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5 Random Questions with Julia Alexandra, author of Midnight on the Celestial
Midnight on the Celestial, the debut YA fantasy by Julia Alexandra, just came out this month, and it’s a dark, thrilling ocean-bound adventure you don’t want to miss. I interviewed Julia about her new release in my March newsletter (catch up HERE if you missed it) and as a bonus, I asked her 5 Random Questions…
5 Random Questions
1. Where would you ride out a zombie apocalypse?
I think I’d ride out the zombie apocalypse in a beach house. I’d be protected on one side by the ocean, I’d have the calming sound of the waves and the entertainment of swimming, and I’d be able to fish for food. If a large group of zombies tried to attack, I could stay in the water until they moved on. I do think this plan is a lot less effective if the zombies can swim!
2. You have a magic ticket to spend one day anywhere in the world. Where will you go?
I have a best friend, upcoming debut author Tzey Koay, who lives in Australia, and we’re so sad that we live across the world from each other. Tzeyi and I met through our writing journeys, but we discovered that we have very similar personalities. Tzeyi’s adult fantasy A CURSE CARVED IN INK releases in 2027! I would love to visit her in Australia and spend a day together visiting indie bookstores, eating delicious food, and relaxing on the beach.
3. Murder weapon of choice?
Telekinesis! I have always day-dreamed about the ability to manipulate objects with my mind. If I was in a book where I had to murder someone to survive, I would love to be able to kill with the power of my mind. Not to mention, I think telekinesis would be a really fun power to show to anyone who underestimates you.
4. What’s one of your non-writing goals for this year?
I want to find non-writing hobbies that I really enjoy. Reading and writing have taken up most of my free time, but I’m considering trying crochet, board games, video games, and adult coloring. I’d love to find an active hobby, but I tried aerial silks while researching for my book, and it was too strenuous for me. If anyone has any hobby suggestions, I’m always looking for ideas!
5. Book you’re most looking forward to reading?
A book I’m most looking forward to reading is AN ARCANE INHERITANCE by Kamilah Cole. I preordered it and have heard amazing things about the book, and Kamilah is such a kind, talented author. It’s been waiting for me on my shelf, and I’m so ready to dive in.
About Julia Alexandra
Julia Alexandra lives in Orlando, Florida with her best friend, who also happens to be her twin sister. Julia writes fantasy stories with magic, danger, and chaotic found families. She is passionate about mental health and is grateful to have writing on her own mental health journey. Julia writes for those who find magical worlds a comforting escape from their own. She enjoys reading, collecting too many stuffed animals, and writing to fantasy orchestral music.
You can buy Midnight on the Celestial online here, and check out Julia’s website for more bookish info. You can also follow Julia Alexandra on Instagram and TikTok.
If you missed my newsletter interview with Julia about Midnight on the Celestial, check it out here.
Also remember to sign up for my newsletter which I send out every month – the next one will be hitting inboxes on Friday 3rd April. Subscribe so you don’t miss it 🙂
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5 Random Questions with Freddie Kölsch, author of Empty Heaven
In my October newsletter (catch up HERE if you missed it) I interviewed Freddie Kölsch about her latest YA horror, Empty Heaven. I loved this book so much – it has queer found family, chilling small-town cult vibes, and a brilliant twist I didn’t see coming. It’s the perfect read for Halloween, and I figured now was the perfect time to ask Freddie 5 Random Questions!
5 Random Questions
1. What’s your go-to Halloween costume?
Oh, for a long time it was Wyatt Earp, with my wife as Doc Holliday! We had the cowboy hats and fake guns around from our first year going as everyone’s favorite non-couple from Tombstone, and the other items (like cool vintage vests and blazers) are lesbian wardrobe staples already. But now we tend to plan out new stuff every year.
