The Nerd Daily recently chatted with Aden Polydoros, acclaimed author of the Assassin Fall series and the upcoming queer, Jewish historical thriller The City Beautiful which is a fantasy novel about a city, a boy, and the shadows of the past that bind them both together. We got to ask Aden all our burning questions about atmospheric writing, upcoming projects and so much more!
The City Beautiful is available for pre-order and you can join the pre-order campaign to receive a set of characters cards and a signed bookplate!
Hi, Aden! Thanks so much for joining us! Why don’t you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
There isn’t much to say about me. I live in Arizona and currently live with way too many cats and dogs. I’ve always loved writing and reading, so the fact that I am actually a published author just continues to boggle me, and I’m so grateful to have this opportunity. Although The City Beautiful isn’t my first book, it’s the one that’s the most personal to me. I wrote it during the final year of my undergrad, while I was studying abroad in Germany.
Lightning round! What was the first book you can remember reading, the latest one you couldn’t put down and one you wish you had written?
While I can’t remember my first book, I have a distinct memory of my mom reading Harry Potter to me each night when I was four or five. The last one I couldn’t put down was an ARC of A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft. As for the book I wish I’d written, it would be Twilight, for obvious reasons.
What do you do when you’re not writing?
I adore going thrifting. It helps me clear my head to search for vintage and antique treasures. I’d love to one day open an antique store, but for now, it’s just a hobby.
Now, onto The City Beautiful! What can readers expect?
Readers can go into The City Beautiful expecting a dark murder mystery set in Victorian-era Chicago’s dilapidated tenements and gritty streets. Alter’s desperate search for his best friend’s killer takes him across all of Chicago, from the extravagant Midway Plaisance of the 1893 World’s Fair to the city’s slaughterhouses and vice district. Along the way, readers will also find that the book delves into the folklore of the dybbuk—a malevolent spirit that possesses the living—which further adds to the gothic horror elements of the story.
What inspired you to write The City Beautiful?
The City Beautiful was partially inspired by an article I read about H.H. Holmes, a real serial killer active in Chicago during that time. Although Holmes does not make an appearance in this story, the article got me thinking about the World’s Fair in general and what the fair represented.
The City Beautiful is incredibly immersive and transports readers. What did the research/writing process look like for you to bring 1893’s Chicago to life?
The first scene I wrote for this story is actually what is now chapter three—set in the burial society where Alter aids in the preparation of the dead. So, my preliminary research involved the preparation of the dead in traditional Jewish burials. It was only when I continued writing that I began researching Chicago during that time. I read a significant amount of source material for the fair, including guidebooks and newspapers written during that time. I also read non-fiction published after the fact on the World’s Fair, Victorian slaughterhouses, anarchism, and more. One thing I love about historical fiction is that there are so many threads you can follow and ways you can tie real-life events into the story. For example, the morbid murder-obsessed Whitechapel Club where Alter and his friends search for the killer was a real place during that time.
If you could time travel to any place and time to do research for a book, what would you choose?
Assuming I was immortal during this journey, it would have to be imperial Russia, c1910s, as my 2022 book, BONE WEAVER, is set in a world loosely inspired by that time and place.
Speaking of the writing process, there are so many scenes that made my heart pound harder. What was your favorite scene to write and which one gave you trouble to get right?
My favorite scenes to write were those moments where the dybbuk’s memories began seeping into Alter’s world, causing dark, eerie hallucinations. I also enjoyed writing the high-tension scenes at the end of the book. The scene that was the most difficult to write was the slaughterhouse scene; it pretty much wrecked me.
The City Beautiful is brimming with Jewish history and traditions, from Jewish burial societies to Yiddish newspapers. You also focus on Alter’s immigration experience that offers such an immersive insight into the challenges Jewish people face(d). What do you want readers to take away from this story?
Pre-war Europe is sort of embodied as this idyllic, pastoral haven, but for Jews and the Romani people (as well as other ethnic and religious minorities), that wasn’t the case. While the murder mystery in this story is fictional, the description of what European Jews experienced prior to the 1900s is rooted in fact. In Romania during the 1890s, Jews were not considered naturalized citizens and would not be emancipated until 1923 (1917 for Imperial Russia). I hope this story will help people realize that the Holocaust was not the first and only antisemitic event in Europe—it was the accumulation of centuries of antisemitic actions and policies that encompassed literally all of the European continent.
With The City Beautiful releasing soon, are you already working on another project? If so, can you share a tidbit about it with us?
I’m actually in the process of revising Bone Weaver, my YA gothic fantasy novel that will be released in Fall 2022 from Inkyard Press. It’s SHADOW AND BONE meets LEVIATHAN and is set in a world loosely modelled after c1910s Imperial Russia, where the dead are resurrected as monsters. If I had to sum the plot up in one sentence, it would be: When a girl raised by the undead finds a dying boy in a ruined airship, she’s dragged into a civil war between insurgents and magic-endowed tsarists.
Last but not least, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
I’ve had the fortune of reading so many excellent books lately. My current favorites have been A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft, Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White, and The Ghosts of Rose Hill by R.M. Romero, all coming out in 2022.
You can find Aden on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, as well as at his website.
