by J.T. Morse
I like making things and then breaking things.
Emily A. Duncan
What do the state of Ohio, lovers of Slavic folklore, and the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency have in common? Spec fiction author Emily A. Duncan. Born and raised in Ohio, Emily works as a youth services librarian when she’s not putting pen to paper to fashion thrilling YA fantasy novels. Her latest book is Wicked Saints (Wednesday Books, 2019). Interstellar Flight Press contributing writer J.T. Morse had the splendid opportunity to grill this quirky Kent grad/lover of Dungeons & Dragons about all things Emily A. Duncan.
INTERSTELLAR FLIGHT PRESS: From your public bio, one could glean your educational background and your love of video games and Dungeons & Dragons. But we’re curious to hear about the deeper elements of what makes Emily A. Duncan tick and why you write the type of stories you do.
EMILY A. DUNCAN: I like making things and then breaking things.
When I was a kid, my brother and I would both get LEGO sets for Christmas, and then I would build all of them because he would lose interest. Writing a book—building a world—isn’t that much different for me. I like the act of construction and deciding what might mirror our actual world and what might . . . not. The core of what I write, I think, and what is most interesting to me, is investigating the lines between humanity and monstrosity (and sometimes divinity) and how those lines might intersect. Sometimes that’s the act of construction, but more likely, it’s the act of destruction, just like knocking apart all those LEGOs.
IFP: Seeing as Wicked Saints is somewhat of a dark fairy tale, were you a fan of fairy tales when you were a child, or did the love of folklore come about, for you, as an adult?
EAD: I always took a particularly keen interest in the villains in fairy tales.
My mom always likes to tell me that I wanted to play the role of the big bad wolf in any productions of ‘the three little pigs’; which, who wouldn’t? But I definitely took a more dedicated interest in them when I was in college and grad school. It was then that I really started delving into Slavic folklore.
IFP: Did you know that Wicked Saints was going to be a part of a trilogy when you started, or did the concept for the Something Dark and Holy trilogy come along after you had finished writing book one?
EAD: I thought it was going to be a duology!
Book one was going to follow Nadya and book two would follow Serefin and, while that still is the case, it was my agent who suggested it become a trilogy. Having written the second book, there is literally no way I could have wrapped up everything in two books! And I’m a big fan of the structure of trilogies, so I’m happy with how it worked out.
IFP: Tell us a bit about your experience publishing with Wednesday Books, including whose idea it was to use deckled edging for the pages.
EAD: Working with Wednesday Books has been amazing!
I feel deeply lucky to be able to work with them. It’s a very good feeling to have a book that is, frankly, weird and have everyone on your team just get it so completely. I think it was my editor’s assistant who suggested the deckled edges because it would make the book look more like a blood mage’s spell book!
IFP: Let’s talk cover design. Covers are so vital to the book-selling industry these days; they are the face of the story. The cover for Wicked Saints bears some interesting details. Without giving any spoilers, can you explain how some of the elements and images on the cover relate to the story?
EAD: It’s very goth and very metal, much like the book.
It took a long time to get to the cover that’s on the shelf now and I adore it! It doesn’t actually show a particular element that is in the book—Maybe the monastery? But that’s only in the book for a chapter—but rather, it invokes the atmosphere of the book really nicely. I love how intricate and oppressive the building is, and that it, kind of, looks like it could be the cover of some random Gormenghast edition.
IFP: Can you give our gothic-fantasy hungry readers any news about the status of the next two books in the Something Dark and Holy trilogy and maybe speculate as to when they might be hitting shelves?
EAD: If everything goes as planned . . .
I’m finishing up book two now and it’ll be out sometime in early 2020! I call it my cosmic horror forest road trip book. It is deeply weird, and I love it a lot. Book three is in the very early stages, I’m still hammering out how it’s going to all finish up, but it will follow along in early 2021.
IFP: Heading home, where would you say is the creepiest or most YA horror-story inspiring place to visit in Ohio? And, while we’re on the subject, are there any writing festivals or literary conventions in Ohio that readers and/or writers should know about?
EAD: Oh, Ohio is super haunted.
I grew up in southern Ohio, and while I never visited the local haunted house site in my hometown, I grew up in the kind of woods where you didn’t really have to go very far back into them to stop hearing any kinds of sounds of civilization. But the Hocking Hills were nearby, and there were all kinds of creepy places in Old Man’s Cave. There’s a place called the Devil’s Bathtub, and it is both beautiful and slightly terrifying. When you drive into Clear Creek Park, there’s a giant rock hanging over the road known as the Witch’s Rock. The whole state is haunted. And Ohioana and Books by the Banks are two very good book festivals in Ohio!
IFP: Lastly, we would love to get three six-word sentences from you: one about Wicked Saints, one about your experience of being a writer, and one about something bizarre or obscure about Emily A. Duncan. Thanks for indulging us.
EAD:
Wicked Saints: Gothic weirdness drenched entirely in blood.
Writing: Both exhilarating and tedious at once.
Me: I like to keep my secrets.
There you have it, readers, straight from the goth-writer’s mouth—all that you need to know about Emily A. Duncan and her latest release Wicked Saints, book one of her Something Dark and Holy YA fantasy trilogy. For links to her work and ways to purchase her books, check her out on glitzandshadows.tumblr.com.