The Nerd Daily contributor Mimi had the pleasure of sitting down with Anna Kirchner, debut author of the upcoming Little Black Bird, a magical tale of friendship, secrets and the unexpected! We got to ask Anna all about her experience as a debut author, her current obsessions and future projects!
Hi, Anna! Thanks so much for joining us! Do you mind telling our readers a bit about yourself?
I’m a very typical Aries, a bookworm, and a queer advocate. I always have at least ten ongoing projects that I abandon after five minutes, so I still can’t believe that I actually finished a book. I grew up in Poland (Little Black Bird takes place in my hometown) but I emigrated after high school and lived in a number of countries since. I currently call Sweden my home. I spend most of my time reading and the rest on Bookstagram as @rattletheshelves.
Since this is The Nerd Daily, do you have any recent nerdy obsessions you’d like to share?
For someone who spends more time in fictional worlds than the real one, I’m actually not much of a fangirl. But some of the books that I recently fell in love with and recommend to everyone are Run, Rebel by Manjeet Mann, and Beyond the Black Door by A. K. Strickland.
Coming to Little Black Bird! If you had to sum up the book in five words or less, what would they be?
Magic, demons, family, queer, Slavic.
Now tell us a bit more about Little Black Bird! What can readers expect if they pick up a copy?
Little Black Bird is a YA urban fantasy inspired by Slavic demonology. It follows seventeen-year-old Wiktoria, a telekinetic whose powers cause her physical pain. One day, she is hunted down by the local sorcerers and their Guardian, who unravel a whole new magical world to her. But soon a murder shakes up the magical community and everyone blames Wiktoria. She has to embrace her powers and find the truth about her family, curses, and demons that grow more powerful each day. In this whole mess, her only ally is Artur, a boy who can read her mind and shares her dreams. He would have been a perfect paranormal romance heartthrob, if only they both didn’t question their bond and sexuality. Together, they must make difficult decisions that will change the magical world forever – and they must make them fast, before Wiktoria’s powers kill her or our world is flooded with demons.
Where did the inspiration for your story come from?
It’s hard to say because I’ve been writing it for a long time and the early ideas are very far from what the story ended up being about. It’s probably partially a product of my teenage obsession with paranormal romance and urban fantasy but queered by my later questioning years. A lot of it stems from my love for my hometown and the need to finally have a book that’s set there, as well as my fascination with all things Slavic. Also, I’m a complete pantster when it comes to writing, so I just start and see where the characters and the story take me.
As a debut author, what was the scariest thing about the publishing/querying process?
The most difficult thing was my location. It’s really hard to publish a book from outside of the Anglo-American bubble, especially if it’s a book in English. When you read the advice for the querying process – attend the conferences! use the connections! – they mean nothing if you live an ocean away. Even with the internet, once people see your surname, they don’t look past it (which is one of the reasons why I’m publishing Little Black Bird under a pseudonym). But right now, the scariest thing is realizing that I’ve laid my soul bare for everyone to judge.
Without giving too much away, what was your favorite and least favorite scene to write? Was there anything in particular you loved researching or were struggling with during the writing process?
My favourite is definitely the scene where Wiktoria pours out all her frustrations about not knowing if she’s straight or not, allo or not, just completely unable to sort out her feelings. As someone who questioned for a long time, it felt cathartic to write it and I hope it will resonate with those of my readers who’ve also been there. There were lots of scenes that I didn’t enjoy writing but they didn’t make it into the final cut – I come from an assumption that if it’s a pain to write for me, a person who’s the most invested in the world, it will be even more painful for someone to read. There was a lot of research behind this book and I was done with the first draft when the boom for all things Slavic started on the Polish Bookstagram. Suddenly, the knowledge that I’ve spent countless hours trying to find became available just like that and, alongside it, many more legends and traditions. It was actually great timing because it allowed me to enrich the already existing manuscript with more Slavicness – and it promises great potential for the sequel!
Your characters are fans of a lot of popular culture – The Raven Boys being one fun reference in the book – what would be Wiktoria’s favorite song, Netflix show and book?
Oh, I love this question! Wiktoria feels strongly about Polish rock music, because she has lots of good memories attached to it and her favourite band is Coma. As about one song in particular, I’ll go with one that I listened to countless times while writing LBB: Los, Cebula i Krokodyle Łzy. Her favourite Netflix show changes all the time, but she rewatches Gilmore Girls basically every year. As about the book, she loves The Witcher saga by Andrzej Sapkowski and probably teared up (when no one could see) when, following the Netflix adaptation, Sapkowski became the number one best-selling author on Amazon (over thirty years after the original publication of the first book).
Speaking of popular culture – if you had to sort your characters, maybe Wiktoria, Artur and Rafi, into Hogwarts houses, who would land where?
Wiktoria and Artur actually have canon houses! Wiktoria feels strongly that she’s a Slytherin, though I suspect that she might be cheating on the tests sometimes to get the result she wants (which, to be fair, is very Slytherin). Artur is the most typical and very proud Hufflepuff – a complete cinnamon roll but he also has claws. Rafi (Wiktoria’s cousin and one of closest friends) doesn’t have a canon house but he’s definitely a Gryffindor – he’s brave, very charismatic, not afraid to be himself, and would do anything for his friends.
With Little Black Bird releasing soon, are you already working on the sequel or on another project? If so, can you share a tidbit about it?
Yes, I’m halfway done with the sequel and I really enjoy writing it. It is everything that Little Black Bird is but a hundred times more: more magic, more Slavicness, more action, and, for Wiktoria and Artur, way more effort to figure out how they feel about each other and how they want to move on from there. The cast will also be joined by two characters that I love with my whole heart and I can’t wait for everyone to meet.
Last but not least, do you have any bookish recommendations for our readers?
I’m made of bookish recommendations! If you like YA contemporary, I recommend all books by Alice Oseman, Akemi Dawn Bowman, and Ashley Herring Blake. If you like books with magic, read Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, and The White Cat by Holly Black. If you’re looking for more books with asexual representation (sadly, I can’t think of books with questioning rep), you should definitely pick up Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann and Beyond the Black Door by A.K. Strickland.
