Author Interview: H.L. Burke, Ashen

We’re back with an interview with the prolific H.L. Burke, author of many books for young adults including the Realm Makers award nominee Ashen. She has a unique approach to sharing her wonderful writing with the world, but before we jump into the interview, here are some tidbits about her and her book!

About H.L. Burke

H. L. Burke is the author of multiple fantasy novels including the Supervillain Rehabilitation Project series, and Spellsmith & Carver Steampunk series, and Ashen.

She is an admirer of the whimsical, a follower of the Light, and a believer in happily ever after.

Ashen

Realm Makers Awards Nominee 2021

Stealer of warmth, bringer of death. What if Cinderella had a secret that kept her locked away?

Unable to make her own body heat, foundling Lizbete survives in the tavern kitchen, drawing warmth from the fires, the sun—and sometimes, other living beings. Her days are spent cooking alongside the tavern owner and avoiding the suspicious gazes of the villagers in her small northern town. While she quietly longs for the handsome Brynar, she knows she has no chance with the mayor’s son, even if he invites her to the First Frost festival.

When sudden earthquakes strike Brumehome, blame falls upon Lizbete, and not even her friendship with Brynar can protect her. She finds shelter in the dangerous caverns of nearby Ash Mountain. There she discovers mysterious people with her same ability to draw heat—and a fiery doom in the mountain that slowly awakens with every quake.

Now the festival Lizbete thought to avoid is her only chance to warn the villagers. Yet even with Brynar at her side, can the strange girl dubbed the Ash Lizard hope to save the town that fears her?

A rugged YA Cinderella retelling set in a fantasy world with light steampunk elements.

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Ashen is truly unique as a Cinderella retelling, with a life of its own that nods to the original without being confined by it. With a twisty plot and a fascinating alternate explanation of geothermal phenomena, it’s not predictable like many fairy-tale retellings. This story will keep you up with the pages turning! Lizbete makes for a fascinating and relatable character with her unusual abilities and heartfelt desire to love and be loved just like “normal” people. The cast of characters surrounding her also has their share of quirks and endearments—showing both the light and dark side of people in an insightful manner—which makes for a host of interesting relationships. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this story with its high stakes, sweet romance, and unique fantasy flavor. Definitely recommended as a clean young adult fantasy book.

Find Ashen on Amazon (affiliate link)

Interview with H.L. Burke

Let’s take a look at H.L. Burke’s passion for sharing stories and how she’s brought so many books to life!

1.) What do you love about Ashen that made you want to share this book with the world?

I feel I need to break this down into two questions because I need very little reason to share something I’ve written. Like I’d never work on a project I didn’t enjoy, but once I’ve written something, I want to share it immediately. I’m generally speaking sharing sections of my stories on social media as I go because I am one of the (apparently) few writers who is also an extrovert. The idea that I’d ever write something and NOT share it … well, I’m not very good at keeping secrets.

Why I had to write Ashen is that the premise and character came to mind and I had to chase it down. In this case, I was cold one night and I started making up scenarios in my head about a person who couldn’t create their own heat and what they’d have to do to stay alive and what that would do to their interactions with other people … the next day I told someone about the concept and I was like, “Oh, yeah, gonna write that. I want to see where it goes.” There are some ideas I get that I don’t chase down, but that’s usually because they don’t bring a strong enough sense of character with them. This one, the isolation and desperation of someone who couldn’t touch other people and was forever separated from them by things out of her control swiftly formed a core “want” that grew a character around it pretty quickly.

2.) What fuels your passion to write?

I like to talk… and type … and make things up … and entertain people … I’m a typical class clown type of personality. I got into writing very young, basically writing things and giving them to friends, first in notebooks then as computer files and emails. I get ideas and I want to get them on paper so I can share them. I’ll admit to being a little fed by positive feedback. I like hearing that people like my writing. It doesn’t have to be a lot of people, but I need to feel I’m writing for someone other than myself.

3.) What was your path to publication like? (Did you pursue an agent, go direct to a publisher, or decide to indie publish? Why?)

Currently I’m a hybrid which means I have both indie books and books with a publisher.

