Interview With Author Rowan Ashcroft
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I write dark romantasy and speculative fiction about obsession, power, and the systems that consume the people inside them.
My stories explore what happens when love stops being safe—when it becomes control, addiction, or something closer to hunger.
So far, I’ve written a growing catalog of interconnected and standalone novels, including:
The Veil Between Us series (4 books)
Standalone dark romantasy and sci-fi titles like The Lexicon of Unmaking, The Many-Faced Hollow, and The Emperor Who Married His Own Empire
Experimental collections like The Opt-Out
Across all of them, there’s a shared thread:
love as a dangerous force, and power as something that always has a cost.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest release is The Emperor Who Married His Own Empire.
It was inspired by a question that wouldn’t leave me alone:
What if an empire didn’t just serve its ruler… but loved him?
That idea became something much darker—a sentient civilization, an emperor who may no longer exist, and a form of love that functions as total control.
It’s a story about being trapped inside something that needs you too much to ever let you go.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I build systems before I build stories.
Every book starts with a core mechanism:
a language that rewrites reality
a city that consumes gods
an empire that feels
Then I ask:
“What kind of person would survive inside this?”
I also tend to write in nonlinear fragments—scenes, concepts, emotional spikes—then assemble them into something cohesive later.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’m influenced by authors who explore power and consciousness in uncomfortable ways:
Dune – for political and systemic power
Blindsight – for its inhuman take on intelligence
1984 – for control and psychological pressure
I’m also heavily shaped by cosmic horror and dark fantasy that refuses to offer clean answers.
What are you working on now?
I’m expanding multiple threads at once:
New entries in the Living Empire / Obsession Universe
Additional dark romantasy standalones pushing further into body horror and identity loss
Crossovers between magic systems and technological systems
The goal is to create stories that feel less like narratives—and more like traps you fall into.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Short-form content has been the most effective.
I focus on:
high-concept hooks
emotionally disturbing one-liners
“what if” ideas that stick in people’s minds
Instead of marketing books directly, I market concepts that readers can’t ignore.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t try to write something “good.”
Write something people can’t stop thinking about.
Safe ideas disappear.
Extreme ideas spread.
Find the core tension in your story—and push it further than feels comfortable.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“If it doesn’t cost something, it doesn’t matter.”
Every character, every system, every relationship—there has to be a price.
What are you reading now?
I tend to rotate between dark science fiction, philosophical fiction, and horror—especially stories that question identity, perception, and control.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Scaling both concept and impact.
Bigger systems
More dangerous emotional dynamics
Stories that feel immersive and invasive
I’m building a body of work where each book deepens the same core idea:
love, power, and control are often the same thing—just seen from different angles.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Dune
Blindsight
1984
The Book of the New Sun
Books that reward rereading—and reveal something new each time.
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