o'saerre'Kain'hena
With the death of her last brother, Danica Shardae is the last heir to the Tuuli Thea Nacola, the tired monarch of a civilization torn by a war that has raged for so long that neither side knows how it began—or how to end it. For countless generations the two worlds have fought, perfecting the bloody art of war. Their two cultures are as opposite as fate could make them.
From birth, Danica’s people are taught to hate “the enemy,” and most specifically to fear the garnet gaze of a royal family that avian legend says descends from demons. Legends of their evil are told as warnings to every child, every parent and every soldier.
And from the other side, those garnet eyes gaze toward what they know as a cold, emotionless race. For serpiente myth says that Danica's people have no souls, no hearts, no care for their own dead or for who they kill.
Now, with much trepidation, Danica must step up and take the throne...
Origin of the Story:
Hawksong was one of the few books that I finished and actually liked. Danica Shardae was a different kind of protagonist; she wasn't a jaded, independent individualist like many of my main characters. She wasn't just out to take care of herself. She was strong, but in a quiet way, like running water over stone- absolutely determined, someday, to change her world.
Before Danica began narrating the novel, she taught me a song. At this point, I was in a band with a handful of my classmates. Our music had a soft rock / new age kind of feel to it, and I was in that mindset when "Hawksong" came to me. It was a raw kind of song- a lament, not a lullaby- but it became a lullaby when Danica sang a couple lines from it to a dying cobra.
When I first started writing Hawksong, I actually did not plan to publish it. It was different enough from my other works that I didn't feel it was right for Random House. I intended for it to be something of a history, mostly for my own reference while I worked on more modern works. Obviously, plans later changed. I finished Hawksong and liked it. I gave it to my friends, and they liked it (though "ERICA IS EVIL!" was a common sentiment scrawled in the margins...). I even gave the second draft to my mother, though she rarely gets anything until it has been officially released.
So, when my agent asked me what I wanted to do next, I took a chance.