'All the Beastly Things' with Eilish Quin

And I'm pretty sure you have seen her book all over BookTok, Bookstagram, and on the bookshelf. Now I would like to welcome Eilish Quinn. Welcome to the show. Oh, thank you so much for having me, Syd. I'm so excited to be here. Well, I'm so excited for us to get the chance to chat about your new release. But before we do, tell us a little bit about who you are and what really sparked your interest into becoming an author. Um, hi, I'm Eilish Quinn. I am a Gemini son. And for the most part, I'm based in Los Angeles, California. I have five cats. So that's me. I know. Yeah. And then as far as storytelling goes, I feel like from a very young age, I was interested in writing because I spent like an inordinate amount of my time reading, which I'm sure you can relate to, which is I think like the best prerequisite to being a good writer is being a good reader. Yeah, which is very true. And so I feel like that's kind of, I don't know, I always had this very sacred conviction that was kind of secret when I was little, that like the best and most profound thing a person could do with their life was write like a really good novel. And that kind of pervaded into all times of my life. So like as a kid, as soon as I could write, I was writing very weird short stories about like aliens and Julius Caesar or like. In high school, I wrote very maudlin and melodramatic poetry. And then in college, it was a lot of like kind of aimless short stories with no end. But all of that in some way has like informed my current work, I think. And maybe that's what I like best about writing is that in a sense, it's super democratic and accessible. And like... It doesn't matter what you've studied or if you've studied or what your day job is or who you surround yourself with or what your life is. Everyone has stories to tell. And so everyone can be writing in some extent or storytelling to some extent. Yeah. And it's no matter how quirky it is, somebody's going to read it because everybody has things that they like, tropes, niches, different things. So you never know. It might be a bestseller. You just got to put it out there. You never know. Yeah. Put yourself out there. Yeah, and so your new release is All the Beastly Things, and it's like a twist of a post-apocalyptic shindig. So tell readers a little bit about what's involved in this storyline. Okay, so it's also a little bit weird and quirky, so bear with me, but essentially it's kind of like 200 years in the future after a really catastrophic nuclear event. And society as we know it has kind of collapsed but out of the ashes have emerged these like very small female only monastic communities. Men have been abolished, hierarchy has theoretically been abolished, and capitalism has been abolished. And so the novel really focuses in on this girl Igraine who's only 17 and she is training to take her vows to become a sister. She's an officiate. And she's always kind of dreamed, along with her best friend, of eventually securing positions at the Lunar Abbey, which is kind of like this gorgeous Gothic cathedral on the moon, where like the most precocious sisters go and the most brilliant and devout sisters go. And they're kind of like all set to follow that trajectory. And then Ophelia starts having these kind of mysterious enigmatic visions of a masculine archangel, which is very taboo because men have been abolished. So, um... Yeah. It's kind of like part political commentary, part theological treatise, and then part like most dramatic friendship breakup you can imagine. Like, yeah. I think anytime it's something futuristic and fiction, there's so many different avenues and ways you can write a story. And it's believable because it's in the future and you never know what's going to happen. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of up in the air. Yeah. Now, what would you say was like the most fun about writing this entire story? That's a good question. I think like I've always really, really loved science fiction just because like I feel like it's kind of the genre where like the queerest and most radical stories can emerge or they're engendered. And ironically, it's like also a genre that's been super co-opted by and for white men, I think. So like, I guess. And when I was a kid, like, I feel like I read so much Octavia Butler and, like, Nancy Farmer and Emily Tesh, and they kind of exploded the genre for me, and they showed me, like, what it could be, and that, like, not only was it capable of, like, holding really, like, representative and diverse stories, but also... Like, it was a genre that was built for that, and so I really liked kind of being able to explore that on my own, kind of, or, like, in their shadow. Yeah, and you're kind of putting your own twist to it, which makes it different. So, you know, look at you now. Yeah, yeah, and I just, like, yeah, it's, I don't know, it's, like, such an amazing genre, and there's so many, like, giants in that field, and I've loved, like, learning from them, and