Happy Thursday, friend! Welcome to an interview with author E. B. Mann about her book, Stone Soup. The story follows a young girl living in a dark and foreboding world. If you are looking for a Fantasy with a coming-of-age narrative, check it out. Let’s meet Eliza and learn from her.
Get to know the author: E.B. Mann
Hi Eliza! Welcome to Armed with A Book. Tell me and my readers a bit about yourself!
Hello, Kriti! Thank you for having me! I live in Colorado and write YA novels that incorporate spiritual elements such as psychic ability, reincarnation, and the like. My latest, Stone Soup, the story of a mediaeval servant girl who escapes her captor and embarks on a journey of self-discovery, is a parable about healing from trauma.
What inspired you to write this book?
I’ve always been fascinated by the story of Cinderella, this idea of being rescued from horrible circumstances by a prince. The princess thing is huge; little girls are weaned on it. So I thought it might be interesting to recast the tale and have Cinderella find a way of rescuing herself (instead of waiting around for man).
How long did it take you to write this book, from the first idea to the last edit?
Way too long: something like four years (with long breaks when life got in the way). I’m kind of a perfectionist, and I’m afraid I got a little lost in polishing hell. Sometimes it’s hard to let go.
What makes your story unique?
I wanted to take a fictional story and imbue it with the lessons I’ve learned in my own life about clearing out emotional baggage. Many of us carry around old hurts, which can prevent us from moving forward. My goal was to enlighten as well as entertain – whether I’ve done that is up to the reader, of course.
Who would enjoy reading your book?
The target audience for this book is young adults, but I think older readers might appreciate it as well. The classics of young-adult fiction really are universal, so I guess I was aiming for a degree of accessibility to most readers.
Did you bring any of your experiences into this book?
In my experience, growing up is all about self-discovery, about taking on the responsibility of finding your own path. My protagonist struggles to find the courage to do that, and I would say I definitely faced that struggle growing up.
What’s something you hope readers would take away from it?
In a perfect world, readers of Stone Soup will see it for what it is: an instruction manual for emotional self-improvement. There’s only one way to heal an old wound, and that’s to feel the feelings that have calcified around it. It’s hard work but absolutely worth the effort.
Do you have a favourite quote or scene in the book that you find yourself going back to?
I really like the scene at the end when Green Eyes learns about her origins. The story of how she ended up a slave is a poignant one for me because she’s finally able to understand what’s happened to her (an essential part of the healing process) while at the same time seeing the life she would have had, if she hadn’t been kidnapped.
What is something you have learned on your author journey so far?
Well, writing is definitely one of the hardest things I’ve ever tried to do. And publishing – even self-publishing, where you might only get a handful of people to read it – is rather like ripping your heart out, throwing it on the floor, and inviting people to stomp on it. But the satisfaction you get from telling a story in the best way you can, I don’t know a lot of things that can give you that.
What’s the best piece of advice you have received related to writing?
Just start. If you wait for the perfect moment to write, you won’t do it. I went to a writer’s conference where the keynote speaker talked about “butt glue,” glueing yourself to the chair and not getting up until you’re done.
If you could give a shout out to someone(s) who has helped in your writer journey, please feel free to mention them below!
Many people have encouraged me over the years and provided me with the opportunity to write, but none so much as my husband Daniel.
Where can readers find you on the Internet?
Elizamann818@gmail.com; @ebmann_author (X)
Stone Soup
YA Fantasy, Published 2023
On a dark and dismal morning, Green Eyes awakens to find herself scratching at her mother’s door. She’s had the dream again—the one in which she’s a cat trying to climb a mountain to save a girl in distress. The confusing dream haunts her as she treks to the nearby village to sell the mysterious wooden figurines her mother carves. She lives her life in fear: Will today be the day she earns enough money to please her? Or will she return home to face yet another beating? She never knows what to expect until she walks through the cottage door. Her only hope is that her mother won’t damage the wooden prosthetic she must wear after losing her hand as a baby.
