1.- Could you introduce yourself to Jamreads’ readers?
My name is Sophia! I’m twenty-eight and I live in the Midwest with my lovely husband and our two cats, Mothman and Matcha. I love frogs, twenty one pilots, and Bob’s Burgers. I’m also the author of Nightstrider, which I describe as a gothic-flavored epic fantasy set in a dream realm in the vein of The Witcher and One Dark Window. 

2.- How did you start writing?
I was about eight and I had gone through every book that interested me in my elementary school’s library. My natural next inclination was to write my own. I filled a spiral notebook cover to cover with a story about a girl who got sucked into a fantasy book–and I just never stopped writing. 

3.- Initially, you started publishing as an indie author. What was behind this decision?
Frankly, I was a baby! I was nineteen, just starting my freshman year at New York University. I did query and got some encouraging notes, but nothing seemed to stick. So, I went the indie route, self-publishing my YA steampunk series Vinyl Trilogy as well as three collections of poetry. All but my most recent collection Valkyrie are out of print, but I’m still very proud of them. They never really had much commercial success, but they did garner something of a cult following, and it surprises me to this day how well they were received. I’d love to revisit those early works someday. 

4.- How did the original idea for Nightstrider appear? 
I wish I had a fascinating inception story, but the truth is I don’t know. I was about twenty-one and I had this image in my head of a beautiful, vicious girl with huge black wings and two knives. From there, I just explored her character and the strange world that unfolded around her. Obviously, that girl was Wren, and she remains the only character who has not gone through a major metamorphosis over the years I have worked on this story. Everyone and nearly everything else evolved with me as I wrote.  

5.- Could you tell us more about the process of how Nightstrider got picked by Orbit Books? How do you feel about it?
It was all a bit unconventional, really! I got my first agent in 2018. That partnership fell apart over the course of a few years, during which time I elected to self-publish Nightstrider. I ended up doing a Kickstarter, something I had not tried before, and it was quite successful–successful enough to attract the attention of a handful of potential publishers. With the help of my now agent Bethany Weaver, we ended up signing with Orbit after what I believe was the most surreal week of my life. It was strange to have things move so quickly after years of zero movement in the trad realm–strange and wonderful! Sometimes, it still doesn’t feel real. 

6.- I find the concept of nightmares as characters to be quite interesting. Could you tell us more about how this became part of the book?
I wanted to create a fantasy world populated by creatures that diverged from traditional fantasy archetypes. I love vampires, fae, ghosts, and witches as much as the next person–in fact my next book is full of faeries and phantoms!–but in this case I wanted to try something a little different. That said, I also wanted to avoid the overly simple stratification of “good” and “bad” dreams, thus the hierarchy of paras (night terrors), nightmares, luminae (powerful “good” dreams), and kips (mortal, essentially human background characters in dreams) was born. I have a blast playing around with the subjectivity of good and evil–as Morthil says, “the lines between dream beings are rarely as stark as they seem.” 

7.- What advice would you give to aspiring authors?

8.- Which other pieces of media would you recommend to people that enjoyed Nightstrider?
I love this question! As I mentioned, I think The Witcher and One Dark Window are comparable in certain respects, but I would also highly recommend Mistress of Lies by K.M. Enright, The Scarlet Throne by Amy Leow, The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid, and for fans of deeply unsettling creatures and horror, Thrum by Meg Smitherman. I’m also a huge fan of Arcane and Blue Eye Samurai and imagine readers who enjoyed Nightstrider might like them, too. 

9.- Could you tell us more about your experience as a debut author?
Independent and traditional publishing both have their merits and their pitfalls. I enjoyed the inherent freedom that came with indie publishing, but that freedom comes at the cost of doing everything yourself. While my experience with traditional publishing thus far as not been perfect, it is a huge relief to not have to pay for or DIY cover design, formatting, editing, sensitivity reads etc. And I’m lucky to have a fantastic editor and team at Orbit! Overall, my favorite part of my trad debut has been connecting with so many new readers. I personally found I had sort of hit my ceiling as an indie. Signing with a titan like Orbit has landed my book in the hands of more readers than I ever could have fathomed, and for that I’m extremely grateful. It is beyond gratifying. 

10.- What can we expect from Sophia Slade in the future?
The sequel to Nightstrider–Veilweaver–is scheduled for release in late summer 2025! I won’t lie, it has been a bit of a beast to write, but I’m really proud of it. I recently signed on for a fourth book in this series with Orbit, and I’ve got a gothic fantasy horror waiting for someone to snap her up! Beyond that, I have many, many more stories to tell. 

If you are interested in what you've just read, you can order a copy of Nightstrider using this link.