We here at the Roarbots loved Alexis Henderson’s debut novel The Year of the Witching (we screamed about it riiiiiiight here).

In anticipation of the book’s release on July 21st, Alexis was kind enough to answer some questions about writing The Year of the Witching, Imannuelle’s journey, and her own inspirations.

Roarbots: The books coming out now were written, for the most part, a few years ago. What do you think the impetus for stories about witches, specifically those centered around women regaining their power was? Was there a reason if felt like the right time to put Immanuelle’s story into the world? 

Alexis Henderson: The witch has long been a symbol of feminine rebellion. But due to the current political climate, the witch is certainly having something of a renaissance. Now, more than ever, people are drawn to (or in some cases enraged by) the idea of a woman claiming her own power. Because of that, I think the archetype of the witch has grown to become a polarizing symbol of the modern-day discourse surrounding feminism, female rage, and empowerment. When I first began writing The Year of the Witching, I didn’t consciously consider these social influences or the ways they may have inspired my work. But upon reflection, I realized that my book, like so many others, is a culmination of the raw frustration and pain that women, and other people of marginalized genders, are made to carry daily. 

Roarbots: In the majority of witch stories on the market, the witch in question is white, from a distant land, or a magical being. Immanuelle is biracial but native to Bethel, something that marks her as different from the rest of her family and most of the population – but she still belongs to the larger group. It’s also a very important part of her story and her magic. Tell us why it was important for you, as a writer, to make space to explore that in The Year of the Witching. What space do you hope it makes for readers? 

Henderson: Immanuelle’s struggle to come to terms with her identity felt eerily familiar, and that’s largely why her journey is so important to me. Like her, I spent much of my adolescence feeling torn between two worlds, without fully being a part of either of them. My hope is that readers from similar backgrounds will identify with Immanuelle’s struggle to find (and eventually fight for) her place in the world. 

Roarbots: The Year of the Witching has a very New England Gothic feel to it. Are there any specific historical events, urban legends, ghost stories, or local legends you researched while writing it? Did you ever creep yourself out while you were writing? 

Henderson: I was, of course, very inspired by the Salem Witch Trials, but I also drew from some Southern Gothic lore. I grew up in one of America’s most haunted cities – Savannah, Georgia – and as a result, I was raised on a steady diet of ghost stories. Themes from a few of my favorites (like the legends surrounding the Hamilton-Turner Inn, which appears in John Berendt’s famous novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil) definitely inspired me while I was writing The Year of the Witching.

When I was first developing my book’s magic system, I gave myself a crash course on Wicca, witchcraft, and other ways to practice magic. I purchased a lot of witch-related items to help me with my research, including a 1,000-page long spellbook that features 5,000 spells, copious amounts of sage, ethically sourced oddities like animal bones, multiple tarot decks (I have quite the collection), crystals, meditation stones, and other miscellaneous (vaguely witchy) items. In the beginning, I did have a few nightmares about Lilith and the other witches of the Darkwood. But I quickly acclimated to the story and became less afraid.  

Roarbots: Did you draw from any particular lore when you were crafting your witches? I loved the blending of the grounded and grotesque. How did you arrive at what must have been a difficult balance to achieve?

Henderson: Not consciously, no. I think I was inspired by many of the themes that are prevalent in cosmic horror literature. I wanted the witches to feel bizarre and eldritch but have just enough humanity to seem familiar and even sympathetic. At the same time, it was important that the witches were decidedly sinister. If only because I wanted to express the innate, and corrupting, darkness of the power they possess. 

Roarbots: The book has elements of both the supernatural and horror. What’s appealing to you about each of those genres separately? What’s appealing about bringing them together as a writer?

Henderson: I think the elements that attract me to the supernatural and horror are the same. I love the feeling of being swept away. When it comes to horror, the vehicle that enables it is fear, and when it comes to the supernatural, it’s a kind of dark curiosity and awe of the unknown. Because of that, I think that combining the two elements felt very natural, to the point where it often became difficult for me to distinguish one from the other. I can’t think of any one book that inspired my fascination with these speculative concepts, but I’m always awed by the genius and ambition of authors like N.K. Jemisin, Jeff VanderMeer, and Seanan McGuire.  

Roarbots: Immanuelle spends a great deal of the story feeling conflicted about her history and magic. Why was that important to include? 

Henderson: So many of us fight to reconcile the different facets of our identity, continually striving toward some elusive sense of completion. If not that, contentment with who we are and what we believe in. Because that experience is so universal, I felt like it was important to portray it as realistically as I could. I wanted readers to see their struggles reflected in Immanuelle’s and perhaps take comfort in her journey to self-acceptance. 

Roarbots: Tell us about the process of creating the Lands of Bethel and the Darkwood. Different authors use very different landscapes as their Otherworld/danger zone. Is there a particular reason you chose a forest?

Henderson: I’ve always had a fascination with the forest. One of my childhood homes stood on the cusp of the woods. I was forbidden from entering it, but I have vivid memories of standing at the edge of my backyard, just short of the tree line, and staring into the brush, wondering what monsters lurked there. So I suppose it makes sense that those early childhood fascinations manifested in the form of the Darkwood and all of the ghoulish creatures that inhabit it. 

Roarbots: Was there a challenge in grounding the plot of The Year of the Witching while infusing it with the horrific supernatural? I imagine it’s difficult to blend the two because it involves shaping a supernatural that feels not only possible but plausible. 

Henderson: Definitely. I think I was constantly asking myself, “Is this too much? Am I going too far? Will readers be willing to follow me to the places I want this story to go?” But in the end, I realized that as long as I could make the story feel as visceral to readers as it did to me, the supernatural would feel real and plausible. So it became less about the challenge of grounding supernatural elements in reality and more a matter of creating a world that was a fully developed reality unto itself. 

Roarbots: What are you working on now?

Henderson: I’m drafting the (yet untitled) sequel to The Year of the Witching! I have some other projects on the back burner, but the sequel is what I’m focusing on.  

Roarbots: What are you reading right now?

Henderson: I’m reading (and loving!) The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec. It comes out on February 9th, 2021, but you can preorder it now! 

Roarbots: Imannuelle is forming a coven with two other fictional witches – any two from any book that has ever been written. Who are they and why did she choose them?

Henderson: The first would be Circe from Madeline Miller’s Circe and renowned Marie Laveau, who was a real witch but also appears in many books, such as Jewell Parker Rhodes’s Voodoo Dreams. I think Immanuelle could learn a lot from both of them! 

Alexis Henderson is a speculative fiction writer with a penchant for dark fantasy, witchcraft, and cosmic horror. She grew up in one of America’s most haunted cities, Savannah, Georgia, which instilled in her a lifelong love of ghost stories. Currently, Alexis resides in the sun-soaked marshland of Charleston, South Carolina.