The Assassin and the Sorceress: An Interview with N.R.G. Selove
- Swords & Sapphics team
- Apr 18
- 9 min read
Why not spend the long weekend in a fantastical world of elves, magic, and royals? In this interview, N.R.G. Selove tells us all about his debut,The Assassin and the Sorceress, including its ties to Skyrim and The Hobbit, how queer and autistic representation plays a part in this sapphic romantasy, and what the author has learned on the self-publishing journey so far.
This first book in this new series is out now!
Thank you for joining us! Could you start by introducing yourself?
I’m Nathan, using the pen name N.R.G. Selove. I’m a bisexual autistic father and a professor of communication studies and advocacy. I am accompanied by a service dog and I rediscovered my love for writing and reading about five years ago.
We would love to know more about The Assassin and the Sorceress and what inspired you to write it!
The story was actually inspired by a backstory I created for a character in Skyrim. I always loved creating complex backstories for characters in video games and I was particularly proud of this one for a wood elf assassin named Jessara. I started creating the rest of the story in my head until I had a general outline. Then one night I was a little drunk and I was info-dumping about the story to my wife Jess (yes I named the character after her) and she told me I should just start writing. So I did. I worked on it on and off for about two and a half years, assuming I’d never finish a first draft. But then I did.
What drew you to the romantasy genre, and what do you love most about writing in a fantasy setting?
I’ve always been a hopeless romantic. I am not ashamed to say I have had dreams of my wedding day since I was a kid. Whenever I would consume books, TV, or movies I was always most intrigued by the romantic story lines. Even if it wasn’t a romance, I love it when compatible characters end up together–especially queer characters as I find relationships among queer folks are often more equitable and pure.
The Hobbit was one of my favorite books as a child. I love the idea of exploring a completely different world and universe where the rules of nature, the land, the lore, and the politics are completely different. I love getting lost in such a world. And yet, fantasy can also be a method of holding a mirror up to the real world to call out its flaws. Writing fantasy is a way to do all of that on my own terms.
As a lover of romance, do you have any favourite tropes, and do any appear in the book?
I love enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, hunter/assassin falls for their mark, bodyguard falls for protectee, opposites attract, forced proximity, hero’s journey, dark haired morally grey MC, and a queer normative world.
My book contains all of those except for bodyguard falls for protectee and friends to lovers. Also the enemies to lovers is more pseudo enemies to lovers so I wouldn’t market it as that.
What did the world-building process look like for you? Was this setting inspired by any other places, real or fictional?
Because I began this story on a whim, much of the world building was first done on the fly. Then once I finished the first draft and realized that I actually wanted to turn this into something, I created a much more in-depth map out of the world, the magic system, politics, regions, and factions. I currently have a 55-page series bible.
As I mentioned earlier, I drew some inspiration from the Elder Scrolls video game series and The Hobbit in terms of world building. I also drew a little inspiration from the Warcraft universe and the Witcher book series as well. In terms of the real world, much of the politics of this world is a critique of US foreign policy, specifically in the Middle East.
Can you tell us a little bit about your characters? Which, if any, do you identify with most and why?
The MCs are Jessara and Asha.
Jessara is a bisexual autistic dark-haired morally grey assassin who kills for money and to enact revenge on those who killed her family. She is a woodland elf who was taken from the elven nation and raised by the human kingdom to be a weapon. During her childhood, she was put through rigorous training, pushing both her mind and body to its limits. Tending to keep to herself, she struggles with conversations and reading the emotions of others. At the start of the story, she is content with her life as a killer in service of the King, whom she views as a father figure.
I won’t say too much about Asha’s background to avoid spoilers, but she is a wisecracking lesbian fire sorceress who loves being the life of the party and meeting new people. She’s deeply passionate, which sometimes gets her in trouble when paired with her impulsivity. If a plan involves blowing shit up, she’s all for it. Yet despite her chaotic nature when it comes to battle, she is thoughtful in conversation and tries to be impeccable with her words. At the start of the story she escapes execution in the capital city of the Kingdom, becoming a fugitive.
In terms of side characters, I’m not going to go through all of the major ones because aspects of them will be spoilers for the story, but here is a list of a few with a general description.
The King, who is strategic, cunning, and machiavellian.
Harriot, a grouchy human general.
Aleris, an elven scholar.
Glindar, a gender queer elven shapeshifter.
Tya, an asexual monk.
Progmash, the chief of the orcish nation.
Lashgra, an orcish scout.
The main characters are heavily based on myself and my wife. They aren’t perfect parallels and both of them have traits from both of us, but the character that is closest to me is Asha.
And, similarly, which characters do you hope your readers will connect with the most?
It depends on who the reader is. I hope that queer people will relate to some of the various queer characters in the book and I hope that neurodivergent people will connect with Jessara. However, even if the reader isn’t queer or neurodivergent, I believe that many of the emotions and experiences gone through by both of the MCs will feel real enough for most people to find connections.
The story features a diverse range of representation, with bisexual, lesbian, and autistic main characters. Why was it important to you to include this in your books?
