Blog Tour – Nameless Queen by Marie Sinadjan

Today I am joining the blog tour for the Nameless Queen by Marie Sinadjan, which is a prequel to The Prophecies of Ragnarök trilogy by Meri Benson and Marie Sinadjan, and a retelling of the myths involving Hel, the Norse goddess of death and the queen of the underworld.

Blurb:

All things end, and all must die.
But death is not always the end.

When Geiravor Lokisdottir was stripped of her name and cast out of Asgard, torn from her family and the life she had known, she thought she’d lost it all. But in the shadows of Niflheim she discovers the path to her destiny, and what it truly means to be queen.
Nameless Queen by Marie Sinadjan

Author Bio:

Marie Sinadjan is a Filipino fantasy author, singer-songwriter, and musical theatre actress. She is the co-author of The Prophecies of Ragnarök series, and her short stories have appeared in anthologies, magazines, and literary journals. She mainly writes fantasy of the mythology, fairytales, and folklore variety.

When not crunching numbers for her full-time job or spending time with her family, she’s traveling, drinking coffee, reading and reviewing books, dreaming up more worlds, writing more songs, or serenading vegetables. She currently lives in the United Kingdom with her husband.

My stop on the blog tour takes the form of an author interview.

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Hi Marie,

Welcome to my blog. I am really pleased to have been invited to take part in your blog tour for your latest book in The Prophecies of Ragnarök series, Nameless Queen.

Tell us a little about yourself and what inspired you to use Norse mythology for your novella Nameless Queen.

Hi Anita, thank you so much having me today! I’m Marie, a Filipino fantasy author currently living in the United Kingdom. I’m an avid reader of YA and SFF, and a big supporter of indie books. I also love music, coffee, traveling, and collecting bunny plushies.

I like reading and writing about mythology and folklore in general, but I ended up with a Norse mythology series simply because it was the common ground my co-author Meri Benson and I found when we decided to collaborate on a novel. I have a whole post about it and our co-authoring process on my blog, if anyone’s interested: Teamwork Makes the Dream Work: How I Published A Novel Trilogy By Co-Authoring

My interest in Norse mythology actually sprung from the videogame Valkyrie Profile. It’s a roleplaying game that follows a Valkyrie named Lenneth as she travels through Midgard, collecting the souls of slain heroes so they might serve Odin as Einherjar. I really liked the thought of the Norse gods not being immortal, and that, like regular people, they feared meeting their doom at Ragnarök, which is the prophesied end of all nine realms.

The Norse pantheon also has some really hilarious stories, like the construction of Asgard’s wall — which ends with Loki getting pregnant and giving birth to an eight-legged horse. They’re such a delightfully weird bunch, and I love it.

Did you have to do a lot of research for this series and if so what was the most unusual research?

I did, yeah. And it’s research in the form of “this is what the myths say,” “this is what history says,” and “this is what other books/films/TV shows have already done before.” The series is set in the modern world where the gods are real after all, but you really shouldn’t believe everything you read/hear because Loki probably just made those stories up. That approach gave us some leeway to use our creative license, but we also wanted to try things other fiction works have not done before, and that involved lots of reading and listening and watching.

If I hadn’t already been watching the MCU films, I’d have said putting myself through a franchise that massive would be the most unusual form of research. But I would have to say it’s researching on other mythologies and folklore that we wanted to incorporate into the series. Sure, a lot of the choices we made stemmed from personal preference (and inside jokes), but I still wanted them to make some sense.

Which of the characters in Nameless Queen do you relate to the most and why?

I love Hel. I’ve been so excited to write this story because she’s one of my favourite characters in the series. She has a tight-knit family, like I do, and she’s particularly close with her younger brother, which I am. She’s also married to her best friend, which, aside from (childhood/best) friends to lovers being one of my favourite romance tropes, I’m likewise married to my best friend. I just wish I’m as clever and as resilient as she is!

What part of Nameless Queen was the most fun to write?

Adding in minor characters that I named after friends and supporters! I didn’t even plan any of it. I just ran into one character that I absolutely had to name because it’s relevant to the story… and then I realized I could do that, just name them after people I know and I’m grateful for. It then became a game of trying to fit in as many of them as I could, haha!

What other myths, legends and folktales do you find yourself drawn to?

As a Filipino, I enjoy the variety of myths, legends, and folktales from back home. I’ve written and published several short stories about them, with some full-length novels in the works, including a Prophecies of Ragnarök spinoff. Because, yeah, I took the opportunity to introduce Filipino mythology and folklore in our series. Silje, the trilogy’s female protagonist, is half-Filipino, and in book 2, Monster Ridge, some of the characters spend time in the Philippines and get tangled with the local deities.

Do you have any writing rituals?

Lots of white coffee, though that applies to every day of my life regardless if I’m writing or not, haha! I do like making playlists when I start a new story. I don’t have one for Nameless Queen specifically since we already have a bunch of playlists for the different books in our series, and even one for her and [SPOILER]. But she has her own song, titled Helfire. You can listen to it and read the lyrics on Spotify: Helfire by Marie Sinadjan and watch on YouTube.

Who has been the biggest supporter of your writing?

A tie between my husband and mother. They both support me in anything and everything I try to do, and for that, I will always be grateful. My husband even does chores for me so I can work on my writing deliverables instead, watches the things I want to watch and puts up with my random excursions “for research purposes,” and he doesn’t mind when I disappear into my own world every now and then and completely ignore him, haha. And my mother, all the way in the Philippines, has read everything I’ve ever written and published. She’s even a big fan of the series and posts about me and my writing on her social media.

Is there anything else you would like to tell readers about your books?

If you like the Percy Jackson series, Norse mythology, and the Thor films, our series might be for you. We have some unusual spins on the myths, pantheon crossovers, humour, adventure, family drama, romance, and lots of characters to love. Despite the dark themes, the books are not graphic, so they can be read by young adults and adults alike. We’ve also done our best to be inclusive and diverse.

The Ragnarök trilogy might have come to an end but we’ve got prequels and spinoffs waiting to be written, so there should be something in the series for everyone!

What are your social media links where can people find out about you and your books?

I’m @marienettist on all the major platforms, though I’m most active on Instagram, X/Twitter, and Facebook. People can also check my Linktree, which I regularly update with new links: https://linktr.ee/mariesinadjan.

Where is the best place for people to buy your book?

Nameless Queen is available in digital from the usual online retailers, and soon also in paperback! https://books2read.com/NamelessQueen

Plus we’re part of the Winter Wonderland indie sale this weekend, which means the other books in the Prophecies of Ragnarök series are available digitally at discounted prices: