Shalini Abeysekara
Author Interview - Shalini Abeysekara
Author of This Monster of Mine
She knows the taste of death. He'll stoke her hunger for it.
Eighteen-year-old Sarai doesn't know why someone tried to kill her four years ago, but she does know that her case was closed without justice. Hellbent on vengeance, she returns to the scene of the crime as a Petitor, a prosecutor who can magically detect lies, and is assigned to work with Tetrarch Kadra. Ice-cold and perennially sadistic, Kadra is the most vicious of the four judges who rule the land - and the prime suspect in a string of deaths identical to Sarai's attempted murder.
Certain of his guilt, Sarai begins a double life: solving cases with Kadra by day and plotting his ruin by night. But Kadra is charming and there's something alluring about the wrath he wields against the city's corruption. So when the evidence she finds embroils her in a deadly political battle, Sarai must also fight against her attraction to Kadra - because despite his growing hold on her heart, his voice matches the only memory she has of her assailant...
A dazzling Ancient Rome-inspired romantasy debut, This Monster of Mine is a bloodbath of manipulation, deception, and forbidden love.
Author Interview - Shalini Abeysekara
Author I draw inspiration from:
Oh my gosh, this is a bottomless list! The authors whose works I relied on quite heavily while writing This Monster of Mine (TMOM) were Hafsal Faizal (We Hunt the Flame was seminal to my understanding of stunning prose and worlbuilding), M.K. Lobb (I would literally read a chapter of Seven Faceless Saints before writing to get my head in gear), Allison Saft (Down Comes the Night was integral to my understanding of relationship arcs and how to craft taut, tight prose!) and Emily Thiede (This Cursed Light shaped Sarai and Kadra's relationship in so many ways!). These days, I'm so inspired by all the incredible authors I've met while on this journey, including fellow 2025 debuts, Jenni Howell, Alexandra Kennington, Roselyn Clarke, Julia Alexandra, Courtney and Clarke Collins, and Markus Redmond!
Author Interview - Shalini Abeysekara | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book:
Weirdly specific answer, but curled up in bed with a steaming mug of chocolate milk nearby, post 5-pm during a Canadian winter!
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
Oh, this is going to sound so terrible, but they were the first to come to mind, so here we go. I just want 30 minutes with the Darkling or Sauron (Rings of Power's Sauron has me by the throat). I can fix them. Let's have a therapy session, you two. Someone's got to drag you off the road you're on, and I volunteer as tribute, haha.
Realistically, even a month in an elevator isn't long enough for these men to unpack their issues, and I'd die an extremely grisly death the second the doors open. Ah, but the hope remains that they decide to use all that megalomania for good!
Author Interview - Shalini Abeysekara | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
This is a pretyt vivid moment for me. It was mid-December 2012 (the 17th or the 22nd or therabouts), and I'd just sat down to watch the Hobbit. I'd briefly seen the LOTR films as a child and foolishly hadn't bothered rewatching them when older, so the Hobbit, in many ways, was my first actual introduction to Tolkien. The second the last words of Bilbo's voiceover in the opening rolled in ("and nothing unexpected every happened"), I felt this insane urge to write something, anything. Just a mad unfettered desire to build something as striking as what I had just witnessed and what I knew was going to be a film that changed my life.
That sentiment lasted long past the end of the Hobbit, and I wrote my first book (that died during querying, haha) that same year. And I was never the same since!
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
Great question! So many pros and cons to them all!
To be honest, I love hardbacks the most, but they aren't the most portable option, albeit the sturdier one. Paperbacks fit beautifully into a medium-sized handbag, but I feel like I'm handling a museum piece when I take them in or out of the bag because every scuff shows! And God forbid the cover ever bends because that's a wrinkle that's never leaving.
I have more ebooks than physical books for the sheer convenience, but I make sure to purchase a physical copy of a book I love, because of the ephemereal nature of ebooks, and how owning them doesn't truly feel like ownership. More like data storage, really!
Weirdly enough, I've never listened to an audiobook! I think it's because my commute to work was never long enough to really get deep into an audiobook, so I don't feel qualified to opine on them. But I love how they harken back to the roots of story and oral tradition where people get to listen to a work while completing items on their to-do lists!
The last book I read:
Midnight on the Celestial by the incredible Julia Alexandra (due to come out in 2026! Such a brilliant book!)
Author Interview - Shalini Abeysekara | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer:
Oh, a laptop all the way. I started writing on Microsft Word and I've never been able to break the habit! I keep my screen pretty dark when I write (black background, white text), because there's something about it that helps me get into the mood.
