Welcome back to Fresh Fiction, Isabel! It’s hard to believe BLOOD AND EMBER, the third book in your Stormbringer series, is already out. What have you loved about writing this series the most?  Getting to build my own world! Bits of it were tough–the maps especially, as I am not a person who’s good with space and distance. (I am a person who lives in Massachusetts and continually refers to “going up to New York City.”) But I got to think up holidays and histories and peoples, which was tons of fun. I also got to create a world with a benevolent goddess of death and vengeance, and not in a gross “scorned woman” way, which I am into. Olvir embarks on a harrowing journey to hopefully figure out the true nature of his powers, and his friend Vivian (a warrior in her own right!), is not going to let him go about this on his own. Of course, their friendship develops into something more. How did you balance their epic journey with their changing relationship?   The thing I’ve found about travel is that it gives you a lot of time and space to think–like, just being away from your normal surroundings can…

1–What’s the name of your latest release?  THE STORMBRINGER What is it about? A fantasy world that’s rebuilt after an apocalypse and is now in danger again, three people trying to reconcile the past with their current situation, and the value of standing together against oncoming threats. What word best describes your heroine?  Pragmatic. What makes your hero irresistible?  Amris combines a slightly old-fashioned formality with the ability to accept people for who they are–and blends a sense of honor with a sense of humor. Who are the people your main characters turn to when they need help? That’s a good question! Both Darya and Amris are fairly isolated: Darya by her role as a Sentinel, Amris by not being in his own time any longer. Darya has Emeth and Katrine, as well as other Sentinels that she’s friends with, but they aren’t in the same place most of the time. She and Amris both are generally closest to Gerant, which makes their relationship very awkward.  What do you love about the setting of your book?  The mythology is near and dear to my heart: a good spider goddess, a good goddess of death and vengeance as well as love…