Fantasy Q&A: Delizhia Jenkins (Rise of the Elites)

“Adaya must adapt quickly to her role as an Elite while also trying to figure who the killer is and prevent the Houses from going to war.”

In our exclusive interview, Delizhia Jenkins offers Monster Complex a glimpse of her corner of the shared-world universe Rise of the Elites

Created by Jessica Cage, the Rise of the Elites is a shared-world collection featuring stories written by six fantasy authors. Follow the journey of six lives which will change forever when they are chosen as the next to lead their people. Some will stumble, some will fall, but at the end of each journey, a new Elite will rise to Power.

Delizhia Jenkins’ novel in the series is House of the Blue Flame.

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The Houses are divided. A war is brewing between the clans. And our Elite has fallen.

My House—the House of the Blue Flame—has been the center of envy and fear by the other dragon clans for centuries. My grandfather and his father and so forth, protected our people as both the strongest breed of dragon and as Elites.

And now it’s my turn.

My name is Adaya, granddaughter of former Elite, Horace "The Devourer" and next in line to stand in his place. As my grandfather once said, "A nation cannot stand if the houses fall..."

I'm here to protect and unite my people before each of our houses destroy each other. High Spirit has already marked me as the chosen Elite... But the question remains, will my people accept me? Or, will I face the same fate as others who came before me?

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In this Q&A, author Delizhia Jenkins explains what drew her to this multi-author project, outlines the challenges of writing in a world that wasn't her own, and compares this book with her other works.

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#1 - Delizhia, did you become involved in this project?

I was approached by USA Today's best selling author, Jessica Cage with the concept. When she asked if I would be interested, it was an absolute no brainer to say yes!

#2 - How do the Rise of the Elites books connect together? Did you need to coordinate with the other authors to make everything fit together?

Well, Ms. Cage gave us all an overview of the world called Penumbra and the rules. After that, each of us were given free reign to write our stories. And yes, there was coordination between us. For instance, if one of us created a new monster that his/her character would encounter in the Penumbra, we would share that entity just for the sake of ensuring that our stories were in sync.

#3 - Tell me about your novel in the series, House of the Blue Flame.

Well, House of the Blue Flame is about a particular breed of dragon shifters called Blue Flames. On this side of the Penumbra, the dragon clans are divided by Houses: House of the Blue Flame, House of the Red Flame (or Vulcans); House of Shadows; House of Snow and Ice, etc... and there is a hierarchy that is based on the strength of the dragon's magic and Blue Flames sit at the top.

In short, there has been division between the groups of dragons for some time and when my main character Adaya, is called to become an Elite, part of her role is to reunite the Houses. Now to make matters worse, with the Houses being so close to war, someone is in the background assassinating the Elders of each House.

Adaya must adapt quickly to her role as an Elite while also trying to figure who the killer is and prevent the Houses from going to war.

#4 - What were your goals writing this book?

I really wanted to step out of my comfort zone of writing about characters in modern or contemporary scenes. Fantasy and world building is a challenge and since completing this book, I think I overcame my own doubts towards my ability to write more stories in the fantasy genres.

Yes, I do write urban fantasy, but writing about vampires or Faeries in a world that is familiar to me is a lot easier than writing one I have to build from scratch.

#5 - How does it compare / contrast with your other fiction?

Well just to piggyback off of my response to the previous question, I had to work with a world that I was unfamiliar with. With each chapter, gradually the Penumbra became my own.

In comparison to The Lost Queen (one of my previous work where I had to world build), this book was more challenging because the Penumbra wasn't my concept and now that I think of it, I think that was my real challenge. In comparison to my other work, House of the Blue Flame isn't dependent on my main character identifying a love interest. She is completely dependent on herself and her true strength comes from her real love for her people—which includes all dragons, not just Blue Flames.

Thank you so much for reaching out to me by the way. I am excited about the release of each book in the Rise of the Elites series and I am grateful that Ms. Cage allowed me the opportunity to be included in this particular project.

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