Hey there everyone.

Welcome to another fantastic Author Interview session, as I speak with yet another very talented special guest.

Today, I chat with author Tamara Lakomy about her Dark Fantasy novel “The Shadow Crucible” and we find out about her writing passions, experiences, influences and inspirations.

Enjoy the show and happy reading folks, have fun 🙂

 

Hi there Tamara, thank you for joining us here today to discuss your novel and also your writing in more detail.

Let’s start with your debut fiction novel “The Shadow Crucible: The Blind God”. Congratulations for completing it and getting it published. Tell us more about this epic dark fantasy tale and the power struggle between good and evil, along with the story arc and what the stakes are for your lead characters.

Well, on one benighted evening the fate of the lady of Red Fern Manor is irrevocably changed with the arrival of the Templar, Mikhail, bearing dangerous revelations.
The story is set in London, but it transpires that it’s a world where angels, demons, and gods fight over the possession of mortal souls, specifically Samael and Lucifer who converge their efforts onto destroying the realm of the elder gods, the Twilit world. The elder gods are the patrons of seers. The enigmatic seer Estella finds herself thrown together with Count Mikhail, a dogmatic Templar dedicated to subjugating her kind; the seers and the Twilit folk. When Samael the blind god murders the mother of the new messiah, and Lucifer corrupts a cardinal thus penetrating the church, the two become unlikely allies, mitigating against a puppet king who begins a systematic genocide of her people. The two disparate pawns become ensnared in a cruel game.

You mentioned to me that your novel incorporates gnostic philosophy. Can you elaborate further on this concept and explain to us what this type of philosophy entails?

Gnostic Christianity is the belief that a lesser creator, a malevolent one created the world. Not the good god that people worship. Gnosticism is the belief that an evil god created the world with light he obtained from the divine Sophia, the female counterpart to the good god. She created this false evil god by mistake. A blind god that created the material world and humans were engineered by demons. The mortal form is corrupt and so is nature, hence decay and death. Jesus and Mary Magdalene (the incarnation of the Sophia, divine mother) incarnate on earth to salvage the divine sparks within humans who are trapped here in this world.

It is much deeper than the mainstream branches of Christianity, the Garden of Eden for example was a vile place, where the demiurges held humans captive, and the false god (blind god) is trying to dethrone the good god and take dominion, attempting to crush the divine mother and the Logos.

Gnosticism also covers the topics of several messiahs coming in various forms throughout the ages, with the same backstory, trying to rescue humanity from darkness, hence all these mythical and historical figures having similar characteristics; virgin birth, a celestial parent, a death that is actually an initiation (Threefold Death) a form of transubstantiation and ascension.

The story is a perilous game where the truth is distorted and meddling ancient deities converge to partake of the unseen battle. Traversing the edge of hell’s precipice, Estella and Mikhail are reduced to mere instruments. Mikhail’s only recourse is to jointly with a trusted ally, overcome the Threefold Death, the ancient ritual of apotheosis—of man becoming God.

How difficult was it to get a publisher for your book and what was the timeframe involved with the process itself?

Soul crushing. It was an arduous journey of stubbornness that I would win an agent. Bill Gladstone gave me a break after a year of searching. He knew what he was doing and I trusted him to approach the right people which he did.

Why did you choose Select Books Inc as the publisher for your book? What qualities stood out for you to select them?

Their experience was what attracted me to them. Over thirty years is quite remarkable especially as the founder was a publisher for Random House. So, it was the solace that I was in good knowledgeable hands plus they had excellent distribution which matters a lot.

What are your own opinions on self-publishing and how come you did not choose to go down this particular route yourself for your book?

I wanted to go down the traditional route, the same way my favourite authors did. I have a lot of respect for self published authors for the effort and hard work put behind marketing and promoting their work. They are up against a lot; prejudice in particular. In the end, you must follow what you believe gives the most credibility and power to support your own creation.

How important do you feel it is to have an Agent represent your work?

