Battling Evil, Discovering Your Gifting, and Finding Community with YA author Sandra Fernandez Rhoads

Episode Transcript:

Introduction

CJ Milacci

Welcome, my friend. You are listening to Read Clean YA with CJ, the podcast for teens and young adults who want to explore exciting worlds, deep themes, and epic stories without the objectionable content. I’m your host, award-winning young adult author, CJ Milacci. And in this episode, we are going to dive into an author interview with fellow young adult author, Sandra Fernandez-Rhoads.

Sandra is the award-winning young adult fantasy author of The Colliding Line series, Mortal Sight and Realms of Light. She was born in Queens, New York to Cuban-Columbian parents, but grew up in Texas with a love for classical art and literature, specifically Renaissance artists and late romantic poets. She attended the University of Texas at Austin and earned a degree in English, and then went on to earn an MA in her 17th century crush, John Milton. Past Experience also includes a background in acting, directing, as well as script writing for the stage and short film.

Sandra Fernandez Rhodes, welcome to the show!

Sandra Rhoads

Thank you, CJ, for having me. I’m excited to be here.

CJ Milacci

Yes, I am so excited to have you. Today we are talking about Sandra’s Colliding Lines series and I read book one and I’m currently listening to the audiobook for book two and this series is so much fun. It is so good. There’s the battle of good and evil and secret messages hidden in things and I am very entranced in the whole world. So Sandra, can you take a moment and tell us a little bit about your series and your stories?

What is the Colliding Line Series About?

Sandra Rhoads

Yes, well, thank you for that. Thank you for those words. The story is about essentially the battle of good and evil. And it really is about a group of artists who have the ability to see this war, this invisible war happening in a second realm. And the artists are able to decode messages that are embedded in classical art and literature that help them get clues to fight the war and fight the enemy.  There’s a lot more to it, but that’s kind of the general overview of the story.

CJ Milacci

Yes, and I love a good battle of good versus evil kind of a book. I’m all about that. And the fact that you bring in artists as sort of the protagonist, the heroes of this is so fun because I don’t think you see that a lot. It’s often the sword wielding hero or the gun wield, you know, whatever the genre might be. But this is so unique because we are looking at artists and seeing what they discover in paintings and music and all of that. And I think that is very much a fun twist on the classic good versus evil battle kind of system. So what inspired this? It sounds like from your bio, a lot of this was probably inspired because you love this kind of stuff.

But what was the sort of catalyst for the story?

Sandra Rhoads

No, that’s a great question. I have a passion for artists. I love art. And I believe that art comes in all forms. It’s not just dance or music or painting or writing. It can be gardening. And you’ll see that in the book. People have different skills and talents. And I believe that we’re all given a gift.

And so for me, the premise of this story really was how you know, how do you discover what your gift is? And then how do you use it in community, for the betterment of community. And so the idea behind it was, if there was this battle between good and evil, if there was this realm that was unseen, who would be on, because it’s an everyday, it’s urban fantasy, so it takes place in a modern day setting, who would be the individuals of this world that would be open to and able to see those things.

And for me, it’s artists, because artists have the ability to take whatever idea is in their head, and then you wrestle with trying to get it out and communicate it to others. And it’s usually you’re like, oh, it’s not quite what I wanted it to be, but it’s just a fraction maybe of just what it is. So for me, I felt like artists would be the ones that would really be able to kind of see, understand and kind of hone that.

And then as I started looking, I started going, oh my gosh, there’s these, I got all geeky about it. And I was like, oh, there’s these great shifts. I do not have a degree in art history. Let me just say that, okay? I just love art. And I’m like, there’s these big shifts in changes in art. And I’m like, what if that was the point where big wars took place, but nobody really knows, but that’s really what caused the change in going from the romantics to enlightenment or like, and he’s just talking about these, the Renaissance period moving into, I was like, that to me would be cool. It’s like you take what you have and what you know, but you add a layer and you go a little deeper and you add a twist to it underneath that people are like, ah, I was like, that’s pretty cool. So that’s why for me it was artists and I studied Milton.

