Sarah Chorn's Blog, page 13

Review | The Poison Thread – Laura Purcell

About the Book

A thrilling Victorian gothic horror tale about a young seamstress who claims her needle and thread have the power to kill

Dorothea Truelove is young, wealthy, and beautiful. Ruth Butterham is young, poor, and awaiting trial for murder.

When Dorothea’s charitable work brings her to Oakgate Prison, she is delighted by the chance to explore her fascination with phrenology and test her hypothesis that the shape of a person’s skull can cast a light on their darkest crimes. But when she meets one of the prisoners, the teenaged seamstress Ruth, she is faced with another strange idea: that it is possible to kill with a needle and thread–because Ruth attributes her crimes to a supernatural power inherent in her stitches.

The story Ruth has to tell of her deadly creations–of bitterness and betrayal, of death and dresses–will shake Dorothea’s belief in rationality, and the power of redemption. Can Ruth be trusted? Is she mad, or a murderer? The Poison Thread is a spine-tingling, sinister read about the evil that lurks behind the facade of innocence. 

351 pages (paperback)
Published on June 18, 2019
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The other day, I went on Twitter and asked for book recommendations. One of my followers told me about this one. She said, “This book is so up your alley it’s already at your back door.” I figured with that kind of endorsement, I had to give it a try. 

I had no idea what I was in for when I started this book. I knew it had to do with sewing, and I was a little nervous about that because I generally don’t think sewing is fascinating. However, the book is so much more than that. So, if you are likewise reluctant because you see a needle and thread on the cover and think, “that’s not for me” please, PLEASE give it a try. 

The Poison Thread is told through two points of view. One, is Dorothea Truelove, a wealthy heiress who has a fascination with phrenology, and on the other hand we have Ruth Butterham, a sixteen-year-old who was raised in poverty and has been arrested on charges of murder. 

“Our relationship was a bolt of cloth spread out wide, full of endless possibilities. The pattern hadn’t been chalked. I could have loved her. I could have taken the scissors and cut panels of friendship, sisterhood. But she made the first snip.”

One of the first things that really captivated me with this novel is the Alias Grace feel to it. While there are worlds of difference between this book and Alias Grace, there are some similarities that really struck me. The way the story is told, for example, with a detailed look at both the person imprisoned, and the person who is trying to learn more. Another is a sort of slow burn intimacy that pervades the entire novel. This is, in every respect, a Victorian Gothic tale, but there is a lot going on under the surface, and Purcell does an incredible job at showing two different, interwoven stories, and revealing bits of information at the most opportune times. 

Ruth was a fascinating character. Born to an overworked seamstress mother and an artist father, she was raised in poverty and never rose above that. Her story is both heart wrenching and captivating. She is taught her mother’s trade, and soon it becomes clear she has quite a skill for sewing. Furthermore, she believes she has an ability to pour her darkest emotions into every stitch of everything she sews, which then curses whoever wears what she’s crafted, eventually ending in their death. It’s a fascinating idea, and it’s interesting how Purcell played with Ruth’s desire to both do good, and then what pushes her to come to terms (of a sort) with her ability and its effects. I also really was intrigued by how the author took this incredibly normal act, and made it (darkly) magical.

On the other hand, we have Dorothea Truelove, who is turning twenty-five, and is being pressured by her father to find a good match. She is in love with a well-regarded constable, but he is below her station and so their romance is both illicit and fraught with unspoken tension. Dorothea has an interest in the relationship between phrenology and morality, and spends much of her time at the local women’s prison interviewing criminals and measuring their heads for her research. She happens upon Ruth, and the two of them start up a sort of relationship, with Dorothea there to learn about Ruth’s life and measure her head, and Ruth basically unburdening her soul before her eventual demise. 

“He wishes me pinned like a butterfly: beautiful to display, firmly in my place. Without life.”

In The Poison Thread, you get two very different characters from two very different positions. While the world stays small and close, the characters make everything seem larger than life. Purcell does an amazing job at making each character almost feel like a world unto themselves. I was captivated by their stories, and how they unraveled to an ending that, quite honestly, left me reeling. As I’ve said before, there is a lot going on under the surface in this book. A lot of subtle cues dropped that were nothing short of genius. Plenty of details that won’t matter too much to you in the moment, but will factor largely into the overall narrative. I found the way Purcell dealt with these puzzle pieces to be absolutely masterful. 

This is a slow burn novel. Things start out small, and get larger and larger as the book goes on. It was around the 40% mark when I realized I could not put it down. I was up until 2am last night reading because I couldn’t stop. Once events got going, and I saw how these two completely different lives played off each other in such unexpected ways, I couldn’t look away. 

This is a gothic novel, and I’d like to emphasize the gothic. Purcell’s writing is both understated and incredibly effective. The haunting feel to this book is so pervasive it almost becomes a character in its own right. I don’t think I’ve read a book that has utilized atmosphere this well, and this cleverly, before. It was something that seemed to transcend the book, and now, I still feel it when I think on The Poison Thread. It lingers. 

‘Her corset,’ I said honestly, ‘is like a graveyard.’

I absolutely devoured this book. When I wasn’t reading it, I was thinking about it. The ending left me shocked, and the characters seem to be haunting the hallways of my mind. Purcell is an incredible author, who knows how to use words and atmosphere to their greatest effect. The Poison Thread might be one of the biggest, best surprises I’ve come across in a while. 

5/5 stars

Review | The Lions of Al-Rassan – Guy Gavriel Kay

About the Book

The ruling Asharites of Al-Rassan have come from the desert sands, but over centuries, seduced by the sensuous pleasures of their new land, their stern piety has eroded. The Asharite empire has splintered into decadent city-states led by warring petty kings. King Almalik of Cartada is on the ascendancy, aided always by his friend and advisor, the notorious Ammar ibn Khairan — poet, diplomat, soldier — until a summer afternoon of savage brutality changes their relationship forever.

Meanwhile, in the north, the conquered Jaddites’ most celebrated — and feared — military leader, Rodrigo Belmonte, driven into exile, leads his mercenary company south.

In the dangerous lands of Al-Rassan, these two men from different worlds meet and serve — for a time — the same master. Sharing their interwoven fate — and increasingly torn by her feelings — is Jehane, the accomplished court physician, whose own skills play an increasing role as Al-Rassan is swept to the brink of holy war, and beyond.

Hauntingly evocative of medieval Spain, The Lions of Al-Rassanis both a brilliant adventure and a deeply compelling story of love, divided loyalties, and what happens to men and women when hardening beliefs begin to remake — or destroy — a world. 

528 pages (paperback)
Published on June 28, 2005
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Recently, my family has been going through some things. My mother informed us she’s been diagnosed with incredibly aggressive cancer. Then, exactly one week later, my dad’s twin brother took the dog for a walk, and died. 

So, I’ve been at a bit of an emotional overload. I think my whole family has been. It’s been a rough go, and I find I’m either emotionally trigger happy, or just numb and I can never quite predict where I’m going to fall on this spectrum from moment to moment.

I’ve been finding solace in books, because that’s where I go to find stories full of people feeling all sorts of things I can’t put into words. 

I was really in the mood for an epic fantasy that is sweeping in scope but gorgeously written. Guy Gavriel Kay came to mind right away. However, I haven’t read anything of his aside from Tigana. In truth, Kay intimidates me. He is one of those authors that is so prolific, so incredibly well-known, and revered, it’s hard to figure out where to really start with him. So, he’s always mostly remained an author I admire, but one I watched from a distance, never up close. 

But these are rare times in my life, and I really needed a story written by an author who knows how to sweep his readers away. After some research, I decided to settle on The Lions of Al-Rassan. Now, I will say, I listened to this as an audiobook, and it was absolutely superb in every respect, so I highly advise it you do audiobooks. The narrator really had the right tone for the story being told and made it super easy to just sink into. 

It’s really hard to review this book without spoilers. I suppose what I’ll do is give you the broad strokes about what appealed to me the most, and what I took from this book. Basically, what I needed, and what The Lions of Al-Rassan offered. 

“He opened his arms and she moved into the space they made in the world, and laying her head against his chest she permitted herself the almost unimaginable luxury of grief.” 

First of all, just look at that writing. The entire book is written like that. The mark of a truly good book, for me, is one that is written with both a gripping story, and prose you can just get lost in, and that’s what I found here. The story itself is fascinating. A sort of clash of cultures, and three religions converging in one place. Plenty of action and adventure and lots of twists and turns you absolutely cannot look away from, but over all of that is this writing that is positively dipped in gold. Every word chosen with care. Every phrase doled out exactly when and how it needs to be, for maximum impact. The settings he describes, the personal journey, the emotional tapestry is all so vivid and stunningly crafted, it is impossible not to feel as though you are transported through the pages and actually there. 

Along with that, I was positively amazed by how Kay worked with all the emotional notes in this book. I feel like a lot of the time, books full of action fall flat on emotion and that’s not something I encountered here. In fact, I found a wide range of well-hewn characters, each of them a storm of chaotic emotion that is just as strong and untampered as my own. And, to be honest, there were quite a few times that this book leveled me in that respect, and I’d find myself listening to a passage a few times before moving on. I was just amazed that Kay managed to bring the human experience to page so perfectly. 

“And surely, surely, if we are not simply animals that live to fight, there must be a reason for bloodshed.” 

Kay writes in a style that flirts with historical fantasy, but isn’t quite that. The reason I say this, is because while his books are largely based on very well researched historical events, they are set in secondary worlds, with cultures and peoples that are just different enough to be truly their own thing. While The Lions of Al-Rassan is obviously heavily influenced by certain periods of history, I enjoyed seeing how Kay took real-world inspiration, and moved it to the left just enough to make it his own thing. This gave the book a feel of both familiarity and new that really intrigued me. 

