Amanda Simas: 

So Katee, thank you so much for coming back. Our first interview didn’t record, but it was so wonderful so I'm really excited that everybody else gets to hear what I heard. To start off I’d love to hear what your books are about! Glass Helix, your debut standalone novel, and your new release Earthbound! I’d love to get your elevator pitch. 

 

Katee Stein:

Glass Helix is my YA dystopian romance. It's set in a near future Earth where humanity's genome is really fragile. We meet Kai who comes into the picture strong and whole when everybody else is weak, and we follow him and a girl named Mae who is dealing with chronic illness. It's really a journey of them figuring out how they're connected, why they're connected, and how to find hope in a future that's pretty bleak. That's their story. 

That book was a really great read, I ingested it so quickly. Everyone should check it out! But tell us more about Earthbound. 

So Earthbound is an adult high fantasy set in the Mercurial, which is this world where the laws of physics are different and so creatures can move through solid ground and change matter. We follow a trio in this three POV book, as they navigate oaths that bring power, and their relationships and the dynamics that come when you have conflicting loyalties.

I love this book. It's kind of cool in the sense that Glass Helix was a really great sci-fi with some fantastical elements, not everything can be explained…

Yeah, it's a mystical ‘something’ happening. 

Exactly! And now I've finished Earthbound and wow it is so so good. A must read. And it’s very fantasy with a scattering of sci-fi elements in it too. So what drew you to writing a more fantasy leaning book after being on the more techy sci-fi side of things? How do you decipher those worlds and what elements you want to bring into your story?

My first love was always sci-fi and I came to fantasy a little bit later. So in writing, it makes sense to me that I wrote a sci-fi first and somehow fell into a fantasy. And really it just came down to the inspiration of the story. Like you said, the science fiction had a bit of a fantasy element to it, or a lean to it, and I feel like my fantasy has some science fiction sort of elements to it, a little bit of tech and that sort of stuff. They're two genres that I love and I feel like you just write the story that you're given, follow the inspiration that you have, and write it in the genre that it comes.

I loved the tech in Earthbound, it was such a cool, unusual world. What were some of your influences for your new duology?

It really spawned out of this experience I had driving past this mist covered field with a log coming up out of the mist and it looked like a monster. Of course when you’re driving by it looks all spooky like it was coming out of the earth, and that really inspired the idea of the world. I thought, what would happen if farmers had to worry about creatures just coming out of the ground with no warning, what would the society look like and how would you build around that? So a lot of the worldbuilding came from just playing through that idea. Learning about liquefaction and how that all works, that was a little bit of old school MythBusters and Mark Rober coming in there. But then for the actual heart of the story I was really intrigued with the idea of oaths that we're linked to power but we're not necessarily linked to morality. Again, what would that do to people in society, who's deciding where this power is directed, and what sort of morality is guiding this sort of society? So that was really fun, and then putting characters into situations where we can test the boundaries of what these oaths mean to them as individuals and interpersonally. 

That is really cool. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say, you do see that misty field type scene right in your first chapter. And then man, where that story goes. Whoo. You're in for a ride. The character arcs are unreal. Which is really my favorite part of both of your books, your characterization. You do a really good job at making characters feel believable, relatable. Nothing is black and white. So tell us a bit about your characters. What were some of your favorite characters to write and hardest characters to write? 

Easiest character to write was Knox. I feel like his motivations were always super clear. I knew exactly what he wanted, why he wanted it, where he was going. He was just very straightforward to write. And I think my hardest character would be Amelia, almost for exactly the opposite of reasons. She is one of those ‘unreliable narrator’ type characters, where she is telling herself one thing and saying something else out loud but they're both lies, they're not really getting to the heart of what she's doing. She's not a duplicitous person in terms of trying to be a liar or cheat or something like that. But just in her own ability to face what she's facing, there's layers to it. And so I found, and I’m still finding it challenging writing her. She's a tricky one for me to write, and I really want to do her justice because I think she's actually a really strong, amazing character in a really hard situation. Whether or not you agree with her choices and what she does, I want people to understand why because I think hopefully that creates that sort of empathy for connection with her, because we're all fallible broken people making choices. 

