Sarina Dorie — an interview with the author of The Devil You Know
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Do you think you’d be good at convincing others to sell their soul to the devil?
I am not a good sales person. If I were, I would probably be better at marketing my novels. I think there are telemarketers and people who have jobs they do for a living who would be better at this than I am.
Given all the deals she has made throughout the course of these stories, is Joyce maybe a bit too confident in her ability to make a deal?
I think Joyce is a bit too confident in many things–including her ability to outsmart the devil.
Do you see yourself in Joyce at all? Or maybe someone else in your life?
There are definitely details in Joyce’s life that were inspired by my own life, like the story, “The Devil Went Down to Georgia Auto Mechanics,” in which Joyce has a horrible car. And the story “Hex Support” was a malapropism that I said the wrong word when requesting tech support. Sensei Dan, is in part, inspired by my time in Japan. Other than that, I don’t think my life resembles Joyce’s and I am not sure I really see myself in Joyce.
I know there is one story left—so no spoilers if it gets answered—but how long do you think it ends up taking Joyce to collect 100 souls?
I can’t answer this without spoilers!
If our friend at the bar truly has zero consequences from drinking, wouldn’t that mean drinking would have zero effect on them?
The devil works in mysterious ways…
Having zero consequences and zero effects might be the catch in the contract. But, I think there might be a difference between consequences and benefits. Then again, it is a nice gray area to think about.
How many times has this story been rejected by other markets?
The first story in the series was probably rejected about thirty times. This story was part of a series, so it didn’t get rejected at all. It was accepted to the first market I sold it to–Foofaraw.
What book are you reading right now?
I started Dance of the Reptiles, a biography about Carl Hiassen’s life, but I haven’t finished it because I thought it was fiction, not non-fiction. Hiassen is a journalist and mystery author who writes humorous detective stories that often involve ecological injustices, and results in awareness about political injustice in Florida.
I also have been reading Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi, which seems to be magical realism, but I don’t know if I will finish it because it is slow. If I can find the book, I will finish reading the book by Alice Hoffman that I can’t remember the name of. I am also in the middle of three non-fiction books.
Right now, I am looking forward to reading Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell because I enjoyed the first book in the series.
Do you have anything else you’d like to share?
If readers enjoy my fantasy series you can find info about her short stories and novels on my website:
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