Guest Post from Suzan Battah

Some More Meanings and Fun Stuff about the BaSatai World

Thank you Samantha for allowing me on your blog, I love chatting about the BaSatai World and people often ask me how I remember so much about the world I’ve created and it’s simple because I love it, visualize it and feel and know the characters so well.

About the Title and What it Means – BaSatai: Outside In

BaSatai is referring to the supernatural people from the parallel world
H-Trae. The main character in the book Armani is a BaSatai hidden away on earth. Outside In refers to the way Armani feels like an outsider, different, singled out in the book there is a section where Rafael tells her ‘why are you always looking from the outside in?’. This book is mainly about Armani’s struggle with looking from the outside in.

About the Main Character Armani

Armani is plagued with a curse in her blood designed to break the parallel divide between H-Trae and earth when her blood spills and she dies. As she comes closer to turning 18, the elite BaSatai warriors and her Guardian have come to train her and take her home where she can be better protected. Yet Armani does not accept the curse in her blood nor does she accept the BaSatai and her Guardian giving up their lives just to protect her. Armani is suffering from human emotions and struggles to understand her purpose and identity in life. Her Guardian Karhl also arrives to guide her through the process of crossing over with Rafael, an elite BaSatai Warrior, who stirs up more confusion, emotions and guilt in Armani. She refuses to fall into line and doesn’t want to go back. She’s a walking target for her enemies crossing the divide to find her as the blood curse matures, the Supernatural’s are following the scent and willing to kill her to fulfill the curse.

Armani really struggles in this first book. She is a BaSatai suffering from human emotions and her stubborn belief she isn’t really cursed. She has a bad attitude and real vulnerbility. For Armani, the BaSatai coming for her mean the loss of her freedom and the guilt on her conscious if they die to protect her. It’s a tough struggle and she complains and fights it all the way. She’s like any normal teenager with usual issues but a more serious part of her life is that her death can destroy humanity.

The Music that Inspired BaSatai
Music is a big part of my writing life. I love Within Temptation, Kanye, Rihanna, Evanescence, Gobsmack and any type of Classical music helps me to write especially emotional scenes. All I Need by Within Temptation is the song for Rafael and Armani.
 

The Characters and My Favourite
I love all my characters in my books, each has such distinct personalities when it comes to the choices they make and the reasons behind it. But a favourite is surprisingly not a main character in book 1 and that is Valko, he’s annoying and rude but so much fun to write and certainly honest when maybe he shouldn’t be.