Coiled Blog Tour & Author Interview by H.L. Burke
Welcome to the first stop on the Coiled Blog Tour! We’ve got some great stuff leading up to the Coiled release!
Welcome to the Coiled blog tour: a collection of posts celebrating the release of the new YA Mythological Romance from Uncommon Universes Press and author, H. L. Burke. Via the links below you will find interviews, informational and entertaining posts about the story behind the story, and of course, sneks.
Seven stops on this blog tour contain special Scavenger Hunt Clues, presented by #TheodoretheDragon and #PistachioSnek. Look for a photo of either or both of those little guys holding up a note. Each note is part of our secret phrase. When you have all seven pieces of our secret phrase click here and tell us. All correct entries will be put into a random drawing for a signed paperback of Coiled. The winner will be drawn at our Facebook party on June 23rd.
Blog Tour Dates
June 5 – Liz Delton, Author Interview (scavenger hunt)
June 7 – Monsters, Misfits, Mushy Stuff Guest Blog (scavenger hunt)
June 8 – Brianna Merritt, Book Spotlight
June 10 – Rebekah Gyger, Greek Gods Guest Blog (scavenger hunt)
June 12 – A. R. Silverberry, Guest Blog (scavenger hunt)
June 13 – Heather Hayden, Author Interview (scavenger hunt)
June 14 – Lea Doue, Author Interview
June 15 – Alyson, Author Interview (scavenger hunt)
June 20 – Jebraun Clifford, Guest Blog
June 22 – Laura Pol, Author Interview (scavenger hunt)
June 23 – Olivia Fisher, Book Spotlight
About Coiled
In the vein of Eros and Psyche, two cursed souls find each other on a forsaken isle and together must shed the darkness inflicted upon them–or else live as monsters forever.
A healing touch. A hideous face. A looming curse.
As the ugly twin to a perfect sister, Princess Laidra lives her life in the shadows—until her parents offer her as bait for a giant serpent.
Her escape attempt leaves her shipwrecked on a secluded island with only one inhabitant: Prince Calen, who lives under a curse. If anyone looks upon him, he turns into a giant serpent. Speaking to him in the darkness, Laidra sees past the monster to Calen’s lonely soul, and she determines to free him from the magic’s hold.
But if Laidra can’t break the curse in time, Calen will become a mindless creature of scales and fangs forever.
Where to buy:
Buy on Amazon
About the Author, H. L. Burke
Born in a small town in north central Oregon, H. L. Burke spent most of her childhood around trees and farm animals and was always accompanied by a book. Growing up with epic heroes from Middle Earth and Narnia keeping her company, she also became an incurable romantic.
An addictive personality, she jumped from one fandom to another, being at times completely obsessed with various books, movies, or television series (Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Star Trek all took their turns), but she has grown to be what she considers a well-rounded connoisseur of geek culture.
Married to her high school crush who is now a US Marine, she has moved multiple times in her adult life but believes that home is wherever her husband, two daughters, and pets are.
Follow her personal blog at www.hlburkeblog.com
And now for the interview!
When did you first come across the myth you based Coiled on?
I first read variants of this story probably in middle school when I was going through all the fairy tale books my local library had to offer. I’d go to that section and seek out books that had stories with unfamiliar names because I didn’t really want to read another version of Cinderella or Snow White (though if I could find one with different details, like the older version where Cinderella’s stepsisters got their toes cut off, that was great). The thing is, Eros and Psyche is one of those stories that has been retold by multiple cultures. East of the Son, West of the Moon had a public radio story time version that I really liked when I was young, so that might’ve been my earliest exposure, and of course, I read the C. S. Lewis version, Til We Have Faces, in high school.
I like a lot of the concepts, the falling in love sight unseen, people changing into monsters/animals, the redemptive quest at the end. Of course, there were other aspects I really wanted to change, so it was nice to play around with that.
Besides Eros and Psyche, do you have any other favorite myths or tales?
As mentioned above, I’m a huge fan of slightly obscure fairy tales and mythology. People turning into animals is a favorite, so I think stories like The Blue Bird or The White Cat.
When writing, was it harder, or easier (or the same) to have the myth as your reference? Did you do anything differently than when you wrote your other books?
Hard to judge. The myth gave me a really good starting point, but about the middle of the myth, there were some things that I didn’t feel worked for the story I wanted to tell, but because of the myth, I spent more time than I should trying to make them work than I might’ve otherwise spent on an idea that didn’t click with my vision. Freeing myself from absolute adherence to the outline allowed me to finish the story and tell the story I wanted to tell. However, the original myth did give me the inspiration for the world being Greek inspired. Originally I’d planned to place it in a world of castles and knights, you know, typical fairy tale fare, but diving into the older origins of the story definitely took the world in a more interesting direction, for me anyway. Plus Greek gods are all sorts of fun.
Have you considered doing any other retellings?
I have no definitive plans for it, but you never know. Honestly, this is the one fairy tale I’ve always wanted to tackle, and now that I have, I think the retelling bug is out of my system.
I have done some short stories inspired by fairy tales. I have a Steampunk version of Pandora’s Box (another Greek myth. I grew up on those. I recently bought my daughters the same Greek Myth book I pored over as a kid and can’t wait to share it) in an anthology of Steampunk fairy tales and I have written a story inspired by the Minotaur legend for an upcoming Fellowship of Fantasy anthology (you can find information on that here www.fellowshipoffantasy.com).
If I were to do another retelling, it would probably be either the Blue Bird or the White Cat, just because I haven’t seen them done yet (they probably have been because everything has, but not to the extent of say Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast).
Connect with the author:
on Facebook
on Twitter
on Instagram
at her website
I can’t wait for the release of this great book–I’ll be putting up my own review of it on the 15th!
2 Replies to “Coiled Blog Tour & Author Interview by H.L. Burke”
I hadn’t realized Coiled was inspired by Eros and Psyche. I only recently learned their story at all, when I was researching why Beauty & the Beast & East of the Sun, West of the Moon are so similar and learned they were based on it. Very cool!