Dusty lives in California with her two children. She loves exploring, and hopes one day to learn to fly a plane, try on night-vision goggles just for the fun of it, and float in a room with zero gravity. Not necessarily in that order.
You can find out more about Dusty Lynn Holloway and The Chronicles of Shadow and Light at the links below:
https://www.facebook.com/Cerralys
http://www.amazon.com/Dusty-Lynn-Holloway/e/B005OXV66A/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1395434412&sr=1-2-ent
1) Dragon Dreams is a book in your series The Chronicles of Shadow and Light, what inspired your series and this book in particular?
I've always enjoyed writing, but never really seriously considered writing a book until several years ago. I thought about what I loved, what interested me, and I went from there. In my mind, I saw the prologue to Dragon Dreams very clearly. I felt Auri's emotions as she ran onto the plains of fire, and I felt Nachal's sense of helplessness. That scene, was so vibrant and real to me, that I built the rest of the books around it.
2) In your series there are humans, elves, dwarves, and shape-shifting dragons Was it difficult building a
world for your characters to inhabit?
Certain parts were more difficult to get down than others. For instance, in El`dell, the land of the elves, I could see the island very clearly in my mind, but making it come alive on the page was much more difficult. As far as the characters, I would say that the characters have been the most clear to me. In a sense, I built the world around the characters, rather than the characters around the world.
3) Tell me a little about your central protagonist and his plight. How does it affect his world
that he's had these dreams?
Nachal has had an unusual upbringing. To be brought up to inherit a crown is daunting enough, but to be brought up to inherit the dragon crown is something else entirely. His whole life has been built around these dragons, and around Cerralys, the Dragon-King in particular. Not only has he been raised to inherit the crown, but he's also been taught and honed by the most elite dragons in existence to be a commander in what the dragon's have believed for two decades to be the coming final battle between dragon-kind. I think to understand why the dreams effect him so deeply, you first have to know those things about him. To put it bluntly, his world is shattered by these dreams. I don't want to spoil things too much, but Obsidian, the leader of the Rebel's, figures prominently in the dreams he continues to have about Auri. Her life is in danger. Very real danger. And if that wasn't enough, through the course of time, as he continues to have these dreams, he comes to care deeply for her. He comes to love her. The dreams haunt him. Prodded to action by his foster father Cerralys, he sets out to find her and protect her from what he knows is coming.
4) What sets your world apart from other fantasy series?
I can probably say without hesitation that what sets my series apart is the emotion of the characters. Reading this book, you literally come to feel what the characters are feeling. They spring to life on the pages. As Nachal is trying to find Auri, you feel his sense of time closing in around him, suffocating him. As Auri sees El`dell for the first time, you feel her sense of wonder and frustration that she could have had such beauty in her life all along, but didn't. The emotions, whether they are turbulent and wild, or confused and wary, are felt. For some this might not be their cup of tea, but for me, it makes the characters and story more real. I want Nachal to find Auri. I want them to find a way to survive. I feel their pain and their triumphs both, and every time, even as the person who wrote it, it sucks me back in until I feel like I'm a part of the story again.
5) I see there are two books in the series thus far, do you know how many there will be when you've completed it?
I'd always planned it as a three part series. Dragon Dreams is the first, followed by Dragon Ties, and currently I'm working on the last and final book, Dragon Light.
6) Would you say it's harder to write and promote fantasy fiction in the indie market? How has your experience been so far?
I actually think that fantasy is an exploding genre right now, and has been for some time. I think, as an author and a reader, there is something so . . . intoxicating about reading or writing something that has no limits. You're not forced into a box. You're free to let your imagination carry you to the next story, and the next. As a matter of fact, my other project right now is a time-travel romance set in the 1800's. Again, fantasy. :) I just can't seem to get enough of it. I tried writing other things, but again and again I'm pulled back to the fantasy genre. For me, it's a world without limits. Anything can happen, and that's a heady feeling.
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