Interview with C.J. Leede

I had the honor of interviewing author C.J. Leede for her newest novel, American Rapture, and I am so excited to share it with you.

This book meant so much to me and it is an absolute must-read – especially for those who have been affected by religion in one way or another. C.J. Leede’s first novel, Maeve Fly, was a smash hit, and I love the ferocity that she translates into her writing. My official review of American Rapture will be up soon, but please enjoy her interview for the time being.

As someone who was raised Catholic and experienced a lot of abuse within the faith, I found your novel, American Rapture, to be so cathartic.  Do you have any specific experiences with the faith that led to the conception of this novel?

I’m so sorry to hear that, and I hope you’re okay. I was really so lucky in that I personally never experienced abuse in the church, but of course I know people who did, though I didn’t know that until I was older. For me growing up, I just struggled a lot with the ideas we were taught there, and they never really stopped hounding me for many years. It’s hard to pinpoint a moment because there were so many–my entire childhood in church and CCD and choir, and I was the kind of kid who listened to everything and took it all in, and the stories really are so frightening when you listen. But I do remember a Sunday school teacher specifically telling us that little girls were born into more sin than little boys, and that moment just stuck with me so much for so long because I kept thinking, that can’t be right, can it? Sometimes a little thought like that is all it takes.

I was moved to tears by your letter to the reader in the back of the book, and I am so sorry for the loss of your sweet soul-dog. I lost my soul-cat a year ago, a loss that was also more extreme than any I have experienced before, and I still wonder how I am going to survive.  How do you think readers experiencing any form of grief can find comfort, or at least exploration, in the horror genre?

Thank you, and I’m so sorry for your loss. I truly think it’s one of the worst things a person can live through, and it’s just one of the cruellest facts of our reality that our animals’ lifespans aren’t as long as ours. I feel in general that horror is a safe and important space to explore the worst things we live with in order to at least know that there is shared experience in those things. It’s a space to also show by contrast all that is beautiful and kind and gentle in this world, and I hope in my books (potentially Maeve being a bit of an outlier in this way) to always show both, to always reaffirm that life holds beauty and love too. And that even if we’re going to lose the ones we love one day, or they’ll lose us, we got the time together, and that’s really what matters.

You are such a master at creating strong female characters within the horror genre, first with Maeve Fly, and now with Sophie. Why do you think that it is important to create horror stories that surround such strong (if not wonderfully unhinged) women?

Thank you! I mean to me (and I’m sure many), it’s just so obvious– there are so many strong women in this world, so why wouldn’t they be in our books? I also feel that as a writer you have to love your characters for the reader to love them, and I personally tend to really love and respect characters who are curious and don’t take no for an answer and who are uniquely and imperfectly themselves, so I always try to give those attributes to my main characters especially.

Are there any religion-based horror novels or stories that inspired you with American Rapture?

I really didn’t read many when I was working on this actually. It was largely inspired by the Divine Comedy, and then of course biblical stories I learned growing up. I think probably on a slant it was inspired by Anne Rice because I am just so generally obsessed with all her work, but I wasn’t totally aware of it if so. But since I finished the book, I’ve read a lot more religious horror, and it’s been a fascinating education! There’s so much out there, and so much to learn from other authors and all the incredible work they’re producing.

Lastly, do you have any projects on the horizon that we can look forward to?

Yes! I’ve been working on a Colorado book for a while about ghosts, cannibals, and what lies beyond. I’m really so excited about it, and right now it’s tentatively set to come out Spring 2026. I got to explore two very distinct sides of myself with Sophie and Maeve, and the two main characters of this third book hold a lot more of the side of me that I haven’t gotten to write about yet– the outdoors-loving, quiet-seeking road hound and wanderer, and I’m very excited to live in that space while finishing it. In many ways, this third book is the truest to who I am now, and it feels very special to me for that reason. I’m hoping readers will feel the same when it gets in their hands and becomes theirs!

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