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The other day, a new product from the Mainstream editors of the AST publishing house appeared on store shelves: “My name is Fox,” the fourth book in the ONLINE-BESTSELLER series. A new genre - and a new author. We talked to Lee Vixen: we found out how she envisions her book, asked about future plans and, of course, couldn’t ignore the series.
A red-haired girl with freckles looks at the future reader from the cover of the book. It seems that this is her “Name is Fox”. What is your book about?
The story of Lis is the story of a woman growing up. I am not afraid to use this word, although in our country it usually means someone “very old.” The main character is forced to hide in the men's legion, pretending to be a boy, and participate in a bloody civil war. During the day, she has to go out onto the battlefield, and in the evening, by the fire, she listens to fairy tales told by the officers. So it turns out that step by step the Fox is looking for himself, the meaning of existence, friends, a dream among these scenery.
It seems to me that “My name is Fox” is a typical road-story, where the main essence of the narrative is not in the global idea, but in how the characters develop, what problems and topics they raise. I will make a reservation that this is the author’s position. Some people see the book as a typical fantasy action movie, others, to my amazement, believe that this is a book about love.
Where did it all start: when did you first “see” your story?
Everything is banal: there was a lot of free time and it was boring. At that moment I had just finished reading one of the books in the “women’s fantasy” genre and was a little annoyed. This book, which seemed very original at the beginning, collected all the cliches and by the end completely slipped into something dull.
I wanted to create my own female character. Abandon the "Mary Sue": make the girl not the most beautiful, not the smartest, or even the luckiest. To make her... like most of the girls around me and myself.
Before “My Name Is Fox,” I didn’t write any major works; there were a couple of stories in the spirit of Palahniuk and Iain Banks. Well, the poems are simply terrible, I myself realize this :) By the way, my terrible poems are something like a diary. I advise all young and impressionable young ladies to keep a diary in this form. It is very easy to use poetry to mark significant events in life and “big life upheavals.”
The announcement from the AST publishing house states that “My name is Fox” is the first book in the series. Does this mean that the story has already been completed and is waiting in the wings?
The second book, with the working title “Wolf Garden,” has already been written, and just yesterday the publishing house gave the go-ahead for its release. There is, of course, a lot of editing and work ahead - but I hope that no later than the fall, readers will be able to find out the continuation of the story.
I'm planning a trilogy and currently writing the final book. Very, very slowly :) “The skeleton of history” is actually ready. I know how it will end. The matter remains with the most important thing - the details.
Perhaps you like some of your heroes more?
You know, I love them all - even the most vile and evil ones. I think it’s impossible not to love the fruit of your efforts. I have a painful relationship with Lis herself - it’s as if I’m testing her strength over and over again. But she's a tough girl and she holds on.
Maybe the secret of my relationship with the characters is that I can imagine them well. The tired smile of the middle-aged fortune teller Izvel, when she only has the strength to slightly raise the corners of her mouth, and her eyes are unfocused. The nervously trembling lips of the young General Athos, frowning eyebrows, between which lay an early wrinkle. A confident step by the secretive Guardio, who, no, no, will turn around to check if anyone has fallen behind the group. They all became companions not only of the Foxes, but also of mine, and I hope that of the readers as well.
Most books in the series"ONLINE BESTSELLER"
became popular on the Internet even before publication in the publishing house. Where did you look for your first readers?
The first were my friends and sister. I was lucky - I was not praised, but on the contrary, I was harshly reprimanded. What is missing in the book, what is missing, where it has gone too far. This made it easy to step over the stage where many young authors get stuck: they gather a small circle of admirers in which they stew, and brutally punish those who dare to criticize their work. The worst thing is that they themselves prevent themselves from making the book interesting, readable and famous. Criticism is your best friend, I keep repeating this.
I posted the first chapters on several sites: Fikbook, Wattpad, Samizdat and Proza.ru. It was easiest and most convenient for me with the last portal - apparently, that’s why it was there that I collected the largest number of reviews and readers. On Fikbook, it seems to me that you have to be part of the crowd to promote your book. Read and discuss fan fiction together, follow trends in this area. I'm already a little behind the youth here :)
Have you read the other books in the series? ONLINE BESTSELLER": exited and waiting to exit?
