S3, E18: Brewing Cosy Fantasy — From Rival Potioneers to A Possessed Lute with R.K. Ashwick3/6/2025 
Welcome to episode 18 of Turn the Page: The Indie Book Podcast. In this episode, I’m joined by cosy fantasy author R.K. Ashwick, creator of the Lutesong Series and the Side Quest Row trilogy. Her books blend found family and hurt-comfort with high and low-stakes magical plot lines — think rival potioneers forced to work together, bards with haunted lutes, and multi-POV cosy fantasy stories wrapped in comfort and danger.
Tune in to hear R.K. Ashwick chat about:
If you love cosy fantasy worlds with heart, humour, and heaps of magic, you won’t want to miss this episode. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and check out the show notes for links to R.K.'s books, website and social media! Listen Here:Show Notes:
Here are all the links included in this episode.
Here are all the books mentioned in this episode:
Music Credit: SigmaMusicArt About R.K. Ashwick:
R.K. Ashwick is the author of two cozy fantasy series, The Lutesong series, and the Side Quest Row series. Her books feature rival potioneers, and a bard with a possessed loot trying to uncover a deadly, magical threat.
When not writing, R.K. Ashwick loves to bake and draw. She lives in California with her husband and her cat, Leia. (Yes, like Princess Leia.) Read the transcript:
Kay M. Weston: Welcome to episode 18 of Turn the Page: The Indie Book Podcast. Today, I'm joined by the wonderful, R.K. Ashwick.
R.K. Ashwick is the author of two cozy fantasy series, The Lutesong series, and the Side Quest Row series. Her books feature rival potioneers, and a bard with a possessed loot trying to uncover a deadly, magical threat. Before I hand over to R.K. Ashwick to introduce herself and tell us a bit more about her books, just a quick reminder to hit that like and subscribe button, whatever platform you're listening on, just to help this episode reach as many people as possible. And as always, any links mentioned will be included in the show notes so that you can go find the author's books after the show. Hi R.K., thanks for joining us on the podcast. Just to get us started, can you introduce yourself and tell our listeners a bit about the books that you write? R.K. Ashwick: Yeah, absolutely. So, I am R.K. Ashwick. I'm a cozy fantasy romance author. I write both low and high-stakes, cozy fantasy with different levels of romance. So, the Lutesong series, for example, is higher-stakes with romance as a subplot, and the Side Quest Row series is lower-stakes with a heavier focus on romance. Kay M. Weston: Okay, brilliant. So, what drew you then to the cozy fantasy genre in the first place, and what does cosy fantasy mean to you? I think it means something different to everyone, so I'd love to get your take on that. R.K. Ashwick: Yeah, that was gonna be, honestly, part of my answer is that it's different for everyone. I started out writing just fantasy and then discovered the term cozy fantasy and just leaned into it. I like both high-stakes and low-stakes stories. So, for me, I don't necessarily need my cozy fantasy to be low stakes, but for me, there does need to be a certain comforting vibe, a soft place to land for the characters, no matter what happens to them. I think setting plays a really big part in kinda what attracts me to different cozy fantasy stories. But beyond that, it's so hugely varied because cozy vibes are so subjective. Like, I've had people go, oh, Ambrose has a tragic backstory, therefore A Rival Most Vial isn't cozy. But for me, it absolutely is. Yeah, it's just so subjective. Kay M. Weston: Yeah, it's funny, isn't it? I know what you mean because for me it's just, I don't know, it's that feeling that you get when you just feel happy to be in that world. R.K. Ashwick: Yeah. Kay M. Weston: Yeah, it's a strange one. When you were talking about low-stakes compared to high-stakes, I remember thinking in A Rival Most Vial, and particularly in A Captured Cauldron, there's a real element of danger, I felt. So, how do you balance then those cozy themes with the conflict and the higher stakes that are found in the books? R.K. Ashwick: For me, I guess when I'm writing, if there's no element of any kind of danger, I get bored. I'm like, I need somebody to be a little bit stressed in this book. But for me, it always like, it's sort of like the hurt comfort trope, right? If you're going to hurt a character, you'll want to comfort them in the end, and I think for cozy fantasy, there's a much higher ratio of comfort to hurt. So yes, they could briefly be in danger, but if there are other characters comforting them and healing them, and if there's again, that soft place to land at the end that's really emphasized, to me, that's still cozy. Because I think if you take away any element of stress or danger, the story gets boring. You need to have a little bit of conflict and stress in order for them to then sink into their cozy little place at the end. Kay M. Weston: Yeah. Do you have like a gateway author or book that