Sage's Monsters

A Home for Monster Lovers

Author Interview

Victoria Weyland

for her book

Bees and Honey: A Swamp Monster Love Story

First of all, could you introduce yourself to our readers? Tell us a little about yourself, such as your pronouns, your favorite book, and what about monster romance you most enjoy writing and reading.

Hey y'all! I'm Victoria Weyland (she/her). I'm a southern transplant living in the pacific northwest and have two published books out with more on the way. Gothic tales have been my jam since high school, and I still consider myself a tropical goth. The thing about monsters that just grips me by the throat and won't let go is how they are so unapologetically themselves. The monstrosity isn't hidden; it's right there on the surface. Monsters take us out of the ordinary and allow us to lean into the extremes: passion, anger, violence, loyalty, lust, love and all the emotions in between.

What inspired you to write Bees and Honey: A Swamp Monster Love Story? Was it your love for Louisiana or something else?

I grew up right outside of New Orleans and went on several swamp tours in the Honey Island swamp for field trips and just for fun with friends. The beauty of that place is so hard to capture in words, but it's also hot, sticky, and full of snakes and mosquitoes. Just this wonderful, complex contradiction, like so much of the South.

There actually are tales of the Honey Island Swamp Monster, though the myth leans more bigfoot than alligator, so I definitely took some liberties. I'm also a huge fan of the television show Leverage, which follows a group of criminals that help out ordinary people who the system has let down. During the pandemic, like so many folks, I was depressed and sad and angry. I wanted to write a story where the bad guy got his comeuppance, that had a sense of community, and showcased one of my favorite places.

What did you have the most fun with while writing the story? Personally, I really enjoyed the Bee Facts™ that you sprinkled into the prose at opportune moments.

The Bee Facts were my favorite part! I collect fun, weird animal facts (a group of porcupines is called a prickle). Since Honey Island was named after its native bee population, I knew I wanted my FMC to be a beekeeper and did all of this research. Bees are such amazing creatures and I just wanted to share some of the facts I found along the way.

A swamp monster is an unusual choice of monster! I see sexy demons, vampires, orcs, and werewolves most often in the community. What drew you to a swamp monster over other types of monsters?

Funny enough it was the movie, Creature from the Black Lagoon. There's a sensuality to the monster that drew me and was only reinforced by Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water which has this beautiful love story at its core. I've always been both fascinated and terrified by alligators. They are these scaly, almost prehistoric creatures, and I really wanted to play around with that as part of Bees and Honey.

Furthermore, what brought about your love for monster romance? Was there a particular piece of media that made a lightbulb go on in your brain, did you meet a community of writers and/or readers who introduced you to the genre, or was it something else entirely?

The animated Beauty and the Beast. Whenever he turned back into a human, I was always disappointed. Then I read Robin McKinley's Beauty and her Beast stays a beast and I was like, “YES! THIS! THIS!” Beauty fell in love with the Beast, not some bland human dude. Also, growing up outside of New Orleans, I was surrounded by tales of vampires and ghosts and things that go bump in the night. It felt right to return to those first loves when I started writing my own stories.

For the aspiring writers out there, do you have any words of encouragement and/or publishing wisdom that you'd like to share? Were there any hiccups in getting Bees and Honey published that you feel comfortable disclosing?

Don't give up, and the monster romance community is one of the warmest, most supportive groups you could find. Initially, Bees and Honey was accepted for an anthology call from a small press. I really can't overstate my excitement when I got the acceptance email. It was going to be my first real publication. Then, that press treated an author of color terribly. Myself and other authors pulled our stories in solidarity, and eventually that press imploded. The monster romance community really rallied around and supported the affected authors in self-publishing our stories. An author friend made the cover for Bees and Honey and other authors were so helpful with formatting questions and how to deal with Amazon. Publishing is a hard, long road. There are going to be bumps and problems, but don't give up. Your stories are valid, and they deserve to be told.

Your other published work is Champagne on Vice, set in New Orleans in the 1920s and featuring a gargoyle male lead. I'm really excited to pick that up! Do you have any writing projects in the pipeline that you could give us some tantalizing hints about, or is that information strictly confidential?

So there are two currently in the works, and I'm so excited about both of them. Scars Old and New is a novella that involves a blood demon and a shitty boss getting what he deserves. The second is a novel called The Witch Queen of Ravin which I'm hoping to release in the fall and is basically, what if Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty (evil queen) and Kronk from The Emperor's New Groove (adorable himbo) were a couple.

Finally, do you want to share any monster romance book recommendations (other than what you've personally written) with our readers?

I really feel like we're in a golden age of Monster Romance. There's so many amazing writers out there, writing smart and sexy monster romances. Especially the Indies.

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