Pride In Horror Month Interview: L.J. Hennes
L.J. grew up in the Midwest with access to the mysterious woods of the Manistee National Forest, and many of Michigan’s gorgeous white sand beaches, where folklore and legends coexist with the dramatic history around the Great Lakes. Her early obsession with paranormal dramas in TV, movies and books allowed her to mix in the awesome scenery around her with the magic of fantasy worlds.
Her authorial journey began in middle school when she scored a perfect grade for an English writing assignment. She’s been writing ever since.
For the last twenty years, she’s been working on a variety of stories with her wife, but her book saga, Sons of Fate, was the first series she ever finished writing. It was also her publishing debut. Now that she’s taken this massive step into publishing, however, L.J. Hennesdoesn’t see herself stopping any time soon.
Who are you not? Why aren’t you a “insert whatever your alternative career path might have been”?
I… I honestly have no idea. If I were to answer off impulse, I would say I have never thought about the paths not taken. I was never pushed to be something specific. I was always encouraged by my parents to pursue anything that might make me happy or better my life.
I did try college, for programming, but dropped out because I felt like I was ignoring my wife. It also left me very little time to work on my stories, which did mentally drain me more than I thought it would. But I don’t regret anything that I’ve done, not really. Everything has led me here, and I believe I am exactly who I need to be. Just a woman trying to live her best life, and tell a few good stories along the way.
Give us three songs, food, artworks, cocktails, whatever to get to know you and or your book by.
Because I am an overachiever and don’t know when to shut up, I am going to give you three songs to know the tone of my Sons of Fate saga, and three things to let you know me.
It is so hard for me to narrow it down to three, but for the Sons of Fate saga, the songs are:
“We Pray” by Coldplay, Little Simz, Burna Boy, Elyanna & Tini – The tone of this song is absolutely beautiful. The drama of the violins and percussion, the coming together of several magnificent artists, and the lyrics of praying for strength and better days, everything works so well. The song resonates not only with the characters at so many points in their lives but also with the overarching tone of the whole series. Through war, strife, grief, trauma, abuse and all the horrors their world throws at them, the characters hold onto the hope that things will not be that way forever. Through the darkness, they hold onto the light. They pray to their Gods for better days, and I think that’s something we can all resonate with.
“Heavy is the Crown (feat. J.None)” by Voiceplay – This is a cover by an acapella band and I absolutely love this version. The melody of the voices gives an aura to the song that I don’t think any other version compares to. So many of my characters believe the answer to their problems is to seek power, or hold onto the high-ranking status they already have. Many of their positions are held by secrets that drain them, and the effort it takes to keep it up plays a part in what happens next. It also makes it hard to feel sorry for many of them. I could give this song to a multitude of characters, but to go through them all would take hours. After all, the power is what they asked for, and heavy is the crown
“Coconut” by Fever Ray – The lyrics to this song match the saga’s tone of wanting to escape a dysfunctional household and maybe being able to burn it all down. But for me the part of the song that really resonates with the saga is the instrumentals. It really helped me slow things down when I was writing while still holding onto the theme of hope and eventual justice. Honestly, all of Fever Ray’s music puts me into the absolute best headspace for working on Sons of Fate. I don’t know if I could assign this one to a character, but there are several scenes I wrote where this would be excellent background music.
For some reason, giving you three things to get to know me is much harder for me to think of. Off hand, I can say that I love Asian food. I don’t have a favorite artist, mostly because I don’t appreciate art like I should and I’m not cool enough for alcohol. My wife and I love exploring the great outdoors, and I hate concerts because they’re way too loud and often obnoxious. I don’t know if I could really give three songs that would give you a good impression of me. I think there’s too many choices. I can tell you that I generally don’t listen to rap, metal, dubstep, or country music.
Why dark fantasy? Why not hard sci-fi or picture books?
For me, it was always fantasy. Werewolves, vampires, the Fae, dragons, witches, everything magical that could exist in the world. I like watching some sci-fi shows and read a few sci-fi books. Honestly, all the science is cool but I think the technical side of it ruins the magic for me. Being able to build the worlds with wonder and mysticism that exist around us already yet simultaneously is just out of reach, is so much more fun. I feel a type of connection to that type of storytelling.
In the “Dark” aspect of the fantasy, that is because the intensity and subject matter get quite gruesome. I do not shy away from very traumatic topics. I like to think being able to showcase those things gives a sort of validation to victims. I hope someone would be able to follow a character who shares some of their grief and can find catharsis in the eventual outcome.
As for not going with picture books, I am not creative enough for that. If we’re talking about graphic novels or Manga, I do not draw. At all. Ever. I can vividly imagine great scenes of violence, love, drama, all the good stuff. To illustrate it would be absolutely impossible for me. If we’re talking about kid picture books, I’m not gentle enough for it. Along with the issue of not being artistic enough, I could never try to make a story that is appropriate for a younger audience.
Which romance trope gives you the ick?
Even though it features a bit in my stories, I am not a fan of age gaps. Through the argument of “consenting adults” it is still a bit creepy when someone in their late 30s is in a relationship with someone who just turned 20. I also am not a huge supporter of the “stalker-turned-lover” trope. I don’t know the real name of it, but we’ve all seen the stories of characters who are stalked by some kind of super-muscular-and-overly-hot-possessive-macho man. Just the idea of the walking red-flags really makes me cringe, and at the risk of standing on a soap box, I think sometimes it can give real people the wrong ideas when it comes to what we as women should seek out in a relationship, and how the men should act to gain a woman’s attention.