got you into the cozy fantasy genre? R.K. Ashwick: I grew up reading a lot of Tamara Pierce and Shannon Hale, which aren't necessarily cozy, but I feel like Diana Wynne Jones and Howl's Moving Castle, and just the vibe of like the Dealing with Dragons series, if anybody remembers that. I think that. I leaned into that and there's a whole online debate on if Sir Terry Pratchett is cozy or not. Kay M. Weston: Oh, I've not heard that, but I can see it now, yeah. R.K. Ashwick: There's like elements. I mean I feel like every book could be different and I feel like his humour kind of lightens the stakes, like it feels different. But I guess those were my, like early gateways. Then my contemporary gateway was definitely Legends & Lattes. I remember basically, not live blogging on Tumblr, but just putting out random thoughts being like, oh my God, they just discovered cinnamon rolls, on my Tumblr. It was just so cute and so different. So, I think that was like my contemporary gateway drug book. Kay M. Weston: Yeah, Legends & Lattes is mine as well. It was so good. I remember reading it and being like, wow, I've not read anything like this before, and now I love that cozy fantasy is everywhere. So, would you say those books that you just talked about were very big influences on your writing style, or do you have any others as well? R.K. Ashwick: Yeah, I would say those were the big influences on my writing style, though if I am writing something and reading something concurrently, whatever I'm reading will kind of leak into what I'm writing. So, I try to not be reading at the same time as when I'm writing, but I'm also writing all the time, and I do have to read. So, it's a weird cycle. Kay M. Weston: Yeah, I can relate to that. I remember the first time I started writing fantasy, I was reading Pride and Prejudice, and for some reason everyone was talking in such the wrong way as I was writing it. So yeah, I can definitely relate. So, both the Lutesong series and the Side Quest Row series are trilogies. How do you approach plotting out a full trilogy but then keeping each book satisfying on its own? R.K. Ashwick: Yeah, I didn't really plan out the trilogies, particularly for the Lutesong series. I started writing it, going, yeah, it'll be a trilogy, because that's what fantasy writers do, right? I wouldn't recommend that to anybody, because then it just makes it harder to properly foreshadow things and kind of plan out, okay, here's the character arc for this book, but what is the character arc across the whole series? So, I did it towards the end of book one. I started actually thinking about, oh, okay, what are book two and book three actually going to be? But I would recommend maybe planning it a little bit earlier than that. In terms of keeping each book satisfying, I try to keep each story pretty much like self-contained so there isn't too much of a cliffhanger at the end, while still keeping the setting open for the next adventure. It's also easier for me to keep it contained so I don't have to track a ton of details in between the books. Because, at this point I've been writing, on each series, for at least five years and so you just start forgetting things. Unless you're making yourself your own Wikipedia as you go, things are gonna drop through the cracks. Kay M. Weston: Yeah. And congratulations by the way, because the final book in the Lutesong series is now available, it came out this week, I believe. Without giving away too many spoilers, can you go into depth a little more on what readers can expect from this series in particular? And just as an extra question, were there any particular challenges in wrapping up this series that you've been working on for five years? R.K. Ashwick: Yes, okay. So, the Lutesong series, just as a very brief summary, it starts with The Stray Spirit, which is a higher stakes cozy fantasy set in a regency-esque world, loosely regency. It focuses on a bard named Emry who gets a forest spirit named Aspen trapped in his lute. Having a talking lute is not their idea of a good time, for either of them. So, they go to Emry's ex-girlfriend Cal for help, and together they discover that the event that forced Aspen into the loot is a sign of a much greater disaster to come. Then through the series, we followed the trio, that's Emry, Cal, and Aspen, as they gradually climb further into high society, as they make more spirit friends, as the world kind of changes slowly around them due to the events of book one. Then The Spirits Curse, so that's the last book in the trilogy, and that just came out May 26th, it really focuses on Aspen and the spirits, and what their future looks like. One of the biggest challenges of writing the last book, honestly, it was the middle of the book because I knew the beginning and I knew the end, and I was like, oh, this is my fifth book, of course the middle will just magically come to me. That was so incorrect of me. I was so wrong. So, it took just a lot of passes and a lot of reiteration to figure out a middle section that