AST Publishing House has worked hard to collect various books within the framework of "ONLINE-BESTSELLER": by genre, type, style. To be honest, I haven’t read any of the books in the series yet. But I have no doubt that all books are very good within their own style. For those who love love stories, one will be suitable, the other will attract with its intricate plot, the third - with the dynamics of the narrative. And this, in my opinion, is amazing - every book will find its reader, and every author will be heard.
Book 1: My name is Lis
Edition: official Russian edition
Screen adaptation: No
Genre: YA, teen fantasy
POV: first person
Love line: there is no such thing, the author promised to develop everything in the sequel
My mark: 6/10
Read: 11.03.2016
Release date: March 2016
Distinctive features: gender intrigue, absence of a love line in the first book
The series "The Fox's Palace" includes the following books:
1. My name is Fox (AST. 2016)
2. Wolf Hunter (AST. 2017)
ANNOTATION:
Pretending to be a boy soldier, the Fox girl enlists in the Scarlet Rose Legion. She doesn’t care about the fate of the world: she would have something to eat and a place to sleep. But everything changes when the Fox finds a teacher in the person of the stern foreign commander Athos and learns a terrible secret kept by the general of the legion - the beautiful and creepy lady Alayla... “My name is Fox” is the story of a girl running from her past towards the horrors of war. This is the door to the vast world of an unknown kingdom, where wars rage during the day, and amazing tales are told in the light of the fire.
REVIEW:
If I am asked to describe my relationship with modern literature by Russian authors, the answer will be “everything is complicated.” I will not deny the fact that I really, really liked some books, but I read them a long time ago, not yet experienced in foreign YA, at the age of 17-16. At that time, there was little translated literature, but there was a lot of domestic fantasy.
There are books that I still love, I have re-read Olga Gromyko more than once (I know that she is not exactly a domestic author, but you get the idea), but I don’t remember “The Blue Bird” by Samoilova at all, I am delighted with “Christian Fay” until now, and the same song with the rest of the books. The problems of Russian fantasy can be listed endlessly - these are the endless “hits” (which are already making me sick); hordes of elves (as if other races did not exist); humor, which the authors shove out of place, as if it were; lack of youth cool YA as such. All this and much more makes me sad. Well, I don’t believe that we don’t have young and promising people capable of writing something in the style of “The Glass Throne”, “The Selection” and other foreign popular fantasy/dystopias.
But the fact remains - I abandoned the books of Russian authors and began to avoid them, saying “mind me, mind me.” Just don’t accuse me of bias, I gave some books attempts and chances, but it just wasn’t my cup of tea.
But lately I have become interested in our authors again, I carefully follow new products and slowly but surely study the segment. And I couldn’t pass by the publishing series Online-Bestseller. I needed to get acquainted with this series both for work and to satisfy my own curiosity.
So, Online-Bestseller. I’ll say right away that I walked past the hyped “Wings” and completely calmly ignored “My Best Enemy.” One glance at the texts was enough to understand that the books were completely not to my taste. “Tomorrow We Will Be Buried” lies on the shelf, but has not yet been read, and then AST announced “My name is Fox.”
I’ll say right away that what hooked me was the summary. Oh, how I love the genre of “gender intrigue” within fantasy. My fantasy drew plots in the style of “Mulan” or “Eon” from Allison Goodman, and I, unexpectedly, found myself in a state of I WANT IT RIGHT NOW. And it’s doubly great that the book did not disappoint.
I heard so many stories along the way. But sometimes it seems to me that my life itself is a fairy tale.
The main character of “My Name is Fox” is a young nameless maiden who has been on the run for a long time. As fate would have it, at the beginning of the story, she finds herself in the Scarlet Rose Legion. The situation in the country is such that after the death of the king, numerous contenders for the throne started a war, they all hired various Legions and now, sitting in their castles, are waiting for the victory of their Champions.
The main employer of the Red Rose Legion has always been Lord Strogoss, a swollen and sickly young man, one of the heirs of the deceased king. In line for the throne, Strogoss was either twelfth or thirteenth, but considering that in front of him were entirely the fruits of incestuous relationships, crazy old people and children not ready to rule, our lord was not the worst contender. As soon as the king died and the struggle for the throne began, he was one of the first to rush in and hired our legion through Alayla. The best legion in the country - that's for sure.
