All Episodes

August 7, 2025 • 33 mins
🎙️ Episode 9: Spellbound with Kate Gateley 🎙️Join us as we dive into fantasy worldbuilding with author Kate Gateley! From creative process to character arcs, we explore how she brings magic to the page—and what it really means to be a planner vs. a pantser. Expect nerdy tangents, writing inspo, and a whole lot of love for the genre. ✨ Now streaming on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music & more!

Join Les and Rhi for a bookish podcast where #wereaditsoyoudonthaveto. This isn’t your average book deep dive nor typical book club. We talk about everything from the ridiculous to the relatable, the dramatic to the delightfully unhinged corners of the book world. Whether it’s behind-the-scenes of our book clubs, meet-and-greets with bookish humans, or the absurd moments that make us laugh out loud—this is your invitation to a podcast where anything bookish goes. We’re just two girls who love to read, and we can’t wait to share this journey with you.

No matter who you are we guarantee you will find a show (or multiple) for yourself on the Dufferin Ave Media Network! If you can't find one, start your own! We can help you with that! We're a community of passionate hosts, audio engineers, avid listeners, and day dreamers on a mission to shape the future of on-demand content together.
Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I would probably be like an orc.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
You're not an org? What's wrong with you? You're not
an org.

Speaker 3 (00:10):
Even our producer is laughing. He's a big Lord of
the Rings guy, and he's like, what.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
I mean, could you just say you're Gandle?

Speaker 1 (00:18):
I would be I think we would be Gandalf.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
I want to be I want to be the I'd
be Gandalf the White Fair.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
Hey, I'm less and I'm Marie. This is not that
kind of book club.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
A bookish podcast for we read it, so you don't
have to.

Speaker 4 (00:48):
Hey, friends, it's not that kind of book club podcast.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
I'm Marie. I'm less, and we're so excited to have you.

Speaker 4 (00:55):
Not only do we have you following along today, but
we have Kate Gateley on zoom with us.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
We are so excited to kind of get to talk
to her about fantasy world building and talking about her
her books. And yeah, we're super pumped. So welcome Kate.

Speaker 5 (01:15):
Thank you for having me. It's worked out nicely. I
have both kids at summer a day camp today, so
I'm a free, a free woman.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
You've got some like time space to yourself. Mm hmmm,
oh that's lovely. I mean, I love kids too, don't
get me wrong. Sometimes having that space, you're like, oh,
this is beautiful, this is what I needed.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
I mean, I don't have.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
Kids, that's part.

Speaker 5 (01:41):
They're awesome, they're really great kids. But I also need
my brain to have a well to focus on what
I need to focus on.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
So yeah, very important stuff to focus on, that's for sure.

Speaker 5 (01:54):
I don't know about that, but.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
Amazing.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
So typically when we kind of start our podcast, we
dive into what we call read to No, it's read
reading to be read, So essentially, tell us what your
last book that you read was, what you're currently reading,
and what's the next book on your TVR.

Speaker 5 (02:15):
So my last book that I read was to Night
in the Moth by Rachel Gillig, and that was awesome.
I have an audiobook Girly, so I it's not to
say I don't read hard like books, but because if
I'm writing, I'm usually focusing pretty hard, so I find
the audio sort of is when I can get my
reading in and the audio is fantastic. I really enjoyed that,

(02:35):
although I will say I didn't realize it was a series,
and I'll read books if they're in the series without
the next one coming out, but the ending, I was like,
wait a minute, what.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
I was like, oh, damn it, there's a cliffhanger.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
Now, yeah, and.

Speaker 5 (02:50):
Very much like you know, well, I was kind of like,
I don't know. Sometimes you're a little bit dumb, and
it's like I was like, how is she going to
wrap this up? Like there's only like a chapter left, Like,
oh no, it's not done.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah, I feel you. I'm also the person that like,
if the next book isn't out, I can't do it.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
I can't.

Speaker 5 (03:07):
I usually can't. I just need to know, Like I
just I'm like, I need to be prepared that I'm
going to have to be pining for the characters if
I love the book, which which I did love the
characters in that book. It's she's she's a master of
what she does, so.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
It's on my list. I saw it the other day
at Indigo, and I was like, do I buy this one?
I was like, no, I'm already over my seventy five
dollars limit.

