Exciting News from Author Lindz McLeod!

How would you describe your writing style?

Unhinged in premise, but precise in execution!

What sparked the idea for the title story in your collection, Turducken?

I really enjoy pushing myself, and writing about a sentient frankenchicken seemed like a real stretch of my imagination and talents; I wanted the reader to be amused, but also genuinely touched by the character of each bird, and I found it a fascinating exercise to work out how each of them might think and talk differently, as well as what a creature like this might desire.

After finishing Turducken, I’m interested in reading your novels. How many novels have you written?

My debut was a historical fantasy called Beast, which was a kind of pre-curse version of Beauty and the Beast set in rural south-east France at the time the French Revolution is beginning to kick off.

The novel follows the castle butler, Le Majordome, who acts as the hinge between the upper and lower classes, and all the dreadful choices he makes along the way. I still have a soft spot in my heart for the book, which was the first novel I ever wrote.

I can give you the exclusive news that I have at least seven books coming out over the next two years!

Some haven’t been announced yet, but the ones I can talk about range from my erotic sun-cult vampire novella Sunbathers (coming September 2024 from Hedone Books) to The Unlikely Pursuit of Mary Bennet (coming May 2025 from Harlequin), a queer Pride & Prejudice inspired historical romance which kills off Mr Collins in the very first line and gives now-widowed Charlotte Lucas a proper chance at happiness.

I also have several novelettes out with Assemble Media, in their Assemble Artefacts magazine—my favourite, Love, Happiness, And All The Things You May Not Be Destined For, opens with 10 year old Georgia meeting her much older self. Older Georgia explains that Young Georgia is about to meet a boy called Henry and fall madly in love, but if she doesn’t grow up and marry someone else first, the universe will erase this version of herself. I explore a lot of things in this story—romance, destiny, and the fear that we might be the worst versions of ourselves. It’s made a lot of people cry!

I rarely admit this, but being moved to tears is my ultimate goal while reading, so I will definitely check that out, Lindz!

You are a Scottish writer with readers all over the world. Do you ever travel for book signings or events?

I do travel a little and in fact I think I’m going to be in Toronto in late September this year for a Harlequin event followed by a Sunbathers event/signing. We’re firming up details of a Scottish event in May next year for the launch of The Unlikely Pursuit of Mary Bennet, which is likely to be in one of the big bookstores in Glasgow. I usually chair events for Cymera, which is an annual SFF conference taking place in Edinburgh every June, and this year I’ll also be at The Nebula Awards on two panels—though only online, as a last-minute disruption to my schedule meant that unfortunately I couldn’t attend in-person. I’d love to visit more places in America, since I first met my darling fiancée in New York and we spent some time there, and hopefully that’s on the menu for the future.

Do you have a favorite book or books?

Where to begin! I try to read at least 50 books a year, and lately I’ve been obsessed with Rumaan Alam’s Leave The World Behind, Percival Everett’s Erasure, Eliza Clark’s Penance, and Benjamin Labatut’s When We Cease To Understand The World. When I want a comfort read, I go back to Terry Pratchett again and again. The way he blends humour and commentary is unparalleled. I’m also a huge fan of Jodi Taylor’s Chronicles of St Mary’s series about time-travelling historians—I’ve read them all, even the short stories, multiple times!

How do you think the current publishing industry could be improved?

I’d love to see more diversity (wouldn’t we all) and better support for new writers. A lot of stages in the publishing process are vague at best, and one of the things I feel obliged to do is to make them more transparent where possible. When I have free time, I often volunteer to edit agent queries for free, and I’ve also run low-cost/free workshops on how to write successful queries. I’m extremely open about the fact that failures are a natural part of this industry—although we tend to see the end results and the successes, it’s easy to forget basic facts like for example that debut authors rarely sell their first book, or that the average age of a debut novelist is around 36. Additionally, I’ve seen wonderful projects turned down and poor-quality work accepted instead; publishing is, unfortunately, not a meritocracy. In my experience, hard work and luck are often bigger factors than talent, though I’m also a huge advocate for continually honing your craft and never staying in your comfort zone.

What’s the best, or worst, advice you have ever received? (Your choice!)

I hate seeing “the first draft is terrible” or people calling it the “vomit draft”. I think this gives the impression that there won’t be anything good or salvageable in it, and that’s not true. I prefer to teach that the first draft of an idea is like panning for gold in a riverbed; you’re not looking for a finished piece of jewelry, you’re looking for the tiny shining nuggets with which to construct the full idea. It feels like a more positive way to look at it.

How many short stories have you written? Can any of them be found online?

I’ve had almost 70 short stories published; most of them are available for free and linked on my website (www.lindzmcleod.co.uk). My short story collection Turducken features several of these published stories alongside several unpublished ones—it was really important to me that people who bought the book were getting access to fresh content unavailable anywhere else, so that they got their money’s worth.

Do you have any exciting projects on the horizon?

Do I ever! I can hint at other horror projects coming, which include a film novelization and a post-apocalyptic climate change novella, as well as another erotic horror novella which I’ll be co-writing with my amazing, talented fiancée Z.K. Abraham.

I’m also managing a very ambitious collaborative anthology called An Honour And A Privilege which I dreamed up last year, and which indie press Stanchion have been kind enough to offer to publish in late 2025. It features eight solicited writers (and four forthcoming from an application process) who will each work with me for a month to create a fiction piece and an accompanying non-fiction piece about how we created the story. My hope is to offer a unique kind of craft book, which actually lays out literary techniques on a larger scale.

I also have film/TV projects brewing, as I’ve been working with the fantastic Assemble Media to shop my work in Hollywood for adaptation. Hopefully, more on that soon!

Where can my blog readers follow you online?

I’m still on Twitter—I refuse to call it X—and Bluesky with the handle @lindzmcleod. I also have a newsletter (which I send about twice a year, because I don’t like to bother anybody) which can be subscribed to via my website (www.lindzmcleod.co.uk). Each newsletter comes with a picture of one of our spectacularly photogenic cats, Fitzwilliam, and sneak previews of whatever I’m working on/is coming out next. I just started working on a new book, which we’re comping as Bridgerton meets Jurassic Park, and I’ll definitely be sharing a little of that with readers as I develop it further.