Welcome, friend! Today I am chatting with author Samantha Traunfeld about her debut book, The Legionnaire. This is a sword and sorcery fantasy about a bloodcursed legionnaire torn between her loyalty to her queen and her responsibility to her people. Let’s chat with Sam and learn more about the book.
Get to know the author: Samantha Traunfeld
Hi Samantha! Welcome to Armed with A Book. Tell me and my readers a bit about yourself!
Hi Kriti and Armed with a Book readers! I’m so excited to be here to talk to you about my upcoming release The Legionnaire. I’m a recent college graduate and I have been writing for over half my life. In my limited free time I love to read, play with my animals, or learn a new craft. My favorite genre is fantasy, and I love creating characters with deep internal conflict and lives that don’t fit well into the worlds they are in.
What inspired you to write this book?
This book started as the beginning of a scene and a question for me. I saw this old woman sitting in a dank prison cell who had been arrested for trying to protect her daughter and I needed to know what kind of world made that compassion into a crime. Thus the world of The Legionnaire was born and the system of gifts that come either from the God of Life or Goddess of Death and how being gifted both is seen as a curse. I wanted this book to explore religious devotion and the way that that devotion can lead down paths in very differing directions. I wanted to play with the way people believe in religion and gods in a world where there are obvious physical manifestations of the divine’s power in play. So all that religious angst built around the character that would struggle the most in that world lead to the story of The Legionnaire.
How long did it take you to write this book, from the first idea to the last edit?
I started writing this book in Nanowrimo of 2019, back when the story had no title and I was lovingly referring to it as “Saiden’s story”. I won Nano that year and didn’t come back to the story for months because I was still in school, and I wanted to let the story sit. My nano draft was not a full draft of the story, I had hit the 50k, but I don’t like to write the end’s of my books in the first draft because I don’t think they’ve been earned yet. I came back in the summer of 2020 and finished the first draft, prepping it to be sent for critique readers. I spent the next few months on and off again editing the story while I was back in school, until August of 2022 when I queried my publisher. In that time I had also written a full draft of book 2, so most of that time had not been dedicated to The Legionnaire. After submitting and being signed by my publisher, we did some more edits, and now you will be able to read The Legionnaire on October 3rd.
Who would enjoy reading your book?
My first answer to this is more a joke than a serious answer, but I think The Legionnaire would be perfect for anyone who went to Catholic school and then stopped being Catholic afterwards, but that was my personal experience. In all seriousness I think The Legionnaire would be a fun read for someone who enjoyed the internal struggles of characters like Soraya from Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust, or the worldbuilding of Kendare Blake in the Three Dark Crowns series. It’s got a lot of fantasy violence, so if that’s your thing, this would definitely be a good read for you, and there is romance later on in the series, so if you like a slower burn, late introduction romance, you should also give The Legionnaire a try.
What’s something you hope readers would take away from it?
I’m hoping readers read my book and learn that it’s okay to be wrong. It’s okay to struggle with decisions you’ve made that you are no longer sure are the right choice. It’s better to change once you’ve realized you were in the wrong that it is to continue to dig yourself in deeper. I want my readers to see that it is okay to make mistakes because we all make mistakes, and to learn to love themselves despite making those mistakes.
Do you have a favourite quote or scene in the book that you find yourself going back to?
I really love the last line of the book, though I don’t want to include it here because I feel like it’s a lot stronger in the story than it would be separated from context. Saiden is finally realizing that she doesn’t have to live by other people’s expectations for her based on that nature of her curse, and it really sets the tone for the sequel.
What is something you have learned on your author journey so far?
Honestly, the biggest thing I’ve learned from officially signing is how wonderful it is to have writing friends already established before you get to your publishing deals. My writing friend have been the most enthusiastic and wonderful support system for me while going through the editing process and the bumpiness of some of the growing pains for my publisher who’s just starting out. Having that community has made my author journey so much more fulfilling.
The Legionnaire is the first book in the Blood-Cursed series. Tell me about the series. Do you already know how many books it will have?