Yeah, definitely! That's such a relatable thing when not everything is so clear-cut and honest because that’s how we are as humans. 

 

Yeah, it's that sort of “I would like this to be my motivation,” but often that isn't our motivation. There's something else driving us. And so I wanted to play with that a bit with her. 

And for surprises, I had to cut a lot of scenes of backstory where we get to see like Knox and Tehran when they're young and rising up through the Order as Acolytes and I think I'm gonna have to pull them out and share them in a newsletter or different things along the way, just because they're fun and I think they're cool insights into their bond and what connects them as brothers. 

Yeah, they're a really great pair, and it's nice to see that in books. Those solid male relationships. You did a really good job with them. I can’t say enough about this book, it’s so good. We did our first interview, I had not finished it and now that I have I really need you to finish the next!

 

That's good! That's what we want. We want people hungry for more, right? 

Definitely! And I am! So I know we talked a little bit about your influences, but what is your worldbuilding process?

 

I think, again, that's obviously story by story. I'm starting to see trends, you know, you start to write more and more books and you start to see, “Okay, this is kind of like my sweet spot, this is how I like to do it.” So, I'm still figuring that out about myself, which I enjoy because it makes the process a lot smoother. But I think having that world seed idea, like what's the heart of the world? For Earthbound it was this idea of these religious structures and world structures, so there wasn't a ton of research. I actually enjoyed that about Earthbound. Because it is fantasy, I got to make up the rules and the laws and everything. Except for pulling inspiration from what actual liquefaction is, it's often with sand and not earth so we're stretching it a bit, but I enjoyed learning about how solid matter like earth can actually behave like liquid, and what that would be like.

Glass Helix was a lot trickier because it was near future, we're set on Earth. I wanted it to be really believable in all the ways that we could extend belief forward. So it was a lot of ‘YouTube University,’ trying to figure out genetics, and remembering old science classes. I actually, in the end, was able to talk with a university professor who graciously read some of the science and talked through that stuff. He gave me this amazing summary letter of exisiting science that I could actually pull from and reference. That was really cool. Not to say that there's any real science in Glass Helix, but I was hoping it would sound like that quasi science that makes you think, “This sounds like it could happen.”

Yeah, that's funny. Glass Helix had the medical side of things, the tech side of things, then you had all these vehicles and gear, and you have construction at one point. That was a lot. 

Yeah, that was a lot of work with that worldbuilding. And, I mean, that one took me many many years. 

It paid off because it's a fantastic book, everybody should read it. But it does sound like a lot of work. What made you realize that you wanted to build these worlds, and be a writer? That novels were the medium you wanted to get into?

I love this question because I love hearing where other people start their writing journey. And at the same time I was like… how far do I go into this? But yeah, the coles notes version of it: I loved story right off the get-go. My mom took me to the library from the time I was really little. So story was always one of my favorite mediums of art. I just gobbled up story, and that continued all the way along. As a kid I liked jotting little stories or telling stories and making up worlds. We played so much pretend. So the roots were deep there, and I knew it was an “I want to.” I didn't know it was an “I could.” That journey, I think, is a much bigger story and a much deeper story. But the journey to “Oh, I can do this,” was amazing. I think it was 2017-2018, I thought enough of this talking about “one day.” I have to see one manuscript through and give myself the chance to explore this. It didn't take very long for me to go from “one day I want to do this, one day I want to do this,” and as soon as I stepped into it, I knew this is where I need to be, this is what I've always wanted to do. I was given permission to step into a dream really and live a little bit more bravely. It's been quite a journey, but I'm so glad I know that this is where I’m meant to be. 

