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SPFBOX Interview with Shannon Knight

By August 27, 2024January 13th, 2025No Comments

Our SPFBOX interviews continue with Shannon Knight, author of Wish Givers.

SPFBO (the Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off) is a free online contest run by author Mark Lawrence. 300 authors compete across ten judging teams to see who will be the winner! You can read more about the contest [HERE]].

INTERVIEW WITH SHANNON KNIGHT

Cover of Shannon Knight's Wish Givers. A woman dressed in a simple cut-off wrap of fabric and a plain kilt looks up at the viewer from the centre of the page, her arms spread as blue-ish purple magic in the shape of ghosts swirls around her. It gives the impression of a summoning circle. The woman has brown skin and long, slightly wavy brown hair. She has an intense, almost viciously gleeful expression on her face. The title and author name glow orange.

Tell us a little about yourself and let our readers know which blog you’ve been assigned to for SPFBOX!

I’m Shannon Knight. I write fantasy, science fiction, and horror. My SPFBOX book has been assigned to Fantasy Book Critic.
What inspired you to write this book?
So many things. Tattoos, Polynesian culture, traveling to various islands, a lifetime of reading fantasy, wishes, life as a young woman, non-benevolent gods.

 

Can you tell us a little bit about your writing or editing process? What’s most exciting to you about writing or editing?

I love all of it. I like to start with an excessive quantity of research, so I got my hands on all the books my library system could access regarding the history of tattooing and tattooing in different cultures, I took a university class on the anthropology of the South Pacific, and so on. WISH GIVERS experienced a lot of revisions on the slow trek to publication. I really enjoy seeing a story become more and more its true self.

 

 

“Reva is strong and confident, but her strength is an inner strength, and we also see her struggles and doubts. She is able to tattoo wishes into reality. The system doesn't permit wish givers to have their own wishes granted, but Reva intends to do just that.”

Who or what have been your major literary influences?

There are too many to name, really, as it’s easy to say that all the books we’ve read and loved have influenced us. Tamora Pierce was a huge early influence, though. I adored LIONESS RAMPANT.

What makes your SPFBOX book unique?

 

The tropical island setting, inspired by ancient Polynesia and set before metal became common place, and the tattoo magic system are the two elements that make WISH GIVERS quite unique. The protagonist, Reva, is a confident young woman, arguably arrogant, who discards so many of the values society presses on young woman, and there is no arc that puts her in her place. Another character is a priest who follows a dark god, and yet his number one wish is to become a father. I believe my characters are also unique.

 Do you have a favourite character from your SPFBOX entry? Tell us about them!

 

This is a dastardly trick question! My precious characters! But I’ll still tell you about the hero. Reva is strong and confident, but her strength is an inner strength, and we also see her struggles and doubts. She is able to tattoo wishes into reality. The system doesn’t permit wish givers to have their own wishes granted, but Reva intends to do just that. She is isolated and willing to sacrifice herself for her cause, but her situation changes as the story progresses, and her choices become more and more difficult.

 

“I wanted to write a big, epic fantasy, but I didn't want it set in faux medieval Europe with the typical magical elements. I didn't want it to include a long journey in a patriarchal society.”

How does your work fit into (or challenge) its genre?

I wanted to write a big, epic fantasy, but I didn’t want it set in faux medieval Europe with the typical magical elements. I didn’t want it to include a long journey in a patriarchal society. Therefore, I created multiple cultures in a tropical island setting, and almost the entire story occurs within a single building. It’s fantasy, no doubt, with magic and gods and heroes accomplishing incredible feats.

What do you hope readers take away from your SPFBOX entry?

I hope readers enjoy a fantasy adventure with empowered, underdog characters and themes of found family, freedom, and wishes. Each reader can determine their own interpretations of any further messages in the book.

What are you currently working on?

I’m soon to publish a farm horror called DOMESTICATION. It’s written in a realistic, immersive style and set on an isolated sheep farm in the Pacific Northwest.


Editor’s Note: Domestication has since been released.

 

Wish Givers

Reva’s clan, the Mauli, tattoo wishes into reality. Once revered, the Mauli now live in hiding, with a precious few imprisoned beneath the Ali’i’s pink palace. Burning for justice, Reva strides into the capital city, announces herself a wish giver, and allows herself to be bound. She knows the only way to save herself and her people is to grant her greatest enemy his every wish.

Already outcast by her skill and arrogance, Reva feels she has nothing to lose and everything to gain. However, she faces not only the Ali’i, but the mighty White God and his followers, the animosity of the Mauli, and the burdensome eye of Mata, a dark god with an ambitious priest who has a wish of his own. Within the confines of the Ali’i’s palace, Reva discovers love and friendship, but to destroy the Ali’i, she may be forced to sacrifice more than she has every wished for.

Wish Givers is an epic fantasy novel with a tropical island setting and themes of freedom, found family, and the pursuit of dreams.

Purchase Wish Givers at your favourite store.
Add Wish Givers on Goodreads.

 

Shannon Knight lives in the Pacific Northwest with her faithful feline, the best cat on this planet. Their adventurous lives include coffee, reading, ribbon games, and K-dramas. Prior to settling in the PNW, Shannon traveled to islands, living briefly on some and sailing from Java to Christmas Island on a small ketch. Years later, Shannon fell ill with the novel COVID-19 virus and became primarily bedbound for about two and a half years. The first thing she did upon regaining the ability to sit up all day was complete the publication of WISH GIVERS, INSIDERS, and GRAVE COLD.
Steve Hugh Westenra

Steve Hugh Westenra

Steve is a trans author of fantasy, science fiction, and horror (basically, if it’s weird he writes it). He grew up on the eldritch shores of Newfoundland, Canada, and currently lives and works in (the slightly less eldritch) Montreal. He holds advanced degrees in Russian Literature, Medieval Studies, and Religious Studies. As a reader, Steve’s tastes are eclectic. He enjoys anything that could be called speculative, including fantasy, sci-fi, and horror, but has been known to enjoy a good mystery as well as literary fiction. He’s always excited to try something new or that pushes boundaries, particularly from marginalized authors. Steve is passionate about queer representation, Late Antiquity, and spiders.

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