M. H. Ayinde was born in London’s East End. She is a runner, a lapsed martial artist, and a screen time enthusiast. Her debut novel A SONG OF LEGENDS LOST, the first in an epic fantasy trilogy, will be published by Orbit (UK) and Saga Press (North America) in Spring 2025. Her short fiction has appeared in FIYAH Literary Magazine, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Fantasy Magazine, and elsewhere, and she was the 2021 winner of the Future Worlds Prize. She lives in London with three generations of her family and their Studio Ghibli obsession.

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Welcome to the Hive, Modupe. Congratulations on your debut, A Song of Legends Lost. Can you tell us about it? What can readers expect? 

Thank you so much! A SONG OF LEGENDS LOST is a big, complex, multi-POV epic fantasy that aims to channel the energy of those classic series from the 80s and 90s, but with a slight JRPG vibe. It’s set against the backdrop of an ongoing war in a land where the nobility can summon their ancestors in battle. At the beginning of the book, a commoner finds herself Bonded to… something, and a noble warrior who can’t yet summon his ancestor gets drawn into a quest to hunt a legendary monster. There is also a war draft simmering away in the background, as the king decides to step the conflict up a gear. I started writing in the universe this book is set in over twenty years ago, so it has a long and fully mapped-out history. Readers can expect a huge cast, epic battles, world-changing stakes, monsters, underdogs, quite a few twists, and worldbuilding centred around ancestor magic and ancient relics.

Your worldbuilding is so rich and detailed! What can you tell us of the ancient relics and the fearsome greybloods?

The relics in this book are also called “techwork”, and are artefacts left over from a civilisation that was wiped out before humanity arrived on the continent. Because of what happened to this civilisation, people believe techwork is cursed, and that only monks can safely wield it (a monk’s job is to “Cleanse” techwork.) As you can imagine, there’s a lot more to it than that, and it’s not a spoiler to say that techwork is essentially technology that is a touch more advanced than our own real-world equivalents. The greybloods are the main antagonists of this book. They’re monsters who live to the far west and are part organic and part machine. They wiped out the civilisation that created the relics, and are now trying to wipe out humanity. Again, there’s a lot more to it than that and I can’t really say much else without spoilers. I think of greybloods as zombie-orc-cyborg hybrids, and they come in all sorts of forms… from creatures that look almost human to hulking monstrosities that are a mixture of crystal, flesh, and tech. 

And what about the various clans? How did you go about creating their traits such as their sacred animal and their ancestral colours? Did you create a mood board here to help visualise each one? 

Without giving too much away, the clans take inspiration from a number of real-world cultures, and the implication in the book is that these cultures have been forcibly merged and conflated (much as happened during colonialism in our world.) I picked animals associated with some of the lands I was taking inspiration from, and similarly colours that I understood to be significant to certain cultures in those regions. So for example, Clan Adatali is takes inspiration from a number of western and southern African cultures, but I picked green and white as their colours as they’re the colours of the Nigerian flag (Nigeria itself contains a large number of different cultures and ethnic groups, but like a lot of former colonies, its borders don’t reflect that.) This book is not really going to teach anyone about real-world cultures, though! The influence is very light and that is part of my exploration of (slight spoiler) what colonialism does to a colonised people. The characters in this land are very much trying to rediscover their own history. In addition to all this, my aim was to reflect the very multicultural upbringing and surroundings that I live in and grew up with, and to have many different types of people working together for a common cause. I don’t really use mood boards… mainly because I’ve been writing for so long that when I did a lot of the worldbuilding, they weren’t really a bookish thing!

If you could join any one of the clans, which would you choose and what role would you choose? (For example a monk or invoker)

Oof, that’s a tough question. Much as I’ve love to experience being an invoker and being able to summon in battle, I’m a pacifist (even though I write about battle and war!) so I’d have to give that role a pass. I’d probably choose to be a monk, because I enjoy research and I’m very familiar with working within flawed institutions, haha! And I’d pick Clan Adatali, because they’re the least likely to be following the king’s rules!    

You also feature characters with the ability to invoke their ancestors to give them aid in battle. Which I have to say gives us some pretty impressive scenes throughout! Was this inspired by any particular mythology?

Thank you! I guess the answer to that is yes and no. Ancestor veneration and the sense that our ancestors are still with us influencing our lives is something a lot of pre-colonial cultures the world over have in common, and something I felt united the various cultures I took inspiration from. But the actual invocation of ancestors in battle… well, that was originally inspired by my love of the summons ability in the Final Fantasy video games! I also love the scenes in THE RETURN OF THE KING when Aragon calls upon the army of the dead. 

