Exclusive Interview: Sienna Tristen, The Heretic's Guide to Homecoming: An Orchestrated Audiobook

I am so excited to feature this Brandon Crilly interview with Sienna Tristen today! 

Sienna Tristen (they/them) is an author, poet, and literary organizer living in Treaty 2 territory who explores queer platonic partnership, the nonhuman world, and mythmaking in their work. Among their published works are the award-winning literary fantasy duology The Heretic’s Guide to Homecoming, the poetry chapbook hortus animarum: a new herbal for the queer heart, and poems in Augur Magazine, Plenitude, and the League of Canadian Poets’ Poetry Pause. They are one-half of the creative duo behind The Shale Project.

Brandon Crilly’s IPPY Award-winning fantasy novel Catalyst was published in 2022, with its sequel Castoff completing the Aspects of Aelda duology in 2025. He has more than 50 published short works to date, and freelances for game publishers such as Kobold Press and Gallant Knight Games. Brandon is also an organizer for Can*Con in Ottawa, an occasional reviewer, a frequent speaker at conferences and festivals, and, yes, clearly wears too many hats.

BC: So we’ve known each other for a hot minute, which means I’m going to skip past the “first-date questions” one might see in an interview. Tell me: for this project, why did it feel essential to create an orchestrated audiobook, as opposed to a traditional one with narration only?

ST: Excellent, I much prefer the “it’s 2 AM at the sleepover” kind of questions.

So. I listen to a lot of music while writing. Some writers do their thing in silence, but I need to inhabit the right emotional landscape in order to do good work. The tone of the music finds its way into the words: the palette, the pace, the sense of scale. Anything in my writing that truly conjures an environment—a vast majesty, a sunny melancholy, a silver sliver of heartache—probably has a song or three tucked into its warp and weft. I even select instrumental tunes to play beneath me when I perform live readings! 

John O’Donohue said, “music is what language would love to be if it could”, and I agree. Music can communicate complex feelings in a way that words simply cannot achieve. So for a story as emotionally complex as Heretic’s Guide, where the protagonist’s inner world is so pivotal to everything going on, I wanted that extra modality present. This way, we can play with contrast: during an emotional moment, I don’t need to go ham on the narration, I can be understated, and the string section will still make you cry.

Music is also especially good at callbacks and sneaky references—especially in things like film scores. You’re able to denote characters, places, even concepts by musical themes, and when those elements surface in the plot, you signpost them by queuing up their theme. I’ve learned that’s called motif work, and it does wonders in a story like Heretic’s Guide, which is so rewarding to a close reader, so full of ever-layering context. It’s hard to “flip back” to something in an audiobook, but I’m hopeful that, if you hear a catchy melody when a certain person is mentioned and then hear that melody again 200 “pages” later, something in your subconscious will lead you to think of that person—hopefully with fond nostalgia in your heart.

BC: Besides the obvious, how has the process for creating this audiobook been unique compared to other projects you’ve worked on? 

ST: I have never done so much of the work in the presence of another human being!! Writing is such a solitary craft, you have to be a little hermit in your tower, and as an introvert, I do love my tower, but wow! Every step of this production has been hip-to-hip with Brendan May, my audio engineer and co-composer. He’s keeping an eye on levels while I’m in the booth recording; he’s tagging timestamps where we should do a retake or where some rain noises might sound nice. His are the hands that hold the instruments, that translate my clumsy humming into symphony.

As you know, Avi Silver is my artistic partner for the world of Shale as a whole, but for this audiobook project, Brendan’s the other half of my brain, and I simply could not do it without him. That’s a rare thing for someone as DIY as I am, and I am extremely grateful for him. He brings extreme competence, deep patience, and a love for this story that is quite separate from his love for our friendship. I am usually loath to show anyone my first ideas, but in a collaborative, multimedia setting like this, I have to open up and trust—and that trust has resulted in bounty. 

BC: The sample you chose for the Kickstarter is an embedded story told within Heretic’s Guide, called “Birdhouse Girl.” I’ve heard you perform it multiple times and seen you play the sample for different live audiences recently, and every time, you have this incredible joy on your face. Why does “Birdhouse Girl” not get old for you?