really worked and emotionally resonated with everything else. So, I'm happy, of course, with where it landed, but it was difficult getting there. Also, I'm so sorry if you can hear my cat. She's being really chatty today. Kay M. Weston: I can hear her. I actually thought it was a child. R.K. Ashwick: No, I'm so sorry, it's my cat. Kay M. Weston: No, don't be silly. Please do not apologize. I have two cats, a puppy and a turtle, and a child. My house is never quiet. R.K. Ashwick: That's awesome. She just hopped up next to me, so she says hello to everyone. Her name is Leia, like Princess Leia. Kay M. Weston: She's lovely. I saw a picture of her, and she looks very similar to my cat. I love the black and white cats, they're so great. So, I haven't read the Lutesong series yet, I did download books one and two yesterday. I came into your universe with the Side Quest R ow series when I discovered A Rival Most Vial last year, and honestly fell in love. That has very different vibes though, doesn't it, to the Lutesong series? So again, can you tell us what readers can expect to find in that series? R.K. Ashwick: Yes. So, for the Side Quest Row series, if you're looking for something more traditionally cozy, traditionally lower stakes, like Legends & Lattes or Cursed Cocktails, that's definitely the Side Quest Row series. So, as you mentioned, it starts with A Rival Most Vial, which is about two rival potion shop owners, Ambrose and Eli, who have to work together on a lucrative commission for the mayor. It is a dual POV, queer cozy fantasy romance with a huge found family in the form of all of the other merchants on the street. They take care of each other and they look out for each other, and they also play a huge role in book two when Ambrose is, this is not really a spoiler 'cause it's on the back of the book, Ambrose is kidnapped to brew an illegal potion and the merchants form a little rescue team to go get him, which is cozier than it sounds, I promise. I realize the stakes are a little higher, but it's treated with a light tone, and then they also play a huge role in book three, which I'm currently writing, when Ambrose needs a very rare mushroom for a potion and they have to form an adventuring party to help him go get it. So, that concept is, what if you took all of these shopkeeper NPCs and threw them into their own adventuring party. How poorly does that go? Kay M. Weston: I love it because as I'm reading it, so, I'm a huge D&D fan, and as I'm reading, I'm like, oh, it just sounds like a crazy game, and it's amazing. Can I just ask where the idea came from for both series actually, but we'll start with A Rival Most Vial? R.K. Ashwick: Yeah, so for A Rival Most Vial I was going to bed, this was like five years ago at this point, I was going to bed one night, and I thought just of the phrase "rival potion shops", and I was like, oh, that's cute, I'll do something with that later. And I didn't go back to it really for a couple of months, until I started figuring out, okay, if it's rival potion shops, obviously the potion shops are right across the street from each other. What are the personalities of the two shopkeepers, 'cause that's really like the crux of the whole thing. And how would that manifest in their appearance, in what potions they sell, in how they run their shop, in how they treat each other, and then that's where Ambrose and Eli formed out of that. Then I was just off to the races after that point. Then for the Lutesong series, for that, it was a little more intentional. It was, I wanna say, I think it was the 2019 NaNoWriMo, and if you're not familiar with NaNoWriMo, it was a national novel writing event where you would just be like, I'm gonna write 50,000 words in November. And I really wanted to do it back in 2019, but I wasn't sure of what to write, and so they used to have resources for kids on their website where it's, oh, brainstorm an idea, write down just some things that you're really interested in right now. So, I wrote bards, caves, and possession dynamics from Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, because I had just watched Full Metal Alchemist and I loved the Greed and Ling dynamic. So, then the prompts just said, okay, take some of those items and connect them together, what can you write about? So, I was like, okay, a bard, a forest spirit, there's caves, the bard gets possessed. So, yeah, that's where it grew from. It was a little less spontaneous than A Rival Most Vial. Kay M. Weston: Yeah, NaNoWriMo was so great, but I know everything's gone pear shaped and they're no longer running, but it I understand that it helped a lot of people. I think I wrote my first iteration of a draft for, I think it was like the 2016 year. So, yeah, it was good once. So, just going back to, you mentioned a few of the tropes from the Side Quest Row series. What are the tropes in the Lutesong series that people can expect? R.K. Ashwick: For that one. So, there's Exes to Lovers in the first book. There is a social season in the second book, which