As she’s on her way home, she encounters Arduon and Paduon, a pair of wise-cracking crows who tell her she’s not who she thinks she is. They urge her to go in search of her true self, but Green Eyes resists, afraid of her mother and of the dangers of the world. It’s only when she learns that her mother is in fact a witch who put a spell on her that Green Eyes finds the courage to escape. Armed with the crow’s wisdom—and a magical sword gifted to her by her friends in the village—she sets off on a journey to discover her true identity.
Content notes: TW: brief physical violence
Book Excerpt from
Stone Soup
Drenched in mud and slime and weak from hunger and exhaustion, Green Eyes huddled against the tree. The fog rolled through the trees in slow, damp waves, sending the temperature down to numbing lows. Throughout the endless night, her body had maintained a near-constant quiver, but it was beginning to falter at the task.
Dawn crept languidly over the swamp. She blinked past the tip of the branch, then turned to gaze at the island she’d spotted the previous day, relieved to see that it hadn’t been a hallucination. Though not much larger than the monument hill back home, it gave her hope that perhaps her long, wet slog was nearing an end.
By imperceptible degrees, the sky grew lighter, evolving from dusty orange to blazing magenta. She shivered and quaked, watching as the first fiery inchworm of sun wriggled up onto the horizon. As it writhed and grew at the edge of the earth, she felt the trembling ease ever so slightly. Slowly, one by one, gossamer beams fanned out into the sky.
She was staring intently at the burning crescent of light, willing it to speed up in its course, when she noticed something hovering at the tip of the branch. At first, she thought it was a reflection off her own eyelashes or a trick of the dawning light. But when the air began to buzz, her heart beat a little faster. It was the crows! She squinted at the slowly coalescing illusion and was able to make out the faint outline of two beaks, a pair of eyes hovering above each.
“Green Eyes,” said Arduon, his voice undulating toward her as if from a great distance. “Arduon, is that you?”
“Aye. We are here.”
“Where? I can barely see you,” she said, her teeth chattering.
“You are in a very low place right now. It is difficult for us to reach you at this depth. We cannot stay long.”
“Green Eyes,” said Paduon, his voice strangely hollow as if traveling down a long tube, “you must continue your journey. You still have far to go.” She buried her face in her knees, doubtful she could take much more.
“You must climb out of this place. You must reach higher ground. Then you will understand,” said Arduon.
“Understand what?” she asked, her lips purple.
“Who you are. Look inside. It is there you will find what you seek.” She blinked at the light filtering through their bodies. “You must recover the deadened parts of yourself, the parts you have cut off,” he said, pointing a transparent wing toward her stump. “You must bring them into the light. You must feel them.”
“You mean my hand?” she asked.
“Aye. What do you feel there?” he asked.
“Nothing. Although, sometimes… sometimes it feels like it’s still there.” She stared at her stump. “Sometimes it even hurts.”
“Aye. You have carried your pain with you too long, unawares. Pain that has been denied or forgotten is like unripened fruit: It is invisible. But it’s still there, weighing you down. Allow it to move through you, and you will clear a space for knowing,” Paduon said, his voice rippling toward her. When Green Eyes shivered in response, he continued, his voice beginning to garble and fade. “Heed your instincts, for they are messages sent to guide you. Get up. Continue your journey. You are on the right path.”
She stared down the branch at them, and their translucent eyes gazed back. Suddenly, a ray of sunlight shot up over the horizon to pierce the swamp. Before she could utter another word, it had dissolved the crows in its brilliance.
Interested?
Find Stone Soup on Goodreads, Storygraph, IndieStoryGeek and Amazon. Thanks for taking the time to join us for this interview! I look forward to bringing you my review of this book.
If you are an indie author and would like to do a book excerpt, check out my work with me page for details. Check out other book excerpts here.
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