It is important to have someone who can approach big publishing houses and negotiate adequately on your behalf, after all we cannot be experts in all fields and when you have a daily job that is time consuming, it is good to have an ally fighting on your behalf.

What do you find the most difficult thing about writing? And what do you find the easiest?

The most difficult is not getting carried away with the characters, when you discover them, you want to spend so much time around them and you must not deviate from the story. You also bear the audience in mind and you sometimes find yourself tailoring your writing rather than allowing yourself to explore, I in particular, exercise restraint as I can let the horror elements become too heavy.

The easiest thing is creating characters, my mind is replete with them. I spend a lot of time daydreaming, so I have a lot of characters waiting for their turn to transform into a story. Anecdotes and scenes are constantly forming in my mind.

Who are some of the authors and historical figures that inspire you?

Tolkien opened my eyes to the wonder of books, he was the greatest influence on me. Then poets such as Charles Baudelaire and William Blake, Yeats, Hugo, Wordsworth etc.

Growing up reading a lot of mythology, I was deeply influenced by the stories of the old gods and goddesses, they were my heroes and those I looked up to.

I grew up in a francophone environment, so a lot of my favourite authors are French such as Guy de Maupassant, Balzac and Zola.

What sort of research do you do to write your books?

It really depends on the topic, I often rely on genuine folkloric elements and build on them, I take also real life events, historical or of people around me and I make them magical. That is the trick with me; I take a lot of things that are real and alter them to render them magical. So I do research into the mystical aspect of cultures, and then graduate to finding real characters to gain inspiration from.

Why do you write? What inspired you to become a writer?

I write to remain sane in an insane world, I am full of wild imagination and the need to share my message with the world grates at me. I have a lot to say and my way of opening a dialogue with the world is through fables and stories. Growing up reading and looking up to authors more than anyone else inspired me to write, I could see how the collective consciousness of humanity, their morality, code of ethics and manner of thinking was transmitted through writing. Writing immortalises a culture, without written accounts, a culture dies out and fades into oblivion. Written imparted wisdom never dies out and lives on as long as people can read.

What keeps you motivated during creative slumps? How do you deal with Writers Block?

I write conversations between characters, get them to explore themselves and their surroundings, no pressure to achieve anything in particular. Then leave it aside and read something completely different, gain some experiences however small, anything that can give you a different perspective on a topic and can allow you to dream and imagine.

You have access to a time machine. What advice would you give to your younger self?

It does get better…no good feeling awful when things take time and you feel you are headed nowhere, life is a game of chess where you try to calculate your moves but you cannot get everything right and when you don’t, work around it.

How do you spend your free time when you are not writing?

I am creative in many ways, if I am not busy coming up with new ideas for projects in the company I co-founded, then I am discovering the world through reading and travelling when possible. I am a home person and prefer to wander in the forests or museums learning about cultures and their history. I love listening to stories too, the real stories of people’s lives.

Tell us more about your upcoming projects. Are you working on anything specific or have plans for sequels to your existing work in the pipeline?

I completed my second novel “Sol Invictus” a while ago, it is more oriented towards Horror, with genuine dark experiences and elements of my cultural folklore. It will be totally different from the debut novel in style and content, a window into a different world, raw and cutting to the bone.

I am writing my third book, still weaving the strands of it together. I am also adjusting a collection of works called “Voice of the Gods” and it is the most controversial piece of writing I have ever written. Very authentic and troubling.

I haven’t written the sequel to “The Shadow Crucible” yet, I have the plans already devised, and I will possibly begin tackling it in the upcoming months.

Finally, are there any nuggets of wisdom that you can impart to other aspiring writers?

Don’t write for the sake of writing, or for the sake of renown and money. Write because you have something beautiful to share with the world. Write because your soul is on fire and you’re yearning to create something that leaves a lasting imprint. So pour your soul into it and never be afraid of rejection, it isn’t that daunting, it is a natural and frustrating process that apart from teaching you humility, helps you create and engender your best.

