A warm welcome to Lee Welch joining us today to talk about the audio release of Seducing the Sorcerer.
Welcome 🙂
Seducing the Sorcerer by Lee Welch is out May 10, 2022 from TantorAudio
Running time: 13 hours.
Cover art: Tiferet Design – M/M book covers
Editing: May Peterson, May Peterson Books – Books, blogging, and editorial
Audiobook release date: 10 May 2022
Narrated by: Joel Leslie
Seducing the Sorcerer – a new fantasy m/m romance by the author of Salt Magic Skin Magic and Mended with Gold.
Genre: fantasy m/m romance
Mini-interview with Lee Welch to celebrate the release of the audiobook of Seducing the Sorcerer
Tell us a bit about the book?
It’s a fantasy m/m romance, set in a world with magic. The main character, Fenn, is a middle-aged, working-class bloke who’s down on his luck. He loves horses and takes a dim view of magic, since it’s done him out of a job. He used to be a groom, but people now use magic to power carriages and pull ploughs, meaning hardly anyone keeps horses anymore. Fenn stumbles across a very awkward bit of magic in the form of an ugly sackcloth horse, and this propels him into the orbit of one of the most feared men in the realm – Morgrim, the court sorcerer.
Morgrim’s got a reputation as a scheming double-crosser who wants to marry the queen and take power for himself, but he’s also inconveniently sexy. And, he keeps a horse; a very beautiful one…
The Seducing the Sorcerer audiobook is read by Joel Leslie – a favorite for lots of m/m romance audiobook fans. Can you give us any insight into how authors work with voice actors?
Joel did the audiobook for my first book (Salt Magic Skin Magic) and did an AMAZING job, so I stipulated in the contract that I wanted him again if at all possible. Luckily, he was available! Of course, he reads the book before he gets to work on it, and we also discussed my intentions for the characters, their personalities, the kinds of accents they’d have and so on. He’s lovely to work with, and I’m so grateful to him for bringing the characters to life in such a vibrant way!
What’s one thing that inspired you to write this book?
One thing was a silly drawing of a horse, sketched my daughter as a joke during a COVID lockdown. I was casting about for a book idea at the time and something about that ridiculous horse spoke to me!
I remembered reading somewhere that fear of being laughed at is one of the most common fears – it’s certainly something I’m afraid of! – and I got to thinking, what if a character finds a magic horse, but it’s an ugly, gormless, badly behaved, hilarious horse and it follows him around and people laugh at it and at him. And that’s how world-weary, horse-loving Fenn was born. He’s trying hard to cling to dignity, but the horse isn’t helping.
In stark contrast to Fenn, the other main character is Morgrim the sorcerer, a man who seems all dignity and grandeur and tricky conversations about ethics or politics. There’s nothing ridiculous about Morgrim, but he’s not all he seems.
Do you play with any tropes in this book?
I wanted the love interest to maybe be the villain as well. We all know the character of the evil sorcerer who wants to marry the princess and seize power, right? So, in this book, Morgrim is VERY scheming and possesses all the sorcerous trappings: the devilish beard, the long black robes, the uncanny magic tower. It was heaps of fun to play with that trope – to make the sorcerer genuinely scheming, to invent reasons people might distrust or dislike him, while at the same time writing a character worthy of Fenn’s love. Because Fenn, for all his gruff cynicism and horror of ‘being romantic’, has a heart of gold, and absolutely deserves to find a man who’s perfect for him.
What’s something you set out to do with this book that you think went well?
I really wanted to write a book about two middle-aged men who’ve given up on love and who find it unexpectedly. Morgrim’s forty-five and Fenn’s a bit older. Both have baggage and secrets and complicated pasts. Both have to work to get their happy ending.
I also wanted to write a book that would be entertaining and fun to read. There are serious themes, but on the whole the book has a light-hearted tone. I mean, any book containing a sack-cloth horse that eats old socks is by definition not too gritty, right?
How can we connect with you?
Website + newsletter sign up: https://leewelchwriter.com/
Twitter: @leewelchwriter – https://twitter.com/leewelchwriter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leewelchwriter/
Blurb:
Homeless and jobless, Fenn Todd has nearly run out of hope. All he has left is his longing for horses and the strength of his own two hands. But when he’s cheated into accepting a very ugly sackcloth horse, he’s catapulted into a world of magic, politics and desire.
Fenn’s invited to stay at the black tower, home of the most terrifying man in the realm: Morgrim, the court sorcerer. Morgrim has a reputation as a scheming villain, but he seems surprisingly charming—and sexy—and Fenn falls hard for him.
However, nothing is as it seems and everyone at the tower is lying about something. Beset by evil hexes, violent political intrigue and a horse that eats eiderdowns, Fenn must make the hardest choices of his life.
Can a plain man like Fenn ever find true love with a scheming sorcerer?
Content warnings: graphic sex scenes including consensual rough sex/spanking/humiliation; kidnapping (named character is tied up and gagged); gun violence (gun is held to a named character’s head); death by crushing (non-named character); mention of suicide.
***
Author’s note: Seducing the Sorcerer is written from the point of view of a hero whose grammar isn’t perfect. These are not errors in the text but deliberate style choices. Thank you!
Audiobook buy links:
Lee Welch lives in a house on a hill in the windiest city in the world, Wellington, New Zealand. She shares the house with her family, two cats, a dog and quite a lot of spiders. Lee studied ancient history at Auckland University and creative writing at Birkbeck, University of London. By day, she works as an editor and business communications adviser for a large government department. By night, she writes escapist romances, usually with magic in them.
Contact information
Email: leewelchwriter@gmail.com
Website + newsletter sign up: https://leewelchwriter.com/
Twitter: @leewelchwriter – https://twitter.com/leewelchwriter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leewelchwriter/