We chat with author James L. Sutter about The Ghost of Us, which is a heartfelt queer romance with a paranormal twist, think One Last Stop meets Cemetery Boys!
Hi, James! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hi! My name’s James L. Sutter, and I’m probably best known as a co-creator of the Pathfinder and Starfinder tabletop roleplaying games. I’m also the author of the new queer young adult romance novel The Ghost of Us, about a fake-dating scheme involving a teenage ghost hunter, and Darkhearts, all about falling in love with the boy who stole your shot at rock stardom. In addition, I’ve written the fantasy novels Death’s Heretic and The Redemption Engine, video games, comic books, material for other tabletop games like Dungeons & Dragons, and short stories in places like Nightmare, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, and the #1 Amazon bestseller Machine of Death.
Outside of writing, I’ve gigged with bands ranging from metalcore to musical theater, and am big into hiking, biking, and creating intentional community with my friends here in Seattle.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
From the moment I learned about books, I wanted to make my own—I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to write. My parents had an old typewriter, and I would spend a ton of time typing up the beginnings of “novels.” But as much as I always loved writing, I think it was in sixth grade—when I wrote a story about my dog that made my teacher cry—that I first remember thinking, “Oh hey, maybe I’m actually good at this…”
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: My first grade class had a short book for each letter of the alphabet, and the first memory I have of reading on my own one of those—I think it was called Oswald the Octopus (no relation to the show). That said, my family read to me constantly growing up, so I have a million memories of trying to follow along with things like Corduroy or The Butter Battle Book.
- The one that made you want to become an author: All of them! That said, I think the Three Investigators mysteries might have been the series that most pushed me toward the typewriter as a child.
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: My head is so full of books, but one I’ve been thinking about since childhood is Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede—its cozy fairy-tale vibe just sank into my bones and gave me so many sense memories. I can still close my eyes and smell the dragons, the forest, the soapy water and lemon juice that melts wizards…
Your latest novel, The Ghost of Us, is out June 11th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Snarky supernatural sapphic YA rom-com!
What can readers expect?
One of my favorite fantasy authors, Robert Jackson Bennett, described it like this: “Sweet, acerbic, heartfelt, and witty, The Ghost of Us is like a long, languid hangout with the best people you know on a warm summer afternoon—with a ghost along with the ride.” That’s pretty much everything I could hope for!
The Ghost of Us follows eighteen-year-old ghost hunter Cara, who’s determined to escape life as a high school outcast by finding proof of the supernatural. Yet when she stumbles upon the spirit of Aiden, a popular upperclassman who died the previous year, she learns that ghosts have goals of their own. In the wake of his death, Aiden’s little sister, Meredith, has become a depressed recluse, and Aiden can’t pass on into the afterlife until he knows she’ll be okay. Aiden makes Cara a deal: seduce Meredith out of her shell and take her to prom, and Aiden will give Cara all the evidence she needs for fame. If not, well—no dates, no ghost.
With Aiden’s coaching, Cara slowly manages to win Meredith over—but finds herself accidentally falling for her in the process. Worse yet: as Meredith gets happier and Aiden’s unfinished business on Earth nears completion, his ghost begins to fade. Can Cara continue to date Meredith under false pretenses, especially if it means Aiden will vanish forever? Or should she tell Meredith the truth, and risk both of them hating her? And either way, will she lose her only shot at proving ghosts are real?
(Think of Cemetery Boys and One Last Stop, but with a big splash of Ten Things I Hate About You.)
Where did the inspiration for The Ghost of Us come from?
