Hello, I'm Victoria from BiblioLifestyle, and you're listening to The Reader's Couch Podcast, the show that will help you bridge the gap between living a full and busy life to one where you're reading, learning new things, and having fun.
Today on the couch I'm so excited to welcome author H.B.Akumia to discuss her debut novel Bad Witches.Bad Witches introduces us to Maya, Gabi and Dalali, three young women who on their 22nd birthdays discovered their witches.
As they navigate their newfound powers, They become entangled in the crisis in the witch sphere, where witches are giving birth to more non-witches, which threatens their society's future.
With a mysterious mentor guiding them, the trio embarks on a journey filled with spells, potions, and the challenges of saving their world.
Readers, you can expect a lively blend of magic, sisterhood, and the complexities of balancing newfound responsibilities with personal growth.
But before we get into the episode, pretty please subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already and leave the show a five-star rating and write me a review if you love the show.
Thanks in advance and now on to the episode with author Heather Akumiya. Hi, friends.Hi, readers.Welcome again to the Reader's Couch Podcast.I'm your host, Victoria Wood.
And here on the couch with me to talk about bad witches is author Heather Accomia.Hi, Heather.Welcome to the Reader's Couch.Hi, how are you? I'm good, I'm so excited to have you here to talk all things Bad Witches.
But before we get into the book and start talking about the characters and just everything at play, how are you feeling that your book Bad Witches is now out and available and readers can get their hands on a copy?What has the experience been like?
Honestly, I feel really relieved, which is, obviously, I'm very excited, but in the couple of weeks leading up to release, just because I did too much and had a bunch of events, so I was really stressed, so there's just a huge relief.
But it's also, yeah, it's just incredibly exciting to go into a bookstore and see your book or to get feedback from people who have read the book.It is just, yeah, it's the best feeling.
I feel, yeah, at once calm and relieved and excited all at the same time.
That's amazing.Now let's get to the meat of the matter.Let's talk about Bad Witches.What's your elevator pitch?What can readers expect when they pick up a copy of your book?
So Bad Witches is a book about three black girls living in New York who find out they're witches on their shared 22nd birthday.So that's my elevator pitch.It's a sort of light fantasy and urban fantasy.It takes place both in New York and in
another witch universe.And yeah, I would say that it's a lot of fun.The hope is that it's entertaining, that it's a ride, that it makes you laugh.
Yes, I think it's fun, for sure entertaining, and I did get some laughs in there.But there's a lot happening more than just them discovering that they're witches and their powers.The whole witch universe is in upheaval.
The society is going through a reckoning.Tell us a bit more about what's happening in the sphere.Tell us a little bit about the crisis.And then also how these three girls, Maya, Gabby, and Delayla?Delali. Dalali, thank you.
How they end up finding themselves thrust into this world as well.
Yeah, so basically what's happening in the witch sphere is we open on a scene with a young witch scientist named Nadia who we'll get to spend time with throughout the book.
Her sister gives birth to a baby, the baby is a witch and that is exciting because the witch sphere has been going through a crisis for several decades.
And the pattern has been that once a witch gives birth to a baby that doesn't have powers, that she goes on to only have babies who don't have powers.So Nadia's sister, the occurrence of this birth just is a change in the crisis.
It's the first sort of thing that has punctured the crisis. So she's trying to figure out that mystery.The whole sphere is trying to figure out that mystery, but Nadia, especially because it's in her family.
And yeah, the girls, Gabby, Maya, and Dalali are girls who live in New York.I obviously don't want to spoil anything, but they find out that their powers might be important to helping to end this crisis.
Yes we see them also learning how to harness their power but Nadia also notices something as well and we just see how the worlds collide and how they come together and save the witchy universes but of course there might be some other forces at play.
So obviously readers you're going to have to pick up this one to get more information on that and just immerse yourself in the story. What I'm really curious about is your one decision to write this novel.What was the inspiration?
What made you decide to create a world where the witch universe is in crisis, not enough witch babies are being born, and then we also have three discover later on in their lives, their 22nd birthday, that they are witches and they're obviously coming together to help save that universe.
Tell me about your inspiration.
Yeah, I think my inspiration was I wrote the initial draft of this in 2016 and 2017.
And around that time, there was this sort of resurgence of witches in popular culture, at least in New York there was, and in the US there wasn't honestly very much online.And so I was interested in exploring that kind of resurgence.
It had this weird sort of playful, but also lightly feminist and rebellious thing to it.And so I wanted to explore that.And yeah, the idea of these three girls, just for me, I wanted to also create something that was very lighthearted and fun.
So I pulled from Girl, which is a book I read a lot when I was, I read like that entire series when I was a preteen.
I wanted to put black girls in a space that was just fun and frivolous and lighthearted and low stakes and nothing really horrible happens.
And yeah, actually, initially, when I was in college, and when I had first graduated from college, I was interested in writing for television and film.So I wanted Bad Witches to be a web series.
And then I just realized I did not have the resources to do that kind of thing.I had made a web series before, but I'd never made anything that required me to try and depict magic.
So I was like, okay, let me go back to the thing that I know how to do, the resource that I do have, which is my ability to write.And so that's why I ended up writing it.
And so yeah, it came together as this sort of, just witches were very mainstream, and I just wanted to play with that idea.
Yes, for sure.I agree.Which culture was having a resurgence coming back to the forefront.So that makes sense.
Who would you say was your favorite character to write and discover, but also who do you think is a character that's going to surprise readers?
I would say Gabby is the character who I have the most fun writing just because she's so ridiculous to me.For people who haven't read the book, she's like a Pollyanna.She's very innocent.She's very cheerful, chirpy.
