Interview with Author: Karina Halle

A dream, a superhero, and a kiss that can kill—Karina Halle joins me for a wildly honest, high‑energy conversation about Vanguard and the creative path that brought it roaring to life. 

From process to publishing, Karina is disarmingly practical. She writes in sprints, outlines lightly, sees scenes like movies, and lets characters bend the plan. We talk hybrid publishing and non‑competes, why she’ll always keep an indie lane for control, and how chasing reviews kills joy. She pinpoints backlist highlights—Sins and Needles for morally gray adrenaline, Ship of Bones and Teeth for pirate‑mermaid mayhem, Black Sunshine for obsessive vampires—and offers smart starting points for new readers.

Press play for craft insights, industry truths, and a reminder that romance isn’t fluff; it’s a lifeline that teaches us to want more and fight for it. If you enjoyed this conversation, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review to help others find us.

Follow Karina Halle on IG: @authorhalle

www.authorkarinahalle.com

Cover Art by: moi

Intro/Outro Music: positive vibes by nanaacom on Capcut

Contact Email: spillthesmutpodcast@gmail.com

Podcast IG: @spillthesmutpodcast TT: @spillthesmutpodcast

Jordan IG: @sipsoffiction TT: @sipsoffiction

Transcript

Introducing Karina Halle’s Range

Jordan 0:21

She's the author of over 80 incredible romance novels. Yes, you heard that right, 80 novels. I like to describe her as an author who truly does it all, because no matter what you love to read, she has a book for you. Contemporary, she's got you. Paranormal, covered. Horror, gothic, suspense, science fiction, spooky, cowboy fantasy, and that's just some of them. No joke, she's got it all. Whatever you're in the mood for, trust me, she's written it. And her writing is pure chef's kiss. The kind that pulls you in from page one and refuses to let you go. I promise, once you start, you won't be able to put her books down. Personally, she's one of my favorite authors. Before becoming an author, she was a music and travel journalist, which is so cool, by the way. And she also has the cutest pup named Perry. Please welcome to the podcast, The One, The Only, Karina Halley. Hi, I'm so sorry. That is so long. And when I wrote it, it wasn't that long. But as I'm talking, I was like, oh my gosh, she's sitting there forever while I talk about her. Loved it. It was great. I'm so sorry. But also not because I feel like I could also just keep talking about you. I love your books. And also you as a person. You are just the sweetest person on the planet.

Karina Halle 1:40

Oh, that is so not true, but thank you.

Jordan 1:45

Oh, but it is. I and I know I kind of told you this already, but I'm literally so excited you are letting me interview you.

Karina Halle 1:54

This is like a podcast that I'm not scared of. Because I'm like, I know you, we're friends, we're cool. So I'm just like, this will be fun. This will be just two girls talking.

Jordan 2:02

I know, right? I think ah, I'm just so excited. Okay. Well, so now we can dive on in, which I do like to ask before we like actually get to like the interview, what has been the highlight of your week so far?

Karina Halle 2:16

One highlight is that it's February 2nd and it's no longer January. So that's great.

Jordan 2:21

Agreed.

ARC Reactions And Creative Comeback

Karina Halle 2:21

January was like 10 years long. Um, and I guess the highlight has been here's something interesting. This is not a highlight, this is just something I saw the other day. But you can, you know how you can tell February might be a good month, is because or any month is good because the first started on a Sunday, and if you look at your calendar, it's all perfectly like four weeks. Perfect, and then it ends on a Saturday. I thought that was cool.

Jordan 2:49

Wait, I didn't even realize that. I can't please me.

Karina Halle 2:53

Wait, I look at my calendar, you're like, ooh, this lines up nice. This is pleasing to the eye. Um, but yeah, so that I don't know if that's a highlight, but it's something I noticed. But the highlight of the week has been Arcs for Vanguard went out on that's my next release on February 12th. That went out on Wednesday or Thursday or Thursday. And you know, I was really nervous about this book, like super, super, super, super, super nervous because it's kind of a new genre for me. Um, it is a mashup, which is not new for me, but it's you know, and I have done sci-fi, but it's like spy thriller, sci-fi, post-dystopian. I haven't done dystopian kind of thing. So that's new. It's a super long book, so it's like 570 pages or something. So that's also rare for me. I usually do not write long. You know, it's the first book I've completed in like almost a year. So I kind of, you know, had as you know, everyone who follows me, and I know I had a tough year last year. Everyone, I think, kind of had a tough year, but uh I definitely lost a writing mojo, and I didn't think I'd get it back. And but I really wanted, and slowly it started to come back a little bit, and so there was a lot of stops and starts, but finally this book, I was just like, okay, I'm going all in. And so it's a bit rusty, you know, the feeling of like, wow, I haven't self-published since like last April, and I haven't really completed anything since then. So I'm kind of like finding my feet again, and kind of you go through that stage where you're like, Is this garbage? Is this suck? Because I haven't written in so long. Did I forget how to write? Is my writing different? Has it changed? Or is it just I've changed? You know, all the things. And since I put out the arcs on, or my assistant Lauren did on Thursday, I've had nothing but people reaching out to me and saying they love the book. So that has been the highlight because I was so worried that I was like, everyone's gonna hate it. And I had no, you know, I had I didn't have betas for this one. Um my editor Laura, bless her heart. If you're listening, Laura, I'm sorry. She is like, I mean, Laura will be like, yeah, she'd be nodding right now with a straight face, being completely true. But like, you know, she did say she loved it, so that is great. But you know, you you want to know for sure that is it okay? And by the way, she only edited half, so maybe the last half was a stinker. I don't know. So, anyways, hearing those wonderful feedback, the wonderful feedback from like ARC reviewers so far has been such a highlight and a and a relief. Like, what a relief that it's not total trash.

Jordan 5:14

I don't think you could write a trash book, Karina, like at all.

Karina Halle 5:19

I have written trash books before, believe me. There, okay, to be fair, I'm being really hard on myself and I know that, but there are books where I at the end of it where I hated writing it, and at the end of it, I was like, I don't think this is great, like it's not bad. I'd never say I released anything that was terrible. Um, they've all been like good enough or like okay, um, but not some of them have just not been great, and their experience wasn't great, and a lot of times it was because in the past. I mean, I'll tell you the books, I don't fucking care. For example, uh, and again, I don't hate this book. I actually think it's a lot of fun. And looking back, I'm like rereading it kind of, and I'm like, actually, this is this is fun and exciting. But I think because I was having such a hard time writing it, I was really depressed, which is usually a thing, and I was just for it was on deadline with like uh Montlake. If I had known then to advocate for myself with publishers, I I would have, but I was so uh pressed to get this book to them by the deadline that it was just really hard to write. And I was going through depression and stuff. So when I finally did have the book out, I was like, not I was like, this isn't great. Like I'm happy I got it done, but like it's just not my best work, I should say that. So, like, is it a trash book? No, I actually still like it, but it's just not my best work because like I my brain was just all over the place, it was a slog. So sometimes that does come through, and people didn't love the book either. Again, they didn't hate it, it just didn't have that spark that I guess what my books do, especially books that you really love writing, kind of thing. So, so yeah, so you never know, and I'm not the best judge of my own work, anyways, because sometimes I will write a book where I'm like, I love it, this is awesome, and then people are like, I hated it. And um, I mean, granted, that happens with every book, but then I'm just like, oh, maybe my own judgment is not great. But uh, but yeah, so I didn't know if Vanguard was gonna be good enough, but now that I've heard, and I get it, if people don't like it, totally get it, because it is a genre mashup, it is very long, maybe there's too many sex scenes, maybe there's not enough sex scenes, maybe it's too political. All the things, fine, don't get it. Totally understand, and I get it. But the fact that I've gotten such lovely feedback has just been such a relief.

Jordan 7:39

And I like I can't wait to read this book. I am so excited. I I feel like it was so I don't know if serendipitous is the right word, but I feel like I've been in this like dystopian era myself, and then when I saw you announce this dystopian novel, I was like, shut the front door.

Karina Halle 7:58

Yeah, and it kind of came like as an accident too.

Jordan 8:02

Oh, really?

Genre Mashups And Post‑Dystopian Worldbuilding

Karina Halle 8:03

Well, kind of. So the reason so how the book came about was I watched the movie Thunderbolts, and great movie. I hadn't heard like I've been on like not so much into Marvel lately because I think it's just too much and too much superhero stuff. I did watch the newest Superman, I thought it was great, and and Thunderbolts, I was like, I'll get to it, and then I decided to put it on. And my husband hates superhero stuff, so it's hard to get him to watch any of that. Um, but we put it on, it was hilarious. The characters were so relatable, surprisingly. Uh, Bob and especially the void, because he's like a villain, but it's like depression is what it really is, and Elena and and how she's dealing with being a spy and like her depression and coming to terms with that kind of thing, and it was just so real. And I had a dream that night. Um, obviously, that that dream brought on, although it wasn't really about Thunderbolts. That's when I had a sexy dream about Captain America by Chris Evans, but but he had like a dark, kinky, devious side that like no one knew about under the surface. So when I woke up, I was like, I need to write that story. Like, and there was a little bit in it, like I was a spy, like black widow kind of, but not. But so when I woke up, I told my husband, I'm like, I'm doing a superhero romance, and he was just like, What? That is nothing like what you'd normally say. But then I was like, wait a minute, yes, it is. When I was 19, I wrote X-Men fanfiction longhand in several journals when I was backpacking across New Zealand and Australia, and it was like a you know, um, I don't know what the terms are. Like, I don't actually write fanfiction, but I didn't realize at the time that's what I was doing. And I don't know what the terms are, but like original character is that I don't know what it is, but um, it was X-Men, but I invented it, I invented a new girl, and her name was Lanai, and she could control gravity, and she falls in love with Logan, but it's enemies to lovers, and it's kind of like a bully romance, too, because he's such a jerk. And like, I don't even know if they hooked up in the books or not, or if I stopped it before then. I need to find these because I want to post them on my Instagram because it'd be really funny, but um, but yeah, so it is kind of like and I was obsessed with X-Men. I saw that like in the movie theater like 10 times, and like, you know, I love the Avengers and everything, so like it does make sense for me to do it, it's just something that's kind of been like in the background of my head, and so I had this idea, it's like, yes, superhero, but I don't want to have it cheesy because I mean a lot of people think that. So I started thinking like realistically, because me, it's always like, okay, realistically, how could things happen? So I was like, okay, well, if there really are superheroes, he would be a super soldier, probably turned into a superhero. And then I was looking more at that, and I was like, Well, we don't have the tech now for that, but so this would have to be set in the future. So I was like, okay, so this is set in the future, how far in the future? And I'm like, I don't know, like, can't be too far because I want it to still feel relatable. So I was like, we'll do 2040. And then I was thinking, okay, well, what does the United States look like in 2040? And I was like, oh fuck, I'm not gonna look good. So I was like, well then this is dystopian now because it's gonna be shit. And then I was like, no, what if you gave people hope? So like they they went through the shit and now they're coming out of it. So this is basically starts, it's like post-dystopian. So it begins after the dark decade where the US dollar collapses and then the society collapses and authoritarianism reigns, and how you got how you get out of that. So it's them coming out of it, so there's hope, but it's still you know.

