An Interview with Suzanne de Montigny
My guest today is Suzanne de Montigny, author of the Shadow of the Unicorn series.
I’m pleased to be here, Simon. I’ve been following your blog for a few years, so it’s nice to finally meet you in person, online – lol!
The second installment of Shadow of the Unicorn has just been released, so tell us a little about these books.
Well, first of all, I’ll tell you about Shadow of the Unicorn: The Legacy.
Azaria, a unicorn colt, is intrigued when the young, clairvoyant dinosaur, Darius, foresees a terrifying change to their world. When a giant fireball smashes into the earth, the unicorns struggle to survive the hurricanes and starvation that follow. But nothing compares to the danger when the creatures-that-walk-on-two-legs settle in the valley, and their leader discovers the healing power in the unicorns’ horns. Greedy and ruthless, Ishmael will stop at nothing in his pursuit of wealth – even the complete extinction of the herd. Azaria must find a way to outsmart Ishmael before it’s too late.
And if you’d like to watch the book trailer, here it is: https://youtu.be/VaX9tW_Hr8M
Here’s what happens in Book 2, The Deception.
Sixty years after the unicorns’ narrow escape from extinction, Azaria’s Legacy has gone wrong. The new generation barely exists, hidden in the depths of the forest. Their cruel and ruthless leader, Icarus, threatens them daily with Jaresh, an invisible being capable of taking away their powers. Angry, the young colt Ulysees and his friend Téo rebel, following an old, abandoned trail where they’re discovered by humans. Now the entire herd must flee. But Ulysees learns there’s a far greater danger than humans when he meets a giant creature who warns him of impending doom…
And here’s the book trailer: https://youtu.be/deIqFzKVPwg
What inspired you to write these books?
It goes way back to when I was in grade 6. The teacher gave us an assignment to write a story and I got carried away, writing a small novella. For some dumb reason or other, I kept that little novella, and it sat among my books and texts for years. Later, after my father died, I suddenly developed a strong need to write again. Then, one day, while cleaning the basement, I found an old box filled with things from my childhood. In that box, I discovered a stack of writing I’d done as a teen. It turned out that somewhere in my teens, I had attempted to develop my novella into a novel and had written the first four chapters.
Laughing, I chucked it all in the blue box. A couple of days later, I was curious about what I had written and fished the four chapters out. It had been rained upon and the letters were streaked, so I dried it out on our heated floors. The next day, I read it and exclaimed, “A psychic dinosaur?” I sat down and wrote the first draft. It took me two weeks. Of course, the story didn’t really end at the end of the first novel. It went on to book 2 and 3. And there may be a book 4.
Where can people buy your books?
You can buy them at any Chapters Indigo or Coles stores, on Amazon, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, and iBooks.
You have another book coming up in the fall, A Town Bewitched. Tell us about that one.
This is absolutely my most favourite novel. I had such a blast writing it. And the nice thing is it won first prize in the Dante Rossetti competition for Best Coming of Age Novel. Here’s the blurb:
It’s tough for Kira, growing up in the small town of Hope as a child prodigy in classical violin, especially when her dad just died. And to make matters worse, Kate McDonough, the red-haired fiddler appears out of nowhere and bewitches the town with her mysterious Celtic music. Even Uncle Jack succumbs to her charms, forgetting his promise to look after Kira’s family. But when someone begins vandalizing the town leaving dead and gutted girds as a calling card, Kira knows without a doubt who’s behind it.
This is different from the unicorn books so what are your influences?
This novel came out of our first experience at fiddling camp. You see, my two boys and I are avid fiddlers. Every summer, they go busking in Granville Island in Vancouver. They are also yearly performers at Festival du bois in Maillardville. Anyway, the first time we attended fiddling camp, we came back absolutely crazed about fiddling. We were literally on fire. And to make matters even better, we scored an excellent fiddling teacher, Mairi Rankin, who had just moved from Cape Breton. Then one day, around Christmastime, I thought, “Suppose what happened to us happened to an entire town only there was something really wrong with the fiddler.” And I was off.
Any current writing projects?
You bet. I’m near the end of book 3 of Shadow of the Unicorn. It goes like this:
Born deep in the forest, far from the herd, Damien is kept a dark secret by his parents until his father, Samuel, decides the colt must join the other foals to be initiated. But the unicorns are horrified by Damien’s birth defect. They see him as a freak despite his astonishing abilities. Then when Samuel is pushed to his death by a rival, Damien’s talents turn deadly. Can anyone stop him before he destroys their world?
What other things do you do when you’re not creating these wonderful books?
Snowboarding! I love snowboarding. I learned how to do it when I was 47. Of course, I had practically grown up on skis, so it wasn’t that hard to learn. In the summertime, I trade in my snowboard for my bike. And of course, there’s the music. I can’t get enough of it.
If you’d like to connect with me on social media, here the links:
Thanks for having me, Simon!
You’re very welcome, Suzanne.