Scarlet Rose is one of these many Legions. It is considered the best, both physically and mentally. The Legion calmly and confidently brings victory after victory to its lord and clears the way to the crown and throne.
Our legion had a punishing hand - Athos. Our legion had a strategic mind - Kramer. And, of course, the heart of our entire army was the beautiful Lady Alayla.
Our heroine, who took the name Fox, is in the very rear of the battles. He hides from prying eyes, doesn’t get into trouble and tries not to attract unnecessary attention to himself. And for some time she even succeeds, but happiness, even such dubious one, cannot last forever.
The fox is forced to ask for help from one and three generals. Like, “teach me the legendary Athos how to kick ass, and I’ll help you in any way I can.” Athos, of course, does not agree (that would be too easy), but in the end he takes the Fox as his student. This is where our adventure begins, the story of friendship and salvation of the heroes and their search for happiness and dreams. Because, you understand, certain and very bad circumstances force the heroes to leave their comrades and set off on the Path.
The story is interesting and doesn't stand still. Together with the heroes, we travel around the Kingdom, listen to fairy tales, meet new heroes, and get acquainted with the World created by the author.
Here you have the Beast People, who are thinking of inciting bloodshed between people, and the Cursed Spearman, and the Enchanted Foxes. And there are also such interesting and mysterious creatures as the Absorbing and Shining.
Light and darkness, sun and shadow. They have always been two sides of the same coin. But no one said that the sun burning the harvest is better than a mercilessly cold night, and the fire driving away the darkness will not burn you to the ground. The shining ones were not good. They were simply magicians who drew their powers from a light so bright that they were sometimes called the Blinding Ones. Those who saw one or the other live said that the names came from the halo surrounding the magicians. The dark ones seem to suck out all the light from the surrounding space, absorbing it like a deep cave, the light ones - without the slightest source of light, they flicker and constantly shine with unearthly fire.
There are also plenty of heroes important to the plot. Each is important in its own way and carries a certain meaning, each of which reflects a current problem of human society. Guardio is the embodiment of a prejudiced attitude towards women (your place is in the kitchen and near children), Izvel reflects racial inequality, Alayla is the vice of the thirst for power…. The list could go on for a long time, but the most important thing is that each character is memorable, has its own character, history and is easily introduced as you read it, and most importantly, each character develops. And in general, the author’s language is very beautiful, elegant, combined with the plot, it captivates and carries you away instantly. There is something in the book from my favorite anime “Jonah at Dawn”, it’s difficult to put into words exactly what it is, but there is a feeling of a similar atmosphere.
So, comrades, yes, I liked the book and even really liked it. Here you have the inner demons of the heroes and human stupidity in all its glory, as well as the banal struggle of good against evil. Adventures and fairy tales - everything I love. So I'm looking forward to the continuation, especially considering that the first book ended on the most interesting part, and I was exhausted all night, suggesting options for further development.
PS: Bad, very bad AST did not include in the printed version the maps and illustrations that the author and her sister did for the book during free publication, and VERY in vain.
It’s great when you don’t expect anything special from a book with an annotation about a girl in the army in the “Mulan” style, but in fact, after reading it, you get a good story-mix of adventures, fairy tales, morality and choosing a path at a fork. To sit down and read during the day, stopping to go for a new cup of tea.
