1–What is the title of your latest release?
2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Two royal brothers fight over a wealthy heiress before she mysteriously disappears. Can the royal poisoner Ankarette find the missing woman before someone even more dangerous does?
3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
The city of Kingfountain is a fabled place in this world where dynasties have clashed and Fountain magic holds sway. In this book, I wanted to have the readers explore places in the city they’ve never been before and meet new characters they’ll fall in love with.
4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Absolutely yes! A reader favorite is the enigmatic poisoner, Ankarette Tryneowy. She’s clever, she’s dangerous, but she tries to solve problems diplomatically before pulling a dagger. One day, I hope Kingfountain gets turned into a TV show or movie and I get a chance to meet whoever plays her.
5–What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Cunning, Caring, Loyal
6–What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I visited England while writing this book and got to visit the torture chambers in the Tower of London. I learned about a device called the Scavenger’s Daughter. Very chilling. I won’t say whether one gets used in Widow’s Fate, but…I won’t say it isn’t used either!
7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I always wait until I’m totally done. For me, I have a writing brain and an editing brain and they don’t work well together. So I let all the creative juices flow before switching gears and doing edits afterwards.
8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
I’m a dessert guy and prefer pies to cakes. But my favorite is apple crisp with cinnamon and nutmeg in the topping. And way too much brown sugar.
9–Describe your writing space/office!
My den is at the front of the house and on clear days I can see a rather famous mountain range in the distance. I have a big fancy desk with a printer, a statuette of a frog and a lantern (a tribute to my very first book), and a candle from a boutique shop in California where I used to live. On my right is a wall-to-wall built-in bookshelf. My wife’s desk is behind mine. There’s a little couch with some throw pillows on the left where my dog Owen likes to camp out sometimes. And on the walls circling the room are picture boxes with all my books which have sold more than 100,000 copies—something my publisher sends me when that milestone is hit.
10–Who is an author you admire?
Charlie Holmberg – she’s a personal friend as well and a colleague at Amazon Publishing. Her books consistently hook me in and her magic systems are just so original and fun. We’ve worked together in other things too, like my e-zine Deep Magic and my new series of on-line writing classes Writer’s Block.
11–Is there a book that changed your life?
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. I think if I hadn’t read that book when I did, back when I was working at Intel, I might have given up being an author.
12–Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
It was an e-mail actually that came on April 19, 2012. I had self-published my Legends of Muirwood series, and it was discovered by an editor at Amazon Publishing who reached out to acquire it on that date. That moment changed the trajectory of my life forever.
13–What’s your favorite genre to read?
To be honest, I like biographies the best. As a full-time author, my brain can’t help but try to figure out fiction and where it’s going, so I lose a lot of surprise and wonder in stories these days. But with real history or biographies, there is always the unexpected to be found and often those moments conspire to inspire ideas for stories I need to write.
14–What’s your favorite movie?
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. I didn’t think any movie would surpass the original Star Wars trilogy, but it finally happened.
15–What is your favorite season?
Summertime – it is absolutely gorgeous where I live with so much to do outside. We get all four seasons here, but June to August is magical.
16–How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Usually with a French apple pie and monster cookie ice cream. In recent years, my wife and I like to take snowmobile trips around my birthday time too since there’s usually a lot of snow on the ground that time of year.
17–What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I really enjoyed Strange New Worlds, the new Star Trek show. It reminded me of my childhood watching the original Kirk and Spock series on Saturday afternoons.
18–What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
I’m a huge fan of barbeque. Most restaurants don’t compare to my father in law’s grill.
19–What do you do when you have free time?
Ha ha ha – what is free time? Just kidding. I have three kids in college and two in high school, so between soccer games, concerts, and community efforts, there isn’t a ton of free time. But when it happens, usually Saturday afternoons, I like to watch action movies and do laundry.
20–What can readers expect from you next?
I’ve been working on a new fantasy series unrelated to my other worlds called The Invisible College which will come out in 2024. And yes, it was partly inspired by biographies I’ve read.
THE WIDOW’S FATE by Jeff Wheeler
The Poisoner of Kingfountain #2
From Wall Street Journal bestselling author Jeff Wheeler…
A wise king keeps his friends close and his enemies closer, even if one is his younger brother. When a valuable heiress disappears from Kingfountain in the middle of the night, King Eredur summons the poisoner Ankarette to bring her back alive at all costs. Both of his younger brothers want her—one to control her fortune and the other for love.
With the help of a world-weary soldier from the Night Watch, Ankarette must delve into the darkest corners of the city before the wrong people find the lost widow first. Blood will be spilled. Brothers will come to blows. And once again Ankarette must try to stop her beloved kingdom from tearing itself apart.
Action | Fiction Adventure | Fantasy [Oliver-Heber Books, On Sale: October 17, 2023, e-Book, / ]
Buy THE WIDOW’S FATE: Kindle | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR
About Jeff Wheeler
Jeff Wheeler is the author of more than 30 epic-fantasy novels that have sold more than four million copies worldwide and earned him status as a Wall Street Journal bestselling author. Wheeler took an early retirement from his career at Intel in 2014 to pursue writing full-time.
Growing up in Silicon Valley, Wheeler fell in love with the work of Terry Brooks and decided that he wanted to create stories that inspired people, just as Brooks’ novels did for him. His writing journey began early on—writing full-length novels in high school. As a D&D enthusiast, many of his campaigns from high school were the inspiration for his early stories. His first self-published novel, The Wretched of Muirwood trilogy, catapulted Wheeler into the spotlight. Soon after, 47North came to Wheeler with an offer and published The Queen’s Poisoner trilogy in 2016. In July of this year, Wheeler secured an exciting deal to release TV rights to Nucleus Media for a PG or PG-13 adaption of the Kingfountain series. Morgan Gendel (known for his work in Star Trek Next Generation, Dresden Files, and Law & Order) will be leading the development of the series and has signed on as showrunner.
Jeff currently resides in the Rocky Mountains with his wife, Gina, and their five kids. He is a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ and The Latter Day Saints and has his time full drafting new stories and running Deep Magic, a quarterly e-zine featuring fantasy short stories and novellas by upcoming authors.
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