Jordan 11:36

I like that.

Karina Halle 11:37

I like that.

Jordan 11:38

Please give us hope, Green up, please.

Karina Halle 11:40

Exactly. So I was like, no, it's too depressing if it's in the middle of it. Like, so so yeah, so there's that kind of aspect to it, and so that's kind of how the dystopian part came, where I was just kind of looking at the way things were going now, and I was thinking, like, we're in the dystopia, aren't we? Like, we just don't know it, kind of thing. So I kind of took that and made that part of my world. Um, but yeah, so that's kind of how the dystopian thing came in. So a lot of people would say, like, when they're reading it, they see a lot of parallels to what's happening now. And it's obviously not an accident because like a lot of some of it was in the sense that like there were some things I was writing, and then like two weeks later, you know, about like Vanguard, the main character, his sister was an activist, and and she was purposely like shot and killed by like the you know, Department of Homeland Security agents or whatever it was. So, like, and then like you know, you start to seeing these parallels in real life happening after that, and it's just like, well, this isn't great. It's starting to mimic real life, like for real. So, I mean, I don't go too heavy on it, and I don't, for example, like I don't bring up, I don't want to break any spells, right? So I want to keep it rooted in like escapism in the sense of like not I don't want to bump you out of the story, like I don't want you to to suddenly be like, so I don't mention like Trump and I don't mention like anybody like that, so that there's no one's name. Yeah, it's just it's just kind of like generic, because it kind of is generic in a way, like that this is just uh something that is taken root in a lot of different people and a lot of different things. So, like if it didn't happen this through him or if he was someone else, it happened to someone else. So it's just like a very kind of generic thing. I wanted to keep it that way. Um, but yeah, so that's kind of how that all came about.

Origin Of Vanguard: From Dream To Draft

Jordan 13:25

I cannot wait. I cannot wait. So actually before we because like we'll come back to Vanguard because I also have so many questions about that one, but before we come back to that, I do have some questions about you like being an author and things. Yep, yep. And okay, so like the first question I have for you is what inspired you to be an author and to write like romance books?

Karina Halle 13:51

Um so back when I was a kid, a wee child, a wee child, growing up in Vancouver, I was very much in love with like The Long Winter by Laura Inglis Wilder. And I read lots of books like that. That black I was a horse girl, so it's very much like you know, Saddle Club, I was obsessed with the babysitter's club. Um a lot of like Saddle Club was third person, but first person, and and that really got me like into that kind of like I wanted to, I tried to write stories and books like that. First person, different characters, like that you could kind of be in their shoes and relate to and whatnot. And um so that was one thing. Actually, I have to say, in grade 10 or nine, um, and that I understand by saying grade 10 or 9, that's totally out of me as a Canadian. Also, the way I said out right there, anyway. Um grade 10 or 9, we had a a book report due. You know, we do book reports, and I made up my own book, and I called it Spotted Beauty, it was the unofficial sequel to Black Beauty. I made up an author name, I don't know who the author was, but I made up some name, and I did this whole book report on a book that doesn't exist that I just made up, and I was like, I thought it was so clever, and I handed it in, and I remember the teacher talking to the class and being like, All right, I got your book reports in, and I'm gonna give you out the your grades tomorrow or whatever. But I just want to let you know, like for future reference, they have to be real books, you can't make up your own book, and I remember being like, uh-huh, or like thinking, like, there's no way she's talking about me. Like, she's obviously talking about someone else, obviously she's talking about me.

Jordan 15:41

But like, I feel like that is so creative and so unique. Like, gosh darn it. I don't think I got a bad mark.

Karina Halle 15:48

I want it, maybe I got an A for effort, but like I wasn't following the rules. But later when I was a teenager, I started to write a series about a group of high schoolers, and um, you know, again, I abandoned that um you know, un undiagnosed ADHD, which I didn't know at the time, of course. And uh and then I just like got into screenwriting, so that I was able to do um because there's a lot I like um a format and a formula, and that's a 3x structure, and you don't you can't uh bend any rules. So there is that, so I'm autistic and I have ADHD, so they've got these competing sides, and the ADHD is like the rules, I'm gonna make up my own book for book report, and then the autistic side is like well, you must write in this particular order, and that is that, no breaking the rules. So, like those two things. So that side really liked the screenwriting, and I always see things visually, and I went to film school, so I was doing screenwriting for quite a while, but it's just such a hard industry to break into, unless you make your own movie, which actually my husband um is a screenwriter, and he did do that. He has a TV pilot and is currently being looked at by Crave and CBC and whatnot. Yeah, so there are exceptions to the rule, and he is one of them, but in general, you are just kind of looking for that one in a million chance because, like, I mean, even Spielberg could barely get Lincoln made, you know, like there's a lot of like stories of big name actors and and whatnots attached to like projects that look like they do well and they still fall through. Like, it's just so hard to get a movie made. It's like it's impossible. And so I was like, this will never happen to me because the script is just a script, you can't really just go and sell it elsewhere, it has to be made into a movie where it doesn't really exist, kind of thing. So at some point I stopped screenwriting, I was going to school for I got my bachelor's of journalism, and that's how I was doing music journalism and stuff like that. And at one point I was like, Oh, I had this idea for a book, and I and if I just knew it wasn't gonna be a script, and I didn't want to do that anyways, and I was like, Oh, but how am I gonna do a book? Like, that's scripts are like 90 pages, and books are like 300 pages. Like, I was like, I don't know how I'm gonna be able to do it. So there was a time, I think it was actually during nanoRimo, and I was kind of participating in it, like not officially, but just like, okay, well, everybody's writing every day in November, so that's what I'm gonna do. So I got a head start, I started in October, and I thought to myself, if I can write every single day for 30 days, apparently that's how you make a habit. I, of course, didn't realize that I had ADHD, and that's not how habits work. You don't get habits, but you don't get bad habits. So, but somehow I did it. I did it for like every single day for 30 days, and I basically had most of a book done, and that was the first book I ever wrote, and that's kind of when I was like, oh, I did it, I can do it again. And then that's just basically how that happened.

Jordan 18:41

That is so cool. Well, because like I know you've been publishing for years, but when did your fook for wow, I can't talk. When did your first book release? Like, when did you publish it?

Karina Halle 18:54

Um, my first book released in well, I wrote it at the end of 2009. Um, and I released it in May 2011. In fact, I have May 13th, 2011, because I have a 13 tattoo behind my ear because it was Friday the 13th, so I got that kind of on that day as like a commemorative, like, I published my book and it's Friday the 13th. Wait, that oh, I like that.

Process, Routines, And Neurodiversity

Jordan 19:20

Because I mean you gotta you gotta you gotta celebrate those things. That is like so cool. So, and I know I know too, like I'm sure like the writing process has changed for you because I know you said you sat down for like 30 days to write in the month of November, but like what is your writing routine like now?

Karina Halle 19:39

I don't have a routine, it's not too much different from that. So, like I am not the person who writes every day, like that is not my I only can do it when the muse is demanding me or a deadline, so otherwise, like I just can't do it. So, like I'll just kind of am kind of on and off. I feel like I'm a ship worker, like, or like my mom was a flight attendant for like 30 years, so she was a lot of like two weeks off at home or one week off at home and then two weeks in the air. That's kind of how I operate. So, like, yeah, but like if I get an idea, I have to first of all get a notebook so that, or find a notebook that I can write this idea in and plot it out, and then I can start to slowly plot it, work on the characters a little bit. Um, I have to think about it for a while. It's very, very rare. I can't even think of an example where I get an idea and I just jump right into it and start writing. Like, that's not how it works for me. I'm I'm not one of those like, I got this idea in the middle of the night and I just started writing. I that's not how I work. Like, I have to think about it and percolate in the back of my head while I do other things until I'm finally ready. And sometimes it doesn't take that long, but I still have never just been able to jump into it. Like it always takes time. I have to find muses, so like real life people that I can imagine because everything I see, like I can see everything like a movie in my head. So like I just basically have the movie play and I just kind of transcribe it, but I have to know who I'm looking at. So I often pick muses to inspire me, um, so I can see their faces as as this movie is playing. Oftentimes what's interesting is like I'll have like I'll have their pictures like back in the day, I'd cut them out and put them on notebook, and now they're on my phone, like on Pinterest or whatever. And it's funny when I am imagining it and seeing it, oftentimes they don't actually really look that much like the person I'm seeing. They just kind of like a vague resemblance of, or um, sometimes I can't even see them clearly at all. It's just kind of like vibes, but uh, but yeah, so that's one of the things I have to have someone I work best once I have a cover, which is odd. It's tough, it is strange. It's tough for me to I mean, I'll do it, but it I just work easier. It comes easier when I know when I have a cover. I don't know why. Maybe because it and that's tough when you're like doing um traditional publishing because they're that cover is not going to come until after you're done. But so that's kind of a pain in the butt. But yeah, so I work best when I have a cover, so it's like a lot of visuals are involved. I have to plot out the book um chapter by chapter. Um, the chapters, the things sometimes change, so like I I'm not married to what's happening, but I have to know the end and I have to know. I'm going. It doesn't have to be detailed, but if I can't see it, then I can't get there. I have to write linearly, so I cannot jump around. Um, it depends. I could do it if it's like a different point of view. Um, I could jump to maybe their next point of view, but I can't I have to go on the journey with the characters in order for them to influence what happens next. So it's a weird combination of plotting and knowing what's going to happen, but also letting them tell me what to do. Um, so if I'm not someone's like, oh, we're write the scene that you're like, oh, you got writer's blog, right? The scene that you're most excited about first. And I'm like, no, because I don't know who they'll be at that point in time. You know what I mean? So that's kind of part of it. And generally I just try and find a block of time uh between two weeks to a month, and I'm just like, okay, this is when this book's gonna get done, and it always gets pushed back, like like I'm always behind. This time I wasn't, but usually I'm always behind. So, like, you know, that's why I'm always shifting deadline, like I need the deadline, but I also need to be able to move the deadline. So I need both of those things, and so people are always like, You're always you know, changing release dates. I'm like, Yeah, I just it's just gotta get used to it.

Jordan 23:33

And I know you've talked about this too on social media because people will get so mad at you for changing like release dates, but I don't know.

Karina Halle 23:41

I'm like, who cares?

Jordan 23:42

Well, and also too, like, don't people want like the best version of the story that you can give us? Like, if you need to push something back, I'm like, yes, please, because clearly you need more time with it.

Karina Halle 23:54

So I'm like, right?

Jordan 23:57

And I like it like boggles my mind because I'm like, I no, like we I yeah, it's just I don't I don't I don't get it either.