Kay’s characters play off both each other, and the situations they find themselves in quite well. I will say, there are long moments of internal dialogue and thought, but that didn’t bother me in the least. It helped flesh out the characters so they were just as vivid as the world they were put in. However, if you’re a reader who is more prone to “let’s move on with it already” thoughts regarding internal dialogues, then this might be something to be aware of before you dip your toes into this particular book.

I feel as though I’ve said a lot without saying anything at all. I haven’t touched on the plot. I haven’t talked about the characters in depth or anything else, and honestly, I don’t really intend to. I feel like everyone in the world has read this book and I’m the last one on the boat. I don’t think there is anything new I can add that hasn’t already been said. 

The Lions of Al-Rassan was an absolutely fantastic book that is as emotionally intense and real as the world itself. The characters are larger than life, and absolutely unforgettable. While the conflict in the book is obviously based on historical events, it is different enough to feel solidly secondary world. Guy Gavriel Kay is an author who, deservedly, is highly respected, and this book is a fantastic example of why. He is a giant showing a new way to tell stories. 

Absolutely unforgettable.

5/5 stars

Review | Kingshold – D.P. Woolliscroft

About the Book

Mareth is a bard, a serial under achiever, a professional drunk, and general disappointment to his father. Despite this, Mareth has one thing going for him. He can smell opportunity. The King is dead and an election for the new Lord Protector has been called. If he plays his cards right, if he can sing a story that will put the right person in that chair, his future fame and drinking money is all but assured. But, alas, it turns out Mareth has a conscience after all.

Neenahwi is the daughter to Jyuth, the ancient wizard who founded the Kingdom of Edland and she is not happy. It’s not just that her father was the one who killed the King, or that he didn’t tell her about his plans. She’s not happy because her father is leaving, slinking off into retirement and now she has to clean up his mess.

Alana is a servant at the palace and the unfortunate soul to draw the short straw to attend to Jyuth. Alana knows that intelligence and curiosity aren’t valued in someone of her station, but sometimes she can’t help herself and so finds herself drawn into the Wizard’s schemes, and worst of all, coming up with her own plans.

Chance brings this unlikely band together to battle through civil unrest, assassinations, political machinations, pirates and monsters, all for a common cause that they know, deep down, has no chance of succeeding – bringing hope to the people of Kingshold.

506 pages
Published on April 17, 2018
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I’m a big sucker for books that start simple and then wallop me with all their complexities, and that’s what I got with Kingshold. In fact, I wasn’t sure what I was going to end up with when I started reading the book. For those of you who are in the “covers don’t sell books” camp, it’s literally the cover art that sold this book to me. I saw it and thought, “I need to know more.” 

In truth, the cover art is very indicative of the book itself, and not just for the obvious reasons (hello, it is the cover of the book). On the cover you get the scene of this city, this vast, sprawling place. It looks huge. And yet, from the way the light is played with, the focus is instantly drawn to this palatial complex. It dominates the scene, and somehow makes the cover both sprawling and intimate at the same time. 

I feel like that’s a pretty good description for the book itself.

You start out with a pretty typical epic fantasy scene. A king and queen have been killed. Where this could cause conflict with many, in this book, a lot of people seem pretty pleased with that fate. Jyuth, an ancient wizard who reportedly committed this crime, has decided he’s pretty over deciding who is in power and thus, an election is called. The people of Kingshold shall, in essence, decide their own fate. 

This, right away, intrigued me. There are a lot of empires and a lot of empire building in epic fantasy but precious few epic fantasy books involve elections. I am nothing if not a sucker for taking a turn off the beaten path. I will say, if you don’t find politics and machinations interesting, this might not be the book for you. However, for me, I really enjoyed how Woolliscroft took something that might sound mundane and about as exciting as watching a tax accountant work, and turned it into a story that was pulse-pounding and addicting. The author’s clever use of class differences, as well as characters that are positioned in a way to give readers a bird’s eye view of a surprising array of cultural norms and life in this area was nothing short of genius.

The story is told through numerous points of view, and I was pleased to find them all with distinct voices and easy to tell apart. Some of them will appeal to you more than others, but that’s just the way it rolls. Even the characters that didn’t appeal to me quite as much were stunningly wrought. Their individual stories arc very well over the course of the novel, and I was really intrigued by how Woolliscroft made their personalities contrast and play off each other. 

This is a dark book, and while I do think there are some points that could have used a bit more editing (some dialogue felt… stilted), I loved how Woolliscroft seemed to balance that darkness with a bit of something more. Not quite hope, but perhaps it was the understated, even occasionally caustic humor in some of the characters that worked for me, and added just enough levity and humanity into some of these tension-filled moments to make them really resonate and matter as I read. 

And that’s really the thing with Kingshold that astounded me. It started out sort of small scale, a bit predictable, and then it took a hard turn off the predictable epic fantasy path and the ball started rolling down the hill. Before I realized what was happening, I’d read the entire book and was hurriedly downloading the second one on my Kindle Unlimited. Mixed with all of this, was some truly wonderful worldbuilding and some intriguing use of magic. There are a few tropes here, ancient wizards being one of them, but the way Woolliscroft dealt with said tropes made them feel fresh and new, and completely his own. 

Kingshold is a seriously solid start to a series I cannot wait to follow. The writing is descriptive enough to bring the world, plot, and characters alive without ever going overboard. The characters all feel as individual as Woolliscroft obviously meant them to be (which is no small feat). The book itself is paced perfectly. Once things get going, it’s hard to predict where they will end up. 

As far as this book goes, I absolutely loved how the author played with his themes, and how he took something I first anticipated would be a fairly typical empire-building epic fantasy, and turned it into something completely different. I was left reeling, and gasping for breath. Woolliscroft did a marvelous job playing up civil unrest, playing elements against each other, and if some parts of the book felt a little predictable, it was easy to forgive. The story itself was just so well done. I was truly captivated from the first page.

If you’re looking for a bit of a different spin on epic fantasy, you really should check out Kingshold. It’s one of the best first books in a series I’ve read in quite a while. I’ve been a bit burnt out on epic fantasy, to be honest. This book breathed new life into the genre for me. I cannot wait to find out what happens next.

4/5 stars

Review | The Lost War – Justin Lee Anderson

About the Book

The war is over, but something is rotten in the state of Eidyn.

With a ragged peace in place, demons burn farmlands, violent Reivers roam the wilds and plague has spread beyond the Black Meadows. The country is on its knees.

In a society that fears and shuns him, Aranok is the first magically-skilled draoidh to be named King’s Envoy.

Now, charged with restoring an exiled foreign queen to her throne, he leads a group of strangers across the ravaged country. But at every step, a new mystery complicates their mission.

As bodies drop around them, new threats emerge and lies are revealed, can Aranok bring his companions together and uncover the conspiracy that threatens the kingdom?

Strap in for this twisted fantasy road trip from award-winning author Justin Lee Anderson.

572 pages (kindle)
Published on August 30, 2019
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I have been aware of Justin Lee Anderson for a while now, though it took me until this last bit of life happening for me to pick up his book (I’m sorry it took so long). The Lost War ended up being just the thing I needed, which is odd, because when I started it I was pretty sure I was going to bounce off it. You see, on the surface, this book feels a lot like your quest-trope fantasy and that’s not really my bag of oats. However, once I really settled into the story, I realized there’s a lot going on under the surface, I just had to give myself time to see it. 

In short, I really ended up having a lot of fun with this one, and enjoying it to a degree I did not anticipate. 

Anderson thrusts his reader into a world where a war just ended. Now, let me take a moment to appreciate this setting, because I loved it. I saw what was going on right away, and thought, “Yes, I am here for this.” The reason being, in fantasy, we read a lot about wars starting, wars being fought, wars simmering in the borderlands, but we rarely read a book set in a time after the war has been fought, and everything, for good or ill, is starting to settle. 

The dynamics The Lost War were masterfully played out. Anderson created a whole new category of strife for the bereaved residents of Eidyn to deal with in the form of plagues and demons, other horrors that make life miserable. So, the war ends, which is not always a good thing, but usually there’s some form of relief… “Yay, no more fighting” at least. Anderson, however, uses this ending as a vehicle to unleash a whole new slew of trials upon the land. As the description says, “the country is on its knees” and as the reader, you’ll feel that throughout. Furthermore, this aspect, this tug-of-war with such a big event and its ramifications provoked a bit of thought in me regarding my own writing, how one thing can spark another. How unexpected results can move a story down unexplored pathways. 

And here’s the thing. You might read that and think, “Well, that sucks,” but it’s truly an example of how the entire book works. Anderson sets you off balance, and you don’t even realize he’s done it. 

Anyway. 

You’ve got this really interesting setup, a place steeped in pain, with a lining of hope, and insert your plot. Aranok, a draoidh (read: magician) has been called by the king to restore an exiled queen to her throne. In order to do this, he has to lead a group of strangers across unknown lands, and somehow you know, at this point, unexpected things will happen and swords will be drawn. Blood will spill. 

As you can see, this book might feel a lot like a lot of other fantasy books you might have read. The first chunk of the novel will likely either make it or break it for you, because there are a lot of names and places, people being introduced, and this quest is set up. However, if you’re a reader who doesn’t mind all that, the payoff is fantastic. There’s a whole lot going on under the surface that Anderson hints at, alludes to, or toys with in supremely subtle ways, and this, friends, is what hooked me. The example of the war/beasties aspect I listed above is just one. His ability to take something that should be straightforward (Yay, the war is over!) and make it absolute crap (Oh, a plague.) kept me absolutely engaged and intrigued. 

