This past week we gave the spotlight to Dark Oak, Jacob Sannox’s Dark Fantasy novel, the first book in The Dark Oak Chronicles series. Our Roadies brought a wide selection of content to this show with their reviews, interviews and more. Now it’s time to bring the show to an end and it’s my pleasure to present you with the encore, including some extra content. Come and learn a bit more about the world of Dark Oak through our Q&A with Jacob!
Shall we?
Jacob Sannox is a 37 year old writer from the sunny climes of Bedfordshire, England. In his spare time he is generally writing, thinking about writing or berating himself for not writing.
He loves to play the acoustic guitar, but wishes he was better at it, and he has recently taken up Dungeons & Dragons. This is dangerous, as he has a propensity for disappearing into fantasy worlds. Nobody saw Jacob Sannox between 2000 and 2010, during which time he was LARPing.
Do not judge him.
Connect with Jacob Sannox
Humanity has finally defeated the Dark Lord, but Morrick fought on the wrong side.
Though he was a slave, he is branded a traitor and must earn the trust of new lords in order to return to his family – if they are still alive.
Now that their common enemy is dead, the nobles begin to forget old loyalties, and Queen Cathryn’s realm looks set to plunge into war once more. But there are older and more terrible powers dwelling within the forest, and when they are awakened, Morrick will decide who lives or dies.
An SPFBO 2018 semi-finalist.
Click on the blog name to read their full review or other content!
NOVEMBER 21ST – THE KICKOFF
Whispers & Wonder – interview + IG spotlight @whispersandwonder
NOVEMBER 22ND
Westveil Publishing – review
“Overall this is a very interesting, unique book and I’m interested to see what the second instalment in this series will be like!”
@apocketfuloftomes – review + IG spotlight
“Overall, 𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒌 𝑶𝒂𝒌 is a man’s quest to find his way home, a woman forging a new life with her children, and nature’s vengeance on humanity.”
NOVEMBER 23RD
@katsreadingcorner – review + IG spotlight
“I absolutely love this book! Jacob has a classic writing style that meant I fell into this story and then just didn’t want to put it down!”
@fantasybookcraz_mum – review + IG spotlight
“The characters were well developed and the world created by the author is simply brilliant.”
@thenerdynook – review + IG spotlight
“I highly recommend this book for fans of: fantasy, mythology, political intrigue, slow-burn plots, multiple POVs, classic fantasy, and grimdark fantasy.”
NOVEMBER 24TH
OneReadingNurse – review + IG spotlight @onereadingnurse
“I think the magic is definitely the strongest aspect. I liked the political maneuvering by the Lords and watching the kingdom dissolve into mayhem. The book definitely had both strong and weak points, and it *lived* for the final quarter.”
@bookishbird_ – review + IG spotlight
“If you like a story of conflict, redemption and royal politics, then give this one a go!”
NOVEMBER 25TH
Living For Literature – review + IG spotlight @living_for_literature
“This Tolkien-inspired work was action-packed, full of complex relationships, and started to touch the surface of the creatures in the forest once thought to be myths, hinting that they would play an even bigger part in subsequent books.”
@curlytopreads – review + IG spotlight
“Jacob Sannox does this really cool thing where he immerses you fully into this world and makes you truly invested in his characters, straight from the beginning. He also knows how to set up worldbuilding in a way that feels organic and non clunky. With a writing style that gives classic vibes, this is definitely gonna be a hit for any fantaasy lover!”
NOVEMBER 26TH
Sadie’s Spotlight – spotlight
@Lilybug_reads – IG spotlight
Welcome to the Asylum, Jacob! Take a seat by the fire, have a glass of beverage of your choice and tell me something about yourself!
I’ll take a glass of Kraken rum, if you’re offering, thank you very much!
Something about myself…hmmm. Two lies and one truth.
I was an extra in Gladiator. That was intense. A real once in a lifetime experience. I once pretended to faint in front of Ian McKellen while he was dressed as Widow Twanky. Pretty surreal. I was born close to midnight and everybody was so distracted, they had to guess on which date I actually arrived!
What inspires your writing? Do you listen to music, stare into the fire, listen to the whispering of the wind, make deals with Loki?
All of the above, apart from making deals with the Devil. But I probably would. I mean, that would be great inspiration for a story all by itself. Write what you know!
I tend to listen to jazz, forest sounds, rain and thunder, a crackling fireplace or ambient music while I’m actually writing. I suppose I like to take the fantastical and try to make it as real as possible. I like to ask “what if?” questions about popular themes or scenarios and put my own spin on them. I am drawn to darker subject matter and the potential for hidden magics in a mundane world.
Describe an asylum set in the world of your book, Dark Oak!
A dryad, a soul born into a Mother Tree, that needed to be locked in an asylum could not be contained in a structure, and it would require many other dryads to struggle with it within the shared consciousness of the forest, a soul pursued and restrained, racing through root systems, failing to hide within trunks, branches and leaves until caught and suppressed by the intruding thoughts of its captors, who would bear down upon it and attempt to subdue and subvert their patient. The forest would become an asylum, with the patients’ ghosts trapped and tormented within the trees, and their passage would be marked by those who walked under their boughs, who would shiver and look this way and that, but see nothing.
Your MC is locked in an asylum. What did he/she do to end up there?
Almost certainly if they were a human character at the beginning of the book, it would be because they saw a dryad emerging from a tree, forming from the bark, only to slip back inside the trunk and disappear as though it was never there.
As for the supernatural creatures, the spirits of the dead returned as dryads, sylphs, naiads or oreads, I would say that they might have been reborn in a higher form too soon, before their souls had developed sufficiently. They would bring human flaw and folly to nature itself, and rip their minds apart trying to reconcile mammalian instinct and human emotion with the placid, dispassionate inevitability of nature.
Which fictional character (it can be one of yours) and/or author would you like to live with in an asylum and why?
Probably Edmond Dantes from the Count of Monte Cristo. We know he’s excellent at tunnelling out of prisons, and in the meantime, I could chat with Patrick O’Brian, who never finished the last Captain Aubrey/Dr Maturin novel. You know the series of books upon which the film Master and Commander was based? I’d like to know how their lives turned out!
While you are locked in here for eternity, we will allow you one book – what would you choose?
The final book of A Song of Ice and Fire. I don’t have to move in until it’s finished, right? Right?! Seriously, I’m looking forward to that, and you did say any book.
~struggles against guards. Fine, I’ll take The Hobbit. It all started there. Everything.
Well then, we hope you’ll enjoy your stay in the Asylum! Any last words? *locks door*
To better understand what brought me here, sign up to my readers’ club at www.jacobsannox.com
You get a free ebook…
Now, get down that hole, Dantes!
P.S. I pretended to faint in front of Ian McKellen when he came out of a stage door dressed as Widow Twanky.
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