Karina Halle 24:06

I think And that's the thing because I have been in the situation where I've rushed rushed to get something out and and then people call you out like oh this ending was rushed, and it's like because you guys kept complaining. So like so really it's just you just have to learn to just ignore the noise and like and like I don't I honestly don't mind if the comments are like oh I was really looking forward to it, that's fine, but just don't get mad about it, and and also realistically, I mean you're gonna forget. I mean, maybe it's just me, but like if I'm looking forward to a book and it gets pushed back, like I'll forget about that until it comes up, and like, oh yeah, yeah, that's coming. Like, I might there might be a moment of like I guess in TV, I I'm more like if they're like, Well, Severance is not coming out until now, until 2027. I'm like, Oh, why is it taking them so long? But then I'm just like, then I'll forget about it until it finally comes out. I'm like, Yay, you know, like there's other things to watch, there's other things to read. No, that's my kind of thing.

Jordan 25:08

It's so true. No, it is. Um, okay, so then what would you say is the most challenging part of like writing a book? And what is the most rewarding part?

Writing Highs, Lows, And Reader Impact

Karina Halle 25:18

It was most rewarding will be like when I'm like in the zone and I'm like excited and I'm really feeling it and it's coming easily. Um, that's like a high that's really hard to duplicate. So, like, definitely the that is the most rewarding for me. It's it's when it like feels like you're like locked in, you're in sync. Like that's pretty cool. And and that's the times when I feel like someone is communicating through me, like I'm a medium. So I'm just putting like these people exist. Like, I have a character, Javier, um, from the artist trilogy and dirty angels trilogy, and he is someone that I swear to God, he just exists somewhere because like there's no way like he's a product of my mind, like he is such a flesh and bone person that I'm like, he's there's he's somewhere, and I'm somehow, or he was somewhere at some point in time, and somehow I'm getting he's I don't know, it's it's one of those weird woo-woo things. So I'm like, there's no way Javier is just like from my brain, like he existed before in some way. So there that kind of thing is cool when you're really like kind of connected like that. I'd also say obviously when people are like get you know, emails like you, this book changed my life. Like I'm really bad at responding to them sometimes because I don't know what to say, but like, but that it does I read them and it means a lot when they're like, This book's saved me through a tough time, this book got me into reading. Like, I get a lot of those. And this is what really pisses me off, and this is probably me going to time to what really pisses me off about people who say that like romance is like less than or frivolous, and even like people who read romance, but they say, like, oh, it's a rom-com, it's just it doesn't mean anything, it's not a life-changing book. It doesn't matter because like the amount of people that contact me over like what I would consider like a frivolous rom-com, saying, like, this changed my life, or this got me through a hard time. There's a lot. Yeah. So you get those people saying, you know, this romance changed my life, and it just proves that romance is is needed and um and is not something to be discounted.

Jordan 27:17

No, and I totally agree with you because your book, Love Rack, to I don't say this lightly, but like that book saved me. I needed that book when I was able to read it at like the perfect time, and that book will always hold the most special place in my heart. I would classify that as like more of a wrong comp to sure, yeah. And but like the escapism that I could have within those like 300 to 400 pages is like what I needed, and oh my god, I am just like so grateful for you and that book because if I honestly I don't know where I would be right now if I didn't have the chance to read that book when I did.

Karina Halle 27:58

Did you read it during COVID?

Jordan 28:00

Yep, yeah.

Karina Halle 28:01

So that was like my thing, like, how do I even write? It was my first book during COVID. I was like, how do I even write about a time like this? And I was like, I think people are stuck at home, they can't go out, they need to escape somehow. Um, and this is kind of like an escape, and all but also relate to the characters because they were also kind of going through this thing where they were stuck, obviously, they're not shipwrecked, so they're stuck too. So they're looking for like also a way out so you can relate to them at the same time, even though it was like escapism kind of thing. So, yeah, so like things like that, like all my books have meaning in them, even if they're just rom-coms. There's usually some message, even if I don't know what it is at the time. The most challenging is just getting started, to be honest. So, like I have an aura ring and I got it for Christmas or my birthday, and it has been so insightful because uh up at like right after that, I was like it raised your stress levels and your sleep and everything, and it would just be like you're so stressed, you're so stressed, and like because every day I was trying to write, but not doing it. Like I was just hard to focus, I was just distracted by the internet, like I was just bogged down in self-doubt, and it was just so hard to write. And I'd start writing and then stop and then start writing and then stop. And then it wasn't until after I got back from holidays earlier in January that I was like, okay, I need to just bang this out. And what I discovered was when I was actually writing, when I actually finally got through the hump and felt the deadline, and like got through and started writing and working on it. The app, my ring, was measuring that as restorative time, meaning it was like ranked at close to naps. Like it was ranked as like yoga, basically, and like maybe reading a book and like a bubble bath. Like, and I was like, What? I thought writing was stressful for me. Like, I thought it was ruining my body. Cause like, and it's like, no, actually, the that part is actually like muscle memory or whatever, it was restorative for me to actually write. It's the lead up to it and the force to do it is the most stressful. So I would say that is the most challenging is is that part to finally get into that vibe of writing and and kind of like into the zone. So that's the most challenging part in the actual writing part. And then, of course, the second most challenging thing is like everything else. Um, and what else? I mean, marketing is like just having to be on the internet, dealing with like bad reviews, like dealing with mean people, dealing with like feelings of insecurity and like and comparison and all this stuff. Like, so there's so many other challenging things that come with it. The easiest part is actually once you're actually writing, is just the writing.

Jordan 30:57

Especially with like your the aura ring, which I really want one by the way, but I have yet to get one. But I feel like with it telling you that actually writing is like the restorative part, it's like giving you, it's like filling up your cup. I think that also just confirms that you were meant to be an author. Like you were like born to write these books, yeah, and put them out in the world, even though there's like a lot of not fun stuff too, especially like after the fact, but at least like you were bored to be an author.

Karina Halle 31:27

Like if you look now, the last few days or like last ever since I stopped, now it's just been like your stress stress levels are higher than normal. I'm like, I know, I'm just trying to live. I'm trying to live my life, man. You've seen this world, it's really tough right now.

Jordan 31:43

Honestly, though.

Karina Halle 31:45

So yeah, so I'm just like, but it actually helps because knowing, okay, now when I'm writing my next book, which is now, it's like, okay, just you just have to get through this shitty part to just and once you're actually doing it every day, then then it's good for your body and your mind. So it's like that helps for me to actually, you know, approach things differently.

Jordan 32:04

This question, I am just dying to know the answer. And I'm actually going to add to it because I have out of all your books, is there a book that you are the most proud of? And then I also want to say, I want to ask too like what was the most fun to write?

Karina Halle 32:18

Well, I can't choose just one because that's oh, please give me more.

Jordan 32:22

Oh my god, yeah. No, please give me a like a few. I want them all.

Books She’s Proud Of And Why

Karina Halle 32:25

Oh, for sure, forget ones for sure. The ones I'm most proud of. Uh, I always and okay, there's one that I'm most proud of. Maybe it's not the most, but most proud of, and that I had the best time writing was sins and needles. Um, that was part of my artist truly. That's the one I was saying where Javier is from. And that, yeah, I mean, I love that book. I think that's some of my best work. I think the whole series is some of my best work, even though it was done like 2013. And uh, and it was just so much fun to write. And it it reminds me a lot of Vanguard is kind of that's like the artist truly just rants romantic suspense. So she's a con artist, she's morally gray, she's conning a friend of hers who's also morally gray, and then she's also wanted by her ex who cuts off heads. So, like, morally gray characters abound, but it's like I love action and everything like that. So it's and twists and turns and just like duplicious people and just betrayal and like all that juicy stuff. So that whole series is like that, and I just I love it, and I I think the books are great. I'm so glad that that one got published picked up to be published. I don't know if they're published anymore because they're in a mass market in the States, and I know they're kind of getting rid of that, but if you find them, they're super cute. The English versions are like bigger, so that's cool. Um, so that's off the top of my head, I always think of there's a lot of other books, of course, that I've had fun writing. I mean, um, Ship of Bones and Teeth, I had a great time writing that one. I mean, how can you not pirates and mermaids and stuff? So, like that was fun.

Jordan 33:58

And I have to say, because I love that book, and I think you can tell, especially too in that book and in your writing that you had fun writing that one.

Karina Halle 34:07

Yeah, I did. I was just like, I let's go nuts, you know. Um and so now I'm just like I look at my shelves where my books are to find the books like that I can pull from. Um, I really loved writing Black Sunshine. Um that I had a lot of fun with. Um, that was a great time.

Jordan 34:28

I um sorry, I remember when I like first read that one, and it was just it was unlike anything else I had read by you at that point because I feel like you were a lot contemporary.

Karina Halle 34:39

Yeah, so I was like one of my first back as like a my first vampire one for sure, yeah. And I was like, ooh, vampires, like let's go. Yeah, oh I I had such a good time with that. Um, like it became my personality, so that's usually a good sign when something becomes your personality. Um, grave matter, so I should say also that became my personality. I think it still is. Oh, I had a great time, and I'm proud of it.

Jordan 35:04

Oh, uh you should be. I see, I that one was number one for me, but I I don't know, Death Valley. I I never would have considered like zombies and cowboys, except you scared the living poop out of me when I read that like intro and you had like the Donner Party. I was like, is there gonna be like cannibalism in it? But in a way, that like wasn't how you did it. I got so scared.

Karina Halle 35:29

Kind of yeah, I mean it was that was an interesting one for me because it was a rewrite of a book that I had done a long time ago, and not a lot of that book came through in Death Valley, but I do remember one scene that I always remember very well, and it's the one where she's in the outhouse and she sees through the through the crack in the outhouse like a blue eye staring back at her, and that was just like terrified the crap out of me. So I'm like, that's going in Death Valley again for sure. So, like that kind of thing. I love that book because like the sense of isolation. I love that when you're like you really are stuck and there is no help, hope for you kind of thing, like except for a sexy cowboy. Like, man, there's nothing wrong with that. Naturally, other books I'm uh proud of uh that had fun writing, and most books that I'm proud of I've had a ton of fun writing, so I guess there's something to say there. But love in English is like a contemporary, I'm probably the most proud of. Like a lot of people stay away from it because it's cheating. Um, the guy does not cheat on the heroine, but he is married. The whole thing is about him being married, and then she meets him. That's based on a true story. That's gonna sound wrong, but let me hear me out. Don't worry. Not what you think. But that story is based on the time that I went to Spain to teach English to business people, and we are isolated in this resort in the middle, like near Salamanca, in the middle of like the farmlands or whatever, and you bonded with people so well. It was it was the best, one of the best times I've ever had in my life. And I met this man, um, and his name is Xavier, and um he was in Barcelona, and he was great. I spent every moment with him that I could, but it was very platonic. I knew he was married, and it was so platonic that like it was just like something really sweet about it. I'm I mean, I don't know how it was from his point of view, but like from my point of view, I also had a boyfriend at the time. Um, it was very sweet and chaste because it was just friends, but it was like a deep friendship kind of thing. And I'm sure like he could be like, oh, he's emotionally cheating on his wife or something. But again, it was just a week. And what was funny is that like I was like, had some morals where I was just like, Well, he's married, and I wasn't really attracted to him, anyways. But like, but you know, he was, you know, married and I had a boyfriend, blah, blah, blah. So like everything was just very, you know, just like platonic, no funny business, that kind of thing. And after the program was over, when I was hanging out with some of the friends I made there, I discovered that every single person was hooking up with everybody else. They all thought I was hooking up with him, and I was like, no, I I we didn't. And they're like, Oh, and I'm like, wait, you guys all did with each other? And then, like, it didn't matter if they're married or not, like everybody was like, because there's like 20 Spaniards and there's 20 English speakers, so like everyone was just like a big mix, and I was just like, Wow, I was the only person with morals. That was kind of funny, but everyone thought that we were together, and I was like, No, we weren't, like, what you guys were like, yeah, and I'm like, what the hell? But um, so but that experience, I was like, okay, well, what if, what if I had been younger and I didn't have a boyfriend, and like and I had been attracted to him, and and you know, it's the what if scenario, and and and what if I fell in love, and what if it was a longer program, like two weeks, it was a bit more believable, and like what if blah blah blah. So that's the whole book is based on the what if this situation, and so that's how that came about. And yeah, I just love that book also because it's just based on like real experiences, real places, real people, every single person in that book is based on an actual person. Um, it's just I love it, and so like, and it's a contemporary that doesn't get a lot of love, but like even if you don't like cheating, the cheating trope, I think you'd probably enjoy it. Yeah, that's one of them. There's many others, but those are the ones I can think of just staring at my bookshelf right now.

