Fantasy author MIKAYLA BRIDGE’s novel Of Flame and Fury is a fiery and explosive new romantasy. Read on for a Q&A with the author.
Who is your favourite member of The Crimson Howlers?
It’s impossible to choose! I’m with a writer friend while writing this and have been lamenting about how to pick a favourite character when they’re all my favourites.
But then my friend asked me, ‘Well, who would you trust to help you in a hard situation? Who would you want to live with?’ and the answer was absurdly obvious: Dira. In a heartbeat.
Dira and Bekn are the true heart of the team. Though they’re not at the forefront of every page, they would do anything to protect the people they love. Dira is quiet and steady in the hardships she faces. She’s strong without having shut herself off to the world, and she’s gone through so much pain that we don’t explicitly see in Of Flame and Fury. Still, you sense it’s there, driving her actions.
In my mind, Dira deserves the happiest ending of any Crimson Howler. She wrote herself as a supporting character so the people she loved could take centre stage and heal.
Did you draw from specific myths or legends when developing the sub-species of Cendorian phoenix?
Yes and no! I’ve always loved phoenixes. There’s so many different iterations of them across mythology and media. They can symbolise so many things. For a writer, they offer the perfect sandbox to play in.
When we meet Kel, our main character, she’s grieving. Her position made me realise: if you’ve lost someone you love, why risk that pain again when you could simply have a phoenix – immortal – by your side, forever? You’d refuse to let people in.
If Kel had her way, her phoenix would be a perfectly amicable companion for the rest of her life. So, I wrote a phoenix that is stubborn, hot-tempered, and abhors domestication.
In OFAF, phoenixes have only been researched and studied through the lens of racing. Which subspecies would be strongest and fastest? Which have the most docile temperaments? Which can best follow instructions? At the start of OFAF, we get a guide to the phoenix subspecies. I wanted this guide to seem subdued, almost tedious, because it would only ever appear in a racing catalogue, when riders are choosing a phoenix. To Kel’s world, phoenixes aren’t magic. They’re a commodity.
The CAPR races were truly exhilarating and my favourite part of the book. What was your writing process for these scenes? Did you storyboard it like a movie?
I’m so glad you enjoyed the races! Action sequences are my favourite, favourite thing to write. They play out in my head like movie scenes. I storyboard most of the races. Everything is very explicitly choreographed. It helps to know what is possible in every race, since each has a different terrain. I always need to know the black-and-white moves of the race first, to know when to slip in moments of adrenaline, fear, relief, triumph.
That said, I don’t plot out every single twist and turn. I like to leave the characters a little breathing room to make their own decisions. Plenty of times, a rogue phoenix would suddenly attack a rider, and I was as surprised as the poor characters. That’s partly what makes the races so fun to write. Who knows what will happen?
Kel and Coup had such a great dynamic. Were they always going to be enemies to lovers?
Kel and Coup – as fully formed individuals – came to me quite early on. They always had a very particular dynamic. I tried to fit their relationship into a few different moulds, just to make sure that their early antagonism was earned. They begin as rivals, though they’re the kind of rivals who would argue with each other in a storm, rather than seek shelter. They’re enemies, and they’re mirrors. When they’re offered the chance to escape their respectively dire situations, they say yes for the same reason: to protect the people they love.
When they’re forced to work together, it’s the perfect opportunity for them to clash and combust. But it also forces them close enough to acknowledge that – perhaps – they might work well together, if they can put their history aside. Writing that dual reluctance was so much fun.
Of Flame and Fury felt so new and exciting to me because it’s urban fantasy. What inspired you to set the story in a modern environment with current and futuristic tech?
Growing up, my dad fed me a steady diet of action movies with unique takes on technology – Terminator, Inception, Back to the Future, Jurassic Park. I loved them all. So I don’t think it was a conscious decision to set OFAF in a modern environment. The image of a phoenix race, full of fire-proof leathers and radio comms and wild crowds, came to me fully formed.
It was so different to anything I’d ever written. Figuring out the digital aspect of the world was the most frustrating and rewarding part of writing OFAF. Every piece of technology in this world is created for the purpose of commercialising phoenixes for entertainment. The inventions, the hobbies, the food, the politics, they all orbit the existence of phoenixes. What would a society look like if fiery magic was the heart of their economy? I started from there, and let OFAF shape itself.
With so much recent hype around dragons, do you think phoenixes could be the next big thing in fantasy books?
Dragons are pretty epic. Phoenixes are also epic. I think both speak to my inner pyromaniac (kidding). I’d love to read a phoenix and dragon fantasy, Godzilla vs. Kong style. The more the merrier.
Though I will always be biased in my love for phoenixes, I don’t foresee dragons going anywhere any time soon (and rightly so). But I will always love any book containing mythological creatures. The popularity of dragon books has really opened the doors for other fantasy books featuring animals. We’re getting mythological creatures in warm, cosy fantasies, like The Phoenix Keeper by S A MacLean, and nature spirits taking animal forms in incredible, epic fantasies, like The Prince Without Sorrow by Maithree Wijesekara. There’s so many new, unique books featuring phoenixes, dragons, and other fantasy creatures.
Bonus question: If we get a sequel to Of Flame and Fury, are you going to introduce any new phoenixes?
Thank you for asking! I have no clue what I’m allowed to say yet about Book 2, so I’ll remain vague and apologetic – my second contracted book is set in the same universe as Of Flame and Fury, but it’s a separate stand-alone novel, with an entirely new set of characters.
If Of Flame and Fury is burning with fire and practicality, Book 2 is drowning in beautiful, insidious magic. I’m calling it a Baz Luhrmann-directed YA Fantasy: loud, indulgent, lavish, tragic, romantic.
We may or may not see some similar themes, characters, and plot threads from Of Flame and Fury. Magical creatures will always be at the heart of this world, whether phoenixes or otherwise. But who knows? I know exactly what happens to Kel and the Crimson Howlers after OFAF, and there’s one particular phoenix subspecies that I’d love to spend more time with someday. I can’t wait to hear which subspecies are readers’ favourites, too. I need readers’ support so I can afford to commission gorgeous art of every phoenix subspecies. An author’s greatest dream.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mikayla Bridge is a fantasy author living in Melbourne, Australia. She can often be found playing board games, drinking too much coffee, and lovingly tormenting her characters. She grew up on a small-town farm and completed a BA with Honours in Political Science and International Relations. Raised on horror movies and musical theatre, her writing is often a love letter to both.
Visit Mikayla Bridge’s website
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