A. S. Thornton is the wonderful author of Daughter Of The Salt King, an epic, romantic fantasy where the desert meets the sea, about the magic of wishes—and their unintended consequences. A. S. is a fellow author at CamCat books. She’s also a popular book blogger and bookstagrammer!
Can you pinpoint when in your life you decided to be a writer?
I adored writing as a kid and collected all of my stories in a binder (which I still have. They are certainly a good laugh!). I abandoned the hobby after my 10-year-old self decided Barbies were more exciting. I always assumed that my writing as child was just me being, well, a child, but when I started my book blog back in 2016, I started to get the itch to write again. Now I wonder if that budding writer was perhaps in that 10-year-old somewhere.
What was your path to publishing for this book?
After I drafted DAUGHTER OF THE SALT KING and thought I had sufficiently completed edits (ha!), I queried agents. Rejection, rejection, rejection. I started reading books on the writing craft and also had Larry Brooks (author of STORY ENGINEERING) help me iron out some of the kinks. I did a major overhaul (including changing from third person to first, which really results in re-writing the entire novel!). A few weeks after finishing that, I entered a Twitter pitch content (#PitDark). Camcat Books liked my pitch and the rest is history!
What is the central message you hope readers take away from the novel?
That no matter how hard your life is, you can get through it. There are so many things in life that are out of our control, so focus on that which you can change: you. Do whatever you need to do to protect and preserve yourself, and you will thrive even in the most barren landscape.
Do you hide any secrets in the book that only a few people will find?
Yes! If you are a fan of the movie MOULIN ROUGE, you will see a few easter eggs tucked away in there.
What is your writing process?
I like to have a clear picture of the plot before I start writing. I go through my major plot points using SAVE THE CAT! WRITES A NOVEL, and then I do more character development using STORY GENIUS. Once that is hammered out, I start drafting. Of course, things change as the writing goes, but having some framework in mind before I start makes it much easier for me to draft.
What are you working on now?
The sequel to DAUGHTER OF THE SALT KING. It is part of the Salt Chasers duology, so I’m working on the final part of the story: SON OF THE SALT CHASER (estimated to be released in 2022).
Where can our readers purchase your published work?
Anywhere books are sold! Camcatbooks.com, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository… on and on! I’m sure your local bookstore would love to sell you a copy, too. Note: En
What’s your official author bio?
A. S. Thornton is the author of Daughter of the Salt King (CamCat Books, 2021). She has evolved from book blogger to author with a particular fondness for writing forbidden love in ancient deserts. She lives with her husband who deserves a trophy for the amount of gooey love scenes he’s edited. After spending time in Chicago and Colorado, they decided the snow is wholly overrated, and settled in Northern California. When not writing, she’s taking care of dogs and cats as a veterinarian. You’ll never find animals at the center of her writing, though. Those fictional worlds don’t have veterinarians and her literal brain can’t accept that the poor critters would be without parasite prevention. Learn more about A. S. on her website asthornton.com.
And finally, where can readers find you on social media?
I’m most active on Instagram (or should I say bookstagram?): @as_thornton. You can also find me on Twitter with the same username (but usually I’m not saying much, just lurking in the background reading all the drama).
Thank you for your time today, A. S. I look forward to reading your next novel!
Synopsis of Daughter Of The Salt King:
As a daughter of the Salt King, Emel ought to be among the most powerful women in the desert. Instead, she and her sisters have less freedom than even her father’s slaves . .. for the Salt King uses his own daughters to seduce visiting noblemen into becoming powerful allies by marriage.
Escape from her father’s court seems impossible, and Emel dreams of a life where she can choose her fate. When members of a secret rebellion attack, Emel stumbles upon an alluring escape route: her father’s best-kept secret—a wish-granting jinni, Saalim.
But in the land of the Salt King, wishes are never what they seem. Saalim’s magic is volatile. Emel could lose everything with a wish for her freedom as the rebellion intensifies around her. She soon finds herself playing a dangerous game that pits dreams against responsibility and love against the promise of freedom. As she finds herself drawn to the jinni for more than his magic, captivated by both him and the world he shows her outside her desert village, she has to decide if freedom is worth the loss of her family, her home and Saalim, the only man she’s ever loved.