Jordan 39:23

I also agree. I haven't read Love in English, but now I need to because I also love the cheating trope.

Romance Trends, Covers, And TikTok Shifts

Karina Halle 39:29

Oh, you love it. I mean, it's like you know, and he gets divorced. It's it's not like it's not like it's not dragged on because I don't like doing that to people, but like they get divorced halfway through the guy, and it's not really a spoiler, he uh him and his wife, they get divorced, but then it turns into two parts because then it turns into her moving to Spain to see him and then how to make that relationship work. He's also a famous ex-footballer, like soccer player from Real Madrid, or not Real Madrid, but one of the other ones, so the other Madrid team, but anyways, um, so yeah, so it does have that. So maybe the first part is like a little bit of like inappropriateness, and then the second part is just dealing with her being publicly known as like the other woman. That is like right. It's opposites, and it's it's age gap, she's 23, he's like 40 or something, or 38, and she he's like uh you know, like an ex-footballer and rich and in business suits and everything, and she's like from Vancouver covered in tattoos, like yeah.

Jordan 40:24

I also have what is one thing that you wish someone had told you before you c became an author.

Karina Halle 40:33

I wish someone, I mean it's so hard to say because it was so long ago. Uh I get and uh the the landscape was quite different back then. But I do wish I but there are some things that that I've had to learn the hard way. Like, one, like, don't read your reviews. So I wish people had told me like I don't know if I would have listened. Eventually, you know, learn you learn the hard way, so then you learn yourself to not do it, but like don't read your reviews. Um especially on Goodreads, don't go on Goodreads, and um I think it's all about stay true to yourself and don't try and change your writing because of what people are saying, because I have done that, and like I've had uh people complain about one book being like it was too short and it was too rushed and it was too this and there wasn't enough battles, and then it wasn't enough action, and there wasn't enough this, and then I released the next book to make it longer and more like trying to, you know, more battles and make it longer, and then people are like it was too long, and it was too and you know, like don't change things to please people because you can never please everybody, so like just stick true to like you, and that's why I try and tell people online like on threads. There's so many new authors on threads, they're just everywhere all the time, and they're getting fed the worst advice ever. And like, I just want to put my hand up and be like, don't listen to these people, like whether it's like people giving advice or just like readers complaining. People are like, you know, I don't generally write in third person, I write in first, but but people are like, I know, you know, third person, no one reads those, and blah blah blah. And it's like, well, that first of all, it's not true. Most of the biggest selling books are actually, even in romance, are actually third person. And second of all, like, or like, don't do a cliffhanger and an author's please stop making your characters unlikable. And it's just constant. And if you listen to those voices, you're gonna lose the joy in writing because it's really like, and I have and I have many times, especially in the past, taken it to heart and like tried to, you know, I remember someone saying complaining about like just something like innocuous, like all three of these books kind of ended with like a hospital scene or like had a hospital scene in it, and I was just like, that's true, but like then the next one, I was like, Fuh, you know what I mean? Like, yeah, but I wanted but I wanted it there, and I couldn't because I was so worried about what this person said. So, like, the point is, like, just stay. I would have said to myself, like, if God advice it would be stay true to what you want to write and don't listen to what other people say, because you're just never gonna be able to please everybody.

Jordan 43:10

You really can't please everyone. Yeah, I think it works for everything, right? And too, I I believe I saw someone else talk about how if you were to change everything to fit what that like one-star review wanted, you could be changing somebody else's five-star to that's absolutely true.

unknown 43:31

Yeah.

Jordan 43:31

So I'm like, I and I mean, I don't write, but like someone I read that somewhere and I was like, oh, that like makes sense. It's true.

Karina Halle 43:38

If you try and please that one person, then you're gonna piss off all these other people who actually liked that part of the book. So just let it be. You know, like obviously, if there's some critique that like sometimes there are critiques that are important, but you're not gonna get those from reviews, you're gonna get that from like your editor or a beta or a friend or something like that.

Jordan 43:57

Yeah, I I do, I I agree. Um, okay, so since you've been writing almost oh my gosh, like almost 20 years. Yeah. 15.

Karina Halle 44:09

Well, it's published for 15, yeah. Oh, okay.

Jordan 44:14

Oh, yeah. In my mind, I had tw uh 2009, but that's like when you started writing. Writing. My bad. Yeah. Oh, that's fine. I was just like Well, you've been writing. You've been writing. Well, you've been writing your whole life. So that's that's true.

Karina Halle 44:31

Yes. But yes, uh, this this year marks more May 13th, 2026 is the 15th publishing anniversary for me. So I should probably do something for that.

Jordan 44:39

And yes, you should. Is there something that you learned over the years writing romance? I think this is like the coolest because you were writing romance. Because I I feel like romance has always been a thing because I know I have been reading like your books plus other books honestly, since I was, let's say like 22. That would probably be like a really good age for me to say that. So that's been 10 years. But I do think like when COVID happened and book talk, romance got this great res uh resurgence and more people became known of it. And it became less of a because I I even hate saying like when I was younger, I was embarrassed to read it. I loved it and I lived for these stories, but I was in a way embarrassed because romance had this stigma to it. So I'm curious like your thoughts of like writing through the years in romance specifically.

Where New Readers Should Start

Vanguard’s Spoiler‑Free Premise

Karina Halle 45:37

Well, when I first started, it was horror romance. So like it was plot focused and it was a 10-book series. Well, it was originally nine. And um, and it was on again, off again, or it was like a slow burr and turned on again off again, very um exp. So that was my experimenter um series. So it was very so it it was romance, but I didn't necessarily understand it um at the time as well as I do now, because I'll tell you one thing. When I was when in 2012, I got inspired to write a book called Savagery. Now it has been redone and it's now called Ravager. Um, obviously that title had to change, but and I did under a pen name, but it wasn't like a secret pen name. And I committed the cardinal sin of saying it was an erotic now. I think erotic romance actually works, but I didn't say it was that at the time. I said it was like a historical, whatever, a Viking he the hero dies at the end. It's not an HEA. And I at the time did not realize that. And I was getting one star bomb to hell, and I was like, What do you mean? And they're like, No, you can't just do that and call it like a romance, like you have to have an H A. I'm like, but she was happier at the end of the book than or not happier, but she was better off at the end of the book than the beginning. So that's the happy ever have. So I didn't really understand that no, that's between the hero and the heroine. So like I was like, oh, so then after that, I changed the description to be like, this is an erotic romance, this is not an HEA kind of thing. So like I learned very quickly, and I'm I think a lot of people do. So I didn't know that about the genre thing because I wasn't really writing romance per se, I was writing horror romance, so it was it wasn't just a focus, and and yeah, so that was one of the things um I learned. Now that it has been redone, I've released it last year in like January or New Year's Eve or something, and now it's Ravager, um, and it is a ha it has an HEA. He does not die in the end of a book, so like it's basically the same book, but it's got a happy ending, and I changed it from third person to first. Third person can be really fun to write, but it it in a very poetic. You can get away with more like poetry kind of language in third. In first doesn't work as well, um, because you know, for obvious reasons, but but, anyways, so that kind of like was my first kind of thing with with with ruleman. So that was just a challenge for me. And you know, I've been around and seen so many changes in the landscape. So obviously, when I started publishing, that was when Fifty Shades of Grey came out, and everything started turning into like mommy smut and that, and billionaires and that kind of thing, and and that's still popular to this day. Um, but there was a lot of stigma then against that. And back then it was more like just object covers were like for 50 shades, was kind of like the thing. People were kind of ashamed of the couples on the covers and the sexy covers back then, even, but it was common. So it was an odd thing. So, like for the longest time, I did not have sexy shirtless men on my covers because like I didn't particularly like that aesthetic. And I kind of had more like sexy women on my covers because they're just more beautiful, and also finding sexy men stock images and was not great back then. And eventually I then like I think for the for wildcard, Maverick, and Hotshot, then I went into like sexy man covers, and those were sold really well. But back then, ebooks what were what we're selling. No one, unless you're at a signing, barely anyone was buying paperbacks because they didn't want sexy men on the shelves, but in the on the ebook, it's fine. So that's what was happening. And I think now we've had the total because of TikTok, because now it's this showing people the actual paperback thing. So that is why the sexy man covers went away, because people don't want to, first of all, not only because a lot of people don't like it, but also because of like the censorship of the rights, like a sexy man cover, like even Amazon has a problem now with like I have my cover of um Forbidden Man. She had like a bra strap showing, it's not eligible for ads because of that bra strap. Things like that kind of suck. Now, if you have the sexy man cover of the sexy couple, like I'm sure TikTok might flag that as being inappropriate and like on your reach. The sexy man cover thing coming and going, like it was just it was just so odd because like that really was like if you could have that hot sexy man then on that cover, you were making so much money. And I I you know I came to it a little bit late, but it did help with my Nordic Royal series, like they weren't necessarily shirtless, but the guy on the Nordic King kind of is, and good cover. They're good covers, but like but they are the sexy man stuff, so like and then of course back then like sexy models being brought to signings was a huge thing, and and in an annoying way. Like, I remember the first time I did Love in Vegas, and the only time I did Love in Vegas, and I've heard it's a great event, and it was fine then, but this is not on Love in Vegas, it's just the fact that the first one I did, the male models were all there from the book covers, and the every when it opened, every reader ran to see them and not the office. So that's when I was just like, oh, yeah, not like that. Um, and you know, like back then, like you'd go to signings, there'd always be some like where's that Stuart guy? There's some Scottish guy, I forget his name now. He's always wearing a kilt, anyways. Just that guy was he's a rugby player, he's a nice guy. Uh, but he was always at all the signings, and women would go to see him. So, like, that was huge. And then then there's like some inappropriate things happening too. I've I imagine I've heard stories. So, like, that's gone away with. So, like, that's definitely kind of changed. There's been like a lot of ups and downs in the romance industry. Now I'm starting like I'm not big on TikTok, like I'm not I don't really use it, and I yeah, so it's never been instrumental to my success. Um, I've just never really mastered it, but uh it is interesting, just like the gist of things that I'm hearing is a lot of the new readers coming up because of TikTok. Um, they tend to be a lot more chaste about things, which is interest. I know it's can be a called like a Gen Z thing, but like I just find it interesting because like the writing's not chaste, it's quite smuddy. Agree with you. There is definitely uh there's a there is a weird disconnect, and I can't figure it out because they're reading Smuddy stuff, but other than that, they have problems with smuddy things. Like, I don't it's very strange. I don't get it.