And one of the things that I loved about, for those that have read or know the poem Paradise Lost, a lot of times in high school, you’re required to read a snippet of it. Milton used a lot, he used Paradise Lost particularly, to speak a different message. He was writing about the fall of man, Adam and Eve, but really he would embed little messages in there that kind of spoke to what was happening in England at the time.

And so I was like, let’s just take that one step deeper. And let’s just say that it’s not just what was happening at England at the time, but there’s even something more to it. And I just kind of dug into whatever his mythology was. I just went a little deeper with it and added and twisted it a little.

CJ Milacci

Right, and made it your own. And it’s Cera, right, who’s the protagonist of the story. And she is also a big fan of Milton, right? Is that partly because that was a bit of you maybe bleeding into the story with her? Or did it just fit?

Sandra Rhoads

That is a spoiler for book two, so I cannot… yes, that would be revealed in book two.

CJ Milacci

Oh. See, I just started book two, so I didn’t even know I’m being spoilery in my questions.

Okay, okay. Well, all the more reason for me to postpone working later and just listen to the audiobook.

In the first book, Mortal Sight, can you kind of give readers a little recap or the pitch for that story so they can hear that book in particular and know whether or not maybe it’s a good fit for them?

Sandra Rhoads

Yes, sure. So the recap of the story is there’s a protagonist, Cera Marlowe. She’s 17 year old. She’s kind of a misfit. She suffers from what her mother and her have always believed are panic attacks. And so when these strike, her mom is like, you know what? She comes up with some reason as to why. And they have to uproot and start over. So she’s a very transient teen and never really found that community where she belongs.

Hence her love for Milton and classics and reading. But one day she befriends somebody and that individual has an unfortunate accident. I don’t know how much I want to spoil, but has an accident. And that kind of sends her on this quest and what she finds and what she discovers is she’s not alone. Like she’s able to see an unearthly creature. And in that she discovers that, hey, there’s a,  I’m not crazy, other people see this too. And then that kind of puts her into this new world where she discovers there are people like her. And then she starts to learn who she is in that community and then how she is a part of that community.

We talked a little bit about themes, but identity and community are the two things and what her gifting is and how she uses that as a part to fight the war.

Where do I belong?

CJ Milacci

There’s definitely strong themes of identity and community, especially for her going from loner to now having people that she can connect with and befriend and support one another. It feels, I think even for her, it’s almost this culture shock because it was not something that she was used to in her life at all. But I love how you wove that theme so beautifully into the first book because we really aren’t created to function and live our lives completely alone without connecting to anyone else and we need to know there are others who understand.

I also love that it was in the connection with community that she could actually start touching on that other theme you just mentioned of embracing her own gift and her identity in so many ways. Like seeing how her own gifting can benefit others because what we do in our lives always impacts those around us. And it is in community that our gifts and our talents are best expressed and can really be used in the way I think God intended them to be used. You do that really well the way the themes are layered together in that story. And I personally enjoyed watching her discover it, watching her character develop because even though she’s this loner you just you really like her like sometimes a loner can be off-putting but she’s not you like her you like her spunk you like her willingness to kind of go against the grain a little bit. There’s these things about her that you’re like cheering her on as she marches through the story and those themes —you want to find out more about them with her because it’s just so organic to the story and what you’ve done with her character.

So is that something you chose to do? Like because it is so organic, it feels so part of the book. Did you want identity and community and using our gifts, all of that to be the themes in there? Or did you kind of discover them as you discovered Cera’s story?

Sandra Rhoads

A little bit of both. Most of what I write has to do with those two themes, identity and community somehow. And part of it is because I do believe for me that YA, particularly in YA, those characters are trying to figure out who they are and then how they are in the world. And so gifting.

I can’t tell you, I remember growing up and thinking, oh, I wanna be like so and so, or why was I have that, or why don’t I have this, instead of saying, no, I was uniquely created with what I have for a purpose. And so for her, Cera has to go through this journey of saying, no, this is why I have these gifts. And while I may want that gift, or I may want that gift, we kinda work together as a body to be able to perform what we need to perform and do it the best that we can. And once I think she’s able to kind of settle in to, and book two has, book two takes a turn, but once she kind of settles into understanding what her gifting is and how it’s being used, she really kind of steps into her own of going, oh, okay, you know what? Now I know I have purpose, I have a plan, I know who I am.

