Contemporary Authors

• From Unseen Fire - 2018 DAW Books, New York, NY

• Reddit - https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/8el874/hello_im_sff_author_cass_morris_ask_me_anything/

  AMAHello, I'm SFF author Cass Morris! Ask me anything! (self.Fantasy)

  submitted 2 months ago * by CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris
  Hello, r/fantasy!

  I’m Cass Morris, and my debut novel, historical fantasy epic From Unseen Fire, Book One of the Aven Cycle, came out from DAW Books last Tuesday! Short summary: I gave the ancient Romans magic to see what they'd do with it. There are two more books forthcoming in the Aven Cycle; I’m also working on a space opera and a secondworld fantasy.

  I’ve lived in Virginia or on the Outer Banks of North Carolina all of my thirty-two years, and have a degree in English from William and Mary and a degree in Shakespeare from Mary Baldwin College. I’ve spent a lot of my life studying rhetoric and history. I’ve worked as a Shakespeare educator, a science museum educator, a bookstore clerk, a movie theatre projectionist, a server at a poolside restaurant, an actor at a Renaissance faire, and an actor in a murder mystery dinner theatre company. In my spare time, I run a Patreon, embroider, play Mario Kart, wear corsets voluntarily, and read whatever I can get my hands on. So feel free to ask me about anything along those lines, too! Or about Disney princesses. Or chocolate chip cookie making secrets. Or my favorite Plantagenet. Whatever takes your fancy, really!

  Ask me anything, and I’ll be back this evening to provide answers!

  Edit: Thanks, y’all! This was fun. Find me on Twitter & IG at @CassRMorris for more!

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  [–]BaffledBrownCow 6 points 2 months ago
  Hi Cass. I'm curious about your path to publishing. How long did it take from when you started writing to when the book actually appeared on bookshelves? Was the path smooth or were there bumps along the way?

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 3 points 2 months ago
  Hello! I started writing From Unseen Fire during NaNoWriMo 2011 -- so it's been a bit of a journey! I did the math last week, and those six and a half years represent 20% of my whole life, which is a startling thing to think about. By early 2013 I was ready to start querying agents, and I signed with one in October of that year. We spent a bit of time doing some more revisions, and then we spent quite a while on sub. I was actually on the verge of thinking we were going to have to shelve this project when DAW made an offer in fall of 2015. Then it was still two and a half years from there to publication -- partly because I got passed to a different editor (the amazing Betsy Wolheim) halfway through, which pushed the whole timetable by a few months. It was certainly a lesson in practicing patience!

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  [–]Chocolatl 3 points 2 months ago
  What was the querying process like for you? Did you finish writing and then start querying, or start the process while you were still working on the book?

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 2 points 2 months ago
  I had finished writing, had edited quite a lot, and had been beta-read before I started querying. I don't know of any agents who will look at unfinished manuscripts (not for fiction, anyway -- nonfiction works a bit differently, I believe). So I wanted to make sure it was as polished as I could get it, so that when someone made a request for pages, I had an impressive product to show them!

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  [–]MerelyMishaWorldbuilders 3 points 2 months ago
  Ooh, I'll take chocolate chip cookie making secrets!

  Also, what are some random things you've learned from your many jobs that you've applied to your writing?

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 3 points 2 months ago
  So I tend to use the Tollhouse recipe, but with a few caveats and addendums. I add a healthy sprinkling of cinnamon powder to the recipe, at the same time that I'm creaming in the brown sugar, which warms the whole recipe up a bit, I think. When I'm baking just for myself and not for family, I'll actually use cinnamon extract along with or instead of vanilla -- but I'm usually baking for family, and they don't care for the strength of flavor you get with that. I always put in more chocolate chips than the recipe calls for -- as much as half as much again, particularly if I decide not to put in walnuts. And I always, always, always churn the batter by hand rather than using a mixer. I don't know why, but I swear it matters -- the air gets into it differently, or something.

  Working with Shakespeare, which was my longest term job (7 years), taught me so much about the dramatic power of language and using rhetoric to build characters' voices. My various service jobs taught me both patience and a lot about the, ah, various manifestations of human nature. ;D

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  [–]verykaitlynsage 3 points 2 months ago
  Hi Cass! Will you talk a little about the research you did while writing FROM UNSEEN FIRE?

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 3 points 2 months ago
  Certainly! A lot of it was reviving old studies. I started taking Latin in the 7th grade, and they teach a lot of Roman history and culture alongside the language, and I continued taking classical history classes up through college. So I dove back into that, both the primary sources like Plutarch, Tacitus, Caesar, and lots of secondary sources. I wanted to know more about the social history that most classes, even in college, will get you, so books like Alberto Angela's A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome were invaluable. I've got a bibliography of sorts up on my website!

  I also took a research trip to Rome in 2016! I spent three days tramping up and down the Seven Hills and wandering through museums. From Unseen Fire was mostly done with revisions by then, but I did make a few adjustments and additions, and I gathered a lot of good material for Book Two.

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  [–]tinalecountmyers 3 points 2 months ago
  Hi! This is such an interesting AMA. I love when history and fantasy intersect. Do you feel there is any particular challenges in combining the two?

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 3 points 2 months ago
  Hello! I've always felt that history and fantasy melt together fairly naturally. Even secondworld fantasies often take inspiration from Earth's history, after all. My challenge was sort of not diving so deeply into the history that I forgot the fantasy -- not getting caught up in the minutiae, y'know? I wanted the world to feel real and detailed, and I wanted particularly to showcase some aspects of Roman culture that readers might not know about or might think of differently than was reality for the Romans, but I didn't want to lose sight of the magic -- or just lose the readers in an encyclopedic morass. For example, an early draft had a long section about the procedure of elections in the Tribal Assembly that my agent quite sensibly had me kill!

  I actually wrote just recently about the intersection of history and fantasy for Fantasy Cafe's Women in SFF month!

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  [–]danjvelker 3 points 2 months ago
  How much do you find that fantasy and history are connected? Do you find that fantasy is generally stronger when it relies on history (meaning either historical realism, similarity to historical events, or both) or is the heart of fantasy really in the creation of something new?

  Also, having lightly studied Shakespeare, I've heard so many differing opinions about him. I know many brilliant people who think he's an unparalleled genius, but I also know many brilliant people who claim he's a witless hack. I know that he's performed now as high-brow drama, but that in his time he included a lot of ribald jokes to attract the lowest common denominator. I wonder if you could shed some light on these seeming contradictions, or if all of them are true at the same time, or if it's really something that's more nuanced than what I'm presenting.

  Thanks! And congratulations on the book release.

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 3 points 2 months ago
  Thank you!

  I don't know about stronger, but I do think the two subjects marry together rather naturally. Even when fantasy is creating something new, there's usually still history in its seeds -- because authors bring their personal views of history with them. Middle Earth isn't our Earth, but the Rohirrim are Anglo-Saxons nonetheless. As with most things, the real trick is in what an author chooses to do with that history and give it a compelling new spin.

  Shakespeare is absolutely an unparalleled genius. And he never met a pun or a penis joke he didn't like. Those aren't mutually exclusive. I don't know if I most blame the Puritans, the Victorians, or the 1950s for giving us the idea that prudery is a virtue equivalent with quality of substance. And I can only roll my eyes at anyone who says he's a hack because he borrowed most of his plotlines, because it displays both snobbery and ignorance at the same time. All playwrights of his era borrowed their plotlines; originality of plot wasn't the point, but originality of language was. And we still do that! There are only so many basic stories; all writers respin and recombine them all the time. Shakespeare's language, though, reveals much of his genius. His rhetorical skills are incomparable. But he's also a genius about humanity. He never presents just one side of an issue, and he gave voice to so many different types of characters who never rise above stock form in his contemporaries' works. He was a linguistic genius, incredibly empathetic, and also a savvy businessman.

  Also, if you've only seen him performed as high-brow drama, you have not seen the right Shakespeare. I will shamelessly recommend my prior place of employment, the American Shakespeare Center, which is located in Virginia but has a tour that goes across the country, as a company that takes Shakespeare off the pedestal and puts him back where he belongs: right alongside the audience.

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  [–]danjvelker 2 points 2 months ago
  Ha! It's a joy to hear an opinion as nuanced as it is unflinchingly honest. I'm just educated enough to be able to engage in these discussions, but not quite so educated that I can debunk (or "bunk") these sorts of claims as thoroughly as you have.

  I think probably the best Shakespeare production I've seen was A Comedy of Errors, set in New Orleans. That was actually performed in my hometown (St. Louis) so you saw a lot of that ragtime and jazz influence seep very naturally into the setting. And, of course, the source material was hilarious. I guess I can see what you mean by putting him right alongside the audience. I guess I can't imagine seeing that done with, say, A Winter's Tale, or Othello, or A Merchant of Venice.

