Q&A With Sara Omer

I am delighted to be doing this Q&A with editor and author Sara Omer. Sara’s upcoming debut fantasy novel The Gryphon King comes out in the summer of 2025. After seeing Sara post about it on LinkedIn and connecting with her, I added The Gryphon King to my Want to Read List on Goodreads because a book taking place in a magical world will win me over. Sara has also written short stories & poems for The Dark, PodCastle, Small Wonders, & Archive of the Odd. 

 Q: Sara, would you please give a brief description of The Gryphon King & tell the readers of the blog and I where the idea for the story came from?

A:  The Gryphon King is a dual POV dark fantasy for adults following Bataar, a steppe lord who (famously) killed a gryphon when he was a child and (secretly) sees souls whenever things die. He’s driven by a muddied sense of justice to take over a kingdom ruled by a man whose princess daughters are his Pegasus-riding murder machines personal guards. Nohra, one of the princesses, is vengeance motivated and impulsive, but she and Bataar are forced to find common ground in the face of monstrous threats (gryphons, ghouls, so many carnivorous horses).

The ideas stemmed from several things. After visiting the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, I wanted to write a fantasy story drawing inspiration from Ottoman harems (the sultan’s royal family). I love Fire Emblem games and I wanted to write a book with Pegasus knights. I also wanted a story that evoked the same magic and excitement as a dragon rider story but giving some spotlight to other magical creatures. Some of my biggest book inspirations for the first draft were Samantha Shannan’s Roots of Chaos duology and George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books.

Q: How long did it take you to write The Gryphon King? 

A: I started writing this multi-POV fantasy book with a different title in March of 2021. After getting feedback, I just didn’t love it anymore, and so I shelved it, and then rewrote it from the ground up in 2022, keeping two (or more…?) POVs I felt were the strongest and created a much richer story around them. That took another year, and then last year I started querying!

Q: Sara, will The Gryphon King be the first novel in a series? If so, how many books will you write in The Gryphon King series? If your next is not a sequel to The Gryphon King, what will your next novel be about?

A: The Gryphon King is the first book in a trilogy, so there are two more books to come!

Q: What lessons & emotions do you hope readers learn & feel after reading The Gryphon King?

A: I hope it might inspire some interest in either real history or other fantasy novels inspired by diverse cultures. As far as emotions I hope to evoke, I’d like to conjure a sense of wonder mixed with sadness, and some excitement for where the story will go next. I want readers to feel a little hungry too, for power, revenge, or delicious food.

Q: What’s it like having your poetry and short stories featured in The Dark, PodCastle, Small Wonders, & Archive of the Odd? What is your advice for anyone wanting to submit their short stories and poems in those publications?

A: It’s been so amazing having some of my work published in the last two years. I’ve had the chance to work with such amazing publications and such kind people, and it’s gotten my work in front of a lot of amazing readers.

As far as advice, try volunteering as a first/slush reader! I grew as a writer by reading Uncharted Magazine and Orion’s Belt. Also, it softens rejections to realize how many amazing stories and poems are turned down by magazines every day. I also recommend tracking your submissions, reading to get an idea of what a publication usually accepts, and not getting discouraged by rejections because there will probably be a lot of them.

Q: If The Gryphon King were to be adapted into a movie or a television series (whether it’s a limited series or a regular series) who would be your dream cast to play the characters you created?

A: My only concern—in the amazing, wonderful dream where TGK has any adaptation—would be making sure MENA/SWANA or Central Asian actors were offered roles for the characters that correspond with those cultures. The book draws from Turkic cultures, but Arabs, Turks, Kurds, and many other MENA/SWANA and Central Asian ethnic groups have all been excluded or overlooked from SFF adaptations that draw inspiration from their cultures.
Q: You were an editor before becoming an author. Would it be fair to say that your editing skills helped with you writing your poems, short stories and The Gryphon King novel? What is your advice for anyone wanting to become an editor? 

A: Every editor needs editing—I’m constantly embarrassed by the mistakes editors point out in my work (thank you to Katie, my editor), and that’s totally normal! Experience as an editor has given me helpful perspective for the editing process and insight into just how hard an editor’s job is.

My advice to aspiring editors would be to explore all the different types of content you can edit. I’ve edited modern art magazines and children’s and YA books as well as medical and engineering publications, so there’s such a range you might wind up working with.