What is the title of your latest release?
THE HOUSE OF NOW AND THEN
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
A trans man rents a beachside cottage on Cape Cod for one lonely summer after a big breakup, only to discover that the house holds a magical secret: behind each door is someone from his past, reliving moments from their shared history together on loop.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
It was always going to be Cape Cod. That came into my head right along with the concept of this magical cottage. The Cape has always felt like a slightly magical place to me. Time slows down. Life moves at a different place. It was the perfect setting for a story about someone who wants to escape all the messiness of his own life.
Would you hang out with your hero in real life?
Haha, probably? It’s funny, I’m aware that I have a hand in crafting my characters (obviously) but I do also feel like they develop on their own, and so it’s definitely true that I would not be friends with all of them. But in the case of both Harlowe (my main character) and Nathan (the love interest)…I actually still find myself thinking about them, which feels like a sign that maybe we’d all get along.
What are three words that describe your hero?
Depressed, messy, hopeful. Harlowe is going through A Time, but I think he arrives where he does at the end of the book because ultimately, he is hopeful, and he isn’t willing to settle.
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
Writing is hard. I learn this while writing every book, and then promptly forget the second it’s time to write the next one. Each book is really hard in its own unique way. THE HOUSE OF NOW AND THEN is really entirely driven by characters and their own secrets and histories - what they tell each other and what they don’t. I think in many ways, I dove deeper into the characters in this book than any book I had written before. I worried so much that this book would feel slow because it’s so character-driven. I still wanted it to feel like a book you couldn’t put down. I like to think I achieved that? But it did teach me a new way to think about tension.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
A combination of both, and frankly, it varies book to book. For THE HOUSE OF NOW AND THEN, I had a very polished opening few chapters that actually didn’t change that much from proposal to finished book. But the rest changed a lot. The book I had written right before this one took place over just a couple weeks. THE HOUSE OF NOW AND THEN takes place over an entire summer. Writing a slightly longer timeline was harder than I expected! So while I did a lot of character editing as I wrote the first draft, I would say that a number of bigger revisions to pacing, where different clues get laid out, etc. - all that happened in later revisions.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
I mean, listen, if we’re talking about Cape Cod specifically, I will always eat those potato chips.
Describe your writing space/office!
A mess? I have a little tiny desk that I’m constantly struggling to keep clean enough for my laptop. Half the time it’s covered in books so I just take my laptop somewhere else.
Who is an author you admire?
So many! But I’d say the author that first made me want to write my own stories as a kid was Diana Wynne Jones.
Is there a book that changed your life?
SO MANY. But again, that book that made me want to write? Howl’s Moving Castle.
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.
For THE HOUSE OF NOW AND THEN, it was my option book with my publisher, meaning they had published my previous book and kind of had right of first refusal on this one. I was still very nervous, though, and didn’t have any idea whether they would definitely take it. When my agent sent the proposal for the book to my editor, he assured her that he’d get to it as soon as he could, but he was underwater and it might take a month or so. He wrote back about a week later with an offer. It was the best surprise.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
I sort of read all over the place! Possibly my strangest quirk is that whatever I’m actively drafting, I need to read something wildly different. While working on THE HOUSE OF NOW AND THEN, I read some dark YA fantasy and historical fiction about ships. Not remotely like the book I was writing.
What’s your favorite movie?
How to Train Your Dragon. Always and forever.
What is your favorite season?
Autumn. At least on the east coast. I live in California now and sadly autumn mostly involves our state being on fire.
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
My birthday is actually the day after Christmas, so it’s weirdly not that fun to celebrate. None of my friends are ever around! I sort of pretend my birthday’s in January and then get folks together for dinner.
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
The Pitt. I am so, so, so obsessed with The Pitt.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
It’s hard to beat really good Indian food.
What do you do when you have free time?
What free time? (Kidding. But only kind of.) I love gardening. All my work involves creative stuff, which has my brain going full steam all the time. I love gardening because I can turn off my brain and just watch things (slowly) grow.
What can readers expect from you next?
Well…I don’t know! I’m working on some things though, and hopefully I’ll be able to share them sometime. I hope to keep writing for both teens and adults, and whatever it is, you can bet it’ll be queer.
From the author of The In-Between Bookstore, the sweet, unforgettable story of a trans man in his thirties who books a Cape Cod cottage for one lonely summer—only to have its magic bring him visitors from the past and romance where he least expects it, perfect for fans of TJ Klune and Ashley Poston.
Harlowe could use a break. With his academic future over, just like his relationship with his long-term boyfriend Jackson, a suspiciously cheap summer rental on the Cape feels like just the escape he needs.
But when he arrives at the picturesque seaside cottage, he’s alarmed to find his discouraging former professor in the living room. His father making coffee in the kitchen. And a handsome young repairman fixing things in the bedroom. Worst of all, Jackson is in the bathroom. None of them will leave. No one else can see them. And they won’t leave him alone.
The house isn’t magic only for Harlowe, and as the summer grows hot and thick with tourists, old wounds and fresh secrets—both in and outside its walls—begin to transform him. It’s clear the house is trying to tell him something, and he’s sure it has to do with the mysterious repairman who suddenly seems to be everywhere he looks… But can Harlowe let go of the past long enough to listen?
Evoking all the windswept dunes and Fourth of July fireworks of a perfect Cape Cod day, The House of Now and Then asks who you would find, if all your unfinished business was just behind one door.
Fantasy Magical Realism | Romance LGBTQ [ Avon, On Sale: May 19, 2026, Trade Paperback / e-Book / audiobook, ISBN: 9780063448841 / eISBN: 9780063448827 ]
EDWARD UNDERHILL (he/him) is a queer trans man who grew up in the suburbs of Wisconsin, where he could not walk to anything, which meant he had to make up his own adventures. He began writing (very bad) stories as a kid and wrote his first (also very bad) novel in his teens. In college, he studied music composition, before earning a master’s degree in film music composition. After a few years living in very tiny apartments in New York, he moved to California, where by day he writes music and by night he writes stories, which aren’t as bad as they used to be. When not doing either of these things, he’s probably gardening or hanging out with his cat.
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