There is a girl on the run named Fox, who, at the next stage of her escape from the monsters of the past, finds herself in the legion (machine guns in the civil war and the rear-front line), where she hides in the corners, does not get into trouble, and, to be honest, really looks after herself can't stand either. I used to hide in other locations, but now the legion is no place. The main thing is not to be an eyesore, wrap your chest with bandages, walk separately when you need to wash, and put a better helmet on your head, because some still wonder why the young Fox is so thin and looks like a girl in build. But one day a girl named Fox gets tired of hiding in corners and quietly cherishing her dreams alone, waking up in a cold sweat from nightmares. She brazenly asks to be an apprentice to one of the generals of the legion - the great and mighty Athos (emphasis on the first syllable), in order to be able to fight back. Comrade General, of course, is shocked at first, but after seeing how fast he can move, like the wind, our young hero (heroine) decides to agree, out of delirium. And so begins the story of a duel-friendship-further, an alliance-confrontation of such different people in an agreement-union, which here and there comes to life interspersed with fairy tales, tales, and instructive thoughts. About how cruel people can be, how you should appreciate everyone who was in your life, how hypocritical beauties can be sometimes, and how to overcome and grind your own fears. There will be not only war and a fox theme, but also travel, conversations around the fire, rains and fires, quests and dangerous forays, many characters, each with their own story and their own coat color, there will be evil and good, mixed light and dark, dangerous magic and secret knowledge. In general, an excellent cocktail for a fantasy-style story about worlds not of our caliber, about the eternal, important and always relevant. Because the racial question, the problem of an obsessed crowd, “a woman’s place is at home to give birth to children!”, dangerous knowledge and how to use it, everyone’s internal fears and the fear of losing a loved one - it doesn’t matter what world, what time and what list of characters. " My name is Lis" - not high fantasy and not at all dark and heavy, the style is still more for girls. And with the 18+ slap, from my point of view, they went too far here. The narrative follows its own path chapter after chapter, as if beads are really being strung on a thread, very The chosen format of the chapter titles turned out to be spot on. Step, two, three, bead, second, third. And the visual picture in my head is well formed, and the syllable - a little musical and poetic - just right for this sad story, which would be read in the rain outside the window, but the season is not yet right.
The style is quite good, the characters too. They develop, change, absorb their surroundings and draw their own conclusions. Each has its own original face, motive, cockroaches hugging skeletons in the nightstand, their own fears and their own path. True, Athos is not very perceived at the age given to him. I can’t picture this tall, powerful guy in my head as a twenty-year-old guy; twenty-five would somehow be better. Perhaps it’s all about my own age and the perception of ages from this point, because at seventeen it seemed to me that thirty was already a great old age, but if the character is twenty, that’s the juice. Although, on the other hand, if we take Athos’s hypothetical experience with women, his difficult childhood and his current path, then we can find a rationale for his character and behavior even for twenty years. But this is true, by the way.
In general, I unexpectedly liked it, I'm looking forward to the continuation. The only criticism is typos in the text of the paper edition. I'm not a grammar Nazi, but it hurts my eyes.
Polina Gladysh is a young writer from Izhevsk. She grew up in a family of journalists. Graduated from the Institute of Social Communications of Udmurt State University with a degree in PR. She managed to work in the media and get married. Throughout my life I have never parted with books.
Polina decided that she wanted to write a book at the age of 25. The young girl’s personal life was not going well; she had free time. In addition, she did not go for walks and was not interested in TV series. Polina wanted to write a fantasy story that would be interesting to people like her.
The young author did not see characters on the literary market worthy of an example for girls of her age. Too much in today's books is focused on love experiences, Gladysh believes. Her book is a fantasy realistic genre. If we compare, this is not Tolkien, not dwarves and not elves, but rather “Game of Thrones”.
Polina wrote the book quickly - in 2-2.5 months. I devoted an hour to her every day. Regardless of her mood, the girl wrote, sometimes she even had to force herself. And inspiration came already in the process. While writing the book, I had to read a lot of additional literature. More often - encyclopedic. Because the girl was superficially familiar with the theme of the Middle Ages. And I really didn’t want to embarrass myself.
Polina Gladysh did not show the book she had written to anyone for a whole year, because she was afraid that she would be criticized and laughed at. Then I decided to show the manuscript to publishers in Moscow. But she didn’t have the courage, and the girl brought the book back. The girl wrote to the publisher from Yekaterinburg, but he was not interested in the book. The man advised me to contact the AST publishing house. The head of the mainstream department replied that he had forwarded Polina’s book to the editor-in-chief. The girl thought that they were about to start kicking her from one to the other, and decided to forget about it. But a week later, at 3 o’clock in the morning, the young author received a positive answer.
After that, a difficult year began - the time of editing. The book went through several levels of edits and Polina was consulted on each one. The main problem was that her book did not fit into the existing trends in the fantasy market.
The name Lee Vixen was chosen for publication, and the book was called My Name is Fox. Polina didn’t really like it, but she was ready to do anything for the sake of the book’s release. Illustrations for the publication were drawn by Polina’s sister, Sasha. We worked on the cover for a long time. We searched for a suitable photo for 3 months, and then agreed on a price. So, with all the edits and changes, the release date was postponed 5 or 6 times.
The book is not the last for the writer. She conceived a trilogy. The second one is already ready, the third one is in the works. The girl finds inspiration and subjects for her works in everyday life.