Q&A With Jonni Jordyn

Mickey Mikkelson was kind enough to connect me with author Jonni Jordyn. Jonni is the author of the fantasy novels The Lost Art of Magic, The Untold Prophecy & The Old Child. Both The Untold Prophecy & The Old Child are available to order!

Q: Jonni, would you please give a brief description of each of your novels & where the ideas for all of them came from?

A: It started with my trying to rationalize how belief in magic was so prevalent at one time but became mythology today. I had no intention of writing a nonfiction documentary about it, so I had to surmise some relatively believable explanations for how it existed and how it might have been lost. 

I wrote The Lost Art of Magic as a vehicle to bring magic into our current world. In it, I introduce the reader to our main protagonist, Destiny, and hint at where the power came from and how it was lost. This book deals a lot with characters from the past who Destiny must use to learn the forgotten craft, but mostly, it introduced us to another lost clan that wants to kill our heroine and steal her power.

In The Untold Prophecy, I expand on a story from the first book that detailed how magic was lost. I also cover in more detail how our protagonist fared following the destruction of her home in the first book, and introduced a new arch enemy, a cousin by marriage, plus a young cousin who becomes Destiny’s ally. This book ends with disastrous results for our heroine, but I can’t say too much without spoiling the ending. 

The Old Child has Destiny’s family, including the newly introduced twelve-year-old phenom, search for a way to save Destiny while still battling the evil cousin. The search to save her sends her love interest on a journey to recover a missing orb that has the power to breathe life back into her.

The fourth book, The Orb of Destiny, unites the family with the coveted orb, but not before her cousin creates some major damage and trouble for the family and the country’s defenses.

Q: Are you currently writing another novel right now? If so can you reveal any plot details as well as a title and release date?

A: While I have plans to write a fifth and final installment to the magic series, I am currently working on the conclusion of another series, The Mother of all Viruses. This book challenges the notion that a true intelligence based on computer technology, with sufficient evolution, could not be considered a true being with a soul. I anticipate a release date of late 2025 or early 2026.

Q: What is it about the fantasy genre that you enjoy reading and writing so much?

A: Fantasy and Sci-Fi allow me the opportunity to invent things and reasons for those things to exist. I try not to break the laws of physics, but rather try to create new abilities that adhere to physics in ways we don’t know (yet). While I enjoy reading high fantasy and have read The Lord of the Rings series many times, I have not, as yet, written any high fantasy.

Q: When creating your characters, do you use bits and pieces of real people you know?

A: According to my therapist, there is a part of me in almost all of my characters. It was kind of fun hearing her try to identify which character was me, frequently changing her mind and finally concluding that I included bits and pieces in many of my characters. I have one book in particular, about a band of musicians, that includes bits of the friends I toured with (as a musician myself), but the events were highly fictionalized. 

Q: What lessons and emotions do you want readers to learn and feel after reading your books?

A: I try to exploit my readers’ emotions by pulling them into the tension so they can feel full relief when the issue is resolved. I also try to vary the tempo by speeding things up to a climax. I don’t think that I’m successful with every reader, but I know that there are passages where I feel my emotions while doing revisions, so I think I am at least somewhat successful. In my magic series, there is a clear battle between good and evil, but I noticed, years later, that it also represents a battle between a progressive matriarchal world and patriarchy.

Q: If Hollywood were to get the rights to your books, who would be your dream cast to play the characters you created?

A: I have a romcom that is a hilarious mix of cowboys, gangsters, pirates, and an opera singer. I would love to have Anne Hathaway play the opera singer.

Q: If you didn’t write fantasy, which genres would you write about and why?

A: I also write science fiction, which is closely related to fantasy. I have two romcoms, one which is also historical fiction. I have a crime drama (the one about the band I toured with.) I have a novel about life twelve thousand years ago. I have had several suggestions that I should venture out into romance novels.