just charged forward with the intent of writing the kind of book I love to read, which, looking back, is as good a starting point as any. Writing the book was really hard and took several years, because I was still learning my process and honing my craft, and it was only through the multiple rewrites (I must have done nine or ten passes on the novel) that it gradually found its shape and structure and voice. I winged it, basically. But I’m not sure that I could have done it any other way.
The brilliant cover art for The Silverblood Promise, by Jeff Brown
ToW: Given that you edit Fantasy novels for a living (for Orbit, as James Long), were you (or indeed are you) ever tempted to look elsewhere and write something completely different?
JL: You might think – with good reason – I would get burned out commissioning and editing fantasy novels in my day job, and then writing fantasy novels in my spare time, but honestly, I don’t. I love fantasy, I always have done, and the allure has never shown any sign of wearing off despite the amount of time I spend immersed in the genre. Fantasy is my passion and I consider myself lucky to be able to spend my working life – both as an editor and a writer – working in it.
That said, I do love other genres – SF, crime, horror. So who knows, perhaps I’ll have a crack at writing in another genre one day.
ToW: I really enjoyed reading about Lukan, who feels a bit different to the usual Fantasy protagonist – rash, hasty, regretting his life choices, and generally very relatable. Was that always a deliberate choice for him to be this sort of character, or did he develop into that over time?
JL: It was a deliberate choice. I think fantasy is most effective when it reflects the real world back at us – and when we can see ourselves in the characters. Human beings are messy; we’re contradictory, we’re capable of holding multiple points of view and values and pivoting between them at will. I enjoy characters who are flawed and broken – I find them far more relatable and interesting than the honourable, altruistic heroes that featured in the fantasy books I read when I was younger.
ToW: Lukan is obviously the protagonist, but I’m sure I won’t be the only reader to absolutely love Flea – where did her character come from, and why is she such a scene stealer?!
JL: Readers seem to really love Flea, which I’m happy about because I love to write her. She was originally a boy called Rat, who – along with Lukan – knocked about in my head for more than a decade. If I recall, Rat appeared in an old novel draft many years ago, and I intended for him to only appear in a couple of scenes, but he stole both scenes he was in, and I enjoyed the banter he had with that version of Lukan. That novel was abandoned, but the seed of the idea wasn’t, and I eventually repurposed it for The Silverblood Promise. Flea got gender-flipped because that just made the dynamic even better – there’s something amusing about seeing a young girl bossing an older man around.
ToW: There’s some really interesting magic at play in The Silverblood Promise, but it largely feels like you’ve kept it at a bit of a remove from Lukan’s perspective, tied up in ancient history and legend. What was behind the decision to approach the magic in this way?
JL: I don’t like hard magic systems. If you have a scenario where combining Action A with Effect B always delivers Result C, that’s not magic – it’s science. There’s no mystery to it and it’s not exciting to me. I prefer my magic to be more esoteric, more unknown, only vaguely understood. There’s powerful magic in the world of The Silverblood Promise, but it’s rare and to some extent outside the human experience, which I think gives it a sense of wonder – both for the characters and for the reader.
ToW: Some of the themes you explore in this book – geopolitical instability, rampant inequality, the dangers of human greed – feel very modern and relevant right now! How conscious of the world around us were you as you were writing the novel?
JL: I started writing The Silverblood Promise in 2015. By the time I was finished, we’d lived through Brexit (the most damaging British political policy of my lifetime), the Trump administration, and a worsening climate crisis. Then there was a global pandemic and war in Europe. When you’re seeing this amount of fear and anxiety and instability every day, it’s impossible not to feel its impact – and as a writer, it’s almost inevitable that it’ll manifest in your work in some way. I didn’t consciously set out to explore such themes in my work, but it’s unsurprising that they appeared regardless.
ToW: You talk on your website about Fighting Fantasy and Warhammer being early drivers of your interest in Fantasy fiction. Looking at your own writing, where would you say those influences might be visible?
JL: I’m not sure they are, to be honest. My writing is directly influenced by more modern writers. But Fighting Fantasy and Warhammer were formative influences that sparked the flame of my passion for fantasy, and I’d never have had the career – either as an editor or a writer – without them. The day I ordered Return to Firetop Mountain from the Puffin Bookclub leaflet (on a whim, as far as I remember) changed my life forever. Everyone’s got their sliding doors moment, and that is one of mine.
ToW: Looking back now that this book is finished, what was one writing-related lesson that you learned during the process of working on this?
JL: Not to force the words if they’re not coming. This was a mistake I often made because I was still learning my craft. If I was struggling, I’d double down and try to force the words. I remember one session where I was having a hard time and I stubbornly tried to power through, eventually walking away after five hours with only a few hundred words (and a headache) to show for it.
These days, I know my process and how my mind works. I’m also a much better writer, with a more instinctive grasp of structure and direction, so it’s rare that I have a day when the words refuse to come. But occasionally that happens, and when it does I just walk away, because there’s always a reason for the logjam – usually it’s my subconscious trying to tell me something’s wrong. So I’ll set the writing aside, and eventually I’ll figure out what the problem is. Sometimes it’ll take me five minutes, sometimes a day. But the solution always comes eventually.
ToW: What do you hope readers will get out of The Silverblood Promise by the time they’ve finished it?
JL: I just hope they’ll have had a good time – been amused by the banter, intrigued by the world, gripped by the plot. Books can be many things, but the one thing they should never be is boring. Entertaining the reader was always my first priority.
ToW: Without giving anything away, what can you tell us about what we can expect from book two?
JL: Well, book two is set in Korslakov, city of artifice and invention, where the fabled alchemists make their home. Like the first book, it’s essentially a self-contained story, but also moves the overarching plot forwards. Readers can expect more of the same: banter, action, intrigue – and some big revelations…
ToW: To finish off, if you lived in Saphrona what do you think you would be doing, and why?
JL: Sitting in a taverna sampling the local red wine, which is meant to be very good, and trying not to attract any attention! Saphrona’s a dangerous place after all…
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James Logan was born in the southeast of England and grew up on a steady diet of classic 80s cartoons and Commodore 64 computer games. The impulse purchase of a Fighting Fantasy gamebook forged a love of all things fantastical, which later led to a career in genre publishing. James lives and works in London.
Find out more at James’ website.
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Thanks very much to James for chatting to me for this interview, and to Ayo Okojie at Arcadia Books for facilitating it! Hopefully this has whetted your appetite for The Silverblood Promise, in which case definitely follow the links below to get hold of the book yourself. If you’d like to hear more from James, I can recommend episode 182 of the fantastic Page One podcast!
The Silverblood Promise is out now via Arcadia Books (and also Tor Books in the US) – check out the links below to order* your copy:
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*If you buy anything using one of these links, I will receive a small affiliate commission – see here for more details.