Hello my dears,
I also had the opportunity to ask Jennifer a few questions about her spin-off, the Mythos Academy Colorado.
There is a huge difference between the English and German covers. Is there a reason why the motive from the English books wasn’t used in the German publication? Even in a different form?
JE: Foreign-language covers are usually different from the U.S./English-language covers. This is true for a lot of authors and their books, including mine. For example, the French covers for my Elemental Assassin books are different than both the German and English covers.
Piper Verlag is my German publisher, so they came up with the German covers for the two Mythos series, which I really like. I think the white covers with the girl’s eyes in varying colors are quite striking.
After the Mythos Colorado books come out in German, then I self-publish the English versions. I thought the box motif and varying colors would be a fun look for the series, and I wanted the covers to be different so that readers wouldn’t be confused between the German and English versions. So those are some of the reasons why the German and English covers are different.
How did it occur to you that Chloris takes part in the story as a negative element? I find her references in mythology to be rather positive and was therefore surprised by her role, even though I find it very unique.
JE: I don’t think that Chloris herself is negative, but the way that Covington decides to use her artifacts is definitely very negative. So I would say that it is more about Covington’s evil intentions rather than Chloris being evil herself.
I don’t want to spoil other readers. A relationship develops over the series, which finally takes place in the third book. Was this course clear to you from the beginning or did it develop when you were writing?
JE: It was a little bit of both. I always enjoy writing various relationships in the books, and I usually try to include at least one secondary romance. As the series went along, and I started writing the books, that particular relationship started to develop, and I thought it would be fun to bring it out more in the third book.
The team is named Midgard. Translated from Germanic it means the world or the earth. Why did you choose this name for the team around Ian?
JE: In mythology (especially Norse mythology), “Midgard” is often used to refer to the world of men. Since Rory, Ian, and the others are defending their fellow Mythos students (and mankind in general) from Covington and the Reapers, I thought that “Midgard” would be a good name for the team.
This question fits both series of the Mythos Academy. How did you get the idea with Vic and Babs? Why this special weapon?
JE: I always enjoy writing secondary characters, especially those who have a lot of personality, like Vic and Babs do. When I was writing the very first Mythos book – Touch of Frost – I knew that I wanted Gwen to have a sort of sidekick, and I thought that a talking sword would be the perfect partner for a warrior like Gwen. So that’s sort of how I came up with Vic.
Then, when I started writing Rory’s books, I decided to continue the tradition, and that’s how Babs came into the story. Judging from the email that I get and the comments that I see online, Vic and Babs are both very popular with readers, which makes me really happy, especially since they are so much fun to write.
Rory would never deprive an Eir Griffin of freedom. But which pet would be perfect for her?
JE: I think Rory considers the gryphons to be her pets, even though they are still wild creatures, but I could see her getting a dog someday – a pet who is just as good, brave, and loyal as she and the gryphons are. I, personally, love Corgis, so if Rory were to ever get a dog, it would probably be a Corgi. LOL.
Two last questions ? Can you imagine another spin-off from this series? And are there any plans for another visit to Germany?
JE: This year, I am pretty busy with my adult books. Kill the Queen, the first book in my Crown of Shards epic fantasy series, will be released in German on March 16.
However, I could imagine another Mythos spinoff someday, maybe about Kylie Midas. I haven’t really written from a Valkyrie’s point of view before, and I think it would be interesting to take someone who was a bit of a villain and not a very nice person in the series and explore their thoughts and feelings.
As of right now, I don’t have plans for another visit to Germany. However, I really enjoyed visiting the Frankfurt book fair a few years ago, and I would love to come back someday.
Happy reading, everyone! 🙂