About the books:
Elven Jewel:
The peaceful continent of Reloria is threatened by cruel invaders from the wastelands of Vergash. Halflings Randir and Fendi leave their peaceful farm village with their bond-fairies and race against time to stop the invaders. They join forces with dwarves, elves, men and a mysterious dragon, on a quest to rescue the stolen Elven Jewel. Book one of the trilogy.
Hunters’ Quest:
Scaly Vergai invaders have captured the Elven Jewel from Reloria. Halfling friends, Randir and Fendi, their
bond-fairies, men, dwarves, an elf and a dragon are a group of brave hunters on a quest to recover the stolen Elven Jewel. They must search for a mage who can make a portal to Vergash to rescue the princess and restore the protective forcefield.Interview with Kasper Beaumont:
Kasper, tell us the story behind the title of your books.Elven Jewel is the title of my first book, and it is the crystal which is used to create the Shield of Reloria, which is an invisible forcefield. Naturally, the Vergai invaders are on a mission to steal the jewel.
Hunters’ Quest is the title of the 2nd book in the trilogy. A band of heroes called the Hunters of Reloria set out on a quest to recover the jewel.
Dragon’s Revenge is the final in the trilogy. Those Vergai should have known better than to anger a dragon!
What’s your favorite line from a book?
"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird. The more I write, the more true I find this to be.
One of your characters has just found out you’re about to kill him off. He/she decides
to beat you to the punch. How would he kill you?
Well, if it were the dragon, I’d be hiding far, far away from his deadly breath, to be sure.
If you could be one of your characters, which one would you choose?
I think I’d choose Sienna. She's a brave huntress, who is an awesome halfling fighter, seems totally fearless and has a handsome little bond-fairy who can heal her. She’s had a hard life to be sure, but her great attitude and sense of adventure are admirable.
Tell us about your favorite scene in the book.
Most days I would say it is the attack at Stonefield Inn. Of course if I’m in a romantic mood, I do love the picnic at Goblin Falls too.
You can be any fictional character for one day. Who would you be?
I reckon I’d be the Artful Dodger from Oliver Twist or maybe Ginger Meggs or Huckleberry Finn.
Are you happy with your decision to self-publish?
Yes, although I still live in hope that Peter Jackson is going to knock on my door and offer me a 3 movie deal.
Don't we all!
I honestly haven’t tried contacting many publishers, because they seem to be looking for works with guaranteed sales these days, so I thought I’d give it a go myself. I tried about three publishers with my first novel before I had it properly edited, and I didn’t hear back. I’ve learnt to accept people's help and advice and try and write the best novels I can.
Can you tell us a little about your road to publication?
Firstly, I sent my books to a local review company called Writers’ Web. Then I published on Amazon and then Smashwords. I have printed paperback copies of my first book and am in the process of getting the second book printed.
I think I’ve been very lucky to find people who can help me and teach me the trade, such as my editors and a local artist I discovered.
What’s one of your favorite quotes?
Seriously, I could quote about 100 favourite lines from the Star Wars movies, but I’ll settle for this wise gem from Yoda, “Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter.”
What three books have you read recently and would recommend?
Fairies of Feyllan by Cat Spydell - a fantasy.
African Hearts by Laura O’Connell - a romance.
Fake Profile by Khyiah Angel - a great book for teens on the hazards of social media.
All three are indie books by up-and-coming new writers. I like to support and review new authors.
What are you working on now?
I’m writing the third novel in my trilogy, Dragon’s Revenge and am doing some epic battle scenes as well as a nice romance. It’s so much fun, and I can’t wait to share it with all of you.
Come back when it's done and tell us more about it!
Thanks so much for the interview. I really enjoyed doing it and hope it helps people to understand me a little more and want to read my books.
Book trailer for Elven Jewel
Excerpt from Elven Jewel:
An excerpt from chapter 5 of Elven Jewel and the first time we see the beast...
The characters are 2 elves: Princess Shari-Rose and her guardian Daeron; the dwarven brothers Baja and Raja; and four brave halflings: Old Fandri; his son Fendi; friend Randir and a huntress named Sienna. They have been tracked to an inn by their adversary, the Vergai invaders.
They followed the sounds of struggling around the corner of the inn and saw an incredible sight. A sopping wet Princess, wearing only a towel, was being held by the arms and legs by four of the scaly Vergai. Another of the creatures was trying to muffle her screams with his clawed hand, which she was biting on as hard as she could and causing him to growl in frustration.
