Publication: Tanz der Feuerblüten (Dance of the fire blossoms)

It’s time. Today, my debut novel “Tanz der Feuerblüten” (Dance of the fire blossoms) is available. It is a japanese-style fantasy love story about ghosts, demons and the magic of the elements. The novel is published by Ueberreuter Verlag within the (eBook only) uebersinnlich series. The eBook is available on the publisher’s homepage, at Amazon.de and other eBook traders for 2.99€.

Blurb:

(unofficial translation)

The sunset palace is full of flawless beauty: water, metal, wood, and air are moulded into remarkable artworks for the royal society to enjoy. When the young sword dancer Jinnan arrives at court, his provincial nature makes him feel awkward and overwhelmed by the complex etiquette. But then he meets the gorgeous Ayaka who entrances him with her air melodies. Against all reason Jinnan sets out to win Ayaka’s heart – knowing fully well, that he’s playing with fire …

 

Background information:

“Tanz der Feuerblüten” is one of the three winners of an Ueberreuter writing competition. Premise: a 100-page long romantasy short novel.

Romantasy isn’t exactly my genre. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of love stories. But when a story puts its whole focus on this single aspect, I’m usually out. Nevertheless I couldn’t exactly say no to such a chance and, thus, created my own kind of romantasy. My test reader promptly said, ‘It’s a really great story, but you probaby won’t win as there’s not enough focus on the romance.’ Well, I did win. At the end of October, I was informed that I had been one of the three chosen winners. I was so happy, I jumped up and down 😉

By the way, I was also invited to visit the publishing house and you can read about that awesome day here: My visit with Ueberreuter Verlag.

The story has been inside of me for about 15 years, though certainly not in this form. Back then, I read an issue of the GeoEPOCHE about the Imperial Japan. This society that is solely focused on beauty and elegance, when each tiny detail has a meaning, was so fascinatingly different that I just had to use it someday. There is so much western European Fantasy and sometimes there’s a little bit of oriental fantasy, but it’s quite rare to find asian inspired fantasy. Even though those cultures have a vast potential to be explored. Especially, Japan with all its arts (ikebana, origami, kabuki, calligraphy, gardening …) and fine aesthetics has been a favourite of mine.

2015, then, I was able to fulfill one of my dreams and travel around Japan for 3 weeks, 9 days of those in the Kyoto-Region. It was the best vacation ever. We have seen and done so much; we partook in a tea ceremony, learned how to arrange flowers and watched the geisha’s spring show. Even though I was pregnant at that time, I was able to try on one of those beautiful kimonos and go sightseeing in it. In any case, filled with those impressions, I was ready to take on this story.

 

Video reading of “Tanz der Feuerblüten” (Dance of the fire blossoms)

As part of my pre-release party, I made a little video reading of my book. Go and have a look if you don’t mind the German.

 

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Enjoy the story of Jinnan and Ayaka!

Your Janna

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