Three main reasons;
First and foremost, people deserve to see characters that are like them. The LGBTQ community and especially the Autism community are notoriously underrepresented. If I read more books with queer characters growing up, I might have realized I was bisexual much earlier. If I had read more books with openly autistic characters when I was younger, I would have grown up with a much better self-image.
Second, for people outside of these communities, the best way to combat implicit bias is to expose themselves to positive examples of that which they have a bias against. I hope this book can provide that.
Finally, it comes down to writing about what and who I know. Most of the people that I regularly spend time with are either autistic, queer, gender queer, or some combination of those. To some, it might appear that I was forcing representation into the book, but in truth I was writing about the people I tend to surround myself with.
Is there any additional representation that you’d like to see or write more of in the future?
Beyond what I’ve already mentioned, I would love to see more representation of various disabilities. At my college I actually teach a class in disability advocacy and one of the things I discuss in that class is how the disabled community at large needs to start being treated like a group with a social identity, not just a medical condition. The first step is regular portrayal of various disabilities in books.
Have you come across any challenges while writing or publishing this story? How have you overcome them?
When writing the first draft, I never thought I would finish it so when I‘d run into a wall, I’d put it down for a while–sometimes months on end. Then I’d randomly get a ping of inspiration and I’d write a bunch in a week. This became a cycle for about two and a half years before I finally finished the draft. I learned from this for my second book and instead of doing major sprints where I would write massive chunks of the book in a matter of days, I did a little every day and forced myself to stop at a certain point. As a result it was finished much quicker.
Honestly, the biggest challenge has been imposter syndrome. Not thinking I’m good enough or worthy enough to try to publish. And the truth is that the first draft was pretty terrible. But I used some of my friends as beta readers who gave me some brutally honest feedback. I also hired an editor who gave me even more brutally honest feedback and now I have a manuscript I’m proud of.
Are you a plotter or pantser, and, with royal assassins, fire magic, and elves, did any additional research go into this book?
In writing the first book I was absolutely a pantser. Now I would say I’m a bit of a hybrid. I don’t sit down and create complex outlines, but I do make sure I have a general outline of where I want the story to go. Before I write, I will explain the plot to a friend of mind to work out some of the fine details. However, once I start writing I do try to be flexible. If while I’m writing I feel the story should be taken in a slightly different direction then I’ll do that.
In terms of research, most of the lore around royal assassins, fire magic, and elves were my own spin inspired by other fantasy stories. The bulk of my research done for this was on anatomy and physiology so I could be as accurate as possible when describing the injuries as well as medical treatment of said injuries. My father is a retired biology professor and he helped me a lot with this.
I also spent a lot of time researching medieval fabrics to describe clothing, architecture to describe buildings, and the names of parts of a fort so I could use proper terminology.
We’d love a hint about what readers can expect from you next! What are you currently working on? Will we see more books set in this world?
Yes! The plan is for this first book to be the start of a series of at least four books. All of which are going to take place in the same world with the same characters and continue their story.
At this point I have a draft of the second book which has just been sent to its first round of beta readers. I also have recently finished a first full draft of the third book, which I’m currently in the process of doing a first edit on.
What made you decide to pursue self-publishing, and have you learned anything since your journey began?
Mainly for the freedom. I don’t want someone else to try to impose deadlines or content requirements. This is a passion project and I want to write what I want to write.
I’ve learned a ton during this process and my answer to that question could be its own novel. I guess the biggest thing that I’ve learned is just how much of a rich desire there is for queer fiction. I was never given any of it to read in grade school, having grown up in rural Virginia before marriage equality was even legal.
The more I’ve been immersing myself into the self-publishing world, the more amazing authors I’m discovering and the more hope I’m getting for the future of the queer movement.
According to your author bio, you’re also a podcaster. Tell us a bit about where we can listen to you, and what your podcast covers!
The podcast is called “The Perspectrum”. You can find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and most of the other popular podcasting platforms. It is a political progressive podcast where my co-host and I break down political news and do policy deep dives. We both studied politics in college and we both have a passion for progressive reform. In our coverage, we try to provide some humor to make learning about these issues as entertaining as possible for our listeners, while still trying to give important issues the weight they deserve.
Our podcast and blog focuses on media we’re currently loving. Are there any books, shows, movies, or games you’re enjoying at the moment? Any recommendations for our audience? Bonus points if it includes sapphics!
I just finished all of the current books in the Cait Reagan series by Aoibh Wood which is an urban fantasy series about vampire lesbians. I really enjoyed it!
I recently finished The Forbidden Girl by Kristin Zimmer, a retelling of Romeo and Juilet as a sapphic mafia romance and I absolutely loved it!
I’m currently on book two of the Blacksea Odyssey series by J.A. Vodvarka which is an arcanepunk sapphic slow burn romance adventure series. Totally recommend this series! Love it so far!
I am listening to the audio book for A Tale of Whispers and Rogues by Jordan Lee which is a MM romantasy. I just started it but so far it’s been drawing me in.
About the Author
N. R. G. Selove is a queer autistic writer, podcaster, disability advocate, political activist, and professor of communication studies. He lives in Virginia with his wife, daughter, and two dogs. His hobbies include video games, long walks, arguing, and long discussions about T.V. shows and movies with his wife. He's a hopeless romantic who loves love in all of its beautiful forms.
Comments