I’m a first generation queer, trans desi person (what a mouthful). Pronouns: they/them. I’ve been writing ever since I was a kid which usually meant putting things off and scraping by with grades. Nowadays, I spend time fostering exotic animals through several charity foundations that help save them from terribly abusive and negligent situations. When I’m not writing, I’m usually thinking about it, immersing myself in media and literature, in the psyche of other humans, and working to build foundations in worlds I hope someone can lose themselves in.
Author Links:
Instagram: @shariva.writes
Author Page: www.amazon.com/dp/B0CW1NB6NL
Operation Olive Branch: https://linktr.ee/opolivebranch
GoFundMe’s Highlighted by Authors for Palestine Event: https://afp.ju.mp/#info
For the AfP event we have selected the following 3 families to help boost their fundraisers. The details below were taken from the OOB spreadsheet.
Mohammed’s fundraiser: GoFundMe
Mohammed’s Instagram: @mohammedalbaredei
Ibrahim’s fundraiser: GoFundMe
Ibrahim’s Instagram: @ibrahimwithi
Rula’s fundraiser: GoFundMe
Rula’s Instagram: @rula_mohammed
You were the host of the Authors for Palestine event – can you tell us how that came about, and which of your works you put up as raffle prizes?
Oh goodness, lol. Well, I knew that I wanted to help somehow. I’ve been a huge activist for Palestine for several years and saw the constant decline of attention when it stopped ‘trending’ online. I don’t think it’s weird to say that I’ve thought about Palestine every day since the apartheid blew up in October.
I was starting to see a lot of division with people on my feed and knew that I wanted to connect with like-minded people who were caring, compassionate activists of their own and so I constructed Authors for Palestine thinking I’d be able to get a few people. Instead, it blew up and we had an amazing turnout.
MAIDEN OF THE HOLLOW PATH was my main raffle prize. I think I gave away two or three copies of my epic grimdark fantasy which I thought was fitting for the occasion.
Do you find your sense of social justice and activism informs the philosophy of your writing, in terms of narrative and character arcs? If so, how?
I absolutely think that.
My characters are complex. they come in different colors: courageous, cowardly, extreme, passive. they all have individual beliefs and clash on several occasions. There’s not a time you’ll pick up my books and not see bits and pieces of the world we live in. You kind of see that with Shahina and Crogan.
She’s this villainized rajkumari who destroyed something sacred. Three-hundred-years worth of tradition burnt overnight. But the more you follow her story, the more you start to realize that maybe she’s not as bad as everyone thinks. Maybe she belongs to a group of people who are colonial, who’ve been pushing into land they don’t own, pillaging and colonizing and destroying what they can for themselves. Maybe that ‘tradition’ was propaganda.
What can readers expect in terms of themes for Maiden of the Hollow Path, and why are these themes so important to you?
There are some very intense themes. Nothing graphic, of course, but something to be conscious of. Very horror-esque, but more in the sense of men rather than the monsters they hunt. You’ll find mentions of child soldiers and child marriage, incest, drug use and self-harm. Not in that order, and not directly linked to each other, but to a society that has given no out to the people they’ve promised to take care of.
Indoctrinate children young and they’ll never disobey you. Keep things in your own bloodline because no other is good enough. Self medicate because of consequences they never said you’d reap, and suffer, but only in silence. These themes are hidden away in our own society. we know they’re there, but we don’t really want to talk about it. but I do.
How did these themes influence your worldbuilding, and did you find yourself including things in your world that you didn’t expect to at the start of the plotting/writing process?
I definitely did not think I was going to incorporate drug use, mostly because I based this particular drug off runes that one can consume. very mystical and fantastical, but also dangerous.
In terms of the heavier themes that I previously mentioned, I knew they would be a huge part of the worldbuilding. It’s based off 14th century West Bengal, but of course I didn’t live through that, so based off research and my own modern inquiries when I visited my mother’s homeland, they were themes I knew I needed to have.
How is queerness treated in your world, and what representation can readers expect to find?
Despite being an epic grimdark, my world is fully queernorm. All my characters are part of the LBGTQ+ even if they don’t mention it. you can find a pansexual princess, an asexual pirate, and a demisexual kitsune shifter as part of the main cast. I also have a transgender side character that slowly comes to the forefront as the series grows.
There’s also nonbinary and genderfluidity which you can see in Shahina Rukhezzi and Crogan Takahashi who don’t really adhere to the roles of ‘woman’ or ‘man’, nor do they really see themselves in that light.
Readers can look forward to complex journeys of self-identity.
What is your favourite part of the book (if you have one) and why? If you don’t, which bits were most enjoyable to write?
I think my favorite part of the book is when Crogan starts calling Shahina out on her shit. She’s this tough warrior princess whose led armies through procession marches and has honorary titles and a thousand medals. no one’s ever really stood against her except for this impressive man who hails from across the sea, who stands his ground even if he’s a little intimidated by her.
Despite Shahina being utterly irritated and pissed off that he’s constantly against her, her respect and admiration of him grows because she’s not what everyone says she is. She’s not some dictator who’s always right and I think it’s one of the most human-based experiences I’ve ever written between two characters.
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