Author Interview & Giveaway with Sarwat Chadda

If you haven't yet picked up Sarwat Chadda's Devil's Kiss & Dark Goddess, we highly recommend them. They are fabulous books full of lore, adventure and who doesn't love a book that has the Knights Templar in it.

Today we're thrilled to Sarwat Chadda on our blog. Recently we were able to ask him a few questions about his books.

I am a huge fan of Devil's Kiss & Dark Goddess, as I really enjoy the way in which you intertwine your story with a rich lore and history. What inspired you to add the lore of Baba Yaga to Dark Goddess?

I’ve grown up reading myths. Be they Greek, Norse, Indian or Russian. I just love them. When I first wrote Devil’s Kiss I knew I wanted to ground it in as much authentic detail as possible. So I wanted to use a real organization like the Templars, not make one up. I wanted to use establish fairy tale and mythic characters with their own histories.

Baba Yaga is an important prehistoric goddess figure. I read about her in Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ book, Women who run with the Wolves. She’s both wise and terrifying. She’s the old crone who delivers the baby into life and wraps the dead in their burial shrouds. She’s the keeper of the mysteries of the other world. She is the first witch.

Devil’s Kiss had a powerful male energy, I wanted Dark Goddess to have an equally powerful female one. Nothing defines that better than Baba Yaga.

I have really enjoyed getting to know Billi's character. She's gone through so much and yet she continues to be a character of strength. What is something you've come to admire most about Billi?

Her refusal to quit. Billi’s not superhuman, she bleeds and suffers and has to carry her wounds, physical and emotional, from one story to the next.

For me, one of the key attributes of any hero is their stubbornness. When all others have given up, fled the battlefield, the hero remains. I love the idea of the last man standing. There are times in everyone’s life when you don’t have backup from friends or relatives and you must dig way down deep into your own heart to find the courage to carry on. Even when you’re staring failure full in the face. To carry on under those circumstances is what defines Billi.

I’d like to point out my life’s pretty cosy in comparison to most. Billi’s far tougher than I am!

I love that you wrote a story with the Knights Templar. Did you find it easy or a daunting task in incorporating them into Billi's story?

It took about six months of solid reading to get into the Templar mindset. I needed to know their history and it’s pretty complex. After six months I was able to recall the key characters and events out of their history without needing to double-check. Then I got on with the story. What’s great is events from the real past helped the plot immensely. The story’s far richer by basing it on a real organization. It is daunting but gives the tales a greater depth than they’d otherwise have.

You have a cast of fabulous characters. Which of your characters did you enjoy getting to know the most?

Elaine was the easiest to write. For some reason she was clear and perfectly defined from the first draft. But, apart from Billi, I love Arthur. In the first draft he was quite a nice, caring bloke. But with each revision he became harder, more brutal and colder. Arthur has a massive wound in his heart and he’s never allowed it to heal. Plus the father daughter relationship is very personal to me, having two daughters of my own. I thought having a warrior dad training his daughter to be the next Templar Master would be a cool twist.

I was really blown away with Dark Goddess. Do you have plans to continue the series?

I’d love to! I’ve plans in place for Billi 3# and have dropped hints about it in both books. I’d really like to take her to Jerusalem, to the original home of the Templars. But book 3 totally depends on the success of the first two.

Meanwhile I’ll be announcing my new project soon. It’s of epic proportions and set in the same world as Billi. I guarantee it will kick ass to the highest degree.

What author has been a huge influence on you?

Phillip Pullman was the biggest reason I went into writing. I read the Northern Lights trilogy about ten years ago. It totally blew me away. I’d avoided the entire Harry Potter frenzy. I thought adults reading children’s books was rather sad. A friend forced the first Pullman book into my hands and eventually I decided to give it a try. I’ve never been the same since.

When it comes to writing styles, Clive Cussler and Bernard Cornwell are two other big action authors who’ve helped immensely. Both write epic adventure stories and Cussler’s always have a strong historical back-story. Since mine are also grounded in past events I studied his method and adapted it to suit me.

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Thank you so much Sarwat for being with us today and we're eagerly awaiting to hear what your next project is!

You can find out more about Sarwat's work by visiting his site here http://www.sarwatchadda.com/ and on Disney Hyperion here http://tinyurl.com/4sepubo

Go here DEVIL'S KISS & here DARK GODDESS to read more about each book.

You can read my reviews for each book here http://tinyurl.com/6gbvygn

Thank you to Disney Hyperion, we have two copies of Dark Goddess we're giving away to two lucky followers. Please be sure to read the guidelines for entering and fill out the form below.