This Cursed Flame Blog Tour
Today I’m doing something new and have the great pleasure of hosting the blog tour for This Cursed Flame, by Selina J. Eckert releasing April 27th, 2019.
Michaela Bush highlighted this new epic fantasy on her blog, www.tangledupinwriting.com yesterday. Below is a fun “interview” I did with one of the characters in the upcoming novel.
Safiyya is a shapeshifter living in Fuego, part of the Djinn realm. She used to have the ability to change into many different forms, but is now stuck in the form of an ocelot. For those of you who don’t know, an ocelot is a small wild cat about double in size of a typical domestic cat. They are a buff color with jaguar-like spots.
Ocelots are such beautiful cats. How did you become trapped as one, Safiyya?
I won’t go into the details here. Honestly, it’s kind of painful, and it’s left a rift between me and Ghadir. Maybe one day I’ll tell Janan, since of anyone, she deserves to know the most. Ocelots are indeed beautiful cats, and they are . . . were . . . my preferred shapeshifted form. I just wish I could have all my shapeshifting and magic back, too. I wish I knew why I was stuck. And how to be free again.
Since you are not technically a true wild cat, Safiyya, where do you spend the majority of your time?
Before all this started, I spent most of my time with Janan and her djinn family. Sure, I’d take some occasional prowls out of the city, but this is my family, and right now, this is where I need to be. Though, one day, if I can ever get out of this form, I’d love to see my old boyfriend again. I wonder if he still loves me as much as I love him . . .
That’s very interesting. Until then, who do you prefer to spend your time with?
Janan. That poor girl has been through so much, she just needs a friend. Don’t get me wrong, I adore Mahtab and Irina, too. But Janan and I have a bit of a kinship, both being stuck in intermediate forms like this. She didn’t choose to be a genie any more than I chose to be stuck as an ocelot without access to my ghul magic. I don’t think anyone else could really understand either of our problems.
Janan is a genie and you both reside in the Djinn realm, how do you interact with humanity?
Honestly, there is limited interaction. The two realms are separated by magic, so you can only travel from one to the other using portals or some other special means. There are some djinn over in the human realm, but they blend in pretty well (most of the time). Humans still think we’re fictional creatures, so it would cause quite a stir should a djinn be seen for what it really is. And I personally have never been to the human realm, at least until the Candrani revolt (but that hardly counts). I was far too busy with my life here. But, Ghadir does have some family over there, since they are part human and fit in with the djinn Realm about as much as genies do. So maybe I’ll spend some time there.
You bring up a good point about the ideas humans have. I’ve always wondered if Djinn/Genies are immortal? If not, how long do you live?
Nope, like all other creatures, neither djinn nor genies are immortal. Djinn do live long lives, though, typically at least three to four millennia. Genies, though, are a little foggier. They were once human, so there are some theories that state it should shorten their lifespan from what a djinn has. But genies don’t tend to live their full lives, and there aren’t many of them to begin with. There’s so much prejudice that violence against genies is high in the Realm and even the creation of a genie is practically forbidden, so it’s hard to say how long one would live. I think the most recent theory is two millennia?
Thank you for being so helpful. One last question and I’ll let you get going. What is your greatest wish for your own life?
Ooo, that’s . . . that’s kind of hard to share. I’ve been stuck in this form for so long. I just want to be myself again. To be able to have pieces of my old life back. I don’t want to give up the new relationships I’ve formed, like what I have with Janan and now Laurelin, but I’d really love to reconnect with Nemis. My boyfriend. I kind of ran away when all this happened. I should probably call him. He deserves to know what happened.
Well, that was a fun time and I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to seeing how Safiyya, Janan, and Laurelin handle the Djinn world in This Cursed Flame. Be sure to follow Selina tomorrow when the next stop on her blog tour is with Meg Dendler at www.megdendler.blogspot.com and grab your copy of This Cursed Flame on April 27, 2019.