I had a lot of fun writing. There's a reverse found family, where Aspen attaches to Emry and goes, oh, I am a Kerik now I am adopting myself into your family, and the Kerik's go, okay. I dunno. It's a little less trope heavy. I'm like literally staring at the book cover trying to think of others. Yeah, I guess those are the main ones. Kay M. Weston: Okay, brilliant. One thing, obviously, I noticed with A Captured Cauldron is that it has an extra POV. So, you've got three point of view characters. How do you approach doing multiple character point of views? And by the way, just to say, it's one of the books where I feel like it was done really well. So many times, I've read multi POV books where I'm like, no, I just want the main characters back and you feel like the other characters aren't as important, but with yours I was like, so invested. So, how do you do that? How do you make sure that each character has their own sort of distinct voice and their own moment? R.K. Ashwick: Yeah, it's a lot of, I know I said I didn't plan the trilogy, but I do plan a lot for each individual book. So, I actually have a spreadsheet where I write down, okay, here are the events that need to happen, here are the POVs. So, for A Captured Cauldron, for example, we've got Ambrose, Eli, and the addition of Dawn. So, I map that out and I take a look at it before I start writing. I go, okay, I've got five chapters that are just Ambrose and Dawn, I haven't checked in on Eli recently, what does that mean in terms of his personal goals? How have I checked or not checked in on him, how can I add that? Does this scene make sense for it to be from Ambrose's POV or Eli's POV? Who is feeling stronger about the events that are happening and who does it make sense to get that interiority? So, it's a similar process for Lutesong too, where in book one we started with Emry as the sole POV. Book two is Emry and Cal, and then book three is Emry and Aspen, which is very fun, adding a forest spirit's POV. So, I do also try to keep in mind like, what is this character's unique background and how would that influence how they react to things, how they observe things, how they describe things. In Lutesong in particular, Aspen has picked up a lot of human mannerisms that they don't fully understand. So, they will do something, and another spirit, because there's a lot of spirits around them now, will go, why'd you do that? And they're like, oh, I don't know, Emry always does it. And just like, they're picking up things but lacking like context, and so that was always just like a fun thing to add to really show their perspective on things. Kay M. Weston: Yeah. You're making me want to read that series even more now. With Side Quest Row, the final instalment is coming, is it October this year? R.K. Ashwick: Yes, that is what I'm currently planning on, is Draught for a Dragon, which is the last book in the trilogy, will come out in October. Kay M. Weston: Brilliant, and what stage are you at with that now, and how are you feeling about bringing that series to a close? Two complete series in one year is quite an achievement. R.K. Ashwick: Yeah, it's a lot. I don't know if I'll continue to do two books a year, just because you're pretty much constantly writing without a break, and I feel like that's definitely impacting me. Because I just finished The Spirit's Curse and I'm like, oh my God. I'm currently really deep into writing this one draft of Draught for a Dragon to go to Alpha Readers at the end of the month. So yeah, basically from the frying pan into the fire, which makes it harder but it's also making me step back and be like, okay, this chapter, I don't wanna write it. Why don't I wanna write it? Does it not include all of the things that I really liked about this premise? How can I beef up that more? So, I keep taking a step back rather than just trying to force myself to continue with the chapters. But my deadline is rapidly approaching. I am deep into it for another couple of weeks and then it'll go to my Alpha readers for several weeks and then I will be, so dumb, switching over to wrapping up this anthology story that I'm also working on. Kay M. Weston: Oh, wow. I was gonna say, oh, you can take a break afterwards, but I guess not. R.K. Ashwick: Yeah, I wish I could. Kay M. Weston: Okay. So, a just for fun question. Across each series, is there a particular character in each series who you most relate to and why? R.K. Ashwick: There's bits of me in all of them, but I think the ones that I attach to the most are Emry and Ambrose. Because Emry is an anxious little guy, and Ambrose, he's just such an introvert that I'm like, yeah, you're me, buddy in many different ways. I feel like secondarily, Dawn and Cal have a certain work ethic that I vibe with, for better and for worse. Then Eli's very specific journey in book one really mirrored what I was going through at the time in book one. Don't read too much into it. But yeah, it's just so funny how there's like little bits of the author in all of the characters, even