We recently connected with Luna Alva and have shared our conversation below.

Luna, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?

As I have walked through this journey of becoming an author, I have thought many times about why I do it and what I’m hoping to accomplish. Of course, I’d love to be recognized in life for my stories, imagination, the Universe I’ve created, and the impact and feelings I evoked in my readers. However, when I think about a legacy, I hope people remember me as someone who never gave up. Someone who used the power of words and imagination to heal not only myself but also those who decided to read them. I want my books and stories to be something that gives people a place to go when they feel alone, sad, or overwhelmed by the real world. I hope my books become part of many people’s bookshelves and that each story brings a spark of magic to their lives. As an avid reader, I still dwell in stories or poetry written by authors like Edgar Allan Poe, or Michael Ende and I think of the many times I’ve thought about those stories to give me inspiration. I hope I can give that to my readers now and after I am gone.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Luna Alva and I am the author of the Dark Fantasy series Axis Mundi. I started off like many authors, as a reader. Since a very young age, I fell in love with words from Mexican and Spanish authors like Juan de Dios Peza and Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer. As I learned English, I especially fell in love with the popular poem Annabelle Lee by Edgar Allan Poe. The darkness and beauty in this type of poetry were always enchanting and I couldn’t help but dig into them until I learned them by heart. As I grew older and struggled to understand my own feelings and the world around me, I started experimenting with my own way of expressing my feelings through poetry and songs (without music of course). I always had a wild imagination so it didn’t take me long to start writing short stories that dealt with those many parts of my life and heart that I couldn’t tell anyone. At first, I used writing as a coping mechanism, but later in life, I got the urge to create more complex stories. Around the same time, I travelled to Japan because I had been a huge fan of Japanese culture, music, and pop culture in general. This trip influenced the idea of creating the story that later became a dark fantasy series called Axis Mundi with the first book getting published in 2018. Initially, though, I wrote the story in Spanish, but after moving to Canada and realizing how much I loved writing, I decided to take writing more seriously and rewrote the first book into its English version: Wind Weaver of Dreams. That was the breaking point that made me realize that becoming a writer was the path I wanted to follow regardless of how challenging it could be. Especially, because I decided to be a self-published author instead of going the traditional way.

One of the reasons I decided to publish my books on my own was because I believe in the pure essence of my stories. I think I have managed to create a beautiful Universe where magic exists, love is felt down to your every cell, and heroes aren’t perfect but they certainly never give up, and just like them, I want to prove to the world that there are wonderful books among indie authors. In my stories, I mix tragedy and darkness with the beauty of magical worlds and fantasy. This is why although I write Dark Fantasy, I like to refer to my genre as Twisted Fantasy–while it can be dark and creepy at times–there’s still beauty even in the deepest pain because there’s magic you can rely on.

Another aspect that I believe makes my work unique is the cultural references I use. I am Mexican and I love my culture and heritage, but I am also very interested in cultures and mythologies around the world. This is why in my series Axis Mundi, I explored and combined Japanese and Prehispanic mythologies. I wrote a Mexican main character, Joanna, and her love interest Teru who is a Japanese rock star. Not only that, but in the Universe I created for Axis Mundi and the series that will follow, all cultures and mythologies are unified. This is something that I really wanted to convey because, in our world; the real world, there’s too much hate and intolerance towards those who don’t hold the same beliefs. So, I thought, how wonderful would it be for my main characters to realize that everything we believe in comes from the same source and there’s no need to fight? We were all created in harmony, we just changed the way we address our deities, gods, etc. simply because we speak a different language. That is the magic of fantasy stories, anything, even the most utopic idea can become a reality.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect is knowing someone enjoyed my stories and/or books. When someone reaches out to me and tells me what parts of the story they enjoyed, which character they fell in love with, and what plot twist made them want to continue reading, I feel all the writing, editing, and publishing process is worth it. Knowing that someone felt mesmerized by the story I have written and that they keep thinking about my book is the most amazing feeling I’ve had. That is the motivation I use to keep writing an believing in myself.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

The past decade hasn’t been easy in many aspects of my life. Not only did I travel on my own and learn to know and deal with a lot by myself. I also left my country Mexico and started a new life in Canada. I’m sure a lot of immigrants will understand how hard it is to overcome difficulties when most of your loved ones are so far away. On top of that, I had to deal with an autoimmune disease and the passing of loved ones. However, I pushed through that darkness, and not only did I find out how strong I could be, but I also learned to love myself and recognize my own talent. It was a difficult journey but I didn’t let the struggles in life get the best of me, on the contrary, I proved to myself that there’s light and knowledge in the darkest times. Of course, I also was able to accomplish this by relying on my loved ones and nurturing my mental health with therapy. Nothing stopped me from accomplishing my dream of becoming a published author. For me, having the courage to finally let others read my stories was the ultimate confirmation that I had learned to love myself.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lunaalva.com
• Instagram: author.lunaalva
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LunaAlva13
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8UhCf4B2rnc4kcc3Px6IiQ
• Other: https://ko-fi.com/lunaalva

Image Credits
Orlando Osorio