Jordan 52:22

I I I I because I know too, like, I feel like I see this a lot where people will like show books and then com other people will comment and be like, Well, is it smuddy? And it's like, Well, maybe it's just a good book and you should read it. Yeah, so it's like so interesting.

Karina Halle 52:37

And I don't know anymore. I used to think when people comment smuddy or does it have smut, I I thought they were asking, is it because I want smut? And sometimes they are, but sometimes they're saying that because they don't want smut. It's very interesting. I can never figure it out, but yeah, the romance community has changed a lot since I started writing, that's for sure.

Jordan 52:58

I definitely agree with you on that one. Okay, so then I know too, you write in so many different sub-genres, like I kind of went on in the intro. Um, if no one has read a book by you, where would you have someone start?

Karina Halle 53:14

Well, you know, it always depends what they like. I mean, if they like vampires, I would say start with black sunshine. Like sexy vampires. I mean, come on, all vampires are sexy, but like sexy vampires, I'd start with um black sunshine. If you just want like a good standalone, what the fuck did I just read? Kind of like with some spies grave matter for sure. I'd probably recommend that one most. You know, like if you're more into romantic suspense, I would go for Sins and Needles. If you're more into rom-coms, I would say Smut or Loverect. And if you're into like if you like like a straight up nice contemporary series where it follows the same like group of brothers or whatever, or cousins, then I would go, and you like Scottish men, I would go for the McGregor series. That's where like the pact and the play and and those books are they're like just good angsty contemporaries, um, and spicy and all that kind of stuff. So, like, yeah, there's always like different kind of starting points, but I think like my top sellers are um grave matter and and blood orange, so those two, but I do think like if I recommend Blood Orange and they want to read more, they probably should start with Black Sunshine because they are kind of interconnected. So, but I love Black Sunshine too, so I think it it should use the more love.

Jordan 54:31

I like Black Sunshine. I also read Blood Orange. I still need to read, but I think that this is love, the one after Black Sunshine.

Karina Halle 54:39

Yeah, it's like a it's a sequel, but it's not like uh it was like a sequel, but it wasn't like a you need to read it kind of sequel. Like it's uh although it has more of Valtu in it, so that's cool.

Jordan 54:53

We do we do love more. We just we love it all. I'm I'm surprised you didn't say River Shadows.

Karina Halle 55:03

Yes. River Shadows. You're like no. I'm staring at it. I loved River Shadows and I loved writing uh that series, but it's a hard series, it's done now. It's a hard series to um for me to get my head around that it's done, if you know what I mean, because it was like the first two books were in 2022, and then the last two were just like quite recent. So like it had the big gaps in between for various reasons. So for me, it's kind of like hard to like conceptualize that like it's a complete thing that's done, but I do love that series. I love his butt not a death, but yeah, he'll always be my favorite.

Jordan 55:49

So now we can dive into Vanguard, which I know too, like you kind of already told us a little bit more, but I wasn't sure if there was anything else you wanted to add to uh like about the book for someone who hasn't read it but like can keep it spoiler-free.

unknown 56:08

Right.

Following The Muse Over Deadlines

Karina Halle 56:08

So Vanguard's about a girl who works for MI6, well, an offshoot of MI6, so basically like a special op in Britain. So she's a spy, and she has a kiss, she's been genetically modified at birth too by her parents for their own traumatic reasons, and so she kills with a kiss, basically. So, like her saliva, any other liquidity hurts someone, so yes, so she's like the moth because her name her real name is Aresmia N, which is the moth that's poisonous, and that's the poison that's kind of in her. So, anyways, so she is a assassin, essentially, and she does her honey traps and and usually kills the people. And and I have been watching I love spy shit. Like, I grew up what reading all of like Robert Ludlum's like the Born Identity and like the Parsifal Mosaic, and um, and I love like Tom Clancy, like Hunt for October is a huge book for me and clear and presentation and all that. So, like I love CIA stuff, I love spooky that spooks and stuff. So I've been watching a ton, and there's a lot of great like Black Dove's um is a great one on Netflix with Kieran Knightley. Um Agency, that's one like I kind of ignored, and I watched it when I was writing Vanguard, and it was amazing. That's on Paramount Plus, I think, and it has like uh well, my favorite actor, Michael Fassbender, as like a spy. So I'm just like amazing. Richard Gears in it, and Jody Turner Smith. It's just a great series. I'm so glad they're having a Jeffrey Wright, they're having a season two. So that's a great spy series. I've been watching all these spy series, so it has like that spy thing going on, and so she's a spy and an assassin, and she's doing a honey trap for Vanguard, who is the world's first superhero. And of course, America has created him, um, or a company that's kind of like it's called Global Dynamics, is the company. Now, Global Dynamics, if you watch the show Fringe, it's kind of based on the company in Fringe called Massive Dynamics. But, anyways, so Global Dynamics is like this conglomerate tech company, it's also a little bit like if you combined Amazon and Google together, and um it's it's run by this old man, um Elron Masters. Trying to even be subtle with that name, but anyways, Elron Masters, and um so they're like part and parcel kind of with the government, and they're kind of part of like the government's collapse into authoritarianism and and also like tech companies ruling and all that kind of stuff. So they're like, Well, there's a superhero, and he can like you know, he's not like Superman in the sense that like he's like indestructible, but like he's also a lot stronger than, say, Captain America. So, like, if you had or you know, and I know this is not new, I know that the boys have dealt with this, that like Captain America's Civil War dealt deals with this. Like, when you have a super hero, someone's gonna go, like, well, those are weapons potentially, and how do you control them? And so that's the whole part. She is going to get close to Vanguard, the superhero, in order to find out if he's a weapon or not. And as you know, because America then has this weapon, Britain doesn't, so that's kind of how and then then if he is, she's ordered to take him out, right? With a kiss. She finds out as she gets to go to New York, she she's got her surveillance team there, and as she's playing the cover of a journalist to get close to him, so she's doing a piece on him. And as they're getting close, eventually she discovers she can kiss him and he doesn't die. And that makes things really complicated because for her, I mean, she's compromised because she's already falling for him. But the minute she finds out, like she's a virgin, obviously.

Jordan 59:47

She kills people with with her saliva, yeah.

Karina Halle 59:50

So so she's a virgin, and anytime she's ever kissed someone in the past, it's to kill them or by accident, and then turn up death. So, like, so this is she's touch-starved, and this is the first person she's ever been able to kiss, to touch, to be with. So she's gonna be emotionally compromised by Vanguard. And Vanguard is emotionally compromised by her because he kind of sees like a kindred spirit in her, even though he doesn't know why, because obviously she is pretending to be someone else. And so the whole time you're reading it, you're kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop because at some point you know he's gonna find out the truth about, you know, and then what happened? What is that betrayal? And meanwhile, they're falling in love, and meanwhile, there's a million other conspiracies that she's unraveling, and both of them are unraveling, um, about who he really is, about what the company's really doing, and like the threat for civilization and all that kind of stuff. So, like, there's a lot going on. Um, it gets very spicy, very sexy, and obviously, I had to have fun because it's a superhero. So, yes, there is a sex scene where he's invisible, so he's like flying around invisible, peeping tombing in her like 20th store uh story hotel room and sees her jacking off and like goes in invisible and gives her a helping hand or something like that, and uh I love it. Maybe ends up railing her against the balcony invisible, and then there's another scene where they're flying and fucking at the same time against an office building window, anyways. There's things like that. So I was like, I gotta take advantage of the fact that this guy can be invisible and also fly. But yeah, that's it, that's the gist. And there's plot to it, and there's twists and turns and all that kind of thing. So, but it's it's exciting and it's sexy, it's got a lot to say about society, and it's just a lot of fun. Like, I really wanted to make like a spicy born identity kind of thing.

Jordan 1:01:39

February 12th cannot come fast enough because I can't wait to get my hands on it. And I know too, you like kind of mentioned the dream. What initially sparked the idea for Vanguard? Was it the dream or was it like something else?

Karina Halle 1:01:52

It was a dream, it was just a dream. I just kept seeing Chris Evans with his dark beard. So it was obviously it was like Chris Evans in um in Infinity War, and uh just in a red room, it was red light in the room that didn't make it into the book, but that's just what it was in the dream, and it was just like discovering that like this aweshucks sweetest apple pie, golden boy, actually had like a super kinky, like I'm gonna fuck you and choke you kind of side to him. That's what I was so that was basically what it was, and then I was like, and then there's something about Black Widow in there, because obviously from Thunderbolts, uh Lena is a spy and Black Widow sister, so like I was like, okay, there's something is you know kind of like melding in there, so I knew there had to be a spy component as well.

Jordan 1:02:39

I feel like that really adds to it, it like makes an it's like a different dimension to the story.

Karina Halle 1:02:44

I mean, look at Stephanie, Stephanie Meyer. I mean, didn't she have a dream? And that's what prompted Twilight. She had dreamt about it, and then she wrote it.

Hybrid Publishing Realities

Jordan 1:02:51

Did you I I mean, I this is what I read on Instagram, so I don't know how accurate it is, but it was something like 9-11 sparked the idea for Twilight because so 9-11 happened, and then All American Rejects wrote a song because of 9-11. Stephanie Myers heard this song that when she like went to sleep listening to this song that sparked a dream, and it was like some weird, but there were there were way more pieces to it than what I just said because I couldn't remember them all. But I was like, that is possible. The weirdest thing, but I was like, oh, this is it was very interesting but odd. But that just made me.

Karina Halle 1:03:33

I've had a few book ideas come in dreams. There is one that I was just I even wrote it in my notes, and I'd like to tackle it one day. I just don't really have, but it had something to do with parallel universes. But, anyways, so yes, I've had a few dreams that uh that I've wanted to maybe expand on one day, but this is one of the ones I was just like, but it this one literally took over. Like, this was not supposed to be my next book, like this was not supposed to come out in February, like I was supposed to do my Nordic romantic uh Ruins of Ruin, which is now called the Loki Games. Um, I was supposed to do that for like on February 2nd, and that was all set, and I had the pre-order up and everything, and then suddenly this idea came out of the dream and came barreling out, and I was like, Stop everything! I'm doing this right now. Yeah, I still had to like percolate and like think about it and work on it for a bit before I wrote it, but yeah, that took over.

Jordan 1:04:23

So then I'm kind of curious. Do you like, is it one of those things that when even if you're writing something else, but because this story was yelling at you, you had to get this one down before you could go back.