Oh, that's awesome. You wonder how many works haven't been accomplished just because of the fear and getting over that. 

 

Yeah, it's a road! Anybody that's writing, I think you're always facing that sense of, “Is this futile? Is anybody gonna care? Is it any good?” and all these sorts of external things where we have to step out and show it off to somebody to see if you get a good response. It's a brave undertaking and I think for anybody who's writing, I just applaud you.

It’s true! And now that you're there, you're an official author and your second book is out! What is your favorite part about being an author? What is the hardest part? 

 

Well, I love the actual writing. Like I truly love it. I think that's always great. I think one of the hard parts, before you have a story out, is that you don't get to experience what my favorite part has been and that's feedback. Hearing from people when they're like, “Hey, I love this story!” Like, you sharing that you enjoy these stories. That is such a satisfying feeling. Like, all of that time where you're alone and wondering and questioning, even if it's just a few people that enjoy the book, that has been like fuel for me and is so important. I just want people to know that's invaluable. If you like somebody's book, just tell them! It doesn't have to be a big song and dance but it means the world because all that quiet work alone pays off. And it's hard when you haven't got to that spot yet, where you're sharing your work, because you don't always get to hear that. It's a lot of years of silence. So maybe that's part of the hard side of it, when you're working and you don't know. It's just faith to keep walking forward, but you don't know if there's any payoff in it. And I think that self-doubt along that road, the impostor syndrome in your head, having the courage to face things is hard. There's a lot of internal opposition, I think, to the whole process. That's probably the most difficult. 

I think too though, and it’s something you’ve given your characters too, this self doubt or lack of confidence or questioning, all of those things end up making your writing so real. I think it bleeds onto the page in a pretty cool way. 

Absolutely. You can't help it. I mean our characters aren't us at all, but it's funny where you pull things from, where you tap into that realness. We have to experience and witness life, and I think when you see that stuff you can pick and choose to pull it in. 

It’s true! So with that, how do you hope that your work will impact your readers? What themes are most important for you to convey in EarthBound? And in Glass Helix too?

 

I think for themes, I'm not ever writing going with a theme forward first if that makes sense. I'm not like, “Oh, I have this theme or this message that I want to send.” It definitely isn't that way. It's interesting how it evolves as you write. I remember with both of them when I might start cluing into what the story is actually about, and you're like, “Oh snap! How did that get in there?” But somewhere along the way you start to get that heart coming out of it. And for me, it's like how you're talking about the characters that are flawed, it's important to hold these gray spaces. Like in Glass Helix, I mean, I wrote that way before 2020 and so the whole idea of personal autonomy and personal responsibility versus like the greater good and what's going on, and even bodily autonomy… Those were questions that I had already wanted to explore. And then when the pandemic happened I was like, “Whoa.” I was just wanting to explore it, and it became something that I was surprised at how true it rang for me from my own experience walking through the pandemic. 

And for Earthbound, you know again, it's different themes. It's these divided loyalties, and what we choose to hold up and honor within the oaths, and in those that we take and make, the ones that we know we're making and the ones we don't know making. I just think it's an interesting thing to challenge ourselves to think about. Obviously in this fantasy world they've got all these rules of how oaths work. But you ask yourself, what are the oaths that I've taken in my life and how is that impacting everybody around me? I like playing with questions. 

More than coming out with a message, I like thinking, and writing is just how I think. So that's a natural process for me to ask, “What do we think about this? Don't let me tell you, but what do you think about this?” And I want to write stories that hold up light and courage and hope. Those are things that I aspire to in my own life. And I think sometimes we don't have enough heroes. We have the morally gray, we have all the mess and the muddle, and sometimes it feels like in real life we don't have that clear bright light to aspire to. So I want to tell stories that aspire to our better selves. That look towards something good, and right, and hopeful yeah. 

Wow, I really love those perspectives! Is there anything else that you want people to know about your books? And what’s planned for what’s to come with Earthbound?