The Legionnaire is going to be three books, the first two are already done and I am currently working on the draft of book 3, along with the possibility of a fourth spinoff book told from the POV of one of my favorite side characters a few years after the events of the main trilogy. I know from the beginning that the main story was going to span over three books, and while I’m a huge fan of duologies as a reader, I knew this story had too much going on to cram into two books.
The series also goes into different kinds of conflict, where book 1 has a lot more external conflict and book 2 is a lot more internal, which was fun to play with. I wanted perception of the villains in the overarching story to shift a lot, because I think that feels more realistic than a bad guy whose always perceived as bad and no one ever thinks differently about them, so I put that into play a lot over the span of the trilogy.
What’s the best piece of advice you have received related to writing?
The best advice I have received so far is that sometimes you have to do it wrong first to get it right. I am absolutely a perfectionist, but it’s okay to get things wrong with your first draft, or even your first few drafts, because it usually means that when you finally get it right you will know you’ve gotten it right instead of having to doubt it. I need to listen to this advice a little more right now, while working on book 3 of the series, and sending the reminder into the universe will hopefully help me get through this block on my draft.
I also really appreciated Roshani Chokshi’s advice from when I met her on tour for her latest novel The Last Tale of the Flower Bride, where she told me that once the book is out in the world it no longer belongs to you. You’ve put everything into the story that you can, and now the readers get to add their own spin to things, and interpret your writing how they see fit and there’s nothing you can do about it. That’s helped me a lot with pre-publication jitters, especially once ARC’s had started going out.
If you could give a shout out to someone(s) who has helped in your writer journey, please feel free to mention them below!
My biggest shoutouts would be to my three earliest readers, Author Kay Adams, my brother Jesse and my cousin Catie who helped me works the kinks out of this book and turn it into something that I was confident in and able to send off to publishers. This book would absolutely not be as coherent as it is now without the different input I got from each of them and I will be forever grateful to all three of them for helping me reach this dream.
Where can readers find you on the Internet?
Visit me on my website, Twitter and Instagram.
The Legionnaire
Sword and Sorcery Fantasy, Published November 2023
Discover the epic military fantasy where magic determines your place in life. “This grim, passionate tale will scorch readers.” – Kirkus recommended review.
Saiden, a Blood-Cursed legionnaire—blessed by both the God of Life and Goddess of Death—is a paradox. Called both “death-bringer” and “world-ender,” she is surprisingly careful about taking lives and proving herself to be a monster. Torn between her loyalty to her queen and the need to protect her people, Saiden struggles to decide who she is going to be in a world that has already cast her aside.
Queen Loralei is hiding the fact that she’s been blessed by the God of Life while navigating the manipulative and dangerous landscape of ruling a kingdom. When she discovers a mysterious prisoner in her dungeons, she begins to unravel a complicated plot that shadows her reign and would change the course of history.
Mozare, gifted by the Goddess of Death with the powers to control shadows, is hiding lots of secrets in the dark. As Saiden’s legionnaire partner, he would do everything to protect her—even if that means killing the queen she swore to protect to save her from a fate worse than death.
With friends and enemies becoming indistinguishable from each other, can these three individuals survive long enough to fulfill their destinies without losing those closest to them, or will their missions irreparably ruin them—and possibly the entire kingdom?
Content notes: Graphic Depictions of violence and self-harm, mention of infanticide, and acts of religious fanaticism
Book Excerpt from
The Legionnarie
Saiden returned to her room and gently closed the door behind her, trying to shut out the overwhelming feelings trying to drown her. She hadn’t taken the time to wash the blood from her skin, and now it was crusted and itchy. Underneath the clean gear jacket she had thrown on, blood flaked off of her skin. She threw the outer layer on her bed and pulled the bloodied long sleeve shirt off, throwing it in the pile of dirty laundry. Next, she vigorously scrubbed her skin, doing her best to cleanse her mind of the screams echoing through it. When her skin was red and blotchy from her efforts, she finally stopped and pulled the gear jacket back on over her tank top.