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 3 points 2 months ago
  Oooooh, that sounds delightful! Comedy of Errors was a play I had to learn to like, but when you embrace the ridiculousness, it is an absolute riot.

  So the thing about the darker plays is that the connection comes down, in my opinion, to audience contact, which is something most modern productions lose. At the ASC, we (and I still say "we" even though I don't work there anymore) perform in what's called universal lighting -- meaning the lights stay on the audience as well as on the actors, they share that same light level throughout the entire play. When you do that, you discover all the opportunities that the actors have to share themselves with the audience, and that makes such a difference.

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  [–]danjvelker 2 points 2 months ago
  Comedy of Errors was a play I had to learn to like

  Heh. In highschool, we did a production of Taming of the Shrew. The funniest part is that it's now one of my favorite plays of his. We just embraced all of the awful and turned it into something... significantly less than awful, by the end. (There's still a fair amount of awful.)

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  [–]MRMarescaAMA Author Marshall Ryan Maresca 3 points 2 months ago
  OK, Cass: You have to organize and lead a fantastic and brilliant diamond heist that involves a five-star hotel, a celebrity-filled gala, a Norwegian princess and a highly guarded armored car.

  Your crew: your choice of Shakespearean heroines.

  Who do you sign on your crew, and who does what job?

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 4 points 2 months ago
  This is such a great question!

  Okay. I definitely need Imogen, who is the literal embodiment of keeping her head on straight when others are losing theirs. She'll be monitoring our tech and probably driving. Viola will be good to have, but more as a distraction, because she is not the best planner. She can talk to anybody, though, so she'll be good to have around the celebs. Queen Margaret can help me plan and keep everyone on task, and Beatrice has the kind of mind that will spot the flaws in whatever we come up with. And I want Juliet, because she is low-key absolutely brilliant, and maybe if I redirect her onto a project, she'll decide she has something to live for. She's also only thirteen, so she'll be small enough to squeeze into air ducts and such. Celia we can use for stealth, because that girl can keep quiet like she's getting paid. Emilia can go undercover as hotel staff and actually pass herself off, which all those noble ladies would have trouble doing.

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  [–]briargreyWorldbuilders, Reading Champion 2017 3 points 2 months ago
  What's your recommendation for a good place to get corsets? Also, we have a new person named Ophelia around the office -- how do I resist murmuring Hamlet quotes to her?

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 2 points 2 months ago
  By reminding yourself that she's likely heard them all before. ;)

  So it depends on what kind of corset you want! For something with a very simple shape that comes in lots of gorgeous colors, excellent for cosplay, I recommend Timeless Trends. For more versatility of shape but fewer fabric options, Orchard Corset is magnificent and quite economical. My favorite corset is from Isabella Corsetry. These are a bit higher end, but they're also higher quality and will give a more distinctive shape. I have a Josephine from them, which is perfect for my body shape, as the extra goring over the hips lets me get a tighter cinch out of the waist. Do not buy from Corset Story or any of their affiliates; their corsets are terribly made, use plastic boning instead of steel, and they also steal designs.

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  [–]briargreyWorldbuilders, Reading Champion 2017 1 point 2 months ago
  Great, thank you!!

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 1 point 2 months ago
  You're welcome!

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  [–]LaraLillibridge 2 points 2 months ago
  Do you do any renaissance things now? My brother was a Scadian for many years.

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 1 point 2 months ago
  Not at the moment, but I hope to go back someday! I had to give up faire when I started working full-time, because it was a bit too far away to get to from where I lived, and rehearsals were in April and May, when we were always super busy at the Shakespeare Center. I worked so many weekends that there just wasn't time to fit it in -- nor energy, even if I'd had the time! I still try to go back to visit at least once a year, though.

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  [–]whatwouldjanedo 2 points 2 months ago
  Can you tell us more about your Rome? What’s your history/fantasy blend like & did you intentionally steer your world toward the mix you wanted or just let it happen?

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 2 points 2 months ago
  Certainly! So my Rome is called Aven, after the Aventine Hill, which in my alternate universe was the first hill settled, rather than the Palatine as in our history's legendary founding of the city. The magic is elemental, and the Aventans consider that it's the blessing of the gods. Each of the nine elements -- Earth, Air, Water, Fire, Spirit, Time, Light, Shadow, and Fracture -- has two major deities governing it and bestowing those blessings, but might have influence from minor deities as well. For example -- Ceres and Diana are the major deities of Earth, but you might also see influence from Pan, Flora, Pomona in various aspects.

  In the modern age, the gifts are what I'd call low-saturation. In many mages, they simply manifest as preternatural talent for something related to their element, something that gives them a professional edge. Mages with a bit more power can manage real charms and affect the world around them: Fire-forgers are Fire mages who can create charmed armor, for example, and there are Air mages who can direct birds as messengers. Mages with truly phenomenal power are rarer now than they once were -- but my heroine, Latona, is in the process of discovering that she just might be one of them.

  I found that the magic and the world-building fell together pretty easily because I had that bridge of the Roman pantheon to work with. The ancient Romans certainly believed in magic and in divine powers already, so grafting my elemental system on to their world came naturally. What was really interesting to think about, though, was how that would then affect the legal system. There are laws governing the behavior of mages -- the leges tabulae magicae, a sort of extension of Rome's Twelve Tables -- as well as a prohibition on mages climbing the political ladder (a prohibition that my male protag, Sempronius Tarren, is secretly in violation of).

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  [–]speckofawesome 2 points 2 months ago
  Can you tell us any more about the Space Opera? If not, which classical text (Catullus' poems, Tacitus' histories, Suetonius' gossip, etc) would you recommend everyone (or most) read and why?

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 4 points 2 months ago
  I can! It's still quite early in the drafting process, so it's honestly a bit of a hot mess right now, but it's going to be an adventurous romp. My heroine was inspired by Julie d'Aubigny, a bisexual French swordswoman/opera singer who had a habit of getting into duels with her lovers' other lovers and who once set a convent on fire to get her girlfriend out of it.

  As for the Roman texts -- I love Catullus, and I think from him you get a really gorgeous sense of the Roman character. He's best known for his naughty poems, but he also writes some gorgeous verse as well as some politically-incisive invectives.

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  [–]Pisces_66 2 points 2 months ago
  Since you mentioned it in your bio, who's your favorite Plantagenet? What is your next project and how does it relate to From Unseen Fire?

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 1 point 2 months ago
  My favorite Plantagenet-by-marriage is Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of history's all-time greatest badasses. My favorite Plantagenet-by-birth is probably Richard III, whom history has given quite a bad rap. And I'm House of York all the way.

  My immediate next project is very much related to From Unseen Fire, as I'm working on the as-yet-untitled Book Two in the Aven Cycle! It picks up just a couple of months after From Unseen Fire leaves off and will take those characters into more harrowing magical situations and political entanglements.

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  [–]AryaSkywalker 2 points 2 months ago
  Hello,

  Does classic Roman mythology exist in your world? If so, are they still considered gods or just talented Mages?

  What was your "role" at the Renaissance fair? And did you always act in character?

  Who is your favorite Disney Princess?

  How do you deal with writers' block?

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 2 points 2 months ago
  The gods exist, but aren't a direct part of the plot. Magical talents are seen as gifts from the gods. The Aventans pray to them, sacrifice to them, bargain with them, as the Romans did, but the gods don't pop in for an in-person chat.
  I played a variety of roles over the years! I started off as a lower-class girl, a ribbon-seller, when I worked there as a teenager. When I came back after college and could afford better clothing, I upgraded to the gentry, first playing a character invented for the faire's overall plotline, then playing one of my favorite women in all of history, Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke. I played her still unmarried, though, when she was still Mary Sidney.
  Jasmine, hands down.
  By popping over to another project. "Writer's block" for me usually means that there's some problem with the project that I haven't sorted out yet -- or else it just means I'm being lazy. Bouncing to something else refreshes my brain and can either help me sort out what's wrong or help me to re-focus.
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  [–]AryaSkywalker 1 point 2 months ago*
  Thanks for responding!

  That makes the most sense, honestly.

  I've only gone to one Renaissance fair and it was amazing, but unfortunately I didn't have the time nor money to make a good costume. I just wore a blouse thing that looked almost tribal. But I bought myself some gold elf ears for next time! c;

  Mine is Belle, haha. Jasmine is a close second, though.

  Very true.