Speaker 5 (03:27):
I would recommend it, I would say, I would say, like,
not that I'm really picky. I just like most books,
but all books have their good things. But I did
really enjoy that one, and then my am reading is.
I just started after that, I started Divine Rivals, so
I've been listening to that.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
I've heard so many good things about that.

Speaker 5 (03:45):
That's Rebecca RecA Ross. Yeah, yeah, I met her well,
I met her in passing at a polygon two years ago.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (03:54):
It's very cool to go to the events because all
these people are in the flesh.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
And you're like, oh my god, you're real.

Speaker 5 (04:01):
I signed across. I signed across from Rebecca Yarus at
an imaginaryum and I was right when everything was taking off,
like and it was sort of she's such a nice person,
like she is as nice as as they say, and
I just I felt for her because she was eating
her lunch and it was there was like a whole lineup,
a crowd of people waiting to see her outside the door,
juice scarf and down her lunch. Look so so sweet,

(04:23):
but also like, that's a big way to have your
fame show up. It's pretty it's exciting, but I think
pretty daunting too.

Speaker 1 (04:31):
Oh yeah, big time.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
What's next?

Speaker 1 (04:34):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (04:34):
And then what's next? Well, I'm hoping. I'm enjoying Divine Rivals,
so I'm thinking, then what's the next one? Ruthless vowels.
I'm sure that'll be my next one. Oh and I
on my kindle. I just started last night. I started
beating deep end.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
So did you buy Ali Hazelwood?

Speaker 5 (04:47):
Yeah? Yeah, my kindle. I always do my sort of
like you know, romance or I'm quite hyperlexic, so I
I like Kindle for I have the oasis, so it's
got the button and I can just like rip through
like it's on the kindle. But I can read as
fast as I want.

Speaker 2 (05:05):
And I love it because I love when I read
on my kindle, because I put all of those like
romantic or like smut or whatever it is. Because I
can turn my candle off and when I turn it
back on, I already know exactly where I was, so
it's not like I don't have to go back and
be like, wait a minute, who is that again?

Speaker 1 (05:23):
Right?

Speaker 2 (05:23):
Like sometimes I find with fantasy, like when I'm reading it,
I have to be like I can't be falling asleep
or I'm gonna have to reread mm hmm.

Speaker 5 (05:32):
Though I'm guilty for the like if I'm really yeah,
I don't read it fantasy it because it'll hook me
and I'll stay up too late where it's like I
cad come, come and go for me because I read
it so fast, I know by tomorrow'll probably finish it,
so it's it's not so so heartbreaking to So then
remember when I read the Outlander series, I was like
pulling three am nights. Yeah, I just couldn't stop some
times years ago, but like I was like that was

(05:53):
my first like, oh I'm back back doing this again.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
Yeah, I it's on my list too. But I find
when it's a longer series, I have to be able
to like dedicate a certain timeframe to it because I
can't just like put it down and not come back
to it for four or five days.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
So yeah, you know you have some time available with it.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
Yeah, Okay. The last thing I'll ask you about your audiobooks?
What speed do you listen to them at? Usually at least.

Speaker 5 (06:23):
One point two. It depends on the narrator. So like
when I was producing, I didn't do them, but I
produced them obviously my audiobooks. For my first series, she
had a slower I was sort of read intel like
she just naturally had a slower word to permit it.
Then we're not slow, but just like she's she's English
and just really quite an unstated, so I think I

(06:44):
had just based on that. I don't think I've ever
gone over one point. If it's y A, I tend
to go faster because they are slow, they're read more slowly,
so I do speed them up. I don't listen to
a ton of way, but more of an adult girly.

Speaker 1 (06:57):
But yeah, it's a good palette cleanser though well on some.

Speaker 5 (07:01):
Of these and some of the way books like like
webcca Ross and different things, like they're just so beautiful,
They're done so well. The writing is so tender and
it's lyrical, and I don't know, there's a really a
really softness to it that I like. But I find
I'm just I like my characters more often than not
to be my age, so it's fair.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
I actually love it when I read a book and
they're like, she was twenty nine years old, and I
was like, okay.

Speaker 5 (07:27):
All my books, my characters are over thirty.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
So yeah, well, and it sucks sometimes because you read
a book and you're like, this does not happen when
you're seventeen years old? What are whoa? Whoa? Clearly we
are are different centuries, because that's wild.

