Sienna Tristen and Avi Silver: Creators and explorers of a boundless literary universe

At first glance, The Shale Project might appear to be just another series of fantasy books. 

Look again. 

The Shale Project, created by Sienna Tristen and Avi Silver – who are accomplished authors, multimedia creators and a married couple based in Toronto – is “a multimedia storytelling initiative roughly in the shape of a planet.” Think of it like a hub linking diverse tales in different media into a larger immersive experience that pushes boundaries and transcends conventions in three areas: worldbuilding, storytelling, and art as medicine. 

The planet’s name is Shale, and Sienna, who has a degree in linguistics and languages from York University, has meticulously designed it with its own rich history and not one, but four languages. To introduce the culture and lore of The Shale, the world even boasts its own soundtrack!

It’s certainly true that a cornerstone of The Shale Project is the books. Two-thirds of Avi’s young adult Sãoni Cycle trilogy has been released. And Tristen’s award-winning The Heretic’s Guide to Homecoming, Book One: Theory now has its duology-completing sequel The Heretic’s Guide to Homecoming, Book Two: Practice. Described as “one part fantasy travelogue, one part emotional underworld journey,” The Heretic’s Guide to Homecoming is a sumptuous, slow-burning and imaginative exploration of the power of stories and their profound impact on our lives. 

Beyond its ambitious and absorbing literariness, The Shale Project has a deeper purpose: tackling queerness, neurodivergence, disability and other diverse realities head-on. Sienna and Avi’s underlying philosophy is that “the stories we tell on Shale should not only serve to entertain, but to help us critically examine our own lives and experiences on Earth (or whatever planet you currently inhabit!).” By fostering a culture of connection, empathy, and curiosity, they aim to create a transformative space where readers can engage with the complexities of the human condition.

In this interview with Sesayarts Magazine, Sienna and Avi discuss the start of their writing careers, the creative rivalry that serves as their muse, and the origin, impact and future of the Shale Project.

Sesayarts Magazine: What (or who) inspired you to become multimedia creators and authors?

Sienna and Avi: Both of us had separate childhood aspirations to enter the arts, but to be honest, we inspired each other to get to this point. We met over a decade ago (!) in a writers’ forum, and were breaking and mending each other’s hearts with our storytelling long before we decided to share that with a wider audience. Our relationship is very multifaceted, but for sure one of the most sacred aspects of it is the creative rivalry we hold with each other. Whenever one of us writes an amazing chapter for their book, or a gorgeous poem, the other feels that fire to rise to the challenge.

There’s a piece of artistic advice floating around out there that goes, “imagine your ideal reader, and write for them”. We’re amazingly lucky to have actually found that ideal reader in the flesh—we’re always the first one to read the other’s writing, whether it’s on- or off-Shale. And you know something? It’s been more than ten years and the thrill never gets old.

Sesayarts Magazine: Why did you want to create a whole new planet, Shale? Did anything or anyone inform its genesis? And what can the people living on Earth learn from the inhabitants of Shale?

Sienna and Avi: While the Shale Project is celebrating its 5-year anniversary in 2023, the idea of the planet has been around for nearly twice that. Sienna was the one who planted the original seed, and it came from observing how many awesome secondary fantasy worlds were created by other authors—and then discarded. All that work! Just for one book, maybe three? And then you start all over again? It seemed like a waste of good material to a nineteen-year-old Sienna, and so the concept arose: what if we built a fantasy world that was so robust and ever-changing and nuanced across time and space that you could keep populating it with stories and never run out of room?

In some ways, then, you could say Earth itself was the genesis for Shale: a planet big enough for everything, even (sometimes especially) when the opposite appears true.

As for what we Earthlings can learn from the folks on Shale—this is a fantastic question. If you read either of the series that are currently published (the Heretic’s Guide to Homecoming duology or the Sãoni Cycle trilogy), you’ll quickly notice Shale is a world chock full of magic, spirituality, and of course, a bunch of cool fantasy gods. The thing is, almost nobody on Shale feels the need to assert their gods over anybody else’s; it’s sort of a given that, if you go somewhere different, there will be different spiritual entities governing that land, and there’s no harm done by sending a quick prayer their way as you pass through. There’s a sort of inherent security and self-confidence in one’s spiritual background (even in the places where gods aren’t a thing) that permits people on Shale to be fluid and flexible with the customs of other people, rather than trying to impose their worldview on everyone around them. It’s a more open, curious, receptive way to live and learn from each other, and it would be very neat to see more of that from our fellow humans on Earth—not just in matters of theology, but in everything!

