The 27th novelette, " – tends to crumble – ", is now under way:

https://thecityofroses.com/story/TendsToCrumbleOpening

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This includes the first book in my series, Prince Ewald the Brave.

A compassionate young man must save his family and the kingdom from a petty and capricious tyrant: his own father.

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Author Spotlight: Epic Fantasy Author A.K. Hauser

A.K. Hauser is a Danish author with German roots. After dropping out of high school at age seventeen to travel around Europe, he instantly fell in love with the backpacking life before settling down as a freelance translator upon his return to Denmark. He was diagnosed with Tourette’s as a child and later with Asperger’s and dysthymia, which have forced him to seek a lifestyle outside the norm in order to survive. It was when he picked up creative writing, however, that he started to thrive.

Author Links

Website: akhauser.com
Discord & Newsletter: https://akhauser.com/pages/community
Instagram: @authorakhauser
Facebook: /AuthorHauser

Add The Cradle of Oshae to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/221067175-the-cradle-of-oshae?ac=1

Your adult fantasy trilogy sounds epic, and the first novel has 9 POVs! How did you develop the characters’ voices to keep them sounding different, and which has been the most challenging to write?

It wasn’t easy, that’s for sure! And keeping them unique but still readable has definitely been a balancing act. Some of the characters’ voices were pretty much there right away, while others (like Moz, who was by far the hardest to nail down) have had many reworks throughout the editing process.

When I write, I try to keep in mind where the character is from, how old they are, who they are on the inside, how they want to come across on the outside, and where they are in their journey.

For instance, Fike and Paeon are both from the Seaborn tribe, but one is an energetic 8-year-old girl while the other is a calmer, less excitable man in his early twenties. What they know about the world will be similar because of where they are from, but their ages and personalities make them perceive it in different ways, which comes across in things like their vocabulary, their tone, and what they notice around them vs what they don’t.

And the book also takes place across a journey where characters meet other cultures they’ve never encountered before (and experience things they’ve never experienced), which will alter their voices to some extend – again depending on their age and personality. For instance, an 8-year-old girl is much quicker to adopt a new word or have her world view shaken than a 60-something-year-old Druid (looking at you, Eh’rru).

It’s difficult but it’s honestly one of the things I love most about writing! It feels a little like acting, just without the camera and lights 😀

You have multiple fantasy cultures represented in the novel, from Sandborn to Riverborn and Seaborn. What came first, the geography or the idea for these communities and cultures, and what was your worldbuilding process like?

Such an interesting question! I’m not sure if I can actually pinpoint one specific source or approach, because they all feed into each other, but generally speaking I think the characters come first, then the cultures, and then the geography.

But I think this example will underline why it’s all one chaotic mess of ideas, thoughts, and “what ifs”: In the case of Paeon and The Valley, I first wanted to write about a village on the coast (probably because I was living in a small coastal town at the time… very original!), and then I asked myself “what if there were no trees in this place? That would really suck” and “what if it was just nice and warm all the time? That would be really nice.” Then I slowly realized that this place was basically a desert (I thought of a North African climate) and then by one logic step figured out how they must survive in a place like that.

I then watched a short documentary about a Senegalese man harvesting salt from a pink lake, and the Seaborn village of Maroo immediately popped into my head, because “what if people built their houses with this pink salt? The village would just be pink!” (wow, amazing conclusion😂) — but it was such a strong, beautiful image. And the struggles of that man’s life was such a stark contrast to that aesthetic beauty. His struggle became the struggle of Paeon’s mother, and Paeon’s struggle became the hardship of his mother’s life; of wanting to help her while not really being able to do so.

There’s A LOT more to that specific conception of Paeon, Maroo, and The Valley, but I hope this was at least somewhat interesting even though my point was to show just how random the creation process can be.

What gave you the idea of intertwining 9 separate stories, and what was your outlining and drafting process like for keeping these narratives flowing?

This was by far the most chaotic part of my writing process. They were actually just the first 9 characters that I wrote — almost like character studies — but rather than discarding them if something didn’t work, I forced myself to just MAKE it work, which eventually lent itself well to this flow of one long narrative where more and more characters are added along the way. But it was hard to stop at 9; I wanted to keep adding more (especially on occasions when one POV got hard and it would be easier to just jump into a new one), so the process all in all was a lot like having a demon and an angel on my shoulders, one saying “do whatever you want” and the other saying “but take responsibility for the things that you do.”

Time will tell if I’ve succeeded, especially as I write books 2 and 3, and although there’s always room for improvement, I’m very happy with the way book 1 turned out in this regard!

A lot of your characters are looking for something, whether that’s adventure or revenge or the truth about themselves or the world around them; was this central thread of seeking or a sense of absence a core theme you intended to explore all along, or did this happen organically? 

What an amazing question. Hmm. I think the seeking and sense of absence has always been my own core theme in life, so as a first-time writer, I did the thing where everything is basically built on something I know or can relate to. This happened at a subconscious level at first, but as I began editing the book, I of course became more aware of it and started to look at what I’d written almost like a mirror. I decided to celebrate that, though, because I think it’s something that can only happen once in an author career — that raw, unfiltered expression of ‘me’ — and as I refined the book I tried to make it less obvious, because in the end it is a story; it isn’t me, even though each character has a lot of me in them.

What is it about epic fantasy as a genre that helps you to explore these themes?

Freedom of expression and sense of setting, I’d say. In fantasy, I feel like anything can become anything. How I experience the fall of rain on a September morning can became an entire culture’s outlook on life or relationship with their God of Rain, for instance.

A specific philosophy about death can become a character’s body language or an elemental spirit that behaves or reacts in certain ways — and any little way of viewing the world can become exaggerated or distorted or tamed and put into contexts that feel more like dreams than reality, although, ironically, those fictitious dreams can often tell us (readers and writers) more about ourselves than a psychology class at school.

All of that coupled with the fact that I get to choose when and where it takes place just makes for the perfect tool for simultaneous escapism and self-exploration! I adore the pre-medieval settings, for instance, and I spend a great deal of time thinking about all that we do not know, like the lives of the Germanic tribes before the Romans wrote about them, or the entire Americas before everything got documented and interpreted through European minds.

What are your publishing plans for the trilogy, and can you tell us about the artists you’re collaborating with on this journey?

While I hope to not leave readers hanging for too long between now and book 2, I must also admit that I’m a very slow writer. I plan on updating those who are curious through Discord and newsletters, though! And indeed, I’m extremely honored to collaborate with 30 local artists who’ve all created works of art based on my book!

This idea began in January 2022, and we’ll finally be able to unveil what the artists have created this November, 2024. The book’s cover was created this way, because Liv Hentze, the artist who drew the cover, applied to join and just happened to be one of the most talented people with a pencil I’ve ever seen, and several other artists’ work have inspired me to change or underline certain aspects of the book (and future books) that I wouldn’t have otherwise thought of!

You can find the exhibition by Googling ‘Fantasy Art Exhibition – The Cradle of Oshae‘ or by visiting my website – akhauser.com – where art prints and leftover originals will also be available for purchase (or casual browsing) from mid November.

Like This? Try These!

Writing scripture hits different when you’re the heretic in charge. 🤪

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