2. You have a magic ticket to spend one day anywhere in the world. Where will you go?
It would have to be Pingualuit Crater Lake, which is this gorgeous and perfectly round body of water in northern Quebec. It was formed by a meteorite impact, and has unusually clear water, and I love looking at pictures of it online. But it’s so remote that only like 20-60 tourists manage to visit a year, and the last leg of the trip is nearly sixty miles of wilderness hiking or floatplane travel with a local Inuit guide group as your escort…which is intensive and expensive for everyone involved, so you have to pay a lot to get out there. I absolutely will never go to Pingualuit unless I get my magic ticket, hopefully with a side of teleportation.
3. What’s one talent you have that not many people know about?
I worked in marketing for several years and it made me MISERABLE, but the funny thing is it means I know exactly what publishers are talking about when they bring up things like SEO, targeting, conversions, the sales funnel etc. I pretend to have no idea because I never want to discuss any of it ever again. It also made me very paranoid about how my data is being used, so I always have all cookies/analytics/permissions for everything turned off. Corporations do not in any way abide by privacy settings, I know…but the hilarious part of that is the fact that I get a new fifteen dollar-ish settlement payout like clockwork every few months, because there are so many class-action lawsuits going on for data usage violations at all times.
4. What’s a recent read you’ve loved?
Spoiled Milk by Avery Curran, out next year. It’s a classic boarding school novel…if the cast of said classic novel was entirely made up of lesbians and the school itself was located adjacent to Hell.
5. If you could trade places with any book or movie character for a day, who would you choose?
Bastian Balthazar Bux in The Neverending Story. Specifically the book version. I want to go to Fantastica (aka Fantasia) with all the power of the Auryn for a day, and then bail before I start to lose my memories!
About Freddie Kölsch
Freddie Kölsch is a connoisseur and crafter of frightful fiction (with a dash of hope) for teens and former teens. She lives in Salem, Massachusetts with her high school sweetheart-turned-wife, a handful of cats, a houseful of art, and a mind’s eye full of ghosts.
Her first novel, Now, Conjurers, was published by Union Square & Co. in 2024.You can follow Freddie on Instagram @cosmicdraculas.
If you missed my newsletter interview with Freddie about Empty Heaven, check it out here.
Also remember to sign up for my newsletter which I send out every month – the next one will be hitting inboxes on Friday 7th November, and will include all my latest news and adventures. Subscribe so you don’t miss it.
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It’s US release day for The Devouring Light!
The Devouring Light has been out in the UK for just over a month, and now it’s the US’s turn to encounter the creepy abandoned house, deadly leech-infested swamp, and a host of other terrors contained within its pages 🙂
Have you added it to your Halloween TBR yet?
When Haden Romero, her bandmate, and their rivals are stranded on their way to a rock festival, she thinks missing the gig is the worst thing that could happen.
She’s wrong.
Marooned in treacherous swampland with no way out, the group stumbles upon the Light—an eerie, decaying house. It seems like a safe haven, a place to wait out the storm. The house, however, isn’t just abandoned—it’s been waiting for them.
It’s no accident that Haden and the others are here, and they’re about to find out what the house has planned for them.
Bodies begin to pile up. The walls start to close in. Twisted secrets come to light. And unless Haden and the others can survive long enough to escape, the house will claim them—forever.
Buy or add The Devouring Light in any of these places:
Amazon UK | Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | Blackwells | Bookshop | Foyles | Waterstones | WH Smith
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The Evolution of The Devouring Light’s book cover
“Do you have any thoughts about what you’d like your cover to look like?”
This is one of those questions most authors I’ve spoken to love to hear from their publishing team. I know I definitely do. It doesn’t happen with every book; sometimes your team have a really clear idea of what they think the cover should look like from the outset, or what kind of cover will make an impact in the current market, so while the author is generally consulted, they’re not necessarily asked for ideas at the initial stage of coming up with a cover concept. (This is fine! I’m not a designer, and appreciate that my aesthetic ideas won’t always hit. That said, I do usually have ideas…)
When my wonderful editor Clare Vaughn at HarperTeen emailed me to ask for my ideas for The Devouring Light’s cover, I was thrilled. I knew I wanted it to be dark and creepy, so I started scrolling through images of published YA horror covers, gathering inspiration.
