Today is my stop on the blog tour
For the first book in a new fantasy series
Tourmaline and The Island Of Elsewhere
Written by Ruth Lauren
With stunning artwork by Sharon King-Chai
When Tourmaline’s mother goes missing on a search for precious artefacts, Tourmaline sets off to find her with her best friend George, her new friend (former foe) Mai and her limitless determination. On their adventure, they encounter a band of female pirates, a maze of talking trees and a series of challenges that test the children and their friendship. But will it be enough to reunite Tourmaline with her mother?
The first book in a fun, feminist fantasy adventure series, with a protagonist that flies off the page and into readers’ imaginations. Perfect for fans of Katherine Rundell, Vashti Hardy and Abi Elphinstone.
For my stop on the tour
I have a guest post from Ruth Lauren
All about location and creating a magical world
A few years ago, I started travelling. Taking city breaks in various places. It was the first time in my life that I’d really been anywhere other than my home, and it sparked a real love that had always been there, but which I had never been able to act on before (time, work, money, a collection of young children).
Obviously, the events of 2020 put a temporary stop to travel, and so I funnelled some of that wanderlust into a new story. During the pandemic was the perfect time to launch myself into writing something that took me out of the real world (who didn’t want that in 2020?) and off on a fantastical adventure. It wasn’t the first time I’d thought about location, and about creating a new world (my first two published books are a fantasy adventure duology set in an icy Russian-inspired fantasy land. Think Prison Break meets Frozen.) But it was the first time I’d created a magical world. It was fun, it was ambitious, it was just what I needed during that time, it was . . . difficult.
There were all sorts of questions to answer. What sort of magic exists in this world? What are the rules of it? Where did it come from? What can it do? How does it affect the world? And the people in it? These are the questions I had to answer (or my editor had to point out to me) as I wrote, and edited, Tourmaline and the Island of Elsewhere. Everything had to have an internal logic and it turned out that “because magic?” wasn’t going to cut it.
Of course, Tourmaline doesn’t even know that magic exists when she sets out to rescue her explorer mother who has disappeared while she’s on a mission hunting for precious artefacts. From her home at Pellavere university, to the previously unknown Living Archives underneath it and on across the seas to new and exciting lands, Tourmaline asks some of these questions herself, and learns some of the answers (I had to save some fun for books two and three!)
I really liked the idea of the reader learning about the magic alongside Tourmaline and her friends. I wanted to write about magical objects and the inevitable trouble they bring (adults do tend to want these things for their own selfish reasons). When Tourmaline’s mother goes missing and she sets about finding her, she never expects to learn that magic is real, and that her mother is trapped on a sentient magical island. But once she finds that first magical clue that begins her adventure she finds a wide world filled with magic. The quest to the island brings her mother back into her life, but it also brings this new knowledge – and a magical surprise right at the very end that I won’t spoil here!
Today the children and I are learning all about world building
And creating our own fictional worlds
We are so excited to explore Tourmaline’s world together
So please do watch out for our review when our advneture is over
In the meantime
Do follow the rest of the tour
To hear more about Tourmaline and The Island Of Elsewhere
