Can you kind of walk us through that experience and how that felt?

Yeah, I mean, the short answer is surreal.

It's a really interesting cocktail of like ecstatic joy and complete terror, I guess, which I think, you know, other authors, particularly debut authors will understand and be able to perhaps sympathize with.

Mainly because sort of coming back to the previous question as well, it's not something I ever expected to happen to me genuinely.

I think it's one of those things where you see people who are in these, you know, they get these big book deals and they're very prolific kind of acquisitions.

And you always think, oh, that's something that happens to other people, but it's not going to happen to me, obviously.

That's something that you hear about online.

Who else in the story and kind of what is at stake for them as well?

Where did they come from? That was really

interesting.

Because I mean, like I said, I think the world and this concept came first.

However, I know Kit as a concept, not necessarily as a demon, but this kind of figure in my head when I've had lots of story ideas over the years, I always had this idea for this kind of dark haired, but kind of snarky, kind of cavalier kind of character who was supernatural in some way.

He's always kind of existed, but I could never find the right story for him.

And I always had this name in my head, Kit.

It just felt like it suited him.

but he also is very very quick to just go whatever I'm

And so it was... a really nice change to that.

I'm glad you liked it.

Yeah.

I mean, I, it was the same thing for me when I first thought of the idea and I was thinking, oh, you know, okay, so it's a world where people, I wanted to create this sort of seedy kind of underbelly of this world where there's a family, they're on the wrong side of the law and what are they trading in? And I knew it couldn't be money because I was like, well, it's a fantasy world.

Let's make it more interesting.

And of course, that's where the idea deal with the devil demons came into it.

And I was like, but straight away you think of, you know, sell your soul.

I haven't read this, but why do I feel like that? And so seeing the different takes on it, whether it's making it more Gothic or making it a different way that the magic system works, it almost reimagines reignites that passion we have as readers and I think that is what we've definitely needed in this community

Tell me about your main character, Ida Shaw.

Ida Shaw, as I mentioned earlier, she's in this situation where her and her brothers are basically indentured to this demon courtesy of a deal their father made.

So it's kind of some generational trauma been passed down, unfortunately, and they're trapped.

in this situation where they have to work with this demon against their will.

But Eda has quite a complicated relationship with him.

He's not wholly bad.

Whereas her brothers are more disparaging of him and more resentful because Eda has known him nearly her whole life.

What should readers know about him, it?