MACON – Mercer University senior Elizabeth Tammi, a creative writing and journalism double-major from Oviedo, Florida, will release her sophomore novel, The Weight of a Soul, on Dec. 3.
A release party and reading, featuring Tammi and local writer Scott Hughes, will be held Dec. 5 at 7 p.m. at the McEachern Art Center in downtown Macon.
The Weight of a Soul tells the story of a girl, Lena, and her quest to discover what killed her younger sister, Fressa. Lena’s discoveries lead her down a dangerous path as she finds herself in the middle of a devastating plan to spur Raganarök, a deadly chain of events leading to total world destruction.
Themes of mythology are constant throughout Tammi’s work. Her first novel, Outrun the Wind, retells the followers of Artemis and reimagines the story of Atalanta, a renowned and swift-footed huntress in Greek mythology. The Weight of a Soul features Norse figures such as Hela, the goddess of death.
“I’ve always wanted to write a story centered around sisters, since I’m really close with mine,” Tammi said. “I also wanted to explore Norse mythology. The threads – sisters, Norse mythology, Viking history – all came together, and the story came to me pretty fully fleshed out.”
The book has already been highly acclaimed by many authors and named one of Barnes and Noble’s “Most Anticipated Sophomore Novels of 2019.”
Tammi’s debut novel, Outrun the Wind, was released Nov. 27 of last year. She wrote the novel during her first semester at Mercer before reaching a publishing deal with Flux, a young adult imprint of North Star Editions Inc., which is a privately owned publisher based in Minnesota. Her second book will also be released by Flux.
She wrote The Weight of a Soul during her junior year at Mercer. Though it was a difficult process, Tammi said it was very formative for her as a writer.
“It was an arduous drafting and revision process, but it got done, and I’m happy with how it turned out,” she said. “Even if it was hard, now I know that I can still be creative and disciplined on a deadline, which will hopefully serve me well in the rest of my publishing and journalism career.”
Tammi said the support received from her professors at Mercer has been invaluable.
“My professors and the faculty here have shown me so much support – that’s been an enormous comfort and inspiration,” she said. “I know that when I look back on these two novels, I’ll always associate them with the time I spent here at Mercer. I can’t imagine a better environment and support network from which to begin my writing career.”
Tammi aspires to work in journalism, multimedia communications or publishing following graduation.