Speaker 5 (07:42):
But then sometimes also like I write my characters well,
and this is my latest series. They're thirty six and
forty seven. But I've had a review come back that
was saying they seemed to mature, and I kind of
laughed about it because I was like, well, do you
think that people get boring when they get old? Like
I have friends my age who make very stupid decisions still,
so that's kind of like, it's not like we get

(08:03):
more mature, we just are.

Speaker 2 (08:04):
Our problems change, yeah, exactly, And like, yeah, no, you
don't get I don't know.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (08:12):
You don't just develop wisdom because you grow older like
you got to go.

Speaker 5 (08:16):
Or that you don't have the same you know, your trauma, doesn't.
I mean most people I know we're working through their
stuff in their thirties, right.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
So yeah, and like just because I'm getting older, it
doesn't mean that I'm not fun, that I don't make
bad choices. Still, I don't.

Speaker 5 (08:30):
Have like deep like we don't feel less deeply, if anything.
I feel like, especially since having kids, I would say
I feel more deeply and I'm more like a broader
range of emotion. I'm just sort of more an adult
about it, I guess. So I can work like I
can manage it rather than have it sort of rule me.
But I still have reactions and.

Speaker 2 (08:51):
You know, totally amazing. Okay, let's dive into it.

Speaker 4 (08:56):
Yeah, so tell us a little bit more about you
and your books. I believe you are our first fantasy
author on the podcast.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
You are.

Speaker 5 (09:04):
Oh that's fun, I would say, yeah. So I am.
My name is Kate Gaily. I am the vun Vancouver Island.
I was born and raised in Saskatoon though, so what Yeah,
and I still have lots of friends back there. And
my books were at McNelly, which was my childhood favorite bookstore.

(09:25):
I so I write contemporary fantasy, so a little bit different.
I mean, it's sort of hard to figure out how
to name the genres because I blend a lot of
my stuff, So I have a lot of I would say,
and I'm romance and I'm quite romance forward, particularly in
my new series. So it's really fun to write romance.
My books are. They focus a lot on ancestral memory.

(09:48):
They're set in Canada. Mostly there's travel in them. The
heroines are often older and are dealing with sort of
a rebirth of self or you know, the sort of
you know, the standard literary thing where they sort of
go through the door and the insiding event happens. They're
often that is their insiding event of initiating into adulthood
and what that looks like. And in my series, it's

(10:10):
initiating into a magic, a magical adulthood and awareness of
magic in their world. So I would say comps easily
with discovery of which is lots of inspiration from books
like Outlander. You know, I grew up reading Over of
the Rings. My magic systems are low fantasy though, so
they're not like my world building is going to be

(10:32):
really different than I think like true genre fantasy writers
because I bring the magic in as a complimentary component,
I guess.

Speaker 2 (10:41):
But I think that's also going to be pretty cool
to kind of see that and not necessarily compare it
to other world building kind of teps or what other
people do. But it's cool because there's so many different
ways that you world build in books like this.

Speaker 5 (10:55):
Mm hmmm, yeah. And I find like for me, I
use the system as like a motivator for the challenge
that they're facing, and I do a lot of psychology.
I would say one of my special interests is psychology
so there's a lot of that. Yeah, a lot of
that in the books that I use sort of like
the magical challenges as a way to expose certain things

(11:18):
they're going through, which is the same with any you know,
genre kind of theme. But I like to use the
magic to be to let us look at difficult things
and difficult concepts in a more removed way. I guess
like it's you know, people can maybe I've had lots
of people give me feedback that like, oh, this certain
section made me feel something that I didn't expect to feel,

(11:39):
and that sort of the you know, pun intended. The
magic of writing sort of more speculative and magical words
is you get to draw people into ideas without it
feeling like you're, you know, shoving a concept down their
throat or like, you know, your process, this character is trauma.
They get to do it in a way that's sort
of more for me, it's more palatable.

Speaker 1 (12:01):
Okay, how do you keep it all connected?

Speaker 5 (12:04):
Oh so this is where this is where I'm probably different. Well,
that's not true. I do have author friends who are
similar to me. I am a pantser. If you didn'yone
talk about like plotters and panthers yet on your.