Karina Halle 1:04:35

Oh and I've learned to be to do that in the past. I have not. In the past, I was like, no, people are gonna get mad if I work on this book instead of the book they expect, so I'm gonna do this book, and then the chances of that story me ever going back to it are rare. Like sometimes it happens, and sometimes I have had to do that because sometimes you don't have a choice, so sometimes you do have to put it on hold and like go back to it later, and hopefully you still feel it, and sometimes you don't, and so then you don't do it. But I did this before where the ship of bones and teeth was not supposed to be it. I had the idea in March, just being in Mexico. I had this idea, I was only there for like three or four days in Laredo, and I was like, I have this idea, and I just it all kind of came out, and then a ship of bones and teeth came out in May. So, like, I was supposed to do something else, I don't remember what, but I was supposed to do something else, and I was like, no, I'm I'm not gonna do that. It was probably like City of Darkness or some River of Shadows books, and um, and I was like, No, I'm not feeling that right now. I I have to do this book now, like this is what like so you know, so I've learned to like, and then I had so much fun with it, and then the book did well, and I just enjoyed it. So I've learned like if I possibly can, if it's just a matter of making people disappointed, it doesn't matter, just do it. Just go with your muse and write the book. Well, and frankly, I kind of did it here too, because I have been writing uh Heathcliff, um, which is my book for upcoming book for Berkeley, but it's not done yet. And I should have been writing that instead of Vanguard. But I just it this one was calling to me more, and I didn't want to have to write Heathcliff with resentment, you know what I mean? So, like, I'm which is so I'm working on it now, but it is that in luckily. My publishers are pretty understanding about that. But yeah, so I if you can always follow the muse.

Jordan 1:06:27

And I know too, I like don't have this question in here, but because you brought up Berkeley, I wanted to ask, like, how is it being like a hybrid author? Because I mean, you go through Berkeley or you are traditionally published through Berkeley, and then you self-publish. How is that?

Politics, Purpose, And Themes In Vanguard

Karina Halle 1:06:43

I like being hybrid. I would never be fully traditional. I would always uh be self-published because I'm used to I'm a control freak. I like to do things on my own. I like to do things my way. Um, and I I, you know, I don't like handing control to someone else. The people um and my team are amazing. My editor, Sarah, is great, she's fantastic, and she uh really believes in me. So she's wonderful to work with, and everyone else is just kind of doing their best. It's tough because they're spread very thin. And so that's why like I in some ways feel like I have an upper hand as an indie because like it is just me, and maybe I'm being spread thin, but I it it's no one's gonna care about your book as much as you do in the end. In that sense, being indie is is great because it is you advocating for yourself, and you know, it's you trying to make you doing sure that you're doing all the right things, and sometimes it doesn't work out because the market's strange and things are weird, and but it the point is like you do have more control, and um so there's that other parts of you know it depends on your non-compete. So, like I haven't released since April because of a non-compete because Berkeley released um Realm of Thieves and then Hollow and Legend, and there's two months of non-compete on either side of a book, so I that's why it's just been non-stop. February. So that part is uh annoying. I understand why they have it. Some publishers don't have it. Um, and some publishers in the past I've been with have it, but only for certain books and only certain genres. So it really depends on on your contract, but I knew that going into it, so you know, you just kind of have to make it work. Uh so yeah, so there's that. I mean, traditional publishing can be good for certain people. I think for me, it's best if it's a book that maybe wouldn't do well indie. So um if I were to write something that was like had romance but wasn't straight up romance, like was you know something with a romance side plot, um that I think would be best with a traditional publisher, because I don't think I could sell that or YA. I don't think I could do that indie, but I would trust a publisher to to make that happen. So there's definitely um, you know, a lot of losses and minuses to to working with the publisher. But it is nice. Um when you do get support though, like it is nice, then you do you see you make a a you know bestsellers list and and people are like, yay, you know, so like so that's nice in the sense that you're not alone on it, but like it still is in the end that you're the only one who who who cares the most. Like no one else, unless it's a co-author, could care as much as you do, you know what I mean? So yeah, I mean, I do like the fact though of being traditional in the sense that like you are exposed to different audiences, and um, if you if you're lucky enough to get your books into different retailers, then you're exposed to more people that way too. And it can unfortunately open up some new opportunities that you don't get indie. Unfortunately, there is still a lot of stigma against indie, which is ridiculous, but like you see it in bookstores um often or from media, like or even film, like a lot of people are not going to take your book seriously until a publisher's attached to it. So it can definitely help um with that. I just wish that wasn't the case.

Jordan 1:10:24

I wish that wasn't the case too, because I feel like there are so many amazing indie stor stories out there that like it's it sucks that the published ones are the ones I mean, like published stories are good too. I'm not saying that they're not good. No, but like there's just also But they they're given legitimacy. Yes, and it's uh the the indie books are just as good, if not better than some of the traditionally published books. So it's just Exactly, because people take more risk. That's true. Okay, so I did have one more question about Vanguard. What do you hope readers understand about your characters or the story that might not be obvious at first?

Karina Halle 1:11:05

I have a lot to say politically in the novel, and like I said, I'm trying not to hit you over the head with it, but it is part and parcel of what shapes the world that they're in. Um and at the very end of the of my afterword, it does say like, you know, this kind of what's happening in the world isn't just, you know, uh relevant to the states. Like this is happening in all countries and every country as at risk for similar kinds of slides into authoritarianism and and into that extremism and stuff. So like it's not just uh an American cautionary terrible, it's kind of because the whole world is kind of this in on the precipice of like that. And but the whole point is like power to the people, people together can rise up and make a difference, not governmental systems kind of thing. So, like, and I'm like, I say, and I also say, like, I am not a political pundit, I'm not an expert in politics whatsoever, but just like as an ordinary Canadian girl kind of looking around the world and being like, what's happening? It does seem like it's gonna be up to people and community to to make a difference. So I think the book kind of like I hope people where it might be a little bit obvious, but I hope that like community is kind of like what is what's gonna save people. Um not Vanguard. Um, and I guess for the characters, it is kind of like about the masks we wear, you know, like Vanguard has to be a certain way, a certain image, because that is his purpose, but like what if that was never his purpose? You know, it's kind of like rediscovering one's purpose in life. And I think Mia is going through the same thing too. Like, is her purpose really to like be a tool for her government to kill people? Like, or you know, that she just accepts that the government is doing the right thing by what if what if they're not coming from a good place? What if the orders she's getting um, you know, like are not what she thinks? Like, what if, and again, this is not new. Most spy novels deal with a lot of like starting to second guess like who's giving the orders and what their intentions are, but it is kind of like okay, re redefining your purpose and like oh, if I'm not this, then what am I? And then kind of coming to terms with that. I think that would be maybe maybe the key thing to walk away with.

Jordan 1:13:33

The last question in authoring. I do have two other parts, but I promise we'll we'll speed through those. But this is the last question for author. Are you currently working on any future projects? And if so, is there anything you can tell us?

Upcoming: Heathcliff And Monte Cristo

Karina Halle 1:13:46

Technically, yes. Heathcliff. So that's the weathering heights retelling I'm doing where Heathcliff is a vampire, and but actually, so is Kathy. She just doesn't know it yet. So it's it's because it's me, you know, it's gonna be set in my lore of vampires, so it's gonna follow the same formula that Blood Orange and Black Sunshine and all those books have together, versus like in my lore of vampires, they turn at different ages. So it's it's something you can create a vampire through killing them, but it creates a monster generally, um, which is kind of what happens to Heathcliff. That's that's how Heathcliff becomes what he is at a young age. Normally a man doesn't turn into a vampire until he's 35, and the woman turns at 21. And so Heathcliff, it is he is kind of like this uncontrollable monster vampire. Um, and it goes into a uh not totally uncontrollable, but like it explains a lot. So I mean and so, and also you discover that Kathy is a vampire, but she doesn't know it yet, which is a trope that I've done before, and I just sorry, I love that trope, but like um when doing weathering heights, like I I've read the book a bunch of times, and the characters are so awful and insufferable, and it's not a romance, okay, but this book is because I want it to be a romance, but like, so I'm rearranging things, but like they're so awful, and like what is the explanation for why Heathcliff is the way it is? Is it just generational abuse, which that is a big part of it? And I was like, Well, he's probably a vampire, like the the amount of times he's almost been described as like a demon in the book. I'm like, Well, what if he is? That's kind of where that came from. Like, well, what if he's a demon? What if he is a vampire? So, like, that's why. So, I gave like some like reasons for why they're so awful. So, like, maybe Kathy is like a bitch because she's like a vampire and doesn't know it. I don't know, but yes, so yeah, it's just so funny. I find it so funny with Wuthering Heights coming out the movie. I just saw today on on thread someone being like, and I just even said this. I talked about this the other day, and I was like, it is funny seeing people's reactions who are look at the movie and who are like, ooh, most epic love story of all time, as the movie trailer says. And then they pick up Wuthering Heights and they're like, What the fuck? So, like, it is true because if you don't know it's not a romance, you're gonna be like, What is going on in this book? Like, why she's dead halfway through? And like, why is this all about these people? And why is he so awful all the content time? And so people are like, What? So I just kind of like like the idea of like giving some reason to why they're awful. Um they're still not as awful as in the book because like it still has to be a romance, but like they're still pretty bad. So that's been fun working on that. So I'm doing Heathcliff. I don't know when that will come out. Uh, maybe end of this year, it could be January next year. Um, it depends how quickly I can get it done. And then after that, I have the Court of Monte Cristo, which is a dark Fae romantic retelling of the the Count of Monte Cristo, and it's white shoes. So it's also gender-bent. So she is um Esmei Dante, and so she's the one who is getting revenge on the three men who put her in her prison. But then, of course, there's twists and turns and everything, and it's white shoes, and this is the first book I've ever done that's only the other day it's like phase out, and I'm like, well, it fucking better not be. The first one I'm doing.

Jordan 1:17:20

You're gonna bring it back, you're gonna bring it back, Karina. It's just yeah, it's just what's happening. Um I I'm like so excited for that. Not gonna lie, I've never read Withering Heights, so I but I knew of the like the premise of the story, and I'm so excited because my husband, I think, assumes that it is a love story, and I can't wait to go see it in the theaters with him.

Karina Halle 1:17:45

That might be. That's what I think she's saying. The director is saying this is a love story, so I think they might have changed it. Yeah, they're getting confused. So today on Thread, someone was like, was complaining about the book, and everyone's like, Don't you know it's like a tragedy and it's like it's romantic gothic, but it's not a romance. And I even said, like, it's about abuse, generational trauma. And the person's like, This is not how the director's been selling it, and we're like, We know that's the problem.

Jordan 1:18:12

I kind of maybe I just assumed it would still be like the book.

