S.2 Ep. 107: Dragons, Deception, and Deadly Oaths: Nia Davenport on Our Vicious Oaths

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where political marriages end in bloodshed, enemies make dangerously tempting allies, and some oaths are sealed with knives instead of kisses.

This week, host Sara Santillan sits down with acclaimed fantasy author Nia Davenport to discuss her dark standalone romantasy, Our Vicious Oaths.

Nia shares her unconventional path from studying biology and teaching for seven years to building a career across science fantasy, YA, romance, and dark fantasy. She opens up about teaching herself to write full-length novels, surviving shelved manuscripts and publishing rejection, and why BIPOC and queer authors should never question whether their voices belong in fantasy.

We also dive into Our Vicious Oaths, where dragon-riding warrior princess Kadesha refuses to become a political pawn and spends the night before her wedding with a mysterious stranger. The next day, she discovers he is an enemy Fae king who engineered their meeting and the slaughter that destroys both courts. Nia discusses Black Fae, knives-to-throat enemies-to-lovers tension, unapologetically powerful heroines, and the political bargain that leaves Kadesha and Malachi plotting to kill their mutual enemy before turning on each other.

🐉 What happens when the stranger from your one-night stand destroys your wedding the next morning?
👑 Can a warrior princess protect her kingdom without surrendering her freedom?
🗡️ And what if the enemy whose heart you plan to carve out becomes the one person who truly sees you?

This is a must-listen for dark romantasy readers, enemies-to-lovers fans, lovers of political intrigue and Black fantasy, and anyone who supports women’s rights—and women’s wrongs.

🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:
✨ How anime, Sailor Moon, theater, and oral storytelling shaped Nia’s writing.
✨ Moving from biology and teaching into a full-time publishing career.
✨ Writing several practice novels before finding her voice and process.
✨ Querying too early and receiving a full request within forty-eight hours.
✨ Shelved manuscripts, systemic publishing barriers, and refusing to stop.
✨ How The Blood Trials launched Nia’s traditional publishing career.
✨ Writing across adult fantasy, YA thrillers, romantic comedies, and dark romantasy.
✨ Why writers should consume widely and trust the stories they most want to tell.
✨ The importance of BIPOC and queer voices in speculative fiction.
✨ Kadesha’s fight to become her father’s heir instead of his political pawn.
✨ A one-night stand, an enemy Fae king, and wedding-day carnage.
✨ Knives-to-throat tension, political bargains, mutual vengeance, and catching feelings.
✨ Creating Black Fae courts infused with Black American culture.
✨ Writing bold heroines who own their power, sexuality, brilliance, and mistakes.
✨ Why Our Vicious Oaths became a standalone instead of a longer series.
✨ The realities of traditional publishing, author marketing, and Nia’s interest in going hybrid.
✨ Gilded Veins, murderous vampire families, and Nia’s upcoming dark romantasy.
✨ Favorite princesses, alternate titles, sacred promises, and rapid-fire chaos.

CONNECT WITH US

🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
📚 Nia Davenport – @Nia.Davenport

✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the Mythic Mike Podcast, where myths, magic, and legendary stories come to life. Join your hosts, Bethany Amanda and Sarah Sontillon, passionate authors, book collectors, and lovers of all things fantasy and romanticity, as they dive into epic worlds, enchanting tropes, and the books that leave us breaklet. The Mythic Mic is your getaway to the magic of fantasy fiction. So grab your favorite bookish beverage. Settle it, and let's step into the extraordinary. Now, here are your hosts.

SPEAKER_03 0:32

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the Mythic Mic Podcast. I'm Sarah, and today I have the amazing Nia Davenport. Hello, Nia. Hello.

SPEAKER_05 0:41

She is the author of Our Vicious Oaths. And we get to talk to you about everything we know about her book, about her. It's gonna be a blast. You ready, Nia? Yep, I'm ready. Okay. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Outside of writing, what do you like to do?

SPEAKER_02 0:57

What are your hobbies? I'm a huge nerd. Um, I watch a lot of anime. Sailor Moon, Yonah of the Dawn are like my two favorite ones. Um my god, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:12

I didn't know that. Oh my god, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:16

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm pretty sure Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask were like my formative or the formative reasons why I write like the type of like romantic tropes and characters that I do.

SPEAKER_05 1:29

Wow, that's incredible. I I did not know you loved anime. That is great. Yeah, I'm such a nerd. I collect anime, I collect manga, I my my whole family does. My dad introduced us when we were cool. Okay, very cool. Yeah, he introduces some of the more violent things, but Sailor Moon was my absolute favorite. And I wish my co-host was here. She's writing her debut novel. She's writing a like a dark Sailor Moon type.

