(Holly) Emily Carpenter is an acclaimed southern novelist whose work blends suspense, emotional intrigue and richly drawn family drama.

A Georgia native with a background in filmmaking, she delivers cinematic tension and unforgettable characters.

Her newest book continues her tradition of atmospheric storytelling, pulling readers into a world of mystery, buried truths, and the complex ties that bind us.

A book at our reach is like a handshake to the connection we all need, because through them we gain friends, family and those characters we never even knew we needed in our lives until we start turning the pages.

Hi, I'm Holly Jackson, your host for Books by the River.

I want to say thanks to you for joining us on this journey, where we sit beside the writers who tell these stories that sometimes feel like our own, or they give us a glimpse of the experiences of someone we need to know.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (Announcer) Major funding for Books by the River is brought to you by the ETV Endowment of South Carolina, the proud partner of South Carolina ETV and Public Radio.

With the generosity of individuals, corporations and foundations.

The ETV Endowment is committed to sharing southern storytelling and compelling conversations with viewers across the nation.

This program is supported by Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina.

This program is made possible by the support of Peter Zamuka and Lynn Baker.

Additional funding for Books by the River is provided by Visit Beaufort, Port Royal and Sea Islands and Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at USC, Beaufort.

(Holly) Here to talk to us today is Emily Carpenter, author of Gothictown and so much more.

We're going to get all into it.

Thanks for joining us.

(Emily) So happy to be here.

Thanks for having me.

(Holly) Absolutely.

So let's start with Gothictown.

Tell me a little bit about what the story is all about.

(Emily) So Gothictown is about, Manhattan restauranteur Billy Hope, and she has had to shut down her very popular eatery.

Because of the pandemic.

And so now she is kind of stuck in her New York apartment with her six year old daughter and husband.

And they're climbing the walls.

She gets an email from a small town in Georgia called Juliana, Georgia, inviting her and her family to move down to their town and open up a business.

It's kind of an economic incentive package thing.

So they are offering houses, beautiful Victorian houses for $100 each and generous business incentives.

So she and her husband and daughter move down to Juliana.

At first, everything is idyllic and beautiful and just like she dreamed it would be.

And then slowly things start, happenning.

(Holly) In turn.

(Emily) Yeah.

Things are a little strange.

There's the townspeople are a little odd.

And.

And then maybe a body turns up.

(Holly) Right, it gets real weird.

(Emily) Quickly things get weird.

Take a left turn.

(Holly) Okay, so I love the beginning of this book starting out, because I think that so many of us can relate to just doing some crazy stuff out of the norm during that pandemic time, because we're all in this state of uncertainty and it's like, people are doing this, this, hey, why not?

(Emily) Yeah.

(Holly) But also we need to remember that if something sounds too good to be true.

(Emily) Yeah.

(Holly) It probably is.

And such is the case, with that $100 house.

I mean, I love that.

(Emily) Yes, yes.

(Holly) Alright, so tell me about that town and kind of what, what we should take away from it itself, which is kind of like its own character in itself.

(Emily) Yeah.

The town, I did really want to, and it was interesting because I started the book a lot of times in a suspense or a thriller book.

There is a secret from the past that is revealed towards the end, but Julianna has a secret, that I tell the reader about right up front in the first chapter.

You learn in the past that Julianna, was a very strategically located town during the end of the Civil War, and that General Sherman made an appearance there, and they did some things to try to avoid his wrath.

(Holly) You know, I love the way that you even describe this book, because I know it was, what, two books ago.

Now that you wrote it.

Well, you're in another one.

(Emily) Yeah, yes.

(Holly) So, you kind of have to shift back in time, but you still have this really, like, passion and excitement about it, which I appreciate it.

(Emily) Yeah.

(Holly) So tell me what it's like during that writing process.

Of like you're, you're trying to thrill the reader, but you're also thrilling yourself at the same time.

(Emily) Yeah, it really is that.

I mean, you hit the nail on the head.

That is the process when I come up with an idea like I did for Gothictown.

It was that I was I saw that, this town in Italy was advertising, you know, villas for █1.

