Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.

Sabitha: If there’s one thing we love here at Night Beats, it’s a shared universe. The Metacosm Chronicles caught our fancy as soon as we heard about then! N.A. Soleil, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your stories?

N.: Hi! We’re N.A. Soleil, pronouns ‘they’ (because we’re two people, though one of us is nonbinary and does use ‘they’ pronouns). I’m N. and my partner is A.

We have spent over a decade and a half creating an in-depth science fantasy universe from its foundation upward. We write novels from that universe, which we’ve dubbed the Metacosm Chronicles, and we just released our debut chronicle, Everdark. The short blurb: a psionic teenager becomes entangled in an interplanetary war … while also battling her own mind.

Sabitha: What inspired you to write this book?

N.: A. and I both had … troubled childhoods. A. was abused, and I had undiagnosed AuDHD and was chronically ill. We had both separately created universes in our heads to escape. When we met and started dating in our 20s, we found that our universes were creepily similar. (A 100% true fact: we both had a space military called the Rangers headed by an eccentric female Commander. Hi, Chani.) Over the next fifteen years, we merged our universes and started creating an overarching storyline for them. Everdark is the first step of many, and pulls a lot from our experiences of being mentally ill/autistic: being tethered to a reality that everyone else understands and we don’t, what ‘identity’ is when nothing is real, the actual toll that having to constantly fight your own mind takes, and how people bond while in hell.

Sabitha: Do you have a “fan-cast” – do you have actors you’d cast as your main characters?

N.: Not a full cast, but Jackson Wang would make a perfect Tyyrulriathula (snarky but soulful elven Bladesinger), Gwendoline Christie would make a great Chani (the aforementioned Commander—buff mommy, mostly cybernetics, knows far more than she lets on), and only Tilda Swinton could ever be Ichiryu (a tyrannical Elysian with too many minds and not enough mental real estate.)

Ty from Metacosm

Sabitha: How much research did you need to do for your book?

N.: All the research! A. has ADHD and has always hyperfocused on intellectual pursuits, so the Metacosm was very much built on real and emerging science, theology, anthropology, metaphysics and quantum theory, and good ol’ ‘what if.’

Sabitha:  What’s your next writing project?

N.: We have two other books fully written and ready to be polished up for publishing, and a fourth half-written. All a part of the overarching storyline, scheduled to be released one per year in March. ‘Codename: Book 2’ will be released March 2024. While not a sequel to Everdark, it’s the next step. We are also planning a novella as a sort of prequel to Everdark, into which a Night Beats cameo would fit rather well

Sabitha: We love Night Beats cameos—please tell us if it happens because it will be an absolute joy. Thanks for sharing your story and your process. We’re looking forward to reading! Where can the Night Beats community find you and your book?

N.: You can find us on any of your friendly neighborhood social media as MetacosmChronicles (except for … *sigh* … X … which is MetacosmSeries) or at our website. Everdark and a snazzy bookmark are available from our shop! We’re currently most active on Facebook.

Redd from Metacosm