What non-literary hill will you happily die on?
All over the place I constantly hear the words, “It’s so much worse now than it ever has been.” People say it about everything. Violence, wages, the economy, house prices, their list goes on. There are aspects where it might be true, but there is one thing I believe most people forget. Because we are so interconnected with phones and computers and the internet itself, all the world’s actions are documented 24/7. Things happening hundreds of miles away feel like they are happening right down the street. We get live play-by-plays of critical events as they happen in cities/states/countries that are hundreds and thousands of miles away from us. Things we used to read about in the paper 3 weeks later are now available to us as if we were watching it right outside the windows in our homes.
Because of this, I believe that the world is not worse off than it was 20/30/40 years ago. Actually, statistically crime is at an all-time low, at least here in the United States, despite what the media would have people believe. The only true difference is that all those decades ago we didn’t have immediate reporting. We didn’t have every person giving every opinion in mass at the same time. Here in the United States the news printed on bulletin boards, newspapers, morning/evening news and radio stations were all relatively slow to release anything. “Breaking News” happened quite rarely and only for extreme cases, but even so the media would be hours behind actual events. Radio, televised news and newspapers also had limited time and space to use. They had to be selective with what stories would sell, or attract viewers. Nowadays, we have infinite time and unlimited space to report absolutely everything that goes on in the world. That kind of access to information is overwhelming. Coupled with the fact that harsh emotions like anger, fear and disgust trigger more intense reactions with a lower level of critical thinking, and an algorithm that only cares about interactions and not what kind of interaction it is.
All of that was a very long-winded way for me to say that bad things have always happened. It’s not “worse than it was” because the only difference is now we can see what is happening in real time. Our emotions are being forced into every situation we see, instead of reading about it three weeks later in the paper after it was over. Does that mean we need to just shrug off everything bad that’s happening? Of course not, but we need to recognize that we are being constantly bombarded by information that was not available decades ago. In the 1990s, a teenager in the United States would not know what was happening in other countries. They wouldn’t have known about taxes in Italy, pop bands from Korea, the price of grapes in Australia or everyday arrests in Great Britain.
Now we know. We know because we are connected, because everyone is our neighbor. What was once completely out of reach is now in the palm of our hands. The internet gave us global connection and access to information we would have never had any other way.
It’s not worse than it was. The only difference now is there are no more shadows to hide in. The internet is a blinding light, and now we can see everything. That is a hill I will die on.
If you could resurrect any dead author and have them write one more book, who would it be and why?
I would love to see what H.P. Lovecraft would write if he could see modern day. I love playing the Call of Cthulhu RPG and his works were my introduction to the idea of Eldrich Horrors. I’d like to see him have a chance to see some of the technology we have and spin an Eldrich terror around something like AI or the internet. Something we think is manmade but is both intangible and all-consuming.
If you could collab with any non-author to write a book with, who would it be and why?
For this, I don’t know if I would be able to pick anyone. When I was in high school, I had a few friends who knew I wrote. They would try to get in on the game with me and write together. We would pass papers back and forth with each of us being in charge of certain characters we made in a joint world. It always felt a bit disconnected. I don’t know if it’s because I’m a control freak or because they weren’t cut out for it, but the story never went the way I thought it needed to. Or their characters would go way too far off the rails for me to keep the plot going in a logical direction.
There are a few non-authors who I do ask for advice, or run scenarios through, for a bit of feedback. I read all my books out loud to my wife as I am writing them and will take her criticism. But as far as truly collaborating with someone else, I don’t think I could do it.
Would you only have one album to listen to or rather one book to read for the rest of your life?
Absolutely not. As much as I do have some of the same music artists I listen to, there are several that I love and cannot narrow it down. Just like trying to pick one book to read deals with the same problem. Not to get too philosophical here, but if I only listened to one thing, or read one thing for the rest of my days then I wouldn’t be able to grow or learn as time went on. Stagnation is the enemy of creation.
If the story of your life was a romantasy, what would it be called in the The____of____and____ format?
The Ballad of Jesters and Ramblers
So, I spent probably way too much time trying to figure this out. I think the title works, first off, because I think it sounds just enticing enough to get people to raise a brow, and just dramatic enough for me to make a grand entrance at some kind of show. I married my wife when I was 21 and she was 23. Ever since then our relationship has been her and I against the world. I feel like we are often disliked by people because we tell them things they don’t want to hear but we are kept around because we give them a reality check, like court jesters. We also travel around a lot, much of the time at my whim because for some reason I can’t stay in one place for too long.
Through all of that, and through all of the incredibly awesome highs and some pretty harsh lows, my wife and I have stuck together. We have endured everything life has thrown at us. Every tribulation has only brought us closer together. I would not be where I am without her.
Okay, you can only pick one:
Cake or ice cream? Cake. No question. I have sensitive teeth and it’s hard for me to eat ice cream!
Beach or mountains? Oh my gosh, do I have to pick only one?? Mountains, if I must. Easier to get lost in and find the most magic along the way.
Tea or coffee? Tea. That’s an easy one. I’m generally not cool enough to drink coffee.
E-books or audiobooks? Audiobooks. We listen to them in the car on long road trips!
Brain freeze or stubbing your toe? I guess stubbing my toe. The recovery sounds quicker, and it would give me an excuse to sit down and write more while I recover.
You can find out more about L.J. Hennes on social media, and check out Hennes’ books and where to buy them on Books-a-Million.
