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.

Welcome back to the Hive again, Stacey!

Chasm is due for release in September and is the sequel to your frosty spicy debut Ledge. What can readers expect to find when they return to Terrsaw?

Ledge was very much the bare bones of an expansive world. Chasm picks up where Ledge left off, and readers are about to live through Dawsyn’s grief and bloodlust as she navigates territory she knows very little about. Chasm answers a lot of questions, and covers some extensive backstory for our main stakeholders. Dawsyn’s underlying objective hasn’t changed – she is still determined to liberate those trapped on the Ledge, but she’ll need to accept the help of an entire band of allies to do it. 

Last time you were here, you described the plot of Ledge in Aussie slang:

“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.”

Could you treat us to the same for Chasm please?

My pleasure.

Well, old mate fucked up and now his missus is spitting chips inside the clanger. When she finally does the Harold Holt, she teams up with another bird who knows magic and they go for a wander up the big hill to bail out the other hillfolk over the Chasm. It is fuck-off cold up there. 

 
You left your readers on an epic cliffhanger at the end of Ledge – have you felt even a smidge of remorse??

Not even a little bit, no. Their anger only fuels me. 

In all honesty, the reactions are almost gratifying, even the angry-hurt-i-hate-you reactions, because it tells me they were invested. If I’ve managed to suck them into the story then I’ll sleep like a baby and apologise to no one.

We learn a lot more about Terrsaw’s history in Chasm, how much did you enjoy delving deeper into your world?

I was so excited to sink my teeth into it. There was so much that couldn’t truly be unravelled in Ledge without it becoming a huge info-dump, I tried to keep the world-building clean and simple in book one. Expanding it in book two was so satisfying. I loved adding the mythology and more tidbits of Dawsyn’s life on the Ledge. 

One thing that really struck me this time round was how much more emotionally charged Chasm was compared to (the already fairly tense in its own right) Ledge. Did this take a toll on you when writing? 

Absolutely, but in a great way. I’ve been accused of waxing poetic and it’s true – I love writing lyrically. Those emotionally-charged scenes are my favourite to write. There was so much tension between so many different characters this time round, and it (hopefully) speaks to Dawsyn’s character arc. In book one, she’s pragmatic and cynical and defensive…and incredibly emotionally stunted. Her life on the Ledge made her into someone who could be callous, and so her emotional reactions in book one were often displayed in either silence or fits of rage, rather than heartfelt dialogue. In Chasm, Dawsyn is forced to work and lead a group of allies, including some she’d rather not. She is a reluctant leader trying to navigate grief and love and hatred, and it forces her to adapt her behaviour.  

There are strong themes throughout Chasm of knowing your limits and vulnerabilities. What message do you hope readers take away from this?

If there’s one thing I love about Dawsyn, it’s that the girl is a realist. Even her reckless ideas are met with the sure knowledge that what she’s doing is stupid, but worthwhile. She knows her limits, and pushes the threshold anyway, usually out of necessity. The juxtaposition between Baltisse and Dawsyn is intriguing to me, because while Baltisse essentially guides Dawsyn and warns her against the burn out, she heeds none of her own advice. 

Is that not what we so often do to ourselves in our own lives? We tell people to look after themselves, to cut themselves a break, and never, ever practise what we preach? I guess I want readers (and myself) to start taking our own advice. 

In our last interview, you confessed how much you hate the snow and ice. With that in mind, if you were transported to the Ledge, how do you think you would fare?

Woefully. Firstly – cutting wood? No, thank you. Do you know how hard that is? And scrapping for food? My bleeding heart could never. At thirty-three years old I still can’t send door salesmen away for fear of being rude. Do you really think I can break jaws and snap necks for some turnips? 

I’d give myself about two hours. That’s if I don’t slip into the Chasm by accident. 

Just for fun, how would you pitch your book as a 1-star review?

Girl is cold and complains a lot. The worst lumberjack romance I’ve ever read. Save yourself the time and just watch Frozen again. 

Who are the most significant women in SFF who have shaped and influenced your work? 

Early on, it was dystopian authors like Suzanne Collins and Veronica Roth. It was a slippery slope into authors of high fantasy like Leigh Bardugo and Danielle Jensen after that. I just consume stories that intertwine fantasy and romance. These women created stories with high stakes plot and managed to balance it with characters that just WOULD NOT HURRY UP AND KISS ALREADY…until they did, and man the build up was so painfully good.  

Who is a great woman in SFF who we should be reading? Any hidden gems?

I wouldn’t call her hidden, but I think Jo Riccioni is such a stellar story-teller. Her most recent novel is called The Branded. It’s a dystopian fantasy world wherein fertility is treated like a commodity, and most of the human race has been plagued by a hereditary disease that the leaders are intent on breeding out. There’s magic, class systems, racial tension and it’s so fantastically told.  

Finally, can you give us any teasers for what to expect from Book 3 of the Glacian Trilogy?

I’ll leave you with this quote:

“If Dawsyn believed the slopes above were a test of great endurance, they now appear child’s play in the wake of the Chasm’s path.” 

Thank you so much for joining us for Women in SFF!

Chasm is due for release from Angry Robot Books on 12th September.

You can pre-order your copy from Bookshop.org