Samantha Traunfeld on Between a Witch and Ruination: Author Interview
I’m beyond excited to welcome Samantha Traunfeld back to my blog to celebrate the release of Between a Witch and Ruination! This emotionally charged fantasy novella weaves together magic, grief, sacrifice, and a sapphic love tragedy that asks just how far we’re willing to go for the people we love.
Keep reading to learn more about the inspiration behind Sam’s latest release, the journey of bringing her main characters’ (Solihka and Phaedra) story to life, the role of grief and love throughout the novella, and what readers can look forward to next in the Lore of the High Kingdom series, including an exclusive reveal for the title of book 3!
About Between a Witch and Ruination
A prodigy witch. A king’s bastard daughter. The end of magic as they know it.
Solihka’s childhood robbed her of everything, hope, faith, and her family, leaving her only one goal-create a spell to beat death. As a prodigy witch, and top of her class, there’s true potential for her to achieve this goal. Until a spell goes wrong, putting the only person she still cares about in danger, and she must turn to darker magics to save her life.
Phaedra has been dismissed from home, a shameful reminder of her father’s past. She’s sent to the academy under the guise of gathering information for the king, but she knows the truth. No one cares what happens to her, and the academy is just somewhere to bury his burdens. But when she’s caught in the aftermath of Solihka’s spell, she may yet change the world.
Desperate to right her wrongs and save Phaedra, Solihka seeks out every powerful method of separating the talisman siphoning Phaedra’s life from her. But she must remember, that magic always comes with a price, and she may not be the one paying the debt.
Release Date: September 17, 2026
Pages: 195
ASIN : B0H3J1Q67V
Series: Lore of the High Kingdom (Book 3)
Genre: Sapphic Love Tragedy
Tropes: Traumatized/Uptight Heroine, Oblivious to Love, Everyone Else Can See It, Quest
Content Warnings: Death of Parents (off page), Descent into Madness, Fantasy Violence, Mentions of Abusive Punishments
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Interview
Tell us about your new release, Between a Witch and Ruination!
BETWEEN A WITCH AND RUINATION is the tragic love story of a prodigy witch, Solihka, desperate to find a spell to stop death, and the illegitimate daughter of the king, Phaedra. When an experiment goes awry, Phaedra is left fighting for her life, with Solihka’s talisman lodged in her shoulder. Priorities rapidly shift, and the two must go on a daunting quest to find enough magic to save her life.
What inspired you to write Between a Witch and Ruination?
I had commented on this in my last interview that the Lore of the High Kingdom series is all about history-defining moments in the world I’m building. Each of the novellas highlights a crucial historical point whose repercussions have rippled into the lives of future characters. For BETWEEN A WITCH AND RUINATION, the history is about the corruption of magic, which lays the foundation for conflict surrounding who has access to this power and who doesn’t later on. The love story then slowly started to build around it, because I needed a force that would be strong enough to make someone corrupt a power they’d already relied on for so long. And what could be stronger than love?
What drew you to writing a sapphic tragic love tradegy without the promise of a happily-ever-after?
I love the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, and the idea that even knowing they are doomed at the end, an Orpheus willing to go to hell for Eurydice is always going to look back; the story will still start again. Knowing that the end might not be a happy one doesn’t make the journey any less worth it. I was hoping that this story could pay homage to that sense of hope, even in the face of insurmountable odds.
Between a Witch and Ruination explores the idea that “magic always comes with a price.” What drew you to this concept, and how did you approach weaving the consequences of power into your novella?
I’m a huge fan of the show Once Upon a Time, and I love how well the writers there highlighted the cost of using magic. I wanted to have that same feeling in the novella, without strictly writing rules for the use of that power. For Solihka, who is by far one of the strongest users that the academy has seen in decades, the readers experience this through her early burnout and the eventual accident in her lab. Then I knew that the talisman would feed on energy, and when magic wasn’t available, it would feed on human life force. The spell Solihka was trying to cast was powerful, so the cost had to be comparable. A life for a life.
Solihka is a prodigy witch who has lost everyone she’s ever loved, leaving her determined to find a way to overcome death. What interested you most about writing a character who is so brilliant and controlled when it comes to magic, yet struggles to understand her own emotions?
I wanted to write Solihka with a one-track mind that limits her to the experiences other people have, especially when it comes to emotional connections. She’s had so much pain in her life already at such a young age that her mind’s defense mechanism is going to be to close her off from forming any kind of attachment that might result in the same grief she’s already so familiar with. Having her throw herself into a magic experiment that could stop anyone from feeling her kind of pain felt like the right way to have her cope with that trauma.
Phaedra has been rejected by her father and sent to the academy as a reminder of his past, leaving her in a position where she feels unwanted and discarded. What drew you to Phaedra as a character, and what did you most want to explore through her story?