What this all leads to is an atmosphere that is welded like a hammer in Anderson’s toolkit. You don’t really realize how ominous things feel until you’re in the middle of the book thinking, “Holy shit, when did things start feeling like this?” What I’m saying is, the book sort of creeps up on you. At the start, you’re thinking this is your typical fantasy quest story, but you keep pushing on and one thing leads to another. It’s like Anderson is playing a song on the piano, throwing in a minor key here and there. You don’t realize he’s turning this peppy song into a lament until it’s too late to turn back. All it takes is one note here, one note there, and this song you thought you knew turns into something else entirely. 

The truth is, none of that would be as effective without that familiar-feeling beginning. It’s through that understood starting point that the rest of this book is able to be as effective as it ended up being. Added into that, the pacing was near perfection. Once the story takes off, it’s like rolling a boulder down a hill. It picks up speed and momentum, something always happening right where it needs to to drive the plot along, or build the world or characters, sometimes all three. By the end of the book, the pacing is relentless, and the ending is… really a thing to behold due to that. 

Anderson’s magic system is superb, and he has a way with writing not just magic and action to keep them vivid and interesting, but characters as well. Even the intrigue was really well done. In fact, when I think of this book, I’m fairly amazed by how well balanced all the different elements of it were. Anderson basically threw a whole bunch of balls in the air, and then juggled them all without dropping any of them at any point. 

When I think about The Lost War, what I realize is it’s Anderson’s ability to tell a story that really captivates me. The entire book felt like the piano song I mention above. You start out feeling like this is a familiar tale, and you recognize it. He throws in some minor notes here and there, subtly fiddles with the tempo, and before you even realize what’s happening, you aren’t hearing that familiar song anymore, but something else entirely. Every element plays off of every other element to create something that, in the end, you both recognize and not. It’s pure artistry. I was amazed by how he managed to transform something I went into thinking, “Yeah, I know this story” into something I left thinking, “Holy shit, what did I just read? That was… WOW.” 

So, what do you have here? Something truly unpredictable. This book showcases what sleight of hand and manipulation of a story can really attain. It’s the first book in a new series, and I absolutely cannot wait to read more. The Lost War ended up being a huge surprise, and one I hope you read and enjoy as much as I did. 

5/5 stars

5 Formative Female Authors

It’s International Women’s Day, and I figured one of the best ways to celebrate it is to highlight five female authors who have, in one way or another, been fundamental not just to my love of the genre, but to writing as well.

So, in no particular order, here we go.

Carol Berg

Carol Berg wrote some of the first fantasy books I ever read, and all these years later, I still go back to her books on the regular. Berg has a knack with telling a captivating story, but her character work is what really shines. She puts her characters through a lot, but their development and their personal growth throughout their arcs is second to none. She is a master craftswoman who knows how to not just make her characters hurt, but to make that pain, and the subsequent growth as a result of it, matter to her reader.

In a lot of ways, Berg has been fundamental not just to my love of the fantasy genre as a whole, but how I work my own characters in my writing. She taught me that pain is okay, and so is beautiful prose. Her landscapes are both familiar and fun to play with, often with her fantasy and reality balanced on the edge of a knife. Due to this, her stories resonate far beyond the page. She writes characters you don’t expect to find at the forefront of a story, and as such, are more interesting due to that.

Berg’s mix of beauty and pain, of known and unknown, creates a visceral reaction in her readers, and it’s something I’ve been fascinated by since I first started reading fantasy. However, Berg has really shown me, as an author, that not every story has to be emotionally gentle to matter. The books that impact me the most are the ones like hers, where the author breaks me, and heals me, as the story unfolds. In some ways, I think Berg gave me permission to make my own characters explore a wide gamut of powerful emotions.

Berg is currently writing under the pseudonym Cate Glass, but her books, no matter the name on the cover, are some of the best fantasy out there.

Catherynne M. Valente

Six-Gun Snow White is a novella I read at least twice a year. There is something about the way Valente uses words that just works with me on every possible level.

Six-Gun Snow White is a retelling of the story of Snow White. It’s captivating and bold, and Valente somehow manages to paint a lush picture of the Wild West with few words. The book itself is full of magic and mystery, of both finding and losing yourself, with an ending that is just perfect.

Valente is an author who has been on my radar for years now. Her stories are different than typical, sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking but always written in a style that is nothing short of captivating. Valente uses words the same way a painter uses paint. They’re all part of the art, part of what gets the story told, but each word is in its place because absolutely no other word would fit there.

I often find myself reading Valente’s books not just to see how she takes command of the story she’s telling, but to admire the way she uses words in general. She’s an author who has been hugely informative for my own writing, not only because her stories venture from the predicted path, but because she’s unapologetically who she is. Her writer voice is an unforgettable mix of beauty and brutal, and I love it. She is, in my estimation, an unparalleled talent in the fantasy genre.

ML Spencer

I edited Dragon Mage for ML Spencer, and while this author had been on my radar before, this book really solidly put her there. I’ve written a review of Dragon Mage, so you can see all the reasons I loved that book. However, since getting to know Spencer a bit better, I’ve not only come to admire her writing (which is incredible) but also the way she commands being an author, in general.

Spencer is one of those authors you can’t help but love. She’s nice, passionate, and incredibly smart. She’s got talent positively oozing from her. Her books are wildly, and deservedly, popular, and the stories she tells are not just interesting, but also shockingly human.

In another way, Spencer has been a pretty recent addition to my Formative Authors list. I’ve always been kind of afraid of her, because she’s so amazing and popular, a real fan favorite. The intimidation was strong, and even though I’ve edited for her, I still do feel a bit of that. However, Spencer is one of those authors who grabs her writing career with both hands and takes absolute command of it. She is always there to answer questions, to give me insight, to offer me tips or suggestions or just general help if I need it.

She’s one of those authors who is an absolute gem in the self-published field and shows what self-published authors are really capable of. Plus, she has the experience and knowhow to create waves wherever she goes. I have learned so much from her, not just on the business end of things, but regarding how to tell a good story as well.

Svetlana Alexievich

A few months after I released Seraphina’s Lament, someone wrote me a letter about my book. She told me a story about how her family survived the Holodomor, and after some back and forth between us, she asked me if I have ever read Svetlana Alexievich. She told me my writing reminded her a lot of that author.

I was kind of amazed someone picked up on that, because I have read all of Alexievich’s books at least three times, and I study her use of language with an eye for detail. Her command of the written word is nothing short of awe-inspiring. Alexievich has won the Nobel Prize and once you read her books, you understand why. She writes narrative nonfiction. Sort of made her own path in that particular genre, in fact. She writes about tough subjects. The Unwomanly Face of War and Secondhand Time are my favorite books of hers. One is about the woman who fought on the Soviet side of World War II, and one is about the fall of the USSR. Both are powerful books that will change how you understand so many things.

The truth is, when people read my books and comment on my prose, Alexievich has been one of the most formative influencers in how I write, and why I write the way I do. There is a certain marriage of beauty, pain, and truth in her books that has been nothing short of inspirational. I have spent many long, long hours studying her prose, and learning from an absolute master of her craft how a subtle twist of one or two words can change transform a sentence from interesting, to unforgettable.

Barbara Demick

Most people will know Barbara Demick as the author who wrote Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea. This was, in fact, how I learned about her. That book is extraordinary and I will recommend it to literally everyone with a passing interest in North Korea. However, last year she released another book called Eat the Buddha, and it really solidified why Demick belongs on this list.

I think, in fantasy, a lot of stories are told about people in power, and there aren’t quite so many about the common man (though that is changing). Demick takes not only places we know little about (North Korea, Tibet) and opens them up to the wider world, but shows how the plight of the everyman is dramatic and powerful enough to command an entire book. In Demick’s work, she has shown me, time and again, that power is interesting, but it’s not really the whole story, or even where the most interesting part of the story is.

And while power dynamics fascinate me and I do love toying with them while I write, Demick has been hugely informative as to where I place my characters in the social structures of the worlds I write within. Her book on North Korea was a powerhouse, and her book about Tibet rivals that one in every sense of the word, yet it’s her focus on people who are ordinary that has hugely influenced me. Somehow, those ordinary people caught in the drama of their everyday life end up becoming stories that are more captivating, illuminating, and powerful to me, as the reader.

What female authors have been hugely informative to you?

On Gaslighting

One of the things I’ve learned this week is the following, “The term “gaslighting” actually comes from a 1938 play, “Gas Light” (which was turned into a more widely known movie in 1944, “Gaslight”), where a husband manipulates his wife to make her think she’s actually losing her sense of reality so he can commit her to a mental institution and steal her inheritance.” (from NBC)

So, my post really took the book world by storm, didn’t it? 

I’ve had… a lot of responses. Some good, some predictably bad. 

Some that broke my heart. 

I want to address a few things right away. 

I have had a lot of pressure to name this person. I’ve thought long and hard about it and I decided I will not name him, or publicly post what he sent me, unless he forces my hand. There are a few reasons for this. One, I just want to move past this and giving this one person that much limelight is not allowing me to do that, and honestly, it is more than he deserves. Secondly, this person is small, and I don’t like punching down. 

Mostly, after a few days of wading through responses from people, I’ve realized that this entire issue is bigger than one man, and I don’t want to narrow the wider conversation down to one person, when it’s absolutely clear to me that this happens far more than I, at least, ever realized. 

I feel like maybe I should introduce myself to all of you. I started Bookworm Blues as a book review website for SFF genre books about eleven years ago. I quickly became one of the better known reviewers out there. After about six years of reviewing books, I began editing (which has subsequently decreased the amount of reviews I post). Now, the list of bestselling books and authors I’ve edited for never ceases to amaze me. My authors are amazing. In 2019, I put all of this together and released my first book. 

