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Of Dragons and Unicorns


1) Let’s start with the basics. What is your Author name; use your Pen name if you have one.


Deborah Jarvis


2) What inspired you to become a writer?


I love the novels of Peter S. Beagle and was inspired by a lot of his and other authors’ books to tell my own stories.


3) Which character of yours is your favorite and why?


I love Jack Parns. He’s fun to write, and he has a whole range of reactions and emotions that are so different than Deirdre’s (the MC), that they can play off each other very well.


4) Which character of yours was the most challenging to write and why?


I think the dragon, Maricontressor, was one of the hardest to write. The dragons’ view the world and time very different from regular mortals and making her believable was difficult.


5) What is your favorite part about being a writer?


When the characters tell the story themselves. I love it when they do things I don’t expect, and it works out even better than I had planned.


6) What is your favorite character from any book you have ever read?


Mercy Thompson from the same named series by Patricia Briggs. I love that she has the ability to become a coyote, and that she is realistic and very down to earth.



7) What book protagonist would you love to talk to if he/she/they were real?


Again, Mercy Thompson would be the one that I would love to talk to.


8) What was your favorite childhood book?


It’s a toss-up between The Last Unicorn and The Chronicles of Narnia. I read them both pretty early and loved them all.


9) Name one of your favorite authors.


Neil Gaiman is definitely a favorite aside from the ones mentioned before.


10) If you could live in any “book world” what would that be?


Likely a world that had the game parks from Larry Niven and Steven Barnes’s Dream Park novels. It just seems like such a wonderful idea.


11) Do you own any interesting ‘bookish’ memorabilia or clothes?


If so, what? I have about ten of the Out-Of-Print book t-shirts including ones for Watership Down and Jaws, a pair of Fahrenheit 451 earrings, and a lot of pins relating to novels and plays.


12) What is your best book memory?


Reading The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub when I was in 11th grade. I couldn’t put the book down and so skipped school and read it cover to cover in one day.



13) What is the name of your book/series? Tell me a little bit about them.


The Keyralithian Chronicles is the name of my series. Both of the books are portal fantasy. Book one is The Crystal Pawn and book two is The Ivory Queen. They follow the story of Deirdre Hawes as she has to find her way through the intrigue of her father’s court and discover a way to call the long-vanished dragons to save the country she has come to love. Things do not go as planned, however, and she has to run for her life, taking with her others who believe that there are those trying to stop Deirdre from succeeding, whatever the cost.


14) Do you have a website? If so, what is it?