I knew I wanted to write another YA romance, and I had some tropes I was interested in—fake dating, ghost hunting—but I didn’t really know how to put it all together. Then one day I sat down and wrote a snarky monologue from the perspective of a teenage ghost, about how much it sucks being dead, and something just sparked. Even so, though, I still had a problem, because the story I ultimately wanted to tell wasn’t about being dead—it was about taking charge of your life and refusing to be defined by the bad things in your past. My ghost character, Aiden, is the one who kicks everything into motion, but the real story was between Cara and Meredith. Once I focused on their romance and let Aiden and his experience take a backseat, everything snapped into place.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I love all the characters, but it was particularly interesting to write Holly, Cara’s best friend. In addition to her being just a ray of sunshine to Cara’s Grumpy Cat jadedness, it was also the first time I’ve written a devoutly Catholic character. So often, when we see Christians in queer stories, they’re the villains—and certainly there have been more than enough examples of real-life bigotry and suffering to justify those portrayals. But while for much of my life I side-eyed organized religion, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve also met a lot of religious folks who refuse to use their faith as a weapon, and instead see it as a reason to embrace everyone. Those folks give me a lot of hope for society, so I wanted to reflect them in a character like Holly, who uses the Bible to advocate on behalf of queer people.
Also, I have to give a shout-out to Cara’s parents. They’re such good-natured goofballs, and I love writing really supportive families where teens and adults can banter with each other.
What are some of the key lessons you’ve learned as a writer since your debut?
Writing an entire novel is super intimidating—so don’t think about it. Focus on the next chapter, the next scene, the next paragraph. Take tiny bites. Maybe you don’t know how to write a book, but you can write a sentence. Keep doing that, and you’ll have a book before you know it.
Another key lesson I learned from my years as an editor is that most novels, no matter how brilliant in their final form, start out as a pile of garbage. And anyone can write a pile of garbage! So just get the book out of your head and down onto the page, and then you can work on sculpting something beautiful out of that raw trash. A book can’t be good or bad unless it’s first finished.
Finally: Write what you want to write. Publishing is such a slot machine that there are no “safe” bets, so you might as well write what speaks to you. Switching from adult science fiction and fantasy to young adult contemporary romance with Darkhearts was, strategically, a terrible move—yet it totally paid off and took my career in a whole new direction. Don’t be afraid to follow your heart.
…oh yeah, and one more: Whether you write one book or one hundred, you’re still gonna die someday, so look askance at any writer who tells you you need to grind and be miserable in order to succeed. Writing is hard work, and you do have to commit to putting your butt in the chair and hands on the keyboard. But don’t overweight the value of sacrifice. After finishing my second novel, The Redemption Engine, I resolved to put less pressure on myself and stop skipping out on so many opportunities for fun with the people I love. And you know what? I still wrote almost as quickly, I just enjoyed my life waaaay more. The goal is not to publish books—it’s to have a good life. Publishing can be a part of that, but it’s only a part. (And if you’re unhappy before you’re published, you’re gonna be unhappy afterward.) So cut yourself some slack.
What’s next for you?
I’m currently working on another queer YA romance, this one between a nurse and a wounded soldier in a field hospital—with the twist that this hospital is for the doomed human resistance fighters after AI destroys civilization. If you’re interested in my new releases, writing advice, or just checking out my latest shenanigans, you can follow me on Instagram (@james_l_sutter), Twitter (@jameslsutter), or on my website at jameslsutter.com. I can promise a mix of useful content and, say, video of me singing Cee Lo Green’s “F*** You” while wearing a bee costume.
Lastly, what books have you enjoyed so far this year and are there any that you can’t wait to get your hands on?
Oh man! To pick just a few I’ve loved recently: Jay Kristoff’s Empire of the Damned (gritty vampire fantasy), Courtney Gould’s The Dead and the Dark (supernatural sapphic YA thriller), Leech by Hiron Ennes (the weirdest gothic queer horror I’ve read in ages), The Alchemy of Moonlight by David Ferraro (classically gothic gay YA romance), Bitch by Lucy Cooke (nonfiction about how patriarchy has skewed our view of biology), and Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms by Gerard Russell (nonfiction about lesser-known religions of the Middle East).
Books I’m eager for: I loved The Expanse, so I can’t wait to check out James S.A. Corey’s The Mercy of Gods! And of course Rainbow Rowell’s Slow Dance is on my list as well.