And that’s a wrap! Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experiences with us Tamara, we can’t wait to get to know your stories and characters further 🙂

Bio (in her own words):-

“I am T. M Lakomy (Tamara Lakomy). I was born in London, but grew up as a tribal girl in a North African repressive regime. I spent my childhood between the slums of Mellasine and the affluent neighbourhoods in Tunis.

I studied archaeology and became enamoured with the shamanistic practices of indigenous people.

I am an author and poet who seeks to challenge our notions of reality, and see life with a different perspective.

I work in East Africa with indigenous tribes studying the origins of mankind and the salient golden thread in the tapestry of humanity’s beliefs. I co-founded Blueprints.org.”

You can connect with Tamara on the following Social Media channels:-

Facebook:- Author Tamara M Lakomy (FB)
Goodreads:- T.M. Lakomy (Goodreads Author)
LinkedIn:- Tamara Lakomy – Author (LinkedIn)
Twitter:- @Shadow_Crucible (Twitter)

You can buy her book here:-

Buy Tamara Lakomy’s books in Canada

Buy Tamara Lakomy’s books in the UK/Europe

Buy Tamara Lakomy’s books in the US/Rest of the World

If you too would like to be interviewed on my blog at TooFullToWrite and you have a book or a series of books that you would like us to chat about then fill out the Contact Me form here with your details and we can arrange a future interview slot.

Still want more? Well the subtitle to Tamara’s book is ‘The Blind God’ and The Daily Post have a Daily Prompt that seems relevant. For more articles on the theme of ‘Blindly’ then check out the links below:-