Speaking of characters, let’s discuss them in more detail. You have quite a large and diverse cast of characters, some of my favourites were Jinao, Runt and Father Boleo. Who were your favourites to write? 

My favourite to write is definitely the slightly corrupt and somewhat murdery monk, Father Boleo. His snark and his cynicism come easily to me, and I love a morally grey character. I also enjoy characters whose life pulls them in many different directions, as his does. For similar reasons, the other character I really enjoy writing is Runt! That girl just needs a hug and someone to care for her, but her life has been hard and has given her sharp edges. I know a lot of people similar to her in real life, so I have a soft spot for her, despite her highly questionable choices! 

How did you map out the story arcs for each one? Did many of them evolve as you began writing? 

They evolved a huge amount. I started and then abandoned several different versions of what eventually became A SONG OF LEGENDS LOST, and in that time characters like Runt and Jinao underwent a huge number of changes – including gender, age, family dynamics, and background, although the core of their story arcs was always there. I’m a discovery writer, so I tend to have a starting point and a few key plot points I know will happen, but then I let the characters show me how they’re going to get there (or lead me off in a different direction, if that’s what needs to happen.) Their personalities reveal themselves to me as a I write, too. I then tend to do a bit of what I now know is called reverse outlining and look back at the mess I’ve made and try to wrestle it into something coherent! 

We always appreciate a beautiful book cover! How involved in the process were you? Was there a particular aesthetic you hoped the artist would portray?

It is stunning, isn’t it?! I was pretty involved in the process, but I was also very open to ideas. I created a mood board with a lot of images I felt related to the book and lots of book covers I liked. I then made a long list of suggestions for what the cover could look like. My editor Emily and I then settled on having an invoker and ancestor on the front, and I wanted it to be Morayo who, even though he is a secondary character, plays a big role in the series as a whole and comes from the clan that includes Yoruba influences, one of my own cultures and the one I wanted to feature. Also, I really wanted a character with a sword on the front as that’s the vibe I was always drawn to growing up! 

One of our favourite questions here on the Fantasy Hive: which fantastical creature would you ride into battle and why?

Dragon. That probably needs no explanation but they can fly and breathe fire so I’d definitely have an advantage riding one. I would also just love to get to know a dragon, so I’d like my dragon riding to involve some kind of psychic bond, too. My backup choice would be a unicorn (maybe a winged unicorn) because I’m a massive unicorn nerd (don’t ask me how many pictures of unicorns I have scattered around my house!)

Tell us about your experience entering A Song of Legends Lost into the Future World Awards back in 2021? Was it nerve wracking? What was your reaction when you won?

I entered this at the last minute as I was actually going to try writing something else to enter the prize, but didn’t get it together in time. I honestly thought this book didn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell because I felt like epic fantasy, especially big epic fantasy with a lot of worldbuilding, doesn’t have such broad appeal as some other sub-genres of SFF. When they called out my name at the award ceremony I felt like I’d slipped into a parallel universe. I hadn’t really prepared a proper speech – I only wrote down a few notes the night before because my mum made me, and I didn’t end up using them when I was called to the front as I think I left my husband holding my phone! It was the most surreal and wonderful experience, and I still can’t believe I got picked. 

So Modupe, what can you tease us with about your sequel? What more can readers expect? 

Ooh! Lots more battles. Lots more about the greybloods and the feverlands. There’s a massive siege. There are some pretty tragic events – I’d say the sequel is a touch darker. There are interludes as well as epilogues! (Three epilogues again, you will be very delighted to learn, with three characters who will be familiar but whose viewpoints we haven’t yet experienced.)

Are you planning anything fun to celebrate your release? Do you have any upcoming virtual or in person events our readers may be interested in?

Yes! I have an event at Waterstones Covent Garden with Tasha Suri and Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson on Tuesday 15th April – tickets are available on the Waterstones website. I’m also doing an AMA on Reddit on 17th April. I’ll be at Cymera in Edinburgh in June, and I’m also planning to be at the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton this October. I have an appearances page on my website, as well as a newsletter where I’ll always list my upcoming events, so anyone who’s interested can check those. Also, on release day itself I will be consuming cake! And possibly pizza!

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

I hope that they had a good time! I hope that I made them keep thinking about the story long after they finish reading it. And also, I hope that they thought I could string together a good sentence, haha! 

Thank you so much for joining us today!

Thank you for inviting me! 

A Song of Legends Lost is due for publication from Orbit Books on 8th April – you can pre-order your copy HERE