And now it’s about how do I take what I know and help those around me? And I think for me, that’s a message that I feel like I’m constantly having to tell myself. It doesn’t matter. It’s like starting from a young age all the way up, I’m still having to go, no, this is what I’ve been called to do. This is what I do. And you may not know the impact of that immediately, but it does ripple into the lives of others.

Embracing Who You Were Made to Be

CJ Milacci

I think especially as a young person, it’s so easy to get overwhelmed by first the question of what are you going to do with your life? Because everyone seems to think they can ask every 17 year old that question. Even if you just met this person in the grocery store, they think I can ask you what you’re going to do with your life. And that so that’s overwhelming.

But then also you see other people who look like they have it together or they are maybe walking in their gifting and they’re excited and passionate about it. And so then it feels like, oh, maybe that should be who I am too. And it can be very easy to adopt another person’s calling as opposed to actually seeing, oh, what has God made me for? Who am I supposed to be?

For me in my life, it was something that I had to learn too, that I needed to embrace who I was made to be. And that it’s okay if I wasn’t called to the same things. It’s okay if I did things differently and maybe looked a little weird to some people because that’s who God made me to be and I am a little weird. I’ve embraced that now, it’s okay. But I think that that’s such a vital thing to learn and discover, especially at a young age.

So I love that identity is part of it and that idea of embracing who you were made to be, who you were made to be, not just who these other people were supposed to be, but, you know, incorporating that into our own lives and understanding like, oh, this is what I should be doing, how I should be living. And I love seeing it through a story. I just love how stories can highlight these things so well.

Sandra Rhoads

You totally nailed it. I mean, that is exactly it, is this idea of, because I hear what you say and I’m like, oh my gosh, yes, I was that weird kid, believe it or not. I know you can’t tell, but I did have the, back in my day, I had the shocking red hair mohawk and I’m like, I don’t fit in here, I don’t fit in here, I don’t fit in here.

And so feeling that sense, that resonant of going, where do I belong, where’s my community? has always been… it’s a search that I continue to go, okay, you know, how could I have gone back and told my young self that you’ll find your place being who you are instead of trying to go, okay, now I’m gonna try to be, you know, I’m gonna try the academic route and I’m gonna try to be serious. And I was like, oh, that didn’t work for me, you know? And so you just start trying on these different personalities because I too, I’m like you.

I knew people that were like, this is what I’m gonna do, and this is where I’m gonna go, and I’m headed in that direction, and boom, they did it, and I was like, whoa, that just seems awesome, but that wasn’t me. And so getting to a point where you could be comfortable with that, and that was one of the things that I was like, you know, I feel, and I see it, and I have kids that are somewhat around that age, and I see that same experience all over again. And so I’m like, I think that it’s just something that we all have to walk through. And so for me, that was an important part of Cera’s journey.

CJ Milacci

Yes. I love that we can walk through it with a character because it’s one thing for a mom to say, be who you’re supposed to be and just be you because you’re wonderful just as you are. And we’re all like, but you’re my mother. You have to say that, you know, but then to watch a character do it, it kind of opens it up in a new way because now to watch Cera as a reader, you’re like, wait, no, don’t push that part of yourself aside. Like, oh no, be who you’re supposed to be. Stand up and walk in that. Because we can see as the reader that the best thing for her is to embrace her identity and who she is.

Then I think that can start to…Truth has a way of infiltrating our lives. I think that’s just how God designed us, right? When we hear something or we read something or we see something and we understand that truth is there, I think it has a way of kind of infiltrating our hearts and sowing a seed there that will hopefully then for that reader who feels like, I don’t know how to just be who I am, as they read Cera’s story to maybe be like, oh, actually, this can be… me too. I can step up and just be me and who God made me to be.

How Your Creativity can be a Gift to Others

Sandra Rhoads

Mm hmm. Yeah, absolutely. And then, with the art for me, one of the things I love is that I’ve had so many people say, well, I want to pursue dance or I want I used to play this or I used to do that, but I don’t do it anymore because they don’t see the value in it. And for me, it was going through the story and realizing how those gifts and those talents do have value. And to hear people say I’m drawing again or I’m doing this again because it brings them so much joy and then it becomes a gift for others in the world. So that was another thing that I was like, yes, she needs to embrace that part too.

