A Chat of Curses and Crows

Disclaimer: This site earns a small commission fee if you buy using any of the commercial links. This will not cost you anything extra, but helps me invest in the content I offer you free of charge. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for your patronage, it makes all the difference!

I'm meeting up with author Lauren Dedroog to chat about her new, upcoming fantasy novel: A Curse of Crows.

Hi Lauren, thank you for having me. Since A Curse of Crows is your first book, you might not yet be known to the greater public, so tell us...who's Lauren Dedroog ?

Well, rumour has it that Lauren is a delinquent cult leader who thrives on chaos and teasing people. The rumours are true about certain things, though I will not address which ones. Apart from rumours, I’m a 24-year-old author from Belgium, with a love for adorable things, a healthy obsession with AURORA music and lasagne. I also work as an ICU nurse.

Rumours, you say? I know better than to ask. Let's talk about your book then: A Curse of Crows. What do we need to know about it? Will it be a stand-alone novel or can we expect a series?

It’s definitely going to be a series, called A Curse of Crows and Serpents. The main series will consist of four books but I do have some prequels planned as well as a sequel.

The prequels will each follow a couple or single character and will be stand-alones, but since book one hasn’t been released yet, I can’t spoil which characters the prequels will be about just yet!

However, I can say that one prequel will focus on the War that took place twenty-five years before the start of book one and a certain romance that helped tip the scales. Another one will be the love story that started this whole series: the romance between two main characters: Keres and Antheia.

I can’t say anything about the sequel just yet though!

Sounds like you have enough planned to keep the fans reading for a few years already. Who's this book for? Who's the 'A Curse of Crows' reader?

I’d say it’s perfect for readers who are outgrowing YA fantasy and venturing into NA fantasy (New Adult) or are avid NA readers. The book starts off pretty light and then ventured deeper into darker elements and explores what it takes to turn an adorable cinnamon roll into a ruthless and merciless killer.

There are morally grey characters but unlike in most fantasy nowadays, the love interest isn’t an "accepted asshole" because he’s ‘so morally grey and toxic but he’s handsome so all is forgiven!’. Keres, one of the main characters, is definitely morally grey, even a darker shade of grey but he’s a gentleman to those he loves and a devil to those who insult him or his loved ones. Same goes for many of the other characters, really.

I think the series is also perfect for readers looking for LGBTQ+ characters, as many characters aren’t straight. Aedlynn, who is one of the main characters, is openly gay and has an adorable girlfriend. Others are bisexual or pansexual, One of the characters is gay and happily married.

There’s a good amount of humour sprinkled throughout, which makes those darker moments grab you by the throat even harder. Like I mentioned on my socials before: it has emotional damage your insurance won’t cover, so keep that in mind.

““It was a language I'd never been taught but wanted to learn. One of tender hands that held no treachery, that knew how to give instead of only taking. That promised evergreen golden brilliance and little meadows blooming in my soul with the brightest of wildflowers”― Lauren Dedroog, A Curse of Crows.”

It is your first book. What made you write A Curse of Crows?

Like I said, I work as an ICU nurse and I finished nursing school the same year COVID-19 hit, combining working and following another degree to specialise in emergency and ICU care. I was bored out of my mind at home and picked up reading again.

Then I had a random dream about a witch on the run, hiding from someone in a bedroom in some magical tavern. Turned out that the bedroom belonged to some warlock, who then offered her help. It was all very vague, but the dream stuck and whenever I got bored, I daydreamed about it. Changed things.

Suddenly a little idea started forming and that witch got a name: Diana, a witch on the run and desperate for revenge, praying to the God of Revenge (Keres) for help, fated to watch her lover be killed in front of her face and then spend the rest of her eternal life in exile.

So I sat at my laptop, staring at a very empty Word document. And eventually started typing. The story is no longer the same story that I came up with two years ago, but became something entirely different. Parts of it are still being used though. One of the characters, Yael, is a very upgraded version of that little witch from my dream, which may be a reason why I adore her so much.

You mentioned you started reading again. Do you have a favourite book or author? Has it influenced your writing in any way?

I have been in such a massive reading slump since I started writing that I’m even ashamed to admit I like reading. I do immensely enjoy A Court of Thorns and Roses (Sarah J. Maas), the Plated Prisoner (Raven Kennedy), the Fair Isle Trilogy (Tessonja Odette) and any book Rick Riordan writes because that man ruled my entire childhood. Lately I’ve been leaning more towards the NA genre myself, as well as a lot of indie books.

I think every book I read somewhat influences my writing. A new habit I have is keeping a little notepad next to me while I read to write things down that I liked about the writing, about a character, pretty words the author used, etc. I think the biggest influence I had was reading ACOTAR and thinking to myself that it’s a damn shame it’s always the men having wings in romantasy, that it’s the men who could be considered a monster because of their daemonic or monstrous traits. So I decided to switch things up and give sweet Diana those traits. And she wears them well in my humble opinion.

A Curse of Crows is being hyped by the Belgian Book Club and on social media. What is it like to suddenly have a lot of people read your book and give their opinions about it?

It’s weird. I don’t even have anything profound or poetic to say about that. It’s just plain weird. Two years ago, I was just typing away to keep sane. Then I decided to self-publish it and then I got picked up by a publisher and now you’re telling me people are going to read about the silly people that live in my mind? You lie.

Though it does feel immensely weird, I do hope readers will find themselves in these characters. That they’ll find comfort between these pages, maybe even a little safe space. My ARC readers seem to have experienced just that, so I’m hopeful.

I’m okay with opinions and I’m okay with constructive feedback. Hell, my entire college years were filled with feedback forms during internships. But I do draw the line at pure negativity and criticism, especially when it’s aimed at POC or queer characters. That’s a one-way trip to the ‘block’ button, buddy.

Sounds like you have some interesting times ahead indeed. When is it out and where will people be able to buy it?

Somewhere between October 18th and 25th. It can be bought both in Belgium and the Netherlands in any bookshop. It will also be available through Amazon to order it internationally.

Best of luck with your upcoming release!

Buy this book: https://amzn.to/3gRQqkn

Disclaimer: This site earns a small commission fee if you buy using any of the commercial links. This will not cost you anything extra, but helps me invest in the content I offer you free of charge. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for your patronage, it makes all the difference!