Episode 541-With Elaine Isaak aka E. C. Ambrose
This week, Patrick and Tracy welcome Elaine Isaak aka E. C. Ambrose, author of DRAKEMASTER.
\nAbout DRAKEMASTER: What connects an ancient map carved in a cane, a disgraced descendant of Chinggis Khan, and a secret Chinese society?
\n1257 AD, Kaifeng, China: Dailus, a European bronzecaster taken as a slave by the Mongols, builds mighty siege cannons for the Khan, but discovers there are even more frightening weapons. His fate intersects that of the Mongolian scout who enslaved him desperate to remove the name of \u2018traitor\u2019, the last warrior monk of a ruined temple, a Chinese astronomer\u2019s daughter forced to suppress her mind to her beauty, and a dancer whose grace hides deadly skills: allies and opponents in a race across medieval China to locate a clockwork doomsday device. As cities fall and empires are threatened, this legendary device could turn the tide of battle, or burn the world to ash with the power of the stars.
\nAn epic historical fantasy novel from the author of \u201cThe King of Next Week\u201d, The Dark Apostle and Bone Guard series.
\nAbout Elaine Isaak aka E. C. Ambrose: Author and editor Elaine Isaak credits first grade teacher Mrs. Krackhardt for nurturing an early enthusiasm for reading by allowing her to stay inside and read during recess\u2014and she hasn\u2019t looked back! She withdrew from the Rhode Island School of Design, where she was studying sculpture, to pursue her own interests in business and writing. She had a brief stint at a catalog company phone bank, which she highly recommends as a spur to getting your own business off the ground! Her interest in sewing three-dimensional design led her to work as an animal mascot creator, including one year in which she made over a dozen Easter rabbit costumes. For over a decade, she owned Curious Characters, creating original design stuffed animals and playful desktop sculptures, before finally devoting herself wholly to her writing.
\nIn addition to the many novels detailed on the Rocinante Books site, her stories have appeared in anthologies ranging from Warrior Women (Prime Books, 2016) to Fantasy for the Throne (Gray Rabbit, 2018). Her work also appeared in Uncle John\u2019s Bathroom Reader: Flush Fiction, which she hopes is a comment only on the readability and short duration of her flash stories. Under several names, she has published in and edited volumes of New Hampshire Pulp Fiction from Plaidswede including Love Free or Die, Live Free or Ride, about the venerable Concord Coach stagecoach, and Live Free or Dragons. She\u2019s also written non-fiction for Clarkesworld and Writers\u2019 Digest, and wrote the Lady Blade fantasy fiction column for Alien Skin magazine for three years.
\nElaine is a graduate of, instructor at and critiquer for the Odyssey Speculative Fiction Writing Workshop. Her short stories have received notice in the Boskone Short Fiction Contest, Tenebris Press Flash Horror contest, and the Ray Bradbury Short Story Award. She has been honored to serve as a juror for the Philip K. Dick Award, and the World Fantasy Award. An acclaimed workshop leader and speaker, Elaine has addressed audiences and worked with writers as part of the World Fantasy and World Science Fiction Conventions, the New Hampshire Youth Writers\u2019 Conference, the Bay Area Writers\u2019 League, and the 603 Conference, as well as numerous writers\u2019 groups. She has participated in the Library of Congress What-if? reading series, the New York Review of Science Fiction readings, and Boston Speculative Fiction.
\nElaine lives in New Hampshire where she creates wearable art clothing when she isn\u2019t climbing the walls at the rock gy...