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Author Interview with Melinda Kucsera
Hi, I write epic fantasy books about found family, friendship, and lots of magic.
Tell us a little bit how you became an author and why?
I’ve always told stories to anyone who would listen and my mom told me to write them down, probably so I’d leave her along so she could get something done. So I did that until I discovered Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar books when I was 15, and they were a revelation. After that I thought about publishing one day, but it wasn’t until my sister made me promise to finish the story I was telling her about and publish it that I got serious about it. My younger sister passed away 7 days after asking me to finish and publish the story I was working on. I published Curse Breaker Enchanted 2 years later in 2016. That was the beginning for me.
I don’t have a normal day. I work full time at a global academic publisher. So some days I work from home, and some days I travel to an office. But I start each day with the same to-do list: work, walk, write, workout, and read.
I write often on my phone and I always write a minimum of 4 chapters per week which I post on my Substack: https://www.melinda-kucsera.com/embed and Patreon: https://patreon.com/melindakucsera and I never miss a week. I have been publishing 4 chapters every week from my current WIP for many years.
Once a month, I also record a podcast episode if I have a fantasy author to interview or a fantasy book to chat about: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/melinda-kucsera/episodes/Fantasy--Lore---More-Twin-Moons-of-Eldradune-e3o07r6
I would like to end the curse on my favorite character. But he doesn’t listen to me, I don’t know how I’ll achieve that. It may take many books to get there.
Do you have any furry sidekicks that sit at your side while you write?
No, unfortunately, where I live pets are not allowed.
What does your writing process look like?
I just write what the characters are doing. Yes, I am a discovery writer. So my planning process is just me wondering what if? And then writing what comes to mind. I do so much planning for my day job that I just want to be surprised when I write. My characters like surprising me, so it works out!
You are in the Pre-Launch with your Kickstarter for your “Riders of the Apocalypse.” Can you tell us a little bit about your journey with this Kickstarter Campaign?
Sure. I started writing the last three books for the series on Christmas day 2025 and I am writing the last chapter for the fourth book today on September 6, 2026. The rest of the books are edited and formatted, so I just need to edit book 4 and format it, and then order proof copies. I am hoping to order those by the end of the month. While I wait for the proof copies, I will build out the campaign and when they arrive, I’ll launch it. I don’t know how I will refrain from giving out spoilers until then.
Yes, the first book is Chaos Rises and it published last year in another Kickstarter. I wanted to do the whole series altogether but my father was not doing well, and he passed away when I was finishing that first book. I couldn’t handle writing the rest of the series then, so I switched to another lighter one and came back to it this year. In that time, the characters made some interesting plot decisions that radically changed the trajectory of this series and flipped it from the dark places I feared it would go to something much more fun and entertaining with more humor. I’m glad I took a year off from it.
In Chaos Rises, the ex-goddess of death teams up with Death, the first wrath of the apocalypse and becomes his rider. (A wrath is a horse-shaped demon with sentience, an attitude, and an apocalypse to kick off.) They go after the ex-goddess of fate because the ex-death goddess has a bone to pick with her and wants to start the apocalypse by getting rid of her rival. Meanwhile, our hero, Sovvan, is tasked with capturing all the wraths and stopping the apocalypse. But she doesn’t want to do that. She didn’t cause the apocalypse so why should she have to stop it? When that apocalypse threatens her friend, the ex-goddess of fate and her family, Sovvan has to figure out how to capture the wraths and stop the apocalypse.
Book 2, Chaos Reigns, tests Sovvan’s newfound resolve. Sovvan thought capturing a couple of wraths meant she’d finally have time to figure out how to lock them up permanently and find the rest. But the wraths have other plans.
A desperate summons pulls her back to Mount Eredren because her family is in danger. Old enemies captured her nephew, and they’re forcing his father to destroy the city. Worse still, their guardian angels are nowhere in sight and that includes Misriah, her mentor and friend.
Misriah isn’t just missing—she is being hunted. Conquest, a fiercely intelligent, manipulative wrath, is searching for a worthy rider to help him bring the world to its knees. He preys on her deepest insecurities, isolating her from her friends to forge an unbreakable bond.
With her family in danger and her mentor gone, Sovvan can’t rely on anyone else to fix things. She must use her wits, her new powers, and her indominable will to save her family and get some protection for them, so she can hunt down the remaining wraths before they go after her family.
Book 3: Curse Breaker Jousts (stars Sovvan’s twin brother):
He came for the joust, but he got the apocalypse instead.
Sarn wants a quiet afternoon to watch the knights joust like a normal person. He doesn’t want to hide but he’s was a mage living in a country where magic is illegal and just having it is punishable by death.