Sesayarts Magazine: What would you like readers to know about The Heretic’s Guide to Homecoming book series? When you were writing the books, did you have a particular target audience in mind?

Sienna and Avi: Heretic’s Guide is one of those series that is Not For Everybody. You know the type? The things that some readers give it one-star ratings for are the exact same things that other readers give it five-star ratings for. So: if you’re looking for a reflective, contemplative, lingering reading experience, full of poetry and mythology and musicality, “tenderness and wondrous strangeness” (as one review put it), you may really find yourself in Heretic’s Guide. If you’re looking for a more classic fantasy story, fast-paced and action-packed, you may wish to pass on this one. If you’re more interested in external action than internal shift, this might not be the adventure for you, but if you love mile-deep character studies with deeply flawed protagonists trying actively to better themselves, Ronoah may be a friend you haven’t met yet.

That’s the other thing about Heretic’s Guide. It challenges you. The world of Shale is vast, and there’s a lot to learn (including upwards of four fantasy languages!), but it’s also an invitation to look at some of the more difficult emotions of our time: anxiety, self-hatred, shame. Spending time with these is not exactly a comfortable experience—but we’ve heard from readers that it’s immensely rewarding.

Sesayarts Magazine: What has the response to the Shale Project been so far? Has anyone’s response particularly surprised or moved you?

Sienna and Avi: Oh, the stories we could tell you! Our readers are some of the bravest and most vulnerable humans walking around out there. We’ve had people share that they’ve found the courage to undergo major life changes thanks to reading our work: beginning therapy, affirming their gender identities, traveling the world (seriously!). People have dressed up in full-body costume as some of the characters from our books; others have made beautiful fan art. One creative reader actually made a one-of-a-kind leatherbound edition of the first volume of Heretic’s Guide, complete with metal corners. How cool is that?!

Sesayarts Magazine: What’s ahead for The Shale Project? What can fans (or current or future inhabitants) look forward to?

Sienna and Avi: As we mentioned, 2023 is Shale’s 5-year anniversary, so we’re anticipating a year of celebration! That might look like developing our first-ever round of merchandise (Posters? Stickers? T-shirts? Who could say?). It might look like a big in-person party celebrating all we’ve achieved. It might look like anything. No matter what it looks like, it’s going to be oodles of fun.

Once 2024 arrives, we’ll be publishing the concluding title in Avi’s Sãoni Cycle, which means both of Shale’s initial series will be complete! And after that? We’re returning to our decade-old writing partner roots and co-writing a novel. That’s something we’ve never done before. It’s also a romance novel—or at least, it’s shaped like one—which is another new thing for us. It’s going to be a fruity, ridiculous, deeply heartfelt romp, and we can’t wait to share more about it in the future.

Sesayarts Magazine: What question didn’t I ask you that you wish I had (and what is the answer)?

Sienna and Avi: Oooh, this is fun. Here’s a question worth asking a planet like Shale: how does it all connect? Where are the edges at which all these disparate stories touch?

The answer is, all kinds of ways. Each series is complete on its own, so you don’t need to read The Heretic’s Guide to Homecoming: Theory in order to enjoy Two Dark Moons, for instance. They stand apart. However, if you do fully explore what Shale has to offer, you begin—like any good anthropologist—to notice how stories impact each other across time and place. One good example is that there’s a pretty major spoiler for the end of Avi’s series hidden in plain sight in the second volume of Heretic’s Guide, but you’ll only catch it if you’re keeping up with the sociopolitical score, so to speak. We have a lot of fun imagining the interconnectedness of everything on Shale, just like on Earth.

And one last thing: there is a secret throughline. There’s an overarching story-in-stories that will probably take another five years to start to reveal itself. Shale is the work of a lifetime, and like any long game, you have to save some good stuff for the late stages. Be patient with us, and we’ll tell you a story worth the wait.

Click here to visit The Shale Project and order Sienna and Avi’s book series.

© Arpita Ghosal, Sesayarts Magazine, 2023