James Logan was born in the southeast of England where he grew up on a diet of Commodore 64 computer games, Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, and classic eighties cartoons, which left him with a love of all things fantastical. He lives in London and works in publishing. The Silverblood Promise is his first novel.

Welcome to the Hive, James. A huge congratulations on your debut The Silverblood Promise, the first instalment of The Last Legacy series. Can you tell our readers more about it? What can they expect? 

Thank you, and thanks for having me! The Silverblood Promise is my love letter to both fantasy literature and adventure stories. I’ve always enjoyed the epic/heroic fantasy tradition of a hero on a quest, but it’s the gritty, shady settings most often found in low fantasy and sword and sorcery that have always caught my imagination, and so I wanted to write a fantasy series that combined the two. Then it was just a case of throwing all my favourite tropes into the mix: sassy sidekicks, mysterious artefacts, magic and monsters and conspiracies and so on. I wrote the sort of novel that I love to read. 

As for the story itself, it follows lapsed aristocrat Lukan Gardova, who – thanks to a serious of bad choices, not least a duel that went wrong – has made a mess of his life. When Lukan learns that his estranged father has been murdered, leaving a cryptic message written in his own blood, Lukan resolves to uncover the mystery behind his father’s death. His quest leads him to Saphrona, fabled city of merchant princes, where secrets and danger lurk in every shadow. The deeper Lukan delves into the mystery, the more he finds himself embroiled in a deadly conspiracy that threatens the entire city. I wrote the novel to stand on its own as a self-contained story, but at the same time to act as a launchpad for the wider series. 

Saphrona is so vibrantly brought to life with the city being full of merchant princes, criminal organisations and much political intrigue, thus giving it a gritty feel without it being overly dark. What were your inspirations for this city? Did you create a mood board to help visualise and set the atmosphere of Saphrona?

I’m glad you think so! One of my goals with this book was to try to create a setting that feels vibrant and alive – a character in its own right – the way, say, Camorr does in The Lies of Locke Lamora. Before I began writing the book I fell into the classic writer cliché of hanging around in coffee shops, scribbling in my notebook and filling its pages with worldbuilding ideas. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to tell a story where each book was set in a different city, to keep things fresh, and so I spent several months thinking about these cities and what made them different. Saphrona was one of the first I developed, and I knew very early on that was where Silverblood would take place. My starting point was Renaissance Spain; I studied the Age of Exploration and the Conquistadors in sixth form college, and years later spent a couple of weeks travelling around Spain, visiting cities like Seville where you can still see the Arabic influence. Something about that time period – the history, the architecture – just stayed with me. Or maybe it had always been there, ever since watching The Mysterious Cities of Gold cartoon series as a kid. Regardless, that was the starting point for Saphrona. I also envisaged Saphrona as a gateway city between the Old Empire and the Southern Queendoms, a melting pot of cultures and trade. So Constantinople was another historic influence, and I reached for a Byzantine vibe to give the setting another layer. As for moodboards, I remember having a Pinterest board at one point, which was a mix of my own photographs, other photos and appropriate artwork. 

And what of the Phaerons and their relics? What more can you tell us about them? Were they influenced by Egyptian mythology?

I can’t tell you much at this point, because I’m still figuring it all out! I’ve written down their history in some detail, but there’s a lot more – their culture, their appearance, etc – that I’m still figuring out. This reflects my approach to writing: some things I’ll figure out in detail ahead of time, while other things I’m content to work out as I go. I don’t think Egyptian mythology has been a particular influence, but I’m drawing on ideas that have been sitting in the back of my mind for decades, so who knows where they originally came from. All I can really say at this point is that we’ll learn a lot more about the Phaeron in book two. 

If you were transported to Saphrona how do you think you would fare and which character would you choose to stay with?

Haha, oh wow, that would be terrible, I’d probably last five minutes! I’m not sure I’d even get off the boat – I’d throw myself on Grabulli’s mercy. I’d rather stay at sea and listen to his tall tales of adventure. Then again, maybe not. The seas of this world are not exactly safe places… If I had to brave the dangers of Saphrona, then I’d want Flea at my side. Having someone who knows their way around – and who is a good shot with a crossbow – would definitely make me feel a bit safer! 

