I had an interview come out this week from the LA Public Library blog! I talk about historical & literary inspirations, my favourite Frankenstein adaptation, my dream cast for a hypothetical Our Hideous Progeny movie, and much more. Mad props to librarian Daryl M. for not only coming up with some fascinating questions (and for giving OHP such a wonderfully kind review!), but also lovingly hyperlinking every author and historical figure I mentioned in the interview! There must be some kind of librarian award for that, LOL.
Shepherd is a book recommendation website that relies on lists compiled by authors, allowing you to find reliable recs on specific topics ranging from “The best unexpected love stories in historical romance” to “The best books to introduce you to Black London.” (I really like their “Browse by Wikipedia topic” search function – super handy for finding research recs!)
For my list, I shared five of my favourite historical books featuring women scientists (both real and fictional)! These include fantastic books by Carrie Brown, Marie Benedict, Catherine Chung, Tracy Chevalier, and Margot Lee Shetterly. You can read the whole post here.
I’ve been meaning to post this for a long time, but it kept slipping my mind – my official(?) writing playlist for OHP! I talked about a few of my favourites on this playlist already for an article on Largehearted Boy, but the full 7-hour playlist is now up on Spotify for all to hear.
As this is the music I actually wrote the book to (and I can’t think with lyrics!), it’s mostly instrumentals and movie soundtracks – but hopefully that also makes it the perfect atmospheric reading playlist. 🙂 Let me know which songs are your favourites (and if you can tell which ones accompanied my writing of particular scenes…!)
I had an interview out this week in the Fantasy Book Critic blog! I talked about Frankenstein, the writing/character-creation process, and lots more; you can read the full interview on Fantasy Book Critic’s website here!
I had a new article out this week in Writers Digest on writing historical fiction!
Would you like to write historical fiction? Are you feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of research, or unsure how to get into the mindset of a character from a different era? Maybe one of these tips will help. You can read the full article here!
I had such fun putting together this list for the blog Largehearted Boy’s awesome “Book Notes” series, where authors highlight songs that influenced the writing of their book! I got to talk about some of the songs I listened to on loop while writing OHP, and also share my full writing playlist. (Spoilers: there are a lot of film soundtracks, lol.)
I recently had a Q&A come out in Writers Digest! ✏️ I talked about the writing process, the publishing process, & bringing OHP from its initial stages as my final year project in university to a finished novel. You can read the full interview here!
I had another article come out recently, this one from Literary Hub!
Do you like pictures of dinosaurs? What about real old pictures of dinosaurs? Want to hear how said pictures inspired my Frankenstein spin-off novel, Our Hideous Progeny? Read the full article here!
I have a new essay out from Crimereads today! I had tremendous fun writing this one, exploring some of the queer history of Frankenstein/horror in general, and how that informed my writing of Mary in Our Hideous Progeny.
For readers of Circe or Ariadne, a brilliant literary revisiting of Mary Shelley’s classic Frankenstein with a fresh, queer, provocative twist.
Years ago, Mary’s great uncle—dropout medical student Victor Frankenstein—disappeared in the Arctic. Now, in 1853, she and her husband Henry live in London, struggling to make a name for themselves as paleontologists.
Unfortunately, in a world where scientific success requires wealth and connections, they don’t stand a chance: Mary, the illegitimate daughter of a housemaid, with a sharp mind and a sharper tongue; and Henry, a recently-fired geologist better known for his gambling problems than his radical theories. But when Mary discovers some old family papers that reveal the truth of her great-uncle’s past, she comes up with a plan—one that will pay their debts, prove Henry’s theories right, and finally get her some of the respect she goddamn deserves.
They’re going to make a monster, and not just any monster—they’re going to create a plesiosaur.
It’s weird, it’s queer, and it’s here in bookshops near you! OUR HIDEOUS PROGENY is my debut novel, a spiritual sequel to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and a love letter to women in science and the fascinating history of Victorian paleoart.
Are you a fan of Victorian mad science? Gothic gays? Women who are angry, and ambitious, and covered in blood? Then OHP may be for you!
