Meet Rachel Nova
My hearts, let me introduce today’s guest: Rachel Nova — full-time mom, part-time writer, and proud chaos goblin with a soft spot for alien romance.
Rachel writes both thoughtful, character-driven sci-fi love stories and delightfully wild smutty novellas (her words, not mine). She brings heart, humor, and a sharp creative spark to the indie community, and she’s one of those writers who makes this space feel genuinely welcoming.
JEN: Thanks for doing this, Rachel. For the folks who haven’t yet fallen in love with your chaos goblin energy, tell us your story. Who is Rachel Nova?
RACHEL: Hi there! I'm Rachel Nova. Full-time mom. Part-time writer. Perpetual chaos goblin. I write serious, character-driven sci-fi romance novels and ridiculous smutty novellas. For the time being, all of my books have aliens in them, but I am potentially open to diversifying if the right project catches my interest.
I wrote my first novel when I was about eleven. It was a hot disaster about fairies, elves, and mermaids, but everyone has to start somewhere! Since then, I've written on and off for most of my life, but it wasn't until I went on maternity leave and was going a bit stir-crazy that I decided to take a proper professional stab at indie publishing.
I have a master's degree in English education, and am known in my writer's group as the grammar/comma police. I love to beta and ARC read for the indie community in between my projects!
JEN: Let’s talk favorites. What genre sparks joy when you read and when you write?
RACHEL: Sci-fi romance for sure! I love all things aliens, language barriers, and cultural clashes.
JEN: You’ve got a whole alien-loving crew around you. Who are the creators in your circle?
RACHEL: I am part of a really lovely and hilarious group of sci-fi romance authors. To name a few of my good friends: Kennedy Rhodes, Elle Deyesso, Marina Starling, and M.D. Engel, and Lyra Strake. Writing can be such a lonely endeavor, so it's really nice to have a group of people who understand the indie pub struggle. It's also really important to have people to share all your stupid memes with.
JEN: Music while writing—yes/no/only alien whale songs?
RACHEL: I love to listen to music while I write. I think my playlist is fairly eclectic. A lot of Ellie Goulding, Rachel Platten, and Vinny Marchi.
JEN: And what about your writing rhythm? Morning sunshine? Midnight mischief?
RACHEL: I am a night goblin. I do my best work after 10 p.m.
JEN: When you’re not creating intergalactic chaos, what brings you joy?
RACHEL: I'm a big gamer! I really like cozy games like Stardew Valley.
JEN: What’s your publishing path?
RACHEL: I'm indie published! I love working with other authors in the indie community!
JEN: Your themes hit some deep places. Tell me about that—what do you love exploring?
RACHEL: A lot of my work explores themes of loneliness, mental health, defining family, and self-confidence. I feel like these are themes that resonate from my own life, and also themes I tend to seek out when I'm reading novels. I also think people are fundamentally really lonely these days, and seeing characters build new connections and build new lives for themselves can be really uplifting.
JEN: Give us the receipts, babe. What have you written so far?
RACHEL: I have a full-length sci-fi romance novel out called The Strongest Gravity. It's the story of a human healer who escapes her toxic family for another planet, only to find out she's unwanted by the mate she matched with. I've also written two smutty sci-fi romance novellas about two women getting abducted by aliens and the ridiculous and spicy scenarios that come afterwards!
JEN: And what’s next? What should readers be stalking your page for?
RACHEL: I have a third novella coming out around Valentine's Day! Otherwise, I'm working on the second novel set in the same world but with new protagonists. That one is due to release in early spring 2026, provided all the writing and editing goes to plan.
JEN: I always love hearing this — where do your ideas come from? A muse? The void? Space?
RACHEL: I write stories that I want to read! Basically, if I want to read about something and it doesn't exist, I see that as an opportunity to write it myself.
JEN: If you could whisper one piece of advice to little you, the eleven-year-old writing fairy-mermaid-elf chaos… what would you say?
RACHEL: I would tell my younger self not to write with the intention of winning awards or getting published by a Big Five publisher. That mindset really strangled my creativity and made writing miserable for me. Now I just write what makes me happy.
JEN: What’s a question I should have asked you today?
RACHEL: Why aliens? I mean... have you seen the options we have here on Earth? In all seriousness, though, I find the idea of interfacing with other cultures far beyond our human comprehension to be fascinating. I also happen to be married to an astronomer, and it makes him nuts that I write about alien smut, but I see that as a plus, not a minus [laughs].
JEN: I love it.
My hearts, if you loved this interview, go show Rachel some love by following her on Instagram at @rachelnovawrites and visiting her website to explore her books and upcoming releases. Indie authors thrive on support, so every follow, share, and click truly matters.
Are you a human author? A human who narrates audiobooks? A human who designs book covers? Or a human who does PR and promotion for other authors? I'd love to interview you, too. Let me know when you’re ready!
