Interview with Tosca Lee

About the Author

Tosca Lee is the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of The House of Bathory Duology (The Progeny and Firstborn, currently in development for television), Iscariot, The Legend of Sheba, Demon: A Memoir, Havah: The Story of Eve, and the Books of Mortals series with New York Times bestseller Ted Dekker (Forbidden, Mortal, Sovereign). A notorious night-owl, she loves watching TV, eating bacon, playing video games and football with her kids, and sending cheesy texts to her husband.

​Connect with the Author:
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The Interview

1. Who or what inspired you to become an author?
All the books I enjoyed reading, growing up—everything from Bunnicula to The Mists of Avalon. 

2. What did you want to be when you grew up? Did becoming an author ever cross your mind?
Growing up, I wanted to be a ballerina. Despite publishing my first article at a young age (10) and winning contests through school, I never thought of writing as a *thing*—it was just something I did to escape. Not until my first year in college while talking about how great books are like an awesome roller coaster and wondering aloud what it’d be like to build a roller coaster like that for someone else did I ever utter the words: “I think I want to write a book."  

3. What top 5 books are currently sitting on your TBR pile?
Ready Player One (Earnest Cline), Little Broken Things (Nicole Baart), The Forgotten Ones (Steena Holmes), Scythe (Neal Shusterman) and Cleopatra’s Moon (Vicky Shecter)

5. What inspired the idea for The Progeny?
It was inspired by a fan! One of my readers asked me to consider writing a book about Elizabeth Bathory (AKA “The Blood Countess”), whom I’d heard of before. By the time I rediscovered the request in my idea folder, I had already done several historical novels and was ready for something contemporary, so chose to focus on the fictional descendants of Elizabeth Bathory living in the shadow of her legacy.

5. What do you want readers to take away from reading The Progeny?
I’m always wary about this question if only because what a reader takes away from a book depends so much on what drew them to the story. But I would like it if they left feeling that whatever challenge they face on a regular basis—whether it’s anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, ADHD, OCD (like me), autism, or whatever it may be—is part of their unique lens on a world that needs them. That they are beautiful, brilliant, and not alone. 

6. What is your current WIP? What can you tell us about it? 
Absolutely! It’s a new thriller called The Line Between about a young woman who is kicked out of an apocalyptic cult… just in time for it to seem like that world truly may be ending. Coming to you January 2019. Please be sure to add it to your Goodreads bookshelf!