We chat with author Alexandra Christo about The Night Hunt, a dark fantasy romance about a monstrous girl who feeds on fear and the Gods-cursed boy who falls in love with her.
Hi, Alexandra! Welcome back! How have the past few years been since we last spoke?
Hello again! Time flies far too fast for my liking, but it has been a wonderful few years with lots of travel! I feel so lucky to have been able to tour in some amazing countries to meet such passionate readers (and try a lot of really great food!). Next up: many more books. And my wedding next year!
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
Maybe it’s a cliché answer, but I’ve always wanted to be a writer. Words and storytelling fascinate me and have done ever since I was a kid. I’d always be scribbling ideas and poems down in various notebooks or on my first ever computer (which then got accidentally erased by someone trying to fix said computer, leading my younger self to write the vengeful story: The Evil Computer Engineer). But really I think what helped me sink my teeth into writing was my university Creative Writing degree. My professors were so good at nurturing everyone’s unique voices and really helping us think about why we wanted to tell the stories we did. It made me fall in love with writing all over again.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
Peter Pan. The idea of being whisked away to a whole new world hidden behind the stars, filled with fairies and pirates (which are often in my own books!) opened my eyes up to how anything was possible with a little bit of imagination. That’s one of the key themes in Peter Pan: believing makes it so. And that’s something I still think about every time I sit down to write a new book. I want to give my readers that same feeling of wonder and possibility.
Your latest novel, The Night Hunt, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Girl hunts monsters alongside Death
What can readers expect?
A dark romantasy about a girl who feeds on fear teaming up with a boy who ferries souls, so they can take on monsters from both Greek mythology and the horror stories we all read as kids. It’s also very much a story about taking control of your destiny, fighting for who you want to be, and learning that it is not who you were that defines you, but who you are in this moment. So among the pages of museums of deadly monsters, of romance and murder, there’s a story of finding yourself in the chaos.
Where did the inspiration for The Night Hunt come from?
Whenever I sit down to write a story, I begin with the character in mind first. The idea for The Night Hunt came from thinking: what would it be like to feed off fear — to have that be your life force and something you revelled in — while constantly living in fear yourself? To be the monster people were afraid of, but to have your own monster that you were scared of? From that, Atia was born. A girl who delights in nightmares, while being traumatised by her own. I often like to weave Greek Mythology into my books and this was the perfect opportunity to combine creatures of myth (like the Furies) with monsters like vampires and werewolves, to create a world where you could never be sure who was good or evil, and where the word monster was constantly redefined.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I really enjoyed writing the Herald Silas, which is my combination of Hermes and Death. A lot of people know Hermes as a messenger, but he was also a protector of humans and a psychopomp (aka a guide for souls to the afterlife) who could travel between the realms.
It was really interesting to take the myths of Hermes and mould them with the idea of Death personified. How a being like that would come to exist like that in the first place. And how he might go about trying to change his destiny for good.
This is your fifth published novel! What are some of the key lessons you have learned when it comes to writing and the publishing world?
Take the small victories! Publishing is so up and down, even after achieving one goal it’s so easy to feel like an imposter and like there are a million other things you should be doing or should have already achieved. I’ve learned it’s important to celebrate every success! And to know you can’t please everyone (just try looking at one star reviews for your favourite ever book. Brutal!). For writing itself: I’ve learned that organising my messy mind is the best way to get a first draft done. And for me that means getting some great writing software, so I can put every thought I’ve ever had into tidy little files. It helps me be much more creative and focused when drafting.
What’s next for you?
I have a new fantasy book I’m working on – can’t say too much about it, except that it’s very different from all of my previous books and features a ghostly town hidden from the world!
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
Always! Yellowface by Rebecca F. Kuang (essential for anyone curious about the mechanics of publishing, cancel culture and racism). I also recently really enjoyed Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross, which is a wonderful academic rivals to lovers romance set across a backdrop of warring Gods.