And immediately I was like, oh, I can make this into my style of story, which is a kind of a Southern Gothic.

(Holly) Yeah.

(Emily) I can, like, relocate it to Georgia and make it my own story.

And yes, I am trying to thrill myself as much as I am for the reader.

So while I know what's happening and I'm sitting down to write, I'm also leaving enough space there for me to discover something thrilling and delightful.

(Emily) And yeah, so.

(Holly) Has that always been the style of writing that has, you know, been attractive to you?

(Emily) Yeah, I mean, I think actually my first book that I wrote that was never published, was kind of more of a women's fiction type of romance kind of book.

But I will say that once I decided on writing something different, it was kind of a it came from a process of saying like, what do I love to watch on TV?

What movies do I love?

What books to our remember from my childhood.

And, you know, they were all like Nancy Drew and Agatha Christie and like, the scary kind of dark, you know, suspense driven stuff.

So, yeah, that's what I love.

(Holly) Now Gothictown is not, it has another life.

Tell me about what's next for for Gothictown.

(Emily) Yeah so, even before the book was published, it was picked up by AMC television and another production company called Made With Love Media.

And, who actually, the guy who runs that is from South Carolina originally.

(Holly) Cool.

(Emily) Yeah, yeah.

So, Stephen Love.

But, yeah.

So they wanted to make it into a limited series for AMC TV, and they're working on that now.

It's in development.

They have, an executive producer showrunner, head writer Abby Ajayi, who is amazing.

She worked on How to Get Away With Murder and Inventing Anna on Netflix.

So she's they're working on it now.

(Holly) Yeah.

So from your perspective, like, what do you do, sit back and watch this whole thing, or do you kind of have your hands in it all?

What's your role or are you still figuring that out?

(Emily) No.

I am actually co-producer, so I will be involved on a, level of every episode.

I will be involved creatively on some level.

And so this is my first experience with that.

So I'll have to come back later and tell you.

(Holly) Yeah, and tell us more.

(Emily) Yeah.

(Holly) But, TV is not something that's totally new to you.

You have a little bit of background in that.

Tell us about that.

(Emily) So back in the 90s, I lived in New York myself, and I worked for CBS television first in the ad sales department, and then I transferred down to daytime programing and, worked for the two soap operas, Guiding Light and As the World Turns.

(Holly) All right.

Very cool.

(Emily) Yeah.

(Holly) Okay, let's shift gears and we're going to go into A Spell for Saints and Sinners.

So tell me about that book and, what, you want our viewers to hear about it?

(Emily) Sure.

So A Spell for Saints and Sinners is about a psychic who lives in Savannah named Ingrid White, and she has inherited her grandmother's psychic business as well as, like, this crumbling townhouse on one of Savannah's beautiful squares.

And she's struggling a little bit because she has a she's a big tax bill coming due on the townhouse and lots of upkeep and repairs.

And so she has a big bachelorette party coming in to get their palms read and their auras read.

And she actually, like, nails it.

She talks to the bride to be and just gives her a really accurate reading.

And from then it's like a whirlwind.

She's pulled into this young woman's life.

It turns out the young woman is the daughter of the wealthiest family in Savannah.

They have a lot of deep, dark secrets and actually a connection to Ingrid's grandmother in her past.

And so, again, like, she's pulled into this world and, is sort of working her spell craft on, for the benefit of this family.

And then things start to go very wrong.

And before long, she's like, she's in so deep, intertwined with this family that she wonders if she's gonna escape them.

(Holly) Yeah.

If you haven't caught on there's a theme here.

(Emily) Yes.

(Holly) Then things start going very wrong.

(Emily) Yes, always.

(Holly) Oh, all right.

Tell me about place with that one.

Did this, stem from, visit to Savannah and seeing all the the brides?

(Emily) Listen, I like it.

Savannah is my number one most favorite place on earth.

I love it, and, yeah, I just, I was like, I really want to set a story here.

Also, I found out, incidentally, my ancestors, settled here from Austria, like, back in the 1700s.

(Holly) Oh wow.

(Emily) So, I have this connection.

I feel like in my soul.

(Holly) Was that a discovery before or after a book started?

(Emily) Before.