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 2 points 2 months ago
  Belle is excellent! I have a lot of affinity for her, book-lover that she is. But Jasmine just resonated with me. She got to wear pants and yell and she had a pet* tige*r. And I love that canonically she gets to go on having adventures after she and Aladdin get married!

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  [–]AryaSkywalker 1 point 2 months ago
  Good points. I definitely connected on a personal level with Belle. I read far more often than I talk, haha. She had her share of adventures too!

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  [–]LordOfSwans 2 points 2 months ago
  How is the transition from fantasy to scifi, and do they feel much different? Are you approaching them different, or more relying on Clarke's "sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" 'law'? (Not that one approach is better than the other. Scfi obvioualy runs the gauntlet from technical like The Martian, to basically just Magic Technology like Star Wars).

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 2 points 2 months ago
  Interesting question! I'll always lean more to the "Magic Technology" side of things, probably because my earliest sci-fi training was Star Wars -- that was what got me wanting to write professionally, that was where I started writing fanfic as a kid, and that's still where I go for fun, via tabletop rpgs. I think it's also a bit because if I let myself get too technical about the science, I drive myself up the wall trying to make everything make perfect sense, and then I never actually make any progress writing! For me, fantasy and sci-fi mean solving similar problems with slightly different tools. Whether magic or technology, I try to make sure it serves the story and the characters, rather than overwhelming them.

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  [–]dmorin 2 points 2 months ago
  Hi Cass! Would you say your Shakespeare background inspired the novel? Put more directly would Shakespeare geeks see echoes of their favorite characters and/or storylines anywhere in it?

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 3 points 2 months ago
  There's no direct correlation to this project, but my Shakespearean training has definitely affected how I approach the use of language. There are definitely some rhetorical flourishes in From Unseen Fire that are only there because of things I learned studying Shakespeare. There will be more Shakespeare influence in the space opera project, as it has an overtly theatrical aspect to it!

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  [–]invictus_potato 2 points 2 months ago
  Why is Felix Trapinska the greatest NPC to every grace collective imaginations?

  Also, why is “If you take me to Iberia with you, you may count on me until you run out of numbers” such a good line?

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 3 points 2 months ago
  Well, I would have to say that Felix Trapinska's greatest awesomeness lives in his versatility. You can drop that guy anywhere, and somehow he just fits right in! ;)

  There's actually a rhetorical explanation for why that line is good! Oh, thank you for letting me nerd out. So that's an example of syllepsis, where one word (here, "count") takes two different meanings in the same grammatical use -- "count on me" being emotional, and "count numbers" being mathematical. Your brain doesn't expect those things yoked together, so your brain goes, "Oh, cool!" and likes it.

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  [–]invictus_potato 1 point 2 months ago
  Nice, that makes sense!

  [dice clatter in tray]

  Success with advantage!

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 1 point 2 months ago
  [fist pump!]

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  [–]leftoverbrineWorldbuilders, Reading Champion 2017 2 points 2 months ago
  Since you know a lot about Shakespeare, what's something cool he contributed to literature we might not know about? I know he made up a lot of words...

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 3 points 2 months ago
  He did make up a lot of words, but where he was really spectacular was using known words in new ways. I find this fascinating because it's something we now do instinctively, but 400 years ago, it wasn't common. It's a rhetorical device called anthimeria, and it refers to using a word in a different grammatical form than it ought to come in -- verbing a noun, for example. Shakespeare's really smart characters do this a lot; Cleopatra says of Octavian, "He words me, girls, he words me". It demonstrates high verbal dexterity, because English was a younger language back then, and its grammar hadn't gotten to be quite so flexible. Now, though, we do that without even thinking about it! We Google, we text, we can't even. So I love that for what it shows about how English-speakers have played with our language over time.

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  [–]wishforagiraffeWorldbuilders, Reading Champion 2016 1 point 2 months ago
  Thanks for joining us Cass!

  Can you talk more about how you used magic to influence your characters actions? I'm not done with the book yet, but it seems clear that the characters with magic have personalities influenced by the element they're tied to.

  Can you also delve into your research and writing process?

  How much impact has your Shakespearean roots had on your writing?

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 1 point 2 months ago
  Happy to! There's absolutely a correlation between personality and magical gift -- but does the gift shape one's personality, or do the gods choose certain types of people to bestow their particular gifts upon? A little of each, probably. Sempronius's gift of Shadow inclined him to hide that very gift, when he figured out that he was able to; Latona's long-suppressed emotional strength has roots in both of her elements -- as does her equally-long-suppressed temper. Vibia, by contrast, has a personality that's very controlled and rigid, which we might not expect of Fracture -- except that, to her, the element is all about holding the edge, not flinging into chaos. Would she be so rigid if she didn't have to control herself so carefully? Maybe -- but it might come out in different ways.

  I love playing with that aspect, really, because the magic can manifest in so many different ways and thus map onto different personality types. I don't know if you've met side character Terentilla yet, but I'll use her as an example: she's an Earth mage and one who quite clearly takes after Diana, which means hers is a wilder sort of Earth magic, more about the forest and animals than about steadiness and growth. Try to set her to working charms on a household garden, and she could probably do it, but not as easily as she could manage an affinity with wild animals -- or, you might end up with some really interesting plants in that garden!

  I've talked a bit about both research and Shakespeare in some of the earlier answers, but let me know if there's anything in particular you're still curious about!

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  [–]Patremagne 1 point 2 months ago
  Ok, I'll bite. Who's your favorite Plantagenet? Mine are probably Edward III and Richard III. The former is kind of self explanatory, but I am a firm believer that the latter is the posterchild of "history is written by the victors."

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 2 points 2 months ago
  SO TRUE. R3 is probably my favorite Plantagenet-by-birth, and not only because I'm so vehemently House of York. He got such an unfairly bad rap. He didn't do anything worse than most monarchs, and he did better than many! A lot of people don't know that we really owe a lot of literature to him, because he lifted restrictions on the printing press. That allowed print culture to flourish, led to higher literacy rates (particularly in London), spread stories everywhere, encouraged the advent of journalism -- and created the books that gave Shakespeare all his sources! And little thanks he gave Dicky-boy for it. ;)

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  [–]wholesomefantasy 1 point 2 months ago
  What's your writing process? Are you more of a discovery writer or an outliner?

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 2 points 2 months ago
  Definitely a discovery writer. When I first begin a project, I usually have a setting and some characters in mind, and I sort of let them collide into each other until I can figure out what the plot is. For Books Two and Three of the Aven Cycle, though, I have had to do an outline! It's a bit different for me -- but it's also a very loose outline that I feel free to mangle as necessary.

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  [–]wholesomefantasy 1 point 2 months ago
  Thanks for answering! Thats pretty much my process as well.

  What about books two and three made you deem an outline nessacary?

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 2 points 2 months ago
  Being contracted for them. ;) I needed to make sure I knew where to wrap up, where to break between two and three, and how much room I had left between the broad strokes of the plot I have in my head.

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  [–]wholesomefantasy 1 point 2 months ago
  That's fair lol.

  I'm intrigued by your world. Anything Roman is an easy sell for me, but plus magic? Count me in! I'll be adding From Unseen Fire to my summer reading list for sure.

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 1 point 2 months ago
  Delighted to hear it! Happy reading!

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  [–]JCKangWriter JC Kang 1 point 2 months ago
  Hi Cass, just wanted to pipe in and say I live in Richmond and was just in Williamsburg for Ravencon this past weekend.

  What kind of magic do the Romans wield in your story, and how has influenced their culture and military? Or am I going to have to read and find out?

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 1 point 2 months ago
  Hurrah for Virginia! I hope to be at Ravencon next year -- this year it was just too close to too many other things to quite work out.

  The magic is elemental, considered the gift of the gods, and it's definitely impacted their culture and laws in lots of ways -- some big, some small. It changed the founding of the city, even! In my version of history, Remus was a mage, and so Romulus took his advice on where to build rather than fighting him for the honor. It hasn't had much to do with their military, as magic can't be used in battle. It fails miserably and disastrously when anyone tries -- the mandate of Mars, who alone of the gods blesses no mages, and who ordained that battle should be a matter of mortal strength and cunning alone.

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  [–]barb4ry1Reading Champion 2017 1 point 2 months ago*
  Hi Cass,

  Thanks for doing AMA. I have a few oddball questions for you.

