There was no lack of admirers at the book-signing by fantasy author Amanda Hocking on Tuesday at Sweet Reads Bookstore in Austin, where she also shared thoughts about her writing and future projects

Hocking, 33, an Austin native, chatted about her upcoming releases — a two-book series that centers on Valkyrie mythology — and to sign her newest releases, including “Hidden Kingdom,” a compilation of her Kanin Chronicles. “Freeks,” a stand-alone novel that afforded Hocking respite from her trilogies, is also a new release.

“I always liked the idea of southern gothic” themes, such as those written by authors V. C. Andrews (“Flowers in the Attic”) and Anne Rice (“Interview with a Vampire”). “Freeks” follows Mara, a girl with magical powers who travels with Gideon Davorin’s Traveling Sideshow and who longs for a normal life “where no one has the ability to levitate or predict the future,” says the novel’s synopsis.

While writing serial books, compared to a single novel, remains her favorite structure, the occasional standalone is a nice departure where characters are finite to one story, “and everything is contained,” she said. Each type has its advantages, she added. While serials allow the author to explore their characters through multiple settings, a stand-alone novel challenges the writer to make the magic happen in one take, so to speak.

Hocking has obviously met both styles with — well, style. She is the author of five different series, with a total of 20 different published works, some which have sold over a million copies.

Two of her series and one stand-alone novel were self-published, and three of her series have been published either by St. Martin’s Press or one of its imprints. Her zombie series, “The Hollows,” has been adapted into a graphic novel by Dynamite Entertainment.

And now, in 2018, she will offer up a new Valkyrie series, including “Between the Blade and the Heart,” due out in January; and “from the Earth to the Shadows,” coming in March 2018. The series uses “a lot of different mythologies” that took a lot of research, she said.

“I wanted to make sure it was grounded in real facts; even if what they’re doing makes no sense,” she said with a chuckle. “But that was important; I wanted to honor” the mythology being used, she said.

While a good example of a successful, self-published author, she is also glad she now works with St. Martin’s Press.

“They do a lot of the heavy lifting” that comes with self-publishing — choosing or designing book covers, for instance, or illustrations. Having a publisher helps free up time to do what she does best: Write fantasy novels.

Or, perhaps in the future, science fiction.

“With fantasy, which I still love, you can solve problems with magic — with science fiction, you have a little more of a challenge” since you have to solve problems with real science, she said.

“I would like to try my hand at that,” she said.

She calls her Valkyrie series the best writing she has ever done.

“But,” she said with a laugh, “I always think my latest book is the best I’ve ever done.”

Quick facts about Amanda Hocking

• Hocking now lives in Rochester, with her husband, and stepson.

• Instead of writing overnight — a  past practice, she said, when she lived alone — she now tries to start in the afternoon or early evening, “so we have something of a normal life.”

• Her early favorite authors to read were Judy Blume, Stephen King and Michael Crichton; and later, V. C. Andrews.

• But her real love early on was writing screenplays and scripts. “I really thought film work would be the thing I would do,” she said. That may be one of the reasons, as bookstore owner Lisa Deyo said, that Hocking has an economical style that still has vivid imagery. Being visual is important in film work, agreed Hocking.

• Does she get frightened when she writes? Nope. She said “I never get scared” when she either reads a horror novel, or writes a scary story. But a frightening film or TV show — anything with a visual component — can send her ducking for cover.