Spokesperson for data management, analytics, and AI software by day, and fiction writer, gardener, and archery enthusiast by weekend, Paige E. Ewing has just released Explosive Chemistry, the second installment of her Liliana and the Fae of Fayetteville cozy fantasy series. Texas Lifestyle Magazine had the pleasure to talk with Paige E. Ewing about her journey to becoming a published author.

Where did you grow up and where do you live now?

I grew up in Oklahoma on the edge of a suburb. In front of my house were streets and houses; behind it, a big empty field, a train track, and a distant creek with lots of trees. So, I lived a suburban life, but wandered in the woods and chased frogs in the creek for fun.

I moved to Texas when I was fourteen, lived in a medium-sized town for a while, got engaged to a young man who was Sioux. My foster brother was a wonderful young gay man with a gift for making desserts. He made me a cake for my sixteenth birthday with a dozen roses in a basket on top, each one a different color, and some with edges of the petals one color while the rose was another. I have a lovely double-delight rose growing in my garden now that grows with ivory-colored centers and petals that are edged with brilliant red. Reminds me of him.

At some point, I moved to a smaller town with a couple acres and got myself a nice horse that I pampered periodically and ignored a lot, because college student. I’ve spent most of my life on the edge of civilization, either in a small town, on the edge of a town, or far outside a town on acreage.

I grew up, didn’t get married. My old fiancé and I remained friends, but drifted apart. I named one of my characters in the Liliana and the Fae of Fayetteville series after him. I think a lot of my early life ended up in my books.

Now, I live on 40 acres a mile from the nearest dirt road with two horses, three dogs, and an elderly cat. Oh, and a husband. He’s rather important.

What’s the first thing you wrote that made you want to write more?

I wrote a story when I was six, right after I learned how to write complete sentences and string them together. I started writing my first novel when I was twelve. Science fiction romance. I couldn’t help but mix genres right from the beginning.

I think what made me want to write, really, is that I’m an avid reader. The more I would read, the more I imagined the characters I loved in other adventures. And the more I wanted to write my own stories.

What genres do you write, and why those?

I write in pretty much all of the speculative fiction genres, and I never met a genre I didn’t want to mix with another one. I love to read science fiction. I just finished the new Murderbot book by Martha Wells, my absolute favorite series right now. I’ve got a science fiction AI story getting published in January in the “Learning to Be Human” short stories anthology.

I love fantasy – epic, urban, portal, whatever. I love all of it, but urban fantasy is probably my favorite. I’m working my way through Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series now. Loved their Innkeeper books, too. I’m also a romance fan – a fun, fluffy romance really gives me the warm fuzzies. Janne Ann Krentz is one of my favorites, and I love her historicals as Amanda Quick. I also enjoy cozy mysteries and the new cozy fantasy genre, like Legends and Lattes. Becky Chambers’ cozy science fiction books are the best, too.

So, I write, well, all of those. I write what I love to read.

Why mix at all? Why don’t you just pick one?

It comes down to this essential bit: if you’re going to spend ages and ages with a character and a world and a genre, it has to be something you love. And I love a lot of different genres.

The Liliana books are a mystery and have great action plots because I love exciting action. There’s fantasy characters in the books like werewolves and Fae because I enjoy reading about them, and I sometimes wonder, why aren’t there were-rabbits? Or were-spiders for that matter? So, that ends up in my books. I love characters that are neither good nor bad, just people. People are complicated. So, I write those. And of course, we have to have a little romance in there because that just gives everything spice. And humor! Gotta have some humor or life gets boring.

Hey, that AI story is only one genre, so I might sometimes pick one and stick with it. Just not terribly often, and not for long. It would be hard for me to stick to one genre for a long open-ended series.

A were-spider is pretty unusual, but aside from being spider-kin, how is your main character different from other heroines in the urban fantasy genre?

The first thing folks might see that makes her different, aside from all the unusual spider eyes and such, is that she’s neurodivergent. Liliana’s got eight eyes, although she keeps six of them hidden most of the time. Each pair sees in a different way, and that overwhelming amount of sensory input has forced her mind to work differently from other peoples’ minds. That probably makes Liliana unique as an urban fantasy heroine, but I don’t think that’s the thing that really makes her stand out in the genre.

Most urban fantasy heroines are butt kickers. They’ve got big swords, or spells, or big guns and an attitude a mile wide. They’re the kind of person who would punch you in the nose if you insulted them.

Liliana is a very different kind of character. She might cry if you insulted her. She’s far more likely to drink tea with you than fist-fight you, and she’s not big on the sarcastic quips either. She’s entirely mystified by the social maze that people navigate on a daily basis, and would prefer to simply avoid conversations, especially with strangers.

Of course, she also has blades hidden in her forearms, can fight better than a martial arts champion, and is more agile than a ballerina, but you have to really give her a good reason before you find out about all that.

The first book starts with a werewolf and two police officers accusing her of being a serial killer. Her first instinct is simply to run away. But when the werewolf hunts her, that changes things. The last thing she expected at that point was to make a friend.

Precise Oaths, book 1, and Explosive Chemistry, book 2, are full of things that will make urban fantasy fans happy, but they’re also full of a fair number of twists and surprises. I find myself calling it cozy fantasy with a side of combat, since it’s a bit more action and violence-packed than the usual cozy, but otherwise tends to fit that sub-genre well.

Do you have any skills that end up in your books? Any examples in Explosive Chemistry?

A few. I’m an absolute geek about a lot of things, but as far as technology, I know a fair amount about computer programming, data management and AI, machine learning, that sort of thing. There always ends up being something techno-geeky in my books, and I make sure it’s accurate.

I’m also a pretty decent archer and that frequently comes in handy in fantasy books. I enjoy throwing axes, spears, knives, and various other sharp objects at targets mostly. I used to fence with foil, epee, and SCA-style with off-hand weapons like daggers and small shields. I’ve practiced about a dozen unarmed martial arts as well. All of that ends up in the books somewhere. Mainly it tends to give my action scenes some realism.

But probably the one thing I do obsessively that you see in the Liliana books a fair amount is I love to garden. I moved onto a rocky hill that used to be part of a cattle ranch and have spent the last few years turning it into something covered in flowers and butterflies. Liliana spends time in her herb garden, and grows things that end up in her cooking, which happens at my house, too.

If Liliana, your main character, showed up at your door and said, “do this,” what could she say that you would absolutely immediately do?

It’s kind of like if Murderbot told you that you had to do something in order to not be murdered.

If Liliana showed up at my door, and said, “You have to run around your house three times while wearing two different colored socks so you won’t die,” I’d start digging in my sock drawer.

Doesn’t matter how odd it is, if Liliana says do this and you won’t die, DO IT!

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Cover photo courtesy Paige E. Ewing