At the heart of your story is such a fun character duo. Can you tell us a bit more about Lukan and Flea? Was their bantery friendship always something you had in mind or did this emerge as you delved further into writing their character arcs? 

Lukan and Flea are characters who have lived in my head for decades, and both have appeared in various guises in several other abandoned manuscripts. Lukan has always been Lukan, though he’s changed age and occupation several times, and Flea was originally a boy called Rat. But at some point I struck on the idea of gender-flipping Rat, so Flea was born, and I feel it brought an extra layer to the pair’s dynamic. Flea is the little sister that Lukan never had, while Lukan is the older brother figure that Flea lost. But the banter has always been there with them, it’s at the heart of their relationship and the easiest thing in the world to write. Sometimes they drive each other mad. Sometimes they drive me mad. But I’ve had a lot of fun with them. 

You have some pretty shady side characters including a master forger, a master thief and a Twice Crowned King. Which of these was your favourite to write and why? 

I worked hard to make each secondary character memorable in their own way, and so I found a lot of them fun to write because they’re all so different. I think the ones I enjoyed writing the most were those who only appear briefly, like pirate-turned-trader-but-really-still-a-pirate Grabulli, who is a scoundrel with a heart of (fool’s) gold, and General Razin, who is another comical character – on the surface at least – that steals the one scene he’s in. We’ll see much more of Razin in book two. Appearances can be deceiving… 

An aspect which really draws you into The Silverblood Promise is that it’s an epic fantasy with a murder mystery plot. What inspired you to blend these two genres together? Were there any difficulties you encountered through the writing process?

Honestly, I’ve no idea. It wasn’t a deliberate move on my part. I’ve always loved murder mysteries – the 90s BBC series Jonathan Creek, which blended occultist overtones with cold logic, and was more concerned with the how rather than the who or why, lives rent free in my head to this day. Maybe I just thought it was a cool hook to have the murder victim write a message in their own blood that kickstarts the whole adventure. But really the mystery of who killed Lukan’s father is just one mystery among many in this novel. 

What I can remember is that the plotting was hard. While I planned the world out in detail, I largely winged the plot. I started writing Silverblood with a vague idea of how the first third of the novel would pan out. I figured I’d work the rest out as I went, which of course didn’t happen. I got as far as I could, then had to take a few weeks off to figure out the rest of the plot. And then I had to do it again later because it wasn’t quite working. It was painstaking work, trying to figure out how all these threads came together. Originally, Ashra had her own storyline that intersected with Lukan’s, and it was a nightmare trying to tie the two together in a way that made chronological sense. And then I ended up cutting Ashra’s plotline from the book anyway, because the whole book was too long. That caused its own problems, because she’s still a major player in the final third, so I had to find a way of introducing her character in a way that wouldn’t feel clunky and forced. Along with the general plotting of the novel, that was the hardest part of the writing. That thief has caused me no end of grief. Not that I’d tell her that.  

You also give many nods to other fantasy authors throughout, most notably Joe Abercrombie. Were they a significant source of inspiration? 

Yeah, there’s a chapter called The Blade Itself which is a clear nod to Joe. Scott Lynch was also a major influence (Scott actually provided a quote which graces the UK cover of Silverblood, something that still blows my mind as I’m a huge fan). Their respective debuts – which both came out in 2006, a vintage year – changed the way I looked at epic/heroic fantasy and helped me realise that fantasy didn’t have to be all about chivalrous heroes on quests. A Game of Thrones had already opened my eyes to this fact, but even so A Song of Ice and Fire still feels quite classic in its execution and setting. Whereas when The Blade Itself and The Lies of Locke Lamora appeared on the scene, I was immediately taken by the prominent humour in both novels, the energy in the writing, and the strong narrative voices. They’re very different books, but they both served to help me realise that fantasy held possibilities I’d never considered. For that reason alone, I consider them major influences on my own work. 

Without too many spoilers which scene in The Silverblood Promise was most enjoyable to write?

