We chat with author Alicia Jasinska about This Fatal Kiss, which is a delectable quest through the spirit world, cosily crafted with a hauntingly opulent atmosphere and a slow burn, enemies-to-lovers story told in multiple perspectives.
Hi, Alicia! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hi everyone! I’m a fantasy writer and library tech based in Australia. I like to write dark and whimsical stories about queer characters falling in love and making terrible life decisions.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I’ve been writing stories for as long as I can remember. I still have the first “book” that I ever wrote, which is basically just pages of scribbles and stick figure drawings that I stapled together when I was five or six years old. Seeing my books on shelves now is an absolute dream come true!
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: Where’s Spot? by Eric Hill.
- The one that made you want to become an author: Alanna, the first adventure by Tamora Pierce
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.
Your latest novel, This Fatal Kiss, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
A cozy queer polyamorous romantasy.
What can readers expect?
I like to pitch this book as The Little Mermaid meets Ghibli’s Spirited Away.
It’s a story about a miscievious rusałka (a water nymph) who blackmails the brooding exorcist who’s been trying to exorcise her, to instead help her to get a kiss from a mortal so that she can regain her humanity. Only our brooding exorcist also falls for the mysterious young man that he agrees to set her up with.
It has an enemies-to-lovers, grumpy x sunshine romance, and the action takes place in a spa town full of magical bathhouses that’s inhabited by all the devious spirits and demons from Slavic folklore.
Where did the inspiration for This Fatal Kiss come from?
Two main things inspired this story. First, the gorgeous old-world spa towns you find in Central and Eastern Europe. And second, the Polish folktales I read as a child about rusałki.
In Slavic folklore, a rusałka is a female water spirit or nymph. Stories vary, but most describe these creatures as the restless spirits of young girls who died violent or tragic deaths in or by a lake, river, or body of water.
Sometimes malicious and sometimes playful, their hobbies include combing their long hair with enchanted combs, dancing in the moonlight, and dragging unsuspecting young men down to watery graves. Although often they’ll simply tickle people to death. 🙂
They are my favorite monsters from Slavic folklore and I’ve been dying to write a book about one!
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I won’t spoil anything, but one of my favorite moments takes place during the dance scene on Saint John’s Eve. I’m a terrible dancer myself, but for some reason I really like writing dance scenes. There’s one in all my books.
I also really enjoyed exploring the relationship between the three main characters. It was so fun writing a love triangle where all three characters are chaotically and messily in love with each other – as opposed to a typical love triangle where two characters are in love with the same person. It was a whole new dynamic and was really fun to delve into.
What a stunning cover! Did you have a vision in mind whilst writing? What did you think when you saw the final cover?
Thank you so much! All credit goes to Andie Lugtu (artist) and Lily Steele (design).
I was hoping for something dreamy with a folklorish vibe and the fabulous team at Peachtree Teen made it happen. They asked for my input right from the beginning which is not something a lot of publishers do! So I’m very grateful for that. I made a whole powerpoint document with reference images for them haha.
And yes, I screamed when I saw the first sketches and the final cover.
What’s next for you?
Right now, I’m working on a possible sequel to This Fatal Kiss because I’d love to write more about these characters! And I also have an adult sapphic romantasy in the works that I hope will be published one day.
Lastly, what books have you enjoyed so far this year and are there any that you can’t wait to get your hands on?
There’s too many to list! But two of my favorite reads this year have been, A.B. Poranek’s Where the Dark Stands Still and Sophie Kim’s The God and the Gumiho. And I can’t wait to get my hands on Alexis Henderson’s An Academy for Liars and Allison Saft’s A Dark and Drowning Tide!