if on so many levels, they're so different. Kay M. Weston: Yeah, after what you just said about your workload, I can definitely see the comparison with Dawn because she never stops. R.K. Ashwick: Yeah. Kay M. Weston: And neither do you. R.K. Ashwick: I swear I do have a break planned, it's just a little later. Kay M. Weston: Your cat needs to sit across your keyboard, just to help you out. R.K. Ashwick: Yeah, she really does. Honestly, she's so good at it. Kay M. Weston: So again, just a fun question. If you could take a side quest of your own with any of your characters, who would you choose and what do you think the quest would be? R.K. Ashwick: So, I was thinking about this and is it weird that most of it was shopping trips? Do shopping trips count as side quests? Kay M. Weston: I would love to go on a shopping trip with the street, right? R.K. Ashwick: Yeah, because I was like, okay, I would definitely make flower crowns with Aspen because Aspen would be able to actually teach me how to make a flower crown. I would wanna go shopping for potion ingredients with Ambrose. I would wanna go to a bookstore with Cal and Dawn. I would wanna go pet dragons with Eli, and then I just wanna go shopping on Rosemond Street. I would be so intimidated by most of the shop owners, just 'cause they're so smart and nice and I would be like, oh no, I have a crush on half of them. But yeah, being able to just look at all the pretty wands that Dawn makes and look at all of the nice potions on Ambrose's, like, that just sounds so nice. Kay M. Weston: Yeah, and the cupcakes as well. R.K. Ashwick: Yes. Oh my gosh, the bakery in book two. Oh man, I would be standing at the counter for 20 minutes trying to decide what to get, and Viola would be like, please just make a decision, please. Kay M. Weston: Wonderful. So, let's go back to your writing process a minute. We've already talked a little bit about how you approach a series. So, does that mean you take on that plotter role or are you more of a pantser or something in between? And how has your process evolved from the very first book you wrote to now, six books later? R.K. Ashwick: Yeah. No, I'm definitely a plotter as evidenced by the spreadsheet. In terms of how it's evolved, I feel like I am embracing draft zeros more and treatments more, and basically just trying to write in layers. Rather than trying to like, okay, I've got my spreadsheet, I'm gonna open up a blank word doc, and then just write a full, complete, great chapter immediately, because then I just get stuck, and I move so slowly. So, I've embraced writing, okay, let me first put down what the chapter is in paragraph form, and just make sure I'm thinking about the individual beats, how they transition from one to another. Maybe I'll think up some dialogue as I go, but that's not necessary. Then after that I'll be like, okay, there is something on the page. I know roughly where I need to go. Let me write a draft zero, which is, okay, I'll write an actual sentence, but it'll be a bullet point. So, it doesn't feel legitimate, and I don't worry about formatting. If I write a crappy sentence, I just move on, that's okay. Then I'll be able to get the shape of the chapter and the shape of the story from there, and then if I run into issues, I haven't laboured for six months over perfect prose. I can step back and go, okay, this isn't working. How do I re-outline, how do I adjust my spreadsheet? Then I can go back in and either do a new draft zero, if I have to, which is what I'm doing with certain chapters in Draught for a Dragon right now. Then I'll be like, okay, in two weeks’ time, I will at least have everything bullet pointed on the page. Then I'm gonna take the last three weeks to go back in and actually turn it into a functioning chapter that will give my alpha readers, like, here is the sketch of the story, like this is the shape of the story. Sure, there might be some clunky sentences and probably missing some character description or setting description, but I'm really looking for feedback on, is the shape of the story working? Do you get a sense of the character arcs? And then basically using their notes, I'll refine that further from there, and then send it to my line editor. Kay M. Weston: I'm honestly feeling so inspired right now because I am a pantser by nature, but it's not going well. It never goes well. Everything always goes completely wrong, and I've just listened to you say that and I'm just thinking, oh my gosh, that's genius. R.K. Ashwick: It's all just in the pursuit of breaking it down into smaller, more manageable chunks and making it less intimidating, because I feel like if I am intimidated by what I have to do, I avoid it as much as possible. And that doesn't really help when you're on a deadline and then it just becomes a stress cycle where you're like, oh no, now I only have five days, but I kept procrastinating because I'm intimidated. Yeah, any way that you can give yourself as much of a roadmap as you need, 'cause I know for some pantsers, having