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| photo: Christy Whitehead | |
Del Sandeen lives in northeast Florida, where she works as a copy editor and writes speculative fiction. Her work has appeared in FIYAH: Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, the Nightlight podcast, and Gay Magazine. This Cursed House (Berkley, October 8, 2024) is her debut novel, a Southern gothic horror tale that takes place in 1960s New Orleans.
Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:
Jemma has always feared her ability to see ghosts. Now, she must use her gift to save a cursed family or suffer their same fate.
On your nightstand now:
The Angel of Indian Lake by Stephen Graham Jones, which is the finale of the Indian Lake trilogy. I love the protagonist, Jade Daniels, and seeing how far this "final girl" has come since the first book in the series, My Heart Is a Chainsaw.
Favorite book when you were a child:
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. I loved all the animals in the story, but when I knew Charlotte was dying and wasn't going back to the farm with Wilbur, I was absolutely heartbroken. When I was younger, I had a habit of rereading favorite books, so this is one that I read repeatedly.
Your top five authors:
This is in no particular order and my answers next year might be different from my answers today, but they are:
Toni Morrison, Octavia Butler, Stephen King, Mike (M.R.) Carey, Zadie Smith.
Book you've faked reading:
I don't think I've ever faked reading a book, but when we were assigned Billy Budd by Herman Melville in high school, there were whole long (very long) paragraphs my eyes glazed over.
Book you're an evangelist for:
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow. One of the most imaginative and original novels I've ever read. Speculative fiction with gorgeous prose will always be a favorite combination of mine.
Book you've bought for the cover:
The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin. The cover is absolutely stunning but so is the story inside.
Book you hid from your parents:
'Salem's Lot by Stephen King. I was 11 or 12 when I read this, and a lot of the story went right over my young head, but this was the first King book I read, and I've been hooked ever since.
Book that changed your life:
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume. I read it when I was around 10 or 11 years old. This one, plus Deenie, had a big impact on me, since they featured girls going through very real struggles and issues that we weren't comfortable talking about back then. Blume and Stephen King both made me decide I wanted to be a writer when I grew up.
Favorite line from a book:
"Her lips were alive with small movement" from Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. People might debate about the greatest line Morrison ever wrote, but to me, this was a short, simple sentence that made me realize how much she could do with language.
Five books you'll never part with:
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz. The language, the many footnotes, the characters, especially Oscar--all of this together makes this one of the most memorable books I've ever read. And the ending is probably one of the most beautiful.
The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey. When I first read the description, I didn't think there was any way a novel about a zombie apocalypse could be heartwarming and touching, but it was. Melanie is one of my favorite characters of all time.
On Beauty by Zadie Smith. The two families at the heart of this story are so incredibly real, with all of their flaws and quirks. And the dialogue couldn't be more perfect.
Kindred by Octavia Butler. This was the first novel I read by Butler, so it was my introduction to her, which is why it's my favorite of hers.
Beloved by Toni Morrison. This and Song of Solomon are my two favorites from Morrison. Both deal with trauma and families, but Beloved explores the supernatural in a way that's equally terrifying and tragic.
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
Dracula by Bram Stoker. I'd look at this novel with new appreciation since I last read it over a decade ago. There's a reason it's a classic.