Welcome Adventures,
to Character chat. In this new article I’ll be talking with
characters from newly released and soon to be released books. Today’s
guest is Steene from The Student and the Slave.
Welcome, so tell
my adventurers about your world.
Hi. Well, I live in the
Krillonian Empire, which rules
much of the world. The emperor governs from the capital city,
Krillonia, on the continent of Imperia, with eight separate provinces
on nearby continents. I lived in the city of Jarreon in Imperia for
the first two books, but after I got sold into slavery, I was taken
here to Neliria.
From what I hear, my world is
almost exactly like yours in most ways. But
we have a martial art – which I coach, actually – that you don’t,
called cavvara shil. It’s
fought with a cavvarach, an unsharpened weapon similar to a sword but
with a steel hook protruding from partway down its top edge.
Competitors can strike at each other with their feet as well as
with the blades. You win in one of two ways: disarming your
opponent (hooking or knocking their cavvarach out of their hands) or
pinning their shoulders to the mat for five seconds.
Another
difference between my world and yours is that slavery is legal here,
though it’s not based on race the way I hear it used to be in your
world. As you can see, we slaves wear a metal collar locked around
our neck. On the tag here, it has our name, our owner’s name, and a
copy of our owner’s signature. If we go out anywhere without our
owner, we have to carry a signed pass that says we’re allowed to.
If a Watch officer catches us out in public without a pass, he’ll
assume we’re trying to escape, and then we get in big trouble.
What are some of
the places you’d recommend my adventurers see in your world?
If you like martial
arts, you’ll definitely want to spend some time in Jarreon. It has
a reputation for the best martial arts in the empire. You’ll love
the cavvara shil tournaments, especially the Grand Imperial, where
the best of the best athletes compete every year. Not to boast or
anything, but my student Bensin won first place for his age group in
the Grand Imperial a few years back. He would have won again last
year, in Book 2, but one of his rivals got some friends and lay in
wait and attacked him a few days before the semifinals. Because he
fought back – and because he was a slave and his rival was free –
he got convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to death in the
arena. Fortunately they saw he was a good enough fighter to be worth
keeping around for a while, and his sister Ellie and I were able to
rescue him before he was actually killed. Whatever you do, don’t go
watch the games at any of the arenas, okay? It’s a horrible system.
Don’t give them your business.
Anyway, if you like
winter sports, you’ll probably want to visit the province of
Tarnestra. You can go at any time of the year, because they’ve got
some mountains that are high enough to have snow on them all year
round. Tarnestra is also awesome, because it’s the one province
where slavery isn’t allowed anymore. That’s where Bensin and
Ellie are now. One of these days I’m going to find a way to get out
of here and go join them.
Tell my
adventurers about some of the technology in your world.
It’s pretty much
the same as what you’ve got. We have cars, TV, the Internet, and
all the rest of it. We use some of our technology in different ways
than you do, though. For example, this collar I’m wearing has GPS,
so my owner can check the app on his phone or computer and see where
I am at any time. It’s going to make it harder for me to escape,
unfortunately.
How would you
describe your fellow characters?
Well, the one I
spend the most time with is my new owner, Raymond. He’s thirteen
and is the worst spoiled brat I’ve ever met. His godfather bought
me back at the auction and gave me to him as a birthday present so he
could have his own personal cavvara shil coach. He’s a decent
athlete, but not as good as he thinks he is, and he blames me when he
doesn’t do great in tournaments. I would do anything to get away
from him and rejoin Bensin and Ellie. I feel terrible thinking about
how Bensin was my slave for the last five years. I mean, I treated
him well, pretty much like a son, and I even set his sister free and
adopted her. But now that I’m a slave myself and I realize what
it’s like, I wish I could go back in time and set Bensin free, too.
At least I was finally able to do that at the end of Book 2, but it
involved breaking the law. The others got away, but I was caught, and
that’s why I ended up sentenced to a life of enslavement. It’s
not going to last for the rest of my life, though. It’s not!
Somehow I’ll find a way to get away from here and go join my loved
ones in Tarnestra.
Thank you for
coming to talk with us, and can’t wait to read all about you.
Great talking to you
too. Oh, but do me a favor and don’t tell Raymond or his parents
anything I said, okay?
The
series is set in an alternate world that is very much like our
own, with just a few major differences. One is that slavery is
legal there. Slaves must wear metal collars that lock around
their neck, making their enslaved status obvious to everyone. Another
difference is the popularity of a martial art called cavvara shil.
It is fought with a cavvarach (rhymes with "have a rack"),
a weapon similar to a sword but with a steel hook protruding from
partway down its top edge. Competitors can strike at each other
with their feet as well as with the blades. You win in one of
two ways: disarming your opponent (hooking or knocking their
cavvarach out of their hands) or pinning their shoulders to the mat
for five seconds.