  Here we go

  If you were a worm, how long would you be?
  Imagine you can flip a switch that will wipe any band or musical artist off the earth – who won’t sing for us anymore?
  One night you wake up because you heard a noise. You turn on the light to find out that you are surrounded by fantasy creatures from your books. They aren't really doing anything, they're just standing around your bed and staring at you. Creeps. What do you do?
  What would you rate 10 / 10 (book/movie/album)?
  What is the dumbest way you’ve been injured?
  Do you fancy reading a book after a day of writing or you simply can't look at letters anymore?
  Every author mentions how important reviews are. Do you actually read them or just need them so that Amazon algorithms promote your books? What’s your favorite review of your books? And what was the most hurtful thing someone said about your book?
  Thanks for being here and taking time to answer all these questions.

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 1 point 2 months ago
  I love oddball questions!

  Small enough to avoid the notice of birds.
  Oh, that seems an excessively cruel thing to do to an artist! But I suppose I could find some, like, white supremacist singer to silence.
  Well, I assume they're here to give me a quest of some sort, so I'd better find out what that is.
  In books, Terry Pratchett's Lords and Ladies; in movies, my most recent 10/10 was Black Panther; in albums, I will always love Dizzy Up the Girl.
  Punching through a sheet of aluminum foil when I was... I dunno, 11 or 12. It cut my hand -- not badly, but for some reason, it left a scar that's still visible when I get a tan.
  It depends on the day, and the book. I'm a very moody reader. Sometimes I only want to read immense epics that I can soak myself in, and it's hard to do that in the same day as heavy writing work. Other times, all I want is easily digestible fluff, and those I can pick up more readily. I'm more likely to hit a point where I simply can't look at a computer screen anymore, and then I'll either pick up a book or start embroidering.
  They are incredibly important for algorithms. I am trying to break myself of the habit of reading them. Reviews are for readers, by and large, not authors. I have editors to help me shape what I write. Debut authors are often afflicted by the compulsion to read them, though, so I confess I have even as I'm trying to stop. My favorite reviews have been the ones where it's clear I made a connection of some kind -- where the reviewer really gets a character, or mentions a line that stuck with them. My least favorite was one where it was clear the reviewer had only read 40 pages then just decided to make up what he thought the rest of the book would be like and slam it based on his wildly inaccurate imagination.
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  [–]barb4ry1Reading Champion 2017 1 point 2 months ago
  I love oddball questions!

  That's good. I like asking them.

  Small enough to avoid the notice of birds.

  And why not huge one who would hunt birds?

  Oh, that seems an excessively cruel thing to do to an artist! But I suppose I could find some, like, white supremacist singer to silence.

  Sound choice.

  Well, I assume they're here to give me a quest of some sort, so I'd better find out what that is.

  Reasonable.

  In books, Terry Pratchett's Lords and Ladies; in movies, my most recent 10/10 was Black Panther; in albums, I will always love Dizzy Up the Girl.

  Good choices.

  Punching through a sheet of aluminum foil when I was... I dunno, 11 or 12. It cut my hand -- not badly, but for some reason, it left a scar that's still visible when I get a tan.

  Hmmm. Well, better alluminium foil than glass.

  It depends on the day, and the book. I'm a very moody reader. Sometimes I only want to read immense epics that I can soak myself in, and it's hard to do that in the same day as heavy writing work. Other times, all I want is easily digestible fluff, and those I can pick up more readily. I'm more likely to hit a point where I simply can't look at a computer screen anymore, and then I'll either pick up a book or start embroidering.

  Understandable.

  They are incredibly important for algorithms. I am trying to break myself of the habit of reading them. Reviews are for readers, by and large, not authors. I have editors to help me shape what I write. Debut authors are often afflicted by the compulsion to read them, though, so I confess I have even as I'm trying to stop. My favorite reviews have been the ones where it's clear I made a connection of some kind -- where the reviewer really gets a character, or mentions a line that stuck with them. My least favorite was one where it was clear the reviewer had only read 40 pages then just decided to make up what he thought the rest of the book would be like and slam it based on his wildly inaccurate imagination.

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  [–]d_steady 1 point 2 months ago
  Even when you're creating new worlds based on the past or exploring the stars, does anything about your Virginia/NC upbringing creep in?

  Asking as a fellow Virginian, working on my own debut, unable to shake the sense of place :)

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 2 points 2 months ago
  Not too often, but I do occasionally have to check my dialogue for Southern-isms that do not belong there. ;)

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  [–]samhawke 1 point 2 months ago
  Hi Cass! Some very critical questions:

  What's your patronus?

  What was your favourite part of Rome, and did visiting it in person change anything critical about your book?

  Crunchy or chewy?

  Did you hide any Easter eggs or private jokes in From Unseen Fire?

  If you could have a meal with any living author, any genre, who would it be?

  (I haven't used Reddit for a while and I'm forgetting how to format properly so please excuse it all running together!)

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 2 points 2 months ago
  1: According to Pottermore, a dragonfly. I sort of love the idea of this tiny thing getting up in a Dementor’s face and being all FIGHT ME!

  2: One of the nights I was there, I ran into a night market on the Tiber riverbank. It was so cool — music and wine and vendors and merriment. Nothing vital changed, but it helped with lots of details, like how long it takes to walk from the Subura to the Aventine.

  3: Whichever makes less noise.

  4: A few! A friend just found the 1776 reference, and there are some scattered others.

  5: Lin-Manuel Miranda. We’d have so much to talk about, between history and musicals and Shakespeare.

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  [–]samhawke 1 point 2 months ago
  Re 3: you rate your biscuits according to sound?? ;)

  Bonus question: do you also love the West Wing? LMM was just on an episode of the West Wing Weekly talking about Hamilton and WW references and it was very cool.

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  [–]CassRMorrisAMA Author Cass Morris[S] 1 point 2 months ago
  I have misophonia, so I’m highly sensitive to chewing noises. ;)

  I do! So we’d also have that to talk about. That was a fantastic episode.

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  [–]samhawke 1 point 2 months ago
  Hmm, perhaps more of a brownie girl then.

  If we are ever not at opposite sides of the globe. :)

• Cass Morris - https://cassmorriswrites.com/about/

  About the Author
  Cass Morris lives and works in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia with the companionship of two royal felines, Princess and Ptolemy. She completed her Master of Letters at Mary Baldwin University in 2010, and she earned her undergraduate degree, a BA in English with a minor in history, from the College of William and Mary in 2007, where she was accepted into the Alpha Delta Gamma honor society for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. Cass served on the boards of student theatrical production companies at both Mary Baldwin and William and Mary. She reads voraciously, wears corsets voluntarily, and will beat you at MarioKart.

  Represented by Connor Goldsmith of Fuse Literary. Debut novel From Unseen Fire releases 17 April 2018 from DAW Books.

• Cass Morris Curriculum Vitae - https://cassmorriswrites.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/cv-may17.pdf

  1
  1CASS MORRISCURRICULUM VITAE403 Salem Ave. SW, #209Roanoke, VA 24016804.640.9350callie.r.morris@gmail.comEducation●Master of Letters, Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature in Performance, Mary Baldwin College, May 2010●B.A. in English and History, College of William and Mary, May 2007.Academic Awards●Gurr Award for Outstanding Thesis, Honorable Mention, Mary Baldwin College, 2010.●Alpha Delta Gamma, Honors Society for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, inducted at the College of William and Mary, 2007.PreviousPosition●Academic Resources Manager, American Shakespeare Center, Staunton, VA. June 2010-present. Responsible for the creation and oversight of educational publications, including: study guides on early modern plays, designed for use by high school teachers and collegiate professors; workshop materials for both students and teachers; promotional language for brochures, flyers, and other marketing materials; and web content for ASC Education. Also responsible for leading workshops and seminarswith high school students, college students, and teachers;overseeing the work of interns and graduate students, including providing critiques of their writing; serving as a facilitator during the biennial Blackfriars Conference;serving as a coach during business-oriented leadership programs;and maintaining ASC Education's blog and other social media outlets.Publications●Debut novel From Unseen Fire, forthcoming January 2018from DAW Books. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0756412242●American Shakespeare Center Study Guides: As You Like It; The Comedy of Errors; From Class to Cast; Hamlet; Henry, Hal, and Falstaff; Henry V; Julius Caesar; King Lear; Macbeth; The Merchant of Venice; A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Much Ado about Nothing; Othello; Richard III; Romeo and
  2Juliet; The Taming of the Shrew; The Tempest; Twelfth Night; The Two Gentlemen of Verona; The Winter’s Tale. June 2010-April 2017.http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/americanshakespearecenter●Thesis adviser and editor, “That is the Question: A Rhetorical Analysis of Iago’s Questions,” MLittthesis by Nick Ciavarra, April 2017.●General editor, Playhouse Insider, published by the American Shakespeare Center. Nine issues, December 2010-August 2015.●Contributing writer, The Bear Stage: Shaping Shakespeare for Performance, ed. Catherine Loomis and Sid Ray. Farleigh Dickinson University Press: October 2015.●Review Board, Journal of the Wooden O Symposium, published by the Utah Shakespeare Festival. Volume 13, December 2013.●Contributing writer, Shakespeare Expressed: Page, Stage, and Classroom in Shakespeare and His Contemporaries, ed. Kathryn Moncrief, Kathryn McPherson, Sarah Enloe. Farleigh Dickinson University Press: 2013.●Advising editor, “‘The Sweet and Bitter Foole Will Presently Appear’: Developing the Foole in King Learthrough Renaissance Rehearsal Conditions,” MFA thesis by Rachel Ratkowski, May 2013.●“Friendship, Romance, and Coming-of-Age in Much Ado about Nothing.” Playhouse Insider, February 2012.●Review Board, Journal of the Wooden O Symposium, published by the Utah Shakespeare Festival. Volume 11, December 2011.●Advising editor, “‘What Imports This Song?’: Transmitting Ballad Allusions in Hamletto the Modern Practitioner,” MLitt thesis by Michael Hollinger, May 2011.●Advising editor, “Doing It with the Lights On: Original Practices in Romeo and Juliet,” MFA thesis by Shannon Schultz, May 2011.●“Undivided and Incorporate: Adriana and Shakespeare’s Tradition of Married Heroines.” Playhouse Insider, December 2010.●"Seymour and Elizabeth: A Tudor Sex Scandal." Renaissance Magazine, November 2010.Social Media and Technology●Primary Contributor and Moderator, American Shakespeare Center’s Education Department Blog, June 2010-present:americanshakespearecentereducation.blogspot.com; moved May 2013 to:asc-blogs.com/●Author, September 2013-present: cassmorriswrites.wordpress.com ●Twitter, on behalf of the American Shakespeare Center, July 2010-present: twitter.com/ASC_Cass.●Twitter, personal and promotion of writing career: twitter.com/CassRMorris. August 2008-present.●Contributor and Moderator, American Shakespeare Center Facebook page, August 2010-present: facebook.com/americanshakespearecenter

