Today, we have an interview with Ben Schenkman, author of multiple contemporary and urban fantasy series and books. Ben is about the release the fourth and last book of his series The Devil You Know, so we took the opportunity to ask him some questions.
Enjoy!
Our main focus today is your upcoming book, A Little Death Among Friends, but before we go into that, let’s set the scene and give our readers a sense of your writing. Briefly describe the location of this interview and the person being interviewed.
I blinked twice at the monitor, then squinted at the skinny lines of text to make sure I understood the question.
A sense of my writing? Oh, boy…
The desk in front of me held the knicknacks of a split personality. Rubber ducks and fanciful tarot-card-themed statues belied the professional posture of the MacBook I used for work. A podcast microphone with over-the-ear-headphones was clamped to one side of his desk, creating the image of a multi-purpose workstation with no clear sense of identity.
“Geez, thanks, Nils,” I mumbled under my breath. The mostly empty bowl of lukewarm Chinese food from lunch was definitely going to impress my potential readers.
Leaning back in my chair, I let my gaze wander around the room. It wasn’t nearly as bad as the scene in front of me made it seem. The walls were a deep, forest green chosen by my partner over a year before they had moved in. Art hung on the walls from multiple artists, giving the office an eclectic, almost bohemian air.
Hopefully the audience could ignore the clutter on the futon, the rarely-used balance board hogging floor space, and the litter boxes just out of view from the webcams.
Life was always going to be a bit messy, though, wasn’t it?
In your author bio, you mention that you like to play devil’s advocate. Can you tell us about how this applies to your series The Devil You Know, which starts with My Boss is The Devil?
The whole series started from an idea that played devil’s advocate, quite literally. I was in a dead-end job, thought that I’d do anything to get out of it, and asked myself, “What if the devil offered you a job?” followed by, “What if the devil wasn’t who you thought he was?”
A lot of the characters that I introduce are based on a subversion of stereotypes. Lucifer isn’t a cigar-smoking businessman, God isn’t a purely benevolent shepherd, and more. Every chance that I had to write something that challenged readers’ perceptions, I tried to make those conscious choices.
I joke that the series will have people “laughing through their existential crisis” but it really is the goal. It’s dark comedy, and contemporary/urban fantasy, but it’s got a core of tough questions and hard topics.
You’re about to release the fourth book in the series, A Little Death Among Friends, and you published the first book in December 2023. Is the series turning out the way you imagined, or has it changed from the initial idea?
The first book had an open-ended ending, and I didn’t really know if I was ever going to write another one after I drafted it (in 2014). But when I picked up an idea for the second in the series, it expanded out from there. That said, the villain in my second book decided immediately that they were on a redemption arc and that changed the entire trajectory of the series. So it’s much different than I imagined, both from the very beginning and even as the stories flowed onto the page.
Like the growth we experience as people, the core is often the same. But the execution has evolved, and the devil is always in the details.
I’ve previously reviewed My Boss is the Devil (link), and I described the book as “slice-of-life, borderline cozy, contemporary fantasy,” but I also mentioned that the fact that your main character Nick’s boss is the literal devil hangs like a shadow over the story. Now, the book isn’t cozy, but it’s got a little of that vibe, and it’s a far cry from the fast-paced, action-packed urban fantasy banger it could have been. What are your thoughts on urban/contemporary fantasy, and where does your story fit in?
It’s definitely been described as “not-so-cozy” urban fantasy. Urban fantasy isn’t a monolith, though, and while many of them are very action-focused there are others that have this more introspective vibe. I will say that my other work trends more towards the norm when it comes to urban fantasy, so The Devil You Know is a bit of a unique case even for me.
These books fit best in contemporary fantasy, or supernatural fantasy, where there isn’t as much expectation on action having to be there. Is there action? Yes, of course there is. In fact, it ramps up throughout the series and by the end of it you’ll likely be closer to “home” when it comes to urban fantasy tropes. But the books are still very character-driven and focus on relationships and personal stakes, while also increasing the danger as the series goes on.
