Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

I'm Gillian and Pete and I today are introducing this month's Book of the Month.

We're discussing Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by the bestselling fantasy author V.E. Schwab.

Known for acclaimed novels such as The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, Vicious and The Shades of Magic series, Schwab has become one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary fantasy writing.

This is an ambitious and atmospheric novel that blends gothic horror, fantasy and historical fiction, following three women across different centuries whose lives become linked in ways that neither they nor the reader can fully anticipate.

So it's like Cowboy Bebop for number one, Killing Eve for number two, because Vengeful is really, in addition to everything happening with Victor and Eli, like that's a story about angry women.

That is like the precursor to Bury Our Bones.

That is Marcella Riggins is a character written in 2016.

And she literally at one point in the story incinerates a man for not letting her finish her sentence.

am I without this person?

Yeah, it's reminding me a little bit.

Do you think part of that was the runway to get to Bury Our Bones in terms of the sexuality component? There's a bit of a romance.

Maybe.

But I think I want to read it.

You guys are also resting on Bury Your Bones.

I was going to say, isn't Bury Your Bones by her? Yeah.

Oh, my God.

Lesbian vampires.

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And now welcoming back to the show V.E. Schwab, author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, the Shades of Magic trilogy, and so many more, including her brand-new novel, Victorious.

Uh, great to have you back with us.

How are you doing?

And that's kind of the thing that I take creative issue with.

I have this problem as a writer of fantasy, which is I need everything to play by the rules that it's set.

So looking at something completely different for a second to prove the point, um, I wrote both The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Bury Our Bones in Minnesota, which are about immortals.

And I wrote those to counter the idea that immortal ennui exists, because I got really sick of seeing stories about an immortal being like, "Oh, woe is me that I must live forever." And I'm like, but here's the problem.

I had started reading.

You had started Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil.

And I was

talking to her about, man, this character, well, I had no idea about that character.

We kind of like have a view when we're not always in a character's head that we're being given a sense of distance.

And it's really fun to play with.

So how often have you done that in your own work? I mean, we know your most recent book, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, you have multiple points of view.

Absolutely.

And like, I, um, now had books later in my career that in, in another hands or in my hands at a different point could have been a series, but I've decided to- ... be, make them kind of totemic unto themselves.

Like, "Bury Our Bones," I think there would've been a way to make that multiple books.

I think-

Sure.

It is just dripping with red.

I will rearrange...

Like, "Bury Our Bones" has two orders.

I wrote it in two different orders and rearranged-

And don't forget to rate and review the podcast on your favorite podcast app and subscribe to the FanFastic YouTube channel, where this and every other episode of the show is available in full video.

And now welcoming to SFF Addicts for the first time, the brilliant V.E. Schwab, author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, Bury Your Bones In The Midnight Soil, the Shades of Magic trilogy, and so much more, including her newest release, Victorious, the final book in the Villains trilogy.

Welcome to the show, Victoria.

How are you today?