An Interview

by Evelyn Shaw

The following is an imagined conversation between C.R. Hale and a patient interviewer who tried, with varying degrees of success, to persuade the author to explain the Sterne Universe. They didn’t — not entirely. But they revealed just enough to illuminate the shadows, if only a little.

Evelyn Shaw: Your novels in the Sterne Universe are being described as dark romance, literary erotica, psychological fiction — sometimes all three. Do you think about genre when you write?

C.R. Hale: Of course. Everyone does. But I don’t begin with it. I start with behavior — what these people actually do. The labels tend to show up afterward, usually from readers.

Shaw: That sounds idealistic. As an independent author, doesn’t marketing require categories?

Hale: It does. And that’s the challenge. The modern system prefers boxes. My work doesn’t always fit neatly. I write the stories as they unfold. If a category aligns with that, good. If not, the story doesn’t change.

Shaw: Your characters feel unusually grounded for the genre. No caricatures, no exaggerated archetypes.

Hale: Simplified people don’t interest me. Real behavior contradicts itself. If someone appears one-dimensional in my books, it’s usually because another character is misinterpreting them — not because they are written that way.

Shaw: Let’s talk about Julian Sterne. Readers describe him as precise, intimidating, elegant — but never theatrical. You rarely explain him directly.

Hale: Explanation isn’t his language. Intention is.

Shaw: Is he difficult to write?

Hale: No. He’s very clear with me.

Shaw: But not with the reader?

Hale: Readers will understand him in their own time. Julian makes decisions before he speaks. The effects arrive long before the explanation.

Shaw: Origins, Monica, Valerie — three different eras of his life. Why tell his story across decades instead of within a single arc?

Hale: Because people don’t form in one moment. Some years shape you quietly, others force a reckoning. Julian has both. A single turning point wouldn’t be honest. The constellation matters more than any one star.

Shaw: Your settings — especially Hong Kong and Shenzhen — feel like characters. Not scenery. Characters.

Hale: Cities have tempers. Hong Kong compresses you. Shenzhen accelerates you. Characters respond to those pressures.

Shaw: Have you spent significant time there?

Hale: Yes.

Shaw: And what stayed with you?

Hale: The routines. What people do when they’re not performing — their commutes, habits, shortcuts. A city reveals itself through the unremarkable moments.

Shaw: The intimacy in your novels — especially the D/s dynamics — feels understated, structured, almost architectural. Why avoid theatricality?

Hale: Because spectacle isn’t intimate. Control can be quiet. Power exchange doesn’t need volume; it needs clarity.

Shaw: Some readers expect something darker or louder.

Hale: Expectations belong to the reader. I’m writing something else.

Shaw: Your women — Monica, Valerie, and others — feel fully realized. They don’t function as extensions of Julian.

Hale: Most of them are living their own lives. Julian is significant, but he isn’t the center of everyone’s existence. Some people get pulled in more strongly than others — for their own reasons.

Shaw: You’ve used AI assistance in your covers and marketing imagery. How do you think about that?

Hale: The stories don’t need technology. But it’s 2026 — I enjoy the tools that exist. AI is useful for exploring tone and composition. The writing still happens the same way: slowly, and crafted.

Shaw: Final question. What should readers know before entering the Sterne Universe?

Hale: Only that none of it was written for a category. It was written for the people who live inside it. Everything else — labels, interpretations — belongs to the readers.