These were some of the notes I sent Clare to share with cover designer Molly Fehr (IG: @mollyfehr) and art director Joel Tippie (IG: @jdrift): ‘I feel like the house should be on there, preferably in a dark, misty, swampy setting with spindly trees, and a single light shining from an upstairs window.’
Here are the fantastic first cover concepts Molly and Joel came up with:
Already stunning, right? I LOVED the twisty branches running through the title on the first concept, but preferred the fonts used in pic 2, which definitely felt more YA to me, and more in keeping with The Devouring Light’s overall vibe. Something about the colours and background image made me think more of an adult thriller set in the countryside rather than a swampy YA horror, but I thought these were definitely heading in a great direction. I asked if the house itself could be a little more gothic, and if Molly and Joel could amp up the swampy feel to really project the creepy setting of the story. And they absolutely did!
After choosing a basic house design from several options they sent me, I added some notes.
I was over the moon with what the design team came back with. They sent over 4 versions with different colour options and slight variations of the house.
It was so hard to choose a favourite! I talked it over with my agent, then went back to Clare to say that we both loved the colours of option 4, but with the house used in 1&3 — and maybe a smidge more green mist?
When the final cover came back, she was GLORIOUS.
I can’t adequately say how much I love this cover! Huge, huge thanks to Molly, Joel and Clare for making it so gorgeously creepy and perfect, and for letting me pitch in my ideas along the way. I am one very happy author! And the UK publishing team loved it too, deciding to use the same cover — with a few little tweaks.
Here are the US & UK versions of the cover side-by-side – can you spot the differences?
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The Devouring Light – 25% off at Waterstones online
Time to grab a bargain! Pre-order my latest YA horror novel The Devouring Light from Waterstones online here between 28-31 July to get 25% off with code SUMMER25.
It’s only 6 weeks now until its U.K. release, so you won’t even have long to wait for it to arrive! 😁
When Haden Romero and her rival, Deacon Rex – alongside their bands, including Haden’s ex, Cairo – are stranded on their way to a rock festival, she thinks missing the gig is the worst thing that could happen.
She’s wrong.
Marooned in treacherous swamplands with no way out, the group stumbles upon an eerie, decaying house. It seems like a safe haven, a place to wait out the storm.
The house, however, isn’t just abandoned – it’s been waiting for them.
Bodies begin to pile up. The walls start to close in. Twisted secrets come to light. And unless Haden and the others can survive long enough to escape, the house will claim them – forever.
True horror in the most fun sense of the word, The Devouring Light will have readers on the edge of their seats, bracing themselves for jump scares, flinching with every plot twist, and – most importantly – reading with the lights on.
Pre-order here by 31 July, and don’t forget to enter the code SUMMER25 at the checkout to claim your 25% discount. Happy reading!
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5 Random Questions with Josie Jaffrey, author of the QuickSilver trilogy
In my July newsletter (catch up HERE if you missed it) I interviewed Josie Jaffrey about her brilliant new vampire-pirate novella trilogy, QuickSilver, which starts with Kill Me Quick. I was fascinated by the world and characters, and had to find out more about the mind behind them…
5 Random Questions
1. What’s your go-to fancy dress costume?
Vampire. Obviously!
2. You have a magic ticket to spend one day anywhere in the world. Where will you go?
Charleston, SC, for the pecan pralines and the blue crab dip. Eating is probably my favourite pastime.
3. Do you have any unusual habits/superstitions?
I still won’t walk over three drain covers together, which is a hangover from childhood but frankly is also just common sense. I’ve seen enough of those things cracked to be wary!
