We chat with author Gigi Griffis about The Wicked Unseen, which follows the new girl in town who is having trouble fitting into a community that believes there’s a secret Satanic cult conducting rituals in the woods.
Hi, Gigi! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hey! I’m Gigi – a queer, feminist history nerd with a penchant for unlikable female characters and stories that keep you reading late into the night. When I’m not writing or studying history, you’ll find me outdoors. Cycling across whole countries with my dog in a bike basket. Hiking the Alps. Or just leaning back on a sunny patio stuffing myself full of Italian food. I live in Porto, Portugal, with my pint-sized pooch, Luna.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I wrote my first book when I was around seven years old—a harrowing tale about a cat’s nine deaths that was likely me trying to process my grandmother’s passing—so my storytelling obsession genuinely goes back as far as I can remember.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
I grew up during the US Satanic Panic with a strict religious upbringing, so the earliest reads I remember were actually ominous Bible stories that had somehow been “cuted up” for kids. Like Noah’s Ark. As a kid, I focused on all the cute animals on the boat. As an adult, I’m a bit horrified that my first memory is of a story about God drowning most of the world.
I wanted to be an author since before I can remember, but the books that made me want to be a great one include The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater and Vicious by V.E. Schwab.
One book I cannot stop thinking (or screaming) about is Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel.
Your latest novel, The Wicked Unseen, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Dark. Queer. Mysterious. Unexpected. Triumphant.
What can readers expect?
The Wicked Unseen is—at its core—a dark mystery. Expect twists and turns as Audre gets to know her new (creepy) town and sets out to solve her crush (Elle)’s disappearance. All set against a backdrop of spooky forest, rumors of a secret Satanic cult, and the strange paranoias of the Satanic Panic.
Where did the inspiration for The Wicked Unseen come from?
I grew up during the Satanic Panic and it was wild. People really believed that playing rock music backward would reveal messages from the devil and Dungeons and Dragons was killing kids. I always knew I wanted to write a mystery set during that chaotic time in history—and when I saw echoes of that panic happening in the present (in QAnon and book bans and debates about who uses what bathroom), I knew it was time for this book. The story is fiction, but the inspiration was my own childhood.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
Oh man, I love all my chaotic little babies. There wasn’t a single one that I didn’t enjoy exploring. That said, Elle will always have a really special place in my heart because there’s so much of my younger self in her quest to understand herself and her beliefs. Writing her chapters was deeply emotional and I cried more than once.
What do you love about the horror genre?
I love that horror has such fluid boundaries. It’s actually a bit like queerness—allowing space for things othered and undefined. Horror can be speculative or real-world. The monsters can be real or all in our heads. The endings can be grim or triumphant. There’s so much space to explore the things that scare us.
What’s next for you?
I’m wrapping up editing on another dark YA novel called We Are the Beasts! It’s a book that started with a question: what if monster stories were about saving girls instead of killing them? Set during the reign of terror of the beast of Gevaudan (a real, unsolved historical mystery), the book follows a group of girls fighting tooth and nail for their safety and agency in a world dead set against it.
And that’s not all I have in the works! I am currently keeping some big publishing secrets. Keep an eye out.
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
Always! In the world of edge-of-your-seat YA, Jessica Lewis’s Bad Witch Burning is a forever-favorite and She’s Too Pretty to Burn kept me up late. I’m also chomping at the bit to get my hands on Sami Ellis’s Dead Girls Walking and Bethany Baptiste’s The Poisons We Drink.
Oh, and a fun author Easter egg for you: Pick up A.Y. Chao’s bestselling Shanghai Immortal and you’ll find a character named after yours truly.
