A Saratoga Springs author took a leap of faith with her newest novel — and it’s already paid off.
Sariah Wilson, who is known for her romantic comedies, has written her first-ever romantasy book — a genre that blends romance and fantasy. “A Tribute of Fire,” the first book in a trilogy, came out Friday.
In the span of 39 days, Wilson wrote “A Tribute of Fire,” sold her trilogy and paid off her family’s debt. Inspiration for the book, she said, was rooted in online research.
Wilson was working on a rom-com called “The Sea Filler” and wanted her female main character in that book to say something along the lines of “feeling like Cassandra from Greek mythology.”
Origins in Greek mythology. And Wikipedia.
As the lore goes, Cassandra was a Trojan princess who could see the future, but she was cursed by Apollo when she rejected him. The curse meant that nobody would believe her prophecies.
“She would always say the truth,” Wilson said, “but she was never believed.”
During the Trojan War, Cassandra attempted to warn people about the Greeks hiding inside the Trojan horse, but no one believed her. She then fled to the Temple of Athena for sanctuary, but was abducted and raped by Ajax the Lesser from Locris.
Afterward, the goddess Athena was enraged by the sacrilegious actions and demanded retribution, specifically that every year, two Locrian maidservants be sent to replace the loss of Cassandra.
Some works, however, state the maidservants were allowed to be hunted before they made it to the temple. A specific line on Wikipedia caught Wilson’s attention: “But only if they made it there alive.”
Wilson, a fan of Greek mythology, had never heard of these maidens, and immediately grew interested in their stories, but had a number of deadlines at the time for different rom-coms she was working on.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah author Sariah Wilson, who wrote a fantasy book in 39 days, is pictured at The Book Box in Draper on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024.
“Then my family had this medical emergency, and it was very much like a life or death situation,” Wilson said. “We didn’t have the money. It was an excessive amount of money, six figures.”
Due to the urgency of the situation, Wilson said her family took out a second loan against their house to pay the bills. Then, Wilson told her husband she was going to write a book to help them pay everything off.
“[The amount of debt] was like three times what I’ve ever made, and I said, ‘I’ll do it,’” Wilson said. She ended up writing 156,000 words in 39 days. “I was finding symbolism in things that I didn’t intend,” she said of the writing process.
“A Tribute of Fire” is an enemies to lovers, slow burn, alternate Greek mythology universe novel. It focuses on the events that inspired the role of the maidens, with the main character Lia, a princess of Locris, training to survive the trial.
“They’re only allowed to serve at the temple if they can make it there alive,” Wilson said. “Then something goes wrong, and someone’s chosen alongside [Lia] that she has to protect.”
Along the way of trying to lift the goddess’ curse on her country, Lia meets a sailor named Jason, whom she is forced to trust.
Riding romantasy’s wave
When Wilson finished writing, she made a case to her agent, Sarah Younger, that romantasy is surging in popularity, noting books like those of Sarah J. Maas (“A Court of Thorns and Roses”) and Rebecca Yarros (“Fourth Wing”).
“For a long time, fantasy was predominantly written, you know, by men, for men,” Wilson said. “Then we had this explosion of romantasy. Suddenly it became possible to combine the two genres that I love the most.”
But publishers were inundated, Wilson said, with one editor saying that they had 100 romantasy book pitches already. Still, Younger was on board to sell Wilson’s book.
Wilson’s romantic comedies are published by Montlake Romance, an imprint of Amazon Publishing. Her editor there, Alison Dasho, asked to see Wilson’s newest creation.
Wilson said Dasho ended up loving the book so much, the publisher made a preempt offer, meaning it didn’t want her to take it elsewhere. The first advance payment Wilson got for “A Tribute of Fire” was enough to pay off her family’s medical debt.
When she was growing up, Wilson said she was surrounded by both genres that make up her new book — her mom was a romance reader and her dad loved fantasy. Wilson said the most difficult thing about writing her first romantasy novel was moving away from relying on modern language.
“Romantic comedy has such a structure where you very much have to have this romance, it has to be funny ... So with this, it was like complete freedom,” Wilson said. “There were no expectations that I had to meet, I could just write it the way that I wanted to write it.”
The pressure to write a good, sellable book and earn enough to help her family was something Wilson said “weighed on her soul.” She hopes readers will pick up the book knowing it will have all the romantasy elements they are looking for, with her voice providing a clever twist on an oft-forgotten part of Greek mythology.
Wilson will have a book signing at 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 13, 2024 at independent bookstore The Book Box at 58 E. 12300 South in Draper.