Speaker 2 (12:16):
Oh pod, please please tell us, tell us.

Speaker 5 (12:18):
I think there's other people are probably going to define
it differently, but like for me, like a plotter is
somebody who sits down and plots their book like you know,
start to finish. They've got character sheets, they've got you know,
and especially in like if I was ever to write
a true high fantasy, I would have to do plotting
because the world is so much more like you have
to consider the monetary system, how does how does that?

(12:39):
How does the power balances work? How does all of
our It's like I write contemporary and the reason is
I don't want to really worry about a monetary system
because that's doesn't motivate me to write. My creativity does
not come from that. Well, it comes from I feel
like my characters are in me, almost like a conduit
kind of feeling, and then it comes through me. So

(13:01):
I consequently am a pants So I right by the
seat of my pants, as.

Speaker 2 (13:06):
They say, But I don't get it now say that.

Speaker 5 (13:10):
That's my understanding of it. I could be totally like
botching it, but that's how I see it. And so
like there are things I do like I do I
stick to conventional plot structure. My books follow a typical
arc of a fantasy and romance sort of combination. And
because I am a reader, and because of the way
my brain works, I'm quite a nonivergent, so the patterned
brain sort of supports me to stay with it. It doesn't

(13:33):
feel right if it doesn't stay within that type of arc,
so I don't. I can't really take credit for being
organized around that. It's more just intuition. But I would
say my magic system is informed by my interests. So
I'm quite interested in Celtic mythology. I am interested in
there's lots of sort of my take on modern drugery

(13:53):
in there. On one side, I am Irish, like a
Irish dass bird whatever. So culturally that's something that's interesting
to me. That's Elaine that I can kind of drive in.
So I do bring that in to the books. And
I mean, I can't. How do I keep it organized?
I don't know. It's like how my brain works. It's
literally like it's literally although I will say I do

(14:16):
end up quite often sort of at the end of
the first sort of main draft looking at my husband
being like, oh my god, what have I done to
myself because I'll realize I have to fix some I
have to pull things together that I wasn't paying enough
attention to.

Speaker 4 (14:29):
Yeah, are you a pen and paper type person? Or
is this all through your computer?

Speaker 5 (14:35):
All through my computer? Though my notes app is absolutely
feral with ideas, there's.

Speaker 1 (14:40):
The nerd divergent I was looking for is the notes.

Speaker 5 (14:43):
App screenshots and the like I say to my husband, like,
if I die, you just have to delete the notes app, Like,
don't go in there. It won't make sense. Yeah, you'll
you'll get the wrong impression of the way my brain
is working each day. It's just it's just a place
for me to leave things.

Speaker 2 (14:57):
Just put it in you must, I should.

Speaker 5 (15:01):
I've gotten to the point where I'm actually even like
because I'll save things on like Instagram or TikTok that
I want to revisit, but I know I won't. So
now I actually have like I'm starting to link from
there to my notes app, and I'm like, this is diabolical.
I've got to stop because somebody stop me. This is
what's next.

Speaker 2 (15:16):
I'm going to have a novel just in notes.

Speaker 5 (15:19):
Just in notes. Yeah, yeah, so I would say I
do rely on that. I I write, so for me
to the other sort of nerdivergent element as I rely
on going into flow state to draft. So if I'm
working on like a research part of it, so like
there is obviously even though it's contemporary, I'm still like
I was just researching different types of thunderstorms the other day,

(15:40):
So I do have to do research because there's a
section I want to be playing with thunderstorms a bit.
But like just example, like the things I maybe don't
know enough about and I want to be correct on.
But I so I sort of enter more of a meditator,
Like I'm not really able to meditate like a standard person.
I find in my brain is way too hyperactive, and
I I've never managed it. I really I can really

(16:02):
go to yoga because I just get bored in my hand.

Speaker 2 (16:05):
I get it.

Speaker 5 (16:06):
I was like, can I listen to an audiobook while
I do yoga?

Speaker 2 (16:08):
Like so that's honestly my favorite part about yoga is
when I get to just lay there.