• Unbound Worlds - http://www.unboundworlds.com/2017/08/exclusive-cover-reveal-unseen-fire-cass-morris/

  Cass Morris on the Elemental Magic of From Unseen Fire
  By SHAWN SPEAKMAN
  August 28, 2017

  Cover detail from From Unseen Fire by Cass Morris.

  Ancient Rome is a great setting for fiction.

  That time period had a pantheon of gods, exotic cultures mixing, political intrigue, and a conflict of philosophy and government power.

  BARNES & NOBLE
  INDIEBOUND
  AMAZON
  IBOOKS
  EDITOR'S NOTE
  Cass Morris lives and works in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia with the companionship of two royal felines, Princess and Ptolemy. She completed her Master of Letters at Mary Baldwin University in 2010, and she earned her undergraduate degree, a BA in English with a minor in history, from the College of William and Mary in 2007. She reads voraciously, wears corsets voluntarily, and will beat you at MarioKart. She can be found on Twitter at @CassRMorris.

  Author Cass Morris has taken those excellent seeds of storytelling and grown them in From Unseen Fire, her debut novel publishing in April 2018. It is filled with all of those things while adding the elemental magic of mages, creating a powerful tale of a Rome-type city trying to discover its future, torn between expansion or isolationism. Add a beautifully-complex young mage in Latona of the Vitelliae as she struggles with her place, and it makes for a great epic fantasy.

  Unbound Worlds: From Unseen Fire is publishing in April 2018! Tell Unbound Worlds readers about the new fantasy and its main character, Latona?

  Cass Morris: From Unseen Fire takes place in Aven, an alternate version of ancient Rome where elemental magic has shaped society as much as law and war. In the wake of a brutal dictatorship, two factions compete to rebuild the Republic in the shape they desire. One side is protectionist and isolationist, seeking to preserve conventional morals and keep their nation small enough to easily control; the other side is expansionist and more permissive, looking to embrace the opportunities that allies and immigrants can provide. By law, the use of magic to influence politics is forbidden, but both sides skirt the rules where they can — and some are willing to step dangerously far over the line.

  Latona of the Vitelliae is a mage of Spirit and Fire, possessing incredible power that she has long suppressed. She’s afraid of her talents, and a little afraid of herself, because all her life she’s been told how dangerous her abilities are, and some events in her past have reinforced that. In From Unseen Fire, she starts breaking free of all those restrictions. She wants to put her magic to good use, to serve and protect the city she loves, but she faces many obstacles. Some come from people with good intentions, like her father, who has always been afraid of the danger she could be in if unscrupulous politicians realize the extent of her abilities; others object out of spite or jealousy or good old-fashioned misogyny. It’s an uphill battle, and she also has to contend with her own past trauma and her concerns for how her actions might affect the rest of her family as they navigate treacherous political terrain.

  She has support, though, from her sisters, as well as from other female mages similarly tired of being held back — and then there’s Sempronius Tarren, an ambitious senator with grand plans for Aven. Unbeknownst to Latona, this longtime friend and ally of her family is also a Shadow mage who has, in violation of Aventan law, kept his powers a secret. Sempronius senses the potential in Latona, admires her tremendously, and yearns to see her make the most of the gifts the gods have given her. Association with him will bring on just the sort of danger her father has always feared, but Latona is tempted both by the man himself and by the vision of the future he represents.

  UW: Elemental mages play a huge role in the book. How did you go about forming their individual powers? Did the story dictate what magic they’d have? Or did the story evolve around them?

  CM: The system of Elemental magic in From Unseen Fire, with nine Elements balancing each other, is actually one I’ve toyed around with for years in different forms. In some ways, it was magic looking for a story! When I decided that I wanted to write in a Roman-based world rather than the somewhat typical medieval-Western-European, I found that the polytheistic religion and the multi-faceted Elemental magic dovetailed together beautifully. From there it was a process of defining the rules of how the magic worked and its place in Aventan society. I knew from the start that Latona could control Spirit and Fire and that Sempronius was a secret Shadow mage, but the nuances of what that all meant came along as I developed the plot and character arcs.

  I’ve had a lot of fun playing with the intersection of magical power and personality: how much does one shape the other, where are the stress points, how might the same Element manifest differently from one mage to another, that sort of thing. For example, Latona’s Elements are inclined towards spectacle and showiness, and her personality is naturally charismatic, generous, and somewhat hot-tempered — but trauma and pressure have led her to squelch down a lot of who she is, so it’s been fun to explore that tension between her magic, her true self, and the version of herself she’s been forced to perform. There’s also a lot of joy in the magical system, for me, in that it doesn’t have to only be classical — these Elements can apply forwards and backwards through other historical eras, interpreted through the new lens of a different civilization, so the system may well reappear in future projects!

  UW: As you said, the city of Aven is based on Rome. What kinds of research did you conduct to bring Aven to life? If you could visit Aven right now, what part of the city would you go and why?

  CM: I’ve had one foot in the classical world since I started taking Latin in the seventh grade, so a lot of building Aven’s world meant revisiting familiar territory and delving deeper into it. There are some wonderful resources on the ancient world out there, particularly if you’re interested in social history: Alberto Angela’s Day in the Life of Ancient Rome and the books of Philip Matyszak, for example. Some digital projects helped as well, like Stanford University’s ORBIS, which calculates travel time in the Roman Empire. I also immersed myself in Latin literature: Ovid’s Ars Amatoria, Catullus’s poetry, the histories of Tacitus and Livy, and Lucretius’s De Rerum Natura — the last of which includes the quote that gave From Unseen Fire its title.

  The most exciting research was taking a trip to Rome and spending two solid days wandering around the Palatine, Capitoline, and Aventine hills. That gave me the opportunity to place myself in my characters’ footsteps. I loved standing on the Palatine Hill at the spot where I’d placed the Vitellian household and looking out towards the Tiber River, imagining what that landscape would look like through Latona’s eyes. I took something like 700 pictures, and the best of those are up on my Facebook page, so anyone who follows me there can see how delighted I was with everything I saw!

  If I could go to Aven, I’d love to spend some time in the vast markets north of the Forum: flowers, spices, fabrics, food from all over the Mediterranean, traders from dozens of nations — it’d be a great place to experience the cheerful chaos and multiculturalism that are what my protagonists so love about their city. Open-air markets tend to be my favorite places in any new city I travel to, so I’d love to immerse myself in Aven’s. Attending a Saturnalia party at a fashionable home on the Palatine would be a close second on the list!

  UW: The cover for From Unseen Fire is newly revealed. As the author of the book, what is like to view your book’s cover for the first time? And what do you think of it?