SPEAKER_03 1:55

Oh, I love it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:58

Yeah, we're both writing our debuts, and I was as soon as she told me, I was like obsessed. I was like, I don't even care about mine, I want to read. I'm obsessed now too. That's amazing. So I and many of our listeners have found out that you were in the biological sciences and also theater education. How did you learn in writing and how did that contribute to your writing?

SPEAKER_02 2:21

Um, so I I landed, I've always been a writer. Like I've always been a storyteller, but I feel like growing up and then just in like high school and in in um in um college, writing as a profession is one of those goals that seems like right up there with like, I want to be an actress, or like I want to be like an NBA player, or like I want to be a celebrity. Um, so it definitely was never something that even like nowhere in like my like mind that I thought it was like a career that like like I could actually set out to do. Um so when I went to college, I was actually my major was by was biology because at the time I was like, okay, being a doctor, being in like the healthcare field seemed like a much more like grounded, attainable career. Little did I know med school was like actually very, very unachievable, like pretty out there, like the you know, admission rate is um about one to one with publishing a book. So I was actually not picking the more easily attainable choice, but um, 18-year-old was not to wear that. Um, and so I was a pre-med major, but it was a major that like I enjoy the sciences because I taught biology after that. Um, and I genuinely enjoy teaching it, but looking back, like everything works out the way it's supposed to because I think I would have been miserable in that pro in the healthcare profession. Um, because it was never something I was passionate about, as evidenced by the fact that I never never buckled down in like college to like devote the amount of like time and energy and studying and just you know whatever I should have been. I was like, I'd rather be like spending that time buried in a book or hanging with with friends or like at like at like parties as one does when they're in college. So um I ended up teaching for seven years and very much adored the classroom. Um, but I couldn't, um, I was reading, like I've always been a really huge like fantasy and paranormal romance reader. And so I couldn't let go of the idea that like I wanted to write to write my own book, especially because I was reading like a ton of things um that had had like cishet white heroines. Um and I was like really, really hungry for like more uh heroines in like a sci-fi fantasy space that looked like me. Um I remember like I picked up an LA Banks book. Um I love her to death. Um she wrote The Vampire Huntress Legends, and it was like my very first time like seeing a black girl like in that like paranormal romance space, and it just like unlocked something in like my brain where I finally like saw someone who looked like me who was like professionally writing and publishing the stories that I loved as a living, and I was like, yo, I want to do this too.

SPEAKER_05 5:12

Yeah, yeah, that's amazing. I I I'm I relate to this a lot. Um, I was I'm in college right now. I'm doing my PhD. I thought I'll go all the way, get my PhD, and now I'm at the end and I'm like, I want out so bad. I'm so tired, I'm so burnt out. And I was telling my husband, like, I don't know if I want to do this like for the rest of my life. And he's like, why don't you write? Like that's something you've always wanted to do, and it's all you've done all your life. And I was like, Yeah. So I started writing my book, and it is it is a Dracula reimagining, and Mina is a mixed girl, she's black and Mexican like me, and Van Helsing is black, and Dracula is Spanish and Mexican like my husband. So I'm like, Yeah, representation. But it's like I love it because your book, seeing your book at the bookstore, like I just did the San Diego book crawl, and I went to buy your book there at um Mystery Galaxy in San Diego. Yeah, and I'm just like, I was telling my sister, like, I'm loving it. It's black girl power, like we're getting all the books that we want, you know, and fantasy. And my sister was all excited, and you know, I love that you're paving the way for the rest of us to kind of do what you're doing. So thank you for doing that. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 6:30

My only question is when do I get to read read this story? Because I'm I am a Dracular girly, and like you just said all of the words to make me be like, I need to devour this story.

SPEAKER_05 6:43

It is currently in the works. My alphas have chapters, we're working on it, but I'm so excited to get it out there for everyone. I'm doing doing the work. Um, but yes, we're here to talk about do. So tell us about your publishing journey. How did that look like for you?