Speaker 5 (16:15):
I like the physical part, but I just I get
my brain is so like I'm a like internal hyperactivity
eighth year. So it's like I just you know, it's
so busy in there all the time, and so I
find that's difficult for sort of you know, traditional meditation
or mindfulness. And but then when I started writing, that's

(16:35):
what I realized I could access it. My whole body
gets calm, and when I come out of a sprint
of writing, I have to make sure I like stop
and eat and drink, because it can be really hyper
focused if I'm not careful. But I feel like when
I come out of that space, like my mental health
is so good, Like I do get the same experience,
and science research is saying that that is the case

(16:56):
for many Nerdo Virgin folks like to get into that
creative space is where they can find that front brain
focus and relaxation. So there's that part too where I
think my writing is like I always say it feels
like a condo it, but I think it's just because
I'm quite meditative into it. So that's how I keep
it where it needs to be.

Speaker 1 (17:13):
Amazing cool.

Speaker 2 (17:14):
Okay, I have another question, Shoot, Okay, it might be repetitive,
but bear with me, But when you're like with your
books where it goes kind of from like Celtic Lands
to modern day Vancouver, do you use maps to build

(17:34):
your world as in like our maps to kind of
get influence or do you draw them yourself? Do you
work from real ones? And then the secondary question here
is I feel like you've already answered it, but are like,
how much of your worlds are based on real places
and how much do you invent or change to kind
of fit the story?

Speaker 5 (17:57):
Geographically speaking, everything is a real place. I spend a
lot of time on Google Maps and driving around if
I haven't been there, which lots of the places in
the books I haven't been. I literally like get on
the three DV and I will like drive down the
roads and like, you know, pay attention to the size
and the pacing and maps and driving and geography has

(18:17):
always been something that comes really naturally to me as well,
so I don't have trouble conceptualizing distance, which is sort
of just a perk of what I am. I have
been thinking about doing because my books are set contemporary,
although there is some time trouble and past life elements
in the first series. In the Lost Wells trilogy, I
should name things probably in my first series, I have

(18:39):
thought about doing sort of like a specialized map. I
have a friend that draws maps, and I was thinking
of getting him to do that, because it would be
neat to. I know, the people local to me that
read the books, so much of them take place on
the West Coast and places I've been, so it would
be neat to kind of even for the locals to
kind of be like this is where I'm thinking of,

(19:00):
or you know, or to maybe for people to like
the books. Do go to Saskatchman at one point, but
to understand the size of the prairies, Like if you're not,
I find people out here don't really if they're not
they've never driven out there, or they're not from the prairies,
they have no idea the scope of the sky and
like all that.

Speaker 2 (19:15):
I also didn't realize how big Vancouver Island was until
I went. I thought it was like something huge little island. No,
it's massive. It's massive.

Speaker 5 (19:25):
Yeah, I haven't even been to all of it. Like
we've been living out here since twenty twelve, and I
haven't even been.

Speaker 2 (19:29):
To is not near Victoria, No, not at.

Speaker 5 (19:35):
All close and like and you have to pass through
many city like you know, Like so I live in
the couch and Valley, so I'm between Nanaimo and Victoria
and Tino's even still far from me, so although we
did go right.

Speaker 2 (19:48):
I love Nanaimo.

Speaker 5 (19:49):
Do you love Nanaimo? I like Nanaimo.

Speaker 2 (19:53):
I haven't been very very many places though I like.

Speaker 5 (19:57):
I do like Nanaimo. I find it because I'm off
an interact when I'm driving past it. It's such a long,
narrow city that I find I don't get to appreciate
it because I'm always like, oh my god, we're still
in the Nimo. We're still driving through. That goes on forever.
But that's a local thing, local that's totally fair. Fantastic
indie bookstore in Anaimo though called window Seat. It's it's great, Yeah,

(20:19):
windows seats. Window Seat is so good. It's it's in
the old city Quarter in Nanaimo, when the owner's wonderful, amazing.

Speaker 2 (20:25):
So how many of your characters kind of are based
off of like people you know or any of your
personal experiences or personal stories.