If people are looking for action-packed bangers, they should check out my other works. If they want a thought-provoking series that increases the stakes, danger, and action as it goes? Then this one is for them. I guess you could call it an urban fantasy with a “slow burn” for genre tropes.
You released the first and second book in The Devil You Know as audio books, and you narrated the books yourself. Will you also release the third and fourth book on audio, and will you be narrating?
I am! The challenge is always time, because I’ve still got a day job, family, and other things that take up my days. As the series expands POVs (maxing out at three), I also needed another narrator. My partner, Katya, voices Amy’s chapters in the series after book one.
Another complication is there’s a third POV, that I can’t name for fear of spoiling things, that I had to take auditions for and contract with for books three and four.
That’s all gone well, though it took more time than expected, and I’m hoping to have the audiobook for Too Many Gods in the Kitchen, book three, out by November. Book four will hopefully be a fast-follow as I’ve asked my narrators to continue recording.
What are you working on next? You’ve released books in a couple of other series. Is A Little Death Among Friends the last in The Devil You Know, or can we look forward to more adventures with Nick and Amy?
It’s been a wild ride. I’ve got three series going, right now, plus some side projects. The Devil You Know has been like a home-room for me, and it’s hard to consider not coming back to the world. While I could continue writing stories in this series, everything is wrapping up in a satisfying way and The Devil You Know is ending at four books.
That said…I have an idea for a follow-on series that would be separate, take our main characters in three different directions, inspired by Dante’s Inferno. No promises on when that happens, because I have so much on my plate to write, but if I did come back to this world it wouldn’t be for The Devil You Know…but it might be for The Devil You Don’t.
And now, a few quick questions. What’s your favourite (in recent times)…
- …book? Rivers of London by Ben Aaranovitch
- …game? Gris and Neva, delightful atmospheric platformers
- …coffee? Pourover with soy milk
- …writing advice? You don’t have to wait for the muse to grab you by the throat. Writing, if you’re really trying to be a writer, can be a slog. Sometimes you have to just poke away at it, even if you’re not feeling it. All words are good words.
- …advice for someone who wants to publish their own book? Decide why you want to publish, because that’s going to tell you whether you should become an independently published author, or pursue traditional publishing.
- …source of inspiration? I write urban fantasy because there’s so much to be inspired by in the world around me. Life is such a diverse, wonderful, challenging experience. It would be a shame if I didn’t take inspiration from it for my writing.
- …way to clear your mind when everything gets a bit much? As always, I hit the coffee shops. I like nature as much as the next person, but give me a caffeinated beverage and a bistro table, maybe a little snack, and I’m ready to face the world again.
Finally, do you have any last words? Any shoutouts to people who help and support you?
My partner, Katya, has been an invaluable source of support throughout my publishing journey. Tanya, my pre-alpha-reader, friend, and confidante always makes my writing better. The authors in our CT/MA writer’s coop, organized now under Caffeinated Terrier Press, are full of inspiration, critique, support, and shoulders when things are heavy.
Ben Schenkman
Ben Schenkman likes many things in life: his 20-pound Maine coon cat, his family, his coffee, and his eclectic hobbies—not necessarily in that order.
Ben also likes to play devil’s advocate in his urban fantasy books by exploring the gray areas of good and evil with questions like, “Does the end really justify the means? Or is it all simply black and white?” Ben leaves these questions lingering in the ether to challenge readers’ conventional thinking and delve into the complexities of moral dilemmas.
As a native of Connecticut, Ben draws inspiration from his upbringing and college years in New Haven, where his novels take place. When he wants to escape being a writer, he’s a massive foodie who goes on gastronomic adventures, an overachiever who collects degrees in Theater, Nuclear Engineering, and an MBA, or dances with fire—all in a day’s work, really.
Want to know more about his work, or talk about coffee and cats? He loves hearing from readers!
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