Q&A With J. Ann Thomas

Today’s Q&A is with author J. Ann Thomas who is the author of Asperfell and her The upcoming release The Spirit Collection of Thorne Hall. The Spirit Collection of Thorne Hall is released today on February 11^th and available to read now!

Q:  J, would you please give a brief description of your books starting off with The Spirit Collection of Thorne Hall?

A: A beloved local independent bookstore asked me to provide a “pithy elevator pitch” for Thorne, and here is what I told them: Local woman struggles with a forbidden crush whilst preparing to inherit her family’s Gilded Age mansion complete with fifteen murderous ghosts. Simple, to the point, and as whimsical and strange as the novel itself. With her father’s failing health, twenty-five-year-old Elegy Thorne is preparing to become the latest in a long line of caretakers of the fifteen spirits summoned and bound to her family’s ancestral home by Jasper Thorne in 1902. Ancient rules set forth by Jasper require that everything within the manor remain exactly as it was when spirits were summoned, and so Elegy exists out of time, in clothing one hundred years out of fashion and with little experience with the outside world. When ghostly mischief results in damage to the manor, the family’s preservationist is called, and brings with him his handsome son, Atticus, a forward-thinking engineer. Elegy, who has always accepted her gruesome fate, who has never allowed herself to hope for anything least of all love, finds herself torn between the promise of freedom…and the price. 

The Asperfell trilogy follows clever, headstrong Briony as she braves a haunted Mage prison in another world to rescue the banished heir to her kingdom’s throne to prevent a civil war and the genocide of those born with magic. Thorne Hall is solidly Gothic romance – dark, foreboding atmosphere, forbidden love, secrets, psychological drama and suspense, and supernatural elements. Asperfell also has some Gothic elements, but it is also more pure fantasy, so if you are looking for swords and magic, epic battles, court intrigue, and a spirited lovable heroine, it might just be for you!

Q: Where did the ideas for Asperfell & The Spirit Collection of Thorne Hall come from?

A: As a great lover of the Gothic genre, and Gothic romance specifically, I always knew I would someday write a take on the classic haunted house trope, but rather than keep the ghosts in the shadows as malevolent presences often unseen, I wanted them to be denizens of the house as much as Elegy and her family: sometimes friend, oftentimes foe, each with their own distinct personality and story. Early on I thought about setting Thorne at the turn of the century, shortly after the Collection were summoned and bound, but I loved the idea of the past juxtaposed with a present that Elegy cannot have but so longs for. 

I had originally envisioned Asperfell as something smaller and quirkier – almost Dickensian, but Briony’s story grew into something necessary and vital at a time of great upheaval in the country. My writing became a form of protest for me, a way of giving a voice to the voiceless. 

Q: How long did it take you to write Asperfell & The Spirit Collection of Thorne Hall? What lessons do you hope readers learn and feel after reading both novels?

A: Every book will find its perfect reader, and every reader will respond to that book in a different way that is unique to them. Rather than wanting readers to take a single lesson away from my books, I hope that they find within them what they need at that time in their lives, whether it is comfort or reassurance, the strength to endure, a spark of resistance, or the pure enjoyment of a new world to be explored. 

As for how long it took me to write Thorne and Asperfell, I am an excruciatingly slow writer (which I’m sure my agent absolutely loves), so it is not uncommon for a book to take me a year to write, especially if there is a lot of research involved like there was for Thorne. At times it almost felt like I was writing historical fiction! I am fortunate to have a lovely group of phenomenal writer friends here in the Pacific Northwest and they both inspire me and challenge me to become a better – and certainly more prolific – writer every day! 

Q: Will your next book be something similar to The Spirit Collection of Thorne Hall or something different entirely?

A: My next project is a Gothic fantasy romance more in the vein of Asperfell and draws on many of the weird and wonderful elements and practices of the ancient Roman Catholic Church, which has been so much fun to research. I just visited Rome this past August, and I’m headed there again this summer, and I can’t wait to see the Capuchin Bone Crypts again – they are not for the faint of heart, but if you are in the Eternal City and interested in considering the beauty in our mortality, check out the delightfully macabre arrangement of the bones of almost 4,000 friars.