4. What’s one talent you have that not many people know about?
I bake, both bread and cakes. Did I mention that I love eating? I’m also really good at spreadsheets 😂
5. What’s a recent read you’ve loved?
I adored the Lavington Windsor books by Alice James. They’re wonderful, adventure-filled romps following a necromancer as she solves murders and gets embroiled in ill-advised romances with vampires.
About Josie Jaffrey
Josie Jaffrey is a fantasy and historical fiction author who writes about lost worlds, dystopian societies and paranormal monsters (vampires are her favourite). She has published multiple novels and short stories. Most of those are set in the Silverse, an apocalyptic world filled with vampires and zombies.
Josie lives in Oxford with her husband and two cats (Sparky and Gussie), who graciously permit human cohabitation in return for regular feeding and cuddles. The resulting cat fluff makes it difficult for Josie to wear black, which is largely why she gave up being a goth. Although the cats are definitely worth it, she still misses her old wardrobe.
You can find out more about Josie and her books on her website, and follow her on Bluesky, Instagram, and TikTok. And check out her podcast, Jack Valentine, Vampire Detective and IndieBites – a quarterly magazine Josie edits.
If you missed my newsletter interview with Josie about the QuickSilver trilogy, check it out here.
Also remember to sign up for my newsletter which I send out every month – the next one will be hitting inboxes on Friday 1st August and will feature a behind-the-scenes look at how The Devouring Light‘s cover was designed, as well as a giveaway for a proof copy of Cynthia Murphy’s brilliant new YA thriller, Keep Your Friends Close! Subscribe so you don’t miss it.
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5 Random Questions with Ann Dávila Cardinal, author of You’ve Awoken Her – part 2
And here is part 2! In case you missed it, this month in my newsletter (catch up HERE) I interviewed Ann Dávila Cardinal about her latest creepy YA, You’ve Awoken Her, and asked Ann 5 Random Questions… in 2 parts! (So yes, technically that’s 10 Random Questions, you lucky things!) If you missed part 1, it’s right here.
5 Random Questions – part 2!
6. You’re lost in the jungle. Which of your skills is most likely to help you survive?
Knitting. I figure I can knit palm fronds into a shelter, a garment, a hammock. I mean . . . that’s all I got. Yeah, I wouldn’t last long.
7. If you could trade places with any book or movie character for a day, who would you choose?
I haven’t even seen it yet, but Materialists and I’d take Dakota Johnson’s place, cause: Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal. Nuff said.
8. What’s your go-to karaoke song?
“In These Shoes” by Kirsty MacColl. It’s funny and sexy and pure theatre. She was brilliant and we lost her way too early.
9. Do you have a non-writing-related claim to fame?
Fame? I don’t know if I truly have any claim to it, but in my late teens I was an amateur punk rock photographer studying to be an opera singer in New York City. Clearly I didn’t go in either of those directions professionally, but I flirted with them.
10. What are your top 3 movies of all time?
Easy, all three Lord of the Rings films. I’m a huge Tolkien geek, with themed tattoos and all, and I loved how they brought those books to life. I’ve been in love with Aragorn since I was eleven years old and Viggo Mortenson truly did my heart good.
About Ann Dávila Cardinal
Ann is a Nuyorican, Vermont-based author with an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA). Ann’s first book was a young adult horror novel titled Five Midnights, which won the 2020 International Latino Book Award in the category of Best Young Adult Fantasy & Adventure, an AudioFile’s Earphones Award for the audiobook, and was a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award. The story continues in Category Five, released in 2020, and her young adult horror rom-com, Breakup From Hell, was released in 2023. Her next YA novel, a horror comedy titled You’ve Awoken Her, will be coming on June 17. Her adult magical realist novels include The Storyteller’s Death and We Need No Wings.
Ann lives in Vermont with her husband in a lovely little house with a massively creepy basement.
You can find out more about Ann and her books on her website, and follow her on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
If you missed my newsletter interview with Ann about You’ve Awoken Her, check it out here, and don’t forget to catch up on part 1 of this interview right here.
