Q&A with C. T. Rwizi

From my Q&A with C. T. Rwizi, author of Scarlet Odyssey:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

My book features a long journey tinged with blood, on a world with a large red moon dominating the skies. I think Scarlet Odyssey does a fairly good job of priming readers to enter this world and travel alongside my characters.

Without reading the blurb, however, they might not know that this is an epic fantasy infused with elements of science fiction, based in an African-inspired setting. I considered a title with the word “savanna” or “plains” so as to be more evocative of the setting, and something magical like “mystic” or “mystical” so it would be immediately apparent that this was fantasy, but I liked Scarlet Odyssey a lot, and so did my editors, so that’s what we stuck with.

What's in a name?

My main character goes by Salo most of the time, but his full name is Musalodi, a fictional name I derived by combining the word “Musa,” which means kindness or mercy in Zulu, Ndebele and a few other Nguni languages, and the word “Naledi” which means “star” in Sesotho. In the fictional language of his tribe, I imagine that his name...[read on]

Learn more about Scarlet Odyssey, and follow C. T. Rwizi on Twitter.

My Book, The Movie: Scarlet Odyssey.

Q&A with C. T. Rwizi.

--Marshal Zeringue