Hello and welcome to this Track of Words Author Interview, where today I’m chatting to the excellent Anna Stephens about her new Marvel novel The Serpent and the Dead, part of Aconyte Books’ growing Marvel: Legends of Asgard range. If you’re interested in reading about some of Marvel’s lesser-known Asgardian characters, and in particular some badass female characters kicking ass and getting to the bottom of a troubling mystery, then this may well be the book for you! It’s available as an ebook right now, with the US paperback following in September and the UK paperback in October.
Without further ado then, let’s get straight on with the interview.
Track of Words: To start things off, could you give us an overview of what The Serpent and the Dead is about?
Anna Stephens: Hi! The Serpent and the Dead is the story of two of Asgard’s mightiest heroines on a quest to discover why and how certain souls of slain warriors are vanishing before they can be transported to Valhalla. It’s part quest, part mystery, and all badass.
ToW: Without spoiling anything, who are the main characters and what do we need to know about them?
AS: This is an epic team-up between the goddess Lady Sif, sister of Heimdall, and the leader of the Valkyries, Brunnhilde. They’re old rivals but older friends, so Brunnhilde knows of Sif’s impetuosity and tendency towards recklessness, while Sif chafes under Brunnhilde’s steady leadership.
There’s also Inge, who’s a secondary character and Brunnhilde’s girlfriend. She’s a fine warrior and a born diplomat, an Asgardian rather than a goddess, and she acts as peacemaker between Sif and Brunnhilde.
ToW: Where is this set, and how does it fit in with the wider Marvel universe and timeline?
AS: We begin in Asgard, where the thefts occur, and cross it from Asgardia to the city of Meadowfall, and then Brunnhilde uses her teleportation ability to move herself and Sif to Jotunheim, Realm of the Giants, where they encounter many perils and the mastermind behind the soul-snatching.
We, and Marvel, wanted to leave the timeline fairly ambiguous so that it would appeal to a broad range of readers, those who come to it from the comics and others who might have discovered Sif and Brunnhilde via the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
As such, there are only a few references to past events for the more hardcore fans: this is set after Sif and Heimdall stole the Valkyries’ winged horses as youngsters, but before Sif herself gains her teleportation ability.
ToW: Were you already a Marvel fan before you wrote this? How does it feel to have written a Marvel novel?
AS: I was a Marvel fan, but I confess comics didn’t feature at all in my youth, so I came to it from the movies. I bought a few comics featuring both my characters to get a feel for how they’re portrayed in the comics universe – I didn’t want all my associations of them to come from the movies – and then did some research on Comic Vine to get a really good impression of them.
It feels a little surreal to have ‘written a Marvel’ in the same way people say they’ve ‘written a Star Wars’. I’m really proud of the book and it was great fun to write, so I hope people find it great fun to read!
From a ‘brand’ perspective – yuk – I hope it helps diversify my name away from the grimmer side of fantasy and prove that I can write more than just the dark stuff, although of course The Serpent and the Dead does follow two warriors looking for the souls of other warriors, so it’s heavy on the fighting. But it’s purposefully lighter in tone and more hopeful throughout. I hope it brings me some new readers!
ToW: Of all the Marvel characters you could have chosen to write about, what made you choose Sif and Brunnhilde, and want to tell this particular story?
AS: Obviously, I was engaged in some discussions with Aconyte Books, the publishers handling the novel side of Marvel Comics, and we bandied about a few options, but my editor there and myself both wanted me to focus on some lesser-known characters who deserve a wider audience and more recognition. Brunnhilde and Sif have been around in the comics for a long time, but probably never gained the same size following that Thor, for instance, did.
Bringing together two very fine and determined warriors who embody all the best qualities of Asgard sounded like it would make for an epic quest novel, with the added tension of their past rivalry and the high emotional stakes of the quest itself.
I particularly wanted to focus on their approach to the quest, their enemy, and each other, and make it more of a collaborative and almost softer plan, as opposed to Thor or the Warriors Three, for example, who’d probably just charge in there all guns blazing.
ToW: How did you find the experience of working on a Marvel story, as opposed to your own series? Were there any challenges or interesting possibilities that were different to writing your usual stories?
AS: It was really collaborative, which I enjoyed. Marvel is quite strict in that the synopsis which is approved is the backbone of the story. I have been known to go off on wild flights of fancy that lead me far away from my synopsis, so it was a personal challenge to really stick with the storyline I’d outlined and they’d agreed.
I’ve got some experience writing in other IPs already, as I write for Black Library in their Age of Sigmar and Warhammer Horror imprints, so I was familiar with the restrictions. The joy is in making the characters your own while keeping them recognisable to readers familiar with them.
ToW: How would you say this compares to your other, non-IP writing? Will readers who have read your other books find it a familiar style, or have you taken a different approach here?
AS: Ooh, good question.
I think there’s a lot in there that people will read and say, ‘Ah, this is an Anna Stephens book’, but as I mentioned above, it’s lighter in tone and more hopeful. It’s far shorter than my usual work, which was a challenge but, again, forced me to stick to my synopsis! Because of the mythical/Asgardian nature, some of the language and interactions are more formal – and, of course, there’s no swearing!
ToW: What do you hope readers will get out of The Serpent and the Dead by the time they’ve finished it?
AS: I hope they have a lot of fun reading it and that they appreciate seeing strong, talented women achieving great things by working together and being, when it comes down to it, absolutely dedicated and unwaveringly ruthless. At the same time, they talk about their feelings and discuss strategy – they’re the complete package. I guess I hope readers see that capability and that it resonates with them: that’s the reason why I dedicated the book to “Girls (of all sorts)” i.e. anyone who identifies as female and who might need a kickass role model to look up to.
ToW: If someone loves this and wants to read more of your work, what would you recommend they check out next?
AS: Oh, that’s a good question. The rest of my work is generally darker and a lot grittier, but if they liked the war aspects, then the Godblind trilogy certainly fulfils on that. If they enjoyed the gods and magic then The Stone Knife, book one of my new series, Songs of the Drowned.
If people want to check out short stories or editing chats, then my Patreon is probably the best place to find that collated together. The stories in there tend to be less grim, too.
ToW: Can you tell us anything about what you’re working on with Aconyte for future release, or anything else you’ve got in the pipeline in general?
AS: I’m at early stages of discussions with Aconyte for some more work, but nothing I can talk about at the moment.
I’ve just handed in the structural edit for Songs of the Drowned 2: monster boogaloo, and I’ll be embarking on the draft of Songs of the Drowned 3: don’t eat me for your tea very shortly.
I’m also doing some more Black Library work, and hope to have an announcement for you soon about a project due to be published early next year!
ToW: Lastly, if you could visit any one of the Ten Realms which one would you choose and why?
AS: Hmm, I think probably Vanaheim, as they have the ability to see the future and I think, what with climate change, it’d be nice to be able to see exactly how we need to act to avoid global catastrophe!
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Anna Stephens is the acclaimed British author of the Godbling Trilogy – an epic fantasy series somewhere on the grimdark scale – as well as a selection of novellas and short fiction. She has a second Dan black belt in Shotokan Karate and trains in sword fighting.
Check out Anna’s website for more information.
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Massive thanks to Anna for chatting to me for this interview, and for giving us the lowdown on what sounds like another fantastic Marvel novel from Aconyte Books! The Serpent and the Dead is available in ebook right now – the US paperback is due out on the 21st September, and the UK paperback on the 28th October.
See also: all of the other Marvel-related reviews and author interviews on Track of Words.
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