We chat with author A.C. Wise about Out of the Drowning Deep, which is set in the distant future, when mortals mingle with the gods in deep space, and follows an out-of-date automaton, a recovering addict, and an angel race to solve the Pope’s murder in an abandoned corner of the galaxy.
Hi, A.C.! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hello! I’m an author and a reviewer. My latest title is the novella, Out of the Drowning Deep (Titan Books), which is officially out today. My previous works include the novels Wendy, Darling and Hooked, and the short story collection, The Ghost Sequences, among others. I tend mostly toward dark fantasy and horror in my writing, but I do love to move between genres and mash them up as well. Along with my fiction, I contribute regular review columns to Locus and Apex Magazine. I’m originally from Montreal, but I currently live in the Philadelphia area, and I’m owned by a corgi and a cat – mostly the cat, she’s in charge of everyone.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
At a pretty early age. I’ve been a voracious reader since I learned to read, and my mother claims that even before I could read, I would sit on the couch with a pile of books, slowly turning the pages, utterly absorbed. Similarly, I’ve always been drawn to the idea of writing my own stories. I still have a binder of 1-2 sentence “stories” I wrote when I was maybe six years old? Almost all the words are horribly misspelled, but they do all have their own original full-color illustrations! I think I clued into the concept that a professional author was a thing one could be when I was in third grade, and that became my one unshakable goal among all the other things I thought I wanted to be when I grew up. Good job, past me, you made it!
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: Either The Lorax by Dr. Seuss or Busy, Busy World by Richard Scarry. I have a bad memory, but I’m pretty sure it was one of those two!
- The one that made you want to become an author: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark collected by Alvin Schwartz
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Same as above – Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark collected by Alvin Schwartz. That entire series lodged itself in my head and continues to live there rent free.
Your latest novella, Out of the Drowning Deep, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Murder, chaos, queerness, biblically-accurate angels.
What can readers expect?
All of the above, and more! I tried to mash-up as many genres as I thought I could get away with in this novella, so it’s a little bit murder mystery, a little bit noir, a little bit science fantasy, a little bit horror, and maybe even a little bit romance (though a somewhat unhealthy one). A dead pope is discovered by an obsolete automaton who has guardianship over a largely forgotten and crumbling fortress, and he teams up with a down-on-his-luck private investigator and an angel to solve the murder. Pretty much every character is reckoning with trauma and things from their past they would rather forget, but it’s also a story about friendship and characters growing and changing based on the time they spend with each other.
Where did the inspiration for Out of the Drowning Deep come from?
The original spark came from a conversation I had with Scott Andrews, who is the publisher and editor of Beneath Ceaseless Skies. For those unfamiliar, Beneath Ceaseless Skies is a wonderful online magazine that primarily focuses on secondary world fantasy fiction, but every now and then, they do a special science fantasy issue. Talking about science fantasy got me thinking about genre mash-ups and the initial image of an automaton watching over a crumbling fortress on a desolate planet popped into my mind. I knew there had been a murder, and the rest of the novella grew from there.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
Honestly, I enjoyed all of it! It was so much fun trying to mash-up so many genres, and I grew really fond of all the characters. Angel in particular was very enjoyable to write. Xe is an incredibly powerful and ancient/ageless being, but there’s something almost child-like about xem as well. Xe’s enthusiastic and impulsive, but there’s also an underlying awareness in xem of how powerful xe is, and how much unintentional harm xe might cause if that power isn’t kept tightly under control.
With this being a novella, how do you approach keeping your story short and succinct? Does the story ever feel like it could spiral out of control to a full-length novel?
With this novella in particular, there was a danger of it spiraling out of control, given that there are multiple point of view characters each with their own arc. Luckily, I did have a pretty good sense going in of what each character wanted, or what they didn’t want, and where they were headed, which helped keep me focused. It also helps that Katie Dent, my editor at Titan, is fantastic and did a wonderful job identifying what wasn’t needed and could be cut, and what areas could and should be expanded – all while sticking to novella length.
What’s next for you?
I have a horror novella, Grackle, which should be out later this year, as well as a handful of short stories coming out in anthologies and in online publications over the next few months. I also have a new novel in the works, which I’m hoping to be able to share more information about soon, and there are more short stories currently in the works as well!
Lastly, what books have you enjoyed so far this year and are there any that you can’t wait to get your hands on?
There have already been so many titles I’ve enjoyed this year, but I’ll try to limit myself somewhat. The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed, The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo, Dragonfly Gambit by A.D. Sui, and Lovely Creatures by K.T. Bryski are all wonderful novellas published this year. In terms of novels published this year, I’ve really enjoyed Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay, The Book of Love by Kelly Link, and The Garden of Delights by Amal Singh. Some upcoming titles I’m excited about are Countess by Suzan Palumbo, The City in Glass by Nghi Vo, and Model Home by Rivers Solomon. That really is just to name a few!
