So how did the idea for Hazel LeFay and her world come about? It’s certainly dense with detail, so you must have much of the backstory and “universe” already worked out… Are there any specific inspirations or did you conjure most of this up from imagination?

I have always been fascinated with the fantasy genre. Growing up my parents would read fairy tales to me, when I got older I became interested in The Legend of Zelda, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, world mythology and folklore, eventually Game of Thrones, Dungeons and Dragons, etc., but I always found it strange how fantasy seems to be the only genre that treats the past as its primary setting. You can find comedies and romance stories set in just about any time period, but if you tell people you're writing a comedy or romance novel they will assume it takes place in the present day. If you tell them you're writing a fantasy novel, they will assume it takes place in the middle ages (or at least a setting that's heavily inspired by medieval Europe). Don't get me wrong, I love medieval fantasy settings, but at the same time I think there are so many fascinating aspects of our modern world I wish to explore. That's what drew me to the urban fantasy, or contemporary fantasy, genre. I also find the idea of magical creatures living in our modern world to be at once hilarious and horrifying, which is a dichotomy I like to play with.

A few years ago I stumbled onto a number of online communities for real-life witches. A lot of people dismiss these as crazy, and I can definitely understand why, but even though I was a sceptic at the time, I found the idea absolutely fascinating, and I started learning more and more about these communities. This is a group of people who look at the drab and boring reality of our modern world and insist on adding a sense of magic and whimsy to it. People who continue a tradition that goes back to the dawn of human civilization, and unearth philosophical ideas that have long been buried under the weight of modern skepticism. At the same time, many of these people are members of marginalized communities, women, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, marginalized ethnic and religious minority groups, etc., and they have chosen to empower themselves through the identity of the witch, in many ways the ultimate symbol of defiance against our dogmatic, patriarchal, late-stage capitalist modern society.

So the more I learned, the more I became fascinated with this archetype of the modern-day witch; how it perfectly straddles the line between ancient belief systems and the modern-day struggle for liberation in the face of oppressive systems. I thought this archetype would be the perfect protagonist for an urban fantasy story, and that's where Hazel and her world popped into my head.

The story seems to be an interesting mix of several genres. You obviously have an affinity for the supernatural, but the narrative takes place in a very contemporary setting. What is the balance you’re going for and what other genres are you a fan of?

The balance between the magical and the mundane is definitely one of the core themes of the series. Hazel embodies this balance with her role as a gig-economy witch. Much like in the real world, humans have long forgotten about the magic that used to be an accepted part of reality, and when they encounter something they can't explain, that's when they need to hire a witch like Hazel. At the same time, the magical creatures whose existence was perfectly understood and accepted in ancient times struggle to find a place in our modern era, and they need someone like Hazel to speak on their behalf.

Hazel also struggles with this balance in her own personal life. She has magical powers and she gets to experience fantastical things most other people can only imagine. In many ways she gets to live out the fantasies that the rest of us dream of, but in spite of this she has all the same adult responsibilities as everyone else. She needs to navigate the gig-economy, pay her bills, find an appropriate work-life balance, and maintain both professional and interpersonal relationships. In that sense I think of the Hazel LeFay series as post-YA, not only because its aimed at people in their twenties and early thirties who struggle with a lot of the same problems as Hazel, but also because it almost functions as a kind of sequel to the wish-fulfillment you see in a lot of YA fiction. Great, you've graduated from magic school, now it's time to get a job and pay rent. I think that's a struggle a lot of us can relate to, especially those of us who work in creative fields, who never really give up on our inner child, no matter how heavy the weight of our adult responsibilities get.

In terms of other genres, I always gravitate towards speculative fiction. Fantasy, sci-fi, and all the many sub-genres of these, but I also enjoy more grounded stories, especially comedies.