  CM: Something about having the cover out in the world finally makes this all feel real. I’ve been working on this project since 2011, and while each step along the way (finishing the manuscript, getting an agent, landing the book deal) has been exciting, this is the first aspect that’s really public. It drives home that this is actually happening, for real, not just as a dream inside my head. I’ve anticipated inviting others into the world of Aven for so long, and revealing the cover feels like the first chance to do that in a big, significant way.

  I’m utterly delighted with the art. It’s unique and so evocative. Artist Tran Nguyen really did a lovely job — she absolutely nailed Latona’s look and her strength, and I adore the shattered-fresco style of the painting. It’s not just eye-catching; it also hints at some major themes of the book. Fracture magic plays a big role, but I feel that the cracked imagery also speaks to big questions of what do you do when a person or a relationship or a whole society shatters?

  UW: I’m sure you are already working on something new. What can readers expect from Cass Morris after From Unseen Fire publishes?

  CM: I’m hard at work on Books 2 and 3 in the Aven Cycle, which will continue Latona’s journey and the story of her world. Obviously I can’t say too much about them without spoiling From Unseen Fire, but where the first book leaves off, there’s still a lot of Aven’s destiny yet to be resolved and a lot of Latona’s personal arc left to explore. There’s also a mountain of material that, for one reason or another, doesn’t fit into the books themselves, so I’m looking forward to sharing more of the world and magic of Aven with readers on platforms like my Patreon.

  I’ve got two other projects percolating in the early stages of outlining, world-building, and drafting — one’s a space opera with a main character inspired by Julie D’Aubigny, a figure from French history (a wild, irrepressible, occasionally criminal, bisexual swordswoman/singer), and the other is a secondworld fantasy involving star magic in a Byzantine-esque setting. Those both have a lot of development ahead of them, but I have high hopes!

  From Unseen Fire by Cass Morris will publish April 2018! You can learn more about the author at www.cassmorriswrites.com.

• Randee Green - https://www.randeegreen.com/blog/2018/3/26/interview-with-cass-morris-author-of-from-unseen-fire-book-one-in-the-aven-cycle

  March 26, 2018
  INTERVIEW WITH CASS MORRIS, AUTHOR OF FROM UNSEEN FIRE: BOOK ONE IN THE AVEN CYCLE
  Interviews
  morris-fromunseen-200px.png
  EXCERPT FROM “FROM UNSEEN FIRE”
  Shadow and Water both moved in him, a blend that lent itself to a strange intuition, an ability to hear words unsaid and see things not-yet-done. Drawing energy from the dark corners of the garden, from the dimming sky above, from the water that flowed into the peristyle, Sempronius concentrated on what it was he needed to know, willing the answers to come to him, etched on the surface of the obsidian mirror. His heartbeat slowed; his muscles relaxed as he eased into that place where body and mind flowed synchronously with his Elements. Thus settled, Sempronius passed a hand over the dark glass and waited, all patience, for something to surface.

  CASS MORRIS’S BIOGRAPHY
  Cass Morris lives and works in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia with the companionship of two royal felines, Princess and Ptolemy. She completed her Master of Letters at Mary Baldwin University in 2010, and she earned her undergraduate degree, a BA in English with a minor in history, from the College of William and Mary in 2007. She reads voraciously, wears corsets voluntarily, and will beat you at MarioKart.

  AuthorPic275px.png
  INTERVIEW WITH CASS MORRIS
  FROM UNSEEN FIRE will be published on April 17, 2018 by DAW Books. The novel is Cass Morris’ debut, and it is Book One of the Aven Cycle. Prior to the publication of UNSEEN FIRE, I was able to interview Cass about her novel and about her writing process.

  Question- Please describe what the book is about.

  Cass Morris: From Unseen Fire takes place in Aven, an alternate version of ancient Rome where elemental magic has shaped society as much as law and war. In the wake of a brutal dictatorship, two factions compete to rebuild the Republic in the shape they desire. One side is protectionist and isolationist, seeking to preserve conventional morals and keep their nation small enough to easily control; the other side is expansionist and more permissive, looking to embrace the opportunities that allies and immigrants can provide. By law, the use of magic to influence politics is forbidden, but both sides skirt the rules where they can — and some are willing to step dangerously far over the line.

  Q- Could you pitch the novel to us?

  CM: In the nation of Aven, Elemental magic has shaped the way of life as much as politics and war. Latona of the Vitelliae, a mage of Spirit and Fire, has suppressed her phenomenal talents for fear they would draw unwanted attention from unscrupulous men. When the Dictator who threatened her family dies, she may have an opportunity to seize a greater destiny as a protector of the people -- if only she can find the courage to try.

  Latona’s path intersects with that of Sempronius Tarren, an ambitious senator harboring a dangerous secret. Sacred law dictates that no mage may hold high office, but Sempronius, a Shadow mage who has kept his abilities a life-long secret, intends to do just that. As rebellion brews in the provinces, Sempronius must outwit the ruthless leader of the opposing Senate faction to claim the political and military power he needs to secure a glorious future for Aven and his own place in history.

  As politics draw them together and romance blossoms between them, Latona and Sempronius use wit, charm, and magic to shape Aven’s fate -- but will that be enough, when their foes resort to brutal violence and foul sorcery?

  Q- Where did you get the idea?

  CM: I knew I wanted to write a historical fantasy with a different setting than the somewhat typical pseudo-medieval-western-Europe. I’ve had one foot in the classical world since starting Latin at the age of twelve, and so working with Rome seemed a natural fit. The Roman pantheon blended nicely with some ideas about elemental magic I’d been developing for ages, and from that, the world of Aven was born.

  Q- What’s the story behind the title?

  CM: I am the worst at titles. If I can’t steal it from Shakespeare or a song lyric, I’m totally useless. This was just called “Aven” for the longest time. Eventually my first editor had me try to come up with something more compelling. I liked the idea of something like Scintilla, which means “spark” in Latin, with subsequent books using words for increasingly large fires, but my publisher was worried the Latin might scare people off. So I started plundering Roman poetry for elegant phrases. From Unseen Fire was among those, but my then-editor didn’t go for it, and for a while the book was titled A Flame Arises instead. When I got switched to a different editor, however, she much preferred From Unseen Fire, so we went back to that.

  Q- No spoiler, but tell us something we won’t find out just by reading the book jacket.

  CM: There are nine magical Elements, and the power to use them is seen as a blessing from the gods. About one in every thousand Aventans manifests some magical talent, but far fewer have strong powers.

  Q- Tell us about your favorite character.

  CM: Vitellia Latona is the character closest to my heart. She’s a powerful mage of Spirit and Fire, but she’s never made the most of it, partly for lack of training and partly due to discouragement from various sources out of spite, jealousy, or just plain misogyny. In From Unseen Fire, she’s in the process of breaking free of all those restrictions and repressions, learning to own herself and take up the space in the world that she deserves.

  Q- If you could spend a day with one of your characters, who would it be and what would you do?

  CM: I would love to let Aula Vitellia, Latona’s cheerful and irreverent older sister, take me shopping and then to a lovely dinner party.

  Q- Are your character based on real people, or do they come from your imaginations?

  CM: They’re mostly from my imagination, though they have some historical inspiration. Julius Caesar, Tiberius Gracchus, Germanicus and his wife Agrippina, Mark Antony, Fulvia, and many other Romans have not direct analogs, but correlations in my characters.

  Q- How long did you take to write this book?

  CM: From Unseen Fire began life as a 2011 NaNoWriMo project. I was trying to kick myself back into fiction writing after having done little of it during graduate school and my first years working for a non-profit organization. By early 2013, I was ready to query agents, and I signed with Connor Goldsmith in October of that year. We spent about a year polishing the manuscript through several revisions and went out on sub in late 2014, then signed with DAW Books in October 2015. The book was initially supposed to debut in September 2017, but delays related to my editor switch-up pushed it into 2018. I am the poster child for the publishing world’s occasionally glacial pace.

  Q- What kind of research did you do for this book?

  CM: A lot of my research was reviving things I had studied in high school and college and then delving deeper. I had to get a lot more into the social history of ancient Rome than just the political overview and the “great men” narrative. Alberto Angela’s Day in the Life of Ancient Rome was supremely helpful, as were the works of Philip Matyczak. I’ve a full list of recommended resources on my website (cassmorriswrites.com/aven-cycle/the-world-of-aven/resources-and-history/). The most fun research, though, was taking a trip to Rome and spending a few days wandering around the Seven Hills!

  Q- What did you remove from this book during the editing process?