Criticism, as you can see, has been a part of my life for eleven years now. Currently, constructive criticism via editing is literally what puts food on my table. So, for those of you who have alleged that I don’t “understand criticism” please, sit down. 

Since Monday, I have had a shocking number of women reach out to me about gaslighting and I realized that this is both something a lot of people are afraid to talk about, and something there isn’t much information on. There’s a lot of information about what if someone you love gaslights you, but not much about the kind of thing that happened to me. This afternoon, a woman reached out to me and said, “Sarah, I read your blog post and I think this is happening to me but I don’t know for sure” and it broke my heart. 

You just don’t know. And you’re afraid to say anything because it’s just so cerebral. It’s hard to believe it happened. By the time it’s been done, you’re already doubting yourself so much, what’s real? 

The thing is, gaslighters make you question yourself to the point where you have no idea if this is a thing that’s really happening. I’ve said, no fewer than a thousand times since Monday, “I still am having a hard time believing any of this actually happened.” I am constantly seeking validation from trusted sources. This really was gaslighting, wasn’t it? I had a woman reach out to me last night about her experience with my specific gaslighter. She said, “It wasn’t until I read your blog that I realized I was being gaslighted, and I bought it, hook, line, and sinker.” 

Then, when I did say something, the outpouring of support was amazing, but there have also been a bunch of very loud voices (all dudes so far, so bravo, men) speaking loud and proud about how I do not know art, and I obviously can’t take criticism (see above bio about criticism). This backlash from dudebros makes this a very hard thing to talk about. There is a certain vulnerability in discussing this sort of thing, since so much of it is based on feelings, manipulation, and power dynamics, you don’t even know if it’s happening half the time. Add in all these loud voices that somehow equate feelings to weakness and everything just sort of spirals. It seems to be something a lot of people experience, yet no one is comfortable talking about.

I get it. Trust me. At this point in my evolution, I totally get it.

“I didn’t even realize I was being gaslighted” or “I think I’m being gaslighted” or “this happens to women in the industry a lot more than anyone acknowledges” have been the three themes of my days since my post went public on Monday, and it really, really bothers me.

I will say this, and if you do not take anything else away from this post, please take this: Having feelings does not make you weak and being “soft” is not a bad thing. Period, end of discussion.

I’m going to talk a bit about what happened to me, and what I should have been aware of. I will use myself as the primary example, but I will also tell you what other women have told me as well. I will not reveal any names or identifying information. Your mileage may vary. I am also not a psychologist, nor any sort of mental health professional. If any of this feels true to you, please speak to a trusted friend, or reach out to me if you’d like. Scroll to the end of this post for further resources. 

Beneath everything else, understand that gaslighting is a subtle manipulation tactic people use to get you to doubt yourself, your confidence, what you believe, or sometimes the world and your place in it. Gaslighters can use any number of tactics to get this done, some overt and some not. 

I can only speak for myself and from examples given to me by others. Understand, if someone is interacting with you in a way that is making you question any of the things I’ve listed, you may need to examine your relationship with this person.

And, know, YOU ARE NOT WRONG FOR FEELING LIKE SOMETHING IS WRONG. 

The first sign I should have been aware of is what I’m currently calling the “Oh, him” factor. 

While this person is small, if I say his name, those who know who he is inevitably reply with, “Oh, him” (insert eyeroll here). No one can quite figure out why I was friends with him in the first place, and I will tell you why. Because the face he shows the world is very different than the one he shows through private messages and personal conversations. He was never once mean, or unkind (the way he is in public). He was understanding. He listened. He said all the right things at the right time. I got so convinced that the “private” person was the real one, and the “public” face was all some game or show. 

This seems to be common with gaslighters. They have two faces. One they show the world and one they show you, and you get so convinced that one face is their true one, and the other is the “fake” one, so you ignore all the signs. “Oh, that abrasive stuff is just a game/show.” or, as a few other people have told me, “That’s just (name) being (name)” *shrug and chuckle here*. All the stuff that puts everyone else off doesn’t matter because YOU know the real man behind the mask.

Already, you’re off balance and you don’t even know it.

The second sign I should have been aware of is the good ol’ emotional switcheroo.

You’ve got this friend, and you’ve confided in them. They are SO NICE and understanding in private, and who cares what they show to the public because it doesn’t really matter. You know the real person, right? And then, they start saying things. It’s really subtle at first. Just a comment here or there. Just enough to throw you off.

For me, and, it seems, for others he has preyed on, it’s usually comments about other books that, in one way or another, compare to their own, and how said books fall below the mark. Or “bad writers” who have essentially duped the populous into think they’re good. All of said authors will be more known than you are, and write in the genre you write in. These books, as it happens, will always have similarities with yours. Somewhere around this point, he’ll say something like, “by the way, I’m reading your book.” 

Now, this doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it has the effect of being both subtle and of setting you on edge. Oh, here are a bunch of books he hates that share a commonality with mine. He’s reading my book.

Conclusions: He’s noticed things. 

This makes you a bit anxious. Inevitably, your gaslighter will make you wait for the rest of whatever he’s going to say. You’ll wait, and you’ll stew. You’ll start feeling nervous. He’ll keep dropping cues. You’ll start looking at these books and authors differently. You’ll start questioning, and that’s the point. You’re vulnerable. You’ve made a friend. Now, he’s starting to say things that make you question your own skills. These other books are all much bigger than yours, as are the authors, and they all have these flaws, and you know yours does too. You’re so small… so what does this mean for you? 

Nothing good. 

The stage is set. 

The third sign involves sensitivity. 

Your gaslighter is already making you question your own abilities. Subtle comments here and there can do a lot of damage. Now, he starts making jabs. For me, and others, this involves, usually, a conversation about how people are too sensitive. “Harsh criticism” is necessary, and if people can’t take it, the problem is them, not the person dishing it out. (I will talk a bit about criticism a little further down.)

He will never tell you HOW harsh the criticism is, but he does make it perfectly clear that some people are just too sensitive. Are you too sensitive? Can you take criticism, or are you going to be like all those other weak-spined people? 

Well, this is your trusted friend who would never be too harsh, because that’s not what friends do. Also, he’s an author, right? So he has to know how to be constructive. He knows things. Has insights. You can trust him. He’ll steer you right.

The problem is the other people, not you. You aren’t sensitive… Being sensitive, by the way, is just a massive flaw. This, by this point, has been perfectly established.

And while you think all this, some voice in the back of your mind will probably start questioning if you really are too sensitive. You’ll start feeling nervous. You’ll start wondering how bad this is going to be, but it’s all in place. Your FRIEND will never lead you wrong. You’re made of tougher stuff. You aren’t “sensitive” like all those other people. It’s “us” versus “them”, and you’re not weak. Not you. Never you.

But, your book is similar to those others he listed… 

You’ll brace. You’ll tell yourself you can handle it. You aren’t sensitive. You will prove yourself to be of tougher stuff.

But… are you?

He’s your friend. Right? 

He’ll drop a comment that will have you questioning everything. 

For me, I remember he said something about how he stopped reading an author’s books once because a character said “okay” and that’s just lazy writing. Then he quickly said, “but you know what I’m talking about” and changed the topic before I could say, “Actually, I have no idea what you’re talking about”. But I remember that one comment because it really, really planted seeds. I remember sitting there thinking, “… but characters in MY book say ‘okay’. Does that mean I am also a lazy writer?” It seems like mileage may vary on this one, but most female authors who have contacted me seem to have a moment like this in common. They drop a comment. You know it applies to you though it’s directed at everyone else, and then the person moves along before you can say anything about it.

There it is, planted deep and growing roots. This seems to just underscore everything else. I know for me, this was the point where I really, really started questioning my book. I remember I almost told him to stop reading it a few times at this point, but I never did. 

Why? Because he’s my friend. 

Feeling like something’s wrong, but not knowing what it is AKA, the “What the Fuck” stage. 

At this point, I started questioning myself. I have all these good 4 and 5 star reviews, but I… I just feel like something is really wrong. Is it the book? Is it me? Are all these people being too nice to me? Am I overreacting? He hasn’t even told me anything yet, but I just FEEL like something is off. I think I’m going nuts. I think I’ve been too lost in my own head for too long and I just don’t know anything anymore. Just calm down, self. Calm down. It’ll be okay. You’ve got all these good reviews, and all these good vibes from the community…

So why do I feel like my gut is in knots and I’m just waiting for a storm to break? What is WRONG with me? With this? With… whatever? 

Making excuses

He pokes holes in your confidence, and you make excuses for either him doing that (which justify his behavior), or for you having these flaws. 

Yep. You won’t be proud about it, but it will happen. 

The setup.

You get far enough along in this, and at some point, your gaslighter will do you a huge favor. For me, it was a public five-star review. Man, that was amazing. I was over the moon. Five stars. Unbelievable. My trusted friend really loved this thing. All my anxiety and bad feelings were for absolutely nothing. What a joke. 

Insert sigh of relief here.

The fall. 

Then he’ll rip the rug out from under you. It was a two page letter for me, wherein he detailed everything that was wrong with my book. These were not small things. Fundamentally, this would require me to un-publish my book, and rewrite the entire thing in a completely different way. The resulting book would not be the book I wrote.

But he’s there with all these great ideas, right? Positioned in just the spot to help lift you up, and then break your wings as you fall. This, also happened at the wrong time. If I had asked for criticism like this, it would have been a specific request to him before the book published, during the beta phase where substantial rewrites were even possible. However, I neither asked for this sort of really abrasive editorial commentary from him, nor was I at the stage where substantial rewrites were a possibility. 

