[This issue, we sit down for a Five Questions session with Joe Washington. The author of the Demonspawn series, here he discusses the upcoming release of the second book, how he uses mythology in his series, and his future projects.]

Eternal Haunted Summer: The second book in your Demonspawn series is coming out soon. Congratulations! Were you already plotting out the second book while writing the first, weaving in bits to use later? Or did you start planning it out after the fact?

Joe Washington: Thank you!

I very much had an idea for the path of these books. The first book had introduced characters that I planned to use later, even having the main character, Mike, owing or being owed favors. Some of the characters are brought up in the second book, but don’t actually appear. Finishing the first and moving onto the second taught me so much about descriptive writing and continuity planning when working on a series.

EHS: You also have a novella coming out that features gremlins and redcaps and … brags? How does the novella fit into the Demonspawn universe? What are the gremlins, redcaps, and brags up to? 

JW: Yes, the novella is titled Little Hellions (it’s a naming scheme that every book will have ‘hell’ in the title) and it marks Mike’s first real experience with creatures from Faerie. It takes place between books one and two — Hell to Pay and Hounded by Hell — and is referenced in book two.

There was a large amount of research put into what elements i wanted to add. A brag is a shapeshifting prankster faerie. The gremlins in the book are less like the movie version and more like the ‘things go wrong’ version from the superstitions in World War Two. I gave them an aura of unlucky energy that makes technology and other things go wrong in a way that they think it’s hilarious, but that humans find more deadly.

Redcaps are a form of goblin that are cursed in a way. They have to keep either their cap or their hair wet with blood in order to live. The Redcaps are different from the gremlins and brags because of intent. While redcaps are very firmly planted in the Unseelie side of Faerie, gremlins and brags kind of ride the border between Seelie and Unseelie.

EHS: Where can readers find your books?

JW: Right now, they are available primarily on Amazon. I’ve gotten some tips from other independent authors recently, and am looking into other avenues of publishing and printing.

EHS: What sort of research has gone into the Demonspawn series? Big stacks of books? Long hours at the library? 

JW: Oddly enough, the novella actually required the most research out of all three. Lots of folklore books and taking elements from popular media for the redcaps and brag. The gremlins were easier, but I had a lot of fun with all three of these creatures!

EHS: What other projects are you working on?

JW: I’m currently working on the third installment of the Demonspawn series. That takes up a majority of my writing time, but I’m also working on a young reader’s book. My daughter asked me to write something for her and, to encourage her burgeoning love for books, I accepted the challenge. This book is about a little girl who loves beetles and wants to become a coleopterist when she grows up. She keeps spotting a beetle she’s never heard of, and this beetle turns out to be an emissary of a kingdom of beetles in a different world. My daughter has enjoyed reading it so far, and I want to continue it.