1--What is the title of your latest release?
THE ORPHAN’S KING
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
If the unfortunate person trapped in the elevator with me is an exec, I’d say, “So this boy came from the most horrible childhood and decided that he was going to fix the world with violence and fire, and he mounted a revolution against the corrupt king, and had the whole kingdom in an uproar—but then he went after the king himself, and got caught and executed, and the whole revolution fizzled out.” And they’d say “Oh, bummer ending” and I’d say “No, no…that’s just chapter one.” And then they’d say “So what happens in the rest of the book?” and I’ll know they have fallen into my trap.
If it’s just, you know, a person, I’d say, “Assassin’s Creed 2 meets Arcane, this idiot boy kidnaps this idiot girl and then they have a whole enemies-to-lovers slow burn arc.” Or my favorite 5-word summary: “Hot Scottish Sociopath Destroys Capitalism”.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
As far as plot, characters, and worldbuilding go, worldbuilding is usually the more passive one with me. I let the plot and characters define it. The time period was a far more difficult decision than the actual geography. I picked that because of the shoes. If you know anything about medieval history, you will know exactly what I’m talking about. I simply cannot with the shoes.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
No. They’re 18ish and they act like it. Rose is extremely prickly and way too similar to me, Kayo is smart and a sweetie but such an emo kid, Liam is so much fun as a character and probably at a party but there is something deeply wrong with him, and Romero is closer to my age, but he is every entitled white guy I’ve ever met. I’d hang out with Dominic or Lucy, though, they’re a lot of fun.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Kayo: depressed cinnamon roll. Rose: stabby feral goblin. Liam: Luigi (Mangione) meets Jinx.
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I started writing it when I was 13 and didn’t stop for about 20 years. I think I learned literally everything I know while writing this book, short of tying my shoes. It has lived in my head and become my soul. I’m pretty sure I can’t be killed unless someone stabs my annotated copy with a blessed dagger.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I don’t even know. I’ve written other books, they just haven’t been published, but every time I write one of the books in this demon series in particular, I realize that I know nothing about how to write and I should never give anyone any advice. This series is my most challenging one—I think because it’s my baby. I write absolute garbage, I go back and edit, I weave through new plotlines, I scrap it all and start over…with this series, I am in way over my head.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
My sensitive palate is unfortunately more of a curse. I am a foodie, but the bad picky kind that can’t taste the forest for the trees—or the tacos for the cilantro, as it were. But I love sushi. No matter where I am or what’s going on, I am always down for sushi.
9--Describe your writing space/office!
So I recently moved with my husband and toddler to Bavaria (Germany) and it has been utter chaos ever since. I have never had an office or an official “writing space”, I have usually been lucky to even have a sofa. But this book, in particular, was written in America and Germany and Portugal, in hotel rooms and airplanes and on sticky notes on the wall. The life this book has had before it’s even been born is absolutely wild.
10--Who is an author you admire?
Every single self-published author, especially the queer/disabled/neurodivergent/POC authors I’ve befriended along the way. It’s easy to admire a big famous author who has a marketing team and a professional editor and a professional team of artists. My book got 10x better just from having an editor and a proofreader take a whack at it, and the cover is better than I could ever do. But I did it all alone once, and it was frankly too much work for one person. Yet indie authors do it every single day, just because they love the craft, just because they want their stories told. Not even for the money, because most of us are losing money. All of us hate marketing and bureaucracy and Amazon, but storytelling is such a joy that we want to share it with the world, and that is so perfectly expressive of the human spirit that it makes me just want to cry. I have little admiration for authors who got where they are from luck or nepotism or a publisher simply deciding, “Hey, this is the one that’s going to be popular now”. Instead, I reserve that for people who clawed their way up from absolutely nothing and earned every single sale. The ones who never go viral but totally deserve to.
One caveat: I do admire Suzanne Collins. She brought us Clarissa Explains It All, dropped a devastating bomb criticizing the nature of humanity and the media that we all should have paid more attention to, and then completely vanished from the public eye. A goddess, truly.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
There are plenty. Unfortunately, most of the authors are now known to be terrible people, so I can’t list them. But of course, I’ve been influenced heavily by not just the books I’ve read but all the media I’ve consumed. I’m a huge fan of video games—I think they are the best storytelling medium we have at our disposal, and I hope to make this series into one. The sheer brilliance of being able to act out your own story as you go—and even change the outcomes and the endings—is truly unmatched.
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
This journey has been a bit wilder than for most. I actually started out as self-published. I put my first book on Amazon when I was about 19 (it’s terrible, by the way) but it was just kind of sitting there. Then I tried to get my next book traditionally published (an outdated version of this one called The Orphan’s Code), but did not succeed (blurbs are the bane of my existence), so I self-published it in 2018 (and its sequel in 2020). It sold a lot more than the 0 copies I was expecting, and I learned a lot, including how to make my own covers. But I was so stuck on the third book—and I knew that only a handful of people would read it anyways—that I started rethinking the entire series. Reimagining it, coming up with a video game, a graphic novel prequel, trying to figure out how to really tell the story. I ended up rewriting book one, knowing it might never see the light of day. If my alpha team had said it was just as good or worse as the original, I might have shelved it altogether, but the reaction was overwhelmingly “Oh my God, this is so much better” (they were right).
