Interview with K.D. Edwards – THE LAST SUN

I couldn’t be more pleased to host K.D. Edwards, the author of one of my favorite recent books, The Last Sun! This book sort of came out of nowhere for me. I’m on the Pyr mailing list and when it was pitched to me it sounded pretty interesting, but it wasn’t even on my radar at the time. Luckily I decided to take a chance on it and WOW. I loved this book so much, and the fact that it’s the start of a series is just icing on the cake:-D

So I got to ask K.D. some questions and I hope you all enjoy his answers! Let’s get started:-D

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Welcome to the blog, K.D.! As you know, I’m a HUGE fan of your debut urban fantasy, The Last Sun, which uses Tarot cards as a story framing device. In the book you use some of the tarot cards to create characters, but it seems like there are so many more that could be used in future books. How did this idea come about?

First, I’m going to throw some love right back at you, because I love your website. I love the reviews; I love the cover comparisons you do; I love the “waiting on segments”; and I bow in honor before anything with the word “Buffy” in the title.

As for your question… Oh yes, I have plans for the other Arcana. I pace them out over the course of the series, which will be, fingers crossed, nine novels long. The second novel focuses mainly on Lord Hanged Man and Lady Death.

Why tarot cards? I’ve always loved how they stood for archetypes. What a great way to gather some of the biggest themes of the human condition into a metaphoric setting: chance, love, reclusiveness, nature…. And creating the intricacies of each Arcana court is so damn freaking fun.

Wait a second. Did you say NINE novels are planned for this series?? And thank you for the blog love! I appreciate the fact that you read my blog, I feel so honored:-) And any fan of Buffy is automatically my friend!

One of the coolest world-building ideas in the book is how you used a particular type of magic to transport abandoned historical buildings from all over the world to create the city of New Atlantis. How did you come up with this idea, and what sort of research did you do?

I have a lifelong fascination with unexplored ruins, and mythical lost lands. (Which is also why I picked Atlantis as a setting.) The internet has some amazing pictures of abandoned palaces and sanitariums, for instance. And I suppose I thought, rather than use one of those places as a setting…. Why not all?

Introducing those translocated buildings into the narrative is one of my challenges, too. I really, really try to make those snippets of exposition interesting, and really evoke a sense of haunted history. Plus? I love the research.

I absolutely loved the relationships in The Last Sun, particularly the one between Rune and his Companion Brand. There is a strong “buddy film” interaction between them, with lots of humor and snark, but the relationship also goes much deeper. Did you have one of your own personal relationships in mind when you started writing these characters?

I love this question! No one has asked this. And no, I am not lucky enough to have a Brand in my life. The deepness of the relationship between Rune and Brand is something I’d easily spend a genie wish on. To have someone that devoted to you? Who always watches your back? And would gladly step in your path to mow down your bullies? But meanwhile constantly humbles you and puts you in your place, to make you a better person? I’ve had very, very good friends in my life, but nothing of that level.

And speaking of relationships, Atlanteans do not subscribe to what we would call traditional family roles. They aren’t concerned about gender and sexual orientation, which I found very refreshing. Was this a conscious decision on your part, or did this society emerge organically while you were writing the story?

Yes, it was absolutely a choice. I think, in my life, I have a luxury that a lot of new writers don’t. I’m older, and I have a good job. I can afford to take chances. So I promised myself, when I began the process of getting published, that I’d be true to #ownvoices. I want to write mainstream urban fantasy, and young adult, and zombie stories, and post-apocalypse…. And I want to do it all with a main character who just happens to be gay.

But what I didn’t expect – what my Readers have taught me – is that I stumbled on other things as well, in the course of writing this. It’s not just a story with a main character who just happens to be gay. It’s about all sorts of male relationships. The intimate brotherhood between Rune and Brand; the nearly parent-child relationship between Addam and Quinn; the guardianship issues between Max and Rune/Brand… I’ve heard what Readers have said about that, and I want to explore it more.

