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

Zilla: I’m always here for some fantasy—and romantasy!—so we got Karen Eisenbrey in to talk to us about her works. Karen, can you tell us about your writing?

Karen: I write fantasy, sci-fi, and superhero novels. My current project is Tales from Deep River, which comprises a cozy fantasy adventure trilogy and two cozy romantasy interludes for a total of five books. The trilogy can be read with or without the interludes; the interludes can also be read on their own or in series order.

Zilla: What inspired you to write this book?

Karen: A Quest for Hidden Things (Tales from Deep River Book 1) was inspired by a brief dream featuring two wizards and at least three plot twists in a scene that seemed to occur late in a story. In working out what happened before and after, I accidentally built a world and populated it with characters I wanted to know better. It took me 25 years to get that first book right, which allowed plenty of time to write sequels and spinoffs.

Zilla: Unfortunately for authors, we know that writing is only half the battle—then we need to edit. What’s your secret to editing?

Karen: I don’t know if this is a secret, but you have to accept that writing the book and editing the book are two different jobs. It helps me to set the work aside for long enough that I can come at editing as if the writer was someone else. It doesn’t pay to be too precious about a beautiful passage that doesn’t fit the tone of the book or the experience of the point-of-view character. (But it’s okay to save the beautiful passage in another document, in case it can be used later.)

Zilla: Who did you imagine reading your book as you wrote it? 

Karen: Although I wasn’t actively writing it as young adult (YA), I imagined writing this series for a bookish 14-year-old girl like I was. In reality, even for my overt YA titles, most of my readers have been adults. That’s okay; there’s no upper age limit on young adult.

Zilla: What’s your next writing project?

Karen: After I wrap up the fifth book in the Tales from Deep River, I plan to work on book 3 of my St. Rage garage rock/superhero series. It is currently a thin, messy draft that I look forward to sorting out and plumping up. After that, I have plans for another fantasy trilogy, this one using teen comedy tropes in a high fantasy setting. We’ll be doing Accidental Roadtrip, Fake Dating, and Save the Rec Center.

Zilla: 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?

Karen: Website: https://kareneisenbreywriter.com/my-books/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7577611.Karen_Eisenbrey

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KarenEisenbreyWriter

X/Twitter: @kareneisenbrey

Bluesky: kareneisenbrey.bsky.social