SPEAKER_01 7:00

Um, long story.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

So I don't have an MFA. I like I said, I didn't even think like writing could be like a thing until well after college. And it was very much me. I feel like especially as like BIPOC storytellers where like oral traditions are kind of like in our blood and passed down from like generation to generation. Um, I I just have like a very and that plus being um a voracious reader my whole life. I have like kind of like this like just like gut innate instinct um about like what makes like a story tick and like you know like the different like plots and like tropes and how to like create a character arc and all that. And then also just um I will I couldn't say it's not a hundred percent um innate because I was a theater girly. And so just like throughout those studies, like looking at like the format of like both like the comedies and the tragedies and the you, you know, the traditional three-act structure, that kind of like already gave me like a strong built-in sense of story structure, um and like how to like threaten humor and like how to make like drama like work to like my advantage. I already had like a really good background of like the universal like archetypes as far as characters and plot goes, and just the pulling from that, plus a combination of just like the hundreds and hundreds of like books that I've read and just like naturally like clocking like how they are effectively establishing an opening scene, you know, the major conflict, like completing a character arc. Um, all of that meant I just like started with a good grasp on like how to tell a story. Now I did not have a good grasp on how to write like a hundred K words. So I was like, I remember opening up a laptop for the first time and being like, I have no idea how to actually produce a full-length book. Um, and it was very much trial and error. I think I wrote like five books that will never see the light, the light of day. Um, that went from like, I think like maybe the first one was like 30k words, the next one was like 45, the next one was like 30. There was like one like 100k word monstrosity where like I got the length, but the plot was like a hot ass. It was like there was no cohesion going on. Um like I said, it was very much I made the cardinal sin. I can't believe I'm admitting this when I was quarrying. They always tell you, don't quarry a book that is not finished. And me and my hubris and my ego, I was like, eh, it'll be okay. And ages take like forever and a day most times to like get back. So I can quarry it now. And by the time six to eight months roll down the line when they actually get um back, this book will be ready to go. Well, I quarried a book and got a request for the full in like 48 hours. Um, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, yeah, so that was that is my quarrying faux pas horror story. Um, but then I shelved that one. Obviously, I did not get representation off of that because it was admittedly a hot mess. Um, for me scrambling and trying to like, you know, write it and finish it. Um so then after that, I ended up working on once I had learned from all the blusters along the way. I ended up working back in like 2014 on a Hades and Persephone YA retelling um that featured a black girl. It was set in New York. It was a modern story. Um, and that is a book that I actually got my agent with. But when we tried to like shop it around and sell it to publishers, there was like a lot of like feedback that it kind of like annoys me, but the the whole like this voice won't stand out in like a crowded market, or like I can't connect with the voice, and it's like that that age old systemic issue where like the market is glutted with like a bunch of like cishead white stories, um, and then publishing like can't see the value in like a BIPOC or queer story that like maybe plays in the same like genre or like tropes or space, and just see that by virtue of bringing um a rich, textured, beautiful perspective to it, it makes the story like completely different than anything else that's out there. Um, so that manuscript got shelved too. Um, and while it was being shelved, I ended up writing The Blood Trials, which is actually my debut of science fantasy. Um, and it's one that I just it was one where like I was just like eff it and pour just all of my loves into it from like Star Wars to Black Panther to Avatar The Last Airbender to uh Kate Daniels, I mean to Alona Andrews's Kate Daniels novels, like genuinely any and every like archetype and trope that I loved, I was like, I'm just gonna toss this all in, which is how we ended up with this like genre bending science fantasy mashup, but but there's also a mystery going on. Um and it was a book that like actually launched my like triad publishing car um car um rear. And then we got back to um I've published so many things since then. I think I'm on like book six. I'm like, it was the blood trials and the blood gift in 23 and 24. That was uh duology. Um my debut YA was like a um speculative thriller that was like um it's called Out of Body. It was like Freaky Friday meets get out. That came out February of 24. Um, last year in 25, my second YA Love Spells Trouble, which is a really cute like Sabrina the Teenage Witch meets like um Gilmore Girls, except it's set in Houston and Everybody is Black. It's a YA rom com that came out last year. Um, and also last fall, we got back to I got back to adult to the adult side finally. Um, and I published my novel that uh came after the blood gift dual, the blood gift duology, which is our vicious oaths, um, which is um our dark romance that's enemies to lovers, um, and it's with Black Faye. And it's a space that I've like I have loved a good fay story to like sink my teeth in since my like teen, my teen, my teen years. Uh going back to like Holly Black and Mel and Melissa Marr. And I've just I've just always, always, always really wanted to write a faith story. And I know when I first was publishing the blood trials, my agent was like, eh, maybe not yet. Because it was again one of those like spaces where the market was glutted and publishers didn't really see an audience for or a value in like a debut phase story um that that wasn't coming from an author that already had like you know a pretty federal following. Um, so the blood trials like all of its amazing readers and all of the success um really like gave me, like empowered me to go and repitch the story of my heart and be like, no, I really, really, really want to write a romantic. And everybody's fate, and everybody is just unapologetically black. Um, and that's how we have gotten up to the current timeline.

SPEAKER_05 14:20

That's amazing. Um I just love that you're so you were so honest about how you started in terms of like you did the research, you were trying to figure out what worked. And we have a lot of aspiring authors and writers on here who are trying to figure it out, and me especially, I spent a ton of time trying to figure out what does gothic romance look like versus gothic romanticy? Because romanticy promises something that gothic romance doesn't. So, how do you those two things and still keep those promises? So I have been like, I've been in the trenches trying to learn that. And I love to hear that you being like the mega author that you are, was like, yeah, at the start, I was learning how to do all those things too.