(K Stein)

Sure. We just had the release for Earthbound, which is book one of the Earth and Sky duology. So it will be a two book series with Skysworn coming out hopefully next spring. I think one of the most exciting things is there is an audiobook that released at the same time, so you're able to get either an ebook, paperback, or an audiobook if that's how you prefer to consume books. So that's really exciting for me. I'm also really proud of the print book. That was a neat adventure, learning how to get everything formatted. I took a lot of joy in that and was able to partner with a few different artists that have done the header art and concept art for the earthbound creatures. So I'm just excited to be able to bring this whole package to people, and I hope it's well received and that they'll love it. 

Well, I know the inside of your book is really beautiful, at least what I've seen on your ARC team. Speaking of which, I asked some of the other people on the team if they had any questions for you. They're all just funny and silly. First of all, how dare you?! I agree. That was great and true. You all are in for a ride!! 

 

It's funny, this is just a random little side note, but just as a personality thing, I like things being chill and peaceful and stuff like that. And so I keep reminding myself, I don’t need to apologize. But my impulse is to keep being like, “I'm so sorry!!” No, but I do take it as a compliment, it is just kind of funny.

No, it's fantastic. It's so good. It's that satisfying terror and depression that you can get from books like no other. Um, another question is what was your monster inspo? 

I mean, in terms of them moving through the earth, we've already talked about it. But because they have to move through earth like its water, we kind of get this blend of aquatic-like sort of monsters, but still a little bit more dinosaur-esque. So when I partnered with my oldest to draw some of the Earthbound art, I just talked through basic sort of descriptors that I had in mind and she pulled it together. I love that one of the scariest earthbound species looks like a manatee, but like a rocky manatee, that sucks people into the earth and slowly eats them. It's horrible, but this squishy old manatee that wouldn't hurt a fly in the water, if it's an earthbound I would stay away. 

Yeah, you made the chillest of all creatures on earth a monster.

Yeah, who would ever be afraid of a manatee? And now I'd be a little bit nervous. 

Next question was, if you could be one fictional character, who would you be? 

Think I’ll go with Syl from Stormlight. I truly love Kaladin as a character in Stormlight, I think he’s so relatable, such a raw human sort of guy. So I just love that character, but I could never be him. I love that Syl is like his sidekick buddy. I could be a sidekick buddy. I think I'd be a good cheerleader for him. So yeah. 

That's fair. The last question was: why are you the way that you are? I’m kidding! But it's been really fun in that group, especially to see everyone’s reactions to this book, man you really hit the nail on the head.

It’s super exciting, I'm so thankful for the ARC team and the street team. They've just been such a source of joy and encouragement as I'm like stepping into this next season with it. People continuing to take a risk and read an ARC and then to hear their responses is… yeah, it's really encouraging. I really appreciate everybody's time, because there's a lot of books out there that we all want to read. I know what TBR lists look like just looking at my own. So the fact that people are actually taking the time to do that is just such a gift.

Well, you are definitely an author I will never miss a book from, you have a permanent TBR spot on my self. I think I said that in my review of Glass Helix, and now it's very solidified. But thank you so much for taking the time. I really appreciate it and I cannot wait for everyone else to read this book!

Legend has it, Katee Stein was born with a book in her hand. Although never officially confirmed, reports suggest her earliest years were spent haunting the local library. It is unclear what profound thoughts led Katee to writing her first book in grade three, The Happy Stegosaurus, but her love of storytelling took root in that moment.

Once grown, Katee traveled, met the love of her life, had two amazing children, and started working in special education. And through it all words never stopped swirling, begging to be released. Finally, when the ache in her chest became too much, she started to write the stories that had lived so long in her head.

So it was, the uncharted course spun a lifetime of experience into a foundation to create worlds and possibilities.
Of course if you were to meet her, she’s of an ordinary sort who loves coffee and slow mornings; chickens and sunrises; and most of all, her people.