Interview with Ellen Read - author of The Ancient Fire
Interview with Ellen Read - author of The Ancient Fire
Link to review of The Ancient Fire
Website of Ellen Read
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About the author:
Ellen Read was born in tropical North Queensland, Australia. She has always enjoyed reading, even from a young age. Books took her into a world of wonder and enjoyment that the real world could never quite provide. She loves to read fiction, non-fiction, poetry. She particularly loves history and stories of ancient myths and legends. Authors such as Agatha Christie, Jane Austen, Edgar Allan Poe, and Victoria Holt, the latter of whom wrote gothic mystery/romances, have influenced her own work.
In her childhood, Ellen always made up stories. At first, she wrote poetry and short stories, and then wrote her first novel at 18. After a few novels, an agent in London took her on but the agent was made redundant before she’d secured a contract with a publisher. At that time, Ellen became heavily involved in the performing arts world and found less time to write. She loved all her work and experiences there but wanted to write more and get published. When Ellen moved towns, just over three years ago, she decided that would be the start of her new writing career. She wrote a novella, Love The Gift, while moving, which she self-published. Then she started The Dragon Sleeps, the first book in The Thornton Mysteries.
Ellen’s other passion is photography. She loves to photograph flowers, landscapes and architecture. Her website features many of her photos. Visit website for her books & photos!
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INTERVIEW
What inspired you to write The Ancient Fire? Provide a little description of the story.
I grew up reading a lot of mythology from most cultures. It was always a subject that fascinated me. In my teenage years, I read a lot of Celtic and Gaelic mythology. I was enthralled by the triple goddesses. The Tuatha Dé Danann that came to Ancient Ireland had a rich culture and many legends linked to them. One was of Brigid the triple goddess.
Did you do a lot of research in Celtic Folklore for this new series? What were your best sources?
In a way, I researched for years by reading mythology, long before I decided to write The Ancient Fire. I read a lot of Robert Graves’ books years ago. More recently, I read A Treasury of Irish Fairy and Folk Tales. I researched myths of Brigid, who was the goddess of the flame, healing and poetry, of Lugh, who was the Irish Sun God of Light, power and fertility, and also I researched all the many other gods and goddesses in the book. The four treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann feature in the story. Every aspect needed research. So a lot of research was required.
What was your favourite scene in The Ancient Fire to write and why?
To choose one scene is difficult. I think it would have to be in the opening scenes where Bree meets Lu. It lays the foundation of their relationship. It also wrenches Bree out of her quiet existence into her destiny.
Describe heroine Bree and villain Mor in three words each.
Bree - courageous, determined, loyal. Mór – evil, destructive, vengeful.
Fantasy provides life lessons. What should a reader learn from reading The Ancient Fire?
Bree shows that a young woman, acting with good intentions, can change her world.
Lu learned to show humility, that life wasn’t all about battles.
Mór, the epitome of evil, was defeated.
I believe these lessons are relevant for us today.
What character did you create in The Ancient Fire that surprised you the most for the decisions they made?
Bree surprised me the most. I obviously knew where I wanted to take her but she shone so much more than I thought she would. Her strength of character threads through the story.
How many books do you have planned for The Triple Goddess series and can you share a little about the direction you hope to take in each?
So far, three books. Book two is written and is with my publisher. I’m writing the third now. There could be more because there are so many wonderful myths to re-imagine.
In book #2, Bree journeys to meet her people but Mór will not remain forgotten, and she wreaks more devastation.
In book #3, Bree and her retinue, visit the Fae Realm, and Bree returns to the Otherworld where the Tree of Life is situated in my stories.
Tell us about your writing journey. Have you always wanted to be a writer?
I read a lot as a child and, at some point, I started creating little stories. I was an only child and my imagination was my world. I wrote my first novel when I was eighteen. Others followed. In my 20s, I had an agent in London take me on, but things didn’t turn out. I kept writing, but I became involved in singing and musical theatre, and ballroom dancing. During those years, I wrote less. It wasn’t until we moved to Brisbane in 2015, after my husband and I had retired, that I decided to write full time. I self-published at first, then my Thornton mysteries were picked up by a small US publisher. I still self-published other books. Then Serenade Publishing, a boutique Queensland publisher contracted me for the Triple Goddess series, The Ancient Fire being the first book.
Ellen and her publisher, Saran Williams, at Serenade Publishing.