Stuck living on the edges of society, her only salvation lies in an invitation from a grandmother she's never known. That’s the experience I grew up with, and so I gave that experience to Eva and Reina.In a lush world inspired by the history and folklore of South America, a sweeping epic fantasy of colonialism, ancient magic, and two young women's quest for belonging unfolds. I wanted to tell the story from the points of views of two different creatures but also have them both struggle with the fact that they’re half-blood and feel that they have one foot in each world but are not welcome in either. Half-valco Eva and half-nozariel Reina come from very different backgrounds but have similar experiences. I thought that readers could potentially draw interesting parallels with the passing we all have to do.
And even after slavery is abolished and they’re “free” to do whatever they want, the nozariels continue to cut off their tails as a way to pass in this society. So cutting off the tail is a way to subjugate and enslave nozariels.
For the nozariels, I thought, “Oh, what if they have a tail?” But because this is a society that gets colonized by humans, the proper way to appear physically is to have a human appearance. I wanted the valcos to be strong and to have antlers. Then it kind of evolved naturally from that: two races with animal qualities. So I decided to use antlers, as they’re a popular motif in musica llanera, or music from the llanos. I wanted to have fantasy races, just like elves and orcs, but not elves and orcs. What inspired the novel’s fantasy races, the valcos and the nozariels? Litio, galio, and bismuto are lithium, gallium, and bismuth. It’s not a direct alchemy system but it kind of feels that way. I was trying to figure out how I could fit my training into my fiction, so I decided to use a magic system that had a chemistry feel.
I’m a chemical engineer, and people always say to write what you know. How did you develop your unique, rock-based magic system? I even sprinkled in a couple of characters, like for example Samón is directly inspired by Simón Bolívar, but it’s not an attempt to be historically accurate. So my inspiration was post-colonial Colombia during the war of independence in the early 19th century. But I was also really inspired by other high fantasy stories that use a real-world backdrop to inform the universe where they’re set. I wanted it to feel like a real place, you know? I didn’t set out saying, okay, this is going to be a fantasy that’s historically accurate. When I was writing the book, I mostly just wanted to make sure that the world felt lived in. What was your approach to incorporating history into your worldbuilding?
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