It is very exciting to have  words_are_weapons with us to feature their book »The Gauntlet« as our next book of the month! Underneath you can find the next interview where we talked about the author and their story!

AUTHOR BIO

❝ Jamie Harris is a writer based in Edinburgh, Scotland. He has a Masters Degree in Writing Practice and Study from Dundee University, and currently works for Edinburgh-based publishing company, Birlinn. He loves all things sci-fi, and is a huge fan of Mass Effect, Dragon Age and anything else published by BioWare. In his free time he enjoys pizza, good beer, music, video games and classic Scooby-Doo cartoons. ❞

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PREMISE

❝ Codi James is a chronic underachiever. A straight C student, her life is going nowhere. Causing havoc at yet another school it looks like she's heading for another expulsion, until one teacher decides to call in a favour from an old friend. Codi is sent to the one place where her aggression might do her some good.

Joining the underdeveloped Brax-Delta training academy, Codi is set on the long, bruising path to compete as a champion in the Gauntlet Tournament. Thrown together with a team of other misfits and under the tutorage of a frustrated veteran, she has one chance left to prove that she's more than just a struggling orphan.

Never underestimate a desperate person. ❞

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TEASER SCENE

❝ Deep breaths weren't going to be enough to calm the nerves she felt now. Standing with the nineteen others in her Mayhem, Codi looked at the floor, trying to keep her concentration before the fighting started. Vasco had done all he could in the last two days, but now the time for talk and practice was finally over. With a long breath she forced herself to look up at the doors, past the forms of her competition. Above the door a counter descended.

"You feeling alright?" asked a boy to her right. Codi turned slowly and found herself looking into the mischievous eyes of the fighter who'd spoken to her in the lobby. His exoskeleton was largely black in colour, with two white stripes running down each arm. He grinned.

"I'm fine," she grated, looking back to the door.

He leaned in closer, speaking conspiratorially. "Rumour has it we're going to be doing a lot of climbing."

Before she could ask what he meant by that, the counter above the door reached zero and the fighters began filing out into the arena, one by one. The massive voice of an announcer blared as each individual was introduced upon their entry. She stepped into line, following another girl wearing the earthy brown exoskeleton of the Orion academy into the doorway.

"From Orion, Brya Stone!"

Codi could hear the announcer's voice clearly, and the girl in front of her stepped into the glare, vanishing from her sight despite only being a few feet away. A low roar filled the air and that was when she realised just how many spectators there were going to be inside the arena. Clenching and unclenching her fists, she began bouncing lightly on the spot. The attendant in the fighters' corridor made a chopping motion towards the door with one hand.

"From Brax-Delta Academy, Codi James!"

She stepped through the film of light and the noise from the crowds hit her like a wave. Her eyes wandered up and around as she took in the arena construct for her Mayhem. Currently she stood on a kind of gangplank that protruded barely ten feet into open space, and that was the only real surface in the entire arena.

The transparent walls formed a colossal dome, and through them Codi could see the innumerable hoards of Gauntlet spectators. Level after level of seating rose on all sides, each one packed with cheering onlookers ready for their first spectacle of the day.

However, her concern was no longer with the crowds. The walls of the dome were covered in handholds, ranging from hoops to rods to little more than small protruding lumps. Higher up there were criss-crossing gantries that made the arena look like an overly elaborate conurbation of children's monkey bars. Far below she could see the glittering blue mesh of gravitic netting, waiting to catch any fighters who fell.

Codi moved to her right, knowing she needed to get into position. Already the eight fighters before her were climbing their way around into evenly spaced starting points marked out by glowing red lines in the arena wall. Latching onto the nearest hoop, she set off to show off.

Yanking once with her right arm, she launched herself into a graceful back-flip before latching onto another protruding bar several feet higher. Whoops and roars from the crowd set her heart racing and she swung on. Airborne again, she kicked off one of the hoops and somersaulted as many times as she dared before landing on both feet, right in front of a red starting marker.

Codi grinned as the noise of the crowd swelled again, and she caught a glare from the girl who'd entered the arena before her. She ignored the other fighter, a feeling of elation washing over her. So much for stage fright.

