Do you have any books that inspired you when you began writing The Hearth series?
One of the biggest inspiration - thematically, but also linguistically - was Ursula K. Le Guin. I have adored her since I was a wee baby, and I even wrote my Bachelor's and Master's final papers on her books.
Her fantasy series Earthsea is a must, but I also recommend Lavinia, the sci-fi novels and short stories belonging to the Hainish Cycle (The Left Hand of Darkness!! The Dispossessed!! Vaster than Empires!! *explodes*), and the novels belonging to the Annals of the Western Shore. The latter in particular are some of her best works, in my opinion.
In each of these books, love is described with a gentle, clear hand, and Le Guin never shies away from difficult topics, especially if these are related to love and its consequences, no matter how good or ugly they are.
I usually go through "hibernation periods" when writing. If I'm obsessed with something, I'm capable of writing large amounts of fics about it quite quickly, fueled by my obsession. But if I'm in one of my "hibernation periods", I usually just read and read and read and let it all simmer inside my soul until I explode and I simply have to write something. It's what happened with Irori, I believe.
Another novel is Kalpa Imperial by Angelica Gorodischer. It's a collection of tales and anedoctes describing a kingdom that doesn't exist, very reminiscent of Borges' short fantastical stories. Another one I recommend, especially for its views on sexuality, disfigurement, and family, is Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntyre.
I also recommend the anthology Sisters of the Revolution, edited by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer. It contains a good amount of sci-fi/alternative stories written by different feminist writers, Ursula K. Le Guin and Octavia Butler included. I admit I didn't know some of them, since they are mostly edited in the United States and Canada and their works had little influence here in Italy - so reading this collection was quite eye-opening and I enjoyed it a lot.
Another one I remember reading back then is Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, and Essays in Idleness and Hojoki by the Japanese monks Kenko and Chomei.
And of course there is Genji Monogatari by Murasaki Shikibu. While reading JJK, I decided to re-read the super old copy that my grandmother bought for me when I was little, around 10 or 11 years old.
I already loved Japan a lot back then; grandma saw this massive book written by a Japanese woman about a shining prince and thought it would be just perfect for me. The Italian translation wasn't the best, and I found the book to be terribly complicated, but I loved it, and I rediscovered it years later thanks to JJK and Sukuna. My grandma got it right since from the start, it truly was a sign 😂