Phaedra is a reminder to me, and hopefully also to readers, that hardship doesn’t have to make hard people. She has forgiven the horrible things that were done to her and people’s prejudices against her for the nature of her birth, and decided her life was better moving past it. She doesn’t rage, and she doesn’t want vengeance. She wants to live a happy life that is all her own, and that’s where she finds healing. I hope readers can find healing in that too.
Solihka and Phaedra’s relationship includes the “oblivious to love” and “everyone else can see it” tropes. What was your favourite part of writing their relationship and including these unique tropes?
I think it’s really fun when they go to visit Loth, whom neither of them has ever met before, and he immediately clocks it. He looks at Solihka and her murderous rage when she thought he might have hurt Phaedra, and calls her out on her feelings. And then Solihka has to buffer like she’s running Windows 97.
Grief and love are deeply intertwined throughout Between a Witch and Ruination. What drew you to exploring these two emotions? Did your understanding of grief and love change or deepen as you wrote this novella?
I think grief and love are both such pinnacle emotions for the human experience, and oftentimes the two are inextricably linked. It’s the woven circle we all walk, from love to grief and round again. To love deeply is to know that pain could come, but to understand that it will be worth it. I like to think of that quote from Winnie the Pooh: “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard”. For Solihka and Phaedra, and for me through them, this is the part of humanity that makes living worthwhile. To know love, true love, is to welcome grief, and I really had to come to terms with that in this story.
Between a Witch and Ruination is an emotionally heavy story that explores grief, loss, love, and sacrifice. What was the most challenging part of writing this novella, and was there anything about the story or its characters that surprised you along the way?
The hardest part of writing BETWEEN A WITCH AND RUINATION for me was finding those emotional beats for Solihka, where she finally had enough quiet in her life to have that oh moment. When she’s at the academy, she’s absorbed by her experiments, and then once they leave, she’s focused on saving Phaedra, so finding spots for things to slow down without dragging the pace of the story was a fun challenge for me. But I was actually most surprised by Phaedra’s backstory, which completely changed while I was drafting, but added beautiful depth to her character (if I do say so myself).
Could you share a bit more about the Lore of the High Kingdom universe you’re writing? What do you enjoy about writing standalone novellas within the larger world of the High Kingdom?
Each novella in the Lore of the High Kingdom series tells a history-defining tale for the world of the High Kingdom. Once the novella series is completed, I will be moving into the High Kingdom itself, to the stories of seven princesses. That’s all I’m going to say about that series for now, but I am really excited to build the momentum up to that. The third novella in the series jumps a little bit out of the normal world and deals with the gods and goddesses that have been background influences in the first two novellas. It’s a story of siblings, divinity, and betrayal, and will be coming to you in early 2027. After that, two more romance novellas will be coming later in the year, both of which I am super excited to start drafts for.
Describe Between a Witch and Ruination in THREE WORDS.
Destiny, power, sacrifice
What’s next for you?
I’ll be jumping into the draft of novella number 3, officially titled BETWEEN A GODDESS AND THE DIVINE, with more announcements coming to you soon!
*Interested in receiving an early copy to read and review? Learn more and sign up for an ARC here!
Where can readers find you online?
You can find me most actively on Instagram/Threads @sam.traunfeld, and check out my website, samanthatraunfeld.com, and sign up for my newsletter to get exclusive behind-the-scenes looks and early reveals!
About Samantha Traunfeld
Fantasy Author ~ Avid Book Lover ~ Forest Witch
Samantha’s love of stories began when she was about 12—could read a whole book in a day and wrote lots of stories featuring cute ghosts. Now she writes stories about badass women, sharp weapons, and banter-y relationships.
When she isn’t writing she’s usually cuddling her dog, starting a new craft project she might not finish, or trying to figure out how videogames work. There’s a 94.6% chance you can find her curled up in a bookstore somewhere (math is not her strong suit), but if you don’t, this is the best place to get more information.
Connect with Sam
Instagram: @sam.traunfeld
Threads: @sam.traunfeld
Newsletter: Join Sam’s Newsletter!
Wrapping Up
A huge thank you to Samantha for joining me once again and giving us a closer look at Between a Witch and Ruination! From its exploration of love and grief to the journey Solihka and Phaedra take on, this novella is a must-read for fantasy readers looking for a story that will pull at their heartstrings.
Be sure to pick up your copy of Between a Witch and Ruination and follow Samantha online to keep up with her latest releases, behind-the-scenes content, and all things Lore of the High Kingdom. And if you’re already a fan of the series, keep an eye out for Between a Goddess and the Divine, coming in 2027!
Sam will also be attending Royal City Romance in Guelph, Ontario, this October. If you're in the area, be sure to check out the event and stop by her table, where you'll be able to pick up a copy of Between a Girl and the Seafoam along with her other books.
If you're planning to attend, you can also save 10% on your ticket by using my discount code: JESSBEYONDTHEPAGES.
Until next time!
