[Post originally published: Mar 27, 2026]

My guest today is Jelena Dunato, who is about to publish her fantasy novel Love Lethal, Death Divine by Dark Matter Ink on April 7th. Jelena is an art historian, curator, and speculative fiction writer from Croatia. She has published the books Dark Woods, Deep Water and Ghost Apparent, all inspired by Slavic and Adriatic history, folklore, and culture.

In a more personal note, I visited Croatia in 2025 and had the honor of finding some Croatian editions of her books in a few bookstores over there. They’re gorgeous! So if you’re ever in the Eastern Adriatic, make sure to get them even if you can’t read them.

Jelena’s instagram is: @jelena_author

Tell me more about something you have published recently (or will publish soon) and what made you write it.

My new novel, Love Lethal, Death Divine is coming out on 7 April.

In my writing process, the seed of a story is never a rational thing, it is a thought that won’t let go, or even an image or a feeling that won’t disappear. In case of this novel, it was Liana as a character that demanded a closure. She is very – very – briefly mentioned in my previous novel, Dark Woods, Deep Water, but as I wrote those brief descriptions, I had a very clear idea of who she was and what role she played in the world I built. And Dark Woods, Deep Water ending as it did – with grief and some loose ends – I felt it was right and fair to give the story a proper closure.

Also, I wanted to include a real romantic arc in my novel, not because romance is such a popular genre, but because writing true love is a challenge for me. My books are dark fantasies set in a pretty bleak world where the possibility of love is rare. It’s mostly cynical, or doomed, or merely a transaction. So, I said to myself, Jelena, you’re gonna write a proper love story without a touch of irony; a true love in a world where everything else is broken.

What is an underrated piece of fiction that you think didn’t get enough attention?

I can’t say if it’s underrated because it isn’t out yet, but I would like everyone to read Florence Chien’s The Revenant of Surolifia. It’s a mind-blowingly intricate political fantasy with incredible world building and characters who will stay with you for a long time. If I had any say in it, it would top the charts this summer.


Show me an illustration that you love and tell me why!

This is a Tarot-style illustration I commissioned from Mara (@hajima_7 on IG). It shows the two heroines of my novel Love Lethal, Death Divine. Liana is a stubborn, brave semi-divine huntress who goes back in the past to save her husband, Melia is a grieving heiress forced into a political marriage, and stuck between her controlling father and court intrigue. They find themselves at the opposite sides of the same bloody conflict, tied to the same man, and their choices drive the plot towards its inevitably fiery end.

I love Mara’s illustration because both the composition and the colours are beautiful and spot-on. She also managed to capture Liana’s “fight me if you dare” attitude, and Melia’s arrogance hiding a deep insecurity. It’s funny that these two characters never directly face each other in the book, but they do so in this picture.

Love Lethal, Death Divine is inspired by Eastern Adriatic and Slavic Folklore, which are often misrepresented in fantasy literature in favor of more Western European traditions. Which parts of Eastern Adriatic and Slavic history, and their cultural aspects can we expect to find in Love Lethal, Death Divine? I’m almost asking this one for myself, because while I don’t have any direction connection to the Slavic culture (besides really liking it), I want to know more!

Obviously, I used Slavic gods in the story, but since Southern Slavs are a bit lax when it comes to their ancient mythology (there are no written sources, just a handful of legends), I was free to modify the gods to fit my idea of the divine: arrogant, petty, meddling and entirely unhelpful.

What I try to conjure in all my books is a sense of place. Eastern Adriatic is a very turbulent region, with incredibly rich and varied cultural heritage. It has been inhabited since the Neolithic times and every important culture that touched the Mediterranean came here: the Greeks, the Illyrians, the Romans, the Byzantines – and that was all before the Slavic tribes even arrived. So, it’s both a melting pot and the point where the Slavic meets the Mediterranean. It is also an impossibly beautiful corner of the Earth, so it’s no surprise that everybody wanted to conquer it.

When it comes to its past, I didn’t want to tie my book to any specific point in history, but I did want to capture the general idea of Croatia in late medieval times. A tiny kingdom, always at conflict with itself and everybody else, stolen, conquered, sold and permanently threatened by the immense Ottoman Empire breathing down its neck. Never rich enough, never powerful enough, never cultured enough to stop being a political pawn and become a major player.

Let us show the newer writers that they are not alone! Tell me something that made you feel bad (a rejection, an empty signing session, a very harsh critique) and how you got over it (or not).

For me, it’s querying. It’s the most isolating, traumatic experience a writer can have. I’ve queried three books so far, with no luck. Love Lethal, Death Divine came really, really close to getting an agent, but ultimately, they all rejected it. What hurt the most was that they seemed to like the book, but they didn’t think they could sell it. But then, I’m powered exclusively by spite and I never, ever give up. I found a small press to publish it and, according to the early responses, readers really love this book – the reviews are great and it’s gaining momentum, which means that I was right and the industry was wrong.

There, you see: 100% spite.