My novel The Assassin Princess introduces Ami, an art student who shares a flat with a friend in England and attends a university. She is finishing off her last major painting for her project, an idyllic painting of a sunset over a meadow of unicorns. Something takes her interest, a strike at the window, and as her imaginations runs wild, the window smashes in, and a dark man with vampire-white skin and glowing green eyes enters, striding toward her.

She runs to her painting where a man she didn’t paint reaches out and pulls her in.

Ami finds herself in the middle of that familiar meadow with the man who took her, who urges her onto the back of a unicorn and spirits her away into a forest, away from a building danger, dark twisted magic the dark man sends cascading down the mountains.

Safely within the Solancra Forest of the unicorns, Ami is told she is the princess, the long awaited heir to the lands of Legacy, and he, the Guard Hero, is to take her to the mountain city where she will reign as her father did before her.

However, as they start out on the journey, with Ami swept along in a rush of confusion, the dark man follows and attempts another attack. His intention? To steal the Princess and twist her to his dark intentions, using her until now dormant powers to further his revenge.

Ami has to choose between the needs of the people in their world, the wants of the dark man and his attractive, destructive intent, and her own demons  and desires, the power within her a magic so seductive it could corrupt her very soul.

I don’t want to give too much away, but it certainly delves into the shades of grey between the black and white of the human mind, the temptation of power and the seduction of what is wrong and right, wrapped up in a story of one girl, stolen from her normal life and thrown into a world of unicorns, magic, castles and Guards with swords.

What genre is it?
I consider The Assassin Princess to be of the Fantasy genre, though I would also say Fantasy Adventure. It’s not the typical wizards and dragons genre, but is certainly out of this world and into a parallel one, one of many. It is fantastical, but also psychological and human, based on the secret wants and needs buried deep within even the most ordinary of people.

What kind of readers will it appeal to?
The Assassin Princess will appeal to those readers who like to inject a bit of fantasy into their lives. It’s not a mystery you have to work at, or a thriller you have to be surprised at, but instead a dilemma between characters that you witness and can live for awhile. Escapism at its best, a distraction from life at its worst.

There is no specific target audience accept people with imagination who, like me and those who have inspired me, love a bit of magic in their lives.

Tell us about Ami and the Guard Hero.
Ami is the main character. She is a creative and talented artist, a student at university. She left her parents and her home to go to uni and has become so buried in her work that the world around her has become mostly shut out. Through the book you catch glimpses of how her home life was before uni and how this magical adventure breaks her down and builds her up again as a stronger version of herself, realising her potential with sometimes horrific consequences.

Hero is a Guard of Legacy, a dedicated and honourable man of intent and duty. He must stay strong for his fellow Guards, and for Ami, but fails to keep that strength so solid in his heart that emotion doesn’t affect it–in short, Hero sees himself failing to be a hero, yet grows as an individual, away from all he once thought he knew.

And who’s chasing them?
Adam is the baddie of the book, though his story is as complex as the others, being the legitimate son of the former Lord of Legacy, but shunned as the heir due to magical tradition. His animosity toward his father has corrupted the power passed to him, and his twisted heart seeks to use and betray the true heir, Ami.

Have you written any other books that we should read next?
There is a collection of three short stories that I have written that accompany The Assassin Princess. It’s called Tales of Legacy – Collection One. These short stories pick up on smaller sub-stories from the novel and expand them, therefore expanding the world of Legacy and its entire history and mystery.

What’s the story behind your book title?
The Assassin Princess… my girlfriend is the fantastical inspiration, wanting to be the ninja assassin who goes on secret missions at night, fighting bad guys and travelling to secret worlds. I wrote stories with her similar, and one set of story lines had her being inducted as an Assassin.

Although this is not that story, nothing like it in fact, and The Assassin Princess is the resulting culmination of this story as opposed to the journey of the story, she has been the inspiration of Ami, and with her fantastical imagination, she has been my muse, and continues to be so.

That’s sweet. Tell us a bit more about yourself.
I live in the south-east of England, and I have been writing since I was about seven years old. Originally I wrote poems and short stories for my mum, as she herself wrote a few for me and I loved the images. Later on, when I started reading properly, I started wanting to create what I was reading. I have now the opportunity to put all of that ambition and want and creative need into writing, and the world has caught up with me, allowing me the best way to push into being a published author.

Other than that, I read a lot, enjoy long walks and time with my girlfriend. I am interested in history, constantly watching documentaries, and taught myself website design and to play guitar.

In that case, we assume you have a website of your own?
I do, designed all my my lonesome: www.blakerivers.co.uk.

How can we follow you on Twitter and/or Facebook?
Twitter: @blakeauthor
Facebook: facebook.com/blakeauthor.

What’s next?
I am currently writing the second Legacy novel called A Step into Darkscape. It continues Ami’s adventures through the layers of the world where the stories are bound to become a little darker, a little more involved and hopefully a really good read.