1.- Could you introduce yourself to Jamreads’ readers?
Hi, there! I’m Natania, and I’m a fantasy author and fashion historian who writes books with monsters, ballgowns, romance, and magic. 

2.- What made you start writing?
I’ve always been a writer—I mean, I remember writing “books” in second grade, stapling them together with illustrations, while other kids were rolling their eyes at my efforts. By the time I was eleven, I was writing proto-novels, basically thinly veiled fanfic featuring my favorite actors. It just progressed from there! Lots of years, millions of words, and lots of stories later, here I am. I’ve always been a storyteller. It’s just part of what makes me, me.

3.- At the core, most of your books have a historical component. Why did you make this particular choice?
My academic background is in medieval studies, which is inherently multidisciplinary, and I’ve always had a way of looking at the world through all the humanities. History and English were my favorites in school, but I always loved science, as well. I am just an unendingly curious person, and wanting to know what came before me has been with me all my life. I love reading firsthand accounts from historical figures, going to museums and seeing the little notions people had in their daily lives, and imagining this world without technology like we have today. And fashion, really, was my gateway to history. My mother is a huge costume drama fan, and growing up I saw all sorts of old movies and was absolutely fascinated by the outfits people wore. Although I’m a terrible sewist, I would staple curtains and spare fabric together to make myself outfits at a young age—later, I’d discover how much culture, history, and science was folded up in the study of fashion.
But maybe, ultimately, I’ve always felt a desire to live in another time. I could watch archaeology shows all day and never tire. I do keep going back to history, as I find the modern world quite tiresome sometimes!

4.- The first of your on-going series, Queens of Fate, was picked by Solaris after the previous publisher closed. How was the process of relaunching it? How did you feel about it?
You know, it’s one of those stories that I still can’t quite believe happened. It seems like luck, in some ways, but it makes me think of that (unlikely but oft-cited) Seneca quote: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” Queen of None was initially trunked, and I never thought I’d publish it at all. Then it found a home with my first publisher; when they folded, I really thought I’d expended my luck. Somehow, my now editor, David Thomas Moore, saw my tweet about how the second book, Queen of Fury, was on indefinite hold and reached out with interest. That day I had half a dozen presses reach out, in fact! It was overwhelming. Ultimately, Solaris was the best choice, and now I have a total of six books coming out with them.
I was prepared, though, I have to remind myself. I put in a lot of work. I was always writing, keeping at it, even when it seemed like it was unlikely success was going to happen. I got an amazing agent, Stacey Graham, who helped me navigate the deal—which wasn’t even the book she took me on with! And now here we are.

5.- What makes Queens of Fate different from other series that explore Arthurian legends and myths?
Arthuriana has always been full of women, but there are so many who fade away, and so many angles we miss. I read about Anna Pendragon in college, and wondered why she vanished. Anna seemed like such a simple name—but what would life be like if you were King Arthur’s full sister? How could we have forgotten her? So, I figured out a way to tell her story in the margins of the tales we already know so well. But women are overlooked more than that, and so each volume of my series looks at overshadowed women: Anna, a mother; Hwyfar, an unmarried woman with a reputation as a libertine; and Morgen, a woman in her sixties. They are all central to the story, but they also carve out their own tales. Their lives don’t stop when they get married or have children—they keep going, they keep growing. 
Chivalry is also painfully toxic, and really foreshadows the toxic masculinity of our day. In Queen of Fury, Gawain splits the narrative with Hwyfar, and he really is the victim of so much of that world where men value brawn over emotion, and he has to wrestle with the ravages of that on his body and his mind. He’s disabled by the time of the second book, and he’s not even thirty. So finding value in himself as his body is weakening is a very important struggle—and not something that’s often spoken about in Arthuriana or fantasy at all.

6.- In August, Netherford Hall, the first book in your new sapphic regency series is published. How would you pitch it?
Bridgerton with sapphic witches! Really, it came from a desire to see a genderswapped Mr. Darcy, but then I can’t write stories without magic. So, gentlewitches were born.