too much of a plot makes them feel too locked in. So, some people they're like plantsers, where they're like in the middle, where they give themselves some sort of roadmap while also giving themselves enough leeway. And then, yeah, I would always recommend just breaking it down into individual chunks. Alexandra Rowland was just posting about this on Tumblr about, if you're feeling afraid of it, if you're feeling frustrated, don't turn away from it, be curious about the frustration and think about, okay, why am I frustrated? Why don't I wanna write this? Have I strayed away from my original idea? Am I not interested in it? Did I mess up something two pages ago that really changed the flow of the chapter? Yeah, it's that whole concept of really just leaning into it and figuring out what's going wrong, rather than just running away from it. Kay M. Weston: Yeah, that's great. I feel like I'm in a coaching session right now. I feel like I should be paying you for this because it all applies so much to the situation that I'm in with my current draft, and I'm like, oh my gosh. R.K. Ashwick: I hope helps it. Kay M. Weston: It already is. I'm feeling my brain starting to click in the background. R.K. Ashwick: Oh, good. Kay M. Weston: It's been pretty still for a while, so it's definitely moving. So, thank you for that. So, obviously you're an indie author and there's more to being an indie author than just the writing part, which obviously is a huge part, but then there's also all of the bits that come with indie publishing. So, what do you feel has been the best and worst parts of indie publishing for you, personally? R.K. Ashwick: I'll start with the worst, which I feel like a lot of other authors will echo, and it's definitely the marketing aspect. It is such a different skill from writing, from drawing, from managing, writing milestones, and it's a huge shame that writers, even traditionally published writers, have to be public facing and have to do the marketing themselves. I t's exhausting. You have to keep track of social media algorithms. The algorithms want you to be on every single day. It takes time away from writing and drawing, and honestly, just life in general. It forces you to be on social media even if you don't wanna be there in the first place. There is no reclusive author anymore except for, I guess, Stephen King, who does not need to be on social media. Any new author, they do, and that could even impact how you get a traditional deal, where they're like, are you viral yet? Which really just kinda stinks, 'cause it's not necessarily a reflection on the writing quality. But I would say that the best part has been definitely getting feedback from readers. So, getting notes from them or getting even like fan art. For A Rival Most Vial, somebody was like, oh, I was listening to the audiobook, and I threw these potion bottles. Literally, she was like making these clay potion bottles and sent them to me. So, now I have five potion bottles sitting on my shelf. It was wild. It was like one of the craziest days. So, that has been just absolutely incredible. And I would say that another aspect is, because I'm self-published, I get to have a say in the cover design. I get to have a say in the interior art, in the chapter icons, and for a lot of that I have worked with other artists to do that. So, for example, the Lutesong series, I worked with three separate artists to do different styles of art for book one, book two, and book three. So, there are interior illustrations in all of those, and that's been very cool to be able to like harness their style and get it into the book and work with others. It's just, I don't know, it has been very fun. Kay M. Weston: That's great. I think you've said there what I think the general consensus is about indie publishing, that the best things are the freedom and the reader connection, but the worst thing is the marketing. Especially if you're introverted, which so many authors are, it's so difficult to just put yourself out there and, like you said, constantly put yourself out there, not just one time. You've gotta keep doing it. But yes, hopefully things like the podcast and other avenues will help. R.K. Ashwick: Yes, absolutely. Kay M. Weston: And one thing you said there about the artwork really just reminded me of something that I wanted to mention to you, which was the, I'm not gonna give anything away, but the secret code in A Captured Cauldron. Because I got to the end and I read the note that said, did you see the code? And I went, no. And then spent the next two hours, sat outside in the garden, going back through, trying to figure out what I'd missed, and then eventually figuring it out, and felt so stupid because it took me ages. But when I eventually did, I thought that was the most brilliant thing that I've seen an author do to keep a reader engaged and just, well done, because that was great and it was so much fun to do. But how did you decide to do that? Was that just a spur of the moment thing or did you have that in your