Glancing to her left she spotted the black armoured boy making his way to the closest starting point in a less extravagant fashion. He landed about twenty feet away and flashed her a gleaming smile.

"Nice entrance," he called above the noise of the crowd. "Hope your fighting matches." There was no challenge in his voice, however, just a kind of playful admiration.

"Only one way to find out, eh?" Her grin broadened and she turned her attention to the immense counter built into the ceiling of the dome. Every ten seconds another fighter entered the arena; only eight to go. Codi took the remaining time to formulate some kind of plan.

The easiest route for elimination would be to simply dislodge another fighter, letting them fall to the netting. However, the gantries in the highest reaches of the arena offered a more stable platform. It would be harder to be knocked off, but she knew that everyone would be clamouring for the relative safety of the high ground. And she remembered the game plan; not to fight unless she had to. Scanning the others she spotted the towering six and a half foot bulk of Dustin Morto on the opposite side of the arena. At least she wouldn't have too much trouble avoiding him.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the announcer roared, his augmented voice overwhelming the noise of the crowd with ease. "The fighters of Mayhem ten! Standard knockout rules apply, and any fighter knocked from the arena and into the gravitic netting will be deemed eliminated. Fighters: good luck! We begin in 10..."

Codi exhaled a long, slow breath and tensed herself to spring. The countdown boomed out over the arena, the roar of the crowd rose in a crescendo and then the starting klaxon screamed. ❞

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INTERVIEW

1. How did you start writing on Wattpad?

❝ I had been starting out on a few other writing sites way back in 2014 and a friend suggested I give Wattpad a try. I did and... well, the rest is history! I've been writing on here ever since, pretty much exclusively. ❞

2. What was the inspiration for your book »The Gauntlet«? If you could describe your story in only three words, what would they be?

❝ It took inspiration from a whole bunch of things. I've always like sport, and science fiction, so blending the two together to make a big scale competition was really fun for me. I'd also read The Hunger Games around that time, and I took a lot of inspiration from there, with the great big, ever-changing arenas and personal combat – but I wanted something that was not about people killing each other, but more about just competition. I wanted something that was less about being a dystopia and more about the characters and their journey,In three words I'd describe it as: thrilling, brutal and action-packed. ❞

3. Which details or scenes in »The Gauntlet« are most unique and interesting to you?

❝ I think the way the combat is driven through the use of their exoskeletons was a fun thing to play with, the technology of weighting your limbs with different levels of gravity to add weight, or take it away as the situation requires was loads of fun to write. That and the big academy system of the Gauntlet competition, creating this whole kind of sports ecosystem as the backdrop to the Gauntlet competition was great. Had all kinds of spreadsheets with academy rosters, group match ups, knockout brackets – much of which will not see the light of day as it wasn't specifically relevant to Codi's story, but it was fun for me. :) ❞

4. If you were a character in your story, which one would you be and why?

❝ Realistically, I'd probably be one of the Gauntlet commentators! I've always loved sports commentary and one of these days maybe I'll have a crack at it myself for some fun For characters more involved in the story I'm probably closest to a Lucas or Lazlo. I consider myself to be pretty easygoing and I'm normally in a good mood! ❞

5. Do you intend to write another book in the future? What advice would you give to other writers who wish to try writing as well?

❝ 've written quite a few books since the Gauntlet (including the sequel, IRON HEART if anyone wants to check it out!). I think I'm up to about ten published works on Wattpad? I do have the bones of the 3rd Gauntlet novel but finding the time to write it around other commitments is tough! 

For new writers, I would always say to firstly read a lot (they may sound obvious, but you'd be alarmed at the number of people who don't read much but still fancy themselves as writers!) as you'll pick up tricks and phrases and a general feel of what makes good writing. On top of that, when you are starting out, don't over-edit and don't be a perfectionist. We all want our work to be as good as possible, but realistically when you're starting out it'll take a few goes before you really hit your stride. The hardest thing is getting a novel finished in the first place. Before you can edit, you need something worth editing! Practice makes perfect, and the more the write the better you'll get. ❞

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And we end our amazing interview with words_are_weapons here. Thank you for being with us this January. We all hope you all got to know the author like us and discovered some unique details about the story, »The Gauntlet«. We will see you next month with another amazing story.