ST: Oh, you know me, Brandon, I’ll read tax forms and make them a Whole Production™. I adore reading aloud—for friends, for my spouse, for readers. It’s one of my big love languages. Next time you’re over, I’ll set you up with some cushions and a cup of tea and read someone else’s poems to you, it’ll be grand.

But that enjoyment does multiply when I’m reading my own work, especially something (relatively) short like “Birdhouse Girl”, and the reason why is, funny enough, musical in nature. Between my sensory processing/synaesthesia and my linguistics background, it’s maximally important to me that every line in a story feels good to read. We care about mouthfeel in this house. In the revision process, I know I’ve nailed a passage once the rhythm of a read-aloud suggests itself as the same rhythm every time. That means it’s crystallized. “Birdhouse Girl” went through that process long ago, but like any good crystal, it’s retained its structural integrity—which means, when I return to it as a performer, it feels like listening to an old favourite song. I know when the proverbial beat’s gonna drop, or the key’s gonna change, or the subtle but perfect piano accent that comes in at minute three—and I’m excited to experience it all again.

As an aside, “Birdhouse Girl” is a folktale, and in my experience of Earth folktales, they bear up to endless repetition. Folktales are made to be flexible containers for the received wisdom of a culture—but they also have to be entertaining enough for people to want to pass them down! When I design folklore for all my fantasy projects, including Heretic’s Guide, I keep that in mind. So far so good!

BC: This duology has a ton of enthusiastic fans and keeps adding more. What bit of positive feedback from readers has surprised you the most?

ST: I’ll keep this short and sweet. Once, at a book signing for the second half of the duology, a fan came up who had a couple of severe physical disabilities. They explained to me that they had always wanted to travel the world but felt limited in their life, until they read Ronoah’s journey. His courage inspired them to chase their own dream. Then they told me all the countries they’ve visited since: Italy, Turkey, Greece, France, even my own homeland of Serbia. They’ve been to more places than I have.

That’s where the real magic is. And the humility. If writing books opens the way for stuff like that to happen, then shit, I will keep writing books until I’m in the ground.

BC: You and I are dropped into the world of Shale. You can pick one destination to take me to. Where are we going?

ST: I love this question, oh my gosh. Just one? Okay. Pack your sunscreen, darling, we’re going to Padjenne, the university capital of Lavola. By his own admission in Heretic’s Guide, Ronoah didn’t have a great time in Padjenne, but that’s respectfully a Ronoah Problem. As one of the members of the Bereni Supercontinent’s tri-university alliance, Padjenne’s got access to half a world of culture, specializing in mathematics, astronomy and astrology, medicine, and music. Plus rotating exhibits on local lost civilizations (thank you, Shattering). As writers, we’d be up to our elbows in delicious primary sources for all kinds of research. 

The Lavolani value curiosity and reciprocity, they grill delicious goat skewers, and I know people there, so we’d have a place to stay. Lastly, they’re coastal, and I love an ocean town. Think Toulonnaise beaches: warm water, friendly fish, sand that literally sparkles. We can take turns pretending we can see the serrated edges of the Shattering from there (we can’t, but who doesn’t love a good boast?).

The Heretic’s Guide to Homecoming: An Orchestrated Audiobook 

The Heretic’s Guide to Homecoming is an introspective fantasy duology written by award-winning author Sienna Tristen (hello!). It follows the cross-continental pilgrimage of one anxious scholar, Ronoah, and his possibly-more-than-human travel companion; together, they explore the strange and vibrant world of Shale, encountering new languages, customs, ruins, and people. Along the way, Ronoah has to face off against his own insecurities—doubt, self-criticism, shame—to prove to himself and his god that he is, in fact, worthy of the wondrous journey he’s on.

The first volume of the duology was published in 2018; since the series completed in 2022, readers have been requesting an audiobook version of the story. It’s always been my dream to narrate this tale in my own voice—and with your support, we’re finally going to make that dream come true.

This Kickstarter will fund the production of the audiobook for the first volume of The Heretic’s Guide to Homecoming duology, opening the way for an immersive audio experience unlike anything you’ve heard before. Click here for a sneak peek!