Book Title: DARLING BEASTS
Character Name: Gabby Gunn
How would you describe your family or your childhood?
That is a loaded question! I grew up on NYC’s Upper East Side, with homes in the Hamptons, Vail, and a few other places. When I was eight, my mother moved to our family compound outside San Diego (Rancho Santa Fe, specifically) to recover from thyroid cancer and just never… came home. Because my dad was busy running his media empire, my little brother Ozzie and I were raised by our beloved nanny, Diane. Our sister Talia is much older so was mostly out of the house by the time Diane took charge. A lot of people express sadness for me—especially after my mom eventually passed away—but we weren’t close, and Diane was the only mother figure I needed. I was totally fine! Talia was very close with our mom, so her death hit her a lot harder.
What was your greatest talent?
I famously don’t have any talents, but I run an experimental theater to give my friends a place to showcase theirs.
Significant other?
If only. I’m not even sure whether I’m attracted to boys or girls.
Biggest challenge in relationships?
Definitely my Portum Beastiae Syndrome (PBS), a rare condition that causes me to manifest live animals whenever I’m stressed—bald eagles and ocelots and screaming hairy armadillos, to name a few. It’s pretty embarrassing and a huge pain in the ass because they cause destruction and I also have to figure out a way to (humanely!) get rid of them. Plus, like my family, some people think I’m making it up, even when they’ve seen the animals themselves! Tell me, where would I procure a swamp rabbit or Tasmanian devil with face cancer?
Where do you live?
Well, I’m supposed to live on my farm in upstate New York, but my father’s made us all move to San Diego to help with his (ill-conceived) senatorial campaign. I wanted to say no, but unfortunately my experimental theater isn’t exactly profitable, and I can’t afford to be cut off.
Do you have any enemies?
Talia says I’m the nice one, and everyone likes me, and it’s obvious this really pisses her off. So, maybe she’s my enemy?
How do you feel about the place where you are now?
Is there something you are particularly attached to, or particularly repelled by, in this place? We’re all living at my family’s compound outside of San Diego, and the Ranch is pretty sick. It’s seventy acres of prime real estate ten minutes from the coast, and boasts multiple swimming pools, several tennis courts, a pickleball pavilion, bowling alleys, horse rings, a bass-filled lake, among other amenities. But, with my father’s recent scandal, we can’t really afford the upkeep, so it feels weird to live in all this opulence. It’s also where my mother died, which adds a whole other level to it. (More for Talia than for me or Ozzie). On the plus side, the world’s foremost PBS expert works nearby (mortifyingly, at the San Diego Zoo) and he has a promising study underway. I’m hoping that together we can take a step closer to solving PBS.
Do you have children, pets, both, or neither?
I would love a pet but can’t because of my condition. The last thing I’d want is to flare a bear or something and suddenly my pet is lunch.
What do you do for a living?
Run an experimental theater company.
Greatest disappointment?
My brother and I used to be best friends and partners in crime, but we’ve drifted apart, and I don’t understand why. I get the sense that I’m the reason.
Greatest source of joy?
Witnessing the creativity shown at my theater and running the business with my best friend, even if we are deeply in the red.
What do you do to entertain yourself or have fun?
Watch the performances at my theater and try to think of ways to cure my PBS.
What is your greatest personal failing, in your view?
Not speaking up when I should’ve, especially when it resulted in someone I love getting hurt.
What keeps you awake at night?
My PBS.
What is the most pressing problem you have at the moment?
Pretending to work on my dad’s senatorial campaign while figuring out a way to cure or at least stave off my PBS symptoms. I can’t go through the rest of my life wondering when the next wolverine is going to show up.
Is there something that you need or want that you don’t have?
For yourself or for someone important to you? A cure for my PBS. Also, a part of me wants my dad to win his campaign. He absolutely won’t but… I don’t know… it feels like he needs a win.
Why don’t you have it? What is in the way?
I’d love to be in a romantic relationship, but my PBS is too big of an obstacle. No one wants to deal with that. One roommate moved out because she found a grackle in the Frosted Flakes, and that was honestly my least disruptive flare. It’s better to keep to myself, on my farm in the Hudson Valley.
A Humorous Magical Realism Family Saga of Sibling Heirs and Exotic Animals
A family drama with a speculative twist about three siblings and one beastly surprise, from the New York Times bestselling author
“Weird, witty, and totally delightful, with echoes of Schitt’s Creek but with more teeth! I loved it.” —Annie Hartnett, author of Unlikely Animals and The Road to Tender Hearts
Gabby, Talia, and Ozzie Gunn, heirs to a media empire, are in trouble. After several bad investments and one major scandal, their father is now trying to restore their family’s good name with a senatorial run. Even worse? He’s demanding they move to California to join the campaign or risk being cut off.
It’s easy to say you don’t care about money when you have enough, but with mounting debts, unconventional hobbies, and in the case of Gabby, Portum Bestiae Syndrome—a very expensive condition in which strange symptoms arise and then an exotic animal appears—the siblings don’t have much of a choice. In California, they’ll just have to keep their distance and survive until it’s all over.
But almost immediately, the Gunns find themselves right in the thick of things, dodging headlines and the creatures that seem to pop up in the most inconvenient places. Not only that—the change in scenery even has them bonding, on hot-air balloon rides and sunny beaches. But when a family secret rears its head, reopening old wounds, this new existence is thrown into chaos, and the stage is set for a long-overdue reckoning…
Fantasy Magical Realism [Graydon House, On Sale: July 8, 2025, Trade Paperback / e-Book , ISBN: 9781525805042 / eISBN: 9780369746634]
Michelle Gable graduated from The College of William & Mary. When not dreaming up fiction on the sly, she’s spent her career in finance with focus on private equity, mergers & acquisitions, and, most recently, investor relations and financial planning and analysis. Born and raised in San Diego, Gable currently resides in Cardiff by the Sea, California with her husband, two daughters, and one lazy cat.
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