G.R. Macallister Interviews Fasiq from Scorpica
G.R. Macallister Interviews Fasiq from Scorpica
Scorpica is the first book in an epic fantasy series called The Five Queendoms, set in a matriarchal world. In this world, women hold every position of power, from queens and senators to priests and sorcerers, as well as heading up individual households. In this world it’s no surprise that a gang of bandits would be led by a woman, but the boss of the Rovers is an unusual woman indeed—a scarred, charismatic giant with a wicked sense of humor and a broadsword even more wicked still. At a nondescript roadside inn, after checking for patrols and carefully choosing a seat facing the exit, the elusive Fasiq made herself available for a brief interview.
G.R. Macallister: Wow, you’re… tall.
Fasiq: I am! Thank you for noticing.
GRM: Sorry… I just… I’ll move on to another question after this, but exactly how tall are you?
Fasiq: Can’t really say. I’d usually describe myself as a certain number of handspans, but everyone’s hand is different. So I’m probably as many handspans as you are, only, you know, bigger hands.
GRM: Okay. You look at least seven feet tall to me.
Fasiq: That’s a bizarre way to describe someone. Why would you measure height with your feet?
GRM: Nevermind. Things are different in my world than they are in the Five Queendoms.
Fasiq: The Five Queendoms are the world. Unless you’re from Godsbones, I suppose, but no one lives there but hermits and demons. Which one are you? Judging by your general disarray, the unkempt hair, those oversized leggings, you look more…. I’m guessing… hermit?
GRM (stiffly): There’s no need to be rude.
Fasiq (grinning): Well, there’s no need for me to be this charming and charismatic, either, it’s just something I do for fun. And how fortunate you are to be chatting with me! I’m sure that was what you were going to ask next, right? How can I possibly be so charming all the time? I assure you, it’s exhausting.
GRM: I… feel assured, I guess.
Fasiq: So what else would you like to know about? How I manage to run such a successful gang of bandits and evade the authorities all over the trade-roads of Paxim? How I manage to fight off constant advances from women and men and everyone else in the Five Queendoms? Well, it’s a challenge, but as I mentioned, I’m deeply charismatic. Almost excessively so. It’s my burden to bear.
GRM: Actually, I was thinking of asking how you got your scar.
Fasiq: Oh, this little thing? (gestures to the silvered scar that bisects her face crosswise from ear to chin) Someone tried to kill me. As you can see, lucky for all of us, she didn’t succeed.
GRM: How long ago was that?
Fasiq: A few years. It’s not important. She wasn’t the first to try and she won’t be the last. Anything else you were wondering?
GRM: I was wondering how often you have to reapply the silver to make it shine like that.
Fasiq: Oh, a bandit’s got to have her secrets, doesn’t she? All you need to know is that I can easily afford the silver. I believe I already mentioned the successful banditing.
GRM: You did, yes.
Fasiq: Then you know all the important things! And I’d better make tracks before the next patrol comes around. I’ve got some people waiting on me, you know.
GRM: What kind of people?
Fasiq: Ha! You really do enjoy asking questions.
GRM: You really seem to enjoy avoiding answering them!
Fasiq: I am a woman of mystery, hermit. A living legend. And it’s important to keep the legend going by, well, making sure I’m doing the “living” part. Which I won’t if these patrols get more intense. Before the Drought of Girls, it was always live and let live, but as people worry about the future, there’s more hoarding, which leads to shortages, which leads to aggression. You probably haven’t seen anything like it before.
GRM: You’d be surprised.
Fasiq: Sounds like next time I’ll be asking the questions! But for now, I’ll be on my way. You’re welcome for the interview. And do be careful out at places like this. There are always pickpockets about.
(Author’s note: sure enough, when I checked after she left, I was missing a bracelet and all of my pocket change. I considered the loss fair payment for the interview; that’s probably how Fasiq saw it too.)
—
G.R. Macallister, author of the Five Queendoms series, also writes bestselling historical fiction under the name Greer Macallister. Her novels have been named Indie Next, LibraryReads, and Amazon Best Book of the Month picks and optioned for film and television. A regular contributor to Writer Unboxed and the Chicago Review of Books, she lives with her family in Washington, DC. Scorpica is her epic fantasy debut.
Author website: http://www.greermacallister.
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ABOUT THE BOOK:
A centuries-long peace is shattered in a matriarchal society when a decade passes without a single girl being born in this sweeping epic fantasy that’s perfect for fans of Robin Hobb and Circe .
Five hundred years of peace between queendoms shatters when girls inexplicably stop being born. As the Drought of Girls stretches across a generation, it sets off a cascade of political and personal consequences across all five queendoms of the known world, throwing long-standing alliances into disarray as each queendom begins to turn on each other—and new threats to each nation rise from within.
Uniting the stories of women from across the queendoms, this propulsive, gripping epic fantasy follows a warrior queen who must rise from childbirth bed to fight for her life and her throne, a healer in hiding desperate to protect the secret of her daughter’s explosive power, a queen whose desperation to retain control leads her to risk using the darkest magic, a near-immortal sorcerer demigod powerful enough to remake the world for her own ends—and the generation of lastborn girls, the ones born just before the Drought, who must bear the hopes and traditions of their nations if the queendoms are to survive.
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/
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Category: Interviews, On Writing
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