I had the absolute pleasure to “sit down” (virtually via email) to chat with author Jessica Leonard about her debut novel Antioch, out now from Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing.
I’ve been in a fiction reading slump for several months, and this book catapulted me right back into my reading happy place. I won’t say too much because I think with this one, the less you know going into it the better. The story is strange and interesting and combines unrelated concepts in really unique and compelling ways. The Amelia Earhart conspiracy theories are woven into the fabric of this story and add a surprising layer of additional complexity—they’re the thread that links everything else in the story together. The novel didn’t end the way I expected and when it was over, I felt more unsettled than I’d felt while reading (and there are some genuinely creepy moments throughout.) I think because everything I had thought the story was leading up to...well let’s just say, it wasn’t? And I think the not-knowing was most unsettling of all. It took me a while to shake it before I was finally able to go to bed.
Needless to say, I highly recommend this novel. I am so grateful to Jessica for sharing some of her time. Jessica was also kind enough to answer a few exclusive questions for our patrons, so make sure you head over there to read the bonus questions if you’re a patron already, or to join our community if you’re not a member already!
Lisa Quigley | Ladies of the Fright: What is the first thing you remember writing and how old were you?
Jessica Leonard: I wrote my first "book" when I was in 6th grade. It was a horror story and heavily (HEAVILY) influenced by the R.L. Stine Fear Street books I was reading at the time. Hand written on notebook paper, I would give out chapters at a time for my friends to read. And they did, which I think means they were better friends than I gave them credit for. It was called Hope Is Gone. And, yes, the main character was named Hope. And, yes, it was a possession story so the title had two meanings which I did think was enormously clever. I also killed the protagonist in the end which I thought was very edgy (and a rip off of a Fear Street book)
LQ | LOTF: When did you decide to become a writer, and who are some of your favorite authors/influences?
JL: I knew pretty early on that writing was my only academic talent. I don't know that I've ever not been writing. But the ambition to try publishing my work in the real world didn't happen until around 2009. My favorite book is Franny and Zooey by JD Salinger—which is very much not a horror story. Unless you want it to be. Unless you think about it the right way. I think horror comes in a lot of forms. But from an early age I fell in love with the writing styles of Salinger and F Scott Fitzgerald—I have to actively resist the urge to overuse dashes and it can be blamed entirely on Fitzgerald. I really like a good lofty tangent paragraph. My writing today is influenced by Shirley Jackson, Jac Jemc, Lindsay Hunter, and Helen Oyeyemi. I can point to each of those women in Antioch in some way or another.
LQ | LOTF: At what point in your life did you start to get into horror?
JL: I watched Pet Sematary in 5th grade at a slumber party and it ruined me. I was completely terrified and my friends teased me quite a bit about that. It wasn't until I was older that I was able to accept that being afraid of horror isn't a bad thing. It's fun and also the point. I'm a huge advocate for letting yourself be afraid of horror movies and not feeling like a wimp because a book keeps you up at night.
LQ | LOTF: Recently, you tweeted about how you became obsessed with Amelia Earhart conspiracy theories in 2012. Can you tell us a bit about how that happened?
JL: I heard about Betty's Notebook that year. Betty was a 15 year old girl who believed that she picked up the last known transmissions of Amelia Earhart on her shortwave radio. And she transcribed everything she heard in a notebook. And based on those notes, an entire plausible theory on where Earhart may have crashed was born. It's fascinating. And it's all out there on the internet! And then from Betty's Notebook it's very easy to fall down the rabbit hole of different conspiracy theories on what may have happened to her.
LQ | LOTF: What is it about these conspiracy theories that you find so compelling?
JL: I love a good mystery. I've also spent a little too long looking into the Zodiac murders. I like to think that if I lay all the pieces out just right I can make them fit together. I believe a lot of the theories are wishful thinking combined with slivers of reality. Amelia Earhart was such an amazing woman! And the idea that her life is often reduced to "she crashed her plane" is heartbreaking. People want something else for her. They want her to have been a spy, or a prisoner of war, or hell even a bank teller. Anything except dead at the bottom of the ocean.
LQ | LOTF: Of course, your tweet also stated that this obsession eventually became your debut novel, Antioch. The novel is kind of about a woman obsessed with Amelia Earhart conspiracy theories, but a lot of other things are also going on. When did all those pieces come together for you?
JL: Yeah, Amelia Earhart is really only a small part of Antioch. But Antioch very much began with Amelia Earhart. It was that idea that maybe a little girl somehow picked up the last radio transmissions of Amelia Earhart on her shortwave radio. And also that sometimes it's very easy to hear what we want to hear, or conform things we hear to fit the narrative that we want. I like to think that Antioch is also a book about misunderstandings.
But there is also a lot of Christian mythology in Antioch. It's ideas that I just find interesting to play around with. I watched something on the History Channel once about how Judas was actually probably Jesus' best friend because he was the only one he could trust with the enormous weight of betraying him. Because in order for everything to work, someone has to be the betrayer. None of that is in Antioch. But the idea of looking at something accepted and familiar from a different perspective or point of view definitely is in there. It's the misunderstandings.
LQ | LOTF: I'm really interested in the relationship between obsession and art. Sometimes I think our most compelling work develops out of obsessions of one kind or another. Did you always know you'd write a book about this one day or was it something that developed organically?
JL: I had done all the Earhart research for fun with no real agenda. Other than possibly solving the mystery on my lunch break. But once I had all that information, it was hard to shake. I found myself wanting an avenue to explore the themes that I saw inside those theories. Antioch grew out of that.
LQ | LOTF: This year, I've been really struggling to be creative, and it's also been really hard to read any fiction. I need you to know your novel broke me out of that rut! But I do know my experience is not unique—a lot of people have been having a hard time finding their creative muse this year. How has that been for you?
I'm really happy to know my novel helped! I can't imagine a bigger compliment—especially this year. It has been very difficult for me creatively this year. I do have ideas I want to work on and books I want to read, but the idea of sitting down and doing those things...I can't make my brain be quiet long enough to do it. And I think that's okay for awhile. I recognize that sometimes what I'm doing (repeatedly binge watching Schitts Creek) is just all I have the mental energy for. But I also recognize I need to be able to break out of that slump at some point.
LQ | LOTF: Binge watching Schitt’s Creek is pretty much the only thing helping me survive this year, so I definitely relate! Alright, one last thing about Antioch: it really beautifully straddles that line between supernatural and ambiguous. Tell me your thoughts on ambiguity in horror.
JL: It makes me so so happy to hear you say this. If there was one thing I wanted to accomplish with Antioch, it would be that ambiguity. So many of my favorite books and movies have that in common—the idea that something might be supernatural, but it could also just be the wind. It's that mystery again. It just leaves so many more possibilities for your mind to explore. I love it.
LQ | LOTF: Do you have a favorite monster? What is it about that monster you love?
JL: I'm going to say dinosaurs. And yeah, maybe that's a cheat because they're just actual animals. But they're still my favorite. Which one is my favorite? It's all of them. And if there was a real life Jurassic Park I would definitely go there and apply for a job.
LQ | LOTF: Where can our readers connect with you?
JL: I'm on Twitter @j_leonard23 and Instagram @jessica_l_leonard
Jessica Leonard is the author of stories about people and the things they do. She lives in western Kentucky with her husband, son, and two dogs. Antioch is her first novel.
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