We chat with author Kat Cho about Gods & Comics, which is a fresh contemporary, fantasy romance about a teen whose life is upended when the gods in her anonymous viral web comic inspired by a forgotten Korean myth come to life and the hero falls in love with her.
Hi, Kat! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hi! I’m a Korean-American author who’s hugely inspired by anything nerdy I gravitated to as a kid and young adult. So that would include K-Drama, Ghibli, other Animes, K-Pop, angsty teen dramas, and more recently web comics!
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
This is going to sound so nerdy, but when I was a kid. My older sister and I would write sequels to all of my favorite picture books (I’d illustrate and she’d write them since I didn’t know how to spell at the time).
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: I “read” The Baby Unicorn picture book when I was very young, which impressed my parents until they realized I had just memorized the entire book and knew when to flip the pages. But the first book I remember reading on my own was Amelia Bedelia.
- The one that made you want to become an author: I wanted to be an author when I was in middle school, so I think the books I was reading then, which happens to be a mix of The Thoroughbred series and Nora Roberts novels (I was a precocious child).
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Can I cheat? My favorite full trilogy is the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy, I’ve been recommending it to everyone I know since it came out. But another book I reread constantly is The Time Traveler’s Wife, I call it my “book hangover” cure, because whenever I have an emotional hangover from reading another book I read this one.
Your latest novel, Gods & Comics, is out April 21st! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Hijinks, Healing, Connections, Self Love
What can readers expect?
They can expect a true hybrid mix of my fantasies and romcoms. It’s not as world-build-y as my fantasies, but it still has that fantastical element with the gods coming back to life. But it also focuses on some very real teenage problems that I experienced myself growing up (like anxiety, proving yourself, insecurities, and dealing with grief). It took me a long time to figure out what the balance would be between the two, but I hope I found a good in-between space. Also, it probably wouldn’t be one of my books without some romantic angst.
Where did the inspiration for Gods & Comics come from?
It came from a few sources, but the main would probably be the K-Drama W: Two Worlds. It’s about a girl who gets sucked into her father’s super famous manhwa. She ends up changing aspects of the story and eventually making the characters themselves self-aware. I loved the aspect of characters coming to life. And the scenes where the author is confronted by his creations were the ones that sparked this idea. What if a girl wrote a story (and to add on, let’s make her post it anonymously so that no one even knows she wrote it)) and somehow those characters come to life and start confronting her. This was also mixed by my love of Korean mythology and tales of the old gods. I always love the question: where did the old gods go? So, I decided to give an answer of my own. That they disappeared because people stopped believing in them. And they come back because people start “believing” in them again, this time through the power of fandom. Which brings me to my third inspiration: fandoms. I am a part of a few very powerful fandoms (shout out to my fellow ARMY and STAYs). And fans have a very close relationship with the stories we love. So, wouldn’t the love of a fan be a powerful thing? Could it bring a god back to life? That’s my little twist on the idea of belief and faith in Gods & Comics.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I really loved writing Zoe, Grace’s best friend, and Yuhwa, the daughter of the water god. They ended up stealing my heart every time they were on the page. And I loved how they were bold and brave and kicked some serious butt. I enjoyed writing the first time Zoe meets Yuhwa; they flirt hard and Grace worries, the way a protective best friend might when their mortal bff flirts with an immortal goddess.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
It took me years to draft this book. A huge reason was that it sat somewhere between fantasy and contemporary. And it was hard to figure out how I wanted to balance the two. Grace is dealing with anxiety and grief, but she was also having a fantastical adventure and romance. So, it was important to figure out a good middle-space for the two things to co-exist without overpowering the other. I ended up just focusing on whatever aspects would help enhance Grace’s relationships with others, and whatever contributed to helping Grace realize that she didn’t have to handle everything alone.
What’s next for you?
I am so excited that I recently got to announce my next fantasy romance duology, House of Forgotten Souls (out in 2027) and its sequel! This is a fantasy set in Koreatown where a family runs a bathhouse that helps spirits wash away their regrets so they can float down the river that leads to the underworld. But something is disappearing the spirits of the city, and when a ghost who’s not really dead appears, they must figure out what could be so powerful that it can harm the spirits. It’s got shamans, past lives, ghosts, and Korean reapers. And it was super fun to write something with exciting magical worldbuilding again!
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up this year?
I’m excited to read That Which Feeds Us by Keala Kendall, Behind Five Willows by June Hur, The River She Became by Emily Varga, and Death Card by Jasmine Smith.
