Wanderer, travel-blogger, chef, preservationist, fantasy author; Tej Turner has fitted a surprising amount into his young life. But of course it’s the latter pursuit that concerns us here. Having brought us the gritty and surreal urban fantasy of The Janus Cycle, Tej has now leaped into full-fledged epic fantasy with The Avatars Of Ruin series, book one of which, Bloodsworn, manifests in our realm from today (By which I mean it’s available from Elsewhen Press)!

Eager to know more, I caught up with Tej and plied him with questions…

You’ve a popular blog that relates your journeys around the planet. How does all that travel influence your writing? Is the new series’ world inspired by any particular place or places?

I think my travels almost certainly have influenced my writing, some ways are obvious and others are more subtle.

In regards to writing fantasy, I have…

I spoke to Tej about his new book: Bloodsworn

“Everyone from Jalard knew what a bloodoath was. Legendary characters in the tales people told to their children often made such pacts with the gods. By drawing one’s own blood whilst speaking a vow, people became ‘Bloodsworn’.
And in every tale where the oath was broken, the ending was always the same. The Bloodsworn died.”

It has been twelve years since The War of Ashes, but animosity still lingers between the nations of Sharma and Gavendara, and only a few souls have dared to cross the border between them.

The villagers of Jalard live a bucolic existence, nestled within the hills of western Sharma and far away from the boundary which was once a warzone. To them, tales of bloodshed seem no more than distant fables. They have little contact with the outside world, apart from once a year…