CJ Milacci

Creativity, I think any form of it, like you said earlier, it comes in so many different forms. So being an artist can look like many different things. It’s not just being a painter or a musician or a writer. But I think creativity allows us to do something that other tasks work like tasks or analytical tasks kind of don’t because God is a creative God. So when we are creating, it kind of allows us to experience, I think, a part of his character that maybe we don’t always get to see. And I know for me, as I’ve embraced writing and I’ve written different stories that I’ve discovered things about myself and things about God that I would never have discovered had I not been creating, had I not been working on that type of stuff.

I think creativity can open up new avenues in our own hearts and minds in understanding who God is, but also understanding who we are as people and give us a chance to enjoy life in a different way, perhaps.

Sandra Rhoads

Absolutely. Absolutely, yes.

CJ Milacci

You have written these things with identity and all of this in mind. And if there’s a reader who feels like they struggle in that area, what would you really hope? In some ways we’ve said this already, but I kind of just would love to hear your thoughts to that reader in particular who feels like they don’t belong anywhere and they don’t know how to be themselves. What would you want them to hear from the story and just from you as the author of that story?

You Were Created as You are for a Reason and You’re Not Alone

Sandra Rhoads

Well, I would say for one thing that you were created that way for a reason. Like there is something in you and there is some, you’re not alone. And that’s the number one thing for, I think the character herself started off feeling like she was alone until she stepped into this community. And she took risks to step into a community, which is hard.

But I would say, really to just press into those things that bring you joy, those things that you’re like, you know what, this is what I love and don’t discount or discredit them because and it’s funny as I have said this in a way and Cera’s journey is a little similar, but our life to me I always view it like kind of like a dot-to-dot picture so you might start off here and then number two is way over here and you don’t understand why you’ve got these little dots or why you’re involved here or why it took this turn this way. But then when you connect all the dots and step back, you’re like, look, it was an eagle or something, you know, like you have a really an image that you didn’t have before.

So for those who feel alone and feel like they don’t fit in, the one thing that I have to say is that, my gosh, there, I mean, you hear it all the time, there are people that already like other people, but there is nobody like you.

And that is Cera’s journey. There is nobody like her in a sense, and without giving away spoilers, but you’re an essential part. You have a gift, you have a calling, you have a presence about you that matters, and it changes the world every day that you take a breath, every day that you walk into school or you encounter somebody, you have the opportunity to change the world and change the trajectory of somebody’s life. And so I think that if we, the one thing that I would say is just be yourself and don’t hide yourself.

Yes, there’s a time like in Cera learns, there’s a time to go, okay, you know when to say those things and when to show and when you can trust your, when you can trust people with that true, true part of you. But that’s what people love.

People love the authenticity and the realness. And the world can be hard, but staying true and knowing that your identity doesn’t come from you, but it’s been a gift. And that gift is for you to give to others. And that’s the, I think for me, particularly with Cera, that was the main thing. And it’s so funny, she was an interesting character. I just wanna talk about her, cause I’m sitting here and go, okay, we talk about classical literature, we talk about art.

But the book itself was a very interesting thing. So for those who don’t feel like they fit in, I never felt like I fit in. I love classical literature, but the story I wrote was very action-oriented, doesn’t necessarily fit a clean genre. It’s kind of its own animal, because you’re like, you got classical literature, you got classical art, but you’re also like high action, fast paced, urban fantasy, like what are you?

That’s what I heard in my author journey. I don’t really know where this fits. I don’t, like I can’t really see where it fits. But that to me is one of the things that’s so unique to who I am is I just took what I love, all of these different aspects of what I love, and I found that they started being knit together into a story that makes it unique. And I think that’s what the world wants to see, and that’s what the world loves to see.

CJ Milacci

Yes, I love that so much. I can understand why people maybe have a hard time characterizing the books. But at the same time, once you get into the story, it fits, you know, it’s it is such a fantastic read, but it does incorporate different elements that maybe you don’t normally see together. But I think that’s part of what makes it so much fun because there’s all these different things that you don’t find in other books.