Writing process-wise, I lean more towards plotter than pantser. I get writing paralysis pretty easily with fears of whether a manuscript will sell or won't, so I tend to outline meticulously. My work is heavily character-driven, so I start with them and build the plot, subplot threads, and overarching philosophy of the work around them, then go chapter by chapter and bullet-point the whole work down to draft dialogue. As a result, the outline basically reads like a zero draft, which helps my anxiety when it comes to drafting. I set that aside for months and return to it with clear eyes, and fill in all the gaps or change things up where I don't think they're working. If my doubts and worries don't get in the way, I end up with a final draft!
And then, I panic over that some more, haha.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
I finished a Wheel of Time marathon (based on the books by Robert Jordan), so I'm going to wax poetic about my current love, Moiraine Damodred Rosamund Pike imbues her with the icy ferocity and ambiguity of a woman whose position has cost her dearly, but who continues to sustain those losses if it means protecting a world she loves and preventing a terrible fate from coming to pass. I'm get too spoilery for the sake of anyone who hasn't read the incredible books or seen the show, but I'd love to be friends with her though I don't know if she'll have much use for me!
As a former lawyer, I feel like we've shared similar experiences (hers outstripping mine by far), and I just want to live a day under the Aes Sedai's matriarchy, flaws and all.
Author Interview - Shalini Abeysekara | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
It feels far too late for this dream, but I think I'd have loved to be an actor? There's something about being able to physically translate the written word in a manner that elevates the base material and illustrates it in a way that human mind alone cannot during reading that I find so fascinating. I'm so awed of actors who're not only brilliant performers but talented writers and directors. Talk about knowing every side of the coin!
Favorite decade in fashion history:
Late 60s twiggy-era fashion has me in a chokehold. I love the silhouettes and bright prints and all that colour! Am I brave enough to pull it off? Nope, but heavens do I love it!
I would also die for Keira Knightley's dress in Atonement. A thing of pure beauty.
Place I’d most like to travel:
Oooh this is tough! It's a toss-up between Scotland and Korea for very different reasons. Everything I've seen through the narrow window of social media about Scotland has me obsessed, dreary weather and all!
Korea is where my inner K-drama-obsessed child dreams of visiting for a few months, and I hope to indulge her at some point. It has such a vibrant, incredible history, and I adore Korean food!
My signature drink:
Both! I feel old saying this but I'm partial to a Sex On The Beach or a Tequila Sunrise. But nothing in this world gets me like a taro slush bubble tea with tapioca. Kryptonite in liquid form.
Favorite artist:
Absolutely Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings and its accompany texts and prequel are the passion project of a war veteran, historian, linguist, and religious scholar, and it shows in their masterful worldbuilding, gutwrenching philosophy of a world shifting toward decline even if light does occasionally win against dark. The books carry hope and tragedy in equal measure and remain foundational to my writing.
Number one on my bucket list:
I'm a huge gamer, and a superfan of the Horizon videogame trilogy. So, the number one thing on my bucket list is for the third and final game to please come out so I can play. (Guerrilla Games, I'm begging.)
In reality though, the number one thing on my bucket list is actually writing up the slew of manuscripts I've outlined, and banishing anxiety to the ether. I feel like the former is more realistic at this point!
Anything else you'd like to add:
Nothing beyond a shameless self-promo-poem:
If dark fantasy and slow-burn romance are your thing,
then please dash online,
and do check out,
This Monster of Mine
(Wordsworth is screaming in his grave)
Find more from the author:
https://www.instagram.com/shalini.writes/
https://bsky.app/profile/awayintheshire.bsky.social
http://tiktok.com/@shaliniwrites?lang=en
https://x.com/awayintheshire
About Shalini Abeysekara:
Author Interview with Shalini Abeysekara
Shalini Abeysekara (she/her/hers) is a lawyer-turned-author based in Ontario, Canada. She enjoys using fantasy to interrogate reality, exploring monstrosity—perceived and real—and centering neurodivergent women of colour reckoning with themselves and their place in a world that tells them they’re too much and not enough. She is passionate about demystifying traditional publishing for all writers and promoting marginalized authors of all identities. When not writing, she games her life away and tries to make the perfect entremet. Most days though, she can’t believe she's an adult, and hope you don’t either.
Her debut romantasy, This Monster of Mine, is an Ancient Rome-inspired bloodbath of manipulation, deception, and forbidden love. It comes out with Union Square & Co. and Hodderscape in Spring 2025 with a second novel to follow in 2026.