Speaker 5 (20:36):
M That's always an interesting question because, like you know,
I don't obviously don't self insert, but the characters are
coming from you, so they're going to have things in
common with you no matter what. In my trilogy, Julia,
the main the female main character, I feel like she's
a lot like me. But then I also feel like
she's almost represents a past version of me. So when

(20:57):
I was writing the books in Ties of Sovereign, I
had a really hard time kind of like exercising her
manche of the world earlier. The second book, I felt
really in her head. And then but the third book,
I kind of felt like she was leaving me, and
I had to sort of coax her to stay and
help me finish the story because it was she was
sort of done interacting with me. And then Donald, the
male main character in the book, I feel like he

(21:18):
is more like me, with like my masculine energy or
like the side of me, you know, if you're looking
at Georgy and like balanced masculine, feminine, and I'm a
lot like Donald. So when we were, you know, when
we're editing the first like I get professional editing obviously,
but my husband always helps me sort of edit the
first draft, and he would be siding with Julia and
I would be siding with Donald when they were in conflict,

(21:39):
and it was always kind of like, okay, well that
makes a bit of sense. And then in my new series, Phoebe,
I've written her as nerdivergent a masking like a high
masking nerd, a virgent female. And I really enjoyed working
with that because my perspective, like as I've been asking

(22:00):
for the use two, I was able to bring more
own voices into it, a stuff like with Julia, she
had those tendencies, but it was less intentional. And with Phova,
I've been able to actually like reflect some of my
experience or the experiences of women that I know who
are similar to me into that character. And then Ronan,

(22:21):
he's I feel like he's sort of more with me
in that sort of spirit meuse way, like I can.
I can still feel him when I was writing the
other series, I could feel him kind of coming into
the space, and I can always sort of imagine his
energy while I'm writing, so I can never decide if
he's like me or if I'm just like bringing his
story in. I had reiki done last year distance reiki

(22:45):
from a friend of mine and she was like, I
can see this sort of man, and she described Ronan,
And the same thing happened with another sort of spiritual
practitioner around Julia with the first series. So I think
there's some wiuy magic that comes with that. It's hard
to describe, but my character are in me and around
me and speak through me when I'm in that flow state.

(23:06):
And then for secondary characters, yeah, and for secondary characters,
I definitely write friends into my books. I've got my
personal friends are in all my books.

Speaker 2 (23:17):
I feel like you should just write me into your
book as like a tertiary.

Speaker 1 (23:22):
Character, like the books the bookstore owner, the grocery begger.

Speaker 5 (23:29):
Well, and sometimes I'll use people's to real names, and
sometimes I won't. And I've had friends ask to me
to use a different name or to pick a name
or you know, there's a character in the second book
of the trilogy, Bernie, and she's based on my friend.
But when she's old, like it's like what I think
should be like when she's old. So it's like it's

(23:51):
this kind of I don't know it you get to
play and you get to you know. I don't think
i've ever well know, I have written people in my
life into my books that have harmed me, but it's
never those ones. I've never blatant about it. It's always
more just the feeling or an experience. But they always say, like,
you know, don't make friends with the writer because you're
gonna end up in their books, and for me, it's
extremely true.

Speaker 2 (24:10):
I love that. Okay, I have a question then about
your books. So if there was somebody who's never read
your books, tell us kind of about like some of
the trilogies or some of the books you've written, and
like if there's an order to read things in?

Speaker 1 (24:23):
Yeah? Where to start? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (24:25):
Literally? Where to start?

Speaker 5 (24:27):
Question?

Speaker 4 (24:27):
Great example, I'm a person who hasn't read your books.
Where do I start? Which one would you recommend that
I read first?

Speaker 5 (24:34):
That's a good question. So I've designed so I've written
my trilogy, the Last Onst Trilogy, and then I'm currently
working on the Mythic Buttones zoology and they're in the
same world. And Ronan is in the trilogy and he's
in the new series as well as a few other characters.
But I have intentionally written it so that you can
pick up Shadow of the u Tree first. I think
if you've never read my books, I would start with

(24:56):
my new one because it's I would say it's my
best one so far. It's the most fun if you're
romance reader. It's written into a pob which I think
keeps the pacing fun and it's interesting my trilogy is
I would say, is a bit more fantasy leaning, and
it's a bit if you're not, and they're thick, like
they're big. They're big books, and they're a bit more

(25:18):
they're written a bit more academically, and uh, I think
you're like I always think, like you're reading, stamina has
to be higher to sort of get through them. They're not.
The pacing is a bit thicker, they're more true, like
I feel like I've wrote them more like how the
books I used to read in the two thousands, you know,
the books that I enjoyed because I'm a big you know,
style kind of but contemporary. So i'd say like like

(25:40):
Discovery of Witches and and so. But if you love
the world, I think starting with Shadow of the Yew
Tree and you like the way the world is designed,
then going back and reading those would be fun because you're,
you know, the sort of endgame. The only thing that
I would say, if you're not someone who likes spoilers
and wants everything to be a surprise, then you would
want to start with Guys of the Sovereign because obviously

(26:01):
the events of Shadow the Yew Tree happen after the
climax of the trilogy, which means there's going to have
big things have happened before we move into the new series.
But I would say, I think you can start with
the new one, and I hope people do.