I love your prose! I mentioned in my review that The Last Sun does not seem like a debut at all. Have you taken formal writing classes and workshops, or has your experience simply been plugging away on a keyboard over the years until you ended up with something marketable?

No formal writing classes or workshops, though I have been in a writing group for years, which I recommend to every writer, new or published. (As long as you take pains to find the perfect group.) And I’m not a kid anymore. When you get older, you really do learn to stop sweating the small stuff; and something about that attitude makes it so much easier for me to write.

That said, this isn’t a recent ambition. I’m wanted to be a novelist since I held my first book in my hands. I think I would have been a much different published novelist in my 20s as I am now. I like that I’ve marinated, and absorbed so many different ways of writing and world-building. It’s not always about getting things smooth and polished; sometimes it’s about learning that edges and sharp bits are just as good.

I found so many quotable moments in the book. What is one of your favorite lines from the story?

Not so much lines, as mini-moments between Brand and Rune. I love writing their dialog. It doesn’t even feel like writing; it feels like the dialog is waiting in my head. I suppose one of my favorite moments is this:

    “And while you’re at it, pay better attention,” I said. “Matthias is following us.”

    Brand gave me a perfectly blank look. I loved catching details before he did. I said, “He’s got on that purple t-shirt that Queenie gave him. He’s two streets back. By the pretzel vendor.”

    “Are you being smug? Is that a smug look?”

    “Of course not,” I said.

    “Do you feel smug because you just spotted Matthias by the pretzel vendor?”

    “Not at all.”

    “Because he’s been following us since we were half a block away from Half House. He went out the second story bathroom window and down the drainpipe. He’s let us keep a two block lead except when he ran into Starbucks to get an iced coffee. You noticed none of this.”

The sequel to The Last Sun, The Hanged Man, is already on the horizon with a release date and cover art! What can readers expect in the next book? (Obviously, no spoilers please, but a taste of what’s to come would be nice!)

No spoilers, I promise, but I love talking about this, because I spend so. Much. Time. Working on the future novels. Nothing would make me happier than to have the chance to publish all of them. I’m constantly adding notes to future storylines (and at least 10% of all those notes relate to finding the perfect novel, and the perfect scene, for a Brand one-liner). I’ve envisioned the series in three trilogies.

In a very real way, Rune can be an unreliable narrator. He’s keeping secrets from the Reader – things he doesn’t want anyone to know about the night his Court fell. The entire series is one massive arc about Rune’s story & place in the world, but within that arc, the first trilogy deals with the Reader finding out what Rune is keeping from them. The second trilogy deals with Rune finding out the things that even he doesn’t know. And the final trilogy? That’s all endgame.

Well, my heart nearly stopped beating when you mentioned three trilogies, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed for all nine books to be published!

Finally, please tell us three things about yourself that can’t be found on the internet.

I once forgot Senator Edward Kennedy’s name, while introducing him, on CNN, in front of a town hall meeting, back when I was a national high school debater.

I always have a television show that I watch in a constant loop. Right now it’s the Arrow. Before that it was Farscape. And before that, Buffy. And my guiltiest of all pleasures? Dukes of Hazzard. Bo Duke was my first crush.

Oh! I don’t think I’ve mentioned this to anyone. In every TAROT book I write, there’s a split-second homage to Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. And I’m not saying what. But if anyone finds it and tells me, I’ll mail them a copy of my book with my sincere, awed applause as a dedication.

Thanks for asking these questions!!

OK, readers. I’d say that’s a challenge that someone needs to accept…Thanks K.D.! This was a blast:-)

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About the author:

K.D. EDWARDS lives and writes in North Carolina, but has spent time in Massachusetts, Maine, Colorado, New Hampshire, Montana, and Washington State. (Common theme until NC: Snow. So, so much snow.) Mercifully short careers in food service, interactive television, corporate banking, retail management, and bariatric furniture have led to a much less short career in higher education, currently for the University of North Carolina System.

Find K.D. and The Last Sun: Author website | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble |

The Book Depository | IndieBound

Read my review of The Last Sun