SPEAKER_02 15:02

That's a horror story where I the Blood Charles has a mystery. I'm not a mystery author, like at all. Um, not much of a mystery reader. I like it like a good mystery show, but I had the bride bride ideas that toss in a murder mystery. And I just remember like going through hell when my editor was like, after he bought it, we gotta actually make the mystery like make sense and meet all of the mystery genre conventions and like expectations and payoff. Uh while because while it wasn't the main genre, it was like a sub-genre, like, you know, that tied into the larger science fantasy. And so I did, even after getting a deal, I did I had to learn how to write a passable mystery that like fast, you know, muster. Um I remember at one point calling up my agent and being like, never let me put a mystery supply into a fantasy book ever, ever again. Because I don't want to write a mystery, I just want to write a fantasy.

SPEAKER_05 16:01

That's incredible. Um, I just love that you kind of crossed over into all these different genres. Were you wanting to like explore? Was that deliberate? You were like, I'm gonna write all the genres I love.

SPEAKER_02 16:12

It wasn't really deliberate, it's just that whenever I'm like plotting out like a story and characters and plot and world building, I never have the only time I have conventions of the genre in a mind is when it's romance or a romantic. And then I'm always keeping, you know, the convention of like the me cute up front and like the happily ever after, like at the end. Um, but other than like the romance subplot, I I don't really plot with genre conventions in like mine. I just plot according to instinctually what I would devour if I was reading the story myself.

SPEAKER_05 16:52

That's awesome. I know I have to, I I'm I always tell people the stories I write hurt people. I'm gonna hurt you, but you're gonna love it. But I love that you're like, I, you know, you follow the story. You follow what comes naturally to you. You're not trying to like put all these things in. If it happens naturally, if it's something you enjoy, that's what you're building. I think that's amazing. What made you with to add on to that? You write adult and ya. Um, do you find that there's differences with adult and yA?

SPEAKER_02 17:25

Yeah, that was very intentional and deliberate. Um, I actually started off like I've always been a huge YA fantasy reader. And I started off just very passionately wanting to write in a YA space, and at the time, the market was just like it was so hard to get a debut novel sold in. Uh, I ended up writing the Blood Trials um as adult. Um, but now that I'm in the adult space, I'm like, oh my god, I love it here. Um I I shamelessly just like love being able to blend sex with fantasy. And so I'm like, you can pry being in the adult space from like my cold dead hands because now that I've arrived, I'm not leaving. Um, but also I write YA for just like the swoony, sappy teen in like me that like love like a good, like like I mentioned, like Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and like um, I'm a huge like Chuck and Blair fan from Gossip Girl, um The Vampire Diaries. Like I I've always really liked those YA-esque fantasies that have like these epic love stories at their center, at their center. So I definitely write why like YA2 intentionally because they're normally like my lighter, fluffy. I say they're my lighter and fluffy stories. Um, and it kind of gives me like a break from like the dark grittiness of like my adult books. Um, but I'm not even keeping I I don't keep to rules. I don't keep to I don't keep to rules because my next YA that's coming out is definitely um a dark vampire fantasy. Um so I'm like I I've actually thrown that out the window that my YAs are supposed to be a ray of sunshine.

SPEAKER_05 19:12

You were like, they were, but not anymore. They were, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, that's amazing. So you were a mentor in the pitch wars. Can you speak on that? Because all of us writers just it sucks that we can't be a part of it, you know?

SPEAKER_02 19:27

It's been so long ago. I mean, to be fair, as a writer, I was never chosen to be a part of it either. So I'm a nutritious witch all. Um, but it was it's all I've done a couple of mentorship programs, and I think it's it's very fulfilling like to be able and meaningful to be able to just like reach back because I know like I've had a ton of like support and mentorship from like writers in the industry um who were like published ahead of me. And so it's like it's just super cool to like, especially with like other BIPOC creators, to be in a space where like I can like the publishing industry, so much about it is so just nebulous and just like it feels like a ton of information that like you say, you're like trying to like figure it out sometimes as you go along. Um, so it always feels like really, really good to just like be able to like empower other creators like wherever I can.

SPEAKER_05 20:31

That's awesome. I love that you're you're about passing on the knowledge, you know, you're not gatekeeping, you're like let me show you how to do it because I know when I did it, it was crazy. Yeah, yeah, that's amazing. I I have been trying to put myself into the spaces and trying to be a supporter of authors. Um, and I've gotten tons of feedback from them and lots of advice. It's such an amazing community to be involved in, you know. Yeah, especially considering how the industry can be um everyone's trying to help everybody out.

SPEAKER_02 21:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 21:04

But that being said, what kind of advice would you give aspiring authors looking to walk in your footsteps?

