Tia asked Sherwood Smith:

I've just discovered and devoured Inda and Fox. It is amazingly rare to encounter books where characters are so diverse, yet each developed with care and sensitivity, resulting in a consistently compelling cast. Could you tell me more about how you get into each person's head, with their nuanced attitudes towards gender, sexuality, and identity? Did you take a conscious stance on race being a non-issue?

Sherwood Smith Thank you! I am so glad you are enjoying the book. I've been writing stories in this world since I was eight. I'm primarily a visual writer, but around the time I was a teen I began trying to figure out "why" the people lived in castles rather than stucco houses, etc. I began reading history voraciously, the better to understand how governments and customs evolve. To keep this short, I guess you could say that I always wanted a diverse world, and slowly began to figure out why it was that way. That in turn helps shape the stories.

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