Th e Iron Ghost Promise Fulfilled

Jworld of her epic fantasy debut novel, The Copper Promise, in February with the publication of The Iron Ghost, continuing the adventures of heroes- for- hire Wydrin, Frith and Sebastian. This time the trio accepts what they think is a simple snatch- and- grab job to retrieve a stolen item from the city of Skaldshollow. “However, they quickly find themselves in a steaming pile of trouble as they’re dropped into the middle of a spiritual war where no one is telling the whole truth; the stones walk, and there is dark magic in the hills,” says Williams, who is clearly very fond of her three protagonists. “I’ve never had to agonise too much over what Wydrin might say in any given situation – often something inappropriate – or how Frith would react when a situation gets out of hand – he will usually manage to make it worse – because they feel very real in my head,” she says. “To be fair, all three had their blueprints in classic fantasy archetypes – the likeable rogue, the man bent on revenge, the honourable warrior – but hopefully given depths that move them past the archetypes and into something more modern.”

As much as Williams likes her creations, she’s still going to put them through the wringer. “The Iron Ghost was harder to write from an emotional standpoint because it takes the characters to some dark places,” she says. “The threat in the first book – giant god of destruction, army of bloodthirsty minions – was very large and obvious. In the second book, the threats are a lot more personal, and potentially a lot more damaging.”

“I love Batman so dearly… If I

saw Christian Bale going through the shopping mall, like in that scene on the Batmobile, I would have thrown my

underwear at him”

Reason # 1086 Jennifer Lawrence is awesome:

she’s the world’s biggest Dark Knight fan.