Ashleigh Mattern launched her debut novel Magicked Born at McNally Robinson on Wednesday, June 28 to a standing-room-only crowd, selling out the available copies.
Magicked Born is a young adult fantasy novel that follows five viewpoint characters whose lives are inexorably linked, their fates foreseen before they’ve ever met. But visions can be deceiving.
The story starts with Blaze and her twin sister Nova who lead a quiet life on the outskirts of their village until soldiers threaten their lives for being Magicked. Forced to flee, the sisters must rely on each other to survive in a world that doesn’t accept them.
Ashleigh says Magicked Born was inspired by authors like Tamora Pierce (especially her Song of the Lioness series) and Lois McMaster Bujold, and she found inspiration in TV shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, and video games like World of Warcraft and the Final Fantasy series.
"As a young reader, books like Magicked Born helped me deal with bullying," Ashleigh said. "When I was reading fantasy novels, I was no longer an awkward kid in suburban Saskatoon; for the span of a few hundred pages, I would become a mage living in a different world. This book is for kids who want to escape into an adventure, and it’s for adults like me who have never tired of those exciting stories."
Ashleigh has been working as a freelance writer since 2007, getting her start at the Saskatoon StarPhoenix and the USask student newspaper the Sheaf, and later working for CBC as a reporter, copy editor and associate producer. She is the co-owner of Vireo Creative Website Design & Marketing, and Play Sask Sports, an adult recreational sports league.
Magicked Born is available in print at McNally Robinson and on Amazon, and as an ebook on Kindle, Kobo and Apple Books. You can read more about Ashleigh at ashleighmattern.com.