A Glimpse into the Fantasy World of Pantracia, with Author Amanda Muratoff

1) What is your Author name; use your Pen name if you have one.

Amanda Muratoff

2) What inspired you to become a writer?

The stories did, actually! Kayla and I didn’t intend on publishing our stories, we just wrote them for fun. We’d written over a million words together by the time we were twenty, and the desire to share these stories with the world inspired us to become authors.

3) Do you prefer writing dialogue, action or other scenes?

I love writing dialogue and action. The sappy moments are the best, the reunions or breakthroughs. I never know what Kayla’s character will do or say (to a degree, anyway), so it’s like reading a book and writing one at the same time.

4) How did you come up with your cover design?

Kayla and I brainstorm key moments in the books and how we can incorporate elements of the characters’ struggle into an interesting cover.

5) What is the most important bit of information you would want to tell a person interested in publishing a book?

That it’s a lot of work, and a lot of hats. You gotta be a writer, editor, artist, marketer, etc. Be ready to learn a LOT.

6) Which book villain would be the hardest to defeat?

Definitely the overarching villain in Pantracia, Uriel. He’s the big bad in our books, but I can’t tell you why he’d be hard to defeat without giving spoilers away. But it’s a thirteen-book-task, I can tell you that much!

7) What was your favorite childhood book?

Kavik, wolf dog. It got me into reading and I still remember that story.

8) If you had to write in any other genre, what would that be and why?

Probably YA Fantasy or PNR or maybe even contemporary romance. I have a few manuscripts on the go…

9) What is one book that is currently on your To-Be-Read list?

The Priory of the Orange Tree.

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

If so, what? I have the coolest split blade dagger that we used as reference for the dagger on the cover of book 6, and I totally love it.

11) What is your best book memory?

The scenes in book 6. I always go back and reread them, especially if I’m having a hard day.

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

The Pantracia Chronicles is the series, and it opens with book one, Embrace of the Shade. We currently have ten books published, but the series will have thirteen when it’s done. It’s broken into smaller series, so books 1-3, 4-7, and 8-10 are each their own series, but also part of the grander one. They’re all connected, so you see a lot of hidden (and not hidden) cameos, easter eggs, etc. As you read through the whole series, the characters’ paths cross, overlap, and eventually weave together as their fates become entwined. They’re all needed to overcome the world’s biggest evil, and they all need each other.

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

www.pantracia.com