Interview with Author Liselle Sambury

Welcome Back, Booklovers! I recently read A Mastery of Monsters by Liselle Sambury. Liselle has been serving up her own brand of Black Canadian fantasy and horror since 2021's Blood Like Magic. She's also been taking readers along for the journey through her Authortube channel. I asked Liselle about the inspiration for her new book, how she balances writing with content creation, and her new non bookish hobbies.

How would you describe your brand of writing?

I tend to describe my writing brand specifically in the YA age category as darker themes with edges of hope. Meaning that I will tackle topics that may be difficult such as generational trauma, abuse, etc. but like to leave readers with a feeling of hopefulness after the story is over. I also find that while I may have unsettling scenes, I balance those with ones that are heartfelt or funny. I enjoy straddling that line in my fiction.

Why is it important to you to set your books in Canada?

Being born and raised in Canada, it’s important to me to be able to share those experiences with readers unfamiliar with Canada but also to create those experiences for Canadian readers. I think there’s a unique excitement in reading a book where you can see your own environment reflected. A sort of pride, almost. To me, it’s another layer of representation like the race or orientation of a character, and because it’s representation of my experience, it’s important to me to include it in my novels.

What inspired A Mastery of Monsters?

One day, I was watching music videos from the group EXO, and they have a song called “Monster.” There was a scene in which all the members are sitting down at this long dining table, and I suddenly had this image of people at a table, and the idea that some of them were monsters. I imagined that the others at the table had control of these monsters and were keeping them chained, but there was also a girl at the scene, and she refused to participate. I fell in love with that idea and wanted to create that story.

I had already had a desire to write a dark academia novel, and so it felt like the right way to bring that concept to life. To create a secret society within a university that housed this organization that oversaw the control of monsters.

Why did you decide to set it at the real world university of Queen’s University vs a fictional university?

I always prefer writing stories that have a basis in the real world. For one, it helps me with visualization and gives me a foundation for the creation of a world which I prefer over creating something entirely fictional. I also appreciate the sense of magic that it brings to reality to set a fantasy in a real place. I’ve always enjoyed that feeling of walking around a city from a novel and seeing the magical places in a book reflected. As an additional bonus, it creates the challenge of weaving together real history with fictional backstory, which I think is a fun way to share local culture.

What was your process when mapping out the world in A Mastery of Monsters? How do you keep the characters and their attributes straight?

The process of coming up with the world for mastery was very extensive and by far the most complicated worldbuilding that I’ve ever had to do for a novel. I started by essentially writing out everything that I needed to know about the world. I wrote out a history of how the society was created as if I was writing a textbook, along with the rules regarding how monsters and partnerships work, and the names of the leaders throughout the years. I created both historical and modern timelines. I essentially wrote down as much as possible about how everything in the book worked, and that’s a resource that I update on a continuous basis. I also made a character database which has the names of all the characters, photo references, relationships to other characters, weapons they use, monster forms, etc.

Therefore, my process has really been to make note of as much as possible even if it’s only going to make it into the book as a single line. These resources are collectively over 10,000 words long and growing. I might actually be able to put together a textbook by the end!

Is there a scene that was in an early draft that you love but had to cut?

There isn’t! I’m the sort of author where if I cut something out of the book, it’s for a good reason. In the moment, I may feel sad about pulling it from the novel, but I quickly forget that it even existed. I honestly can’t think of a single scene that I took out that I wished had stayed in.

What made you decide to start an Authortube channel and how do you balance making content for your Youtube channel along with actively writing?

When I was still in the process of trying to find a literary agent, I watched a lot of authortube content both as inspiration and a source of information for understanding the traditional publishing industry. And so, when I signed with my agent, I started up a channel partially because I wanted to be able to document my own journey like the authortubers that I admired, but also because I wanted to be able to help people like me. I also felt it was important as a Black author to contribute my experience for other Black authors as there aren’t as many traditionally published BIPOC authors on YouTube. Thankfully, now there are many more which is exciting! I recommend checking out @esmietheauthor if you’re on the hunt for more Black authortubers in the trad pub space to follow.

In terms of balancing YouTube with writing, I feel like I don’t always succeed in doing this and am currently even taking my first unplanned break from creating content right now. I always remind myself that my priority is the writing and YouTube is a hobby. Which is why if I feel like my energy is strained, I will cut back on YouTube to devote that energy to my writing and come back to content creation when I’m more rested. I feel like this works best too because the quality of content is higher when I have energy to devote to it, and at least I always know that when I come back, I’ll have lots of writing updates to share. At the end of the day, YouTube is something that I do for fun, and so if it’s not fun, then I know to take a break.

What’s a career highlight you achieved but didn’t imagine?

I feel like there’s so many! But I think the biggest one was having my debut novel Blood Like Magic nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Awards. I never had that sort of accolade on my radar and so it was wonderful to have my debut honored in such a prestigious award. Especially because they only pick one YA novel to nominate among the hundreds of options available in that year. It made me feel really fortunate to have been chosen, and it gave me a lot more confidence as an author to see my work acknowledged.

Do you have any hobbies outside of writing and reading?

I’m a certified hobby collector and so I have quite a few that I rotate through on a regular basis. Currently, my most prominent hobby is creating custom press on nails for both fingers and toes, often themed to something. Right now, I’m working on an under-the-sea themed set. I’ve also recently been working on learning Japanese and Korean. I’ve spent a lot of time on and off with learning Japanese, and lately I’ve been wanting to make a more concentrated effort with it. I’ve also added on Korean since I’ve been consuming a lot of Korean content lately and so it seemed like it would be fun to add that to my learning. I’ve also been doing online dance classes. I’m honestly terrible at dancing, but I really want to get better. That’s my current hobby roster.