First, a Little Information about Books 1 and 2:
Bensin, a teenage slave and martial artist, is desperate to see his little sister freed. But only victory in the Krillonian Empire's most prestigious tournament will allow him to secretly arrange for Ellie's escape. Dangerous people are closing in on her, however, and Bensin is running out of time. With his one hope fading quickly away, how can Bensin save Ellie from a life of slavery and abuse?
Click here to read chapter 1 of The Collar and the Cavvarach.
Click here to read about life in the Krillonian Empire, where the series is set.
Bensin, a teenage slave and martial artist, is just one victory away from freedom. But after he is accused of a crime he didn’t commit, he is condemned to the violent life and early death of a gladiator. While his loved ones seek desperately for a way to rescue him, Bensin struggles to stay alive and forge an identity in an environment designed to strip it from him. When he infuriates the authorities with his choices, he knows he is running out of time. Can he stand against the cruelty of the arena system and seize his freedom before that system crushes him?
Click here to read about life in the arena where Bensin and other gladiators are forced to live and train.
And now, The Student and the Slave, with another awesome cover by the talented Jack Lin!
Is this what freedom is supposed to be like? Desperate to provide for himself and his sister Ellie, Bensin searches fruitlessly for work like all the other former slaves in Tarnestra. He needs the money for an even more important purpose, though: to rescue Coach Steene, who sacrificed himself for Bensin’s freedom. When members of two rival street gangs express interest in Bensin’s martial arts skills, he realizes he may have a chance to save his father figure after all … at a cost.
Meanwhile, Steene struggles with his new life of slavery in far-away Neliria. Raymond, his young owner, seizes any opportunity to make his life miserable. But while Steene longs to escape and rejoin Bensin and Ellie, he starts to realize that Raymond needs him too. His choices will affect not only his own future, but that of everyone he cares about. Can he make the right ones … and live with the consequences?
Click here to order The Student and the Slave from Amazon for$2.99 a
discounted price of just 99 cents through November 31st!
Take
a look at this exciting new young adult action and adventure
novel, The
Student and the Slave,
now available for purchase! This is the third book in the Krillonian
Chronicles,
after The
Collar and the Cavvarach and The
Gladiator and the Guard.
First, a Little Information about Books 1 and 2:
Bensin, a teenage slave and martial artist, is desperate to see his little sister freed. But only victory in the Krillonian Empire's most prestigious tournament will allow him to secretly arrange for Ellie's escape. Dangerous people are closing in on her, however, and Bensin is running out of time. With his one hope fading quickly away, how can Bensin save Ellie from a life of slavery and abuse?
Click here to read chapter 1 of The Collar and the Cavvarach.
Click here to read about life in the Krillonian Empire, where the series is set.
Bensin, a teenage slave and martial artist, is just one victory away from freedom. But after he is accused of a crime he didn’t commit, he is condemned to the violent life and early death of a gladiator. While his loved ones seek desperately for a way to rescue him, Bensin struggles to stay alive and forge an identity in an environment designed to strip it from him. When he infuriates the authorities with his choices, he knows he is running out of time. Can he stand against the cruelty of the arena system and seize his freedom before that system crushes him?
Click here to read about life in the arena where Bensin and other gladiators are forced to live and train.
And now, The Student and the Slave, with another awesome cover by the talented Jack Lin!
Is this what freedom is supposed to be like? Desperate to provide for himself and his sister Ellie, Bensin searches fruitlessly for work like all the other former slaves in Tarnestra. He needs the money for an even more important purpose, though: to rescue Coach Steene, who sacrificed himself for Bensin’s freedom. When members of two rival street gangs express interest in Bensin’s martial arts skills, he realizes he may have a chance to save his father figure after all … at a cost.
Meanwhile, Steene struggles with his new life of slavery in far-away Neliria. Raymond, his young owner, seizes any opportunity to make his life miserable. But while Steene longs to escape and rejoin Bensin and Ellie, he starts to realize that Raymond needs him too. His choices will affect not only his own future, but that of everyone he cares about. Can he make the right ones … and live with the consequences?
Click here to order The Student and the Slave from Amazon for
Annie
Douglass Lima spent most of her childhood in Kenya and later
graduated from Biola University in Southern California. She and her
husband Floyd currently live in Taiwan, where she teaches fifth grade
at Morrison Academy. She has been writing poetry, short stories, and
novels since her childhood, and to date has published fifteen books
(three YA action and adventure novels, four fantasies, a puppet
script, six anthologies of her students’ poetry, and a Bible verse
coloring and activity book). Besides writing, her hobbies include
reading (especially fantasy and science fiction), scrapbooking, and
international travel.
Connect
with the Author Online:
Email: AnnieDouglassLima@gmail.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/princeofalasia
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/ADLimaOnGoodreads
Amazon
Author Page: http://bit.ly/AnnieDouglassLimaOnAmazon
LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/ADLimaOnLinkedIn
Google+: http://bit.ly/ADLimaOnGooglePlus
Now,
enter to win an Amazon gift card or a free digital copy of the first
two books in the series!
Thanks so much for letting Steene visit your blog! I hope your readers enjoy meeting him!
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