1--What is the title of your latest release?
THIS CURSED HOUSE
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Instead of embracing her ability to see ghosts, Jemma has spent her life running from it. But now, she must use her gift to save a cursed family, or else suffer their same fate.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I’ve lived in the South almost my whole life, so a Southern location was a given. Because the film Eve’s Bayou was such a major influence on me and this idea, I had to go with New Orleans.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Yes, although I’d ask that she keep the ghosts away.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Broken, yet resilient, and gifted.
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I learned that although the concept of forgiveness sounds beautiful in theory, it’s not up to someone to tell another person when or how they forgive someone else.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I waited until I was done with the first draft before editing.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Fresh sourdough bread
9--Describe your writing space/office!
It’s a smallish desk in front of a window, currently overlooking a parking lot. So not the best view, but at least I get plenty of natural light. I try and keep my desk neat, but an old coffee mug full of colored markers, a planner, and my Snoopy at the typewriter figurine are always there.
10--Who is an author you admire?
I can’t name just one, but Stephen King, Zadie Smith, and Toni Morrison are three.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. Her prose was on a completely different level. She’s never a “fast” read for me. Unlike some books that may feel like quick snacks, Toni Morrison’s work always feels like a five-course meal.
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.
It was late summer 2022. Because I’d submitted to the Berkley Open Submission Program, I didn’t have an agent who submitted the novel. Instead, Anne Sowards reached out to me expressing interest, and then I secured an agent (Jim McCarthy at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret). I’d had a couple of phone conversations with Anne, and done some major revisions with Jim. We submitted to Berkley in a one-week exclusive, and then they offered! It was a surreal experience, since This Cursed House was the sixth manuscript I’d completed.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
Horror, or anything speculative
14--What’s your favorite movie?
Alien
15--What is your favorite season?
Fall
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
I like spending the morning outside and then, since my birthday is in December, spending part of the day working on my planner for the following year. After that, I like watching a favorite movie that I’ve seen dozens of times.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
Talking Scared
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Anything Asian
19--What do you do when you have free time?
Read, or go to the beach
20--What can readers expect from you next?
Something scary
In this Southern gothic horror debut, a young Black woman abandons her life in 1960s Chicago for a position with a mysterious family in New Orleans, only to discover the dark truth: They’re under a curse, and they think she can break it.
In the fall of 1962, twenty-seven-year-old Jemma Barker is desperate to escape her life in Chicago—and the spirits she has always been able to see. When she receives an unexpected job offer from the Duchon family in New Orleans, she accepts, thinking it is her chance to start over.
But Jemma discovers that the Duchon family isn’t what it seems. Light enough to pass as white, the Black family members look down on brown-skinned Jemma. Their tenuous hold on reality extends to all the members of their eccentric clan, from haughty grandmother Honorine to beautiful yet inscrutable cousin Fosette. And soon the shocking truth comes out: The Duchons are under a curse. And they think Jemma has the power to break it.
As Jemma wrestles with the gift she’s run from all her life, she unravels deeper and more disturbing secrets about the mysterious Duchons. Secrets that stretch back over a century. Secrets that bind her to their fate if she fails.
Suspense Gothic | Horror [Berkley, On Sale: October 8, 2024, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9780593639528 / eISBN: 9780593639535]
A twisty Gothic ghost story to usher in the spooky season!
Del Sandeen lives in Northeast Florida, where she works as a writer and copy editor. She is the recipient of the 2019 Diverse Writers Grant and the 2019 Diverse Worlds Grant from the Speculative Literature Foundation. Her short fiction has appeared in in FIYAH: Speculative Literary Magazine, Uncanny Magazine, Nightlight Podcast, and Magnolia, a Journal of Women's Socially Engaged Literature Volume III. Her nonfiction has appeared in Allure, Uncanny, Gay magazine and ZORA. She's the author of three young adult books: Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: Joined by Fate; Coping With Racial Profiling; and Maya Angelou: Writer and Activist.
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