Hi, Cethan! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

Hello, I’m Cethan Leahy. I’m a writer and occasional filmmaker from Cork City, Ireland. I write YA, most likely of the supernatural kind.

When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?

I’ve enjoyed writing since school (I wrote many a emo short story – one I even put into my first book Tuesdays are Just as Bad) but it wasn’t till my twenties when I really gave writing in earnest a shot. I always enjoyed reading reviews and pulling apart how stories work, so my work is always at least interested in how we tell stories as well the story itself.

Quick lightning round! Tell us:

• The first book you ever remember reading: The first book I remember reading by myself at least was Badjelly the Witch and Dip the Puppy by Spike Milligan. It was two stories in one – a mean witch who turned policemen into sausage trees and a piano playing dog looking for his siblings. It was surreal comedy for kids but the thing I remembered most from it was that it was completely handwritten – which I then thought every book would be like that! (It’s good that isn’t the case because my own writing is indecipherable).
• The one that made you want to become an author: Even though his books were perhaps the worst advertisement for the lifestyle, I always remember reading Stephen King at a young age and being stuck by how much detail he put in about writing and storytelling – Misery in particular is filled with good writing advice – he made it sound all oddly appealing, haunted hotels and crazed fans aside.
• The one that you can’t stop thinking about: I love folklore and mythology so will read any collection of it (in fact Dead Teenager Movie includes a few references to the Morrigan, an important figure from Irish myth) and Why the Moon Travels by Oein DeBhairduin is one I’ve gone back to a lot in recent years. A collection of stories from the Irish Traveller oral tradition, it’s a fun and fascinating collection with lots of spooky tales that would make some great movies or novels to themselves.

Your latest novel, Dead Teenager Movie, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Horror Nerd Trapped in Horror

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

There are a lot of twists and turns in the plot so I don’t want to give anything away but early in the novel, I have a chapter in the format of a True Crime podcast. It’s one of those cheesier ones so it was great fun to switch to the lurid tone of narration.

Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?

The biggest challenge was logistics – keeping track of which character was where and who had which weapons. Since the book takes place over one night in a small location with quite a few characters, if I changed one thing, that would have a ripple effect throughout the text where I had to check if it affected anything else. I kept diagrams and at one point I made a little map. They aren’t just for fantasy novels any more!   

What’s next for you?

Much like Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees, I’m saying nothing but I will return.

Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up? Any you’ve read so far this year that you’ve enjoyed?

I’m doing a PhD at the moment so a lot of my reading this year has been esoteric mathematical theories from the 19th century but I recently enjoyed Fair Play by Louise Hegarty and Strange Buildings by Uketsu. Up next I have Local Gods by Melinda Salisbury and Between Ghosts and Gods on my list!

Will you be picking up Dead Teenager Movie? Tell us in the comments below!

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