1. Lift the curtains up – Sand In The Bikini
2. Bonkers Away! – Blindly
3. Branching Out – April 1st to Easter – {16 Daily Prompts} & my 2017 Goals UPDATE !
4. The House Always Wins – Girl Writing
5. Prompts: Measure/Timely/Pleased/Blindly/Unravel – LMTP Journey
6. GRACE, FAVOR & FAITH – How to MAXIMIZE the POWER OF CONCENTRATION in your life
7. GRACE, FAVOR & FAITH – 5 REASONS WHY YOU NEED A KNOW-IT-ALL ON YOUR TEAM!
8. Don’t Be A Fool – Blog of Hammad Rais
9. Far side of the city – Fictional Strait
10. My Personal Blog – Blindly Accepts
11. United Airlines, Derailed. – Zeckrombryan
12. Hope – She-Who-Hears.Net
13. Blind Faith – Love it Now
14. witchlike – Lazarus and the Pink Moon
15. More Than What Meets The Eye – The Sensible Madcap
16. mycreatorscreation – Blindly
17. Going in Blindly – Chasing Thoughts And View Points
18. Blindly – And so it starts…
19. Le Drake Noir – Weird angle of prompts
20. The Lazy Wanderer – Love Isn’t Blind
21. A Juggler – kittysverses
22. Irresistible. – manumausam
23. 3 Reasons Why You are Beautiful
24. Blindly – …Illusive…Road…
25. Success Inspirers World – Follow wisely
26. LadyLebz – THE IMPORTANCE OF KISSING IN A RELATIONSHIP
27. We All……. – emotionsoflife2016
28. The Disunited States of Bill Harmony – Occasional Dreams
29. A reason to follow – The Chaos Within
30. Keep looking – PIAGET – INSPIRATIONZ
31. trees, upward & away – Tiny Fawns Writings
32. THE ICONOPHILE – What the Eye Can’t See
33. Unpolished Diamond – caris
34. Blindly…. – juanita394
35. Bursting – Patches of Light, Pieces of Grace
36. tuckedintoacorner – wonder + spy + blindly
37. Blindly – Dimitra Pyromali’s Blog
38. Chasing The Rainbows: A “Prosetry” – atrangizindagieksafar
39. Tired – Debbie Gravett
40. Love Is Forever – The Glitters Of Life
41. Blindly in Love – A story – WorldOfJoy
42. GONZO GOZO: Azure Window Part I – Badfish and Chips Cafe
43. The Blind World – rupalislale
44. [Blind] Choice – I think, I say, I do
45. BOTTLED UP – Asma
46. The boring side of sunrise at burnham lake
47. Disregard – awesomeloopy
48. The End – Storysite
49. The Light of Montreal – The One Scripturient
50. I’m blind…!! – THEGIRLVERSUSWORLD
51. The Showers of Blessing – Setting Goals
52. I Don’t Know – Karuchan
53. A Dark Tunnel – Creativity for You
54. Use Caution – Words Ahead – Leigha Robbins
55. Zealot much? – Cielo de Sueno
56. MY ENDURING BONES – operation just because
57. Sagesse :|: Oblige – Standards’ Room Only
58. A New Conceptual Idea – 5 Books A Year By: This One’s For You!
59. Sascha Darlington’s Microcosm Explored – Isn’t It Ironic? #amwriting
60. Trying going blindly, it might be better – ryan erickson
61. Don’t raise sheep… – Mum’s the Word Blog
62. Loving Myself Blindly – Metamorphosis
63. I’m A Fashionista. Well, Of Sorts. – along the side of the road
64. Blind – Phantoms In My Mind
65. Blindly in Love n Fear – thinkinkadia
66. Living Blindly – Mindflight
67. omgzzccblogs – I loved you blindly.
68. Blindly – wordsareallihavesite
69. Musings of a Random Mind – Wordless Wednesday: Sign for the Blind to Read
70. Invisible Illnesses – Tenacious – Daily Prompt
71. Blind Faith – perfectlyimperfect32wordpresscom
72. Sascha Darlington’s Microcosm Explored – Deception — Day 10 #NaPoWriMo #amwriting
73. Security Under a Corn Tunnel – The Chicken Grandma
74. Making it write – Mistakes
75. JasonFLBlog.wordpress.com – do not go blindly into that good night
76. Blindly – iamdeltapositivenegative
77. Another Remarkable Day – Vision Without Sight
78. The Seminary of Praying Mantis – till I drop
79. Without the Other Sight – It’s En Order
80. Scraps of Paper – I Will Follow
81. Living a Lie – Stories and more
82. You Only Live Once – Passionately Me
83. A Caregiving Marriage – Serve Me
84. MISPLACED PEACES – Blindly, By Faith
85. Selene @ 60mph – LazyHaze
86. Choosing in Harlem – Inner Whispers
87. Blindly – In2Lauren
88. natural disaster – meandering expressions
89. Great Things Happen – Imagine the Possibilities
90. The Gad About Town – Blindly Paranoid