mind before you were writing or did that come along with the story idea? R.K. Ashwick: I'm so glad that you picked up on it because I was afraid people were gonna be like, I don't know and just ignore it. But I think as soon as I determined that there was a character writing something in code, and I knew that I was going to represent some of their work in the, and this is more of a pointer for people, as soon as I determined I was going to reflect some of their work in the interior illustrations, which I do myself for the Side Quest Row series, I was like, oh my gosh, I have to take advantage of it. I have to put in a functioning code or puzzle into it, using the context clues from how Ambrose is decoding something. I won't say more than that, but yeah, I think as soon as I came up with that I was like, oh, I gotta do it. I gotta. Kay M. Weston: I'm so glad you did. It was so much fun. Okay. So, for our listeners who are always looking to discover new indie authors and new indie books, can you recommend three indie books that you think our listeners should pick up? R.K. Ashwick: Yes, I've got a lot of recs. I narrowed it down to cosy fantasy romance, specifically. First is Kit & Basie by Tess Carletta, that is an Achillean romance about an immortal in a small town. For another, actually I think all three of these are Achillean. Another one is Phantom and Rook by Noah Hawthorne. That is about an immortal and a witch finding each other again. And then for a more contemporary, cozy fantasy involving a baby Griffin, there is Call Forth the Moonlight by Z.M. Celestaire. Kay M. Weston: Wonderful. I have read Kit & Basie, and admittedly I'm a fan girl for that book, so. R.K. Ashwick: Oh, it's so good. Kay M. Weston: Yeah. But I'll definitely pick up the other two. That's great, thank you. So, what are you working on now that the two trilogies are coming to a close? You mentioned an anthology, are you working on anything else as well? R.K. Ashwick: Yeah. So, I am part of the Right Here, Write Queer podcast discord group, and we are working on an anthology, hopefully coming out in September. We haven't officially announced it yet, but I am trying to wrap up edits on that story. I would say short story, and I guess it's short, but it's 20,000 words right now. So, whoopsies. And then after that, so like after the two trilogies wrap, I actually have an agent now, and so there are two projects that I'm going to start working on to pursue traditional publishing with that agent. But I do want to remain a hybrid author and so I might try to enter some additional anthologies. Like, I know Indie Bites always has these really great themes. And I always look at other anthologies and I'm like, oh, that's so cool, but I don't have time. So, I don't know, maybe I will. I say I'll have time, I don't know if I will, we'll see. But yeah, because A, I have to write these new books and B, the traditional process is so much slower, I don't really have like definitive, yes, this will be out at this time, this'll be out at that time, which is a little weird for me. Because previously, I've been working with such strict deadlines for myself to make sure that I'm actually getting these books out. So yeah, it's a little nebulous. Kay M. Weston: How does it feel to have to loosen your own sort of reins a little bit over your work with the traditional side of things? R.K. Ashwick: I am hoping that at the very least I can use it to write a little slower, because I have been writing. Putting out two books a year is, I guess I like the pace in terms of, oh, maybe people won't forget who I am. But it's difficult and I don't know if I can keep doing that, and I feel like if these were to get picked up traditional, I would not be putting out two books a year. That's not really how that works. So yeah, I'm hoping that maybe I can balance myself a little bit better because I do also, I do have other hobbies that I really like. I do. I enjoy drawing, and so I do the illustrations for Side Quest Row, and then I'm working on a video game, which I know we're gonna talk about a little bit later. Just, I think trying to achieve a balance would be nice, and I have a full-time job. Kay M. Weston: Oh my gosh. You've got irons in every single fire. R.K. Ashwick: Yeah. Yeah. So, I guess there is always a risk in terms of giving up some of the control for traditional publishing. But hopefully, I can achieve a better balance maybe, and if these books don't get picked up, I can still pursue self-publishing for them to make sure they still see the light of day. And I'm just hoping that the precedent that I've set in terms of how I style my self-published books, my hope is that if people pick up the next books for traditional, I can be like, hey, this is my brand, this is my style, I would like to continue doing this. So, I'm not really straying far from my original vision, if that makes sense. Kay M. Weston: Yeah, definitely. And just to go back to the anthology, I love that you guys from the Right Here, Write Queer podcast are