She walked through the halls before going out into the open air. There were some shops in the compound for mercenaries. Saiden was a regular at the tattoo parlor and had set up an appointment after their last mission. The fight with the Enlightened meant she needed four leaves now instead of just three.
Her arms and a large section of her torso were already wrapped in vines, each leaf the marker for a single life she had taken. It was her way of remembering and honoring the dead. The tattoos kept her mind on the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. Death paved the way for more life, just as life gave way to more death. There was balance in all things.
The size and spread of the design was the reason she always wore long sleeves. She hadn’t needed to for the first few tattoos, but as her body count grew, the vines twisted down her arms. She could’ve lied about them, but that would go against their purpose, and so she resigned herself to the extra coverage.
The tattooist, Niran, was the only person besides Mozare ever to see the tattoos or know what they meant.
Saiden knocked on the door as she crossed over the threshold. Niran was prone to daydreaming, something she could not do as a soldier, and she didn’t want to startle the woman.
“My best customer,” the tattooist said, nodding at her.
Saiden had been surprised the first time she visited the parlor to see no hate in Niran’s eyes. She was pure-hearted, though she explained the benevolence away as a ploy to get more customers. Saiden saw the truth, and it had made her like the woman, even if she didn’t openly admit it.
She locked the door. Niran always respected her privacy, and Saiden felt better knowing no one would be able to come in without advance notice. She shrugged off her jacket and offered her right arm to the artist, where the vines only twisted down to her elbow. More were sure to come. She had space on her other arm as well, but considerably less than on her right.
“How many today?”
Saiden had never seen judgment in Niran’s eyes. Only remorse.
“Four.”
“I’ll have to bring the vine down, then.” She readied supplies at the counter and started sharpening the metal instrument. She was as careful with her tools as Saiden was with her blades, which had fascinated the legionnaire since her first tattoo. Next to it was green ink, the same hue used for all the other leaves. The label even read Saiden’s shade, which made her smile.
When Niran started, Saiden ground her teeth together. The tattoos were slow, and the first few dips of the metal into her skin always hurt the worst. But the pain numbed with time, and it served as good penance for the lives she had taken.
Niran curled the vine down until it was a few inches under her elbow—she wouldn’t have to bring it down for a few visits after that.
“You wear these like scars,” the artist said, tracing a light finger over some of the earlier leaves.
There were real scars mixed in among them, though none were prominent enough for her to remember where they came from. Most of them were probably from training. It was a rare opponent that actually made contact in a fight.
Niran started inking the new leaves, commemorating the latest deaths. “You remember the dead like no one else. You are not the monster they think you are.”
Saiden looked at her, tilting her head to the side. She could’ve guessed that Niran thought as much. The woman was always kind, but Saiden had never expected her to voice the words. Besides, there were so few people who truly believed in her that she couldn’t believe they had it right and everyone else was wrong. But she would continue to fight to defend her place in their world. The gods did not put her there by accident, and she would show those who doubted and feared her that they were wrong in doing so.
When Niran was done, Saiden paid her, making sure to tip well to keep Niran in a good mood. It would be hard for her if she had to find another tattooist, and she doubted anyone else would keep ink mixed in her perfect color on hand.
She pulled her jacket back on before unlocking the door and heading out. Someone was sitting outside the door. She was surprised to see it was Mozare. She had been planning on picking him up from the infirmary for dinner, not on finding him waiting for her at the tattoo parlor.
“You shouldn’t keep getting those. The weight is not yours to carry.”
“Their deaths came from my hand. They are very much my weight to carry.”
They had this discussion a lot, where Mozare tried to convince her to turn away from her feelings. He saw everything in the world so easily. The line for him was so clear. But she had been born on the line, one foot on either side of it, and she knew that things weren’t as easy as they seemed to her partner.
Interested?
Find The Legionnaire on Goodreads, Bookshop.org and Amazon. The book is expected to release November 14, 2023. I am excited to read it!
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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