📚 A Bookish Chat with 'The Wars Between' Lee Mavin #AuthorInterview

Today we welcome Lee Mavin to The Writer's Life e-Magazine! Lee is the author of the new YA fantasy novel, The Wars Between, and this interview is part of his Blog Tour by Pump Up Your Book. Enjoy!

Lee J Mavin is the author of 11 books. He is also a teacher and father. He has a Masters in Creative Writing and am solely focused on writing fiction (fantasy and horror) and poetry. He is now in collaboration the illustrator Karolina Piotrowski, a Polish artist who has brought many stories to life. He has worked and studied in China and Japan and studied with Dr Xiaohuan Zhao (a master of Chinese poetry) to complete his book Li Bai’s Shadow, at the University of Sydney. He has two children who are both avid readers, so he is always in the loop with trends in children’s fiction. He is married and lives in Sydney, where he teaches English.

His latest book is the YA fantasy, The Wars Between.

Visit his website at leejmavin.com.

Connect with him on social media at:

╰┈➤ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lee.mavin.925/

╰┈➤ Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/mavin798

╰┈➤ Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5103759.Lee_J_Mavin

╰┈➤ TikTok ➜ https://www.tiktok.com/@leemavin4

Can you tell us a little about yourself?

I am Lee J Mavin, a middle aged Australian author and teacher from Sydney. I have two children (one daughter and one son) and have been married for 17 years. I have published 12 books in the form of poetry collections, children’s picture books and short story collections and novels. I have lived in China and Japan and can speak both languages.

Can you tell us about your latest book, The Wars Between?

The Wars Between follows two main characters, Outis Everrett and Gwenia Xiachung who are from two different countries who have been at war with each other for thousands of years. Outis feels like a bit of a failure to begin with having failed his warrior exams and not being a willing soldier for his country. He is however a master poet, who has the ability to craft words that change people’s perceptions of the world. Gwenia is a strong willed vegan and the youngest of 13 children and ready to leave the nest. The two of them wind up in an adventure across the seas.

Is The Wars Between your only book?

No I have published 12 other books.

Can you tell us a little about the main characters in The Wars Between?

(See above for this response) Outis’s poem is so timeless, the king awards him the greatest honour, to take it across the sea, to the newly elected president of Kastanair, Penelope Chinwa. He is guided by the Knights of Sunrise, who protect him along the way.

Do you see a little bit of yourself in your main character?

I am a little bit like Outis and would like to be more like him.

Where is this book set and why did you choose that location?

The book is set in a fantasy world consisting of three countries Asalandia a proud monarchy, Kastanair a strong democracy and Syanthia, a neutral state that sells meat and weapons to both countries (and benefits greatly)

What’s the best advice you can give to aspiring authors?

Dont read negative reviews, edit as much as you can. Don’t change your plot ideas based on someone else’s opinions.

Thank you so much for this interview, Lee. What’s next for you?

I am currently writing the sequel to The Wars Between which is titled The Angelic Fallen and is set hundreds of years after the events of The Wars Between.

For centuries there had been an ongoing war between Asalandia, the proud monarchy of the east and Kastanair the progressive democracy of the west. However, the years of war would end with the most unlikely turn of events.

Outis Everrett, the disappointment of his family, a measly poet, is suddenly thrusted into an epic adventure across the sea, with the King’s blessing. His poem, the poem that somehow won the first annual Asalandian poetry competition, was meant to be taken across the seas, to the enemy island of Kastanair, there, it would be read by the President of Kastanair, the newly elected and very progressive, Penelope Chinwa and she was supposed stop the war after reading those so special words.

So Outis set sail aboard the Golden ship, guided and protected by the Knights of Sunrise and their adventures began. The Knights are led by Bartholemew Aries, the most famous soldier in Asalandia, though when their ship drifts off course to the mysterious island of Aquos Atalantious, the Princess of the island soon lures him to stay. So, the Knights of Sunrise become distracted by the beauties of this foreign island. After failing to find the prince, who had been taken by a monstrous octopus, the Golden ship sails onto Kastanair, without its leader, who had fallen in love with the Princess. They then sail to Syanthia, where the worlds’ meat was produced. There they meet, the young Kastanairian, Gwenia Xiachung, an enthusiastic vegan on a mission to stop everyone eating meat. Outis is thrown into a pig saving mission with Gwenia and is intrigued by the young girl. After saving the pigs and convincing the head of meat production to change his ways with a beautiful poem about animal empathy, Gwenia falls in love with Outis. She joins him and the Knights of Sunrise on the voyage to back to her country, Kastanair. Once they finally reach the shores of Kastanair, they are attacked on the shores by a small army, led by Caslian Jesper, the tough captain who worked his soldiers to exhaustion. The Knights, Outis and Gwenia are rescued by Nastab and his band of terrorists who take them on horseback through Kastanair to Mount Xian. Nastab and his men come from a rebel group who had been dwelling on the plateau of Mount Xian, plotting to overthrow the government of Kastanair. However, their leader, who had driven their group to crimes and violence, was hoarding their food and treasure.

Caslian Jesper follows the terrorists to Mount Xian, in pursuit of two of his enemies at once, the terrorists and the Asalandians. Outis and Gwenia are suddenly taken off their horses by huge hawks, who fly them up Mount Xian, to a cave opening. There Gwenia and Outis meet The Tall Man, a strange man with huge black eyes who has no name. He takes them into the cave, and they fall more tall people. There they learn that the tall people had been in the caves for hundreds of years and they care not for treasures of war. The tall man collects water from an underground stream and fruits from the cave roofs and they take Outis and Gwenia up to the top of the mountain. There they find Caslian’s army had managed to climb to the top of the mountain in attempt to attack but they were too drained to fight so the tall man shared his fruit with them. Both sides rested as Outis read a poem to the leader of the terrorists.

Outis and Gwenia are then taken to the capital, by an eclectic group including Nastab, The Tall Man and the Knights of Sunrise, they journey through the planes of Kastanair where they are attacked by wolves. The Knights and Nastab fight the wolves off valiantly and they continue. When they finally reach the capital Outis reads his poem to the President, but it is not the words of his poem alone that convince her to stop the war, it is the group he brings with him, a group of once enemies, who had come together with the same goal.

╰┈➤Book Details