[This issue, we sit down with Devan Barlow. A lover of fairy tales and myths, Barlow here discusses their new collection Foolish Hopes and Spilled Entrails; how much they adore the theatre; and their upcoming projects.]

Eternal Haunted Summer: You recently released Foolish Hopes and Spilled Entrails: Retellings. First, congratulations! Second, you released this collection yourself. Why did you go the self-publishing route? And what advice can you offer those who are considering the same? 

Devan Barlow: Thank you! I’m thrilled to have this collection out in the world. I self-published because I’ve already self-published my first two novels, so I had some familiarity with the process. For anyone who’s looking to do the same, I recommend that as you go through the process, you have at least one or two people you’re close with who you keep posted on everything – this gives you the chance for regular doses of encouragement (which you’ll need) and a much-needed dose of reality in those moments when you suddenly go “but what if I format something wrong and the book is a disaster and I become an industry laughingstock?!”

EHS: Foolish Hopes and Spilled Entrails is very explicitly a collection of retellings. What is it is about retellings — re-imaginings, re-twistings, re-turnings — that you find so compelling?

DB: The possibilities feel endless to me. A retelling can pay homage to a beloved story, or it can be a defiant shout against hurtful/hateful elements of that story – or both! 

EHS: This collection includes poems, short stories, and even a novella. How did you decide what to include and how to arrange the pieces? Were there some that you had to leave out, but hope to collect later?

DB: There’s a wide range of tones in these pieces, from comedic to grim to purely weird, so I tried to make sure no one tone was all clumped together. Similarly, I tried to keep a balance between fiction and poetry.

There are definitely retellings of mine that aren’t in here, but I am hoping to put out another collection of them in the near-ish future.

EHS: What sort of research went into Foolish Hopes and Spilled Entrails? Stacks of fairy tale and mythology texts? Long walks? Lengthy discussions with scholars and other writers?

DB: I’ve been collecting books of fairy tales/myths/folklore, and book about fairy tales/myths/folklore, for most of my life, and am frequently reading and rereading them for knowledge and inspiration. I’m also lucky to have a wonderful dog, who insists on daily walks, and is very patient about listening to me talk over plot problems.

EHS: Which piece was the most difficult, but ultimately most satisfying, to write? And why?

DB: “Wandering”, which is a historical fantasy inspired by both Jewish and Scottish folklore. It was my first time ever writing historical fantasy set in the real world, and when I first had the idea for it, there was a period of me going “nope, I’m not good enough to pull this off.” Then there was a stretch of trying to write it and being convinced I would never make all the elements work together, but I am so proud of how it eventually turned out.

EHS: In addition to your own collection, which other retellings do you recommend to readers who enjoy them?

DB: I will resist the urge to talk about this for seventeen hours, and restrict myself to a few recent ones I’ve loved.

Exit Ghost by Jennifer R. Donohue and The Death I Gave Him by Em X. Liu are both Hamlet retellings that take very different (and fascinating!) approaches to the original. A Pair of Raven Wings by G.D. Vidrine. Watermyth by Anita Harris Satkunananthan. Tales of the Great Sweet Sea, a short story series by P H Lee. “Frogskin” by M.L. Krishnan. “Katya Vasilievna and the Second Drowning of Baba Rechka” by Christine Hanolsy. 

EHS: You are also the author of the Curses and Curtains series, which combine fairy tales and musical theatre(!). That is quite the mash-up. Do you have a background in theatre? Or are you a big fan? And how did you go about weaving fairy tales and musical theatre together in your stories?

DB: I was absolutely a theatre kid as a child and teen, and was lucky to perform in lots of shows, but I’ve also always been fascinated by the history of theatre, and a devoted listener of cast recordings. In this setting, musical theatre is the dominant popular culture, and theatre is literally magical enough to change the world! These books are also positively drenched in fairy tale tropes, with a focus on the minor characters who don’t get much attention in traditional tales. I find a lot of parallels between bit characters in fairytales and character roles in musicals, which formed a lot of the basis of this series. 

EHS: Where can readers find your books?

DB: At their ebook store of choice! I’m only publishing digitally for now, but you should be able to find my books at any ebook store.

EHS: Which bookfairs, conventions, or other events do you hope to attend in the foreseeable future?

DB: Nothing planned at the moment, but hoping that will change!

EHS: What other projects are you working on?

DB: Book Three in Curses and Curtains (starring a character whom readers of the first two books already know!) will be out in the spring of 2025. That won’t be the end of the Curses and Curtains universe, though it will complete this arc. I’m always writing short fiction and poetry, both retellings and otherwise, and have several novellas and novels in various stages, including a space fantasy retelling I’m very excited about.