Speaker 2 (26:15):
Is your new one released already?

Speaker 5 (26:17):
Yeah, came out my twenty seven So I'm.

Speaker 2 (26:18):
Gonna go get it.

Speaker 5 (26:20):
It's on its way to you in the mail. I'm ailed.

Speaker 2 (26:22):
Oh, I'm not gonna lie to you. The first time
that we had connected, I may have gone to McNally
Robinson right away and gotten one of your signed copies. Yeah, yeah, go,
So I do have Times of the Sovereign.

Speaker 5 (26:35):
Yes, that's the first of the trilogy.

Speaker 2 (26:37):
Yes, I just have to get the other two and
then now I have the new one copy. I'm so excited, amazing.

Speaker 5 (26:42):
Yeah, and I'm working on the second one. It's it's coming.
I just need the time.

Speaker 2 (26:50):
And in summertime, like you have kiddo's with you, they're
not in school. It's a little bit different.

Speaker 3 (26:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (26:55):
And my best time of data right is like right now,
Like I find I'm the best of the morning, freshest,
the most creative, you know, three o'clock in the afternoon,
I'm pretty and if I write at night. I can
write at night, I get that kind of second wind,
but then I don't sleep, Like I find I'm so
activated from it that I don't get.

Speaker 2 (27:13):
I finally straight. I'm so bad at interrupting. That is
my neurodivergent coming out.

Speaker 5 (27:19):
I do too. If it works so hard podcast.

Speaker 2 (27:21):
I try really hard, especially because like you'll say something,
I'm like, I want to say something, but it's like alasta, wait.

Speaker 5 (27:28):
It doesn't bother me. The listeners might be annoyed, but.

Speaker 2 (27:31):
Whatever, it's fine. What was I gonna say? Oh, I
agree with you. Like when I'm working on my thesis,
I find like at seven o'clock in the morning, somehow
I'm really good at writing till about ten or eleven,
and then I take a break and then I can
come back to it around like six or seven, and
I can work really hard for like a couple of hours,

(27:52):
and I'm really productive. And it's the weirdest where it's
like that's three hours in the morning and like three
hours late evening into the like before bed evening part.
But yeah, it's weird. You have to find those timeframes
that that work for you.

Speaker 5 (28:08):
Yeah, And I like, for me, I need it's have
to say, like if I because I also run my
own publishing company, so when my kids are I did
not know around and I'm and I'm working on like
emails and stuff, I can be interrupted because I hate
reading emailing anyway. So I don't still mind being interruptions
because I'm like, okod, I don't have to keep doing this.

(28:30):
But I do find with writing it's not like I
need their perfect circumstance, but I find, like with ADHD
and you know, sort of Audie tendencies, I if I
get interrupted repeated times, it's really difficult for me to
get into that focused space. It's hard to relax into
the creativity because I almost just feel like I'm agitated
by interruptions. So why the morning is better too, is

(28:52):
I think I literally just haven't had as many like
nervous system agitation and and nothing bad. It's just like
the dog barks and then you gotta make the kettlegoes
and you're like those types of interruptions like not just life.

Speaker 2 (29:07):
Yep. Well, and I was gonna say like during the day,
that's when like if you have an appointment, it's like
eleven o'clock or two pm. You're like in the middle
of the day, like I can't do anything if I
wake up at nine and if I had an appointment
at eleven, Like what am I going to do for
two hours? I'm gonna start something and not finish it
and then be agitated.

Speaker 6 (29:24):
So then why they're starting exactly ADHD Yes, it's it's
the difficult and it's so funny because that seems so
like everyone I know same experience, and like the only
way I hack it is like that's.