SPEAKER_02 21:12

I think my major well, two. So one is like kind of like the general advice that's to read is to read like an abundance of like books because it really does help like feed into my own creative process. Like I read so much, I listen to music, I like watch TV, uh like consume so many different types of mood m of movies too, because it just all these themes and tropes and archetypes from like all the media I've consumed, like they all they just live in my head. So when like I'm building my own, I have just like a wealth of like knowledge to draw to draw from um and like recombine them into some I think unique. So that's one advice. And the other advice is to like just tell the story you like want to tell. I remember just like really being critical. Of is my voice necessary? Like, will my voice resonate with an audience? Will like publishing or readers even want to like hear the stories that I'm telling? And the answer to that is always yes, especially for like BIPOC and queer creators. Like the answer is always like 1000% yes. Um, like there's always space for our voices and like in the current world, past and present. It's just like our voices are so so vital and necessary.

SPEAKER_05 22:31

Yeah, yeah. That's powerful. Well, guys, you got the met like some of the best advice you can imagine. Something that was free. So eat it up and do what you will with it. Now, let's get into your book.

unknown 22:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 22:44

For those of us who are discovering our vicious oaths for the first time, give us your elevator pitch.

SPEAKER_02 22:50

Oh, okay. Um, how PG do I need to keep it? Because I have an unhinged one and then I have We're 18 and over. Okay, okay. And then I have a different one. Okay, so Arvicious Oaths is um a spicy knives to throw enemies to lovers. Um, Kadesha is a warrior princess who drive who uh rides a dragon and other things extraordinarily well. Um, she wants to be her father's heir, but her father is a misogynistic asshole and only wants to use her to marry off as a political pawn to an allied Faye King who has a habit, he's really old and has a habit of murdering his own wives. And she's like, hell no. Um, so the night before her wedding, in an act of rebellion, she goes and has a one-night stand with a hot stranger in a brothel, as one does. Um instead of so instead of a meat cute, they have their meat fuck. Um, and she's not aware that this hot stranger, when she like goes to her wedding the next day, the hot stranger is actually uh an enemy faking who intentionally like ran and like made them cross paths so um he can use their hookup uh to sew discard and literal like red wedding level carnage at her wedding the next day. So he orchestrates the slaughter of her of her court and her betrothed court, um, because he's but he's carrying a grudge from when her people tried to like conquer his lands and killed off his parents. Um but he lets her live uh and proposes a bargain like to come back with him to his court and pretend to be his war war to be pretend to be his captured war prize um to lure her betrothed who also got away out of hiding. Um and uh she's like cool because I want my betrothed's head because he's an asshole, but you're an asshole as well, so I'm taking your head after we get rid of this old gross guy I was supposed to marry. Um, and so she goes back with him to his court and like amid all this political intrigue where he's like he's there to like conquer her lands and make her bow. And she's like, I will literally cut off your head and carve out your heart before I give up my kingdom. Um, so they're all so they're scheming to kill each other after they, you know, get rid of their mutual enemy. And by the end of the story, like they start to fall in love. They go from hate fucking along the way and being real delusional about still killing each other to actually catching feelings.

SPEAKER_05 25:28

How did you come up with this? I love it. I love it so much. It's so much drama, so much political intrigue, and everyone's betraying each other, and they're fucking in the street.

SPEAKER_02 25:39

It started with me being completely unhinged and being like, I want them to smash on a throne in front of his whole court. So if you heard anything about our vicious OC, you've heard about the iconic throne scene. And I was like, I want them to smash on the throne. And then I from there I shamelessly created an entire story with like political intrigues and and like fake courts and like rival fai royals because I needed a reason for them to hate fuck on this throne. And so the story behind why it sprang up around it.

SPEAKER_05 26:14

No, that's amazing. Um, I love that for you. I love that for everyone who's gonna read it. I'm gonna read it. I I'm just that's amazing. So what I'm you make unapologetically amazing, strong female characters. She is you confident about her sexuality. Is that a vital thing for you to demonstrate in your story?

SPEAKER_02 26:40

It's absolutely a vital thing. And from my adult to my YA is kind of like the linking thorough line, like just a linking line between all of my stories. I always write like strong black women or girls who are like confident about themselves as a person, who like own their agency, and who are confident about their sexuality too. Because I feel like so often, like girls and women are told and are told to like have to be like demier or like nice, or you have to like like diminish yourself or like not shine as bright or like as boldly or vivaciously um as you would, because a lot of like patriarchal ideas are like you know saddled onto girls and women um that kind of like shrink us under it. Um, so I always write care heroines who boldly and loudly, sometimes violently, um push back against that role, and they're just unapologetically like I don't believe in like an unlikable heroine. Like I support women's rights and wrongs. So like they are just always unapologetically like confident, uh bordering arrogance by design, because I think like arrogance can be like a beautiful thing on like a woman, especially a woman of color who's always told that they have to be like humble and like they have to be like humble and meek and um like they can't like really like boldly embody like their beauty and brilliance and like worth worth. So I always write characters who know they are the shit and loudly are like, Yes, you should be kneeling in front of me because I am the shit. Um so it's 100% by design.

