Q&A: Solitaire Townsend, Author of ‘Godstorm’

We chat with debut author Solitaire Townsend about Godstorm, which transports readers to a vivid, alternative Roman Empire, which has evolved into an oil-worshiping global superpower fuelled by petrol, domination and greed.

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

I’m a climate expert by profession, a classicist by training, and a nerd by nature. After decades of advising big brands, Hollywood studio and activists how to use storytelling to change the world, I thought it was time I wrote one!

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

I’m both dyslexic and autistic, which wasn’t a fun combination for surviving 1980’s comprehensive school. I didn’t properly learn to read until my teens. After years in special education classes that quietly taught me that I’d never be ‘normal’, I went on, improbably, to complete degrees in Literature and Classics and master’s degrees in Shakespeare and then Sustainability. Despite collecting degrees like Pokémon, my early experiences left a residue of imposter syndrome that lingered for decades.

What kept me sane in those bleak special ed classes was inventing wild stories in my head. Entire worlds, characters and adventures lived there, fully formed, but never written. It wasn’t until my mid-forties that I finally allowed myself the audacity of putting words on the page. Once I did, I realised I’d been worldbuilding for years.

Quick lightning round! Tell us:

• The first book you ever remember reading: Dinosaurs and All That Rubbish by Michael Foreman. Probably programmed me to an environmental career, for which I’m grateful.
• The one that made you want to become an author: The MurderBot Diaries by Martha Wells. Who doesn’t love a killing machine with an honourable soul? (You might meet another in Godstorm)
• The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Circe by Madeline Miller. It rewired something in me about power, womanhood, and classical myth.

Your debut novel, Godstorm, is out January 15^th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Gladiator turned governess protects ‘chosen-one’.

What can readers expect?

An alternate history with the grime and social strictures of the Victorian era, grafted onto the brutal systems of Ancient Rome, all woven with petrol fumes. A violently capable but anxiety-ridden female protagonist. A fiercely protective, almost feral love story between a woman and the child she must claim as her own. It’s very much “touch her and die,” but with motherhood, rebellion, and loyalty at its core. With swords.

Where did the inspiration for Godstorm come from?

Decades ago, during a Classics lecture, my professor proposed a scenario that never left me. He suggested that the Rome Empire didn’t fall because it ran out of ideas. It fell because it ran out of resources. Not enough grain to feed the oxen and slaves in an ever-expanding realm. I started wondering what might have happened if Rome had discovered fossil fuels instead of exhausting its agricultural base. The answer, it turns out, was very rich material for an alt-history!

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

There’s a few flashbacks of Arrow, my gladiator-governess, as a child. I loved writing her discovering violence is not only necessary, but a spectacle. There’s something terrifying and tender about tracing the moment when a little girl’s survival hardens into skill, then into a joy. Perhaps the most important line to understand her is “No one could fight, and kill, as well as Arrow did without admitting they enjoyed it”.

Can you tell us a bit about your worldbuilding process?

I believe in doing the homework so the reader doesn’t have to. The world should feel inevitable, not overly explained: a hint here, a smell, a ritual, a throwaway line. But I adore all the research, and I’d love to the entire historical arc of the Godstorm world! There are some deeply buried easter-eggs for someone with a good knowledge of history (and a calculator).  

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

A climate scientist friend read an early draft and then, very gently, informed me I hadn’t burned nearly enough fossil fuel to cause the level of climate chaos I was describing, even with a 1,700-year head start on inventing the combustion engine! Because this world never invents electricity, let alone coal-fired power stations, I had to burn a lot more oil.

That problem gave birth to one of my favourite plotlines: a full-blown petrol cult. The Romans already sacrificed thousands of animals to the gods. In my world, they burn thousands of barrels of “Gaia’s Blood”, aka oil. The petrol temple scene, complete with a scheming oil-priest, is now one of my favourites in the book.

This is your debut novel! What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?

After a long career in climate work, I thought I was immune to rejection. Hah! Writing fiction requires a peculiar emotional physiology: skin thin enough for inspiration to pass through, but thick enough to withstand silence, criticism, and doubt. I’m extraordinarily lucky in my agent and publisher, and deeply aware that this book exists because many people chose belief over caution.

What’s next for you?

I’m now editing the second in the Godstorm series (title to be announced toon). I’m not ready to leave this incredible world quite yet.

Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up this year?

I’m part of a debut cohort so dazzling it feels almost unfair to single out just one. Let’s just say my to-be-read pile is about to become structurally unsound. You can find them all here.

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