Where can readers follow you?

They can find me on Instagram and YouTube @lisellesambury! I’m taking a small YouTube break, but I have over 300 videos on there, so there’s a ton of backlog content.

The Romantic Agenda by Claire Kann

Welcome Back, Booklovers! The Romantic Agenda is a romance I received awhile back from Berkley. It's an romance with an ace main character which itself is pretty rare for traditional publishing and it got a lot of attention when it first released. 

Joy is in love with her best friend Malcolm. They've been friends for ten years and work together. She's been there by his side through every heartbreak and is waiting for the day Malcolm declares his love for her. When he invites her on a vacation she thinks he will finally do that until he introduces her to his latest girlfriend, Summer. Joy has a history of getting between him and his girlfriends who feel like she undermines their relationships. Summer in turn has invited her friend and former boyfriend Fox. During the weekend getaway Summer and Fox learn more about asexuality and observe the relationship between Joy and Malcolm. While Joy and Malcolm finally have the hard conversations they've been avoiding about their feelings for each other. 

The Romantic Agenda tries to craft a triangle or more a quad of sorts. While Claire Kann does a great job explaining the nuance and misconceptions surrounding asexuality the romance here falls short. So much of the book is dedicated to Joy and Malcolm communicating their feelings towards each other. That relationship juxtaposed against her new forming one with Fox just made the romance fall flat. It's hard to believe she's built a connection with someone new over the course of a few days. Especially since she keeps mentioning it takes her a long time to build up trust. Summer is a very bubbly almost childlike woman who really feels like the third wheel in a relationship between two people with communication issues and a codependent relationship. One of their favorite things to do is retell the story of how they met which gets repetitive. The book tries to tell two different stories and there's only room for one to thrive. She tried to do something different here while incorporating beloved tropes and though messy and entertaining at points when it comes to the romance it didn't quite hit the mark. 

Blood Slaves by Markus Redmond

Welcome Back, Booklovers! I've been talking about reading Blood Slaves for months now. I often see people online say we have enough slave stories or don't recommend me any stories with slavery in them or back in the day the only Black books were slavery stories. But if we pause for a moment how many book titles can be name that we read that have been about slavery? I've spoken about it before but I too used to be one of those people who would see a mention of slavery and run in the opposite direction. Until I finally sat down and read some historical fiction and dealt with why. Blood Slaves takes that slave narrative and interjects some fantasy and horror answering the question, "What would the slaves do if they had the power to free themselves?" I received a copy for review from Kensington Books Publishing.

In 1710 Carolina the enslaved people are suffering on the Barrow plantation. Every day is like hell on earth with no end in sight. Though they try to steal moments of joy here and there, there's always someone waiting to snuff it out. After a failed escape, and brutal assaults on both him and his love Gertie, he finally reaches his breaking point. This is when he meets Rafazi, a survivor of the Ramanga tribe, an African vampire tribe. He convinces Willie to take back his power and together they build an army to rise against the plantation owner and his overseers.

Blood Slaves does not shy away from the true horrors of slavery which does make this a heavier read. The novel opens to every day life in slave village. There's gruesome violence against men, women, and children. The cinematic writing style helps paint a vivid image of the life of these people. While Willie is the main character readers also get outside povs from a variety of characters and seeing the male perspective contrasted against more than one woman's perspective allows for some interesting discussions. 

This book explores who gets to decide what is good and bad and how we make those decisions. Gertie for much of the book is against the idea of vampirism and taking revenge into their own hands believing it will make them the same as the monsters they're rising up against. She clings to the few happy moments she and Willie have had together having hope that one day their suffering will be over. While Irene is a mixed-race house slave that doesn't quite fit in anywhere, having the blood that makes her closer to the white people may elevate her over those in the field but there's horrors working in the house she must deal with. And when she and a few of the other women take vengeance into their own hands it is satisfying. 

Even-paced with a cinematic like writing style Blood Slaves will keep readers wanting more. The same way Sinners was more than a movie about vampires this is more than a book about vampires.

Bones at the Crossroads by LaDarrion Williams

Welcome Back, Booklovers! So Jan of 2024 I read Blood at the Root ahead of it's release. It was one of my most anticipated reads of 2024 promising a Black magic school. You can check out my review here. I received an arc from Random House which is how I started out reading the book and I ended up switching to the audiobook around the halfway mark so I could read on commute.

It's fall semester and Malik is doing his best to experience normal college life while still looking over his shoulder waiting for his mother or the Bokers to strike. Malik and his friends are instructed to keep the true events of the summer a secret. Malik is fast becoming friends with a girl named Dominique and together they are invited to join The Divine Elam, a secret society that Malik's mother was apart of before she went full on evil. 

William's expands on the world here introducing more information about some of the societies present at Caiman and delving further into the backstory of Malik's mother. There's more details about the magic and even an introduction to a well-known figure from African-American lore.

The sentiment of letting Black boys be children was strongly echoed in this book, being brought up in the narrative multiple times. Malik is reckoning with grief while struggling to connect with new families and feelings of abandonment. During a time when there's a push for YA characters to be seemingly perfect it's refreshing to see a messy one who still has some learning to do.

There are some uncomfortable conversations being had about how the Black community treats queer people. Further diving into the conversation it addresses what images of queer identity are most acceptable. The Homecoming celebration allows readers to get to know the side characters more and makes them feel more fully realized.

Evenly paced and action packed this is a fitting follow up to Blood at the Root building upon the foundation that was laid. 

As far as the audiobook experience Jalen Hall brings it again and the audiobook features different sound effects at certain points with aid in bringing the text to life.