Karina Halle 1:18:16

It might be, it might be. I mean, I don't know, but also it's Emerald Fennel, right? She did saltburn. I have no idea what her idea of romance is either, because romance in movies is different for romance in books, like there's no ha component, so it could be totally possible that like everyone dies at the end or something like that. So, like, not that that happens necessarily in Wuthering Heights. Well, I guess it does, but uh spoiler, but um, yeah, I mean you know what? Like, I have had issues with this film because of the whitewashing of Heathcliff. He's supposed to be like Romani, at least dark skinned. So I see, like in my head, it's Dev Patel is my Heathcliff, and my Kathy is um Olivia Cook, you know, she's on um Us the Dragon, not the blonde, but the other girl. So she's great, and so like I see her because she can, yeah, she's just great. So um, and so and like I like Margot Robbie, I guess, but like for Kathy, like, no, you don't look like, and then Jacob Alorty actually, I I bet he will be a fine Heathcliff, even though he's white, but like I think he'll be just fine because he's a great actor, and he does have he does seem to have that brooding thing down. I just wish they didn't call it weathering heights, they just should have called it something else and would have been inspired by. I mean, granted, like the title is in quotes, so like I don't know. And also, I mean, you look at the costumes and you're like, what is going on? These costumes are bonkers, they're not period accurate, they're like from the 80s, so like there is some kind of stylistic choice going on. A lot of people think that it's the that the movie is actually about Margot Robbie reading Wuthering Heights and then putting herself in the book, and that's the movie, but I don't know if that's true or not.

Jordan 1:20:01

Interesting. I feel like now I really just need to like I do want to watch it, look into this more. I like I guess I just didn't realize all this stuff about it, but I did see the like I did see about the whitewashing because like I also had not read the book, so I actually didn't know he was supposed to be dark-skinned until like I saw it somewhere and I was like, oh no.

Karina Halle 1:20:23

Yeah. But if if it's I mean, maybe then it makes sense if it's her imagining her in it, then like I guess I I'm interested interested to see it. I think I'll wait for streaming and just because I don't want to go alone and I don't want to go with my husband because no, it's not even that I don't want to go with my husband, I don't want to be in the theater because like I wouldn't have wanted to watch salt burn in the theater, put it that way. So, like, yeah, there's some stuff the peach and the there's there's stuff in that movie that I'm like, I don't want to people around me when I'm watching this, and even when my husband, we were like, ah, um, and I have a feeling that this movie might also lean that way too, just based on some of the clips, short clips in like the trailer. So I'm just like, you know what? Maybe this is a movie we we don't watch with other people in public.

Jordan 1:21:09

Now I didn't know any of that, and maybe that's also the same for me.

Karina Halle 1:21:13

Yeah, now you do.

Jordan 1:21:14

Okay.

Reading Habits And Go‑To Authors

Karina Halle 1:21:19

If you just know going into it, these are just bad shit, bonkers, miserable people. Um, but it's very interesting, it's a very like interesting psychological kind of study of that.

Jordan 1:21:29

No, I definitely want to like read it.

Karina Halle 1:21:32

I just and he is obsessed, you know, he's obsessed, and it is romantic in many ways, but he's just also just awful. So it's really about a movie, yeah, yeah. But anyways, as long as you know that going into it, you'll be fine.

Jordan 1:21:48

Okay, okay. Um, all right, so now we're into reading, and I have like a few questions for this one, but do you read while you're writing, or do you have to save reading for when you're not writing?

Karina Halle 1:22:04

I will uh read a little bit just to like if there if I feel like my writing, if I'm uninspired and I want to read someone that is a great writer to kind of like influence me, then I'll read a couple of pages here and there. Um, but last year, because I barely wrote anything, it's like the most books I've ever read. So, like, yeah, I was just like reading like all the time last year, so which was great. Um, but yeah, in general, like I just kind of wait till the book is over, or if it's like a book that might get me in the mood. Like I started reading rereading Born Identity when I was doing Vanguard, but again, it was just like a few pages here and there, so it wasn't like totally immersed in the book because I can't get totally immersed in a book and be immersed in my own work at the same time. It's like I'm very single-minded, so it has to be like it's a little bit here and there. And then when I'm done the book, then I can be immersed in the book.

Jordan 1:23:02

Are there any like authors that you go to when you're kind of in that like writing slump? Or were there any that you like you kind of you knew you wanted to pick up last year because you weren't writing?

Karina Halle 1:23:14

Generally, it depends on the book. So I do tend not always, but I do tend to read in the same vibes as a book that I'm writing. Um, if it's happening at the same time. So if I'm reading, writing something that's more of a gothic or horror, I will read Stephen King, I will read um Julia Moreno Garcia, I'll read Elizabethan Canas, Delilah S. Dawson, I'm so for Vanguard and like Robert Ludlum. I got a whole new stack of that. And um just anything kind of like sci-fi or or you know, there's not any superhero books really, but like sci-fi or uh or just like kind of like spy thriller kind of stuff. So yeah, so there are definitely some authors I will go to um for that. I know when I was writing Grave Matter, I did read Mexican Gothic before just to make sure maybe it was after it was around then just to make sure it wasn't like I don't like accidentally borrowing things. So if I read a book with purpose, then I know to not make sure it's not the same. Um, so I read Mexican Gothic just to make because it deals with mushrooms and fungi, just to make sure that there was no similarities, like too much, and there weren't, so it's fine. It was a great book. Um, but yeah, yeah, there's certain authors that I'll go for. Um, but I'm just like I'm not like a person that just always just sticks to the same. Like if someone recommends a book and it sounds great, I'll buy it. Like kind of how I am.

Jordan 1:24:44

I feel like that's also better than just like reading the same things, and I feel like too, it kind of comes across in your writing because you write all different things, yeah.

Karina Halle 1:24:54

So yeah, so it's like yeah, I I'll read any genre, really. Yeah.

Jordan 1:24:58

Oh now, is there like is there even just a genre or a trope that if you know like a it's in a book, like you want to read it?

Tropes, Twists, And Series Recs

Karina Halle 1:25:07

If something is supposed to have like a plot twist, then I'm there because because of my ADHD, it's hard for me to hyperfocus into a book and and get through it unless the voice really captivates me. Um, and some authors' voices like really captivate me. Like T Kingfisher, she's another one who's like writes all over the place too in different genres, and her voice is always so enjoyable and relatable no matter what it is. If it's a twist, well, I don't read a ton of romance to be honest. I want romance in my books. A plot twist will keep me going because I want, or if there's like just some secret that I must get to the end to discover, like that's will probably get me through the book. And like if I finish a book, there I mean I'll rate it high in my head because like it's hard for me to finish a book. So, like if I finish a book, like a good book, un unless I rage quit because they killed a dog in the last 10%, which I have done. But other than that, and then I yeah, but other than that, yeah, there's um there's those kind of things for like romance tropes. I would be more likely to pick it up if it is um forbidden. So enemies to lovers is fine, like I do like the the tension that comes with it. Um yeah, I would say enemies to lovers is a good one for pick up for romance, but for me, I like the forbidden and um the forbidden, so it's like I want you, but I'm not allowed to have you. I also like the um unrequited yearningslash sexual tension. So, like the reason I loved writing my experience in terror series is because of this unresolved sexual tension they had. It's kind of vaguely based on the X-Files, so like it there was this vague, this underlying sexual tension between Molly and Scoldy this whole time, and it was just me waiting for them to get together, and they did. So, like my books were kind of like that. So, if I can find a book that has that kind of like the yearning. Oh, so I got a great example. One of my favorite series is Karen Marie Moaning's Spark Fever, the Fever series. It's um it's it's uh Urban Fantasy, so it's uh set in Dublin in Ireland, and it's it's Faye, but like bad Faye, like scary Faye. Um it's an amazing series, and the Jericho Barons is the guy-ish, and and and and uh was the Rainbow Girl's name. Anyways, just call her Rainbow Girl, anyways. The two of the oh Mac, um they you would love this series, absolutely. Like, I know this would be your jam. So I can't remember the name of the first book, but anyways, the fever series. As you can find the first book, which I think is dark fever, but I'm not sure. Um that just that push and pull sexual tension throughout the whole series, it's just like to me, is just like perfect. So that's definitely one of my like I read that series like in one week straight, could not put it while camping. I couldn't put it down. Amazing.

Jordan 1:28:03

Oh, which uh because I did have I did have a question of what is your favorite book or series, one you would recommend to anyone and everyone. Would you have to say it's that one, or would you give me a different one?

Karina Halle 1:28:13

I my favorite book is probably well, I have a few. So that series for sure. Um, Jane Hare is probably my favorite book. Um, again, same thing. It's this not only is it forbidden romance, but it's this unresolved sexual tension. It's the I I'm in love with this man, but I don't think he even likes me. And like, but he's actually secretly yearning for her. Like that kind of thing in a book to me is just like catnip. So like Jane Eyre has that. Like, it's just I love that book so much. I read it so many times. That then I also my other favorite book is Jurassic Park. So you just never know. You you like a wide range. I do, yeah.

Jordan 1:28:52

So now we are in the last part. This is like personal. Out of all your books, which one would you love to live in for 24 hours?

Karina Halle 1:29:01

Live in like as the character, or just like as like a random bystander?

Jordan 1:29:07

No, you'd be like you, but in the universe. But I think I love this question because I feel like you write in so many different genres that it's like, okay, if it's only 24 hours, you could live. Well, I'm thinking like your vampires, or maybe River Shadows, or or Ship of Bones and Teeth, because it's like you Yeah, I think I'm leaning towards, yeah.

Karina Halle 1:29:26

I I think I'd do a ship of bones and teeth. Um, especially because those those pirates are very clean and they all practice hygiene. As and if you read the book, you know why they do. So, like I would probably pick that one because I like being on open seas on a boat and just having mermaids and pirates. It's just cool. I would say that. Yeah.

Jordan 1:29:48

Oh, I I I get that. I like that. Yeah. Um, and okay, so then what is your this is kind of totally random, but what is your favorite TV show or movie?

Karina Halle 1:29:59

One of those things again. I have never seen a movie or TV show in my life. Um, I mean movies, I guess. Uh Jurassic Park. The original. Uh, I would say yeah, it's honestly it's like I can't remember anything right now. But let's just go with Jurassic Park. I also love the movie Vertigo. It's by Alfred Hitchcock. I love all of Hitchcock's movies, but that one is my favorite. I think I've watched that 20 times. I don't know why. I just but I will say there's a part of Vertigo that is actually I got to re- reimagine or rework that part of Vertigo into Vanguard, which was really cool. So there's a part where it's very like I don't want to spoil either thing, but there is a part that like I always really loved about Vertico where Jimmy Stewart's like, why did you always have why did you have to pick on me? And it's just it's if you've seen it, then you'll know that part, and then that part got to be in Vanguard. So that was really cool. Um and for TV shows, um let's see. I mean, obviously back in the day I loved Lost. Like I was obsessed with Lost. Like I was on the message boards, you know, then 2003, you know, like shipping, you know, Sawyer and Kate together and like and just like trying to figure out the theories and what it was. Like I was just like for until it ended, just obsessed.

Jordan 1:31:34

And I was just gonna I was just gonna ask you, how did you feel about the ending?

