Check out the interview with author Alma Katsu, who wrote "Fiend."
What was your inspiration behind your most recent book?
The TV show "Succession," obviously, but not only that. We’re fascinated with the wealthy, to the point where maybe we’re not looking at them with a critical eye, and that frightens me. Even when we know that they’re doing wrong — take the Sackler family and the opioid scandal — too often they still manage to avoid accountability. It made me wonder what it would take to make the public really see — some people have a hard time accepting that a rich person would do something so destructive and flat-out wrong. Would it be more believable if there was a tangible, Old Testament-style evil responsible?
What does Reading Rainbow mean to you?
It means stories that include a diversity of characters representing every part of society. It means having characters in stories who are realistically portrayed, not depicted as stereotypes or cliches.
It means promoting understanding of our neighbors and of our world.
Why do you feel representation of a variety of people is so important when it comes to writing books?
As an author, I feel you need to portray the world of your characters as accurately as possible. Take "The Fervor," my last horror novel. It was about the Japanese internment during WWII and it was the first time I’d written an Asian main character, which is part of my own ethnicity. It was really interesting to see the reactions to the protagonist, as well as the other Japanese characters in the book. It made me see the assumptions readers make — that we all make — when confronted by honest representations of a part of society that we’re not familiar with. You can’t be afraid to challenge assumptions.
Tell us a little more about the book and why you decided to write it.
It’s also a story about the ways families shape us but also scar us. No one is born evil. Children don’t inherently believe they have the right to condemn others to misery in order for them to have more money than they know what to do with. They’re taught to tell themselves lies in order to justify their greed, such as the Sacklers blaming drug addicts for abusing their pharmaceuticals, when they knew that the prescriptions themselves would turn users into junkies.
It's also a story of a thousand-year-old patriarchy being forced to yield, finally, to a matriarchy. Predictably, it’s not an easy transition.
What can fans expect from your book?
"Fiend" is different from my previous horror novels in that it’s contemporary, not historical like the others. It’s also more of a thriller, fast-paced and tightly focused. And it’s filled with despicable people who get their comeuppance, something that rarely happens in the real world.
What's up next for you in the bookish world?
I’m currently working on another horror novel. In the meantime, readers can find my stories in a few anthologies, including "The End of the World As We Know It," a collection of stories based on Stephen King’s "The Stand," which includes a foreword by the King himself.