  CM: This book has been reworked and restructured so much that I suspect I’ve forgotten most of the changes. The one that stands out is an enormous set piece that, during my revisions with Connor, I removed in a single 20,000 word slaughter. It’s a sequence I love, set during games at a festival, but it just no longer had a place in this book. I’m intending to rework it for Book 2, though!

  Q- Are you a plotter or a pantser?

  CM: By nature, a pantser. When I start a story, I tend to have a strong idea of who the characters are, and finding the plot is a matter of letting them collide into each other until something happens. As I work on Books 2 and 3 of the Aven Cycle, however, I’m having to work more to an outline, since it’s what my publisher has approved. It’s an interesting challenge -- I have to remind myself that I’m not irrevocably wedded to that skeleton.

  Q- What is your favorite part of your writing process, and why?

  CM: The moment where pieces suddenly fall into place. It might be finding the plot element to connect two scenes, or figuring out the reasoning behind a character’s actions, or seeing a connection between two characters that I hadn’t seen before. When one of those hits, I’m prone to flailing my arms about like Kermit the Frog before returning my fingers to the keyboard.

  Q- What is the most challenging part of your writing process, and why?

  CM: Pacing. As a child who happily read the encyclopedia for fun, I don’t always have the best natural sense of how a story should move along. My inclination is to let characters wander into each other and have long conversations. My agent and editor did a lot to make sure that exciting incidents happen at regular intervals!

  Q- Can you share your writing routine?

  CM: I typically work at my standing desk in my apartment. I’m not well-heeled enough to afford a place where I can devote space just for writing, so it’s in my living room (which, in my current apartment, is also my kitchen). I tend to do my best work from about 7pm-Midnight, and I often enjoy a glass of wine to help lubricate the creative process.

  Q- Have you ever gotten writer’s block? If yes, how do you overcome it?

  CM: No. The ideas are always there. If I’m not being productive as a writer, it’s because I’m having trouble making the time or summoning the energy.

  Q- If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

  CM: Perseverance matters a lot more than almost anything else. Learn how to take a punch and stay on your feet.

  Q- How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?

  CM: Dozens.

  Q- Do you have any writing quirks?

  CM: I have to hunt down the words “somewhat” and “rather” and slaughter them. My copy editor also pointed out that I’m over-fond of ellipses and that I often use two prepositions where one would suffice.

  Q- Tell us about yourself.

  CM: I’ve lived in Virginia my whole life, and most of my work has been as an educator. I spent seven years at the American Shakespeare Center, where I wrote 22 guides to help teachers make plays exciting for their students. My parents and sister live in our hometown, so I revisit my old stomping grounds fairly regularly. I live in the mountains with two cats, a nineteen-year-old calico and a seven-year-old Abyssinian.

  Q- How did you get into writing?

  CM: I literally can’t remember a time when I wasn’t a storyteller. I got interested in writing as a career after seeing Star Wars at the age of 11, and I’ve talked about that on my personal blog (https://cassmorriswrites.com/2013/12/22/how-star-wars-changed-my-life/).

  Q- What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

  CM: Read, visit wineries, attend conventions, play MarioKart and Civilization.

  Q- Apart from novel writing, do you do any other kind(s) of writing?

  CM: I’ve done quite a bit of academic writing, including those Shakespeare teaching guides and a number of papers and presentations for conferences. I’ve also been a blogger and fanfic writer basically as long as I’ve been on the internet.

  Q- Share something about you most people probably don’t know.

  CM: I am an utterly indifferent cook. I can make basic things like pasta, tacos, pancakes, but I just don’t have the interest in learning to make anything more complex. I can bake, though, and I make exceptionally good cookies.

  Q- Which book influenced you the most?

  CM: Oh, gods. In my whole life? Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series, probably. Or the Witches books from Discworld. Or The Last Unicorn. Or Harry Potter. Or Dinotopia.

  Q- What are you working on right now?

  CM: Book Two of the Aven Cycle, as well as drafting a space opera with a rakish heroine loosely based on Julie d’Aubigny.

  Q- What’s your favorite writing advice?

  CM: "Planning to write is not writing. Outlining, researching, talking to people about what you're doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing." – E L Doctorow

  Q- The book you’re currently reading

  CM: At the time of writing this, I’m in the middle of Glass Town Game by Catherynne Valente, Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood, and 1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed by Eric Cline.

From Unseen Fire: The Aven Cycle, Book 1
Publishers Weekly. 265.10 (Mar. 5, 2018): p54.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
From Unseen Fire: The Aven Cycle, Book 1

Cass Morris. DAW, $26 (400p) ISBN 978-07564-1224-1

If there's an overlap in fandoms for I, Claudius and Garne of Thrones, Morris's painfully old-fashioned debut is aiming there. In Aven, seat of a quasi-Roman empire, word of the dictator Ocella's demise is spreading, and those who have awaited this opportunity begin jockeying for position. Candidates include Rabirus, a calculating soldier-lackey aligned with the dictator; Latona, a well-born mage and Ocella's unwilling mistress; Sempronius, an exiled politician and secret mage with ambitions; and Ekialde, an Iberian tribal leader preparing for war against the Avenian overlords. After the adrenaline punch of the opening assassination, the book is dominated by the ruminations, posturing, and gossip of a large, well-realized cast. By the time the machinations are briefly interrupted by a riot, it's clear that Morris's projected trilogy is going to stick to an old-school formula of patriarchy, lighter-skinned imperators enslaving darker-skinned barbarians, and legitimated, systemic violence, much of it against women and children. Adding magic changes nothing in the equation. This competently written political intrigue could have emerged from a time capsule sealed in 1950. Agent: Connor Goldsmith, Fuse Literary. (Apr.)

Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"From Unseen Fire: The Aven Cycle, Book 1." Publishers Weekly, 5 Mar. 2018, p. 54. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A530430285/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=b8c7c87e. Accessed 15 July 2018.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A530430285

• Tor.com
  https://www.tor.com/2018/04/25/book-reviews-from-unseen-fire-by-cass-morris/
  Word count: 934

  Elemental Rome: From Unseen Fire by Cass Morris
  Liz Bourke
  Wed Apr 25, 2018 1:30pm 1 comment Favorite This

  Lately, it’s really difficult to be enthusiastic about books. Perhaps I’ve read too many of them. Perhaps—though less likely—I haven’t read enough, and if I read a few more, the enthusiasm will come back. But it’s particularly difficult to be enthusiastic about books that aren’t self-contained: a novel that begins a series without paying off any of the narrative threads that it sets up in the same volume is really difficult to love.

  The odd thing is that From Unseen Fire should be right up my tree. My background is ancient history, and From Unseen Fire sets itself in an alternate version of Rome—a Rome by a different name, and one where certain individuals have magical talents related to elements, but a Roman Republic nonetheless.

  BUY IT NOW

  This alternate Rome, or “Aven,” closely parallels the political and social situation in the historical Rome in the aftermath of the Sullan dictatorship and prior to the political and military rise of Julius Caesar, though From Unseen Fire compresses the time between Sulla’s retirement and demise and Caesar’s rise. (And Ocella, the Sulla-figure, dies rather than retiring to a country estate and dying quietly there.)

  In Aven, male mages are allowed to be members of the senate but not to hold any of the offices on the cursus honorum. A mage who runs for any of the offices is subject to penalty of death. And, like the original Rome, women are subject the control of their fathers and their husbands, legally and socially. Female mages have the public outlet of the priesthood, but otherwise, their talents are relegated to the domestic sphere.

  Latona is a powerful mage, the daughter of a prominent senatorial family. Under Ocella’s dictatorship, her father married her to a senatorial nonentity, a man with mercantile interests and no political ambition. Her sister’s husband was murdered on the dictator’s orders, and Latona drew the dictator’s attention and was forced take actions distasteful to her in order to survive. In the wake of the dictator’s death, her family moves to re-establish its political precedence, and From Unseen Fire focuses on her family: Latona, with her talents in Spirit and Fire magic; her elder sister Aula with her gifts as a society hostess; her younger sister Alhena, whose talents lie in time magic, though her visions are unpredictable; and their brother Gaius, a military tribune whose service with the legions takes him into the interior of Iberia—an alternate Iberian peninsula whose tribes have begun taking actions that set them on a course for war with Aven.

  From Unseen Fire also sees among its viewpoint characters Sempronius Tarren, a mage who has hidden his gifts in order to stand for the offices of the cursus honorum, and whose political career and ambitions looks at this early stage to be modelled on some combination of C. Julius Caesar and Gn. Pompeius Magnus; Lucretius Rabirus, who served under the dictator and who seeks to restore the mos maiorum (in Latin, literally the custom of the elders, the ancestral practices and customary uses of the Roman Republic) of Aven to his ideal of what that should be; Ekialde, a leader among the Iberian tribespeople and his wife; and Latona’s slave-handmaid, Mertula.