SPEAKER_05 28:22

That's amazing, and I love that because you know we get to experience that, you know, we get to experience uh freedom of sexuality and being a bull bitch and going out there and taking care of business, and I think that's that's wonderful that you you offer that as you know as an author. Um, I would love to know more about your worlds. Can you tell us kind of what about your world is different from what's on the shelves right now?

SPEAKER_02 28:46

Oh, okay, so that varies for each book. So for our vicious oaths, one of the proudest things about creating that world for me is that I wanted to write a story that felt like a classical like face story, but I wanted to make them black and also wanted to like thread like black American culture like within that world. And um, I I it's just like from like the way like Malachi, the main character, is built to like the like like the grill, like the gold diamond teeth ornamentation that he wears to like there's a scene where they're eating like it's like um a gourmet dinner in like his private chain chambers, but they're eating like collard greens and yams and like you know, like our like soul food. Um and it's just like this elevated, like fancy meal. Um, it's just like so many like layered things about that world from the fact that um the family dynamics between Malachi and like his auntie and his cousin. Um the auntie is very much like Queen uh the queen of Wakanda in like my head, just like her whole like mannerisms who was like, boy, don't play, do not play with me. Um so I'm I'm just very, very proud of like that world. Um, with the blood trials, my science fantasy adult debut. Um the special thing about that world is I plopped Akenna, a black woman, into a world that was heavily racist and heavily sexist, but that was intentional because um I wanted to explore identity and belonging that like just myself as like a black American woman goes through within has gone through within the US, like feeling like a part of a space that like doesn't always frequently does not love and embrace you back. Um and just like having to like navigate the trials and tribulations of having to like fight for like your seat at the tape, the tape, the t table and recognition and respect, and just having to like work like twice as hard to get twice as far. And like that world was created because I thought about Othello um and how Othello was like this black man within this society who was hated by his white peers around him because he was a general, he would he, you know, had all of this glory. And I was like, what if Othello had a granddaughter? And then I was like, so my the initial framing for my story was to model Akina and her grandfather off of an Othello figure, but the story isn't about him, it's about the grandfather who he raises in his image. Um to I feel like our elders often like raise us up to like travel even farther or like soar to even greater heights than they then um than they did. So Akina's grandfather um definitely a lot like like raises her up with that expectation and even pressure. Um and so it's a story about just her navigating uh like heavily biased space, um, and then still knowing that like she's like the smartest, she's the most brilliant, like she's the most powerful, like she has this incredibly like powerful blood magic that nobody else does. And knowing that like she like outclasses everybody around her who's telling her she's like inferior in in like every way. And so that's definitely um a really, really special book for for for for me.

SPEAKER_05 32:22

Wow, that's really powerful. I I understand that that notion of like you have to pick off where they left off and then hopefully go farther. Um me being the first one in my family to get a PhD, like my family is like you have to finish, like you're going to pave the way for everyone behind you or in front, like behind you to walk this path. Like your kids are gonna have an option they never had before because you open that door. So I I see that a lot. My father is you know black, my mom is Mexican, so both families are like, you need to go all the way. Um I'm like, I'm doing it, I'm gonna finish. Um, and now I'm writing my book, and even then they're like, hey, you're gonna be my dad is just like my number one fan. He's like, You're gonna, you're gonna be like a great author, and I'm gonna get the first book signed, and this, that, and the other. And I was just like, I'm gonna do my best, you know. So I get that. Yeah, that's very powerful, um, especially in BIPOC communities, because I feel like we're always carrying a torch to the next generation. Yeah. I think that's an extremely powerful story, and I can see why it's near and dear. Um, I do have a question about your Our Vicious Oaks. So, why did you decide to make this a standalone instead of you know a series? Because it's very, you know, there's a lot of really amazing.

SPEAKER_02 33:40

So that decision was just I actually love the world so much that I would not be mad about a series at all, but it was a purely market-driven series when I sold the book, pitched and sold the book, it was at a time, and we're still kind of like in that same time where I don't know, Pub Publishing did some analysis or survey along the way that and they came back with the conclusion that standalones and our duologies just are performing better and like are retaining our readership from book to book better than trilogies or longer series. Um, and so it it was just purely like a market-driven decision to um make it a standalone because that was my that's what my publisher was like excited about buying about the time.

SPEAKER_04 34:27

Yeah, that makes sense. I won't lie, I love a good standalone.

SPEAKER_02 34:30

I love you know what? I did not know I was a stand I love the good standalone until I wrote one because I feel like every fantasy book I've read before then had always been a series. And now that I've written a standalone, I have been converted. Like I'm like, oh my god, I love a standalone.