I spent so many years working on this book – three years on the first draft, then another three refining it – that the writing, and re-writing, mostly blur into one. I was still learning my craft and process when writing this novel, so it was a stop-start process that was frustrating as often as it was enjoyable. That said, the pyramid scenes were fun to write, for obvious reasons. The Bone Pit scene too. And I remember having fun with the various catacomb scenes. 

James, being an experienced editor to several Orbit authors, such as John Gwynne, I have to ask, how different was editing your own book compared to editing other authors’ books? 

It was certainly an interesting experience receiving edits rather than giving them! 

When you’re an editor, you’re coming to the manuscript with fresh eyes, and so you can easily spot things that don’t work and need fixing. When you’re an author, you’re so close to your own work that you lose most of your objectivity. I must have read Silverblood about fifteen times, so I’m totally manuscript blind by this point. 

Fortunately, I worked with two brilliant editors – Anne Perry and Hillary Sames – who provided excellent notes that helped me shape and refine the novel. I also had great copy editors who kindly pointed out all manner of minor errors, such as the plot’s timeline not making any sense whatsoever. 

The Silverblood Promise’s cover has such beautiful artwork by Jeff Brown. How involved in the process were you? Was there a particular aesthetic you hoped they’d portray?

I was very involved because I led the entire process. Which, as you probably know, is not at all the way it normally works in traditional publishing. The reason for this is that I was originally going to self-publish The Silverblood Promise. We’d been out on submission for eighteen months and – despite a lot of very positive rejections (“this is really good, just not really what we’re looking for right now”) – we’d run out of options. I was faced with a choice: give up and write something else, or self-publish. I believed in the book’s quality, and felt there was a big audience for it, so I chose the latter and began the process of getting the book ready for publication. Part of that was getting a cover commissioned. I knew I wanted a landscape cover, something you don’t tend to see much now, but which for me always screams ‘classic fantasy adventure’. So I did a lot of googling, trying to find an artist I felt could pull off the sort of thing I wanted, and eventually landed on Jeff Brown. I couldn’t have made a better choice. Jeff is brilliant to work with and has an uncanny ability to see the exact image I have in my head. He smashed the cover illustration and perfectly captured that sense of fantasy adventure that I wanted.

I never did self-publish, as soon after we finished the cover, Silverblood was bought by Arcadia. Fortunately the team loved the cover and so we kept it, which I was really happy about. The response to the cover was incredible, people seem to have really connected with it, which is great to see. 

Jeff has also done the illustrations for the Broken Binding special edition, which are amazing. And he’ll be doing the cover for the second book, which I’m really excited for. Look out for that later in the summer…

Can you tease us with a little something about the sequel? What more can we expect?

The second novel in the Last Legacy sequence takes place in Korslakov, the northernmost city in the Old Empire, and a hotbed of alchemy and artificers. Like the first book, this novel will have a self-contained story, but will also advance the overarching plot forwards quite significantly. Expect more action, adventure, banter and some big reveals…

Are you planning anything fun to celebrate The Silverblood Promise’s release? Do you have any upcoming virtual or in person events our readers may be interested in?

I’ll be having a small celebration with friends and family to mark the launch of the book, but in terms of things that readers can attend, I’ll be at Goldsboro’s Fantasy in the Court event in London (which happens to be on Silverblood’s publication day on 25th April), Cymera festival in Edinburgh from 1st – 2nd June doing a panel and generally hanging out, and will also be Worldcon in Glasgow in August. I’ve also done several podcasts that you can find links to on my website. 

Finally, what is the one thing you hope readers take away from your writing?

I just hope they had a good time. Personally, I read to be entertained first and foremost, and so I deliberately wrote The Silverblood Promise to – hopefully – be a gripping page-turner that rattles along at a furious pace. I’ll leave readers to decide if I’ve succeeded!

Thank you so much for joining us today!

Thank you for having me! 

Arcadia publishes James Logan’s debut The Silverblood Promise on 25th April 2024 in Hardback, EBook and Audiobook.
You can order your copy HERE