Worlds She’d Live In For A Day

Karina Halle 1:31:38

I've come to terms with it since then. So there's two out of two minds. There's a part of me that and then I'm still and actually it's not that much different how I felt at the time, but like there's one part of me who loved the characters and was just and was happy for them in the in the end, who was like cried a bit because they were really comforted and happy for the characters at the end. But then there's the other part of me that wants answers to fucking things, and that spark up hits off and is still mad. So, like, but I have seen some people kind of explain it a little bit more since then, and it's made me think on things differently. So, like, I'm not against going back and like watching it again, but my god, I just love that show. Um, and now like I love um Severance, that's a great show. Good show. I good show. Yeah, I'm like really like right now. I'm on the season two of The Night Manager again, Spies. Tom Hiddleton, the first season was amazing. I am just like, what's TV? What's this? I'm trying to think of like I even made a list of shows that are coming back so I could be excited about. I even wrote them on my calendar. Paradise is coming back. That's a great show. I love that show. Tend to be speculative fiction shows, they tend to be sci-fi or horror or something like that. Um, I'm not one for just straight up dramas. Um, but I still but I there are some shows still that I really like, like Succession.

Jordan 1:33:05

Oh, I love that show.

Karina Halle 1:33:07

I haven't I haven't finished it, but it is still something work we're working through. I still haven't finished the final season of Mad Men either, but I love Mad Men. So, like there are a lot of shows I need to get back to. I'm not so much of a comedy watcher. Um, my husband is, so where there's a constant battle every night at dinner with like what we're gonna watch, because I'm always like putting on like the darkest shit, or at least to him it's the darkest shit, and he's always trying to like watch Adam Sandler and um but for comedy I'd say shrinking. Shrinking is a great comedy, so like that's one that just came back. So I can't wait to get back to that.

Jordan 1:33:40

That I saw someone talking about that. Wait, did you ever watch um I think it's 1899? Did you ever watch that show? Yes, I think you you watched it. Did you like it?

Karina Halle 1:33:51

No, yes, oh I loved it.

Jordan 1:33:54

Oh, I was just oh that's why it never came back. I know because I'm usually one that doesn't like sci-fi, but I picked that up because of like the time, like the period ships, and I was like, oh my god, this is except the one thing I didn't love, and this is a Netflix thing because Netflix dubs everything unless you change it to Yeah, so like the thing it's like weird because I think what it the show is supposed to encapture like all these different characters, and you're not like the characters aren't supposed to understand other people. So there's people that speak English, there's people that speak German, all these different languages, but yeah, Netflix dubbed it, so anything it was all English, and so things weren't making sense. Yeah, that's right. But yeah, but if you turn on the subtitles and take it off that, it's subtitles, so yeah, yeah, because we we I always have subtitles, but I didn't realize that Netflix dubbed things automatically. It might be also just like my settings, but we had to go in and change it. But like we watched a couple episodes and I was like, something's not right, not matching up, yeah, yeah. And if you go in with them all speaking different languages, it's like, oh, you know that they can't understand each other. But like I really liked that show.

Karina Halle 1:35:19

I loved it, and at the end, I was just like, What? What a twist! Like it's kind of what I thought it maybe it was going there, but I didn't know for sure.

Jordan 1:35:26

And then and then when they're like it's canceled, I'm like didn't know it was cancelled, and now yeah, so now we're never gonna know.

Karina Halle 1:35:33

Like anyway.

Jordan 1:35:35

Poop. Um, so it's poop. Um how many times can we say poop?

unknown 1:35:45

Poop.

Jordan 1:35:48

What is a fun fact about you that you could tell the readers and the listeners, tell your readers and the listeners that might be that they might be surprised to learn?

Film And TV Influences

Karina Halle 1:36:00

I won a Jessica Simpson Lick-Light contest and I got to be on stage with her. Wait, that's so cool. Yeah. You know what's really weird? And I don't look like her anymore, but I did back in the day. And it's funny because it's so weird. In her face together, we do look like Jessica Simpson, so that was an odd thing. That's one. Um, another one. I mean, everyone probably knows this one, but I was in Twilight. Um in the wedding scene, I was a vampire.

Jordan 1:36:36

Wait, shut I don't think I knew that one. Okay. No, I definitely knew the I did know the Jessica Simpson one, but I did not know that one.

Karina Halle 1:36:45

So I was an extra, I used that I used to do that for like a long time. So I was a background actor. And I got to be in Twilight, and I was in the wedding scene. I was on the vampire side of the family, sat behind the Denali vampires, whatever. And I got to be extremely cold. It was April's and squamish, and so it was very cold, and we were freezing, and yeah, it was boring as hell as it normally is. But um, you know, Robert Pattinson was really cool, really nice, smoked a lot. Kristen Stewart was not so much, but now I realize she's just poor girl at anxiety. And looking back, I'm like, that's what that was. It was anxiety, like she's anxious and didn't want to be there, and I do not blame her. Um, because I really like her. Uh, but the funny thing is, is you can see me. If you go to the scene of the wedding, like, so I was just so bored, and I know this is not you can't see you can see me, but people listening can't, but like I was like this the whole time, just like head tilted, zoning, like disassociating, staring off into the distance, like during the whole like exchanging of the vows, like just like into the world in my eyes, and then finally when they're like you can kiss the bride, and I'm like, Yeah, it's very good. Club, club, club.

Jordan 1:38:01

Like, so yeah, you can see me. I'm there, my hair is up. I can't now I have to go watch and go back and watch it.

Karina Halle 1:38:07

Yeah, breaking dawn, I think part one. So, and I've been in a lot of other things, I've been in Fringe, and I've been in Once Upon a Time, and yeah, I love Once Upon a Time. Yeah, a lot of background stuff back in the day. Uh, it was fun. I would still do that today, to be honest, you know, because it was just the easiest job. Like, I love being on film sets anyways, it feels like a second home to me, but like we just basically do nothing all day. Like back in the day, on Twilight, like I remember I was I was writing at the time, and I remember when I was doing um Alvin and the Chipmunks Cream Shipwrecked. I remember like I was writing Dark House or one of my first books at the time, and I had like there was no iPhones and I had an iPod. I was trying to write in the notes section on iPod, like the book, and like because I was like, wow, if I could just write books all day, like what and get paid for it, that'd be awesome. But back then I didn't have the text. So now if I were to ever do it, I would just take my laptop and just like write or on my phone in my notes section.

Jordan 1:39:15

But like, yeah, it was pretty cool. I on honestly, I loved those facts, so thank you. You're welcome. Okay, so this is the last question I have for you. I'm so sad it's over, but I've also kept you long enough. But what is one future goal that you would like to achieve? Either short term, um, long term, it could be in writing, authoring, it could be in whatever.

Karina Halle 1:39:41

One is having my uh book be in a bookstore. I mean, in an airport bookstore. Um, I've never seen one there. So obviously, these are reasons why going with trad, you know, can be a great thing, but it's actually still not happened for me. So I don't know how that will happen, but I would love to see my book in an airport bookstore. I would love to get invited to like Comic-Cons. I have not been. That's another thing that having a traditional publisher should help you in that aspect. It has not helped me. So I that is something I would love. And of course, like every author is gonna say, I want like a movie or TV series. Like, I've had many options on my books, I've just never publicly announced them because for one reason or another, and they almost always fall through. I mean, they'll have fallen through, so uh, so I wouldn't say like to be optioned, but like to actually have something made into a TV series or film, um, would be obviously a great goal. And it is possible, um my husband's done it, and you know, knowing my background in screenwriting, I could so I do have plans to um, you know, because you can't do something, I don't like waiting around for things. So, like I do have plans to do grave matter into a script. I already have worked it out. And it's just uh right now putting it into um TV format, it would be like an anthology series. Uh so probably eight episodes, the first one, and then the second season, if it were to continue, would just be a different thing, but still Majona Foundation. And um, or it could be a two-hour, 90-minute feature-length film, it just depends. But it'd be set, it's set in Canada, Grave Matter. So we would go through like Grave and CBC and that kind of stuff. But that's all I have to write the script first and and then see what happens. So, but yes, that at least that goal is something that like is somewhat manageable. So fingers crossed.

Jordan 1:41:40

Grave matter would be like the perfect. I secretly want it to be like a TV show, so then that way we get more right. Yeah, that would be so good. Um, but I am definitely manifesting the seeing your books in a airport. I think that honestly, I think that is so cool. I think and it will happen. It will happen.

Karina Halle 1:42:00

I hope so. There are some books where they should have happened with like I thought that Roll the Thieves would have been there, but that film that book did so poorly that it was absolutely not going to be anywhere. Um, but you know, Royals Next Door, that is a book that could have been in a book your bookstore. And to be fair, I do think it has been, but I have not seen it.

Jordan 1:42:21

So the goal is for me to see it. It will happen. It's going to happen. Yeah. Yes. Uh okay, so I also wanted to give you the floor in case you want to like plug yourself. Like, where can people find you? Where can people buy your books?

Karina Halle 1:42:39

You can find me on Fred's talking smack. Um, and you can find me on Instagram posting pretty pictures. You can't really find me on TikTok because I haven't posted for months. Um, and Facebook is dead to me. So those are where you can find me. I also have a newsletter, and if you go to my Instagram to the bio, you can sign up for my newsletter there. And I have a Patreon that I try and keep people up to date with just behind the scenes things. So there's also that. Um, yeah, that's where you can find me. Instagram is where I most often am. So perfect.

Jordan 1:43:13

And then like people can buy your books on Amazon. Um, and yeah, you're in bookstores because I definitely see Realm of Thieves in bookstores, and I see um The Royals Next Door.

Fun Facts: Twilight Extra And More

Karina Halle 1:43:25

Yeah, yeah, I'm in like for sure. My tried my well, not for sure, but my traditionally published books should be in bookstores. Uh Hollow and Legend just came out, they should be in bookstores in Realm of Thieves. Um, some of my older stuff, maybe, maybe not, but also a lot of Barnes Nobles just uh carry my books. It just depends on the store, like my self-published stuff. So that just depends on the store. But you should you can find me, like obviously, you can get my books on Amazon. And most of my books are in KU unless it's Tradpubbed. Um, in that case, you could get an ebook and like Kobo or whatever. Um, and then paperbacks, you can order Amazon, Barnes and Noble. You can go into any almost every single self-published book I have has an Ingram one. So like you can go into any um bookstore and ask them to order that in if they don't carry it. And uh they'd be happy to do that.

Jordan 1:44:13

So yeah. Perfect. Well, okay, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. I had the best time interviewing you. Thank you. Uh, and I know too, like I asked you like what the highlight of your week was, and I didn't answer it, but I just want to say that this was definitely the highlight of mine.

Karina Halle 1:44:32

So glad I thought you were trying to say this is this is your new highlight. But you know what? You would be right. This is my new highlight of the week.

Jordan 1:44:41

No, no, no, like that this is my highlight.

unknown 1:44:44

No, no.

Jordan 1:44:46

I I know what you meant. I know what you meant.

Karina Halle 1:44:49

No, I know what you meant. But honestly, thank you for having me. This was so much fun.

Jordan 1:44:54

Oh my gosh, I had the best time, and thank you so much for coming on.

Karina Halle 1:44:59

You're welcome.