Ben Anderson encourages readers to come for the dragons, and stay for the thrilling journey of love in his book, "Heir To Thorn and Flame."
What was your inspiration behind your most recent book?
"Heir To Thorn And Flame" was an idea that came to me whilst staying in the guest room at my grandmother’s house. I specifically remember resting on the bed, trying to read the book I had taken with me, but my mind kept wondering… This idea of a world split by a great haunted forest, keeping a magical society separated from a society for were powerless, but would do anything to have access to magic. My mind kept whirling, so much so I literally ran downstairs, asked my grandmother for some paper and a pen, and then I shut myself away and started letting the ideas flow onto the page. At the time, I had been watching "Game of Thrones." It was the series when they introduced Ramsey Bolton ¾ what a horrible, horrible character. As I was plotting the book, I thought to myself, "What would a world be like if it was run by a bunch of ‘Ramsey Bolton’ type characters who are mean because magic was taken away from them?" Then I asked myself the question of what would those horrible rulers do when they finally got access to the magic they craved so badly. So it was this idea of mean people, all wanting a great power just so they could keep being mean. A place run by bullies. Sounds familiar?
Having always loved unique magic systems, I knew I had the space in this world to create one I’d never done before. But before I could do that, I knew I had to drop one magically blessed main character into the book, placing them in the grasps of a twisted family of people. By doing that, I could truly understand what lengths the rulers ¾ The Gathrax family ¾ would go to just to keep a hold of him. From there I kept building and building, and suddenly it was dinner time at my grandmother’s house. I sat around the table, slurping a Greek lemon soup, whilst the story kept building over in my mind. By bedtime that same day, the concept of the Court of Broken Bonds was made. And that was how the series started. As the days turned into weeks, and the weeks into years, the story became this giant beast full of dragons, dryads, nymphs and phoenixes. Mages and monsters. And of course, with all my books, I knew the main character would be gay. That’s just a given.
By the time I finished the first draft, I had a story about Maximus Oaken, a young servant of an evil family who discovers his ties to magic the night he accidentally murders the heir to the ruling Gathrax family. In the wake of this discovering, Maximus longs to run away but is instead forced to do the bidding of the very people he thought would punish him for his crime. Add some dragons, storm magic and lots of romance… the story was what it is today.
What does Reading Rainbow mean to you?
To me, I think that Reading Rainbow means being able to decide and have access to books in which we, as queer people, can see ourselves represented. It is disappearing into worlds we can adventure in, love in and exist in and take a break from a world in which is not always the easiest for the LGBTQ community.
Reading Rainbow is giving yourself room to learn through different perspectives and become empathetic to people from backgrounds that may not reflect your own.
Why do you feel representation of a variety of people is so important when it comes to writing books?
Leading on from my previous answer, in my books I have made the decision to write queer-normative worlds. As much as I think coming out stories are so important, I also wanted to add little safe spaces in which my readers can disappear, feel represented and just exist in a world of dragons and magic, without their sexuality being questioned or turned into a plotline. My characters love who they love, love how they love… all of this without question. My thought process is that if dragons can exist in a world, why can’t queer people? No one questions why there are dragons, they just ARE. The same goes for my characters. If they love someone of the same sex, no one is saying "why?" when those same characters can literally conjure a bolt of lightning with their bare hands.
Tell us a little more about the book and why you decided to write it.
I have always enjoyed reading high fantasy books, so I knew that I wanted to enter the playbox that is building a fantasy world, the lore and religions, magic systems and characters that are complex. I knew that working on the Court of Broken Bonds series would not only be a challenge, but something I too could use as a way to disappear from the real world for a few hours a day. I also really wanted to write a character who doesn’t always make the right decisions. Someone who isn’t always right, and needs to learn from mistakes. Flaws are important to growth. I wanted readers to be screaming at the page ‘no, no, no’ whilst also understanding that sometimes decisions are made out of haste and panic, especially when you are going through something new and scary.
What can fans expect from your book?
TWISTS. Lots and lots of twists. In truth, my personal reading taste is thrillers, and I have always thought I could never write them. But it seems that those dramatic and crazy plot twists always find themselves lingering in my work.
When I am asked to pitch "Heir To Thorn And Flame," I always say this is my "gay wizards riding ice-breathing dragons to destroy their enemies" book. In truth, it is so much more than that. You can expect dazzling magic, deep lore and mythology, high heat romance, drama and plot twists for days! Come for the dragons, and stay for the thrilling journey of love, friendship, family and the question of "what lengths would you go to save the people you love."
What's up next for you in the bookish world?
I am so lucky to have lots of exciting projects in the works. I can’t say much yet, but if you like the idea of haunted houses, or witchcraft and demons, or even vampires stalking around the streets of Oxford, I have got it all for you. I would say stayed tuned to the socials, it is going to be a really fun few years!
