The Kingdom Lights By Steven Seng
In a world where cities float, airships sail the skies and mythical creatures are summoned in a pinch, Celes Vale is distinctly average. Living in the shadow of his talented cousin and his powerful aunt and uncle, Celes is resigned to a future of soot, factories and well, more soot.
But on the night of his twelfth birthday everything changes. A blinding light, a whispered voice and in an instant Celes becomes the first ordinary child in history to develop magic, sending him on a fast-track ticket to the greatest of the floating cities, Gardarel. Boasting grand, elegant buildings wrought from shimmering white stone, the entire city appears as though it has been built from light, and so it has come to be called the Kingdom Lights.
Though some welcome Celes, others want the dirt-ridden up-start off their city preferably head first. Nowhere is this clearer than in the attitude and actions of the beautiful and haughty Lady Ban and her sneering nephew, Marcus Blackwood. But Blackwood, with his gang of goons and unimaginative one-liners, is soon the least of Celes s problems.
With a little magic and a lot of detective work, Celes and his group of Scurriers and Wisps unravel the dark truth behind Lady Ban s prim, perfect smile an alliance to the villainous Wardens and the masked man who leads them. However, in his attempt to expose Lady Ban, Celes unwittingly stumbles onto an even darker conspiracy a plan that could lead to the complete destruction of Gardarel itself.
Purchase Link: Amazon
Excerpt:
Light. Beautiful, pulsing, bathing him in its emerald glow…his eyes were peering open now, his mind fumbling for thoughts and memories, a taste like metal upon his tongue.
“Are you hurt?” said a voice, faint, distant. “I didn’t want to hurt you, but I didn’t have a choice.”
“Choice?” the boy croaked. He tried to reach up, but his hands had been bound, thick ropes cutting into soft flesh. I’m back in the Gravity Rooms, he realized, though the chamber itself had been transformed entirely. The emerald light now dripped with the crimson of hundreds of Flare Crystals, as though an angry swarm had surged forth against a far larger beast.
“I know why you’re here, but I…you can’t stop this.” As his eyes began to focus, Celes saw the Warden standing before him, draped in a white cloak, his iron mask half-hidden beneath his hood. It was strange, so strange to find the spectre amongst shadows for once illuminated.
“You can’t,” said Celes his lips cracked, his thoughts dizzy. What’s…my head, I can’t think…
“You can’t destroy Gardarel. Please. I know you’re working for Lady Ban. You don’t…you don’t have to do this!”
The Warden took a knee before him. “I do,” came the whispered reply, soft and sad. “They made their choice; and I, mine.”
Interview With Stephen Seng
What do you think you’re really good at?
Keeping a secret. Ask anyone and they’ll tell you I’m terrible, that’s how good I am!
What do you think you’re really bad at?
Sports. Literally no hand eye co-ordination and also pretty out of shape. Though I have the being crap at sports to thank for spending a lot time indoors as a kid and reading a lot of books.
Is your life anything like it was two years ago?
No not really, two years ago I was up to my eyeballs in student debt, medical textbooks and a misty fantasy of being a published author one day.
Have you ever had an imaginary friend?
I used to really love Smallville, and there was a character on it called Davis Bloome who was also Doomsday. I used to pretend that he was my friend and I would sometimes speak to him. Also when I was feeling quite lonely in Cuba, I imagined talking to best friend Meera, ah well.
Do you have any phobias?
I am deathly afraid of bears. No idea why. I’ve never even seen a real bear. This does not include Koala bears.
Ever broken any bones?
No, but I once accidentally broke a guy’s leg playing rugby. It was a pretty horrible crunch though at first I thought it was his leg scraping on the grass. Yep, guy was in a cast for 8 weeks.
A resident of the sleepy coastal town of Bexhill, East Sussex, England. Steven graduated in the summer of 2013 from the University of Southampton with a Bachelor of Medicine Degree and a Master’s Degree in Global Health from Sussex University – where he spent the majority of his time in Shawcross writing this novel!
In between writing and dreaming Steven is a medical doctor and has worked at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire and the Princess Royal where he fights the system with quirky lanyards.
Steven’s debut novel steampunk fantasy The Kingdom Lights is out on October 17th published by Neverland Publishing.
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Thanks for hosting!
Thanks for having me!
Nice interview
What a fun interview!