1.- Could you introduce yourself to Jamreads’ readers?
Sure! I’m Kerstin Hall, and I’m an author of weird dark fantasy books.

2.- How did you decide to start writing?
It’s what I’ve wanted to do since I was a kid. I don’t know if it was a decision, really; I’ve just always found storytelling fun. 

3.- Your first published series is the Mkalis Cycle. Could you tell us more about it?
The Mkalis Cycle is an unruly series of novellas, novels, and novelettes that largely take place in the realms of the dead. Gods and demons preside over these 999 realms, constantly warring for power. The story largely follows the efforts of the border keeper, Eris, as she tries to stop these deities from committing various atrocities. 
The most recent novelette, “A Heart Between Teeth”, is free to read on Reactor if anyone is interested. It’s a standalone, so it works as a nice sampler for the series as a whole. 

4.- Asunder will be your fourth novel (correct me if I’m wrong). How do you feel about it?
Asunder is my fourth book, but technically my third novel because The Border Keeper was a smidge under 40 000 words and thus classified as a novella.
Asunder is my favourite of my books, and almost certainly the best of them. I’m extremely proud of it, and found a lot of joy in the creative process — I just packed it full of everything I love to write.

5.- The worldbuilding of Asunder is quite original. How did you manage to blend all together and keep it coherent?
I enjoy worldbuilding, and I feel like I mostly just played to my strengths here. The magic system(s) at play are by far the most complex I’ve attempted, but I wanted them to feel very natural to the setting and to the reader. I definitely didn’t want to subject anyone to pages of exposition about the mechanics of stolen-valour-metaphor-power. At the end of the day, the book isn’t about that, but it’s still intrinsic to the atmosphere and perspective and themes, so… that was definitely a balancing act! 
I myself needed to understand the world’s fantastical, political, and geographical makeup intimately, but communicate those elements to the reader in a fairly minimalist way. A lot of this came down to mutual trust. I chose to write for my imagined ‘best reader’ — someone receptive and curious and willing to ‘play detective’ in order to work out how the setting hangs together. The result is a sort of partnership, I think. The reader trusts me to create a fully-realised world, and I in turn trust them to be perceptive and invested in the story.

6.- What inspired the original idea for Asunder?
A short story I wrote around 2018. That’s the genesis of a lot of my longer projects, honestly, because I’m not very good at keeping my fiction short. 
Anyway, the story featured Karys, Ferain, and Haeki, and mirrored some of the same events that take place in the Boäz section of Asunder. The tension in those relationships felt interesting to me; no one was entirely comfortable with each other, and there was a lot of resentment and jealousy getting displaced as aggression. But at the same time, the characters all held a kind of buried yearning for connection, and a strange, unspoken trust in one another.
The story was rejected by every market I sent it to, but I received a very kind personal note from Charlie Finlay at F&SF, which motivated me to hang onto the story’s concept a little while longer.

7.- Asunder features a well fleshed and complex cast of characters. Which one was your favourite and why?
This is a terrible question, because I am terribly fond of all of them. If forced to choose, I would probably say Karys. She’s the protagonist, so I spent the most time on her development. But I’ve got a real soft spot for Haeki, possibly because she’s such a mess, and Ferain is great fun to write because he’s a liar.

8.- What can we expect from Kerstin Hall in the future?
A sequel to Asunder! I haven’t finished writing it, and it isn’t yet contracted, so it may be a while until it comes out — but that’s where my heart is at, and I’m very excited to continue the story.