All around them was a battle. Sienna held a green-stained dagger in one hand and was struggling with three of the creatures, two of which had arrows protruding from their torsos. Green blood was drying around the arrow shafts. The huntress stabbed at the invaders and aimed at the thinnest area of their thick hide on the sides of their neck. Her bond fairy was a short distance away and was so intent in watching the fight that she did not see a Vergai’s rough hand closing around her from behind. The Vergai clapped his hands together and both fairy and halfling collapsed to the ground unconscious.
Fendi had grabbed a long dagger from the inn and Old Fandri drew his broad sword. Fendi was momentarily stunned by being in such close proximity to the large and fearsome Vergai. He exchanged a wide-eyed glance with his father, who gave a short nod. Together they charged towards the Vergai with a roar. Old Fandri stepped ahead to engage a Vergai with his sword and didn’t see one of the creatures whip around and strike Fendi solidly with his long thick tail. The young halfing gave a grunt and fell to the ground.
The final four Vergai were moving to surround Raja, who was flailing about a two-headed axe, as though he was berserk. Baja gave a yell and rushed to his aid. Baja threw a small axe, which felled one of the creatures, and then the dwarf got out a large wooden club and proceeded to bash all the Vergai on their knee caps. The two dwarfs were much shorter than the Vergai (who were about human height), but they made up for it in their fighting prowess. The Vergai all stood well back from the half-crazed little men.
Old Fandri had entered the fight over by the Princess. One of the Vergai had let go of her arms and had rushed at him with a chained morning star, spinning around dangerously. Fandri was forced back towards the wall of the tavern and stumbled to the ground. The Vergai was just about to land a killing blow with his rotating spike, when a long sword covered in green blood, appeared through his chest. Daeron had come to Fandri’s rescue.
The powerfully-built elf looked dizzy on his feet and still had a bandage wrapped around his head from Lakehaven. He extricated his narrow sword from the Vergai and threw him to the ground. Then he held his hand down to help up the old halfling. “Thanks,” panted Fandri. “I’m getting too old for this.” He looked around and saw that the Vergai were taking advantage of the chaos and half-carrying, half-dragging the screaming Princess off into the night.
Fandri looked at the other fighters and realised that the Vergai were gaining the upper hand. Fendi, Sienna and Baja had been knocked out cold and Raja was the only one still fighting, but was totally surrounded by several big fighters. Old Fandri was just thinking that all was lost when a powerful screech filled the night. There was suddenly a flapping of great wings and a mighty burst of flame lit up the sky. The Vergai around Raja screamed and ran off after the Princess.
The sky went dark again, after that brief burst of light. All that Fandri could see was a huge dark shape, blotting out the stars. It screeched again and gave a huge burst of flame, which whooshed right over the top of the fleeing Vergai. Their thick scaly hides appeared to deflect the flames, but they screamed and howled and ran in all directions. The winged beast flew to where the other Vergai were running with Shari-Rose and it picked them off her, one by one and threw them far into the distance, where they land with dull thuds.
Then the beast tenderly picked up Shari-Rose in its great talons and very carefully carried her back to the halflings and dwarves. Her wet towel flopped to the ground by Old Fandri’s feet. She looked like a child compared to the enormous creature carrying her carefully in one sharp claw.
By the light from the half-shuttered inn windows, Fandri, Daeron and Raja could see that the beast was a great, grey dragon. Its body was four times as tall as a man and had a thick, scaly hide. Its wing span must have been about 40 foot or more and the flap of the huge wings brought large gusts of air swirling all around them. Emerald jewels gleamed from under the wings, as though they were embedded in the scales. The dragon’s head had many horns and a large mouth with sharp teeth. Its muzzle was long, with wide nostrils, issuing trails of smoke. The dragon’s large, yellow eyes looked at each of the fighters below intelligently and then it placed the Princess gently on the ground. Shari-Rose stared up at the great beast which had rescued her and was utterly speechless. She didn’t even have breath to scream in terror. The dragon flapped its gigantic wings and rose up into the sky. It circled the inn once and then flew off in the direction of the Vergai.
Excerpt from Elven Jewel by Kasper Beaumont. © 2013
About the author:
Kasper J. Beaumont was born and raised in Australia and lives a quiet life with the family in a seaside town. Kasper has combined a love of fantasy and a penchant for travel in this trilogy. Kasper started to write on the urging of friends and family and enjoys watching readers become immersed in the magical world of Reloria.Connect with Kasper:
Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads |
Buy the books:
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Smashwords
