Interview with Jaleigh Johnson, author of Secrets of Solace

Interview with Author

Jaleigh Johnson

The Secrets of Solace brings readers back to the world of Solace, the setting of your first book, The Mark of the Dragonfly. Can you share what readers should expect from this new book? Will we get to see our favorites from Dragonfly again?

Readers can expect a new adventure in The Secrets of Solace! It’s not a direct sequel to Dragonfly, so the books can be read in any order. The story still takes place in the world of Solace but follows different characters in a different part of the world. This time around, you get to meet the archivists, a group of men and women who have dedicated their lives to preserving the objects that fall

in the meteor storms in these vast, underground museums. My protagonist is Lina Winterbock, an apprentice to the archivists with a real talent for exploration and getting into trouble.

Tell me a little bit about your writing process: Do you outline? Start at the beginning? The middle? The end?

I am a huge outliner. I write at least a page of outline for each chapter, and I make profiles for all my characters so I know, at least in brief, what they look like, what they want, and what’s standing in their way of getting it. Then I start at the beginning and work through the end, unless I have a scene I’m dying to write, and then I will sometimes go out of order.

Inspiration comes in many forms. Share three people, places, or things that inspire your creativity.

There’s a beautiful steam locomotive in the town where I live that inspired my world of Solace, a world of broken things (and people) restored. A dragonfly pin worn on the back of my wedding dress inspired the tattoo in The Mark of the Dragonfly. And a museum in Paris, France inspired the archivists’ museums. Adventure and inspiration can be found halfway around the world or in your own backyard.

My blog is dedicated to my personal hiding spot, books. Name a notable book that provided you with a hiding spot.

Whenever I need to, I can steal away to the Shire in The Lord of the Rings trilogy or The Hobbit. Hobbit holes are very pleasant, and provide excellent and comfortable places to hide away. Preferably with a cup of tea.

What can readers look forward to next?

I’m editing the third and final book in the Solace series, which starts a new chapter in the world and a new adventure for some intrepid explorers!

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About the Author
Website / Twitter

Jaleigh Johnson is a lifelong reader, gamer, and moviegoer. She loves nothing better than to escape into fictional worlds and take part in fantastic adventures. She lives and writes in the wilds of the Midwest, but you can visit her online at jaleighjohnson.com or on Twitter at @JaleighJohnson

About Secrets of Solace
Goodreads / Purchase

From Jaleigh Johnson, the acclaimed author of The Mark of the Dragonfly, comes another thrilling adventure in the magical world of Solace.

Lina Winterbock lives in the mountain strongholds of Solace. She’s an apprentice to the archivists, the wise men and women whose lives are dedicated to cataloging, studying, and preserving the objects that mysteriously fall from the sky in the scrap towns.

Lina should be spending her days with books, but the Iron War has changed everything. The strongholds are now a refuge, and the people Lina once counted on no longer have time for her, so she spends her days exploring the hidden tunnels and passages of her home. The strongholds are vast and old, with twisting paths, forgotten rooms, and collapsed chambers, some of them containing objects that have been lost and forgotten even by the archivists.

And in one of the forgotten chambers, Lina discovers a secret.

Hidden deep in a cavern is a half-buried airship like nothing she has ever seen before. She’s determined to dig it out and restore it. But Lina needs help, and she doesn’t know anyone she can trust with her secret.

Then she meets Ozben, a mysterious boy who has a secret of his own—a secret that’s so dangerous it could change the course of the Iron War and the world of Solace forever.

About The Mark of the Dragonfly
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Piper has never seen the Mark of the Dragonfly until she finds the girl amid the wreckage of a caravan in the Meteor Fields. The girl doesn't remember a thing about her life, but the intricate tattoo on her arm is proof that she's from the Dragonfly Territories and that she's protected by the king. Which means a reward for Piper if she can get the girl home. The one sure way to the Territories is the 401, a great old beauty of a train. But a ticket costs more coin than Piper could make in a year. And stowing away is a difficult prospect--everyone knows that getting past the peculiar green-eyed boy who stands guard is nearly impossible. Life for Piper just turned dangerous. A little bit magical. And very exciting, if she can manage to survive the journey.