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| photo: 2 Comforts Photography | |
Rebecca Thorne is an author of all things fantasy, sci-fi, and romance. After years operating in traditional publishing, Thorne moved to self-publishing in 2022. Her indie debut is the cozy fantasy Can't Spell Treason Without Tea (Bramble, May 7, 2024; Tor UK, May 9, 2024), about a Queensguard and the Mage of Ages attempting to build a quiet, peaceful life together after years of adventures and dangers have kept them apart.
Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:
Two women--a mage and a palace guard--abandon their intense careers to open a bookshop that serves tea.
On your nightstand now:
I'm currently reading Brené Brown's Dare to Lead. I really admire her work, and even though I'm not in leadership, I devour her books when I have the time!
Favorite book when you were a child:
I was obsessed with Dragon's Bait by Vivian Vande Velde. It follows a young girl who's accused of being a witch, and is put on a stake as a dragon's sacrifice by the people she used to trust. But the dragon doesn't eat her--instead, he helps her get revenge on the townsfolk who sentenced her to death. It's honestly the best book, filled with tons of female rage and snarky banter!
Your top five authors:
Oooh. Ally Carter was hugely influential to my writing style! I loved her books as a kid. Next up would definitely be Tamora Pierce--her quartets (Alanna and Kel, specifically) got me obsessed with high fantasy. Tamsyn Muir is one of the greatest writers of our generation, I'm convinced; Harrow the Ninth has never left me. Nicole Luiken is a self-published author who wrote the Violet Eyes series; those books helped me understand genetics, and had the most swoon-worthy romance! My final one would probably be Travis Baldree; without his book Legends & Lattes, I never would have dared to try a book with lower stakes, and, man, I'm glad I did!
Book you've faked reading:
LOL. The Priory of the Orange Tree, hands down. Not because I don't think it will be amazing, but it's SO BIG and I read with the speed of a sickly turtle trudging along a busy road with dynamite tied to its shell. I'll get around to this book someday, I'm sure.
Book you're an evangelist for:
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone is honestly one of my favorite books of all time. I'm not usually a fan of epistolary novels, but the characters grabbed me in a chokehold, and the world was so creative. I'm a sucker for secret agent stories!
Book you've bought for the cover:
What book haven't I bought for the cover? But most recently, probably That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming. She was picked up by an awesome publisher, and they redesigned her covers (into something equally stunning, to be clear). But I wanted the original indie covers, since Kimberly herself drew them! No regrets owning that book and its sequels in the indie format.
Book you hid from your parents:
Some old spicy book I found at a CVS when I was a teenager. I bought it because it had demons and shifters and a fated mates plot, and then was taken completely aback by the explicit sex scenes. I didn't even know books could have those back then! I definitely kept that book and stuffed it behind my bookshelf. LOL.
Book that changed your life:
Legends & Lattes, for sure (Travis Baldree). I read it at a really low point in my life, and it was exactly the escape I needed. It'd have been exemplary simply for that, but when it created the cozy fantasy genre, that inspired me to leave my literary agent and self-publish for the first time! And obviously that path led me to where I'm at today.
Favorite line from a book:
I'm reading Kay Synclaire's House of Frank right now, and it follows a witch who visits an arboretum to bury her sister. The found family is prime, and I knew it would be just from meeting the titular character, Frank, a fearsome beast with a heart of gold. Saika, the witch, is about to leave the arboretum and venture into a dangerous storm, and Frank stops her by saying, "How could I possibly allow you to go back out there when there's a place for you here?" No joke, I melted reading it. I think we all hope for someone to say that to us one day.
Five books you'll never part with:
Writing Magic by Gail Carson Levine. First 50 Pages by Jeff Gerke. The Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. (I tend to lend out my fiction books, but my writing craft books are constant references for me! So, I wouldn't part with the ones above, since I reread them all the time.) The last ones would probably be my original self-published works, back when I was in high school. I self-published three novels, and they're the only copies that exist in the world now. I'd never let anything happen to them! (I know that added up to six, but what the hell. I'm a rebel.)
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. I envy anyone who gets to experience that ride for the first time. That book held so many elements I didn't even know I wanted until I read it. It was deliciously creepy, had a stellar romance, the best enemies-to-lovers example I've ever seen, and an absolutely heart-wrenching ending. Man, what a ride.