Kylie Lee Baker

Welcome, friend! I cannot describe the pleasure of connecting with an author whose work I adore and it will much thrill and excitement that I bring you this interview with Kylie Lee Baker, author of The Keeper of Night series which SK and I have raved about on the blog.

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Welcome to Armed with A Book, Kylie! It means so much to me to host you for an interview. Please tell me and my readers a bit about yourself.

Thanks so much for your thoughtful questions! I’m a fantasy writer who’s also dabbled in teaching, libraries, and archives (so basically surrounding myself with books at various stages of their life cycles). I grew up in Boston, have lived in a few different countries and states over the years, and returned back to Boston for grad school just before the pandemic. 

SK and I read The Keeper of Night almost a year ago. Meantime, my step mom as well as my teenage brother have read all or part of the series. I love that your story appeals to such a wide range of people. Did you have a particular audience/reader in mind when you were writing?

When writing TKON, I was thinking mainly of young mixed race readers who would hopefully see their struggles validated, as well as people from all different backgrounds who had perhaps never considered what it’s like to be mixed race and might learn more about it through reading. So at its heart, it’s for mixed readers, but I hope everyone can enjoy it and learn from it. 

How did the first idea for The Keeper of Night come to you? Did you always envision it to be a duology?

I started writing TKON partially because I felt ready to write a book that explored my heritage after seeing other authors do the same. For a long time, I didn’t think I was allowed to do that—I read very few books about Asians or mixed race kids when growing up. I was also really inspired by a show I was watching at the time called Penny Dreadful, which takes place in Victorian England, just like another one of my favorite shows (Black Butler). I basically combined my own heritage with this dark, spooky setting. I didn’t think much about whether or not it could be a duology at the time, but after talking with my agent, I began to understand how the story could lend itself to that structure very easily. 

I loved the combination of English reapers and Japanese shinigami in this series! How did your life experiences and cultural roots guide your writing?

At the time I started writing TKON, I actually knew very little about Japanese mythology. A lot of the Japanese culture in my family stopped with my grandmother, who was a child living in Hawaii when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Anti-Japanese sentiment in America discouraged her family from passing on a lot of traditions. So in many ways, this series was my chance to learn more about what had been lost. I was so proud that by the time I got fact checker notes for the second book, the fact checker said that I knew more about Yokai than he did! I’m really proud of all the research that went into this series. The life experiences that guided this series had less to do with Japanese culture in particular and more to do with experiences of being mixed race, and how that impacted my life while living in different cities and countries. Like Ren, I grew up being perceived as Asian, then moved to Asia where I was almost universally seen as white. It’s very difficult to feel like part of  your identity is suddenly taken away from you based on who other people want you to be.

What are other places where death gods are an integral part of society’s functioning? Would you like to explore any of them in the future?

I think most cultures have some version of death personified, probably due to a universal fear of death. I actually considered writing a sequel that involved Ren meeting with death gods from lots of different countries, but I wanted to focus more on Japanese culture, which I think was what made the first book special. Maybe a book three someday!

Tamamo No Mae plays an important role in The Empress of Time. What inspired you to include her in this series? 

I knew that the final Yokai that Ren confronts needed to be scarier than the first two. In Japanese folklore, there are three Yokai who are widely considered to be the most evil, and Tamamo No Mae is one of them. She’s the only woman on the list, so I liked the idea of writing about her because her sweet, innocent appearance was such a contrast to her incredible power. 

What is a significant way The Empress of Time has changed since the first draft? 

Minor spoiler alert: originally, I planned on killing absolutely every single character at the end. Luckily, my heart softened a bit before writing it! ☺ 

If you could be in the shoes of any of the characters, who would it be? Which one felt the most like you as you were writing?

Being biracial, I obviously identify a lot with Ren and her struggles, but she is truly a wet blanket with no sense of humor, so I’m not sure that I’d want to be her. All the characters are pretty miserable, to be honest! Maho, the turtle Yokai, seems to be the only one who’s truly unbothered by all the chaos in the world around her. 

Was there one character whose development you were most excited about?

I honestly just loved giving Ren a negative arc in book one. It’s so fun to let a character embrace her dark side and not be the better person for once. I think society often unfairly expects people who are systemically oppressed to always respond with kindness and forgiveness in order to “deserve” sympathy. But I think that if society wrongs you, you have a right to be angry about it, and it doesn’t matter if that makes you unsympathetic to your oppressors. Ren really embodies that righteous anger.

What’s the trickiest thing about writing mythological historical fantasy? 

I don’t know if this is tricky, per se, but the research is certainly time consuming. I do my best to make sure that the places I depart from history or embellish legends are intentional decisions rather than ignorant accidents. 

You mentioned in your author note in The Empress of Time how sophomore books are hard to write. Why is that? Are there 2nd books in series that you have loved more than the 1st or 3nd?

I think many authors feel the weight of readers’ expectations when it comes time to write book two. If people say really nice things about your debut, you feel scared to disappoint them with the sequel, and if people criticize your debut, it can wear down your self-esteem as a writer, so it’s really a lose-lose situation once your writing is shared with a wider audience than ever before. The Invisible Library series is one where I found myself enjoying each book more and more (I think there are seven books now!)

The Keeper of Night duology handled hard themes like being treated like an outsider and emotions that comes with it like inadequacy and self- loathing. They are moving and relatable as a reader. What’s it like to write about them? To put your characters through a rough ride?

I like being able to put into words a lot of the feelings I have about how people like me are treated unfairly—I find it much easier to talk about them through characters than as myself. But it’s also quite terrifying because, by presenting my thoughts as a product, it’s inviting people to disagree, or to not believe me. 

You have a new series coming out this year: The Scarlet Alchemist. What is it about?

It’s a historical fantasy set in an alternate Tang Dynasty, China, where alchemists have created an elixir of eternal youth that only the rich can afford. A poor girl dreams of becoming a royal alchemist, and the closer she gets to her goal, the more she finds herself tangled in all the secrets of the palace. 

What are some books similar to The Keeper of Night duology that you have enjoyed and would recommend to readers who loved your book?

I’ve heard that a lot of people who enjoyed TKON also really enjoy Jade Fire Gold by June CL Tan, Only a Monster by Vanessa Len, and Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao. They’re all different flavors of kickass Asian fantasy girls!

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Thank you so much for joining us for the interview! Connect with Kylie on her website, Twitter and Instagram. Check out the synopsis of The Keeper of Night series below. Also, be sure to follow Kylie on Goodreads for new book releases.

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