We chat with author Hayley Dennings about This Ravenous Fate, which is the first book in a decadent fantasy duology set in Jazz Age Harlem, where at night the dance halls come to life―and death waits in the dark.
Hi, Hayley! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hi! Thank you for this opportunity! I’m an author from the Bay Area as well as a lover of horror movies, sapphics, and murderous female characters. When I’m not writing, I enjoy baking, spending time with my dogs, and drawing. I work a day job in tech doing editorial and marketing for a bookish social media app, so my job is essentially just…books 24/7.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
Before I could even read or write, I remember being drawn to storytelling. My brothers and I would gather in my parents’ room and take turns telling stories that my mother would then write in a notebook. I have been creating stories since before I could even write them down and I still have that notebook now. A more specific memory would be when my third grade teacher pulled me out of class to tell me how wonderful my short story was. I remember always thriving when I was assigned creative writing projects in school—getting to create my own characters and worlds was my favorite thing to do, so it never felt like work, even in school.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: The Catwings series by Ursula K. Le Guin
- The one that made you want to become an author: The Warriors Cats books by Erin Hunter
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang
Your debut novel, This Ravenous Fate, is out August 6th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Black lesbians, blood, betrayal, vampires.
What can readers expect?
Readers can expect lots of blood. So much blood. But also a story of two girls learning how to deal with intergenerational trauma and strife within their communities and themselves. At its core, This Ravenous Fate is my angry letter to the United States and its treatment of young Black girls. My hope is that people read this book and find catharsis and hope between the pages. It’s about the difficult things loved ones are willing to do for each other, the sacrifices they’re willing to make, and the past history they’re willing to work through to defeat a greater evil. Readers can also expect some snippets of Black history and all the things that have carried over from the past into the present. At the end of the day, this book is my attempt at shining light on moments that have been erased and forgotten. I hope that readers can celebrate Blackness like the Harlem Renaissance encouraged people to do.
Where did the inspiration for This Ravenous Fate come from?
The idea for This Ravenous Fate came from a few places–the first inkling of an idea arose during a conversation I had with my friend. We were discussing immortal beings and what it would be like to have an immortal character that hates being immortal and is rotting away with time. I really wanted to examine humanity from a different lens—one that had been around for ages and seen all the horrible things humans can do and the way those actions carry into the future. The idea for reapers came in with that and when I asked myself what it would be like if you could actually see anti Black racism spreading through the United States. At the same time, I was in a Black Women Writers class, where we were focusing on the Harlem Renaissance, which made me think more about how certain parts of Black history have been largely ignored, or erased. I really wanted to explore the darker parts of US history while also shining light on the more uplifting parts of Black history. The Harlem Renaissance was a time of celebrating Blackness and I loved the idea of interrogating the significance of the opulence at the time and how so much corruption and blood tainted it. I specifically chose vampires because I’ve always been interested in how their immortality and bloodthirsty nature is romanticized and wanted to take them down a more brutal path. Seeing them almost like a metaphor, or manifestation of the atrocities of the US really tied into my intentions with building the plot around the past and how you can always still see parts of it in the present, no matter how long it’s been.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I put a lot of my own struggles into Elise, so I felt especially connected to her while exploring the way she navigates living with multiple mental illnesses. Representation of Black women with mental health struggles has always been so important to me, so getting to write characters that are allowed to feel their emotions, whether it’s sadness, or anger, was really special to me. That is also why I loved writing Layla’s moments of impulsive violence and anger. I’ve always been acutely aware of the angry Black woman stereotype and for so long, I was afraid to write a character that showed that side of her, but with Layla, it felt so liberating getting to go all the way with a Black woman’s rage. I also really enjoyed writing the lighter moments between Jamie and Hendricks and Layla. The book is pretty dark, so having those periods of joy and amusement were essential to creating balance.
Can you tell us a bit about the research you did with This Ravenous Fate set in Jazz Age Harlem?
As a nerd, I probably did way more research than I needed to do for this book. Every rabbit hole I stumbled upon, I went down. I read so many books and articles and research papers. I learned necessary things from the exact type of jewelry people wore to parties to the political status/foreign affairs of the US at the time, and just how involved gangsters were in politicians’ close circles. Much of my research involved medicinal practices and the timeline and movement of Black communities in the US from 1619 to beyond the Harlem Renaissance. My favorite research to do was listening to music by artists of that time period—Duke Ellington, Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong—and reading books of that time period such as Passing by Nella Larsen, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.
This is your debut published novel! What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?
It was long! I’ve been writing since I was a small child and wrote four other books before I even came up with the idea for This Ravenous Fate. For a long time, I didn’t think I could be a published author because I never really saw authors that looked like me, or books that had characters that looked like me when I was younger. It took a lot of convincing from friends to decide that This Ravenous Fate would be the book that I put out there. And I’m really glad it is because the book is full of everything I love and is exactly what younger me needed, which is who I write for and see in every young Black girl who tells me they’re excited for my book. The moment I started posting about this book online before it was even done, I realized my friends were right—many people did want a book steeped in Black history, centered on Black girls in love. Despite getting a lot of interest online through pitching contents and a mentorship revision program, there were still many rejections along the way. Some publishers found This Ravenous Fate to be “too heavy on the race stuff” and some did not understand the queerness, or straight up rejected it because they “already have a sapphic Black author.” It wasn’t always a great journey to be on, but at the end of the day, I made it to a place where the story I want to tell is loved and appreciated and seen as valuable, which is where I always dreamed of being.
What’s next for you?
Besides the sequel to This Ravenous Fate, I’m currently working on a gothic dark academia horror that follows a young Black girl who must survive a PWI’s literal cutthroat academics while dealing with the ghosts of its brutal past. I’m also hoping to get into my young adult thrillers. All the blood and darkness of This Ravenous Fate really inspired me to lean in to horor and I cannot wait to work with traditional horror tropes to explore even darker and more disturbing parts of humanity.
Lastly, what books have you enjoyed so far this year and are there any that you can’t wait to get your hands on?
Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang altered my brain chemistry. It’s been months since I read it and I still think about it often. I also really enjoyed Outdrawn by Deanna Gray—it’s the perfect sapphic rivals to lovers romance. I’m super excited for When They Burned the Butterfly by Wen-yi Lee. It was just announced and it doesn’t come out until 2025, but I need that book maybe more than I’ve ever needed any other book. And then Heir by Sabaa Tahir has been at the top of my most anticipated releases since she announced the expansion of the Ember world.