Instead, the tournament erupts into chaos when magic-eating beasts tear through the crowd, but they’re only the beginning.
War, the second Rider of the Apocalypse, descends on Mount Eredren and raises the dead to finish what the beasts began. To save his friends, Sarn must abandon his disguise and unleash the forbidden magic that could get him executed if anyone notices.
With the dead rising and panic spreading through the city, Sarn and the knights of Mount Eredren must stand together against an enemy bent on ending everything.
If the apocalypse doesn’t kill everyone first, Sarn’s magic may turn the survivors against him.
Book 4: Chaos in Chains
Cancel the apocalypse? She’s working on it.
Sovvan never asked to be the Angel of Death, but she’s finally getting the hang of it. She didn’t want to wrangle the apocalypse, either, but she captured most of the wraths with some help from her friends.
But her winning streak just hit a wall.
Her closest friend, Misriah, vanished without a trace, leaving Sovvan’s twin brother without a guardian angel. Even worse, the last two wraths—War and Conquest—are still out there, and Sovvan has no way to track them down.
Sovvan dives into the unknown to find Misriah, hoping the warrior angel has a way to track the missing wraths. But she needs her family to stay out of danger and not summon her until the apocalypse is officially canceled.
But what Sovvan doesn’t know could destroy everything.
War and Conquest aren’t just hiding. They stalk her family and friends, and they'll strike the moment she leaves them unattended. While Sovvan searches for a way to track them, the apocalypse is already at her family's doorstep.
What are the main characters that make up the “Riders of the Apocalypse?”
Sovvan – the Angel of Death and the angel assigned to end the apocalypse. Her family is still alive and her nephew summons her whenever he thinks his father (Sovvan’s twin brother, Sarn) is in over his head.
Misriah – Sarn’s guardian angel, Sovvan’s friend, and a warrior angel who convinces Sovvan that she has to capture the wraths and she helps Sovvan do that until one of the wraths targets her and gets into her mind and turns her against Sovvan.
Fay – ex-goddess of fate and the future, she’s a friend of Sovvan’s and she gets pulled into the fight to stop the apocalypse when the ex-goddess of death teams up with the Death Wrath and they come to her desert home to destroy her and her family.
Sarn – Sovvan’s twin brother. He’s an earth mage, and he gets sucked into things when one of the wraths (War) possesses the dethroned queen of his land and they send magic-eating creatures to disrupt the joust Sarn was watching. War raises the dead and sends thousands of zombies to overrun the city where Sarn lives, putting him in the fight of his life to save it.
What do you plan to offer backers when they back your Kickstarter for “Riders of the Apocalypse?”
I plan to offer ebooks, illustrated special edition hardcover books with maps, and paperbacks. I’m working on a reading guide companion as well. That’s all I have figured out so far.
What tropes do you feature throughout the “Riders of the Apocalypse” series?
I featured the following tropes: found family, ancient evil, good vs evil, fish out of water, the reluctant hero, the chosen one, the wise old mentor, enemy to ally, epic quest, forbidden magic, the dark lord, fallen angel, dysfunctional family, be careful what you wish for.
I hoped to launch in September but I am just finishing writing the fourth book today, so I think the end of Oct or beginning of November is more likely. I never launch until I have the proof copies in hand, so I can take pictures of them and if there’s any issues, I have time to get them corrected before the kickstarter runs. I like to start fulfillment as soon as it ends. I am not sure about early bird rewards. I’m not a fan of them since they penalize later backers, so I usually don’t do them.
How many Kickstarters do you have under your belt? And how do you plan to use Kickstarter in the future?
This will be my 7th campaign that I’ve run on my own. It’s the 8th if you count the one I helped a friend run.
What advice would you give to a newbie to Kickstarter whether they are a reader or author?
Kickstarter is such a fun platform. I got such cool books by backing interesting projects over the years. I recommend looking at the projects running. You never know what cool story is waiting for you. For authors, it’s a great platform that lets us sell books and be transparent about them. I love the transparency. You can easily let backers know what is happening with rewards and new-to-you backers can look at your previous projects to get a feel for how you do things and your track record. That takes all the worry out of buying direct. At least it does for me as a reader.
Do you have anything else you would like to share about you or your Kickstarter campaign for “Riders of the Apocalypse?”
It’s a wild ride. The blurbs only give you about 10% of the magical mayhem inside. So if you love stories about the bonds of family and friendship getting tested and somehow it all ending well, then it’s for you! There’s also a ton of magic in these books and lots of journeying to magical places.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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