But this, after some thought, seems to be part of the game. Not only the setup and the fall, but the abrasive nature of the comments, and the fact that he insinuated I had to pull the book and re-write it (there would be literally no other way to execute his feedback). And, wow, look at all his fancy ideas for improvement. I’m not the only person he has done this to. It’s all part of the unbalancing game. It goes back to the idea of, let me break you, and then position myself in the exact right spot so I can help rebuild you in my image. 

But thank god, he’s around with all his ideas to help you pick up the pieces. Where would you be without him? 

Before you say, “No way, I wouldn’t buy this.” I have had FIVE people, since Monday, tell me, in confidence, that they have rewritten entire books due to gaslighters making them question their work that substantially. My guess is there are a whole lot more out there.

I see you.

You don’t know what it’s like. YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT IT IS LIKE UNTIL YOU ARE THERE. 

The result. 

He’s come in, established a relationship, and also established himself as some sort of bastion of enlightenment in your field, while you are a fledgling. He may or may not have asked you if it was okay to send you a private review. My guy seems to be 50/50 on this point, and I will explain why it honestly doesn’t matter in a moment. However, he’s established himself as your friend, an enlightened guy with all this experience and insight, and he’s here to help you. He builds you up, and subtly chips away at your armor with well-placed comments. He gets you doubting yourself and your reality so much you don’t even realize you’re doing it. He does a big favor for you, and then after that, at some point, he’ll crush you. 

And you’ll be left isolated, doubting yourself, doubting others, doubting your place in the world. Just doubting. 

I honestly felt like everybody was lying to me about my book, and this guy was the only person brave enough to be honest. I felt like my career was over. I spent a month or two, mourning the fact I’d even tried to write a book. My husband would ask me why I was crying, and it was sometime in January I realized I was mourning the death of a dream.

It’s powerful stuff.

And it wasn’t until he did all of this a second time, with my second book, that I realized what was going on (Thank God I had friends who knew what was going on and could walk me through it.)

The hard thing is, it’s so insidious and subtle, you don’t even realize it’s happening until it’s too late. You just DON’T KNOW. 

And at this point, I really feel like I need to address the difference between constructive criticism and being a dick.

CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is: 

Asked for, or offered, where the yes/no response to the offer is respected. CONSTRUCTIVE. You do not say, “this was pointless” rather you say, “I had an issue with this point, here are the reasons, and maybe this is a way around that.” You do not invalidate the author. Let me repeat this for the people in the back: CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM DOES NOT INVALIDATE THE ARTIST.“I” language, meaning, I felt/I understood/I thought. Rarely, “you” which can be far more accusatory.Gives actionable feedback. Again, never, “This character was pointless” rather, “I found this character to be unbelievable, here are some reasons why, and maybe here are some tweaks to fix it and make him/her more dynamic and believable.” Given at the appropriate time. For example, if the book is going to potentially require substantial rewrites, said criticism will be given at a point where substantial rewrites are possible, if the author so chooses, rather than after the book publishes when it’s far too late. Furthermore, said criticism will apply all the aforementioned qualities.

Being a dick: 

Not doing literally any of the things above. Taking advantage of a relationship to offer feedback that you know will impact someone’s psychological state. This INCLUDES, asking if you are willing to receive private feedback/review, and then sending private feedback/review that is either abusive or rude, with language that is abrasive, abusive, belittling, or rude, or any combination of the aforementioned things. Criticism should never demean.Offering unsolicited editorial comments, or critique, period, end of discussion. Tagging authors in 1* or unfavorable reviews, and ceaselessly prodding them with it. Please understand this: If you say, “Can I touch you” and I say, “Yes” and you punch me in the face, and I get mad because you punched me in the face and you say, “But you said I could touch you” that does not negate the fact that you punched me in the face.

If someone asks you if you’re open to a review, likely you will think that since they’re a HUMAN BEING with a BEATING HEART and experience in your field, they will offer the CONSTRUCTIVE kind. If you say “yes” and they end up EVISCERATING you, undermining you, belittling you… basically punching you in the face, that “yes, I can take your thoughts” does not automatically give this other person the right to punch you in the face. “Yes, you can touch me” does not mean, “Yes, you can punch me” anymore than “yes, you can review my book” means “yes, you can demean me.”

NOBODY IS EVER GIVEN THE RIGHT TO ABUSE ANOTHER PERSON.

Please also be aware, if you are ever in a relationship, personal or professional, where someone says something to you like, “If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t tell you these things.” Basically, “I’m telling you all the ways you fail/suck/lack talent because I care” then get out. Go somewhere else. Break ties. This person is not your friend. One of the main things a gaslighter will want to do is not only make you doubt yourself, but make you rely upon them, and “I’m telling you all the ways you fail because I care” is the calling card for that. 

People who care are constructive. They are not destructive. 

Also, two other signs of a gaslighter are: 

If someone tells you you’re being too sensitive. If someone tells you you’re overthinking something, particularly if it’s something they are trying to talk you into and you’re hesitant. Basically, they’re steamrolling you to get you to do what you want.

If you are somewhere, like a con or other public place, and you feel like someone is acting harmfully toward you, please find somewhere/someone safe. 

If ANY of this sounds familiar to you, or if you think you may be in a relationship (intimate or professional) like this, whether personally or professionally, please seek help. 

(This post was reviewed by numerous people in publishing who have personal experience being gaslighted before it published.)

Here are some resources. 

12 Warning Signs You’re Being Manipulated by a Narcissist
How Society Gaslights Survivors of Narcissists, Sociopaths, and Psychopaths
How to Spot a Sociopath in 3 Steps
Gaslighting: Examples, Effects and How to Confront the Abuse

I want to talk to you about Seraphina’s Lament

This post is going to be hard for me to write. I’m not happy about any of it, and I’m having a harder time admitting to myself that this is a thing that actually happened, but I feel like I need to, not only for my own sake, but in case this is happening to anyone else out there.

You are not alone.

I know what it’s like to have something like this happen, and then you sort of spin out. You end up trying to block it from your mind, until some later point when you realize what changed everything and why.

I also know that sometimes people who claim to be your friend, aren’t.

Seraphina’s Lament was really a book that had a lot of trials in its path. It got burned early on on the traditional marketplace due to a bad professional industry hand and some very poor decisions on that person’s part. Then after a year of telling myself I was going to just let the story die, I realized it refused to die, so I dug the book up again, rewrote it stem to stern, and made it better. That’s the book all of you read.

I had a few early readers who said, for example, Vadden wasn’t a good character because he cries when he says goodbye to Amiti and real men don’t cry (ask me why all the men in my books cry now). And then one point someone told me the book was “too diverse” and basically had too much homosexuality in it. If I was Chuck Wendig I could get away with it, but I’m not so it’s going to push readers away.

This last one, in particular, dropped a few weeks before I was going to publish the book and it freaked me out so much I almost pulled publication until I had a friend talk me off the ledge.

So, yeah. This book has been through some things.

Anyway, this is all coming up because I’ve had a recent flood of people asking about my Bloodlands series, and I realized that I really want to continue writing that series, but something was holding me back. In a stunning flash of insight the other night, I realized exactly what that was, and I will tell you my plans for the book going forward, at the end of this post (which will be long. I’m sorry.).

A few months after Seraphina’s Lament dropped, I was about halfway through writing An Elegy for Hope. This was my first book, though, and I was still pretty uncertain not only of my own voice and my own abilities, but my place in the published author world. So keep that in mind.

Vulnerability, in this particular story, matters.

Anyway, a few months after Seraphina’s Lament dropped, I was keeping my head down and trying my best to just move forward, when an author with (self) published books befriended me. This person was nice, and supportive, and caring, and always there for advice and insights. Then this person said they were reading my book and I got that kind of nervous/excitement you get when someone you know reads something you put a lot of yourself in.

They told me they’d write a review, and reviews are great, so I said that’s fantastic.

After some time… my book dropped in February of 2019, and I was halfway through writing An Elegy for Hope at this time so it was late November/December 2019 when this happened… They informed me they posted a 5 star review of my book online. I was *thrilled*. I mean, I was over the moon just soooooo happy. A 5 star review! Wow! That’s great. That’s what every new author really, really wants to see. It means even more when someone who is your FRIEND genuinely puts a review like that out there.

So, understand the setup here. First book. Insecurity. Vulnerability. Friends made. Public five star review dropped. That’s where we are in this story.

And then… it happened.

Not too long after the 5 star review drops, this person sends me a private letter in a word document that was about 1.5 pages long, single spaced, absolutely harpooning every single thing about my book. This character was written wrong, the naming conventions were bad, where are the armies? The story is too big and you’re writing it too small. Did someone “fuck you” on length making you gloss over all this other stuff which, if added, would make your entire book not only better but actually make sense? You need to take out this arc entirely, this character makes no sense. Why did you have these characters feel these things here. This character is “ultimately useless”. Why doesn’t Lyall just teleport everyone where they need to be? It doesn’t make sense that Seraphina fights “Becoming” so hard. Where are the other lands? There’s not enough history. Vadden and Eyad’s relationship makes absolutely no sense.

On and on and on.

I mean, THE. ENTIRE. LETTER. Which I ABSOLUTELY NEVER ASKED FOR. I never once, NEVER ONCE, said “Please read my book, give me a public 5 star review, and then send me a letter that drags this entire labor of love of mine through every muddy surface you can find and then please bang it on a few rocks while you’re at it. Please, just destroy this, and do it in the rudest possible way you can. I’m open for it. Skewer me.”

I *never* said that. I never asked for editorial notes. I never asked for a critique. I never once said, “You, my friend, have the right to undermine every storytelling decision I made.”

NEVER.

Then at the end, it was basically, “This is not a critique, I hope you know that.” (har har) and “I have a bunch of ideas if you ever want to sit down and talk. I can help you.” The subtext here was, if I ever decide to rewrite my book, talk to him and he can save me from myself.

