Meet YA Fantasy Author Eric Price

Carpinello's Writing Pages welcomes author Eric Price. He writes the Saga of the Wizards fantasy series as well as science fiction and children's stories. Eric is also a fellow Muse It Up author.

First, a bit about Eric:

Eric Price lives with his wife and two sons in northwest Iowa. He began publishing in 2008 when he started writing a quarterly column for a local newspaper. Later that same year he published his first work of fiction, a spooky children’s story called Ghost Bed and Ghoul Breakfast. Since then, he has written stories for children, young adults, and adults. Three of his science fiction stories have won honorable mention from the CrossTime Annual Science Fiction Contest. His first YA fantasy novel, Unveiling the Wizards’ Shroud, received the Children’s Literary Classics Seal of Approval and the Literary Classics Award for Best First Novel. His second novel, The Squire and the Slave Master, scheduled for a 2015 release, continues the Saga of the Wizards.

Why did you pick to write books for Young Adults?

I write YA right now because that’s where the stories I have fit best. I’ve also written a middle grade book, but I haven’t submitted it to publishers yet. Once I finish the Saga of the Wizards, I hope to try my hand at some adult novels too.

What types of books do you like to read?

Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Action/Adventure, Mystery, Classics, Horror…really, I’m easy to please, it depends on what mood I’m in.

When you are not writing, what do you like to do?

We travel a lot. I also work on my wife’s family’s farm.

Tell us about The Squire and the Slave Master and how the story came to be.

The Squire and the Slave Master has roots all the way back to the rewriting of Unveiling the Wizards’ Shroud. I wrote Unveiling the Wizards’ Shroud long before I ever sent it to a publisher. When I finally decided it had aged on my hard drive long enough (and at my wife’s persuasion), I started submitting it to publishers. I got a few form rejections before Muse It Up Publishing rejected it but with conditions that, if I would meet them, they’d take another look.

In the time it sat on my computer, I had thought of a second story taking place in the same world. I decided to introduce the main character of this second book in Unveiling the Wizards’ Shroud. So I went about rewriting it with Muse It Up’s suggestions, while introducing this new character at the beginning of the story and probably bringing her back at the end.

Well, it didn’t work exactly as I had intended. Yara insisted on sticking around for the bulk of Unveiling the Wizards’ Shroud, and I liked her character so much I didn’t fight it. Now she goes from being a secondary character to the main character in her own book…and you can bet she’ll find a way into book three.

Here's a peek at The Squire and the Slave Master:

Unveiling the Wizards’ Shroud chronicled Yara, Owen, and Cedric’s quest to revive King Kendrick from a dark, magical spell. After the adventure to save King Kendrick, for Yara, everyday life has grown monotonous. The dull work of learning her father’s blacksmithing trade, and the pressure from her parents to decide what she plans on doing with her life, has her nerves so stressed she snaps at her father’s slightest teasing.

Lucky for her, a surprise messenger from the castle brings the king’s request for her to join a collaborative mission between the Central and Western Domains of Wittatun to stop a recently discovered slave operation in a land to the west. King Kendrick and Owen want her to accompany the mission as a secret weapon disguised as a squire.

She has to keep secret not only her magical abilities from any possible traitors, but also her gender. The people of the Western Domain have a superstition prohibiting girls from sailing. But a chill wind carries the distinct odor of sabotage. Can one girl survive to destroy an evil rooted much deeper than mere slavery?

Have you written other books? If so, tell us a bit about them.

I mentioned the MG book above. I wrote it at my oldest son’s request. When he put it together that I write books, he asked if I’d write a book about his favorite baseball player, Yadier Molina. I told him I wouldn’t because I had no idea where to begin at getting rights to do such a thing, but instead I offered to write him a book about a kid whose favorite player is Yadier Molina. He agreed to my compromise. I have to go through it again before I can start trying to find a publisher. Something’s not quite right yet, but I haven’t figured out what.


What’s next for your writing? Are you working on a new story?

I’m well into the third and final book from the Saga of the Wizards titled A Wizard Reborn. Owen and Yara will have to put all their skills to use to stop—well, let’s allow people to read The Squire and the Slave Master before we tell them too much about A Wizard Reborn.


What advice do you have for other authors?

My “go-to” advice recently has been aimed at aspiring authors: Write your own story. Don’t try to write the next Harry Potter, or Divergent, or whatever. These stories have already been written. If you’re going to put in the effort to write, make it something original.

Anything else you want readers to know?

For the month of September, I’ve had an interesting project running on my website/blog. I’ve been working with an American Literature high school class in Nantes, France. For one of their projects, they read the first two chapters of Unveiling the Wizards’ Shroud before breaking into groups and writing what they though should come next. I posted their versions, one each day, from September 2-17. It’s too late to vote for your favorites, but the project is still worth reading. Here’s a link to the introduction post: http://tinyurl.com/oou3tu5.

Where can readers find you and your books?

The best place to see what I’m doing:
My Website

If you like social media, you can also find me here:
Twitter
Facebook
I have accounts on some other social sites too, but I don’t use them much.

My books are available wherever eBooks are sold:

 Amazon
 Muse It Up
 Barnes and Noble
 Smashwords
 iTunes