Also remember to sign up for my newsletter which I send out every month – the next one will be hitting inboxes on Friday 4th July and will feature an interview with Josie Jaffrey about her latest release, Kill Me Quick, and a giveaway where you can win signed a signed copy of both Kill Me Quick AND The Devouring Light! Subscribe so you don’t miss it.
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5 Random Questions with Ann Dávila Cardinal, author of You’ve Awoken Her
This month in my newsletter (catch up HERE if you’ve missed any of them) I interviewed Ann Dávila Cardinal about her latest creepy YA, You’ve Awoken Her, which I absolutely loved. In it, Gabriel reluctantly goes to spend the summer with his friend in the Hamptons, only to find a terrifying creature lurking in the water there.
You’ve Awoken Her just came out this week, and is the perfect beachy horror to add to your TBR this summer. I naturally needed to know more about the author whose mind spawned such terrors…
Enter the 5 Random Questions!
1. What will you be reading this summer?
There’s so many great books coming out this summer! I’m particularly excited about If We Survive This by Racquel Marie, and A Mother Always Knows by Sarah Strohmeyer.
2. Have you ever had a supernatural encounter?
I worked in a haunted building at Vermont College of Fine Arts for over twenty years. Anna was a woman who was shot on the property by another woman over a man in the 1800s. She didn’t like it when we worked late, and I’ve had all my pictures fall off the wall, furniture moved in front of the door so I couldn’t get in, the clocks all on the floor, batteries nowhere to be found. It was a trip. I ended up writing a short story about her haunting our zoom meetings during the pandemic because I wondered who a ghost haunted when there was no one there.
3. Did your hometown have any creepy local legends?
Not my hometown, per se, but there are SO many fabulous ones in Puerto Rico where I spent most summers as a child. I was fascinated by Los Desmembrados, or The Dismembered. It started in Lajas, a town on the west coast of the island, and is about partial bodies that walk or crawl down PR-116, a road where many people have had accident and died. It’s said that when the dogs start barking, you can go out and see headless torsos pulling themselves along the asphalt. I wrote a short story about it for Our Shadows Have Claws. Lajas also has one of the few UFO landing strips in the world.
4. What’s one talent you have that not many people know about?
I can fake a sneeze, perfectly. I used to think I should book commercials with that bit, but it served me well in high school when I wanted out of class to go lie down in the nurses cool office. (Sorry, Sister Elizabeth.) . . .(Not sorry.)
5. What’s the best gift you’ve ever received?
Other than my son? A Crissy doll. She was tall, auburn-haired, and fashionesque wearing groovy clothes, and you pulled her hair out of her head to lengthen it (and press a button to suck it back in.) It’s actually pretty terrifying when you think about it. I preferred the older dolls because when I was very young my mother told me she’d always hated baby dolls because she thought they were dead babies dipped in plastic. Yes, that’s how I ended up the way I am.
(And this is just part 1 of 2! Part 2 coming next week.)
About Ann Dávila Cardinal
Ann is a Nuyorican, Vermont-based author with an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA). Ann’s first book was a young adult horror novel titled Five Midnights, which won the 2020 International Latino Book Award in the category of Best Young Adult Fantasy & Adventure, an AudioFile’s Earphones Award for the audiobook, and was a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award. The story continues in Category Five, released in 2020, and her young adult horror rom-com, Breakup From Hell, was released in 2023. Her next YA novel, a horror comedy titled You’ve Awoken Her, will be coming on June 17. Her adult magical realist novels include The Storyteller’s Death and We Need No Wings.
Ann lives in Vermont with her husband in a lovely little house with a massively creepy basement.
You can find out more about Ann and her books on her website, and follow her on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
If you missed my newsletter interview with Ann about You’ve Awoken Her, check it out here, and don’t forget to look out for part 2 of this interview coming next week. Also remember to sign up for my newsletter which I send out every month – the next one will be hitting inboxes on Friday 4th July and will feature an interview with Josie Jaffrey about her latest release, Kill Me Quick, and a giveaway where you can win signed a signed copy of both Kill Me Quick AND The Devouring Light! Subscribe so you don’t miss it.
