Hampton woman's debut dark-fantasy novel takes readers on journey to magical world

Mayté Losada has always had a dark side yearning to break free from the confines of life in the modern world.

Enthralled as a child by the vivid “other” worlds depicted in Greek mythology, the Harry Potter novels and later, Hunger Games and Game of Thrones, the Hampton Township woman has created her own mystical landscape for the young-adult dark fantasy “Magic in Blood.” It’s the first novel in a trilogy titled “A Darkness So Blessed and Wicked.”

Losada, 19, began writing the story two years ago.

“All this started with a thought, a desire that came to me a few years ago: ‘I want to make magic,’ ” she said. “It started with the characters and moved on to the world and the plot before I figured out how the three would come together,”

“I felt I had a good idea and wondered if anyone had written it before,” she said. “While war and kingdoms have been done, I knew that the world I was creating was unique.”

That world is populated by evil characters, blood and soul magicians, battles, deadly creatures and a princess and prince from enemy nations who become unlikely allies in a deadly fight for survival.

Losada said she has taken pains to avoid creating hackneyed characters and scenes in her stories.

“I hate the stereotypical hero who is all good,” she said. “It’s too boring. The main characters in my book are not good people. I enjoy characters with questionable morals, and I like my battles to be evil versus lesser evil. I find they’re the most interesting, and I enjoy things that keep me guessing and on the edge.”

Born in an Italian canton of Switzerland, Losada has lived in Canada and the states of Washington and Virginia before relocating to Hampton because of her father’s job.

She is working on a bachelor of fine arts degree in cinema and acting at the New York Film Academy.

While Losada starting writing the book before she attended the film academy, she thinks some of the things she is learning will help her writing.

“Acting out scenes can be a good way to get into a character’s head,” she said. “Visualizing scenes like they are real people and reading the lines out loud also creates natural sounding dialogue. So learning to be a better actor should be helpful in the future.”

“Blood in Magic” is set in the magic realm of Rodessa, where the enemy kingdoms of blood mages — or magicians — and soul mages, Meris and Lysmir, are unexpectedly on the brink of war after two mysterious royal murders.

The two royal families quickly cast blame on each other. But suspecting that not everything is as it seems, princess Sivrehya of Meris and prince Ivar of Lysmir separately vow to find the truth.

Unbeknownst to each other, the mortal enemies journey to the Twin Cities of the solar and lunar mages in search of a mythical and deadly monster that cannot lie and knows all. During their quest, Sivrehya and Ivar strive to uncover what really happened to their families while fighting the urge to kill each other along the way.

The book is available on Amazon and other major book sellers.