Magic Is a Science

1) Let’s start with the most obvious question. What is your author name (Pen name if you use one?)

Azalea Ellis

2) What is your book’s hook line?

In a world where magic is a science, Siobhan is a genius.

But even geniuses need schooling.

3) What is your book/series about?

When Siobhan stumbled into the theft of a priceless magical book, she thought her dreams of becoming the world's most powerful sorcerer were destroyed.But then a mysterious spell changed her life forever...Siobhan is now wearing the body of a strange man and has a new identity—Sebastien. With a new chance for a new start, she allies herself with a local gang—secretly a revolutionary party funding itself through crime. Now, she is bound by vow to repay them in magic and favors.But as Sebastien's reputation begins to bloom, and Siobhan's old enemies still lurk in the shadows, she quickly realizes that the secrets of this world are deeper and darker than she ever could have imagined.Forced to juggle the two sides of her double life, Siobhan is determined to uncover the truth and take control of the name they gave her—The Raven Queen.A Conjuring of Ravens is the first book in a hard fantasy series that includes: an intelligent protagonist, a rules-based magic system, and some hilarious misunderstandings.

4) Can you tell us a little bit more about the characters in A Conjuring of Ravens?

One of the recurring elements of this series is a focus on "how things work."

Again and again, we have our characters showing how magic, society, and the world works, while still having some phenomena be totally wondrous and poorly understood. But there's the understanding that it's not unexplainable, just unknown, and no less awe-inspiring for that fact.

Siobhan, our main character, has a ravenous desire for knowledge. She is a large reason why I wrote this series.

I wanted to write about characters who have concrete goals and push towards them inexhaustibly. Who have real flaws that cause problems for themselves and those around them, and who learn to recognize and try to overcome those flaws, even when it hurts. Characters who could share the wonder of knowledge and deep thought with the readers, and pull them into their genuine love of learning.

I consciously created all of my main cast of characters to be people who could have been the protagonist of their own version of these events. Because of that, it's really enjoyable to write everyone. No one is just "there."

They all have their own goals and motivations, and that leaves so much opportunity for complex character interactions. There's never a boring moment.

These are the books I wanted to read but could not find enough of, and I feel lucky and grateful that there are so many readers out there that feel the same.

5) Tell my readers a little bit about yourself.

I’m the type of person that often has a wacky, shocking, or silly–but totally true–story to tell about my life.

(Like the time my brother and I were chased through a secluded strip of woods in the middle of the city, for over a mile, by a naked man with an erection.)

(Or the time a trucker threw an open bottle of pee out his passenger side window without looking right as I was walking by. You can guess what I got splashed with.)

(Or the time a man hit me with his pickup truck on purpose while I was riding my bike to school, and then insisted I get into the vehicle with him so he could drive me the rest of the way as an apology. Needless to say, I resisted.)

The early part of my childhood was spent on a small farmstead, and I’ve got an active imagination that tends toward the outrageous and the macabre, which led to me being voted “most likely to borrow someone else’s car to transport a dead body.”