Seeker: Demon Killers [Fantasy/Action | Complete]

Author's Note: Questions, Facts, and Thank Yous

Thank Yous

As always, to YOU, my lovely readers! Where would I be without you and your reads, votes, comments, and presence? I read all my comments. They always make me fuzzy. I thank you from the bottom of my heart, particularly as this story had taken a year-long hiatus during my dip into depression. To think I still had readers excited for my return and continue to read this after so long really meant more than I can put into words.

I'd also like to thank my partner, who, blessed as he was with a vivid imagination, does not write. It was he who suggested to spice things up by having a traitor in Tora's midst.

And, of course, thanks to Imogen Isles/Britt/ImogenaryThings (if you've not changed your name again by this point!) for the gorgeous cover.

What is the inspiration for the story?

This is from a dream when I was about 15 years old. I was 'Tora', with telekinetic powers, and I was in a team of power rangers. I remember facing this huge wall and throwing rocks at it. I frequently have dreams where I have super powers: telekinesis, phasing through solid matter, flying, pyrokinesis. It was from there that Seeker started. The first story was Seeker: The Challenge, meant to be book 1 in a series. Reading back, vivid were the scenes that played before me, but the writing skills and planning were severely lacking. This is my first attempt at rewriting a completed story and developing the backstory to all the characters and demon lore.

What is the inspiration for your characters?

I'm going to be rather unoriginal and say Tora was from me, again. Tora's horrible temper is not unlike mine, which I inherited from my father. The violent manifestation in her temper is what I would have liked to do during bouts of tantrums if I could heal like her, but luckily so far common sense prevailed. Punching the wall is usually not a good idea.

Ross was created as the opposite to Tora: calm, cool, intelligent, and deathly sarcastic. She was a combination of several people I have met throughout life who were all sorts of bossy, highly intelligent and organised, and snippy when challenged. Although Tora has her own snark, Ross always has the ability to put her down. Markl was quite similar to Ross and initially I wondered if they were too similar. Both had leadership roles, both were calm and collected, both were fond of Tora in their own ways. It was actually a relief to make Markl the traitor because I could at least flip everything he ever said into his own manipulation. Markl had no particular inspiration.

Damien was inspired by several shy boys I met in Scouts as a teenager. Perhaps it was because I was the only girl for a good many years, I had several of the younger scouts crushing on me. They were always keen to go along with my ideas and in retrospect it was quite obvious why!

Carlos was my favourite character. I met two people, one during high school and the other during university, who were great (read: cringeworthy) punners with no sense of shame, which was admirable and awkward at the same time. Carlos's self-confidence and endless source of questionable humour is from those two awesome guys. I also based some of his jester role on Marco from 'Animorphs'. Some of the punniness rubbed off on me, and Carlos was born.

Where do your characters' names come from? 

I always wanted Ross to have an effeminate name that shortened to a more masculine one. I agree with Carlos, Rosalind is a lovely name. Carlos, Damien, and Tora just seemed to fit. I do have a fondness for Tora's name, being not overly feminine but rolls easy off the tongue. Markl's name came from 'Howl's Moving Castle'. In the original novel by Diana Wynne Jones, the apprentice to Howl is actually called Michael, but Studio Ghibli's animation turned it to Markl. My delight at seeing a novel I loved as a teen being turned into an animation by my favourite animating company and for that boy to be voiced by Josh Hutcherson (in the English dub; whom I adored since 'Bridge to Terabithia') automatically made Markl a must-have name in a book.

The demons' names are derived from historical/mythical demon names, as you may have guessed. Lilitha - Lilith. Cimerus - Cimeries. Azyazel - Azazel. Abaddeon - Abaddon. Beiamolt - Behemoth.

Will there be a sequel?

Not in the immediate sense. Tora's future with her demon kin is obviously uncertain. Carlos and Ross are safe -- for now. There is definite scope for further writing in the many demon worlds I've created, but I need to set that aside for now for other works.

What's next? 

Well, Seeker has been entered into Wattys2016 and the deadline for voting has passed. My sleep-deprived brain decided I shouldn't advertise for it (D'Oh!) or there would have been another post like for The Windcaster and Rise of the Vengeful Dragon during their contests. Fingers crossed I've accumulated enough votes and tweets to win something!

In the mean time, as I promised I would continue to write March City: The Land of the Gifted, which was my NaNoWriMo project back in 2014. Uploads will start when the story is nearing its completion to avoid any further hiatuses. I can't promise to consistently upload otherwise, as my work commitment is taking lot of time.

Possibly I may do NaNoWriMo this year. Anyone else thinking about it? I do have a story in the pipeline.

If there are any more questions, feel free to post them here and I'll answer them to the best of my abilities.

And as always, thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping me complete another story. This marks my fourth completed novel, although I don't really count the first Seeker as it was more of a test run. If you haven't had a look at my other works, please do so!

Other full-length novels:

For a coming-of-age wind magic fantasy in a war-afflicted world, check out THE WINDCASTER.

For dragons and magic, check out DRAGON RISING.

For a dystopian fantasy-scifi with magic abilities and a perfect world in an oligarchy, check out MARCH CITY: LAND OF THE GIFTED and its sequel MARCH CITY: REBELLION OF THE GIFTED.

For magic circles, treason, and genocide, check out RUNE MAGE and its sequel (in the same book) CHAOS MAGE.

Other novellas:

For Asian fantasy and a vengeful fire spirit, check out EMPRESS OF FIRE.

For Asian Scifi with robotics and what makes a human human? check out TECHNO FEVER.

For Regency fantasy with memory weaving gone wrong, check out WEAVE OF SILVER.

Other short stories:

For fantasy, check out ROSES AND DREAMS.

For general fiction, check out TEAR DROPS AND INK.

For horror, check out STUFF OF NIGHTMARES.