But then there are things that connect to other books as well. Because if you like that, you know, urban fantasy kind of a vibe or high action stories, this book is going to be something you really enjoy. And if you love art and music and that kind of thing as well, and you want to see artists portrayed in a very cool way, then this book is totally for you. It’s a great story.

Since we were talking about Cera a little, can you talk about maybe a character or even a scene? Sometimes I don’t like to make it so that you have to pick a favorite character, but something or someone that was really fun for you to write.

Behind the Scenes of the Colliding Line Series

Sandra Rhoads

Oh, I have a favorite character. Everybody knows, everyone knows I have a favorite character. He shows up in book two. So I don’t know. He’s in book two. And it’s Cole. I love I love Cera. Cera made me want to slap her a couple of times. So if you read it, you’re like, why are you doing that? Yes, sometimes. But she needed that. She needed to grow. So I actually do love it when people are like, oh, my gosh, I just was so angry with her. And I was like, yes, I was, too. But she needs to grow.

But I, gosh, book two has one of my favorite, favorite scenes. I don’t know if you have gotten there. I probably should pick one from book one, but book two has one of my favorite scenes that I had written and it’s a scene between her and Cole and their pseudo training, if you will.

The fun part is it has so many layers. I love to write in the way that you read it once and you’re like, oh my gosh, that was so great. But then you go back and you read it again and you’re like, oh my gosh, this was there and this was there and this was there. And like I’ve put all the little Easter eggs, if you will, in a scene that will tie back, either you can go back to the beginning or you can go back to the end.

But if I have, scene from book one. Gosh, I’m trying to think particularly what my favorite… The whole series started with writing the very, very last scene of the entire duology.

I wrote the last scene first and I was like, okay, this is how it ends. Now, where does it start? And so if you’ve read the duology chapter one of book one mirrors in title and whatnot, the last chapter of realms of light, the last book in the duology.  I love to tie everything, like everything names have meaning, places have meaning. I just like to layer as much as I can. So it is one of those that people are like, I picked up on that, because there’ll be little mentions here and there that I put into the story that people will email me and they’ll be or they’ll message me and they’ll be like was that this and I’m like you’re right on it was so that that’s always fun.

CJ Milacci

That’s so neat. I think those are the things that make a story resonant to a reader, even if they don’t pick it up. Because I know for me, when I really loved a book, it’s often that one, that type of book, where it’s very layered and nuanced. And every time you read it again, you pick up something new. And you’re like, oh, this actually is a hint of something else that happens later. And it just feels interconnected and layered and rich.

Because that’s how life so often is. We have different things that happen in life that play out later in a way we didn’t expect. And I think when stories kind of can mirror that in some way because of a skillful author doing it very well, which you did, that really resonates in a reader, at least for me. I don’t know, other readers, I think, would agree though.

Sandra Rhoads

Yes, but I do, I love all my characters. And I think just book one, I think one of my favorite scenes writing was the porch scene between her and Jess was one of my favorite, her neighbor friend was one of my favorites, but I love writing action too. So anytime they’re running from something is always a lot of fun.

CJ Milacci

Yes. And there’s a lot of action in your books. So you had lots of opportunity for that, I guess, to write those fun scenes.

Let’s just take a little pivot here and talk about you a little bit more, if you don’t mind.

What started you on your writing journey?

Sandra Rhoads

Oh, I’ve been writing probably like most people. I have been writing for a very, very long time. I’m the four out of five girls. And so I was the weird one. We always talk about like, we were the Spice Girls and there was Sporty Spice and I was Scary Spice, like in the scary way. So I was very much a daydreamer in my head. I was kind of imagining ideas and whatnot and writing them down from a young age.

I went to school, didn’t know what I wanted to do, didn’t know what I wanted to be, but majored in English and then just started writing. I wrote poetry, I wrote short stories. I did a lot, I did some directing and I think we talked directing, I wrote for stage and short film.

And then one day I just was like, you know what? I was like I have this idea for a story. I don’t know. I don’t know. Let’s just see where it goes. And I thought it was going to be a short story and then it just started going and going and going and going and then it turned into a novel and two. So yeah.

CJ Milacci

Wow. That’s so neat. Do you have other books that you think you’ll write?

