C.A. Staff, author of "Return Of The Necromancers"

I'd like welcome C.A. Staff, author of  "Return Of The Necromancers" to the Thursday interview. Before we get started, a quick intro!

C.A. Staff started her writing career late in life. Born and raised a Nebraskan, Mrs. Staff spent much of her own life telling stories to her five children. Now that her children have their own families, Mrs. Staff has begun to share her stories with the rest of the world. C.A. Staff’s debut novel was not actually fantasy. Mrs. Staff was neglected and abused as a child, so her first novel was a memoir about the abuse her adopted mother subjected her to. To help deal with the pain of writing her memoir, Mrs. Staff created Return Of The Necromancers. She wrote the two novels side by side.

OK - HERE WE GO !!  

No.1 Would you break the law to save a loved one? .. why?

I would break the law to “Save” a loved one. There is an IF here of course! If that “Save” is one of those, “OMG you have to save me. I need money for something useless.” type saves. Then the answer is no.

No.2 What is the difference between being alive and truly living?

Because I was physically and emotionally abused as a child, this question runs deep for me. I will try to answer short and sweetly. For many years I simply existed. My life went from day to day. My emotions empty, like a box of air, except at least the air was needed. I did what I had to do to raise my family, and make it. Nothing mattered to me except my children. (Being Alive)

One day something happened. I met a wonderful British man who saw something in me that I had given up on long ago. I pulled myself together. I started seeing the world in a different way. I got involved in life. I threw my troubles out the window, and learned that to truly live one must be happy with one’s self first. (Truly Living)

No.3 What motivates you to write?

What motivated me to write was simple. I wanted to prove to the world, inside my head, that I was somebody. I was not worthless. I could, if I worked really hard, leave a legacy for my family. I wanted to make my family proud of me. They do tell me all the time that I have already made them proud. Actually proving to myself stifled my own doubts.

No.4 Why do humans want children?

I can not possibly speak for all humans here. I however had my children for a few reasons, with one being the strongest. I wanted someone who would love me as much as I loved them. I found out that your children grow up and and can fall out of love. I also believe that our children are an extension of us. I have five extensions of myself. Only one of my children is not like me, and even she is like me a little. Others must have different reasons for having children, but these are mine, because I am me, and that’s all I can be. There are of course those rotten, selfish, people who should never have children. I will never understand why they were allowed to be able to have to children. Again a very touchy subject for me.

No.5 What was the biggest challenge in creating your book "Return Of The Necromancers" ?

Oh my goodness!!!! The entire package was a huge challenge! Just kidding! My biggest challenge was I am not so good at showing..... There it’s out there! I tend to tell my story. Though in the second book of the “Dark Mountain Saga”, I am fine tuning my telling to show what I see in my mind’s eye. Also getting my words to match what I see in my head is a feat. In my mind, my story plays like a movie.

No.6 What is the most important thing you have learned in life so far?

The most important thing I have learned in my own life was, not to allow it to consume me. Once again this is probably different for others, though there may be some who can relate.

No.7 How did you come up with the title "Return Of The Necromancers" ?

One day while writing “September’s Child”, I must have looked as though I were about to fall to pieces. My son sat down on the couch with a worried look on his face. I quote him, “Mom you know what you need? You need to create a fantasy world that you can slip into when September’s Child gets to be too much for you.”

We laughed about the books we had shared, and the stories I told him as a very small child. After many hours of sharing our favorite parts of our favorite books and movies, and even fantasy games, we decided upon a name for my next novel. It was originally “The Dark Mountain Saga”, but I goofed up and missed my son’s misspelling of the title. That mess up caused me to change the entire cover and title to “Return Of The Necromancers”. The idea of the actual title just came to me, then became reality.

No.8 How do you handle personal criticism?

Personal criticism has always been an issue with me. I have learned how to grow through criticism though. After I beat the heck out of myself, I can move on. I tend to bend over backwards to fix everything that is not right. My husband has helped me learn how to deal with book criticism. We talk a lot about, and analyze reviews of my books to see where I can actually grow, and where to let go. I am not one who likes to vent on others, unless they deserve to be vented on. In the case of criticism, if there is a valid point, I will take it, and even learn from it. If the point is not valid to me, I may respond. Saying that though, I have found that is not always appropriate.

No.9 Why should people read your book?

“Return Of The Necromancers” is book one of “The Dark Mountain Saga”, series, meaning there is more to my story than the first book. There will also be side series after the last of “The Dark Mountain Saga”.

With the help of my family, and friends, I have created the entire world of Danovian, and all its inhabitants. Plus you will definitely want to learn about our Lorgon. Chento is my favorite character. He has now been copyrighted to some day become a huge part of my marketing. There may end up being Chento collectables soon. A cool thing for those who are into that, as I am. I am also working on other character collectable items.

I definitely wanted to create something that would fit in with the world’s general outlook on books, but I also wanted to be different. Of course as my series grows, so do I. I very much have enjoyed writing, “Return Of The Necromancers.” I hope all that read it enjoy it as well. I am sure there will be those who will not get it. There are so many aspects to this book that I personally do not know where to begin. I am confident that should you choose to join Enilorac and Rovert as they adventure though Danovian, learning about themselves and their world, you will soon find that even in real life things may not be as they seem.

Besides being an awesome paranormal fantasy, at the end of the book there is a link to join a Holiday promotion that will reward one reader with a 100 dollar Amazon Gift Card, and a signed copy of “Return Of The Necromancers”.

No.10 Why is there something rather than nothing?

I normally avoid answering questions like this. Since it is here, I will answer to the best of my ability. There is something rather than nothing because the “Cat In The Hat” brought in Thing One and Thing Two! Both of them being “some-thing”!

 Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions 

& the best of luck with your new book! 

Check out  "Return Of The Necromancers" on

GOODREADS & AMAZON 

Enilorac returns home from warrior-skills-training to find her home village of Sparevene ravaged. Enilorac’s father’s seemingly lifeless body blocks the entrance into the family home, and there is an intruder inside needing Enilorac’s assistance. Enilorac’s life is turned upside down when the intruder insists on taking her father’s body to the Elf Castle. The distraught warrior girl further discovers while searching the family barn for her mother, that Alatli, Elder Queen of the Necromancers, is not only real, but the Necromancer Queen has a quest for her. A quest that will take Enilorac to the Dark Mountain’s glowing ledge, where the young warrior girl will meet Rovert.

Rovert, a young archer farm boy from Espus, having heard stories from his father Nodrog of The Great Necro War, has decided to embark on a quest to find and destroy the Necromancer children that are rumored to be enslaved in the cave on the glowing ledge of Dark Mountain.

.