{What's On Your Kindle?} Christine Amsden on Knot of Souls

Two souls, one body …

When Joy wakes up in an alley, she knows three things: she was brutally murdered, she has somehow come back to life … and she is not alone. She’s been possessed by an inhuman presence, a being that has taken over her dying body. That being is powerful, in pain, and on the run from entities more dangerous than he is.

Shade, a Fae prince on the run, didn’t mean to share the body he jumped into. Desperate and afraid, accused of a murder he didn’t commit, he only sought a place to hide—but if he leaves Joy now, he faces discovery and a fate worse than death.

Forced to work together to solve multiple murders, including her own, Joy and Shade discover hidden strengths and an unlikely friendship. Yet as their souls become increasingly intertwined, they realize their true danger might come from each other … and if they don’t find a way to untangle the knot their souls have become, then even the truth won’t set them free.

Knot of Souls is a stand-alone buddy love fantasy that forces two very different beings to work together … and come out stronger on the other side.

Knot of Souls is available at Amazon.

 

Christine Amsden is the author of nine award-winning fantasy and science fiction novels, including the Cassie Scot Series.

Speculative fiction is fun, magical, and imaginative but Christine believes great speculative fiction is about real people defining themselves through extraordinary situations. She writes primarily about people, and it is in this way that she strives to make science fiction and fantasy meaningful for everyone.

In addition to writing, Christine is a freelance editor and political activist. Disability advocacy is of particular interest to her; she has a rare genetic eye condition called Stargardt Macular Degeneration and has been legally blind since the age of eighteen. In her free time, she enjoys role playing, board games, and a good cup of tea. She lives in the Kansas City area with her husband and two kids.

Author Links

Website ➜https://christineamsden.com/wordpress/

X ➜ http://www.x.com/christineamsden 

Facebook ➜https://www.facebook.com/pages/Christine-Amsden-Author-Page/127673027288664?ref=hl

 

Welcome, Christine! Your book, Knot of Souls, sounds absolutely awesome. Can you tell us the story behind that intriguing title?

 

Thanks for having me! 

 

Knot of Souls is about two very different souls, trapped in the same body, forced by circumstance to work together.  It's a mystery and a fantasy and above all else, a story of deep and abiding friendship. 

 

Can you tell us a little about your main characters?

 

There are two main characters in this book, Joy and Shade. 

 

Strangely, I was reading a writing how-to book called  Story Genius as I drafted this novel, and Story Genius is of the opinion that stories have one main character. They said that even if a story seems to have more than one, if you think about it, there’s a main main character. They provided examples. It seemed somewhat compelling, but … What if both characters are sharing the same body?

 

Joy is a 23-year-old human woman from the Kansas City area (that’s the skyline on the cover). She’s incredibly kind, a real nurturer, spending her free time serving at a homeless shelter or just baking sweets for a coworker who’s feeling down. She’s also … at least at the beginning … not very assertive. Which is maybe why, when Shade first possesses her, she hides instead of fighting. 

 

Shade is an incorporeal being who has recently been accused of murdering his own maker (Queen of the Fae). Which doesn’t make him the main main character, but it does make him the inciting character. He’s the one fleeing judgment. He goes to Kansas City where he once lived as a human and had a human child. He sees one of his own descendants (Joy), dying, her soul leaving her body. And there he chooses to hide, not because it’s convenient (in some ways it isn’t), but because he’s always cared about family. 

 

At first, Shade and Joy seem to be opposites, but actually, they’re complements. Both are defined by past trauma, one powerful but in need of learning to trust, the other trusting but in need of claiming power. 

 

Together, they work magic. Literally and figuratively. I hope you enjoy their story!

 

Where is your book set and why did you choose that particular location?

 

It's largely set in the Kansas City Metro, which is a two-state city (Missouri and Kansas). I chose  it because this is where I live ... on the Kansas side. 

 

What part would you say was the most exciting to write about?

 

The ending, but the reason why is a spoiler, so let's go with a close second ... I absolutely loved writing the scenes early in the book (roughly chapters 4-7) where Shade first realizes he's not alone in Joy's body (she was dying ... he thought her soul had left ... it was a big misunderstanding). These chapters begin the process of Joy and Shade getting to know one another ... and they also ramp up the danger!

 

What's next for you?

 

My next project is called The Spaces in Between (working title), and it’s my first attempt at a young adult book, although I confess to having chosen the young adult genre situationally. The thing is, I lost my central vision between the ages of sixteen and eighteen (especially when I was eighteen), and my main character is going through the same thing. Stargardts can affect children as young as ten, and it can take as long as the mid-thirties to culminate, but in my life, in my lived experience, it happened fairly rapidly and mostly over the course of a single year. The book is still fantasy, despite drawing on some real experiences. 

 

Thanks for having me!