Interview with Stacey McEwan (LEDGE)
Stacey McEwan is the author of Ledge, the heart-stopping beginning to the Glacian Trilogy. Stacey is a school teacher by day and fantasy writer by night. She is a book influencer on multiple platforms and began writing Ledge after book lovers of the internet begged her to share her story ideas. Stacey lives on the Gold Coast, Australia with her husband, two children and one questionable dog. When Stacey isn’t writing, teaching, or making ridiculous tiktoks, you’ll find her playing with her children, reading, annoying her husband, or possibly all three at once.
Find her on TikTok @stacebookspace
Welcome back to the Hive, Stacey!
Congratulations on the release of your debut novel, LEDGE. How does it feel to have your book baby out in the wilds?
Have you ever had that dream where you’re among a lot of people you really admire, and then you look down and you realise you’re naked? Kind of like that.
Tell us about Ledge, what can readers expect?
Ledge is a fantasy romance that follows an axe-wielding heroine and her escape from a mountain prison called the Ledge. It’s a tale of survival, and the lengths humans will go to, to stay alive.
Something fun we love to ask our Australian authors – could you possibly describe the plot using only Aussie slang??
Haha! This is the best question I’ve ever been asked.
Achievement Unlocked
Old-love is stuck on this big icy bugger, but when she’s snatched up by a bloke with wings and taken over the other side, she meets a bunch of wankers and finds herself in a bit of a barney. Old-mate from down the road wants to take a crack and they tee up a plan. Together they bushwack it down the hill.
Fantastic! Thanks Stacey!
First and foremost what struck me most about your book was the worldbuilding. What was the spark that inspired such a cold and inhospitable world? It was more than a set-up for the (much appreciated) “huddle to keep warm” trope, right?
I love survivalist stories, so the idea of building a hostile world was intriguing to me. I loathe the cold. I am a lizard. I only want to lie in the sun. The thought of being trapped on snowy terrain sounds awful. Awful enough to write a book about, I thought. I needed to construct obstacles to trap the main character, Dawsyn, there. So, then came the idea of a mountain shelf, an unclimbable mountain face in one direction and a chasm on the other side (ta, da).
Speaking of cold and inhospitable, your protagonist Dawsyn epitomises the whole “product of your environment” school of thought, whilst also having a fiery hot temper! What came first for you, her character or her world?
The world came first. I’m a firm believer that we are all nurtured by our environment, so Dawsyn was made from predictions. I asked myself what an environment like the Ledge would ask of a person to stay alive. Stamina? Violence? Ferocity? Detachment? And if so, then what would that do to a person, to live in such hostility from birth? We now know so much about the way trauma impedes and shapes development. I had to assume my main character would be radically flawed.
“Not a desirable trait, is it? For a woman to be arrogant? On a man, it charms, but in women, it corners us. A self-assured woman is either a harlot or embittered.”
How freeing was it to write a female character in the absence of a patriarchy? Did you find yourself falling into any institutionalised pitfalls?
Oh, absolutely! It was concerning how often it happened. I intentionally put many women in positions of power in this book, and I found myself defaulting to make them either outrageously egotistical, or intrinsically angry, as though the only two types of female leaders must either have an inflated sense of self-importance or a chip on their shoulder. I know that to be a stereotypical media representation of women in power. Instead, I made sure that the women in my book were (mostly) leaders through merit.
You really emphasise how lonely her world is by maintaining a very small cast of characters. Tell us more about your second protagonist, Ryon.
Readers of Ledge have only really had a small dose of Ryon’s back story. Ryon is – in every way – caught in the middle. Unlike Dawsyn, he grew up with many, yet was still lonely. His father was pure-blooded, his mother a human, and this ancestry makes him part of both and neither community. He is considered a ‘mixed’ blood Glacian, but is still degrees removed from the others in the Colony. I see him being something of an urchin in his youth. Ryon is in the unique position to be able to straddle the line between classes in Glacia. It is left to him to liberate the mixed-blooded Glacians.
The spicy enemies-to-lovers romance is obviously a key plot line, but with the way the world is at the moment, can I just say how much I appreciated the socio-political elements also. Do you foresee a resurgence in this kind of ‘overthrow the tyrant’ fantasy?
My fingers are crossed, because I’d read that story a thousand times over and never grow tired of it.
One of our favourite questions here on the Fantasy Hive: which fantastical creature would you ride into battle and why?
The answer is – and will forever be – a dragon. I can’t even pretend it’s because of its battle advantages. I have no illusions that I would survive a fantasy war. I just want to look cool.
Quite frankly surprised you didn’t say “Ryon” but thank you for keeping it clean!
We know you have a pretty strong presence on Tik Tok, so let’s play a game from the platform. Grab your nearest book, turn to page 30, and tell us what the first couple of words tell us about your love life! (Do let us know what the book is, too!)
“The smell of the liquified combination had her wrinkling her nose and looking at the young man in question.” – The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni.
I am concerned.
Ledge finishes on quite the cliffhanger (I mean, I guess it was inevitable… ledge… cliffhanger…), can you give us any sneak peaks as to what to expect from the sequel?
I can reveal that Book Two will be titled Chasm, to be released in September 2023.
[September?! *Starts composing a strongly worded email to Caroline]
I can’t wait for everyone to get their hands on it. It dives deep into Dawsyn’s life on the Ledge and her family. The myths and legends of the mountain and Terrsaw, and how everything came to be. Some expected (and unexpected) side characters become important stakeholders in the next installment, and I loved writing their back stories and their growing ties to Dawsyn.
Are you planning anything fun to celebrate your new release? Do you have any upcoming virtual events our readers may be interested in?
I’ll be at school teaching! Working the day job, but I have a lot of supportive people in my life ready to drink champagne with me on the weekend. We also have a zoom launch party for anyone who has pre-ordered Ledge! All they need to do is sign up here: www.stacebookspace.com And on Thursday 15th 11pm UK / Friday 16th 8am AEST time, I’m in conversation with Tate James, author of Hate, over on the Angry Robot YouTube and Facebook pages but you can watch it back and here’s a handy link I prepared earlier.
Finally, what is the one thing you hope readers take away from your writing?
Enjoyment, mostly. But if we’re getting deep, I want them to see that we don’t need to stay confined to the mould we were born to. We aren’t condemned to the limits of our surroundings. We can beat it. We can grow out of it.
But mostly, I just want this book to be a place for readers to escape for a little while, before the calls of adult responsibility call us back to reality.
You most certainly nailed that for this reader.
Thank you so much for joining us today!
LEDGE is out now from Angry Robot – get your copy HERE