I’m very excited to be interviewing the lovely Kristina Elyse Butke today!!
If you love stories with dark grim fairytale feels, siren magic, deadly curses, Son Of The Siren is definitely one you need on your TBR! It released this year and I had the pleasure of featuring it on instagram here (courtesy of MTMC Tours and Kristina!) and now I’m back with a fantastic Q&A with Kristina so you can have a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the making and inspirations of Son Of The Siren.
Sometimes love is a curse, a twisted, unnatural obsession.
Such is the dark magic of a siren’s song, the power of which half-siren Lirien witnesses for himself as he watches his mother sing his father, the King of Ardeth, into the sea. In a fruitless attempt to reverse his father’s fate, Lirien sings the siren song himself, not knowing its true power is seduction. Instead, he ensnares his stepmother, the Queen, with its hypnotic melody.
When Lirien refuses her desperate advances, she turns to forbidden magic to force her love on him. But wishing upon a havoc stone is an invitation to chaos. The queen’s own son and daughters, Lirien’s beloved siblings, are whisked away and transformed into animals. They flee the kingdom, and Lirien chases after them, his beautiful voice also gone.
Through elven mountains, fae forests, and siren waters, Lirien will stop at nothing to find and save his family. Threats come at him from all sides, but there are allies, too-Kitra, a shapeshifting fae fox who vows vengeance on the Queen for killing her brother, and Brandegil, an elf who can awaken the sacred sword Alibrandr to help break the spell on the children.
Together, they’ll bring the stars raining down from the heavens if that’s what it takes to save Lirien’s family, but there’s still the matter of breaking the spell on the Queen. And Lirien’s own deadly curse haunts him should he stray too long from the sea.
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Hi Kristina! So excited to have you on my blog to chat about Son Of The Siren! Can you tell us what sparked the idea for this epic story?
Glad to be here! I always wanted to write a story based on fairy tales, and to combine a bunch of them together to create something new (for example, if you’re a theatre fan, something like Into the Woods). For Son of the Siren, I took plots or motifs from the fairy tales Allerleirauh, The Wild Swans, and the Little Mermaid. Readers have told me they also see The Children of Lir in the book, although I haven’t read that story yet!
As a huge fairy tale fan myself, I loved the references!! How long did it take to go from that first draft to finished novel on our shelves?
It took me two years to write the book with an additional year of revisions based on beta reader feedback. But when I signed with Oliver Heber Books, things felt like a whirlwind in comparison. I got the book deal in December 2023 and the book came out July 2024.
Tell us three things about Lirien!
- Lirien has an absolutely beautiful voice, both when speaking and singing. This is because he is half-siren. But his voice doesn’t have any special power in it…not until he learns it’s not how he sings, but what he sings that counts.
- Lirien is the eldest son of the King of Ardeth, but because his mother was a siren, Lirien is an official bastard of the King and is not in the line of succession. His half-sister Nina is next in line to the throne.
- Lirien has high musical aptitude and can play multiple instruments, but his favorite is the lyre.
Sirens are such fascinating mythological creatures and I loved reading your spin on them. Are there any other mythology creatures/beings you’d love to write about someday?
Thank you so much! So…I’ve loved unicorns ever since I was a little girl and I would love to write a story where they make an appearance. I also wouldn’t mind writing a story with vampires in it, but I haven’t quite worked out how to pull that one off.
Okay, important question!! Do you have any favourite writing snacks or rewards for when you hit a milestone?
I lived in Japan when I wrote Son of the Siren so I would reward myself with going to the local bookstore Tsutaya and pick up some BL manga. When I came back to the USA, we celebrated my publication by going to my favorite Chinese restaurant.
Aside from Lirien, who was one of your favourite characters to write?
Kitra was so much fun to write! She was a challenge at first though–in earlier drafts she was a much darker character, and I hit a wall with that interpretation, so I made her lighter and funnier and feistier. She’s a trickster and faery and shapeshifting fox all in one, and she loves riddles and rhymes. Coming up with her rhymes was a little bit tough, but ended up being a lot of fun.
Kitra was so amazing, and loved her trickster energy. Are you a plotter or a panster? How much do you know about your story before you get started writing?
I’m a pantser who desperately wants to be a plotter, but it’s never worked out for me when I try it. I just don’t know that much in advance what I’m writing, and I tend to meander through things. The best I can do is make some bullet points about general things I want to happen, but the rest of the writing is exploring the way to get there. The nice thing about this is the writing feels more organic and exciting to me, but the downside is that I have to do multiple drafts to tighten the story up and it takes longer to write.
I definitely feel that with the plotter vs panster pros and cons haha. What are some of the best author moments you’ve had so far?
Seeing the cover of the novel for the first time was quite a big deal–it truly solidified that my book was going to be published. I also enjoyed seeing the character art made for the book by Juhaihai–I used these for preorder campaigns and for reviewers. I think some of my favorite moments come from reviews, though. I know for my sanity I’m not supposed to read them, but when someone really gets your book, it’s such a rewarding feeling.
Oh seeing the cover for the first time is truly magical!! And lastly, can you tell us a bit about your next projects?
I’m working on a trilogy: The Name and the Key, The Step and the Walk, and The Fear and the Flame. The story focuses on Lily, a girl haunted by her dead mother’s spirit in every reflective surface she sees. Her best friend Andresh may know the key to breaking this curse, but his own secrets may destroy them both. The first book is based off of my graduate thesis at Seton Hill University, but I’m doing a complete rewrite and overhaul of it to fashion it into a trilogy. It’s been an exciting challenge so far!
Omg sounds absolutely amazing. Will be keeping my eye out for this one!! Thank you so much for the amazing answers, Kristina, and all the congrats on your fantastic release this year!!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kristina Elyse Butke started writing early, focusing on plays and musical theater, later having her original works produced at the Ohio State University Mansfield. In 2013, she decided to switch from the stage to the page and earned her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. Since then, she has contributed to the webzine Speculative Chic and also did subtitle proofreading for the anime Skip Beat! and published poetry with ExFic, First Class Literary, and Synaeresis Magazine. She has presented at conventions all over the state of Ohio, including Animate, Ohayocon, Colossalcon, and Matsuricon. She has also appeared at conferences in Japan when she worked as an assistant language teacher of English in Kumamoto prefecture. She has also lived abroad in Wales in addition to Japan, and her time in both countries has informed her writing, often serving as the inspiration for many fantastical settings in her works. When Kristina isn’t travelling or writing, she nerds out in cosplay and indulges her otaku side by streaming as much anime as humanly possible and diving into manga and comics. Her debut YA fantasy novel, Son of the Siren, is out now from Oliver-Heber Books.
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