We chat with author Jules Arbeaux about Lord of the Empty Isles, which is a stunning emotional yet action-packed adult science-fiction novel, perfect for fans of found family and queer-platonic relationships.
Hi, Jules! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hi, and thanks for having me! A few facts about me:
- I’m obsessed with my cat (Merlin) and with plant life and greenery, but I’m not especially adept at keeping anything but succulents and ferns alive.
- I like to fold mini paper animals and have folded a fox from piece of paper around 4mm square.
- I grew up without electricity or indoor plumbing and spent my days exploring the woods, climbing fallen trees, and reading a frankly unreasonable number of books.
- I love books that wound me, heal me, and leave me with something to think about. Ambitiously, I hope to one day write stories like that.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
When I was five, I grabbed a sheet of college-rule paper and wrote—and badly illustrated—a story about me and my cat going on an adventure. Very on-brand for me. This is such a common answer, but I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t obsessed with writing and storytelling. As a child, I had trouble talking to people and verbalizing my feelings, so I put everything I wanted to say into stories.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: I can’t remember the name, but it was a chapter-book series about a girl whose parents were divorced. Six-year-old me owes a lot to those books.
- The one that made you want to become an author: I’ve wanted to be an author since before I learned to write my Bs the right way around, and every book I’ve read since then made me want it more.
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: This is How You Lose the Time War and The Space Between Worlds rewired my brain in the best way.
Your debut novel, Lord of the Empty Isles, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Adventurous, emotional, hopeful, sad, tense.
What can readers expect?
In Lord of the Empty Isles, readers will find a fast-paced, character-focused, emotional story about messy people facing impossible dilemmas in the best way they know how. The sound-bitey pitch is that it follows a boy who death-curses his brother’s killer, only to find that he’s somehow soul-bound the man and will die alongside him unless he can unravel the curse, but it’s also about grief, hope, healing, and thorny questions about preservation and progress.
Where did the inspiration for Lord of the Empty Isles come from?
One of my favorite things to do in the early planning process is to try “what-if” brainstorming. When I first got to work on Lord of the Empty Isles, I had the hook already. I knew the death-curse was going to rebound onto Remy. But I didn’t know it was going to be sci-fi! I originally envisioned the eponymous Empty Isles as regular islands, but it felt wrong, so I started throwing ideas out there. One of the ideas was, “What if the Isles are actually pseudo-moons?” and that kicked off an hours-long brainstorming session where the story as it now exists took shape.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
All my favorite moments are massive spoilers, but for characters—Yves Radenne, absolutely. I knew I needed a doctor-adjacent character on the Isles, but Yves—desperate, cynical, deeply caring, and a little bit murderous—jumped off the page when I started writing them and quickly became one of my favorite characters in the book.
This is your debut published novel! What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?
A bit twisty! I sent my first-ever queries in 2020, which I think probably says a lot about the start of my publishing journey. I ended up getting selected for a mentorship program that year and receiving guidance from a wonderful mentor who’s a published author herself. I learned so much! The book that got me a mentor didn’t end up being the one that got me my agent and book deal, but the experience taught me a lot about myself, my writing process, and how to preserve my peace when I turned to drafting Lord of the Empty Isles. When it was all happening, it felt pretty dire, but now that I’m looking back, I can say I wouldn’t do it any other way. The tools I picked up on the journey have helped keep me on an even keel through the ups and downs of publishing.
What’s next for you?
I’m excited to say I have another standalone book coming with Hodderscape! Queer and character-driven, with a strange original mythology (I am still very much on my nonsense) it should be coming out in 2025!
Lastly, what books have you enjoyed so far this year and are there any that you can’t wait to get your hands on?
Oh, so many. (I’m sorry!) One of the cool things about being a debut author is that I have cultivated the absolute gall to gently poke fellow debuts and beg to read their books. Sometimes they even ask me to read them? I love it.
OUT NOW:
- Cascade Failure by L.M. Sagas has classic sci-fi vibes and a snarky cast to die for.
- Voyage of the Damned by Frances White is gay Fruits Basket on a boat with murder. A delight.
- The Principle of Moments by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson blends a Star Wars-flavored science-fantasy epic with a Regency romance.
- Road to Ruin by Hana Lee features dinosaurs, a desert world, and a lovely epistolary element.
- Shoutout to John Wiswell’s Someone You Can Build a Nest In. Reading and loving it now!
FORTHCOMING:
- The Afterlife of Mal Caldera by Nadi Reed Perez was fun and achy and beautiful! (June 11)
- Alexandra Rowland’s Running close to the Wind is irreverent and hilarious and thoughtful. (June 11)
- The Last Gifts of the Universe by Riley August is a lovely rumination on losses both personal and universal and has a super cute ship cat. (September)
- Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong is a sweet and cathartic cozy fantasy coming this November!
- (And many more.)
