What happens when you sleep?What happens when you sleep?
J Hirtle The Last Storyteller
Host Jim Hirtle talks with web novelist Lilse Asalt about her dark fantasy book *When The City Sleeps*, set in a city where death magic is legal and an undead woman hunts for her missing child. Their chat blends folklore, worldbuilding and the realities of indie publishing, from tight deadlines to TikTok promotion and word-of-mouth growth.
30:57•26 Jun 2026
Folklore, Death Magic and Indie Grit in "When The City Sleeps"
Episode Overview
- Word of mouth and genuine connections with individual readers remain one of the most effective ways to grow an audience.
- Finding the right niche communities—such as folklore fans, gothic readers or fans of similar shows and books—helps a story reach people who’ll truly appreciate it.
- Passion for the work itself, whether research or storytelling, is crucial for staying in creative careers over the long term.
- Short-form platforms like TikTok can bring sales, but they demand patience, experimentation and acceptance of low conversion rates.
- Tools like Kindle Unlimited and advance reader groups can give new readers a low-risk way to try a book and get to know an author’s writing.
“Reading a good book is like having a good cup of coffee… this is a book that people remember.”
How can compelling narratives motivate and inspire others? This conversation between host Jim Hirtle and web novelist Lilse Asalt is a treat for anyone who loves folklore, dark fantasy and the grind of indie publishing. Jim chats with Lilse about her book *When The City Sleeps*, set in Nilport, a city on the edge of the world where every kind of magic – including necromancy and death magic – is legal.
The main character, Subin, is an amnesiac undead woman, reanimated on a ship bound for Nilport, who realises she was pregnant and that “her child is missing from her womb”. The story tracks her painful search through a brutal magical city to find out what happened to her unborn child and who she really was. Alongside her stands the city’s police chief, a part-vampiric figure born of an undead mother and human father, crafted to fit this eerie setting perfectly.
Lilse walks through her three-phase process: instinctive brainstorming inspired by films like *Corpse Bride*, using a character-arc workbook to shape the story, and then heavy editing under a tight deadline for a small press contest. She’s candid about wishing she had “more time to enjoy” the world and characters she’s created. Things then shift to the realities of indie authorship.
The pair talk about learning covers, editing, and marketing from scratch, with Lilse stressing that word of mouth and “one reader at a time” still matter most. She breaks down how TikTok, YouTube, Facebook groups and podcasts each play different roles in connecting with readers and fellow writers. Threaded through the chat is her huge love of folklore, from Tolkien to obscure Swedish black art books written in red and black ink.
If you’re into dark magic, undead heroines and practical talk about building an audience, this one might leave you asking: what kind of story could you be brave enough to write next?
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