Q&A: Axie Oh, Author of ‘The Demon and the Light’

We chat with author Axie Oh about The Demon and the Light, which is the hotly anticipated follow-up to The Floating World.

Hi, Axie! Welcome back! It’s been about six months since we last spoke! How have you been?

I’ve been great! Thanks so much for featuring me again!

The Demon and the Light is the sequel to The Floating World and it’s out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Sailor Moon meets Demon Slayer

For those who haven’t picked up The Floating World, what can readers expect?

A fun secondary world inspired by Korean and other East Asian cultures, RPG and anime vibes, steampunk elements like airships and steam-powered trains, and lots of Ghibli-esque descriptions.

And for those who have, what’s to come in The Demon and the Light?

Higher stakes, and more action and romance. We also delve deeper into the legend of the celestial maidens, as well as face a new, terrifying villain who was hinted at in Book One.

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

There’s a scene toward the end of the book that I especially love that’s set at a waterfall pool that’s really romantic, and a special moment in the journeys of my main characters, Ren and Sunho.  There’s also a fun chapter where “Ren’s boys,” as my editor fondly calls them, have to team up to go demon-hunting—that chapter was super fun to write.

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

I can distinctly recall facing the challenge of how to “level up” or “train” my heroine in the sequel when she’s the last of her kind, and therefore there’s no one alive who can mentor her in magic. I came up with a solution, but I wasn’t sure if it would work, and so I talked to two of my critique partners and fellow authors, Akshaya Raman and Katy Rose Pool, who helped me clarify what it was I wanted to do. In general, I think having someone to jump ideas off of is super helpful as a writer.

The two books have published six months apart. What was the timeline for working on them?

The timeline working on them wasn’t too bad—the hardest part was that I was *also* working on ASAP, the companion novel to XOXO, at the same time as The Floating World. But, as for the duology, we knew from the beginning that they would release six months apart; that didn’t mean that I had to write them faster, it just meant the publication dates for both would be pushed back so that they could publish together in the same calendar year. So I had the normal amount of time (9-12 months) to draft and revise each of them.

What’s next for you?

I’m not totally sure yet, but I do know that it’ll likely be different than the last book I published—whether that be a different genre or age category. I usually like to do something very different than my most recent work because I love to explore new concepts and ideas. 

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

I super loved A Forgery of Fate by Elizabeth Lim, which came out earlier this year; and I’m looking forward to picking up June CL Tan’s Brighter by Nine, the sequel to Darker by Four.

Will you be picking up The Demon and the Light? Tell us in the comments below!