Established fantasy authors and best friends, Jacqueline Silvester and Natali Simmonds, joined forces in 2019 to write their paranormal romantasy series, The Blood Web. Between them, they have lived in ten countries and speak six languages fluently – all of which inspired them to create a fantasy universe hidden among our own and set all over the world.

As well as writing YA novels, Jacqueline Silvester works as a storytelling consultant and has collaborated with large names such as Netflix, Cartoon Network, and Nickelodeon. Natali Simmonds’ debut thriller, Good Girls Die Last, is being adapted to screen and her fantasy series as N J Simmonds was shortlisted for an RNA Fantasy award. Along with writing, she’s the founder of Loom Narrative, consulting for entertainment and creative brands, and lectures at Raindance Film School and various writing academies.

Together they pen paranormal romance as Caedis Knight, and run the Caedis Knight Romance Writing School where they teach a variety of courses on writing and self-publishing.

Back in early 2019, Natali got a phone call one morning from Jacqueline, a writer friend she’d only just met, who excitedly asked, “How would you like to co-write a paranormal romance series with me? It will be set all over Europe, with a bisexual truth witch as the main character, and it will centre around the paranormal corner of the dark web, full of hot vampires, witches, and fae?” To which Natali instantly replied, “I’m in!”

And, as they say, the rest is history.

“Writing together has been the most fun I’ve ever had,” Natali explains. “Sometimes we’re laughing so hard we can’t even type. It’s so refreshing to create an entire magical world with a friend, with no limits or rules.” 

“Natali writes a lot of the action scenes, the fighting and sex, and I come up with the fantasy elements of the story and Saskia’s sassy comebacks,” Jacqueline says. “We’ve lived all over the world, so try to stick to locations and cultures in the books that we are familiar with.”

“It’s a twisted, outrageous, fever dream of a series,” Natali adds. “I don’t know how we get away with it, to be honest!”

Watch Natali and Jacqueline talk about co-writing their paranormal romance series and what it takes to create a fantasy world full of magical systems (and quite a bit of smut)!