We chat with author Roshani Chokshi about The Spirit Glass, which is a standalone quest adventure based on Filipino mythology!
Hi, Roshani! Welcome back! How has the past couple of years been since we last spoke?
Thank you for having me again! The past couple years have been a blur of chaos and joy. Most notably, I am now extremely sleep deprived thanks to the arrival of a little kraken.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
The moment I could write, I wanted to make things up. The idea that you could live outside yourself or take what you saw around you and refashion it into something else was intoxicating.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine was on my summer reading list as a kid and I was obsessed. I couldn’t believe that this is what someone could do with a fairytale. It felt like being granted admission to a new realm entirely. It made me want to play with those ancient stories too. A book I can’t stop thinking about is A Natural History of The Senses by Diane Ackerman. It’s a beautiful work of non-fiction with sensuous, lyrical insights.
Your latest novel, The Spirit Glass, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Spookier than you might imagine.
What can readers expect?
Oof. Always a difficult thing to answer, but I can share what I hope readers take away from the novel. I hope they find that it has just as much heart and humor as the ARU SHAH series. I hope they recognize that it is more solemn, more spooky and perhaps more sad than the children’s books I’ve written in the past. I hope they find themselves pleasantly haunted.
Where did the inspiration for The Spirit Glass come from?
From my bedtime stories, many of which were rather harrowing and involved legless monsters and the dangers of sleeping with one’s window cracked open a little too wide.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I have a soft spot for monsters. Sometimes that means finding out what made them monstrous in the first place. Most often, it means turning the expectation of a monster on its head. For example, I’m always tickled by the idea of a dragon jealously guarding its treasure hoard…and then after awhile feeling affronted that no one has bothered to try and take their treasure. Don’t they think it’s worth stealing? Why wouldn’t someone risk their lives for such riches? HOW DARE!!
What’s next for you?
I’m in the mood to follow a group of characters for more than one book. Of late, the only thing I know about it is that somewhere in the book there’s a pair of vultures named Pomp and Circumstance. Not much of a start, but I’ve gotten by on less.
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
I could recommend THE ADVENTURES OF AMINA AL-SIRAFI by S.A. Chakraborty until the cows come home.
