Beasts Made of Night Blog Tour: Q&A + Giveaway

Hey everyone! I have Tochi Onyebuchi on the blog today as the final stop for the Beasts Made of Night Blog Tour! Check out our interview, info about the book, as well as other goodies!

Beasts Made of Night by Tochi Onyebuchi

Publisher: Razorbill
Pub. Date: October 31st, 2017
Buy Links: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Book Depository

Debut author Tochi Onyebuchi delivers an unforgettable fantasy adventure that powerfully explores the true meaning of justice and guilt. Packed with dark magic and thrilling action, Beasts Made of Night is a gritty Nigerian-influenced fantasy perfect for fans of Paolo Bacigalupi and Nnedi Okorafor. In the walled city of Kos, corrupt mages can magically call forth sin from a sinner in the form of sin-beasts—lethal creatures spawned from feelings of guilt.

Taj is the most talented of the aki, young sin-eaters indentured by the mages to slay the sin-beasts. But Taj’s livelihood comes at a terrible cost. When he kills a sin-beast, a tattoo of the beast appears on his skin while the guilt of committing the sin appears on his mind. Most aki are driven mad by the process, but 17-year-old Taj is cocky and desperate to provide for his family.

When Taj is called to eat a sin of a member of the royal family, he’s suddenly thrust into the center of a dark conspiracy to destroy Kos. Now Taj must fight to save the princess that he loves—and his own life.

Tochi Onyebuchi is a Nigerian American writer and a practicing attorney based in New York City. He holds a MFA in screenwriting from Tisch, a Masters degree in global economic law from L'institut d'études politiques, and a JD from Columbia Law School. His writing has appeared in Asimov's and Ideomancer, among other places. Beasts Made of Night is his debut series. You can follow him @tochitruestory.

What was your inspiration behind Beasts Made of Night? 

Tochi: My inspiration was two-fold. On the one hand, I wanted to write a story that featured so many of the protagonists that I’d come to love in some of my favorite anime. Characters like Spike from “Cowboy Bebop” and Mugen from “Samurai Champloo,” guys who had this sort of nonchalance about them but who could grow into caring for others and eventually using their skills and powers to help other people. The second part is that I wanted to write about Nigeria, about the country my mother loved so much and whose culture she’d made such an essential part of my childhood. I wanted to capture its color and its chaos, its turmoil and the ability of its people to turn troubles into laughter.

In the past you have written novellas, short stories, screenplays, and more. What was different about your process when it came to writing Beasts Made of Night?

Tochi: I let myself have more fun with this than I’ve had with other projects. I love writing, always have, but this book felt freer. It also took me some time to really find Taj. In the beginning, all I saw was the horribleness of his situation, him doing this terrible work while being among the lowest of the low in the eyes of the people of Kos. But the more I wrote, the more I was able to see him shine. I think, this time around, I really took time to learn him.

When did you know you wanted to be an author?

Tochi: I’d known I wanted to write since I was twelve and took my first creative writing class in school. It was love at first sight. But it wasn’t until a year or two into high school that I realized it was what I wanted to do professionally. I remember reading Robert Jordan’s “The Dragon Reborn” one Spring Break and finishing it and still seeing the characters in front of me after I’d closed the book. There was this hit of euphoria, and that was when I realized I wanted to give that feeling to someone else. It was the most magnificent sensation in the world, almost beyond words, and it seemed like a superpower that I wanted dearly.

Which of your own characters do you relate to, and why?

Tochi: My goodness. I guess it would be cheating to say there’s a little bit of me in all of them, but I think I see a lot of myself in Taj. His desire to provide for his family, his awkwardness around girls, the way he tries to figure out how to be a big brother to the younger aki. All me.

What are your favorite or least favorite scenes to write, and why?

Tochi: I loved writing the fight scenes. Growing up watching the anime I watched, I fell in love with the imaginative way characters moved and how so many of the fantastical elements of the world could blend together in this moment of danger and skill. It’s a chance for Taj to show off his moves, but if he’s not careful, the consequences of his failure could be very, very dire.

Who are some authors you would like to collaborate with, and why?

Tochi: I would absolutely love to work with Marie Lu on a project. She’s a masterful storyteller, and I would learn so much. And Ken Liu. Ken’s imagination is boundless, and I don’t know too many writers drawing as expertly from non-Western traditions as him.

What is something you want your readers to take away from Beasts Made of Night?

Tochi: That jollof rice is the greatest food dish on the face of the earth. But, also, I hope that readers who see themselves in Taj or in any of the aki can realize how powerful and necessary they are.

What's next for you? Could you share with us anything about your next project?

Tochi: Well, I have quite a few things lined up for Taj after the events in Beasts Made of Night.

Brittany: Thank you so much, Tochi, for doing this interview with me! 

Everyone, be sure to check out all of the other amazing tour stops and giveaway below!

Week One:

Oct 23 – Pop! Goes the Reader –  Artistic Wallpaper

Oct 24 – Alexa Loves Books – Bookish Style File

Oct 25 – Boricuan Bookworms – Review & Bookish Aesthetics

Oct 26 – Afire Pages – Review

Oct 27 – YA Wednesdays – Book Aesthetic

Week Two:

Oct 30 – One Way or an Author – Review & Art

Oct 31 – YA Bibliophile – Author Guest Post: Top 5 Favorite Fantastical Worlds

Nov 1 – Chasing Faerytales – Author Guest Post: Inspiration behind Beasts Made of Night

Nov 2 – Icey Books – Beasts Made of Night Quote Candy

Nov 3 – Across the Words – Author Q&A

Week Three:

Nov – A Page With a View – Author Guest Post: Images that Inspired Beasts Made of Night

Nov 7 – The Royal Polar Bear Reads – Review

Nov 8 – Xpresso Reads – Review

Nov 9 – YA and Wine – Review

Nov 10 – Brittany’s Book Rambles – Author Q&A

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Enter for a chance to be one (1) of three (3) winners to receive a hardcover copy of Beasts Made of Night by Tochi Onyebuchi. (ARV: $17.99 each).

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Enter between 12:00 AM Eastern Time on October 23, 2017 and 12:00 AM on November 13, 2017. Open to residents of the fifty United States and the District of Columbia who are 13 and older. Winners will be selected at random on or about November 15, 2017. Odds of winning depend on number of eligible entries received. Void where prohibited or restricted by law.