Here is one hell of a YA fantasy writer who is not afraid of the dark…
AM: The world around the Soul Eaters is really unique, but what strikes me as even more original is your main character Eden: she’s a self-proclaimed bitch with no friends but one, and we still root for her and identify with her struggles against her family of psychopaths. Who or what inspired you to go against current of nice and sweet mcs?
Samantha Young: The world of Warriors of Ankh was actually built around Eden’s character. I wanted a real challenge when it came to writing my next mc. I wanted to create a character the reader still liked despite the darkness within her. I’m always fascinated by those kinds of characters in tv and books because they make you question your perspective and I guess, at first, I was experimenting to see if I could do that too. I’m so happy to see from the reviews so far that I’ve achieved that.
AM: Oh, you have, because despite this terrible fate awaiting her, we want her to win in the end. Tell me about the challenge of the world you’ve built – it’s freaking dark, which is my favorite atmosphere – how did you come up with it?
Samantha Young: The most challenging element of the world building was actually how dark I could make it for the genre it’s in. I wanted Eden’s home life to be disturbing, not only to highlight what she finds so beautiful about her friendship with Noah, but also to remind the reader that there is a part of Eden that hungers for that same darkness. There wasn’t any one particular book or movie that triggered ideas but over the last year or so I’ve read a number of YA books that pushed the boundaries a little and they definitely gave me the courage to up the creep factor.
AM: Oh Sam, I’m all about darkness, which is why I liked your book so much. For Rebel, The Hunger games highly influenced me, not only for a strong and intelligent MC, but to go to a dark extend in the premise. How about you, which books inspired you? I. Want. Titles.
Samantha Young: A series that really inspired me to push the boundaries was Holly Black’s The Modern Faerie Tales. The second book, Valiant, is one of my favourite novels ever and Black is so wonderfully unafraid to delve into darker subject matter. There is a sinister quality to these books I just LOVE. Also Kelly Creagh’s Nevermore and JL Bryan’s Jenny Pox. Bryan has a very ‘take no prisoners’ attitude with his writing that I so admire, he just says it how it is, and that really inspired me to attempt the same.
AM: So what’s next for you? You’re such a prolific author, I’m intrigued on how many projects you can handle at once!
Samantha Young: Well some of the projects I’ve released this year I had already written a good while back so that gave me a head start when it came to self-publishing. But I do have quite a few projects planned for the end of the year and next year so I’m intrigued to see how I handle it all too, lol. I’m releasing the first book in my new series Fire Spirits. Book One is titled Smokeless Fire and it’s a YA Paranormal Romance. This series is based on the real legends of the Jinn, twisted by a little creative license on my part. At present I plan to release four books for this series, a third and final instalment for Warriors of Ankh, a sequel to Slumber and a spin-off series to my Lunarmorte books from now until 2013. Uh… we’ll see how it goes…
Samantha Young blogs,ย where all her titles are available.
Anne Michaud 
September 22nd, 2011 at 8:21 am
Thanks, Anne, for such a great interview. Thanks for having me! ๐
September 22nd, 2011 at 9:10 am
You were the first to help me with my Livy Parker Journal blog, I’ll never forget it:)
September 22nd, 2011 at 8:35 am
A wonderful Interview Anne. I’m definitely tempted with the tale mentioned. I do love the dark Antihero as it takes predictability out of the equation.
September 22nd, 2011 at 9:11 am
It’s SOOO good, gareth – I highly recommend you get it:)
September 22nd, 2011 at 8:56 am
Another great interview, Anne!
I’m not big into YA but I like the premise here…will look into it!
September 22nd, 2011 at 9:13 am
It’s worth it, I promise:)
September 22nd, 2011 at 1:23 pm
Punchy and interesting as always Anne. I always like to find out about other writers, and their influences… Thanks for keeping me informed and entertained ๐
September 22nd, 2011 at 2:56 pm
Thanks, TJ:)
September 22nd, 2011 at 2:28 pm
Thank you Anne for introducing us to Samantha. I’ll definitely check out her blog and all her titles.
I agree with Gareth, the antihero takes predictability out of the equation…a welcome change!
Great interview!
September 22nd, 2011 at 2:57 pm
And her Eden is so easy to identify with, she’s really a strong character – loved the book!
September 22nd, 2011 at 3:15 pm
Samantha sounds fascinating and I love that she didn’t follow the norm with her mc. A very interesting interview Anne. Well done by both of you. ๐
September 22nd, 2011 at 3:24 pm
Thanks, Patsy! Sam’s a great writer, I highly recommend you check her books out:)
September 22nd, 2011 at 3:58 pm
Great interview, ladies! Samantha, I *love* the cover art for the first book.
September 22nd, 2011 at 4:42 pm
Thanks, Danni:)
September 22nd, 2011 at 8:20 pm
Fantastic interview. Samantha’s right about pushing those boundaries past the comfort point to “up the creep level”. That’s where unique dark stories bloom – between the cracks in the pavement.
September 22nd, 2011 at 9:31 pm
And she does it so well:)
September 22nd, 2011 at 9:48 pm
Interesting interview. I love hearing about a writer’s inflluences. Good luck to Samantha with the book.
September 23rd, 2011 at 7:17 am
Thanks Marianne!
September 22nd, 2011 at 11:32 pm
Great interview, ladies! And Samantha, your hair is beautiful! Another great “dark” book that I enjoyed was The Replacement. This one sounds right up my alley, and is now on my to reads! I’m going to see if it’s on GoodReads right now. Thanks Anne!
September 23rd, 2011 at 7:17 am
You’ve very welcome, Anita:)
September 23rd, 2011 at 2:55 pm
Purchased her book on KOBO. It’s next on my list.
๐ Lisa
September 23rd, 2011 at 2:57 pm
Yay!
September 24th, 2011 at 5:21 pm
Wonderful interview as always Anne, I really enjoy the flow. Samantha, lovely to meet you and wish you the best of luck! GO WRITE WIN. ๐
September 24th, 2011 at 7:48 pm
Thanks, Tams! She’s a very inventive writer, that Sam:)
September 29th, 2011 at 2:08 pm
Loving the interviews Anne…Some seriously interesting authors…Keep them coming.
September 29th, 2011 at 2:42 pm
Jan, thanks so much for stopping by:)