doing that because I love your podcast. So, I'm really excited to read the anthology. I didn't know that was coming, so that's really exciting. R.K. Ashwick: Oh, yay. Yeah, we've been pretty quiet about it because we're all still in various stages of writing the stories, but I think we'll be talking about it pretty soon. Kay M. Weston: Wonderful. Just jumping back then, you mentioned that you're a big video game fan and that you're working on a video game. I did read that in your, I don't know if it was another interview with you, that you would love for your books to extend into video game territory someday. I have this dream as well. So, yeah, what does that look like? Please give me some details. R.K. Ashwick: Yeah. So, yes, you're absolutely right in that in every opportunity I've had, I have talked about how much I love cozy gaming. Like Stardew Valley, like Harvest Moon, even like Sticky Business. I don't know if you've ever played that, but yeah, I just I love those. Fields of Mistria is my current obsession. Anyway, so I decided, I just had felt that bug for a while. It was like, oh, I really just like, I wanna make a video game that somehow links back to A Rival Most Vial. So, I am currently working on a potion shop decorating game. Kay M. Weston: Oh my gosh, I'm so happy. R.K. Ashwick: I'm planning on having it hosted on my website. So, it's very simple. I really can't emphasize enough how simple it is because I only have taken one semester of computer science, and that was like {inaudible} years ago. So, I basically don't know how to code, and I just started this in January. So, really, I want people to lower their expectations. There's no limits, there's no objectives. It's literally just like a dress up game but for a potion shop. Kay M. Weston: I love that you're telling people to lower their expectations, but just in our conversation so far, not only do you write books, but you also draw, and now you are designing your own game, not that you've got someone else to do it, you are doing it yourself. R.K. Ashwick: It's fun. It's fun and it's frustrating because I am a beginner and so I keep messing up stuff and not knowing how to debug and having to refactor everything when I'm like, oh, I built that totally wrong, so it doesn't scale, wonderful. But I am slowly making progress. I've done a few functionality play tests and so now I am trying to add more assets to the game, and I'll just keep doing play tests to make sure that I didn't totally break the game. I don't have a release date set for it. It would be really cool if I could line it up with the release of A Draught for a Dragon in October. But I also don't want to set that expectation, because I am totally new to this. So, we'll see, we'll see how it goes. Kay M. Weston: Whenever it is released, I will be there. R.K. Ashwick: Okay, great. Kay M. Weston: Okay, fantastic. Just as a final question, where can our listeners find out more about you and your books, and stay updated on everything that you have coming up? R.K. Ashwick: Yes. So yeah, speaking of marketing, you can find me on Instagram and TikTok @rkashwickbooks. I am far more active on Instagram because, frankly, I'm not very good at making all those videos. I also have a newsletter. You can sign up for that on my website at rkashwick.com. Newsletter folks will get all the kind of ARC and pre-order and release announcements first. Then I'll also, I usually send one every month. Sometimes they'll have artwork, sometimes they'll have recipes. I try to make it fun and not constantly, like shilling stuff to the newsletter folks. So, yeah, those are all the different ways that you can keep track of what I'm up to. Kay M. Weston: Wonderful, and I'll put all of the links in the show notes when the podcast comes out so everybody will be able to find those really easily. This was such a great conversation, thank you so much. I'm really excited to see what you've got coming up next. I'm so excited to finish the Side Quest Row series and to dive into your Lutesong series. Yes, lots for me to read there, and lots for you to carry on with, you're going to be very busy. R.K. Ashwick: Yeah, I am busy. Oh boy. But no, thank you so much, this was a lot of fun. Kay M. Weston: Yeah, it was. Thank you so much. Have a great rest of the weekend. Bye. R.K. Ashwick: Bye. Kay M. Weston: That's all for this episode of Turn the Page: The Indie Book Podcast. Thanks so much for tuning in. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider rating and reviewing the show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or wherever you're listening. It really helps others discover the show and our indie author guests. If you'd like to support the podcast, you can buy me a coffee, well, actually a tea, over at ko-fi.com/turnthepage. The link, along with all the others mentioned in this episode, is in the show notes. I'll be back on June 27th with more indie book updates. Until then, happy reading and keep turning the page.
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