First of all: DO NOT SEND CRITIQUES OR EDITORIAL INSIGHTS TO AUTHORS UNLESS THEY SPECIFICALLY ASK FOR IT. Secondly, I have showed this letter to a few people I absolutely trust. One of them said, “This is abusive. Manipulative, and dangerous” and the other said, “Even if he’s trying to ‘coach’ you, this isn’t how you talk to anybody, ever, much less creatives.”

When I’m telling you this letter was a thing to behold, I am not exaggerating.

At the time, I was… lambasted. I mean, I was a brand new author and this person said they were my friend. Furthermore, I never once asked for this kind of editorial insight. I’d had THREE people edit my book. THREE. And every last thing that was in it was there because I WANTED IT TO BE THAT WAY. Now, I’m not saying the book was perfect. No. The book is *not* perfect. The book is far from perfect. It’s my first book. No one’s first book is amazing. I’m also not saying I’m above a good critique. What I am saying was at that time, I was a new author just finding her feet and someone who said they were my friend both cultivated that friendship, then set me up with a public and glowing five star review before sending me a private letter that skewered every single aspect of my book that made it what it was and while I told myself this did not effect me, I think I lied to myself about that.

I didn’t realize it at the time. At the time, I told myself that this happened and everyone has opinions and it’s fine if he just didn’t like it/didn’t get it for whatever reason, but I think the damage was done and I didn’t even think about what I was doing.

For a few months after that, I contemplated (very seriously) giving up writing. I stopped any progress I had on any of my WIPs. I tried, a thousand times, to pick it all back up but nothing took. Every time I’d start writing, I’d remember that letter and I’d think, “Obviously you’ve got the prose down, but you suck at telling a story so why bother?” I got so viscerally ashamed of the fact that Seraphina’s Lament was even a thing that existed in the world, I stopped looking at my Goodreads reviews because seeing the book on my author page made me feel horrible things, and sometimes, I’d just sit there and cry.

“Well, Sarah, you got one book out. Too bad you didn’t realize how bad you are at this writing thing before you did it… but at least you lived your dream once.”

So I stopped writing, and I stopped looking at reviews (which I still don’t do but for very different reasons now). I completely gave up on The Bloodlands series because this single spaced ~2 page letter told me, in no uncertain terms, that the book was terrible and every single decision I made in the telling of this story was wrong. The prose is great, but by damn, I can’t tell a story worth anything.

I put it all away. I was giving up on writing. I had been absolutely lambasted, and I just did not have the skills to tell stories. Especially not big ones.

It was over.

Then, a few months later, I got this idea for Of Honey and Wildfires. Now, I do not, in any way, shape, or form, regret the Sefate Series. I love it. I will always love it. I am beyond glad I wrote it. But, that series came out of the ashes of all this. I didn’t realize it until recently, but Sefate is the exact opposite of everything Seraphina’s Lament was. It’s close, personal, small scale, intimate. I’m glad I did it, but now I look back, and I think Sefate was probably done a lot in reaction to the things I felt in reaction to that letter. I was terrible at telling big stories, so I went small. I felt very uncertain in my own world of The Bloodlands, which is very different from were I live, so I told a story based on where I live. I couldn’t handle big scope, so I narrowed my focus to a macro level.

Every part of this series is a reaction to all the things that letter told me I was terrible at.

And again, I LOVE Sefate, but man, when I realized how much of this series came out of some subconscious desire to not stop writing, and a reaction to everything that letter skewered me about, it really floored me.

So anyway, I thought all that was over. I thought I’d moved on.

Of Honey and Wildfires dropped in April of 2020. A few months ago, this same person contacts me almost out of the blue to tell me they are reading my book. I immediately went to a friend I trust and told him what happened with Seraphina’s Lament (Let me be clear: I was so completely ashamed of not only the fact I wrote Seraphina’s Lament, but this entire experience, I never mentioned it to anyone until this point).

I showed my trusted friend the letter I was sent, and I told him how it made me feel. The very fact this person was reading my second book sent me into these panic attacks the likes of which I’ve never quite experienced with writing things. I said, “what if he sends me another letter like the one he sent with Seraphina’s Lament” and my friend, in no uncertain terms, said, “You know who you are now. You have confidence in your voice. You know people love your stories. If this person comes at you again with this abusive, gaslighting bullshit, you tell him to go fuck himself. You are Sarah Chorn, and this asshole doesn’t get to walk all over you. He’s not trying to help you. He’s jealous.”

And yeah, my friend had to tell me this no fewer than six times.

But, you know what? It happened again. Different, this time. The tone was completely different. Very… timid… almost apologetic, where it had been very aggressive and hard before. But the first message was about how he didn’t like how Annie and Cassandra meet. The end of that comment was, basically, I wish you’d let me read your books before you publish them because I can catch all this stuff that no one else seems to be able to catch.

Read: Only I can save you from yourself.

(This theme is important, so hold on to that for later.)

This first comment, I kept my response short and sweet. “Okay, thanks.”

Then he writes a few days later about how he was disappointed that there were no natives out where the territory was. That there was, essentially, no genocide. At this point, I girded my loins, remembered what my friend said, and kind of unleashed on him. Look, I said, I live here. I live EXACTLY where this story is based. I KNOW what it’s like out here, because I LIVE HERE. I know that “frontier” does not always mean “clash of cultures and genocide.” There are VAST SWATHS of Utah that are still completely uninhabited. “Frontier” means people moving into a place where they haven’t been before, and furthermore, if YOU want to write a Wild West genocide fantasy story, by all means, go ahead and do it, but I don’t want to write a story like that. And I don’t feel right piggybacking Native culture.

“Can’t you ask them permission?” he asked. And I honestly didn’t even know how to respond to that one so I let it sit.

And you know what? He fucked off.

Until it happened again. He didn’t like some character names.

“I’m not changing their names,” I said.

“Okay, sorry.” he said.

And then I told him. This is the fourth time you’ve talked to me about things you think I’m doing wrong in this book when I didn’t ask. This is the fifth time overall, counting Seraphina’s Lament, and it’s getting old really fast. Unless someone SPECIFICALLY ASKS YOU for a critique or editorial insight, DO NOT GIVE IT.

He apologized, said he wouldn’t do it again, but in this apology he said something that really put literally everything that happened into sharp, clear, focus. “I’m doing this because I care, and if I did not care, I wouldn’t tell you any of these things.” It hit me, as soon as he said those words, that just a little bit of twisting and turns them into, “I’m telling you how much you suck because I care.”

The gaslighter’s credo.

I’m telling you you are a lack talent wonder because you mean so much to me, and if you didn’t mean so much to me, I wouldn’t try to help you by pointing out all your numerous flaws and setting myself in the perfect place to be the one to not only break you, but also help save you and build you back up in my image.

Then, all these people started asking about The Bloodlands series, and in this stunning stroke of insight, I realized, I really, really want to return to that series. I really do, but something is keeping me from doing so, and it all goes back to that very first letter. It all goes back to that one letter about Seraphina’s Lament, where I was being set up with friendship, and then a public 5 star review, only to fall so far when all of my numerous flaws are laid out for me in a ~2 page single spaced letter, and told, basically (not point blank but the insinuation is absolutely there), that the entire book needed to be rewritten and he is always available to help me because he has all these ideas.

This letter nearly got me to stop writing. It pushed me away from writing that series at all, because obviously I’m not good enough of an author to handle stories like that. This letter made me so terribly anxious and ashamed that Seraphina’s Lament even existed in the world, I would get these huge panic attacks and I would *literally* cry every time I saw the cover of my book anywhere, so I stopped looking at reviews, and stopped really trying to promote the book. I wanted it to fade away entirely. I came about 10 minutes away from pulling the book entirely, but what stayed my hand was the realization that the book was already out there in the world, so pulling it won’t really change anything. Best to just pretend it doesn’t exist and let time bury it.

I came so close to giving it all up.

And then I got those comments about Of Honey and Wildfires, and that last one in particular… the one where, “I’m telling you this because I care” really did it for me. Really showed me exactly what happened. I’d been manipulated.

Then, the delight of all delights, someone contacts me. “I hear (so and so) really did a number to you. He did that to me too.” In fact, friends, I’ve been contacted by no fewer than five female fantasy authors with similar stories. It always happens with their first book. Always a few months after it drops. Always a letter harpooning the book because this person “cares” and always with friendship in place first. In certain circles, this person’s name has turned into a verb. “I hear you’ve been (name)’d” and we all know what it means.

Think about it. You’ve just released your first book. You’re still finding your feet. You’re still feeling your way through things, and here’s this friend, this person who has publishing experience already, come along to support you. You get public support… And then… this.

So I guess what I’m saying is a few fold. First, I do not feel comfortable naming people online. I’ve had a few people say I should, and I just don’t feel like that’s the right thing to do. Though, I do have the letter and the screenshots of our back and forth to prove all of this, and I have shown them all to trusted people who can verify everything I say here is true.

Secondly, if you are a new female author, and something like this happens to you YOU ARE NOT ALONE. You are also not a horrible author, and you should not give up on writing. These people are not your friends. They are piranhas and they are taking advantage of you when you are at a vulnerable place. They are sharks, but instead of sensing blood, they sense insecurities and they go after them. It’s always in the name of friendship. It’s always because they care. Talk to people you trust, because it was talking to a friend I hadn’t told any of this to (I was too ashamed to mention any of it for almost a year, truthfully) that really broke through my haze and started making the pieces of what transpired fall into place.

And the fact that I am ASHAMED that I fell prey to any of this is bone deep. I am ashamed this happened, and I am ashamed of myself for falling for it.