Speaker 5 (29:36):
When I'll put my audiobook on and I'll do like
household stuff that I need to get done that I'm
grumpy about it. I'm like, well, like I can't do
anything anyway, so I'll like full laundry year older dishes
are kind of yeah, that's what I do in waiting mode.
But then it's it's not awesome because if you do
have an appointment that you need to sort of have
energy for, it's like, oh, you've cooked yourself before you
get there too, So it's the rot.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
Okay, what faction would you be in if you were
in divergent?

Speaker 5 (30:01):
I didn't read the Virgent. I'm I'm that's one that
I didn't read, So how about what what would I
be in Lord of the Rings would be an Alf.

Speaker 1 (30:11):
Okay, okay, let's be real.

Speaker 2 (30:12):
I'm a hobbit.

Speaker 1 (30:13):
Yeah, I would probably be like an orc.

Speaker 2 (30:18):
God, you're not an org. What's wrong with you? You're
not an orc.

Speaker 3 (30:24):
Even our producer is laughing. He's a big Lord of
the Rings guy, and he's like, what.

Speaker 4 (30:29):
I mean, could you just say you're gand I would
be I think would be Gandalf.

Speaker 2 (30:36):
Yeah, I want to be I want to be the Gandolf,
the white fair I don't remember is it I don't
remember his name. I'll be he's gonna laugh. What's the
the one with the animals? Oh, I'll be him.

Speaker 5 (30:53):
There we go, like an old world magic kind of transforming.

Speaker 3 (30:58):
No.

Speaker 5 (30:58):
I think I would be like a riven de elf. Yeah,
not quite as like not quite as reclusive or like,
not as like you know, Gladriel and crew are pretty
closed off. But I also don't think I would be
like I also don't think I would be with the
wood elves, who are a little more feral. They look

(31:20):
like they have good food. Hey, they like read and
eat a lot.

Speaker 3 (31:25):
I don't know.

Speaker 5 (31:25):
It sounds good to me.

Speaker 1 (31:26):
That sounds like a great life.

Speaker 2 (31:28):
I love it.

Speaker 1 (31:29):
Amazing. Well, it's been super fantastic having you here, Kate.

Speaker 4 (31:32):
We have to kind of wrap things up here, but
this has been awesome having you. Now that we know
you run your own publishing company, we're gonna have to
have you back and talk about that.

Speaker 2 (31:43):
Heck, yeah, it's an adventure.

Speaker 4 (31:46):
Yeah, that's a great way to put it. So again,
thank you so much for coming on the podcast today.
We thank you for having really fortunate to have you
check out her book of course, Ties to This Sovereign
Kate Gaately, we have a fun be here to read through.

Speaker 1 (32:01):
And other than that.

Speaker 2 (32:02):
I mean, let me just add with a reminder here
Rihanna referred to herself as an orc. Well, Kate is
an elf and I am a hobbit.

Speaker 1 (32:16):
You said you're an orc.

Speaker 2 (32:18):
I would never drop this.

Speaker 1 (32:20):
I should go as an orc for Halloween.

Speaker 2 (32:23):
Like I'll be a hobbit.

Speaker 1 (32:27):
It would be great. I like it. It's honest, that's
what you have to be.

Speaker 2 (32:33):
Yeah, I mean, oh you know what you could be?

Speaker 4 (32:39):
What?

Speaker 2 (32:41):
Oh my brain just like parted again?

Speaker 5 (32:45):
What about row here? I'm thinking, like horse Lord, you
know we're doing do you love?

Speaker 6 (32:50):
You know?

Speaker 5 (32:51):
You look like you're tough. You look like you can
go into battle on a horse.

Speaker 2 (32:54):
It came to me, Uh huh, you are gullum Oh.

Speaker 1 (33:02):
Cool by precious.

Speaker 3 (33:06):
Oh now we're getting super weird here.

Speaker 1 (33:09):
Oh my gosh, amazing.

Speaker 3 (33:12):
Okay, let's wrap this up before I just keep roasting
myself and get roasted by you. Thank you, Kate for coming,
Thanks everybody for tuning in.

Speaker 1 (33:22):
It's not that kind of book club I'm bringing last.
We'll see you next time.
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.

The Joe Rogan Experience

The Joe Rogan Experience

The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.