Q&A: S.A. MacLean, Author of ‘Voidwalker’

We chat with author S.A. MacLean about Voidwalker, which is an era-defining new fantasy universe where spicy romantasy meets the Cosmere, unmissable for fans of the world-building scale of Sarah J. Maas and the world-shifting stakes of Rebecca Yarros.

Hi, Sarah! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

Hello! I write fantasy books packed with romance, silly banter, and epic creatures/settings inspired by my background in biology! I have a PhD in environmental science, and during 15 years in academia, I’ve trained falcons and hawks, lived on an island in Maine to study seagull behavior, mapped impacts of climate change on bird distributions across California, and taught as a community college professor. If I’m not writing, you can probably find me doing digital art, sipping matcha, or watching a random 100-hour let’s play of a video game.

When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?

I’ve had ideas for other worlds for as long as I can remember. Those were my daydreams as a kid, building characters and scenes in my head while walking to school or sitting in the car. I sat down to write my first fantasy novel in 2010, a different kind of escape, after my dad passed away from cancer. I wrote 7+ full books over the next few years, but I was terrified to show them to anyone! In 2018, I finally decided I wanted to become a published author. I started querying literary agents in 2021, and I shelved two more books before finally landing an agent and my first book deal in 2022. My debut, The Phoenix Keeper, published in 2024. Now my second book just came out in 2025, 15 after I first sat down at a keyboard! How time flies!

Quick lightning round! Tell us:

• The first book you ever remember reading: Frightful’s Mountain by Jean Craighead George
• The one that made you want to become an author: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
• The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher

Your latest novel, Voidwalker, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Pathetic demon meets scary human

What can readers expect?

Voidwalker is a romantasy, so expect equal parts epic fantasy and sizzling romance! The universe is fractured over multiple Planes of reality, like parallel worlds. Our protagonist, Fi, makes a living as a smuggler traveling between worlds – I’ve seen readers describe her as a female Han Solo? Aesthetic wise, there are some steampunk vibes, think the setting of Arcane or Expedition 33: Clair Obscur, fusing magic with technology for things like energy conduits and swords. On the romance side, this is a monster romance, so the love interest has antlers, claws, a tail, very scary looking – except he’s actually pathetic. Like, this man is (affectionately) useless, and the human protagonist is way scarier than him, and he loves that about her. They start out as enemies (his species literally eats humans), but have to work together and slowly come to trust each other. Once they do open up, hope you’re ready for some spicy bite play!

Where did the inspiration for Voidwalker come from?

All the parallel worlds are spread across the Void, this endless liminal space. Some of the smaller scraps of reality within the Void have this eerie, otherworldly feeling, inspired by deep caves and oceans of our own world. Think dim light, plants with pale and glassy leaves. Oh, and Fi is a horse girl – except she has a scaled, fanged Void horse, who navigates using energy currents. Then we have the daeyari, the carnivorous immortal creatures that crawled out of the Void, and now rule over humans (our love interest being one). This is a unique fantasy race, with inspiration from fae and vampires – but also, my two house cats. They’re arboreal (tree-dwelling predators), so they have long tails for balance! Those tails also hint at daeyari emotions, whether they’re swaying contentedly or flicking in annoyance. They’re immortal apex predators, but also grumpy wet cats, such a fun dichotomy to write!

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

Fi is my favorite kind of female protagonist: she’s fierce, competent, endlessly sassy in her commentary, ready to fight anything in her way. But all that boldness is a shield to hide some serious self-doubt. When readers first meet Fi, she seems unshakeable, but she also makes some brash decisions that get her in a whole lot of trouble. As we get to know her better, we’ll see how much she bases her self-worth on acting tough, because she doesn’t know how to forgive herself for things she regrets in the past. Learning how to accept her own vulnerability is a huge part of her character arc, along with accepting how strong she truly is – and standing her ground with a fanged monster is going to help on both counts.

Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?

Voidwalker is my favorite book I’ve ever written! But while writing it? I thought it would never get published. At the time, I was working as an adjunct professor (one of the lowest rungs of the academic ladder), bouncing between jobs and filling out giant applications for full-time positions, cramming writing time into any free moment. I wrote Voidwalker before I had an agent or my first book deal, and it was a risky project. It’s pretty long. The worldbuilding is an odd mix of fantasy and scifi. The tail stuff could weird people out. One beta reader at the time flat out told me to not bother finishing it, because I’d never get an agent for it. But I felt like I’d finally found the exact kind of story I wanted to write, and I’m so glad I stuck with it – and that I’ve now found a whole audience of tail lovers!

What a cover! Can you tell us what it was like seeing the final artwork?

The cover is phenomenal! Fernanda Suarez is the artist, and created such a stunning explosion of color, with the Void purple and the wintery aurora background (from Fi’s home Plane, which exists in eternal winter). We have Antal, looming all shadowy and menacing in the background, which always makes me cackle in delight (he wishes he was that intimidating in the actual book). And of course Fi, with her energy sword and her incredible rainbow hair. This is, actually, the epitome of fantasy for me: rainbow pastel hair. I’ve attempted to get my hair dyed rainbow multiple times, and pastels simply will not stick to me. So I’ll just live out my fantasy through Fi and her salon-fresh, perfect pastel rainbow that needs minimal upkeep as she goes about saving her world.

What’s next for you?

Voidwalker is the first book in a duology! It can be read as a standalone, since there’s no big cliffhanger ending, all the book 1 plot will wrap up pretty tidily. But we will see more Fi and Antal on a new adventure in the sequel, which arrives August 2026. I’m currently in the late stages of edits on that project, and I also have a draft complete for book one in a new trilogy, stay tuned for more news!

Lastly, what books have you enjoyed reading this year? Are there any you’re looking forward to picking up?

One of my favorite reads of the year has been This Monster of Mine by Shalini Abeysekara, truly phenomenal political maneuvering and enemies-to-lovers yearning. I’m also looking forward to The Library of Amorlin by Kalyn Josephson, which features a grumpy immortal librarian (who is slowly turning into a monster) and a con artist MC wrangling magical beasts!

Will you be picking up Voidwalker? Tell us in the comments below!