Then, people started asking about The Bloodlands and I realized how desperately I wanted to get back to that story but how terrified of it I really was… and I had a chat with my beta readers over the weekend where I laid out ALL of this to them. I showed them the letter I got. I showed them the screenshots of our back and forth over Of Honey and Wildfires. I showed them EVERYTHING and they really, really, really clarified what happened. I spent the weekend deciding to reclaim my series FOR MYSELF, and to finish telling the story I started with Seraphina’s Lament.

My first task is to re-familiarize myself with Seraphina’s Lament and honestly, I need to get myself to the point where I’m okay looking at my book again. I also need to re-familiarize myself with my character voices and storyline so I can pick up An Elegy for Hope where I left off. I think, with all I’ve got written, I should be able to release An Elegy for Hope in early 2022. I have to keep it as a bit of a back burner project right now because I have Glass Rhapsody and some other stuff in the foreground, but I’m not worried.

So, in an effort to re-familiarize myself with the book I’ve been too ashamed to acknowledge for over a year now, I am re-reading Seraphina’s Lament, and doing a little editing pass over it as I do so. Sometime soon(ish) I will update the book with the newly edited version, AND a map of the bloodlines as well (which you can currently see if you click on the “Seraphina’s Lament” link at the top of my page.)

I will keep you all updated as to when that will transpire.

But, this weekend I realized everything that happened, and how dramatically everything changed when I got that letter. I have to reclaim my series for ME. I have to finish telling Seraphina’s story. Not because I need to check any boxes off, but because I have a burning desire to finish this series. I love it. I still love it. I’m just ashamed that I lost so much time over it.

And you, dear readers, please understand, there are people in this world that claim to be your friends, but they aren’t. If someone makes you feel like absolute shit, especially in the name of “friendship” please remember the problem is THEM not YOU. They are piranhas.

Swim in a different river.

If anyone has ever had anything like this happen to them, please reach out to someone you trust, or even reach out to me. It’s hard. It’s one of those things that happens and you tell yourself it won’t effect you, but it does. The damage, at least to me, was done, and I didn’t even realize it.

I’ve dreamed of being a writer since Kindergarten. This… THIS letter sent by a “friend” almost got me to give up on that.

And… look out for some Bloodlands stuff coming soon. I’ll keep you updated on the Seraphina’s Lament stuff. It might be a while because I do have things going on in the foreground… but I will keep you appraised.

ANNOUNCEMENT | SALE

Hey folks!

A little while ago, I was thinking about the upcoming release of Oh, That Shotgun Sky and I thought, what better way to roll that book out than to drastically discount the book that comes before it? Therefore, until February 21, you’ll find Of Honey and Wildfires ON SALE for $.99.

If Annie Proulx (Brokeback Mountain) wrote fantasy, it might be like this. – Fantasy Faction

Lyrical prose, amazing worldbuilding and exceptional characterization, what more can you ask for. – Fantasy Book Critic

Click here to buy the book!

Secondly, on the 16th (tomorrow) the novella Oh, That Shotgun Sky drops. I’m really, really proud of this little beastie. It takes place right after Of Honey and Wildfires, and will serve as a bridge between Of Honey and Wildfires and Glass Rhapsody. I’m really, really proud of this series, and any support is (of course) welcome.

“[Sarah] is a writer, a storyteller, and (I swear) a witch with powers to get inside the head and heart unlike just about anybody else in the genre.” – Beauty in Ruins

Buy the book.

And, I’ve got a bajillion editing deadlines this week, so other than that, things will probably be pretty quiet over here. I should have some interviews and reviews up next week.

Be good, my friends.

Review | Songs of Insurrection – JC Kang

About the Book

Only the lost magic of Dragon Songs can save the world. Only an awkward girl with the perfect voice can rediscover it.

The Dragon Singers of old summoned typhoons and routed armies, liberating mankind from the orcs before fading into legend. Now, with the world again facing a new cataclysm, the power of music stirs in Kaiya, an a naïve misfit with the perfect voice.

Without a master to guide her, she must rely on Hardeep, a disgraced foreign paladin, to help awaken her latent magic. His motives might not be entirely noble. When he leads her to the fabled Dragon Scale Lute, which only a Dragon Singer can wield, it is up to Black Lotus Clan to intervene.

Because the instrument’s fell power can save the world…

416 pages 
Published on January 5, 2021
Buy the book

I was hired to proofread this series of novels.

One of my favorite things about my job is seeing books evolve. JC Kang’s books were a bit different than my usual, because I wasn’t hired to edit them, but proofread them, so they were already pretty done when they made their way to my desk. Regardless, I was absolutely swept away by the story being told, and the way he told it. There are a lot of nuances in Songs of Insurrection that I really enjoyed immensely (I am such a sucker for details), and an attention to detail on the author’s part that not only intrigued me but left a path of subtle eggs for me to follow throughout the novel. 

I love stuff like that. 

Songs of Insurrection is a unique amalgamation of fantasy with enough recognizable real-world cultural elements to keep any reader intrigued. There are elves, dwarves, and dragons of numerous kinds mentioned in the book. While not given overly detailed descriptions (and thus, never bogged down the plot), there’s enough there for readers to be able to understand the role each has in this world. These fantasy elements, however, are set against a backdrop that truly fascinated me, and this is really where Kang’s vision truly shines.

His world building is nothing short of incredible. With an obviously Chinese-inspired setting, there are also enough other cultures drawn from real world influence that you will undoubtedly recognize (India, for example). Furthermore, as with the real world, nothing in this one is simple. Layers abound, as Kang deftly avoids keeping anything surface-simple. Cultures clash. People say bad things about other people. Stuff can get ugly, and while that sucks, it is REAL and I appreciated Kang’s unflinching desire to show how ugly things can be in both overt and subtle ways. 

On the other hand, his world truly is beautiful, and there are quiet moments sprinkled throughout the book where you can truly see the author settling in to just appreciate the world and the characters he’s built. The relationships that form and evolve feel as realistic as the world they are set in. They aren’t easy, and there are conflicts and strife, misunderstandings and pain, but there are moments of intense beauty as well. I loved how Kang seemed to know exactly when to turn the screws, and when to back off and let the reader just enjoy the setting, and the characters in this extremely nuanced world of his. 

There are enough mentions of other places, other lands, and a much wider world that makes this entire book feel like it’s just one small piece of the whole. There’s a whole lot of room for Kang to spread his wings and explore, and not just that, but I found it fascinating how he used conflict, and consequence in this book. As in, something happens over here, but it impacts these people over there too. Like dominoes, nothing is untouched, and like our world, it’s a large, large place full of diverse peoples and unique cultures and I am honestly eager to explore more of it. 

The plot is relentless, and that’s another thing I enjoyed. While there are quiet moments, nothing in this book is wasted as it all comes barreling toward a magnificent ending. Kang has a way with building tension, but he also has managed to balance that with hope, and passion. This isn’t a book written using some formula. Kang put a lot of thought into not only the story, but how he tells it. He has a set of tools at his disposal, and, like a master craftsman, he knows exactly when and how to use which tool.

The characters in this book are young, and while that might make some readers thing YA fantasy, it’s really not. The themes here are fully adult, and some of the ways they are handled are as well. However, I actually thought the young age of the characters was a benefit to the story itself. As I’ve read further into this series, I’ve realized that one of the joys of it is growing right along with the young cast. They don’t stay young forever, and life twists them all up and changes them. A few years passes between this book and the next in the series, for example, and a lot of personal growth and development happens not just in the books, but between the characters themselves. I truly enjoyed that element of the story. We don’t just get to see the characters as they appear “now” but we get to grow with them as well. It gives the entire saga a level of intimacy that I just absolutely dug on every level.

One thing I really want to touch on involves the three main perspectives in this book, because I think what Kang did with them is genius. As in, each character sort of understands the world a completely different way than any other. Kaiya senses understand the world more through a soundscape, while Jie, for example, seems more keen on noticing smells than anything else. Then, you have Tian (who I just absolutely fell in love with) who was a sort of mix of both of those characters. While this might be a small detail people don’t notice unless they really think about it, the author did this on purpose, and he put a lot of thought into why and how to do this throughout his narrative. Honestly, I thought it was a superb way to draw on each character’s strengths. First of all, these three individuals are all so different, there’s no way to mix up their voices, or how they see the world. Secondly, the mixture of these perspectives actually weaves together a really dynamic, detailed understanding of not just what is happening, but the larger world as a whole. It is really rare that I come across three POV characters in a novel that are so completely different from each other but complement each other so well. 

So, where does this leave us? 

It should be pretty obvious that I loved this book. It’s a solid start to a very dynamic, fast moving, layered series. The characters are just as well-crafted as the world itself, and it’s a delight to grow and evolve with them as the series expands. Perhaps my favorite part of this book was the author’s passion, which infuses each and every page. He put so much thought into every aspect of this book, and I think it came together beautifully. 

Excellent start to a fantastic series. Highly recommended. 

5/5 stars

Indie Author Interview | Krystle Matar

First of all, huge apologies for the delay in this series. I’ve been slowly collecting a few more interviews so I can build up a backlog. Aside from that, I’ve been suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper busy and just haven’t had time. I should (har har) be starting up routine Indie Author Interviews again, as well as reviews a few times a week. I hope. Just know, when I go quiet, it’s because I’m super busy and just don’t have time, but I’ll be back soon.

As I have said previously, this is a series of interviews I am giving to try to highlight indie authors and the self-published speculative fiction genre as a whole. We are all in this together, so please share the interview, support the author, and if you’d like to be interviewed, please reach out to me and we can sort that out.

Now, on to the interview!

About the Author

Krystle Matar has been writing for a long time, but things got serious when Tashué Blackwood walked into her life, an amber-eyed whirlwind.

