We chat with author Tanya Pell about Her Wicked Roots, which is a queer retelling of Nathaniel Hawthorne classic gothic story, Rappaccini’s Daughter, where a young woman is lured to a lush estate owned by a botanist who might be hiding dark secrets.
Hi, Tanya! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Sure! I am a narcoleptic horror author living in the limbo region of the Carolinas where the city of Charlotte bleeds over the South Carolina boarder. I spend my days as a full-time writer, full-time mom, and full-time emotional support human to two trauma rescues, so, obviously, I’m multitasking. I’m the author of the Gothic novel Her Wicked Roots, the horror novella Cicada, and a bunch of short stories found in anthologies like Mother Knows Best, Obsolescence, and the upcoming Fever Dreams.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
Books and stories came first. We were a book family, but also regularly changing location. My family moved constantly as I was growing up. Always a new town or new state. But books were a constant and even if everything else stayed in boxes, the books were taken out and put onto particle board shelves and stacked on every available surface. Books were the friends we could take to the next place. We’d spend our weekends at library sales or browsing used bookstores. So the stories were around long before the writing bug bit.
I think my love for writing really started in high school. I had recently read The Scarlet Pimpernel and my history class was starting a unit on the French Revolution. We all had to create a character and journal from that character’s experience, and I got very into it. It was around that time that I discovered fan fiction was a thing and so I wrote copious amounts of fan fiction in Mead notebooks, rewriting whole books when I wanted a different ending. My senior year, I had this incredible AP English teacher—Mrs. Aten—who was everybody’s favorite and had built her own library in her classroom. My schedule was a mess because of music classes, and she came in early at 7 a.m., so I could get AP English credit, and we studied the craft of writing as much as the stories. She probably knew I would end up as an author and English teacher before I did. When she retired, she sent me 100 lbs of books from her classroom library, and she still encourages my writing. I think seeing how others loved writing, focusing on theory and such, made me love it more.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: The first book I ever remember reading all on my own was Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn, the Queen of the Scholastic Book Fair. It remains one of my absolute favorite books of all time and is definitely one of the reasons I love horror.
- The one that made you want to become an author: I’m not sure. If I had to guess, it would be Phantom by Susan Kay. Every school had the Phantom girlie and that was me. So here was this tome of fan fiction, a complete reimagining of Leroux’s novel with a backstory and multiple POVs, and I was obsessed. It all began with fan fiction like so many other authors.
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Today? I’m usually reading three or four books at a time, so the mood changes day to day. But one I always return to again and again is The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. Beautiful book.
Your new novel, Her Wicked Roots, is out October 7th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Gothic Eden. Secrets. Queer yearning.
What can readers expect?
Readers familiar with the Gothic will know a great deal of what to expect. Isolation, atmosphere, gaslighting, the uncanny, societal horrors, and a rather dismal opinion of the patriarchy. Readers can also expect subversions of some of the more traditional Gothic since we have a manor that only permits women on the grounds, a sort of twisted, corrupt Eden, and the primary romance arc is queer.
Where did the inspiration for Her Wicked Roots come from?
I used to use Rappaccini’s Daughter by Hawthorne as part of my Gothicism unit when I taught high school. I was scrolling one day and saw a post suggesting there should be a Gothic fairy tale version of the story. I was half-listening to Evanescence at the time and the idea was just there. While I didn’t go heavy handed on the fairy tale aspect, I did love the idea of a Rappaccini’s Daughter inspired story. The girls came to mind immediately, and I knew it would be a sister story, would have a mother instead of a father, and a queer main character. Edenfield—the manor—followed close behind. I think I had an outline in two or three days. It is like Edenfield was always there.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
Lady Evangeline was such a fun character to write. I had a very clear idea of who she was from the beginning; sort of this twisted, toxic combination of Miss Havisham, and Poison Ivy. She was unapologetic, cold, and full of hubris and always so very proper. I am a mother and always wanted children, but Lady E, while proud of her offspring, has little interest in a maternal role and even less interest in love as we would understand it. When I first had the idea, reimagining “Rappaccini” as a mother rather than a father helped shape the story.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
The usual challenges came when writing. Time, mostly. Finding any to spare when you have Hobbits. I was also writing/editing/selling my novella Cicada at the same time. I like to bounce between projects. But I find I’m someone that really likes a deadline, even an arbitrary one. They keep me motivated.
The real challenge came when my 1st agent left the industry. Her Wicked Roots was finished, edited, and just on submission. My agent left for personal reasons (she’s wonderful) and so book was pulled, and I was sort of left without knowing what to do next. I was also leaving for a horror conference as an invited guest and so it all sort of felt like a lot at once. Nobody’s fault. Just one of those things. At the time, though, it felt like such a big deal to be thrown back into the trenches by surprise. Luckily, it was very short lived! I had a call scheduled with my current agent within four days, and it just seemed to snowball in the best way from there.
What’s next for you?
I recently turned in my second book to my editor, but we haven’t announced the title yet. I’ll just say it is very pink, very meta, and very bloody. I also have a short story releasing with NYT bestselling author Christopher Golden called “It Has Eyes Now” on Oct. 14 in Fever Dreams, an anthology of horror. I have a few other secrets in the chamber, but nobody likes spoilers.
Lastly, what books have you enjoyed reading this year? Are there any you’re looking forward to picking up?
So many! Some of my favorites have been Lora Senf’s Pennies, Rachel Harrison’s Play Nice, Meg Josephson’s Are You Mad at Me?, Caitlin Rozakis’s Dreadful, Ally Malinenko’s Broken Dolls, and Annie Neugebauer’s The Extra. I’m currently devouring an early copy of Christa Carmen’s How to Fake a Haunting, and I’m looking so forward to Tiffany Jackson’s The Scammer and Caitlin Starling’s The Graceview Patient.