My plan was to hold out for a publisher, but only a small one (I don’t do well in the spotlight) and only the right one, and only if they were on board for my Grander Schemes™ with the series. By then my agent had stopped doing fiction, so I applied to a couple of other agents and small publishers without really expecting to hear back. My query letter to Oliver-Heber Books (who is my publisher) was long, slightly unhinged, unapologetic about things that I would have omitted if I’d expected a reply, and addressed to Oliver (there is no Oliver). But there is something to be said for being your genuine off-the-wall self and seeing who it attracts! As for how I felt when I got the email: suspicious, as I always am when anything goes right for me. I’ll probably be waiting for the universe to pull the rug out from under me for the rest of my life.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
I don’t have a favorite. I go by vibes and writing style and nothing else. I’ll read anything that sits still long enough, but either it hooks me in the first chapter or it’s over. And whatever that “it” factor is, it varies wildly and doesn’t seem to match up with what books are popular. I think the writing style is what attracts me most, but “good” or “bad” writing is such a subjective thing, so I really never know.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
It’s so tough to choose! I have a ton of old favorites that I cycle through, mostly stuff that’s funny, animated, or cozy. I also love lousy horror movies. When I’m stuck, there are a few go-to movies/shows that inspire me with their amazing writing: The Good Place, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Haunting of Hill House, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Fullmetal Alchemist, and the Disney/Pixar/Ghibli favorites. (And video games: Horizon: Zero Dawn, Bioshock Infinite, Detroit, and the entire Zelda franchise inspire me too, among many others.)
15--What is your favorite season?
Summer. I grew up in a swamp where summer was both eternal and unbearable and I always loved it anyway. In southern Europe (where I live now) summer gets tedious with no air conditioning, and there’s actual other seasons, which I’m not used to (and the snow gets old very quickly). So spring and fall are really fun, but something about them just feels impermanent. Summer feels like the thing it was all building to. Like a reminder of the life we were all supposed to have, lounging around in the sun eating fruit and watching our kids play. That or I’m just, spiritually, a lizard (I do have the emotional range of one), and my life’s ambition is to sunbathe on a rock.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
I’d love a surprise party, but I’ve never gotten one. I’ve actually had the opposite a couple of times, where nobody showed up at all, and I’ve had 3 or 4 hurricanes ruin my birthday (Katrina being the most famous). But I also don’t do well as the center of attention, so I would likely hate it. For my birthday last year, my husband accepted a work trip to the coast of Portugal so we could all spend two weeks on a paid vacation, essentially. It was the hottest two weeks of the year in Germany, but we were living it up in a charming little beach town. This is the only birthday party I will accept going forward.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
Look, I am late to every party, so I am not usually on top of new releases. I only bother with something if people are still not shutting up about it six months later. That being said: I am a huge Fourth Wing fan. I absolutely adore anything to do with dragons and I had a similar journey to Violet when I got my black belt while battling a chronic illness, and it just makes me feel so seen. I also just recently discovered Arcane, and it’s so good and the vibes are exactly what I was going for in The Orphan’s King.
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
French. The French know what they’re doing. The Italians are a close second or maybe even a tie. The Germans aren’t even close. They went to war with France and Italy for literally thousands of years and learned nothing. You’d think they’d know their way around a burger at least, but no, they do not. American cuisine is actively killing you; you can feel it as you eat it, but that’s part of what makes it so good, and I really do miss it a lot. And I’m from both Cajun country and the land of Tex-Mex, so moving to a land that thinks black pepper is spicy causes me daily pain.
19--What do you do when you have free time?
Writing. That’s it, that’s my thing. Even when I take on other hobbies (which I do, a lot), it’s usually just to recharge my brain so I can write some more, or in service of storytelling in some other way. I do a lot of other things, though: I do digital art and graphic design (which sounds way less fun than it is, I could mess around with these programs all day), and I sing, and when I had instruments around, I played piano and a little guitar (though I had to leave them in America unfortunately). I also enjoy papercraft and puzzles, or Legos, or any kind of kit where you can build something from laser-cut wood (like book nooks!). I’d love to have the time to learn some kind of video game software so I can replace “building the stuff in my head in Minecraft creative mode” with something a bit more practical.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
The safe bet would be on a mental breakdown. But also, more books. I don’t think I’ll live long enough to write everything I want to write, especially if my own perfectionism keeps getting in the way, but I’m certainly going to try.
Orphan’s Code #1
A richly crafted debut from a strong new voice in fantasy. Book one in The Orphan's Code gives us fierce, relatable characters, and a noble quest to root for. You will remember C.R.R. Hillin.
HE CAME FROM NOTHING.
With sheer force of will, Kayo’s brother Liam managed to crawl from the gutters and free himself from parents who treated him like a slave, an orphanage that treated him like a prisoner, and an entire city that turned their backs on him. From nothing, he rose to become a vigilante who brought justice to the corrupt and greedy when no one else would, wielding fire and steel to give everyone, from the city guard to the tyrant king, what they deserved. He stood up for the poor, the outcast, and the downtrodden, and they crowned him as the Beggar’s King.
But now he’s gone. And Kayo, who comes from less than nothing, can’t take his place–even if he wanted to.
Which he doesn’t.
AND SO DID SHE.
She never had a name, or a home, or a family. She never needed one. But then an opportunity falls–literally–into her lap, and a group of outcasts just like her offer her a home. They even give her a name: Rose.
That nameless girl would have robbed them blind and left them to starve or be captured. But Rose…that’s someone new. And as the king cracks down on the city around her, Rose sees a chance to save the legacy of the Beggar’s King and bring back to life the only man the king ever feared.
Romance Fantasy | Coming of Age [Oliver-Heber Books, On Sale: March 25, 2025, e-Book , / ]
CRR Hillin lives in Bavaria, Germany. She is a proud eccentric in many different ways and always down for fighting the system. Queer, autistic, and disabled. Life is too short to read books you don't like.
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