91. Red’s Wrap – Green Light
92. Men, Women and Lonely Heroes – themanbehindtheglass
93. blind – jacey caitlyn speaks
94. blogging – Oiseaux Words
95. Growing Old… What No One Ever Tells You – Two Travelin’ Chicas… A Grand Adventure
96. I Can Never Walk Blindly (Daily Word Prompt is Blindly) – My Loud Bipolar Whispers
97. Haiku 20 : Blindly – TheGyrusaurus
98. Blind – thehouseofbailey
99. Crazy Cat Lady – mokita dreams
100. 83 Unsung Heroes – Love Is…
101. Writer Sanctuary – How to Write Quality Content that Avoids Being Fake
102. An Unknown Path! – Vaishnavi
103. Shafi… the mystery man! – The Musing Monkey
104. Light Of Peace – Wings Of Poetry
105. Eve’s Reflections – Adam led me to the apple
106. Trite Epiphanies – A Scout Is…
107. The View From My Window – Sightings Have Been Reported
108. Flowers and Breezes – Blindly
109. Strangers – Who I Was
110. Blindly Followed Her – Bedoor Bluemoon
111. The Blind Leading the Blind – Jacki Kellum
112. Blindly–Daily Prompt – Fearless
113. Blindly – the daily post – Share In Joy
114. Blind trust – Playing with words
115. Tangled Webs – One Blind Eye
116. Honing skills and loving the ride – Blindly, The Tenth
117. Blindly… – Anxious Annie
118. Just you wait – Self Evolve
119. 7 questions I never asked my Parents, just blindly followed – On a mission
120. It’s All in Finding the Right Words – Blind Insanity
121. As Easy As ABC – Meet Mitchell
122. Midnight Calico Farm – Blindly
123. Save me stranger – Sreeblogs
124. Blindly – Project21Words
125. Faith Unlocked – Saul No More
126. NOT MEANT TO BE – Rainbow
127. Blindly Using Writing Prompts – Just Writing
128. Just Having Fun – Happiness is My Choice, 13
129. “A child’s blind tenaciousness, and a parent’s denial.” – Nomadic Adventurer
130. Swell Time – Justice and Spin
131. THIS BLINDING PAIN – Grief Poetry
132. Blindly following Trump is foolhardy – Your Nibbled News – 2017 YNN
133. Learning to See Blindly, a poem – Sumyanna Writes
134. Dronstad – War wounds
135. Insach – Blinded
136. Second Thoughts – november child
137. Searching – Poetry On My Mind
138. Blindly – The Bag Lady
139. Poetry Moments – Blind Conversations
140. Covert Novelist – Blindly
141. Phoenix of Thoughts – Thoughts of Words
142. The Gad About Town – Blind but Now I See
143. Callie’s Wag – Healing and Heeling
144. Why bother the storks??
145. Don’t follow me blindly – Bird Flight
146. Lonely and rootless……/Suzhalgal
147. Is Chicago Really Murder-Central? – Smell The Coffee
148. Na’ama Yehuda – “My Eyes Forgot!”
149. Views from the Edge – The Unusual Trio – Maher, King, and Thomas – singing in one accord.
150. Lost in the woods – I’m slightly hedonistic and writing makes me happy
151. The Anonymous Life – Being Blind for a Breath of Time
152. Sara Ackerman, author – A Day to Fly
153. Social media is based on infinity. – fades in…
154. blindly – erintypes
155. NEVER BLINDLY FOLLOW ANYONE – rhymeagination
156. A ciegas – apserranoblog
157. Blindly (daily post challenge) – The Anonymous Writer’s Notebook
158. Ignorance! – Some More Fiction
159. Sense & Non Sense – OneAndNone
160. Over the Edge – Heaven’s Sunshine
161. The Blind Man in the Bus! – Saint Monk
162. Just Brittany Moments – “It Is Not Love”
163. SERENDIPITY – BLINDLY IN MY LIFE
164. Bidness Communication – I’m a Writer, Yes, I Am!
165. Exploring the World around us – Moon
166. MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO – Blindly
167. In Praise of the Night – Pinda Pineda
168. Blindly… – Cyranny’s cove
169. The Flittering Soul – Fatal attraction
170. The Cat Chronicles – Daily Feline Prompt: Blindly – A Feline Joke
171. Hey Tambourine Man – Migraines From Hell
172. Blindly – Book Meets Girl
173. The Finish Line – earthlings305
174. kaitie’s wings – Blinded by a light you can’t see.
175. andsoitisborn – Seeing The Truth
176. Blindly sown – Oh, border!
177. Japanese Wh1spers – Dog Park
178. 101 Ways to Promote Your Next Blog Post – Success Strategies
179. Frank Prem – Poetry On Saturdays
180. Think – A Short Conversation
