Hi everyone! We are so excited to be part of the Crown of Ice blog tour. We are even more excited and happy as today we have our first ever guest post! We are lucky to have Vicki L. Weavil here visiting us today (Hello Vicki, Welcome to opinionated Cupcakes, thank you for stopping by and kindly doing a guest post for us :) Best of luck with the rest of the tour and the future from Rinny & Kimmy) she has kindly offered to do a guest post for us today we asked her for a behind the scenes with Thyra Winther. Something which i am sure we are all excited for. However before we get to that let us give you a little more information about Crown of Ice.
ABOUT CROWN OF ICE
Title: Crown of Ice
Publication date: September 9, 2014
Publisher: Month9Books, LLC.
Author: Vicki L. Weavil
Thyra Winther’s seventeen, the Snow Queen, and immortal, but if she can’t reassemble a shattered enchanted mirror by her eighteenth birthday she’s doomed to spend eternity as a wraith.
Armed with magic granted by a ruthless wizard, Thyra schemes to survive with her mind and body intact. Unencumbered by kindness, she kidnaps local boy Kai Thorsen, whose mathematical skills rival her own. Two logical minds, Thyra calculates, are better than one. With time rapidly melting away she needs all the help she can steal.
A cruel lie ensnares Kai in her plan, but three missing mirror shards and Kai’s childhood friend, Gerda, present more formidable obstacles. Thyra’s willing to do anything – venture into uncharted lands, outwit sorcerers, or battle enchanted beasts — to reconstruct the mirror, yet her most dangerous adversary lies within her breast. Touched by the warmth of a wolf pup’s devotion and the fire of a young man’s desire, the thawing of Thyra’s frozen heart could be her ultimate undoing.
CROWN OF ICE is a YA Fantasy that reinvents Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen” from the perspective of a young woman who discovers that the greatest threat to her survival may be her own humanity.
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GUEST POST - An Interview with Thyra Winther, the Snow Queen
By Vicki L. Weavil
When asked for a behind-the-scenes post on Thyra Winther, the seventeen-year-old Snow Queen who’s the protagonist of CROWN OF ICE, I was doubtful I could honor that request. Thyra’s a very private person who’s leery of talking to strangers. From what I know about her upbringing, this is not surprising. It took a lot of pleading—and a generous supply of fresh vegetables for the larder of her ice palace—to convince her to speak with me. I had to travel to her ice palace, hidden high in the snowy mountains, to converse with her:
Me: Hello, Thyra. Thank you for agreeing to talk with me.
Thyra: It seems I had little choice in the matter.
Me: Well, you could’ve refused.
Thyra: Here you stand, after braving the journey to my home. I suppose I can answer a few questions. Besides, I suspect that refusing you would only cause me more problems. The only logical choice is to speak with you briefly and send you on your way.
Me: <after taking a deep breath> Ok, I can work with that. Now, let’s see—I’m sure one thing a lot of readers would like to know is what your life is like, day to day. What does a Snow Queen do when she is not conjuring storms?
Thyra: I do whatever is necessary for survival. Bring in ice to melt for water, take care of the animals, prepare food, that sort of thing. You see, I may be called a Queen, but my life is not easy. I’ve been granted control over ice and wind and snow, but I have no magical powers to conjure food or other niceties. So I must hunt – reindeer and rabbit and so on. I don’t care for it, but one must eat, and there’s no one else here willing to put food on the table. Ah yes, I also travel to the closest towns to gather the produce and staples the villagers leave out for me.
Me: That’s curious. Why would they do that?
Thyra: <with a deep sigh> Because they are afraid of me, of course. They make offering to placate the Snow Queen, lest she send blizzards to bury their towns. The practice started years ago, when the master mage Mael Voss enchanted the first young woman he abducted, turning her into his Snow Queen. That was one of the reasons he did it, you see, although he actually needed the girls he transformed for other reasons. Now, what is that expression? You think …. No, not that. What a horrible notion. Voss was never interested in his Snow Queens in that way. I suspect there was a woman once, someone he still thinks about … but I have no proof, so let that go.
Me: You are not the original Snow Queen?
Thyra: No. There were many girls before me.
Me: What happened to them?
Thyra: <after a long pause> They failed. They could not reconstruct Voss’s shattered enchanted mirror before their eighteenth birthday. They failed, and were turned into mindless, bodiless, wraiths. Ah, your eyes betray your horror. Trust me, it is not misplaced. It’s a terrible fate, worse than death. I will do anything to avoid such a fate. Anything. <another pause> But to return to your original question, I also spend a great deal of time in reading and study.
Me: Really?
Thyra: <after giving me a freezing glare> Is that so surprising? There is an exceptional library here. It’s the one thing that makes life bearable. I have taught myself many things through my reading, including how to improve my skills as a mathematician.
Me: I’ve heard you like math. That’s … different.
Thyra: Why? Because I am a girl? What a foolish notion. I am the equal of any man or boy in intellect, and I love math because … Well, because it is beautiful. Yes, it is—you needn’t look so astonished.
Me: I must confess that math baffles me. Higher math, I mean. But I certainly don’t think being a girl makes you less than anyone else, in intellect or anything else.
Thyra: I am glad to hear you say so. It is not a common belief, in my experience.
Me: So you live all alone here in the palace?
Thyra: Yes. Mael Voss comes and goes. Mostly goes, but that’s of no consequence. He is no company even when he is here. Unless he wants me to do something for him, he never speaks to me. Which I don’t mind, to tell you the truth.
Me: That sounds very lonely.
Thyra: I survive. <she shrugs> I’m not used to much company anyway.
Me: Yes, I heard your parents died in an avalanche when you were just a child.
Thyra: I will not speak of that.
Me: Sorry, but the readers may be interested in your early life …
Thyra: Can speaking of the past change it? No. So, I put it out of my mind. My thoughts must focus on my equations. They are the only thing that can help me reconstruct the mirror.
Me: The only thing? I was told you might consider another’s help.
Thyra: There is one person—a boy who can calculate almost as well as me … But that is really none of your business.
Me: Your life seems to be so … cold and barren. Well, I guess that’s not surprising. But what about love?
Thyra: What about it?
Me: Wouldn’t you like to know love, or friendship?
Thyra: What I would like and what is possible are different things. I will settle for preserving my mind and body, and ruling forever as the Snow Queen. At least I will have more time to learn and to calculate my equations …
Me: If you reconstruct the mirror.
Thyra: I will. I must. It is all that matters. Nothing will stand in my way.
Me: Well, Thyra, I suppose I should allow you to return to that task.
Thyra: Yes, I’ve wasted enough time as it is. Good day to you. <she turns and strides away>
Me: I guess that’s all we’re getting, readers. I must now say goodbye as well. Not looking forward to braving the snow and cold again, but at least Thyra’s leant me a sleigh, along with a pair of ponies who, believe it or not, actually fly! Farewell, friends, and stay warm.
Giveaway
Win one of Five (5) digital copies of Crown of Ice by Vicki L. Weavil (INT)
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About the author
Vicki Lemp Weavil was raised in a farming community in Virginia, where her life was shaped by a wonderful family, the culture of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and an obsession with reading. Since obtaining her undergraduate degree in Theatre from the University of Virginia, she’s gone on to acquire two masters degrees, living in places as diverse as New York City and rural North Carolina. She’s currently the library director for a performing an visual arts university. Vicki loves good writing in any genre, and has been known to read seven books in as many days. She enjoys travel, gardening, and the arts. Vicki lives in North Carolina with her husband, son, and some very spoiled cats.
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