Six Books with A.C Wise

A.C. Wise is the author of the novels Wendy, Darling and Hooked, along with the recent short story collection The Ghost Sequences. Her work has won the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, and has been a finalist for the Nebula Awards, Stoker, World Fantasy, Locus, British Fantasy, Aurora, Lambda, and Ignyte Awards. In addition to her fiction, she contributes a review column to Apex Magazine.

Today, we find out about her six books.

1. What book are you currently reading?

I recently started reading The Villa, Once Beloved by Victor Manibo. I’m not that far into it yet, but I’m very much enjoying it thus far. It’s an atmospheric Gothic that looks to be playing with some of the tropes of the genre. There’s a desolate and run-down mansion, and the idea of the family curse, but there are several characters who could fulfil the role of the outsider coming into the situation. Sophie isn’t a member of the family; she was adopted as a child, leaving her feeling in an in-between state of both being from the Philippines and not from the Philippines; her boyfriend spent time at the estate as a child, but didn’t exactly grow up there; and other members of the family are estranged, semi-estranged, or don’t fit in. Thus far, everyone is also very up front about the idea of the curse, which makes me think there are other buried secrets yet to be revealed. I’m looking forward to seeing how the dynamics and expectations of the genre play out over the course of the book.

2. What upcoming book are you really excited about?

There are a few 2026 titles that I was lucky enough to get an early look at, and I’m very excited for other folks to be able to read them. The Iron Garden Sutra by A.D. Sui is a gorgeous, slow-burn locked room mystery set in space. Cabaret in Flames by Hache Pueyo is a lush novella exploring trauma and healing in a world of ghuls. Stephanie Feldman also has a lovely collection upcoming, The Night Parade and Other Stories. As for works I haven’t read yet coming out in 2026, I’m looking forward to John Chu’s debut novel The Subtle Art of Folding Space and Paul Tremblay’s new novel Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep.

3. Is there a book you’re currently itching to reread?

I saw a really beautiful edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray the other day, and while I resisted buying it, it did make me want to reread it. I’ve also been contemplating giving Moby Dick another try. From what I recall, I got almost of the way through it, but never actually finished it.

4. How about a book you’ve changed your mind about—either positively or negatively?

A book I’ve changed my mind about multiple times over the years is Catcher in the Rye. The first time I tried to read it in a high school English class, I bounced off of it. I gave it another shot a few years later and ended up really liking it and finding Holden Caufield more relatable. Looking back now, I suspect Holden would be irritating and I’d be impatient with him. I also get the feeling that may be intentional, and the way a reader reacts to Holden may very much be a factor of age.

5. What’s one book, which you read as a child or a young adult, that holds a special place in your heart?

The Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark trilogy both continues to have a lasting influence on my writing and holds a special place in my heart. So many of the stories are mere snippets or leave events wholly unexplained, which means there’s room to imagine all sorts of things around the margins. Being drawn from folk/fairy/traditional tales and urban legends gives the stories an enduring and timeless feel. Plus, there are those gorgeous illustrations, which I feel like are absolutely burned into the brains of many authors and readers of my generation. Several things I’ve written over the years have drawn inspiration from those stories and their accompanying artwork.

6. And speaking of that, what’s your latest book, and why is it awesome?

My latest book is Ballad of the Bone Road, and while it’s not strictly horror, there are horror-adjacent elements, and there are ghosts involved. It’s set in an alternate version of New York City, which was once occupied by the fae. Two supernatural investigators get caught up in a particularly tricky haunting involving a movie idol, and things get increasingly complicated from there. I love stories where the fae are as dangerous as they are lovely, and where ghosts are more tragic than frightening. This novel has both, and there’s also romance and friendship and people making terrible decision with the best intentions in mind. I had a lot of fun writing it, so hopefully people will enjoy reading it!

Thank you!