SPEAKER_05 34:53

Yeah, you get it all, you get it all one package, you know, you move on, and then I can move on to the next story.

SPEAKER_02 34:58

Like, I'm not just lingering, waiting on book two, having to go back to this world. I'm like, I can read it, I can love it, and then I can move on to the next story.

SPEAKER_05 35:08

Yeah. I have a question. How come you well, what was the decision behind deciding to try like traditionally publish?

SPEAKER_02 35:15

Have you ever thought about doing pri like hive hybrid and like kind of I have honestly before I decided to try it, I I tried this was during the very terrible book phases where I was still learning, but um, I was like, I was initially like gonna go, like gonna try indie because I had the very wrong misconception I was learning as I went that like breaking out in an indie market might have been a little bit more like accessible because it was at the height of like um I forget the name of the book book, but it was some paranormal row row romance book. It it had like just it was an indie book, it had just exploded on Ken Kindle. Um, and so just like the like the Kindle forward indie books were like like it's it it like it was the beginning of the explosion of that era. Um, and so I was like, okay, that might be like a really good like path, but I quickly um learned that indie publishing takes an incredible amount of just like knowledge about marketing and like promo and like publicity and SEO tags and just all types of things that like it just takes it is a misconception that indie publishing indie is like easier than than than um track because it takes so many additional things and just like having like a business savvy mind and like market knowledge. Um, that at the time I was also learning how to just write a novel. So I was like, I cannot juggle both of these things. I cannot, you know, learn how to write a dynamic of an incredible story as I go and also learn how to have a really good like business handle on the production and distribution and promo and marketing side. And so that's why I decided to go trad because in theory, Trad is supposed to the benefit of Trad should be that they are the ones who you know take the lead on all the promo and like marketing. Now we speed up to the current timeline, and with our vicious oaths, I have learned that that is not perhaps it used to be, that is not the age that we live in anymore. And like, I don't know, I don't know if it's like because of like book talk and like social media, but like authors, even trad very much have been like more and more like taking on the lift of like content creation for like promo and like marketing and like having to like pick up that business savvy like perspective anyway. Um, and so I did a lot of that leading into our vicious oaths, and so like now that I'm like getting and I'm still learning, I have a wealth of like a bunch of brilliantly talented indie uh author friends who I'm always like just learning from and like asking questions of as because just as far as like just their like brilliant like marketing and promo strategies. Um, so I I think I'm in an era where I would love to just like achieve a hybrid career where like I'm publishing some trad books, I'm also publishing some indie books, um, and just like a really good balance there because I think indie gives you the power to bet on yourself when trad is not dependable, like trad won't always bet on you, trad will always bet on you as long as it thinks you can make it money or it thinks like your books are selling at like a quote unquote uh acceptable level, but trad also likes to move that goalpost. Um, and so I very much want to move into an era where like I have like the freedom and independence to like bet on myself.

SPEAKER_05 39:11

Yeah, I would love to see it personally. I I feel like you have a lot of really awesome ideas that I think just because the trad sphere doesn't feel like that voice is relevant, that it's still relevant to us, and you could very much give it to us and we would eat it up. So I'm excited for that. If you ever step into the hybrid, I will I will be a fan. Thank you. So you mentioned a YA book that is dark. Can you speak on that at all?

SPEAKER_02 39:40

Oh yeah. Um, so it comes out. I think my first book out will be early 27. It'll be like my dark adult romancy, but fall 27. My YA book is Gilded Veins. Um it is, it feels like I know Gossip Girl is already like unhinged, okay? But it feels like a darker version of Gossip Girl um meets meets the vampire diaries. And um, so the main character doesn't she she she knows she's a vampire and she's an heiress, um, but she's raised by an uncle who was like, yo, the vampire clans are sat, they are fucking insane. They're unhinged, they are feral, they are deadly, they are ruthless. This is this is not the way to raise a child. I don't want this for my niece. So he steals her from her parents and like takes her over to um Spain and raises her as human on the run. Um, and so the book opens with her um right after she finds out that her uncle was murder was uh was murdered and she finds finds his body, and she automatically knows that the family he stole her from likely had something to do with his death. So against her uncle's advice, her uncle has always told her, if I die, they did it, they're coming to take you back so you can reclaim your place as heir. And against his advice to run as fast as she can, uh, she wants vengeance, and so she willingly goes with like her cousins who come to collect her and take her back to Dow to Dallas in the States. Um and she pretends like she's thrilled about and that she's just like awed by the allure and the grandeur and like the wealth. Um and she pretends like she is eagerly there to take her place as her mom's heir, but like she's really there because she wants to find out which of her family members killed her uncle and find a way to make them pay.

SPEAKER_04 41:50

That's happy.