Sandra Rhoads

Yes, yes. Oh, no, no. Yeah. So this series is done. It’s just a two book series. But I have just finished a one of the things that I do love is I love the classics. So I use, I will put and weave usually some aspect of it into one of my stories.

I just finished a draft on an alternative historical young adult fantasy that I don’t want to give away too much, but it has to do with, don’t get scared, Ovid’s Metamorphosis, Shelley’s Frankenstein, Jekyll and Hyde. I mean, it sounds like a mess, but the way that it’ll come together will be really interesting. So I love world building. I spend a lot of time on world building. And then I have another story that’s more post-apocalyptic and I’m about halfway through with that one.

They just take me a long time just because I really kind of dig deep into building the world, building the powers. I just take a long time to do that. So I wish I could crank them out. Again, it’s one of those, I wish I could, but I just know that’s just not the way that I’m that I’m wired as an author. I just really want to sit with the story and let it come out as organic as possible, the way that the story really wants to be told.

CJ Milacci

Yes, well, I have no doubt that it will be well worth the wait. And until then, you have two fantastic books available for readers. So we’re running out of time. But can you just share where readers can find you and your books and then maybe learn about these other books when they’re ready to come out?

Sandra Rhoads

Yes, oh no, great, thank you. Yes, it’s available on Amazon or Barnes and Noble, any of the major book retailers. And I’m on Instagram is at sfrhoads.author and then also my website is sandrhoads.com.

CJ Milacci

Perfect, and I’ll have links to everything in the show notes as well, so it’s a nice, easy jump for listeners. And before we wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to say before we go?

Where can you find Sandra Fernandez Rhoads?

Sandra Rhoads

No, I just thank you for having me on the show. This it was a joy and I love talking stories. I love just encouraging others to pursue your gifts, pursue your passion and don’t give up. Just keep going. Keep going because you don’t know at the end, you don’t know what it’s supposed to be and for how. But you just you just got to keep pursuing that. So but thank you for having I hope that the readers, you know, enjoy the story and find just some inspiration and some encouragement between the pages.

CJ Milacci

I am sure they will.  Sandra Fernandez-Rhoads, thank you so much for being on Read Clean YA with CJ. I had a wonderful time chatting with you today.

Wrapping things Up

I hope you enjoyed the conversation with Sandra Fernandez Rhoads. This was my first time getting to talk with Sandra, and it was a delight to get to know her and hear her heart behind her stories. If you love urban fantasy, high action-adventure stories, and intriguing plots, then the Colliding Line Series is for you.

Since recording this episode, I finished book two in this series, Realms of Light, and it was a great read! There were moments where my jaw dropped and I couldn’t stop turning the pages…or in this particular case, listening to the audiobook. It was an adventure until the very end and I look forward to revisiting the stories to find some of the Easter Eggs Sandra hid within the pages.

Note for Sensitive Readers

I do want to give a quick content warning for sensitive readers. The Realms of Light duology has some intense moments and scenes that could be scary for some readers. There are battles of good verses evil, and the evil is very, well, evil. Sandra does not give graphic or gory depictions, but it is worth noting that some of the moments are pretty scary . There is a romance throughout the duology as well, with a couple kisses. It’s sweet and not overdone, but still there, so if you or a young reader in your life isn’t quite ready for that you may want to have a trusted family member read it first.

Don’t Forget The October Goodies Giveaway!

Sandra has also graciously agreed to include a paperback copy of Mortal Sight, book one in the duology, along with a bookmark, quote card, sticker and a map of the estate for book two in this month’s giveaway, so don’t forget to check out the October Giveaway for Read Clean YA with CJ and find her book along with some other great Young Adult books.

You can find the episode show notes at readcleanya.com.

A Quick Personal Note

On a personal note, tomorrow the second book in my Talionis Series, Fugitive of Talionis, will launch into the world. If you love dystopian stories with that are a “page-turner” with relatable characters and with hope woven throughout, then you’ll enjoy the Talionis series. You can find book one, Recruit of Talionis, wherever books are sold, and starting tomorrow, Thursday October 19th, you will be able to find book two, Fugitive of Talionis as well. 

Thank you so much for listening to Read Clean YA with CJ. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend so they can discover exciting, clean young adult books too.