– Thanks for joining us here at YALC. We would love you to introduce yourself
Thank you for having me! I’m Cassidy Ellis Salter, the author of These Shattered Spires, which is the first book in my gothic fantasy trilogy, Wyrdos. I live in London with my partner, and when I’m not writing you’ll fine me neck-deep in whatever my fixation of the year is (roller skating, making tiny houses, woodblock printing, mudlarking…)
– can you give our readers an overview of your YA novel These Shattered Spires?
These Shattered Spires follows four human familiars who are forced to provide the power for a magic that stops the daily apocalypse. They are trapped in Fourspires castle, which exists under an inescapable dome of teeth and bones called the Desecrae. One day the king is murdered, triggering a bloody countdown to a slaughter that will kill them all, unless they can commit high treason and reach the throne before their masters do. It’s full of rival magics, love and hatred, obsession, undead nuns, reanimated skeletons, and messed up romance with a big twist at the end.
– And, if you could do it in just 5 words or less, what would they be?
Gothic decadence, messy queers, backstabbing.
– What first sparked the idea for These Shattered Spires?
I was at a strange time in my life – I felt a bit aimless, and unsure of myself as a newly out queer person – so I thought, I’ll just go all-out and pour my anger and uncertainty and weirdness into the most unhinged story I can think of. It was stewing for years, but finally I decided to play with all the things I love, like lavish gothic settings and conflicting characters and mad worldbuilding, and get it on paper, and suddenly I was like, oh, there’s a story in here. And then I got hooked.
– Who was your favourite character to write and why?
Taro – who opens the book – has always been a joy to write because she’s snarky and silly and utterly obsessive, but underneath all of that, she’s deeply guilty and full of panic. Her internal monologue makes me cackle.
– Is there a character that you relate to?
I think all four protagonists contain a part of me, but I relate most to Alix/Alis, the nonbinary library assistant who takes shelter in books and hides a deep wellspring of rage that emerges in the form of unhinged curses. Part of the writing of this book came from me saying ‘screw it, I’m making this as queer as I am’, and Alix’s journey feels similar to mine. It was also a joy to have their chest binding visible in the book and the character art.
– Did you know the journey the characters would go on from the start of the book, or did it develop while you were writing?
I thought I knew, but as I was writing and editing, each character got more and more morally grey and started doing worse things. There’s always been a core of lovability to them – they can’t help being raised in a fight-or-die world, and they’re just trying to survive – but it became clear that having them screw each other over was so much more fun than being cooperative. I definitely knew where I wanted them to end emotionally, though. In a way, they all get exactly what they want, but it manifests in the worst form possible, and they’ll spend the rest of the trilogy fighting to correct it.
– How did you create the world of These Shattered Spires?
I’ve always loved writing stories set in contained spaces, where you force a bunch of strong personalities together and discover how they explode under the pressure of being trapped. That’s how Fourspires came to life – a huge gothic castle inspired by one of my favourite fantasy buildings, the castle in Gormenghast, but made even worse because you can’t even see the sky through the dome of teeth and bones. As for the magic system, I wanted it to be deeply connected to the world. The four types of magic – bone, stone, botanic, and blood – are also the four tenets of the daily apocalypse, which melts the castle and makes the stone melt and weep blood. Then every time I sat down to write, I thought, how could I make life worse for my characters? The answer was undead nuns, having a clock carved into your back, finding a ghost in your mirror, not being allowed to speak…
– Is there a particular scene that felt rewarding to write?
There are two I loved: the scene where Nixie finally explodes (with disastrous consequences) and the duelling scene, which you’ll recognise the minute you read it. There’s something really cathartic about letting a character express this pent-up emotion, but it’s also fun to have two of them bash each other over the head with chairs just because they’re angry. That scene was incredibly silly and so joyful.
– Did you have to do much research before you started the writing process for the book?
My research was mostly character based – for example, I ended up in a rabbit hole reading about a disease called fatal insomnia (a real, horrifying thing) for Elliot. In terms of the world, absolutely not. One of the things I love about high fantasy is that I can go completely off the rails and ignore real-world rules. (Although I did end up with a troubling Google search history, like ‘do pigs have lips?’ and ‘how long for blood to dry?’)
– How did you come up with the title? Was it a hard process?
It was the hardest thing in the world! Titles are my Achilles’ heel. It involved lots of mood boarding, brainstorming, coffee, and some discussion with my agent. Originally it was called ‘Wyrdos’, but everyone pronounced it differently and I kept having to clarifying myself, so now that’s the name of the trilogy.
– Where do you write?
It has to be a desk, and I need two screens. (I always have the manuscript on one and notes/an overly complex spreadsheet on the other.) I’ve tried writing in cafes or on trains, but it’s really off-putting when people can see you trying to describe gloopy reanimated skeletons.
– What is your favourite genre to read?
Unsurprisingly it’s fantasy, but I’m also reading a lot of horror and short story collections at the moment. Every now and then I’ll go totally in the other direction and read investigative non-fiction because it resets my brain.
– Where can our readers find you on social media?
I’m on TikTok as @cesalter and Instagram as @cassidyellissalter.
– Finally can you give us your favourite quote from a novel (it can be yours!)?
I’ll be cheeky and go with These Shattered Spires, because I know it best!
Nixie wanted to live. Everything did; it was why weeds grew in cracks and mushrooms grew in puddles. And like a weed growing through a crack, she was indiscriminate about what she destroyed in order to survive.
And my bonus favourite Alix curse:
I implore the library to fall on your head and crush your spine like an accordion.