   When she isn’t arguing with him or any of his friends, she parents and farms. She has a lot of children and even more animals and one very excellent husband.

   She is currently working on lots of stories set in the Dominion. She expects to exist in this universe for a while.

Links

Website
Instagram
Twitter
Goodreads

First things first, describe yourself in six words or fewer.

Eccentric, reclusive, whisky-drinking farmer.

Tell me about your book. 

Legacy of the Brightwash is a murder mystery smashed into epic military fantasy, with lots of smooching. Tashué wants to find out who killed the girl from the river, but to get the answers he’s looking for, he has to stand against the very organization he used to believe in.

What makes you and your books unique? Shine for me, you diamond. 

I like to think it’s the people that makes my books unique. I tried to breathe as much life into them as possible. I love these crazy humans. They’re complex, messy, flawed. Jump on the Hot Mess Express with me, people!

What are you working on now/any future projects you want to talk about? 

Queued up next is Legacy of Brick & Bone—the second installment in the series. Find the girl and figuring out what happened to her is only the first step in the long unravelling. I also have a Jason & Lorne project simmering in the background, tentatively called Heart of Bone. We’ll see how it gets packaged! Ishmael Saeati demands his own prequel, because he’s a brat (and I let him get away with a lot). The Watchmaker’s Son will probably be in progress for a while, but I’m super excited for it. Ishmael is a beautiful train wreck. 

Let’s celebrate. What’s one of the best things that’s happened to you as an author? Don’t be shy. 

Just being seen by the writing community on Twitter before I even had anything published was amazing. They never once asked if I belonged. And then getting started on the book launch has been just next level excitement!

Let’s talk about CRAFT

What is one thing that you’ve learned about yourself as a writer? 

I learnt not to flinch. I learnt to throw myself at an idea head-first. I learnt write bold characters and big worlds and to have fun. I used to have a “for serious” project—something I thought was marketable and publishable—and a “for fun” project—something a little wild and usually with lots of smooching and often larger than life. Legacy of the Brightwash taught me that the things that made me happiest were the things in the “for fun” projects. And joining the self-publishing community helped me realize that there was room for stories like that! 

If you had to start over with writing and publishing, what would you do differently and why?

I don’t know that I’d start over, so much as I’d like to take away the expectation that younger-me had for myself: having such and such achievement before I turned 30. Where are we getting this idea that 30 is the expiration of dreams and potential?! The writing I’ve done AFTER 30 is so much more interesting than the stuff I was writing 10 years ago! 

What about self-publishing appeals to you? Why did you choose this particular path to publication? 

I love the freedom to write stories that I’m passionate about, regardless of what’s trending or selling at any given moment. I like the control over my own career. I got to find my own editors, my own sensitivity readers, my own cover artist. I take a lot of comfort in knowing that my success is on my shoulders. I have to hustle and grind to get my book baby out in the world, and if I fall flat on my face I’ll know I tried my best. If I take off, it will be thanks to the wonderful writing community and the amazing friends I’ve made since getting to know writers and bloggers on Book Twitter. 

What does your writing space look like ?

My desk is CLUTTERED as all get out, but it’s because I like pretty notebooks and nifty fountain pens and I have a fun collection of pocket watches… and whisky… I’ve attached a photo of the one spot on my desk that looks artfully eclectic instead of the rest of the desk that looks like a bomb went off… 

Plotter or pantser, and why? 

Revisionist! The first draft I write is super sparse and messy and disorganized. Is it an outline? Is it a pansted draft? Who really knows?! I have to revise a lot to peel away the unnecessary and chase down what’s important. 

Let’s talk about diversity. How do you incorporate realistic diversity into your books? And why is it important to you? 

Sensitivity readers were a big piece of writing diverse cultures. Our world is not homogenous and fantasy worlds shouldn’t be either. The other part of diversity that meant a lot to me was talking about sexual identities. My MC is bisexual and, I have to be honest, I didn’t include that detail in early drafts. This is where the “for serious” vs “for fun” really held me back—at some point, I convinced myself that people wouldn’t like that, so I always made him appear hetero, but then I would write side stories with all the extra smooching that he demanded. Existing in the self-published community helped me realize that there’s room for all kinds of stories, and all kinds of main characters, and Ishmael may have called me a coward a few times. So now Tashué is finally fully himself, and I’m so happy. 

When does research matter, and how do you incorporate it into your books?

I get most of my ideas from research, so I’d say it always matters! I have a little file in my brain that I call the “magpie file” because the idea is shiny and I like it, so I stash it away for later. If the idea has staying power, it will pop up again in other research, and worm its way into a book… like pugilists. And distilling whisky. And making pocket watches. And building train lines!

The next layer of this becomes culture and language. I didn’t want the Dominion to be homogenous so I tried to pull inspiration from a range of cultures. This is where research and worldbuilding collide. I admit I spent a lot of time just looking at the map of the Dominion and dreaming up ideas for various cities and provinces, and a bit of that bleeds into the story, here and there. 

And the final and most fun/frustrating layer is the characters themselves. I’ve learnt that I need to spend a lot of time with the characters, figuring them out, and it feels like research a bit too. I write a lot of words, just spending some time in their heads, figuring out their place in the world and in the story. It used to be discouraging, but when I decided it was just another method of research, that made me feel (a bit) better! (Seriously, it’s a lot of words in my trash folder…)

Let’s talk about sensitivity readers. Have you ever used them? How do you go about doing it? When and why? 

I have used sensitivity readers and I adore them. I found readers through editorial agencies for help with characters that needed a bit more than I could give them by myself. I wanted my characters to be deep, complex, emotional, flawed but also relatable. I didn’t want cardboard tropes and empty stereotypes. So to access life experience that I haven’t lived, talking to sensitivity readers seemed like the best and most obvious solution. I can’t advocate for the experience enough. The human connections I made with the wonderful people I turned to for their advice and experience has been more valuable than I can explain. On top of that, the questions that they asked me cracked my worldbuilding wide open. Tashué is a MUCH better character thanks to Lune!

Weapons are cool. They often require research. Tell me about a cool weapon you’ve researched and used in your writing. 

I’ve handled sharp things before, daggers and rapiers and broadswords. What was really outside my comfort zone was guns! Maybe it’s because I’m Canadian and they aren’t super common, but for one reason or another, I’ve never really handled firearms before. Guns don’t feature very strongly in Legacy of the Brightwash, but later, in Book 2, things get a little wild, and I needed more information and familiarity. So I asked my neighbour a few questions… One thing led to another and he invited me and my husband over to his house to see his collection, because he just so happened to have a lever action repeating rifle and I NEEDED to see it. He showed us a few rifles that were A LITTLE outside my time period (no gas piston technology in the Dominion just yet) but man that Winchester repeater was cool. 

Let’s talk about BOOKS

Tell me about the most recent book you’ve read.

Right now I’m reading The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai. Oh man, it’s heartbreaking. It’s about a little girl growing up in the midst of the Vietnam War, and her grandmother, who came into womanhood in the middle of the Second World War. Oh man, Sarah. It’ll rip your heart open.

What’s your favorite book as a child? 

Thinking way back, I think some of the first novels that I adored were the Redwall novels by Brian Jacques. The characters were forest creatures, but you know what stands out the most clearly in my memory? THE FOOD! My man could write some BANQUETS. 

Tell me about your To Be Read pile. What’s on it? What should be on mine? 

Oh man, the pile is a mountain. I have The Wolf or Oren-Yaro and We Ride The Storm. It’s been interesting to watch Villoso and Madson go through the process of switching from self- to trad publishing and I want to put their books in my eyes! I have A Wind From The Wilderness—a SPFBO finalist this year! I was sold on the Crusader plot. We Men Of Ash And Shadow is sitting on my Kindle, waiting for my attention—a fellow gaslamp fantasy and I’m super curious to see what Tinsley does with the genre that I love so much! I bought a bunch of books from the SPFBO finalist sale too… I need to invent like a secret extra 8th day of the week where all my responsibilities cease to exist so I can catch up on reading! 

Hobbies & All Things WEIRD

When you aren’t writing, what can you typically be found doing?

Wishing I was writing  

How do your non-writerly hobbies influence your writing? 

I love to cook and create, and I have my little hobby farm, so all of that bleeds through. Food becomes important, and I find myself thinking a lot about the farmers that feed my cities, and what that industry must look like in my time period. A lot of my characters are creator—Ishmael makes watches, Tashué draws, Ceridwen wants to be a baker when she grows up. 

Have you ever picked up a hobby due to your writing/research? If so, what was it and why? 

I started collection fountain pens—I dunno why, because fountain pens are cool! I also started spinning yarn. I already knit and crochet so it felt like a natural progression, but looking it up for a project convinced me that it would be something that I would really like. It has that perfect blend of being calming and challenging that really gets me to a zen place! 

What’s something you’re terrible at, but you love doing it anyway? 

Spinning yarn! I haven’t mastered it yet but the process of doing it is fun.

We all have family recipes. Share one of your favorite ones. 

Overnight yeasted waffles. I cannot BEGIN to explain how good these are.

If you were an animal, what would you be and why? 

A magpie. I see a shiny idea, I bring it back to my nest to use later.

What’s your favorite food from a country you do not live in? 

….all of it

What’s your favorite swear word and why? 

There’s nothing quite as succinct and multi-purpose as a good ol’ fuck. 

Any final thoughts? 

Thank you so very much for having me! I’m so excited to start throwing my book baby at people! It’s been a long journey to get here, but I can truly say that I’ve told the story of me heart. Thank you a million times over to the self-published community for giving me the courage to write the book I wanted!

Thanks for stopping by, Krystle! Remember to stop by her website and buy her book!