My Kingdom for a Quest: Interviewing Arthur

Good morning! Yesterday I shared my review of Kendra E. Ardnek's book Sew, it's a Quest, and the first in the series of the Bookania Quests. Today I get the pleasure of introducing you to the main character of her latest book in this series, My Kingdom for a Quest. Make sure you stick around, because at the end of this post I have some information on which of Kendra's books are free today, and where you can acquire them!But first, a bit about the book:

Arthur is the rightful king of Briton, but his Uncle Mordreth refuses to give up the regency.   Arthur and Grandfather are now returning with allies to wrestle the kingdom from his uncle's grasp.  But not all is as it seems among his allies, and everyone has secrets.  New loves, old loves, lost loves, kingdoms conquered and kingdoms stolen.   Who is the real "rightful heir" and will the nearly forgotten sword in the stone finally answer this question?

Clicking on the book cover image will take you to Kendra's blog where you can peruse the tour schedule and see where else she is being hosted this week!

1. Hello, Arthur, and welcome to the blog. Thanks for joining us today! First of all, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself. What are some of your interests and hobbies?

Um, Hi. I'm not quite used to people, but I shall do my best to answer your questions. As you may know, I grew up sequestered away in back rooms by my Uncle Mordreth, so I suppose I've grown up with some strange interests and hobbies. I taught myself by reading all of the books in the library, and when I was quite young, I discovered that there the numerous tunnels and passageways hidden throughout Briton Castle.

Oh, there is one hobby that I'm not even sure Kendra knows about, since she failed to mention it in the books. In one of the tunnels, I discovered an empty room, and I'd been reading a book about bugs that I'd found in the library, and was completely fascinated. By now, I have quite a collection.

 

2. Your best friend is an old man who lived behind your castle. Can you tell us a bit about how that friendship came about?

I've told you about the tunnels. One of the first ones that I discovered lead through an extremely long passage, the first part was barely big enough for a grown man to crawl through, but at four years old, I could stand up in it quite well. There were numerous passages leading off of it, but I kept to the straight and true, and I had a piece of chalk so that I wouldn't get lost. Eventually I came to some steps, and when I climbed them, a trap door opened, there he was waiting for me. He's taught me everything that I didn't learn from reading, such as reading itself.

3. I was wondering if you could give us some insight as to how your story fits into the rest of the Bookania series? Will we see characters we recognize from the previous two books?

Of course. My allies will be there. And it fits in quite nicely, despite the fact that Kendra didn't even know it existed until after Sew, It's a Quest had been published.

4. What are your feelings about the obstacles your author has put in your way in this story?

Well, I suppose they were necessary, otherwise there wouldn't have been much of a story. But I do wish that Shira had been a bit more ... friendly. Sigh. She's just so beautiful.

5. What is your greatest fear?

Being socially awkward ... which is something that happens to me a lot. When your entire childhood is spent in libraries and tunnels, and your only friends were servants and an old man, you don't get much experience with people.

6. What is your most prized possession?

I have two of them, though I'm not sure they're exactly mine. One is a diary that I found written by a boy who seemed to be about my age at the time. Since I didn't have any real friends, this was the closest I got. He could get himself in to some very strange troubles.

The other item would be a painting hidden behind the tapestry in my bedroom. On it is the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. I spent hours of my childhood chatting with her. The strange thing is how much Shira resembles her. She's very beautiful too, you know.

7. What do you think of the world you live in?

I find it quite interesting to finally experience the things I'd always read about. Some of them were as grand or grander than I'd expected, other's were quite disappointing, but isn't that always the way of things?

Thank you for stopping by the blog and sharing a bit about yourself, Arthur! I am very excited to meet you in your book.

And finally, Kendra has been kind enough to provide us with a snippet from the book. I chose one that features Arthur, but it was hard, because I can only share one of the snippets and there were two really good ones with him. I won't give anything away, but for those of you who have read the books, the other snippet involves Robin... and swords flying. 

Arthur selected an arrow and fitted it to the bowstring. He drew them back, aimed carefully, and then let it fly. 

It missed the target by a good three feet.

“You’re improving!”

Arthur turned to his cousin Robert, who was endeavoring to teach him archery. “I was closer last time.”

“Yes, but your form was better this time.” Robert claimed the bow from Arthur, selected an arrow, fitted it to the string, and fired. The arrow flew straight to the target and sank soundly in the bull’s-eye. “No one masters archery in a day. You’ve only been at it for two weeks. Give it time.”

“How long did it take you?”

Robert slid the bow onto his back and gathered up the arrows and thrust them into his quiver. 

“A week and a half.” He motioned to the target. “Go get your arrows. I spy a messenger to inform us of dinner.”

I love it!

Throughout the blog tour, Kendra is graciously giving away some of her books for free. Today, you can find the following books for free over at Amazon (clicking on the link will take you to the purchase page for each book).

Sew, It's a Quest

The Woodcutter Quince and Other Stories

Do You Take This Quest 

Saffron's Big Plan and Other Stories

Kendra E. Ardnek loves fairy tales and twisting them in new and exciting ways.  She's been practicing her skills on her dozen plus cousins and siblings for years, "Finish your story, Kendra", is frequently heard at family gatherings.  Her sole life goal has always been to grow up and be an author of fantasy and children's tales that also glorify God and his Word. You can read more about her on her BLOG.