My first several books were indie published–because I am impatient. The idea of having something written and ready to go but having to wait to query it, maybe never getting a hit, then even if I did get a nibble, I’d still be waiting on gatekeepers to tell me when I could start didn’t appeal to me. Why couldn’t I just start? If you give me the choice between doing now and doing later, I will pretty much always pick now. Especially if the “later” is more a “maybe never” which it can be. I just didn’t want to put my books finding an audience in the hands of anyone but me.

After a few years, though, and several publications, I decided I wouldn’t mind trying to find a publisher … but on my terms. I was aware of a small press through Realm Makers and a few other groups I hung out with, and I had a novel that I knew was in their interest wheelhouse (Coiled, my Cupid and Psyche retelling) … plus I knew the press was aware of me through other interactions and some of the people there had read my indie work and said positive things about it, so I did an extremely informal query. I emailed the president with, “Hey, this is what I’m working on. It’s a retelling of this and it features a giant snake and two sets of twins cursed with mirror curses and would you be interested” and they requested a full.

Since then I’ve put out four books with them while also continuing to indie publish other projects on my own. It really depends on whether I feel the story would work better with a team’s input or if I want to do my own “zip it out to publication and share it with the world as I envisioned it” thing. Both have merits.

4.) Do you make your living as an author? What other work or hobbies do you have?

At the time I started writing professionally, I was a housewife and all our bills were paid by my husband’s military career. My stated financial goal at the time was to slowly build my career up to the point where, when he retired, we’d be able to live on my writing income plus his pension … then he threw out his knee and had to take an early retirement about five years ahead of schedule. Lower pension than if he’d been able to go his full twenty with the Marines, but there’s still not the impetus on me to make enough to pay the mortgage. Since he’ll be going back to school shortly, I decided to take on a part time job working from home on top of my writer income. I answer customer service emails for a company I won’t name because I’m not sure how they’d feel about being name dropped, and it doesn’t matter a ton. My author income is nice side income, though. I sometimes think it would be more financially secure if I was more diligent about the “business” part of things, like setting up regular marketing … but I tend to do things a little haphazardly.

I also crochet and game, some Lord of the Rings Online, some Stardew Valley, I’ve recently gotten into Dungeons and Dragons.

5.) How do your personal beliefs/faith system shape your writing?

Organically, I’d say. You can’t really write from nothing. Everything I’ve written has grown out of my experiences, my beliefs, things that I feel are important … that said, I always start off with a story and characters first and then see where that takes me. Sometimes it gives me an opportunity to say something. Sometimes I’m just writing a superhero fight or an evening with a snail circus.

Sometimes I’ll write something and I’ll be, “You know, that’s good. That’s real. I’m glad that made it in there,” but I’m never going to shoehorn something in that doesn’t fit.

That said, I feel inclined to highlight good over bad. Like I’m not saying it’s “wrong” to want to write stories that expose the darkness in the world because darkness is real and sometimes we need stories to make us face that … but it’s not how I necessarily relate to the world or fiction. I want a chance to showcase love and bravery and characters who make the right choices even when it is tough, and that’s because I believe in the existence of and worthiness of such things.

6.) Bonus Question: What is a fun fact about you?

I have an uncanny ability to work quotes from the television show Psych into most exchanges. How do I do this? Let’s just say I’m awesome and leave it at that (Psych quote).

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Thanks so much to H.L. Burke for sharing her heart for writing! You can find out more about her, check out her other books (and even get a free book!) at hlburkeauthor.com.

Author Interview Series:
Carrie Anne Noble, The Mermaid’s Sister
Tara Grayce, Lost in Averell
Ariel Avelar, Influent
H.L. Burke, Ashen
Constance Lopez, Of Stormlarks and Silence
E.J. Kitchens, Wrought of Silver and Ravens
Ashley Bustamante, Vivid
L.A. Thornhill, The Prophetess of Arden
Sharon Hinck, Hidden Current
Emily Golus, Escape to Vindor
Kyrie Wang, The Thief’s Keeper
E.A. Hendryx, Suspended in the Stars

Which of H.L. Burke’s books is your favorite? Share below!

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