181. A Personal Success – Sunken Thought
182. Jupiter Star – Blindly Prompting
183. Frank Prem – on sunday at the music club
184. Frank Prem – watching
185. Beauty Blinded – clumsyandsilly
186. Vast Currents – The Halaman
187. Blindly (And through bitterness I swallow) – Write Ally! Write!
188. lifelessons – a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown – Blind Misfortune
189. The Indian Garden – Don’t hold your breath
190. Quit being a judge… – Pauline Njah
191. Netflix and Chill…I think…. – They Once Called Her Pumpkin…
192. Being Blind – Beautiful Mind
193. LadyLebz – HOW TO DEAL WITH TODDLER TEMPER TANTRUMS
194. jotNrot – grounded
195. Blindly #DailyPrompt – Of Glass & Paper
196. Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss – Blind Moments
197. Relax – Life in the low tide lane
198. Scrambled, Not Fried – Turning A Blind Eye
199. DCMontreal: Blowing the Whistle on Society – Montreal Pit Bulls Take Action Against Ban
200. not so blindly looking forward ⋆ Obsolete Childhood
201. domestic diva – Namesake: A book Review
202. Blind Love From Above – Live Free & Love On Purpose
203. Blindly We Go – Life, more than existence!
204. Flower Sense (haiku) – genusrosa
205. Blind Leading the Blind – Combat Medic
206. juantetcts – Daily Post
207. Lost Property Repository – If you’d be so kindly
208. Blindly Seeking Good Tidings – Live Free & Love On Purpose
209. Come Let Us Reason – As I was saying…
210. Follow don’t follow – In The Soul’s Streets
211. Bandwagon – Zeckrombryan
212. B_ live – Weak Power
213. Forward – Cate Creates
214. A wizards quick wit – Sarahs Crazy Mind
215. A little alone time – Redux Of Rex
216. Even It’s Hard, Speak Up – Believer’s Diary
217. A Homer Simpson quote about risk kind of makes sense to help with courage – art of being fabulous
218. simply.cindy – My First Review!!!
219. And then there was one – Take your blinders off
220. words are fools – Scattered Showers in a Clear Sky
221. Zombie Flamingos – That’s a lot of kittens for a Monday
222. Believe. – Emotions That Matter.
223. Thoughts on Life – Blindly
224. Katt Leya: The Eye of The Storm – The Harlem Experiment
225. Giselle Lynette: An Ordinary Woman – Harlem Cafe
226. Brother Ray, the Genius – CD-W, Author Flawed to Perfection
227. It starts with me – Following blindly
228. Wagging Goodbye – Unlearning
229. Azalea Frost – Blindly Struggle
230. Fear of the Future (A): 1999 in retrospect – 21st C. Dee
231. SoMuchToTellYou – The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Insignificant)
232. nerdhut – Homemade DIY word clock Part 2.1 (Update)
233. Looking Beyond – fibijeeves
234. BlindFold Me – Reactionary Tales
235. Blindness – aroused
236. Do we matter? – manumausam
237. Devil Doll Musings – Blindly Tenacious (Haiku)
238. Rytha Ephua – BLINDLY
239. The competition – Poojannn.blogs
240. the15thday – brainless dumbass
241. ….on pets and prisoners….. – happy monday
242. Love blindness … – escapingperfection
243. Southern By Design – Follow
244. Leading – a moment teller’s
245. Humanity – indisputably inconclusive
246. sonja benskin mesher – . the new arrival .
247. Blindly have I followed the footsteps of fear… – Chronicles of an Orange-Haired Woman!
248. Hot White Snow – There’s a Fly in My Eye
249. Eyes Wide Open – The Psalmist
250. slideaways – Imagine please that I am blind
251. Blindly – All About Writing and more
252. Scary! – Just Writing!
253. Finding Hope Ness – The tears of the hopeful dead
254. Insomnia feast with no dips – My side of the force
255. Palms – Dear Terrence
256. Rock Hard: Christie Bets Adam – Redux Of Rex
257. Blindly – #nicotinelove – Ghanja Babe
258. Designer Sophisticate – Directions, please.
259. Poems and Petals – Blindly
260. Muse of the Day – Everyday Strange
261. Blind yet aware – The Wandering Poet
262. Hot Dogs and Marmalade – H is for Helping
263. Lost Property Repository – The Pirate Captain: Set Sail And Conquer P2
264. Lantern Words – Not Blindly
265. I wrote a book. Now what? – Static Vs. Dynamic