We chat with author Samantha Mills about The Wings Upon Her Back, which is an action-packed, devastating exploration of the brutal costs of zealous loyalty and follows a disgraced soldier fights to make sense of her world and the gods who abandoned it.
Hi, Samantha! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I am an archivist and scifi/fantasy author in Southern California! For part of the week I manage archival collections for a small local historical society. The rest of my time is spent writing around my kids’ school schedule. I have a hobby of collecting hobbies – bookbinding, jewelry-making, cosplay, crochet – but the only one that has stuck permanently is writing.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
This is a true story: when I was seven years old I had a backyard water fight with my siblings, and in a fit of pique my older sister threw a rock at me. One minor head injury later, I wrote my very first autobiographical short, titled “What Hapend March Ninth!!” I immediately became obsessed with my newfound power and kept writing like mad.
At age 10, my reading habit exploded out of the children’s section and into my mother’s book collection, and my mind was blown with all of the possibilities for creative writing. My fifth grade teacher, correctly assessing the future of the nerd with the 500-page historical epic in her backpack, told me, you can write books for a living, you know. And that was that.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: Lyle, Lyle Crocodile by Bernard Waber
- The one that made you want to become an author: The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel (or the head injury, take your pick)
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
Your debut novel, The Wings Upon Her Back, is out April 23rd! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Science fantasy meets abandonment issues
What can readers expect?
The story follows a woman named Zemolai, in a city whose gods have turned their backs on humanity in favor of perpetual sleep. As a teenager, she gave up everything to serve a charismatic new leader in the warrior sect. Twenty-six years later, that leader holds great power over the city, and Zemolai has grown disillusioned by her role as an enforcer in an increasingly fascist state. The book opens when she is cast out of her sect, and then moves back and forth to the war that brought them into power, gradually revealing the nature of her city, her leader, and the gods themselves. It is a deeply personal character study with thoughtful ruminations on faith, family, and fascism, nestled inside an action novel.
Where did the inspiration for The Wings Upon Her Back come from?
I wanted to write about a specific type of trauma: falling deeply in thrall to one’s idols, only to be abandoned by them. Zemolai’s leader is a parental figure to her, and also the voice of her god and the head of state. I wanted to explore what it took to break away from such an all-consuming relationship. I was also interested in the parallels between abusive relationships and strongman politics. A broader story is told parallel to Zemolai’s, about the city itself, abandoned by its gods and full of in-fighting as its people struggle to win the gods’ love again.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
The ending. The story is told in two timelines, the past and present running together in parallel until they each hit a climax and braid together. Muah!
This is your debut published novel! What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?
I spent more than twenty years writing just for myself before I seriously pursued publication. For many of those years I kept an eye on the industry, reading agent blogs and anything else I could find to prepare myself. In 2017 I felt ready to go for it! I began submitting short stories to magazines while editing the book I wanted to query agents with. In 2018 I had my first pro market short stories published and my agent hunt began. In fall of 2019 I signed with my agent and in 2020 we went out with that book, but publishing was in chaos that year and it didn’t go anywhere. Due to continuing pandemic and personal life stress, I didn’t have another book ready for submission till late summer of 2022—the book that would eventually be titled The Wings Upon Her Back. It was picked up by Tachyon Publications, and after a year and half in the editing/printing/marketing pipeline, it’s finally here!
What’s next for you?
I am plugging away at a new fantasy novel (currently nicknamed The Dread Sea Monster WIP) as well as planning a new batch of short stories.
Lastly, are there any book releases that you’re looking forward to picking up this year?
So many! In Universes by Emet North. Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera. Foul Days by Genoveva Dimova. Road to Ruin by Hana Lee. The Gods Below by Andrea Stewart. The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo. We’ve already had a bunch of exciting new releases in the first months of 2024 (The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett, Exordia by Seth Dickinson, Someone You Can Build A Nest In by John Wiswell) so it’s shaping up to be a great year.