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Cover reveal: The Devouring Light
It’s here and I love it! This is the cover for my next YA horror, The Devouring Light, which comes out from HarperTeen on October 7.
Thank you so much to my publisher’s brilliant design team for creating a cover which so beautifully matches the story.
When their tour bus crashes into a ravine, long-time rivals Haden and Deacon are stranded, along with their bandmates, in a deadly swamp. A light beckons them to the only shelter they can find: a dilapidated house which seems to have been expecting them…
If you would like to add it to your Goodreads list (please do!), you can do that here.
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5 Random Questions with Dan Smith, author of The Deadsoul Project
This month in my newsletter (catch up HERE if you’ve missed any of them) I interviewed Dan Smith about The Deadsoul Project, the first in his brand-new YA thriller series with Barrington Stoke. The book sees siblings Kyle and Lauren return home to their flat to find their recently-deceased stepdad Kyle sitting at the kitchen table… but Kyle isn’t at all how he was.
This is a fantastic read based on real reports from the 1970s, and I’m so looking forward to reading the rest of the series. I also need to know more about the author himself, so…
Enter the 5 Random Questions!
What are you reading right now?
The Boys in the Valley by Philip Fracassi
What’s the last book or film that really made you laugh?
People who know me are usually surprised when I really laugh! I’m more of a wry smirker. But .. and this isn’t a film or a book but a TV show … Shrinking makes me laugh. Harrison Ford being a grumpy old man is just the best.
Have you ever had a spooky encounter? What happened?
When I was about ten years old, at boarding school in Kent, we had a four-storey late Victorian building known as the ‘old block’. Apparently, during WWII, a plane crashed into the top floor of the building and the pilot lost his head, which then tumbled down the stairs. A friend and I once sneaked into the building after dark. We crept up to the second floor and heard what, to my ears, was the sound of a head bouncing down the stairs. Thump. Thump. Thump. We didn’t stick around long enough to find out what it really was!
What’s the best or worst thing that happened to you in 2024?
Do you know what? Reading this question has reminded me how lucky I am. I have a loving family, my health, a roof over my head, food on the table … all those things are the best. There are always niggles, of course, but I really don’t have anything to complain about.
How many degrees of separation are you from Kevin Bacon? Show us the steps!
Oh, I would SO LOVE to be able to answer this question, but I think my Bacon Number would be embarrassingly high.
About Dan Smith
Growing up, Dan Smith led three lives. In one he survived the day-to-day humdrum of boarding school, while in another he travelled the world, finding adventure in the padi-fields of South East Asia and the jungles of Brazil. But the third life he lived in a world of his own, making up stories . . . which is where some people say he still lives most of the time!
Now settled in Newcastle with his wife and two children, Dan writes stories to share with both adults and children.
The Invasion of Crooked Oak, a spooky science fiction tale for young readers, was published by Barrington Stoke in 2020, followed by sequels, The Beast of Harwood Forest, The Horror of Dunwick Farm, The Terror of Hilltop House, and The Creatures of Killburn Mine. The Deadsoul Project – the first in a new sci-fi thriller series – will be released 13February 2025.
You can check out Dan’s website here: http://www.dansmithbooks.com/
And follow Dan on Instagram, BlueSky, Twitter, and Facebook.
If you missed my newsletter interview with Dan Smith about The Deadsoul Project, check it out here. Also remember to sign up for my newsletter which I send out every month – the next one will be hitting inboxes on Friday 7th February and will feature an EXCLUSIVE new short horror story by me called Cold Heart (it’s Valentine’s themed!) AND I’m giving away a proof of Josh Silver’s brilliant new YA thriller, Traumaland. Subscribe so you don’t miss it!
Kat Ellis Writes 