Author Yasmin Angoe is back with another installment of her popular Nena Knight series. I recently spoke with her about It Ends with Knight.
Tell me about your latest book.
The pitch for It Ends With Knight goes something like, “Until his untimely death, Nena’s mentor was the backbone of the Tribe. With his leadership position now vacant, and despite the Tribe’s misgivings about her, Nena has stepped into a new role she never wanted. Politics. However, during her first official assignment in her new position, one of the Tribe’s own has been kidnapped, and the only person qualified for this rescue mission is Nena Knight and her new team—forcing her back to her origins as an assassin. Determined to harness the power of her former role to succeed in her new one, Nena must also face what she left behind. Old fears, resentments, and anger threaten the precarious hold Nena has on her new life and position as she realizes that the past—and the people from it—are never far behind.” That’s it in a nutshell.
What inspired you to write it?
The natural progression of Nena’s story arc is what inspired me. How should Nena be at this point in her life, after going through what she had in the last two books and making the hard choices she had to make? How do those choices affect her and the people around her? How has she grown? How has she stayed the same? What happens when faced with a major setback that unravels all the good she’s done for herself. I wanted to explore those questions and to see how Nena comes out on the other end of it.
When did you fall in love with the written word?
I fell in love with the written word when I was a kid reading all these books from all these places. Reading elicited such joy, inspiration, awe, and hope from me that I wanted to be able to create something like that for whomever read my stories. I’ve always appreciated what a good story does for a person, and to be able to do that for others is my biggest achievement.
What’s the best part of being an author?
The best part is when a reader brings up elements of my stories or characters that I hadn’t really thought of myself. I love their different takes on my writing. It means I fostered thought and imagination. It means I hit hard in places I didn’t know I wanted to hit. It feels great because if there is one thing I love to discuss, it’s stories and the craft to write them.
What’s the hardest part of being an author?
The hardest part of being an author, for me, is juggling writing and non-writing stuff. Apparently, it takes more than just writing to be an author. There’s the business aspect to it, and that can take up a lot of time if you don’t schedule properly. Balancing both (plus life in general) is tough. But I’m thankful to be able to do it.
What books have you read lately and loved?
The last book I read and absolutely loved is Her Good Side by Rebekah Weatherspoon. It’s a YA romance. It was so lovely…the voice, the characters, everything. It was very different from what I have been writing and very much needed. I enjoyed it immensely. Another was an early read of Kellye Garrett’s Missing White Woman, which comes out next year and S.A. Cosby’s All the Sinners Bleed, which is as usual remarkable.
What book(s) are you most excited to read next?
This book has been out, but I’m excited to get to it, Terah Shelton Harris’s One Summer in Savannah. I’m also excited to read Angie Kim’s upcoming Happiness Falls and The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok.
Who would you cast in a movie to play your main characters?
I hadn’t really thought of who to cast for It Ends With Knight. For the first book of the trilogy, Her Name Is Knight, Idris Elba would be the perfect Paul…because he’s who I envisioned for him when I was writing him.
What’s next for you?
I’m currently writing my fourth book, which is a standalone. It is a thriller, not action like the Nena Knight books, but I think it’ll be something the readers will enjoy.
Do you have anything you would like to add?
Thank you for the questions and for your support of the Nena Knight series.
Use the Black Fiction Addiction affiliate link to purchase your copy of It Ends with Knight.
To learn more about Yasmin Angoe, email her or connect with her on social media.
Twitter: @yasawriter
IG: author_yas
FB: Yasmin Angoe, Author