SPEAKER_05 41:51

That's really cool. I love that she's she's got the power. He was like, If if I go, you know who it is. Yes, you know who it is, right?

SPEAKER_02 41:59

If I go, this is who did it. There's no get there, is no guessing here.

SPEAKER_05 42:07

And I love that you picked the two most like dramatic and angst shows them together. That's gonna be amazing. I'm I'm so excited for that. And that's coming out in fall of 27? Yes. Oh, very cool. And then you have one coming out in spring of 27, you said?

SPEAKER_02 42:26

Uh yeah, yeah, like late winter, early spring of 27. Oh, be um my next adult dark romancy. I don't know how much I can say about this one because I mean technically we've said nothing about it. Um, but it's um it's it's a romancy. I'm like, my dog wants to be in a camera. He's like, hey, you're on camera. I'm on camera. Um, but it's a dark romancy that feels like um the Medici's meets Arcane League of Legends. Um, it has Romeo and Juliet vibes. Um, my heroine is from um an aristocratic gentry, magic wielding family. Uh at 18, she was engaged to a boy also from an aristocratic family who rules a different city-state. But while her family is old money, his family is very much like former crime syndicate turn new money aristocrat. Um, and so their families have been beefing. Um, and their uh secret and child like teen engagement like just like gets shattered when like her his dad orchestrates the murder of her sister. Um which would throw would throw a wrist, which would throw a wrench in an engagement. Um, and so the the story is about them crossing paths eight years later, um, when they are competing for a spot on like the ruling council that like rules, like the they're like the lords that like rule over the lords of the peninsula. Um and so So once they are competing for a spot, they're also like trying to deny like the smoldering attraction that's still there. Um, but when once they figure out that a shared enemy is like poisoning both of their families, they have to um work together to figure out who their shared enemy is and resist like the lingering attraction that's still there.

SPEAKER_01 44:24

Tanger, you're cooking. I am it's gonna be great. It's gonna be a good year for 2027. Yes, yes, yes, 2027 will be a great year.

SPEAKER_05 44:36

That is so exciting. All right, listeners. You heard it all here. All this exciting news about 2027 and her new books and our vicious oaths. We can't wait to eat them all up. Can you tell us where to buy them?

SPEAKER_01 44:49

Where to find you?

SPEAKER_02 44:51

Yes, um, so you can buy them at your preferred bookseller. Um I love bookshop.org um because it supports your local indie. Um that's always like my preferred one. Um, you can find me online. Um, I'm I'm I gap way too much on threads um and IG at Nia.davenport. Um yeah. Awesome.

SPEAKER_05 45:15

Okay, you ready for the lightning round? Yes, yes, yes. Okay, who's your favorite princess of all time besides Kadesha?

SPEAKER_02 45:24

Um Tiana. Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:28

Oh my gosh. Every time the daddy scene comes on, I always cry. Um she's my favorite. It's so real.

SPEAKER_02 45:34

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:35

Yeah. What were some other working titles you had for this book?

SPEAKER_02 45:40

For Ar Vicious Oaths? Yes. Oh, so it was the Apollyan court at first because that's the name of the MMC's, uh, the Shadow Daddy's court, but my publisher was like that. They wanted a name that was like more recognizable. So we switched it to our vicious oaths.

SPEAKER_05 45:58

Yeah. I love it. I love either. I would I would have given you both of them. Are you the type of person who takes a pinky promise to the grave, or do you sometimes spend the rolls?

SPEAKER_02 46:09

Um, I take it to the grave.

SPEAKER_05 46:12

Me too. Yeah, don't make a promise with me because I'll remind you. Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 46:16

Exactly, right? Remember what you said, verbatim verbatim.

SPEAKER_05 46:19

Right, remember you said how good are you at flirting? And what's your favorite pickup lines?

SPEAKER_02 46:27

Um, you know what? I was married for 16 years. So I don't think I'm very I'm very good at writing flirty banter, but I know I'm pretty sure I would be like a complete dork.

SPEAKER_05 46:41

I agree. Um my husband and I are going on 11. We've been together for 16, and I can't even flirt with him anymore. I just giddy.

SPEAKER_02 46:48

Right. Right. I'm like, I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 46:50

I'm like, I'm just happy you love me. Right. Well, it's been wonderful, Nia, having you on, and it's been such a pleasure. I love, you know, talking about your writing process and learning all about what's to come. Thank you so much for coming on. Thank you. All right, everyone. We'll see you guys next time.

SPEAKER_00 47:11

That's it for this chapter of the Mythic Mike Podcast. But the adventure doesn't end here. Subscribe, leave a review, and follow us on social media at Mythic Mike Pod for updates, giveaways, and all the bookish and writing fun. Want more? Join our newsletter at mythicmike.com for bonus tips, author insights, and behind the scenes magic. Until next time, stay mythical.