Authors Interviewing Characters: L. R. W. Lee
Morningstar Academy
From USA Today bestselling author L. R. W. Lee, Marked is the third book in the addictive Morningstar Academy series, about a fallen angel who fights to save a world spiraling out of control, all while trying to protect humans and her own heart. This intriguing and unseen world of angels and demons is perfect for fans of Good Omens and Penryn & the End of Days.
Despite their best efforts, fallen angel Gladriel, her new fallen friends, and her former squadron mates have had limited success shifting the world ending prophecy and they feel increasingly helpless as war, famine, plague, and hyperinflation rage, killing millions of the humans they are committed to protecting.
With conditions worsening on Earth, celestial warriors are kept increasingly busy aiding humans, making Squadron Leader Kessien less and less available. At the same time, Morningstar Academy forces Glad to do increasingly heinous things to humans, and the distance stretches their relationship to the breaking point.
Glad and her fallen friends’ only hope for rescue is to throw themselves on the Almighty’s mercy and beg him to reverse their sentences. Trouble is, Glad will never be sorry for avenging her BFF’s honor, against his explicit orders. So when her friends promise to never abandon her for their own safety, she finds it unbearable to be the cause of their impending doom along with her own.
—
L. R. W. Lee interviews Gladriel, a fallen celestial warrior, who is enrolled in Morningstar Academy where she’s receiving an education in life “on the other side” and where, after demonstrating mastery of the required curriculum, she will be assigned an occupation.
Glad: In here, quick. Trust me, you don’t want teachers or faculty to know you’re here.
[She opens the door to a dim, worn, institutional classroom and hurries me inside.]
L. R. W.: [I furrow my brow and do as bid.] Why is that?
Glad: [She glances both ways down the hall before closing the door again.] Good. I don’t think we were spotted.
L. R. W.: And if we had been?
Glad: [She shivers.] They’d probably haul you off to Headmaster Arioch’s office and he could well send you to the Hall of Correction. Trust me, you don’t want to go there.
L. R. W.: [I raise an eyebrow.] It sounds like it.
We take seats at two of the smallish, graffitied desks.
Glad: So, you said you wanted to interview me for a human women’s website?
L. R. W.: That’s right. You’re not human, so I thought readers might really enjoy getting your unique perspective on life, perhaps something to encourage them from an eternal perspective.
Glad: [Tilts her head.] You have noticed that I’m not in third heaven anymore.
L. R. W.: Yes, I did. But I think you still have much you can contribute to human women.
Glad: [Shrugs.]
L. R. W.: If it’s not too sensitive to talk about, what caused you to fall?
Glad: [Whispers to herself *nothing like getting to the heart of it right off* She forces a smile.] I disobeyed a direct order from the Almighty.
L. R. W.: [My eyes go wide.] Seriously? What… what would possess you… the Almighty, himself? That takes guts.
Glad: [She scrunches her face.] Yes, it wasn’t one of my finer moments, but he promised to avenge my BFF. [She shakes her head.] Let me give you a little background.
L. R. W.: Please.
Glad: We were on a routine mission to rescue humans from a rock slide. Several cars were buried in one, down on earth. [She holds up a hand.] I should add that the landslide was caused by demons, so they started it.
L. R. W.: [I raise my eyebrows.] Demons can do that?
Glad: [She nods.] Anyway, Kessien, my squadron leader – [she pauses and a corner of her mouth hitches] – Astread, my BFF, and I located one of the cars and in the course of rescuing the humans trapped inside, I accidently decapitated the demon feasting on the driver.
L. R. W.: [My eyes go wide.]
Glad: Usually those disgusting menaces wink out of sight when you take a blade to them, going to wherever it is they regenerate.
L. R. W.: Demons regenerate?
Glad: They are immortal. [She rolls her eyes.] Anyway, yes, I accidently killed the thing. Its head flopped to one side, still attached by a thread, and silver blood sprayed.
L. R. W.: [I scrunch my face.]
Glad: [She shakes her head.] It didn’t wink out of sight like usual, and I became a target of demons wanting to exact revenge for killing their brother. Long story short, they found my BFF and cleaved her four wings saying that it was just a down payment.
L. R. W.: [I blow out a breath.] Not to be insensitive, but what does that have to do with disobeying the Almighty?
Glad: [She waves her hands.] Right. Right. She swallows hard. My BFF will never fly again because of me. The Almighty called me right after it happened and said not to take revenge but that he would. I waited a full month, but he didn’t lift a finger. [She growls.] I took matters into my own hands and killed the demons who did it. [She brings her head down sharply.]
L. R. W.: But he expelled you from heaven as a result.
Glad: [She sighs.] Yeah. I can’t stand injustice and sometimes it gets the better of me. Astread always helped keep me in check, but without her…
L. R. W.: [Time for a change of subject.] I couldn’t help notice your reaction when you mentioned Kessien.
Glad: [She brightens and bites a lip. An alarm wheezes over the intercom and Glad’s eyes go wide.] They’ve found you. You need to leave. Now!
———————
Buy the first book in the Morningstar Academy series now!
—
USA Today Bestselling author L. R. W. Lee enjoys writing epic fantasy and as such has authored 19 books and counting!
She loves writing fantasy because her characters are everything she’s not in real life. For example, L. R. W. can’t handle scary movies, Stephen King novels, or cockroaches. And she knows she wouldn’t last long in one of her books. But give her a drink and a Hawaiian sunset and she’ll be just fine.
She lives in scenic Austin, TX with her husband. Their two children have flown the coop and have not rebounded (yay!), for which she cheers their successes.
She started writing in 2012 after selling the dot com company she co-founded. Since age 8, she had wanted to write a book patterned after The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, her first and favorite childhood fantasy read.
With a new opportunity before her, she chose to pursue her passion, going deep in her creative side despite not knowing anything about publishing or having a degree in writing. She just started putting words on paper and 19 books later, she’s still coming up with amazing new fantasy worlds.
Find out more about her on her website https://lrwlee.com/
Category: On Writing
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
