The Hierophant's Daughter Interview

Do you ever wish you were someone else? Who?

Diving right in, aren’t we! I can’t say I’ve ever thought that—not anyone specific, at any

rate, but I think everybody has moments where we wish we were born into different circumstances. My family, like most families, can be a little dysfunctional. One of the reasons I wrote The Hierophant’s Daughter was to deal with that, and my place with respect to that family now that I’m a totally different adult from the kid I was. I told my editor ‘This book is for anybody with a dysfunctional family,’ and she said, ‘I love that, because that’s everybody.’ Too true! So I guess there’s nobody else I could be. I’ll keep my dysfunctional life as it is—it seems to be getting better all the time, anyway.

What did you do on your last birthday?

Oh, last birthday my boyfriend and I flew out to Columbus, Ohio to see some of my relatives and a few old friends. It was quite a trip, considering my fear of flying, but more than worthwhile.

What part of the writing process do you dread?

I don’t know if there’s any one part, but by the time I’ve been through about three rounds of editing with any one novel, I definitely start to dread the thought of going through it again! But my writing process often requires seven total passes between myself and my editor, so I have to get over it and just do it.

Do you ever suffer from writer’s block? If so, what do you do about it?

This past few years I’ve discovered that writer’s block means I’m not reading enough, or not reading the ‘right things’ to help me work out my problems with the WIP. I’ve learned to step back, re-evaluate where I’m at with my reading, and maybe even start a new book that jives better with the project I’m working on. Eventually, something will click.

Tell us about your latest release.

The Hierophant’s Daughter is Book I in THE DISGRACED MARTYR TRILOGY. In the first book of this cyberpunk horror series, General Dominia di Mephitoli flees the country of her Father, the Hierophant, in search of the means to resurrect her wife—but, as Dominia is one of the many flesh-eating, genetically engineered humans called ‘martyrs’, she first has to overcome humanity’s fear of her, and her own prejudices about humanity. The book is full of twists and turns, evil villains, and the most diverse cast of characters I’ve ever created. I hope it inspires readers who used to love YA to try something more mature, and I hope it inspires adult sci-fi/fantasy fans to pursue more books with protagonists which fall out of the archetype of the middle-aged man. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but when I read Dominia’s journey it feels very fresh to me even though it uses tried-and-true tropes. Straight people have had badass generals and sapient animal companions in their fiction for years—let the LGBTQ community have a turn!