then, yeah, putting my own twist, hopefully. Yeah. And so what's next for you in this literary world? Like, do you think you would like to see this as maybe like a trilogy or a series? Or do you think like one book should be good enough, you're going to go off to something else? As it stands now, I'm planning on just the one book, although kind of in the back of my mind, there, it could be a trilogy, because there's like kind of three primary characters. And each one of them in my mind kind of occupies, it's based upon the the like Jesus on the cross with the two thieves and so one of like each of the characters is representative of that um so it could be a trilogy i feel like it's kind of an open-ended ending so it could be but um that's not what i'm working on currently i feel like i try not to be too pigeonholed by genre like i really like to jump around a little bit just because there's so many stories to tell and i think um Some of the authors I most admire, I feel like they are always challenging themselves to foray outside of genre and create new characters and settings and styles. And so I tried to do that a little bit. So my next book is actually a World War II novel, which is not something I ever saw myself writing. I know it's a bit odd. But it is still a bit weird. It has like a time travel element kind of in the vein of like Kurt Vonnegut, I'm hoping, who I like super admire. So we'll see. It's very weird though. And hopefully it doesn't come across as irreverent. I think it's working together. But it's basically a commentary on like how fascism pervades into the current moment. But I think it's good when you're able to bounce around because then like if you come back to like a particular genre or something, I feel like you've been well versed. So you're like, oh, I feel like if you get stuck in one genre too long, you not really fall out of love with it, but it kind of becomes repetitive. So when you're able to kind of bounce around, it's like you always have fresh ideas and it's like it keeps your brain going. Yeah, I feel like it keeps the excitement alive. And it's like novelty is so important. I feel like otherwise you can get burned out or you get writer's block. And I don't know, it's like the same way you wouldn't want to read the same stuff all the time. Although I do love to reread the same stuff every, you know. But, you know. So it's good. It keeps work exciting, I think. And so before I let you go, do you have any final words for fellow book lovers out there? I love this question. Thank I guess I would say two things. The first is like, read whatever you love and don't judge yourself you for what you enjoy. Like, I think as a society we tend to really denigrate for the interests of young women especially so like the anytime we're talking about like romance or fan fiction or like chiclet like it's kind of dismissed question. as not being meaningful enough or like academic enough to like in the context of literary canon but actually it holds like such an immense and secret power and it's like such a like a ripe tool for community building so that's one thing. I also think about like Jane Austen and North Anchor Abbey, she, like, the main character, Catherine Morland, is constantly being berated by all the male characters for, like, reading her gothic novels, which are, like, I guess kind of trashy. And it's so funny because she's reading, like, Anne Radcliffe and The Mysteries of Udolpho, which today would be classics. Right. Right. And so it's like, yeah, don't confine yourself to, like, the attitudes and tastes of the time. Like, read what you love. And, like, that's very rarely going to. And then the second thing is that writing with or without the goal of eventually being published is like such a worthwhile and vulnerable and cathartic exercise. Like. Kind of like we were talking about earlier, like, everyone has a story to tell. And, like, even if it's super private, like, I feel like writing is a great meditative exercise. It's a great way of being present with yourself and finding out what you, like, don't know you know about yourself. So it's, like, you could write the most fantastical, far-flung fictional universe in the world and still come away with, like, really intense knowledge about yourself or the world around you. And, yeah, so, yeah. I think, too, sometimes authors are like, oh, the publishing industry is hard to break into, or they have a lot of self-doubt, and doubt is good in moderation, but in excess, it's kind of like the enemy of the artist. So suspend your disbelief about yourself. Get out there, write whatever you want to write. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your story, what kind of went on behind it, and for chatting with me and fellow book lovers. And I can't wait to read your next book because I love war stuff. So hopefully that's your next one. So fingers crossed. Yes. So after that one comes out, then I'll have you back so we can talk some more. Oh, I'd love that so much. Oh my gosh. Thank you so much for having me, Syd.