Introducing Julia Ember Author of 'Unicorn Tracks'

Unicorn Tracks

Author: JULIA EMBER

Publisher:  HARMONY INK PRESS
Genre:  YA FANTASY ROMANCE

Release Date:  21 APRIL 2016

Age Category:  14+

Pages: 187

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-63476-878-8

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-63476-879-5
Goodreads / Pre-Order Here

After a savage attack drives her from her home, sixteen-year-old Mnemba finds a place in her cousin Tumelo’s successful safari business, where she quickly excels as a guide. Surrounding herself with nature and the mystical animals inhabiting the savannah not only allows Mnemba’s tracking skills to shine, it helps her to hide from the terrible memories that haunt her. Mnemba is employed to guide Mr. Harving and his daughter, Kara, through the wilderness as they study Unicorns. The young women are drawn to each other, despite that fact that Kara is betrothed. During their research, they discover a conspiracy by a group of poachers to capture the Unicorns and exploit their supernatural strength to build a railway. Together, they must find a way to protect the creatures Kara adores while resisting the love they know they can never indulge.

As a member of the SST, I am honored to have the author of Unicorn Tracks here at my blog. I'll be interviewing her today with some really random questions! Please enjoy!

What troubles did you experience while writing this book?
Of my manuscripts, I would say that Unicorn Tracks was one of the easiest to write. I was between jobs when I started it, so I had a lot of free time that I would kill for now! That being said, I’d just trunked a manuscript that I hadn’t been able to sell. So, I was feeling quite a lot of self-doubt while I wrote Unicorn Tracks … questioning whether I could do it, whether or not I had any business trying to write a novel. Self-doubt can really undermine your ability to just tell the story because you constantly second guess your decisions and word choices.

When and why did you decide to make your characters part of the LGBT+ community?

I am a bisexual author and I live with my female partner! Strangely, though, before I wrote Unicorn Tracks, I’d never tried to write a f/f romance before. Once I started, it seemed like the most natural thing in the world and I don’t know why I didn’t do it before.

What is your favorite country/city?
Oh wow, that’s really hard! I’ve been lucky to travel a lot in my quite short life.  The places I’ve lived: Chicago, London, Edinburgh, will of course always be particularly special, but further afield I have amazing memories of Kenya, Tanzania, Bhutan, China … all the places I’ve visited have been special in their own way!

How has traveling affected your writing?
Traveling has definitely affected my writing. I was joking with one of my critique partners recently that I can’t start a new manuscript until I go on a trip and there is some truth to that. Unicorn Tracks was heavily inspired by my travels in East Africa. The series I have contracted to start next year was inspired by my trip to Bhutan and Myanmar. There is something inspiring about being immersed in a totally different world, even for a few short weeks.

If you could travel to any fictional world, which world would that be?

Well, Harry Potter seems like the obvious answer, but I am quite partial to it because I love London and imagining myself in Diagon Alley buying an owl. Beyond Harry, probably the world Emily Skrutskie created for THE ABYSS SURROUNDS US. I’m a huge animal fan and I love the idea of training giant genetically modified sea monsters for a living! Plus, since it’s futuristic, it doesn’t have any of those pesky medieval inconveniences like cold stone castles without bathrooms, plague etc.

If you could pick one fictional character to travel the world with, who would it be?

Definitely Fred and George Weasley (I refuse to accept Fred’s death). With the amount of traveling I’ve done, you learn that things can go wrong at any moment no matter how much planning you’ve done. When things do go badly, having a sense of humour is important. I know those two would keep the trip fun!

What is your favorite animal? And if you had said animal as a pet, what would you name it?

Horses and Cats! I have both as pets. I have two stupidly cute cats (if you follow me on Instagram you will see that ¾ of my photos are of them) called Luna and Sirius. I also have a beautiful pony that I’ve owned since I was 12 named Africa. He’s a total sweetheart.

If your main characters committed a crime, what crime would that be and why?

Well, both Mnemba and Kara are guilty of breaking and entering as well as horse theft in the book! I don’t want to give too many spoilers away!

Thanks, Julia!

About the Author:

Originally from the Windy City, Julia Ember now resides in Sunny Scotland where she learned to enjoy both haggis and black pudding. She spends her days working as a professional Book Nerd for a large book wholesaler, and her nights writing YA Romantic Fantasy novels.  She also spends an inordinate amount of time managing her growing city-based menagerie of pets with Harry Potter themed names. Presently, she is the haggard slave Sirius Black and Luna Lovegood the cats and Bellatrix Le Snake. She also owns a freakishly adorable cob pony called Africa.
A world traveller since childhood, Julia has now visited over 60 countries. Her travels inspire the fictional worlds she writes about and she populates those worlds with magic and monsters.

Author Links:

Website: http://www.julia-ember.com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/juliaemberwrites/ GR: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13734129.Julia_Ember Twitter: @jules_chronicle Email: Julia_ember@yahoo.com Inquiries relating to purchase, library stocking or print-publication review can be sent to Anne Regan at Harmony Ink: anneregan@harmonyinkpress.com

The Sunday Street Team is hosted by Nori from ReadWriteLove28. Check her out here. And check out the SST!

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