So it was really fun to write some of her scenes, especially if I was writing something that was funny or I was trying to write a punchline, it was really easy to do that with her character.
And then the character that I think will surprise you the most, honestly, probably Gabby.I think she has one of the biggest transformations of the three girls, so yeah.
Yes, keep an eye out for Gabby for sure.I also love that you made them just like everyday girls, everyday young 20-somethings and them becoming friends and all their respective backgrounds.I think one's a teacher,
one was like a actor in some child star and someone in PR.Tell me about, it's a statement and then a question.I like the fact that they're just regular everyday people.
Was that intentional in not making them, I guess you could say overachieving or different or unique or isolating, but instead just, I feel like everyday people we can relate to.Was that intentional?Yeah, I think what was interesting
in writing the first few chapters of the book was thinking about what I would do if I found out one day that I had magical powers, like what anybody would do.So I wanted people to be able to insert themselves into the story.
And I wanted also to just write girls who were messy and who didn't have it figured out and were complicated and not necessarily always likable.That's something that's always interesting to me.
And again, something that I feel like we don't get to see enough of for black characters, so I wanted to have these girls who were, yeah, just like you said, everyday people.
Yes, that are super relatable.Getting into your writing life, was this your first attempt at a novel?I know you mentioned web series.Did you go down like the fan fiction rabbit hole?
What was something that you were really obsessed with prior to Bad Witches?
I maybe tried to write a novel when I was in middle school or high school, which I think everyone does.Beyond that, I didn't write any fan fiction, weirdly.I didn't really read fan fiction either.
Things that I was obsessed with before this, I write a lot of short stories.I write literary fiction.My major in college was in creative writing, so that's always interesting to me.Also screenwriting.I'm just like a nomad in terms of
genre and in terms of medium.Like I just like writing and I like storytelling so I think yeah I'm just interested in whatever way that manifests.
Are you working on any other projects because Bad Witches is your debut novel just in case anyone listening doesn't know Bad Witches is your first book.I think it's a really great and strong start.
Are you working on another novel or any other projects or anything worth mentioning?
Yeah, I'm working on something for screen.I'm working on a story collection.And then I will be working on book two, which if you finish the book, there's very much a cliffhanger.So you know that there's got to be another book in the pipeline.
So yeah, I am starting to think about book two and sketching out the contours of what that will look like and what that plot will be like.
Okay, awesome.Now that you have a published book, what would you tell your younger writing self?I find it interesting you mentioned about when it comes to screen, don't get too attached, things change and it's really unpredictable.
Publishing is also unpredictable, but for screen it's a whole different ball field.I've heard that so many times.But you actually have a project complete in Bad Witches.What would you tell your younger writing self, if anything?
I would say that I should have fun in writing, like I should always try to have that be a space of exploration and excitement and a place where sort of outside expectations and norms shouldn't influence me when I'm on the page.
So yeah, I would say continue to have fun in writing.And I would say also that You can do a lot of things that you don't think you can do.Basically, you'll figure it out.That's what I would say.
So just operate with the assumption that you will figure things out as you go.
Yes.It will all make sense one day for sure.
Yeah.It'll make sense.All right.I want to dip into your reading life real quick.Tell us about the last books or books that you finished reading that you'd now recommend.
Okay.I read Minor Detail by Adania Shibley earlier this year. That's a great book.I really loved it.It was not at all what I expected.I think I expected a more maybe self-serious or melodramatic narrative than there was, but it actually is.
It definitely has emotional weight, but also it is a bit quirkier and weirder than you would expect.So yeah, I really enjoyed that book.
Yeah, that is a fun book.We also love indie bookstores here on the show.So let's listen to some of your favorite local indies.
Oh, I love Greenlight Books.I live really close to Greenlight Books in Fort Greene.I love Unnameable Books.They do secondhand and also new books, but used.They have a great used section.
So yeah, I would say those are my two locals that I really love.I love the Center for Fiction, which is, they have a small bookshop.It's almost like a gift shop, but I just love the Center for Fiction.
It's a nice place to hang out, to get work done, and then also they always have new and interesting books in the entryway.
Awesome, love it.Okay, getting back to your book though, Bad Witches.Again, I know you've done your job, you've written a book.I think this is a really great read, especially for fall.Listeners, this is your perfect witchy read for the fall season.
October, witchy October, whatever you want to call it.Great read, perfect timing for the season.
But what are you hoping for, Heather, in an ideal world that readers might think or feel or want to call a friend and tell them about after they've turned the last page of Bad Witches?
Yeah, I think honestly, like I said, the most important thing for me is that it's fun.And that was something that I thought about a lot as I was writing.I was like, how can I make this more fun, more funny?
How can I have more little quotable lines that people will enjoy?How can I make these characters more relatable?So I think, yeah, I want people to have fun.That's the biggest takeaway.
I think when people say that the book is weird or fun or unique, those are things that I like to hear, because I think that's what I was aiming for.
Yes, this one is fun.I do think it's unique as well.So you get the witchy elements, you get the fantasy elements, but you also get to see a sisterhood, which was also beautiful for me to see on the page.
Plus, of course, twists and turns because they're trying to save a whole universe.So it's lots of fun.Readers, I hope you'll pick up Bad Witches this season by Heather Acumia when you visit your next bookstore or you stop in the library.
Thanks for stopping by, Heather. Thank you.Thank you so much for listening to the Reader's Couch podcast.Please subscribe to the show, share it with a friend, and take a few seconds to leave a rating and review.
Until next time, stay lounging, stay reading, and whenever you're in doubt, go straight to your local bookstore or library.Thanks again for listening and happy reading.
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