Author: Brianna Sugalski
Narrator: Krys Janae
Length: 15 hours and 18 minutes
Series: Disenchanted, Book 1
Publisher: The Parliament House
Released: Apr. 15, 2021
Genre: Paranormal Romance
A Breton princess at the peak of the French Renaissance, Lilac lives prisoner in her parents' castle after a wicked secret is revealed on the eve of her 10th birthday soirée. Years later, her coronation ceremony looms, and between the riotous townsfolk and scheming nobleman bent on snatching the throne, Lilac prepares for the worst...until a mysterious letter arrives from The Witch of Lupine Grotto, detailing a curious offer to cure her darkness forever. Lilac begrudgingly trades her coronet for a cloak and ventures into the forest Brocéliande in pursuit of the impious enchantress at the edge of town. With only the protection of an inherited dagger - and unsolicited help of the gregarious stranger who inserts himself on her quest - she must traverse Brocèliande and return in time to claim her rightful position as sovereign monarch. This is the story of a cursed princess, a crestfallen killer, the town that wants them to burn, and the witch that can save them both.
Born and raised in Hawaii, Brianna Sugalski is a Dark Fantasy author who prefers to explore the more ominous—disenchanting, if you will—undertones of romance, history, and the arcane. Her debut novel, YA Fantasy DISENCHANTED, released with The Parliament Press on March 4th, 2020; the sequel, DISILLUSIONED, is in progress as of January 2021. Sugalski is also a SF/F developmental editor under Crit & Pen Editorial. She currently lives in Maryland with her husband and two little korrigans of her own.Website
Krys Janae is an American-Filipina author, musician, voice-over artist, actress, graphic designer, gamer and geek from central California. She is the middle child, with two brothers and is a proud pet-mom of 3 cats, Lucy, Nova and Clementine. When she's not losing herself in another realm (via Video Games, TV, Comics, Movies, and the like), binge-watching Netflix or scouring the net for more geeky t-shirts, Krys enjoys reading a variety of genres, listening to music and browsing YouTube.Website⎮Facebook⎮Instagram
Q&A with Author Brianna Sugalski
- Tell us about the process of turning your book into an audiobook.
- This is a process my publisher, The Parliament House, graciously walks their authors through. As soon as Disenchanted was released in March of 2020, we were looking for the right narrator. Luckily, it didn’t take long at all to find Krys Janae!
- Do you believe certain types of writing translate better into audiobook format?
- Absolutely. I’m not sure what it is. For me, I could not finish Deborah Harkness’s A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES series, and Leigh Bardugo’s NINTH HOUSE by reading traditionally. It’s not that they weren’t interesting, nothing could be further from that, but perhaps it’s the formatting; with those books I found my eyes doing something funny or getting tired easily. I needed to know what happened so with both, I bought the audiobooks and finished each in a couple of days. Ninth House is especially exceptional as an audiobook, the actors are fantastic.
- Was a possible audiobook recording something you were conscious of while writing?
- Not at all! It honestly did not cross my mind, although I knew it would be cool. It didn’t seem like an attainable possibility. Now, look at it!
- How did you select your narrator?
- My publisher and I found Krys on the ACX catalogue. I had been combing through for about a week when I found her, and as soon as I played her reel sample, I knew she was the one. Her voice work experience is vast—and, plus, she has done work for Elder Scrolls mods?! How could I not have gone with her? She’s fantastic and such a hard worker. I am so glad to have found her for Disenchanted and the rest of the series.
- How closely did you work with your narrator before and during the recording process?
- Very closely! She and her producer, Danielle Lanzarotta, were incredibly kind and involved me in every single aspect of this process, reaching out immediately when there were any questions or issues.
- Did you give them any pronunciation tips or special insight into the characters?
- Krys was awesome and so keen through her first readthrough to notice that all of my cast of characters had very specific regional accents. This being my very first publishing and audiobook experience, I back then hadn’t even thought of discussing this with my new narrator! She came to me and was like, hey, so do you mind if we get together one of these days (virtually) and map out these accents, their backgrounds and where Lilac and Garin and the gang are from? She consulted vocal and accent coaches for specific ones. The due diligence and care she had for these characters truly blew my mind, and it made the audiobook all the better.
- Were there any real life inspirations behind your writing?
- Yes! This series, its setting and characters are loosely based upon various characters in Le Morte d’Arthur, and Brythonic Celtic lore, specifically Breton. It’s also an atmospheric sort of setting, and that lends itself to the completely real life forest of Broceliande, which is located in Brittany and allegedly hosts Merlin’s burial ground—not to ruin anything, but he makes a larger appearance in books two and possibly three.
- How do you manage to avoid burn-out? What do you do to maintain your enthusiasm for writing?
- I am honestly not doing the best job at that at the moment, but I attribute that to everything going on in the world.
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