AS: Can you start by introducing yourself, and telling us about your background?

CS: “My name is Cassidie Salley (I got married since I published haha)! I was born and raised in the Austin area, and have loved books for as long as I can remember. I published my novel in 2021 and have always strived to surround myself with books: whether it’s reading, writing, translating, or exploring bookstores everywhere I go! My first love in books was fantasy, and writing young adult and children’s books is a passion of mine.”

AS: What were the inspirations for your book, After The Light Died?

CS: “After The Light Died was a very personal book for me, as I first began writing it as a journaling exercise. The majority of its characters are based off people in my life, and I incorporated scripture into the beginning of the chapters to show what was on my mind at the time. My favorite book, The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho, is a short book about a boy’s journey to finding treasure. It’s poetic and emotional and was a very big inspiration for me when writing my book.”



AS: What messages or sentiments do you want readers to take away from your work?

CS: “Hopefully, this book allows you to enjoy it as objectively or subjectively as you want–if all you want is an adventure, or if you want to delve into every detail, you can find something satisfying. To whoever wants to walk away from this book with a message, I want it to be that life is so much sweeter and richer when you let people in.”

AS: Tell us more about the new book you plan on publishing this year. What was the initial inspiration for it?

CS: “My new book is a gothic fantasy set in modern-day suburban Texas. I love magic in modern-day society, and I really wanted to show the mystical side of this state–showing cowboys as the great warriors instead of knights, stuff like that. My first inspiration for it was visiting a town in Switzerland called Bern when I was a teenager. It’s this town that has preserved all the architecture from the Middle Ages in it, right down to the moat. There’s this cathedral inside that was covered in gargoyles and so full of history you could feel it. Yet people were just passing it by without a second glance, selling souvenirs around it. When I visited that town, I thought, if you plopped a castle like this in the middle of my hometown, people would not be acting normal about it. Then my book sort of bloomed around that thought.”

AS: How can readers support local authors like you?

CS: “Of course, buying books always helps! Events like the one I’ll be at are such a great way to come and support us—posting about them on social media and bringing attention to local authors really makes a difference.”