Mana, Asher’s first published novel, is a book that really spoke to him personally…
almost as if it kept telling him to write it. Mana, as a term, is the Pacific Islander view that all
things consist of this energy that cannot be seen, except by those few that are favored.
That is where Mana, the novel concept, came from. What if people could actually see this
energy that exists in everything? What if people could use it similarly to magic? What if people
who could do this became greedy? What if this was brought to the real world? He wanted to
answer all of those questions, as well as telling the best story he knew how.
He wanted to write a book that really conveyed his unique vision—also, he wanted a
book with rain and lots of forests. Twilight basically claimed Washington. After some intense
research, he ultimately decided that Roanoke, Virginia was an ideal setting! Surprisingly, after
choosing the setting, he then quickly figured out that he could play off an old piece of history,
which set a new foundation to the book. Mana is not just the beginning of a saga, but the start of
a revolution!
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