7.- It seems that Regency has gained popularity as a setting for stories. Why would you say it happened?
I think Jane Austen is just the GOAT. Like E.M. Forster, I will forever be a fangirl of her work, and it really is the modern blueprint for so much out there. The manners, the banter, the wit, the society, and of course, the clothing. It was such a bizarre time, the Regency, with Europe reeling from the Napoleonic Wars, George III in the throes of his mental illnesses, the Prince Regent cavorting around and rejecting his wife, and a golden age of poetry and writing and music. It was also the pinnacle of some of the most horrific atrocities during Imperialism and continued colonization around the world. 
Which is all the more odd for how much we glom on to that period of time. But maybe that’s the human condition: to find idealized pockets of loveliness amidst the challenge. I think that’s one of the beautiful things about people rewriting Regency to be more diverse. It doesn’t make it uncomplicated, necessarily, but it does shake up the power dynamics in a fascinating, and often very satisfying, way. 

8.- How did the idea for Netherford Hall first appear?
It’s so corny, but I dreamed the book to life. Or, half dreamed. I have a habit of daydreaming my way to sleep, since my brain is so loud most of the time. I was pondering writing a Regency fantasy, and as I was drifting off to sleep I saw Edith Rookwood, her red hair and everything, standing by a massive window inside a Tudor-style mansion, looking down the hill to a white house on the property with its chimney smoking. Behind her was a man, not too much older than her, who turned out to be her uncle, Auden Garcliffe. This was during the height of the pandemic, and from that day forward, the story just fell out of me. It was truly one of the easiest books I ever wrote.

9.- Your books feature an important component of queerness and mental health. Why would you say that kind of representation is important in nowadays literature?
It’s life-saving. Growing up as a queer teen, I felt so alone. I never saw people like me in stories. I didn’t know that anxiety and ADHD were common—I didn’t even have a diagnosis for either of those—but the closest I ever had was Meg Murry in A Wrinkle in Time. Granted, I was no math whiz, but I understood her in a very profound way. I wish I’d had queer characters to identify with, but sadly, most of the queer-coded folk I read about were villains and that only made things more complicated with my own self-perception. 
The truth is, neurodivergent queerfolk have always been here. You really don’t have to look far to find that humans have been thinking differently and questioning gender and sexuality for time out of mind. Not without complication, of course, because there is so often cultural pushback. But these two features of who I am are essential components—they’re parts of who I am, just like I’m a writer, a mother, a dreamer, a gardener. They are baked into my being. And I believe in the power of storytelling, in who we give permission to when it comes to being a hero. When I’m writing stories like these, I’m not just giving others permission to be a hero, I’m writing them for my younger self, too.

10.- How has your passion for fashion influenced your books?
Since I began publishing, people have always reflected that my writing is lush and descriptive. I suppose I’m a very visual person, and for me, clothing has always been one of the first things I think about when I’m writing a character. It’s particularly helpful in historical writing, since there is so much conveyed in what a character wears. ThreadTalk, which is a fashion history deep dive I do on social media, came out of work on Netherford Hall. I wanted to know more about Regency fashion, and in particular, chintz fabric, and ended up unearthing a mountain of research that crossed so many disciplines: history, religion, technology, and chemistry. And that certainly helped put me on the map in terms of visibility. Previously, I hadn’t really shared that sort of research, especially after years of people telling me that my nerdy deep dives weren’t that interesting. Turns out they were wrong!

11.- If you could write about any historical period, which one would you choose?
I have yet to do a series set in the late Victorian Era. The 1880s are my favorite time period when it comes to fashion, and I’m a massive fan of Westerns. I think we need more magical westerns!

12.- What can we expect from Natania Barron in the future?
Well, I’m working on a non-fiction proposal and once I’m finished with the last book in the Love in Netherford series, I’m going to be editing and polishing a secondary world romantasy I wrote called A Bright and Luminous Dawn. My agent had great feedback about it, but it’s going to require a lot of fixing before it’s ready to shop around—but I’m very excited about it. Then after, who knows? I would love to write more Arthuriana, and the Netherford books certainly can keep spinning off for a while if people enjoy them! Either way, I’ll be writing.

Netherford Hall releases today. You have an excellent opportunity to get it or check Natania's backlist using this link.