  These characters engage in political intrigue, magic, and war. In emotional terms, From Unseen Fire focuses on whether Latona will allow herself to claim ambition for herself—to move into spheres that custom and habit would deny her—and whether or not she’ll allow herself to act on her attraction to Sempronius Tarren. Meanwhile, Tarren is aiming at election to the praetorship, with an eye to having control of the legions in Iberia and advancing his ambitions for the future of Aven, but his enemies have no hesitation at stooping to dirty tricks to try to bar his way.

  While From Unseen Fire presents us with some interesting and compelling characters, Morris’s view of Aven’s slavery and imperial ambitions is a little more rosy-eyed, or at least a little less focused on the inherent cruelty of the systems that create and support an imperial state with a sizable slave class, than I really find comfortable. Her unsympathetic characters share more than a touch of xenophobia, while even her sympathetic ones view Aven’s incorporation of its immigrants (drawn from subject populations) in terms reminiscent of American myth-making about its “melting pot” drawing the best from elsewhere and incorporating them into itself. (And the only slaves we see up close are in relatively comfortable situations with “good” owners.)

  Morris leans hard into recreating Rome-but-with-magic: the worldbuilding is detailed, the correspondences the next best thing to exact. (Aven’s conservative political faction are even known as the optimates.) While this detailed attention to the world is diverting, the novel’s events take some time to gather momentum, and their scattered focus—geographically, and in terms of the number of characters involved—means that the beginning is rather slow. Things are only starting to get really interesting when the novel comes to a close. I expect a sequel’s on the way, but it is somewhat frustrating.

  That said, I expect I’ll be looking for Morris’s next work.

  From Unseen Fire is available from DAW.

• BookPage
  https://bookpage.com/reviews/22544-cass-morris-from-unseen-fire#.W0taBtIzo2w
  Word count: 657

  Web Exclusive – April 17, 2018

  FROM UNSEEN FIRE
  Let the games begin
  BookPage review by Laura Hubbard

  In an alternate version of ancient Rome, mages blessed by the gods wield elemental magic, shaping the land and the people within it. For years, the dictator Ocella ruled Aven with fear, working to strip the society of all the trappings of the Republic, and killing entire families of Senators and bureaucrats who displeased him. After her sister’s husband is put to death, noblewoman Latona was forced into service of the dictator as mage and (presumably) as mistress. With his death, she and her sisters are free once more.

  But keeping her powers suppressed for so long has come at a price: Latona now struggles to keep control over her growing powers as she relaxes the suppression over her gift. Simultaneously, the death of the dictator has left a power vacuum within the political arena. Among the men who would seek to gain power and guide Aven to greater glory is Sempronius Tarren. His political machinations bring him together with Latona, setting them both on a path that is as dangerous as it is unclear.

  From Unseen Fire is brilliantly imagined and plotted. Its world is rich, with no detail left unattended to. Cass Morris has generated Tolkien-level tomes of information about the world of Aven to make the world come alive. And come alive it does. The city and the world we explore teem with life, and not just of the alternate-Roman variety. The different cultures that intersect in Aven have different motivations, different gods and different ways of practicing magic. This level of within-world work gives From Unseen Fire a verisimilitude that can be missing from similar books.

  And the level of work Morris put into this book isn’t just seen through world building. Every character (with perhaps the exception of Latona’s unfortunate husband) seems like they could be the lead of a story all their own, happening just offscreen. Readers don’t always know where they are going but always have the sense that, while characters may walk out of the frame, their movements are not unaccounted for. Morris knows where they are and what they are doing at all times, in the sort of instinctive way you know where your hand is even in the dark. This mastery of character development prevents Morris’ plot-heavy book from overpowering its characters.

  With so much plot and so many characters, Morris has to take the beginning of the book slowly—any faster, and readers would lose the thread and not be able to tell one character from another. The beginning is definition-heavy, dragging the reader through exposition rather than letting us discover things for ourselves through the actions and words of Morris’s brilliantly developed characters. And the slow pacing does begin to wear on the reader in one major way. Latona is obviously the heroine, but it is not immediately clear that Sempronius is a main character, flawed or otherwise. His chapters come too far and few between in the early chapters to make much of an impact, and it is not immediately clear that we as readers should trust him any more than we trust his political opponents. That unpredictability does, however, become part of Sempronius’s charm as he grows into his role as leading man.

  But while the beginning of From Unseen Fire may drag slightly, once things get going, they fly. The book rockets along at breakneck speed through the machinations of the Senate, and the public (and personal) struggles of Latona and Sempronius. Any wait at the beginning is well worth it as the pieces fall into place as the book progresses. Readers who are patient enough to let Cass Morris build the world around them will be rewarded handsomely with an amazing ride.

• British Fantasy Society
  http://www.britishfantasysociety.org/reviews/from-unseen-fire-by-cass-morris-book-review/
  Word count: 546

  From Unseen Fire by Cass Morris. Book Review
  Posted on May 15, 2018 in Reviews

  From Unseen Fire by Cass Morris
  DAW, h/b, 400pp, £19.10
  Reviewed by Megan Leigh (@m_leigh_g)

  From Unseen Fire takes place in an alternate Rome where magic exists and is part of the political and class system. After the city’s dictator dies, the exiled and favoured politicians quickly assemble to form a new government. Latona and her sisters must navigate the political and romantic landscape that unfolds around them within their limited social sphere.

  It’s unusual to read a novel that takes quite so long to get to the narrative hook as From Unseen Fire does. There’s a reason for that – if you can’t pique the reader’s attention early, you risk them putting the book down and never coming back to it. I struggled through the novel, unsure of why I was meant to care or what the book was really attempting to do until about the midway point.

  In the first half of the novel, the most interesting elements are the references to the fallen dictator Ocello – how he ruled and what Latona did to survive. I wanted Morris to stop teasing me with hints at potentially interesting stories. It would not have been difficult to leverage this interesting past, especially when the imagination and story were clearly there. Morris could have included them as flashbacks, for instance, which would have added life to an otherwise very flat narrative set-up.

  In creative writing programmes, they often tell writers to write the kind of book they want to read as your passion for that subject will seep onto the page. I have to wonder if From Unseen Fire was really the kind of book Cass Morris would want to read. For the most part, it is a blow-by-blow account of political machinations – an area I often find incredibly interesting. But the novel is dull. Both prose and dialogue are there to recount events in the driest possible way. This book is all ‘tell’.

  The only time the prose comes alive is when Morris delves into the developing relationship between Latona and Sempronius. Admittedly, I’m a sucker for a good romance, but it did make me wonder whether Morris was even interested in the politics of the situation she had established given the difference in the quality of the prose when sexual tension was present.

  For such a reported, detail-oriented style (this happened, then this, then…) it was surprising that the magic wasn’t given a clearer set-up. Interesting magic systems, for me, require a source of power, something that is finite, and a clearly defined scope for each power. Otherwise, the abilities of the magically-endowed appear limited only by the needs of the plot. That is very much the case here. Other than being heightened by emotions, the limitations of the powers were not clear, giving the author a get-out-of-jail-free card for whatever plot shenanigans she wrote the characters into.

  Verdict: The reported prose style delivers a flat narrative, with little to compel the reader on until long after many would put the novel down.

• Romantic Times
  https://www.rtbookreviews.com/book-review/unseen-fire
  Word count: 230

  FROM UNSEEN FIRE
  Image of From Unseen Fire (Aven Cycle)
  Author(s): Cass Morris
  Cass Morris’ first book in the Aven Cycle is a richly complex, dangerous world of political machinations, coldly calculated violence that is both tempered and enhanced by powerful magic, and those engaging protagonists capable of wielding it. The ancient historical world that Morris has created feels real, and the system of magic is fascinating. However, the lack of exposition or introduction to the characters, their world or its foundations make it very difficult for readers to fully immerse themselves in the story or the complicated relationships between this large cast of characters until the plot is well underway.

  With its Dictator dead, the great city of Aven is undergoing the dangerous, violent evolution into a republic. Latona of the Vitelliae, a spirit and fire mage, has survived by hiding her powers for fear of the threat they posed to the Dictator. But now, her powers are hers to use — as long as she can navigate the treacherous world around her. When she encounters Sempronius Tarren, an ambitious senator hiding his own powers, Latona knows he is one of the few people who can understand and help her — but can they survive long enough for their blossoming romance to thrive? (DAW, Apr., 400 pp., $26.00)

  Reviewed by:
  Bridget Keown