(Holly) Okay.

(Emily) Yeah, so I've just, I just have this kind of kinship with Savannah.

I'd love to move there.

So if anybody has a townhouse.

(Holly) A $100 house.

Yeah, I'll take your game.

(Emily) Yeah.

So, but also, I just think it's it's full of history.

It's full of this very atmospheric kind of spooky, you know, aura to it.

And I've got, like, one of Ingrid's best friends.

His job is to lead the ghost tour.

So, yeah, I went on a ghost tour.

I went to see a psychic.

(Holly) Alright that's where I was going next.

(Emily) Yes, yes, yes.

(Holly) About research, your research is fun.

(Emily) Oh.

My research.

(Holly) Okay, tell me some of it you got to get into.

It's like let me go on vacation and research.

(Emily) So I also attend the, the SCAD film festival a lot.

Just as a movie lover.

It's a great film festival.

And while I was there, I really, like, walk the paths that Ingrid walks, you know, going to real spots that I have in the book.

So that was really fun.

And yeah, I was like, I got to go see a Savannah psychic.

So I did, and, I will say it was a very accurate reading.

(Holly) Was it?

(Emily) It was it was eerily accurate.

(Holly) Oh my god.

(Emily) Yeah.

And I'm, you know.

So it was interesting writing this book because I very much, wanted to respect, the, the, the, role of a psychic and a witch and, and yet I myself am very like, do I believe?

Do I not believe?

Do I, you know, I'm back and forth and so I really kind of explore that in the book.

(Holly) Okay.

Alright.

(Emily) Yeah.

(Holly) And then there's something else coming.

What's next?

(Emily) Oh, yes.

Yes.

It hasn't been properly announced yet.

(Holly) All right.

(Emily) But I'll give a little shout out.

It's at the moment it's called Swamp Music, and it's a retelling of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.

(Holly) Are you still playing around with that title.

(Emily) You never know if your publisher is going to be, like, nope we gotta change the title.

So far, these were both my titles.

(Holly) Okay.

(Emily) So hopefully we'll keep it.

But yeah.

So a retelling of Rebecca and it's set in northwest Alabama and the Muscle Shoals, area, and it's kind of in in the world of the roots Americana music scene up there.

(Holly) Alright.

(Emily) So, yeah.

(Holly) Well, you talk a lot about, different styles of media.

So I'm curious, are you more of a, a TV movie person than you are a reader, or would you say that it's, an even balance?

(Emily) I'm both.

And I think through my whole life I've gone back and forth, you know, with, like, having kids and being in school.

Sometimes I've been more in the movie, TV, you know, area.

And then sometimes I'm more in the book area just depending on.

But I just, I love all stories, tell me a story.

(Holly) Yeah.

When did writing take off for you?

(Emily) So, you know, I originally wanted to write screenplays.

I thought I was going to break into the movie business that way, and that didn't really happen.

So I pivoted to books.

And I mean, honestly, it was a kind of a later in life career.

I didn't publish until I was 48 years old.

So, it's been really fun to kind of have this new career and, just I love it.

I love book people, I love authors, I have a great community of local authors and thriller writers that I love, and it's just been really fun.

(Holly) You know, I hear that more often than not about people kind of starting that new career as an author, and it's maybe been in the backburner the whole time whenever they were doing something else.

And I love to hear that.

(Emily) No.

(Holly) because it's not too late to do it, you know.

But on your mind.

(Emily) No.

And I mean, I think like, oh my gosh, I'm almost glad that I didn't have, a screenplay made or a book published in my 20s.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I've changed so much as a person and kind of what I'm interested in and my perspective on life.

So I just think it's a career that's like, oh my gosh, you can do it until you're in your 90s.

(Holly) Yeah, definitely.

(Emily) Yeah.

(Holly) You mentioned that first book.

Not published.

Was that like does it stand out as a totally different writing style?

And, is it something that maybe doesn't really, go with what you are now.

(Emily) Probably a bad writing style.

(Holly) One of those things, oh don't look at it.

(Emily) It was my first attempt at a book, you know, and I really feel like because I did not I don't have an MFA in creative writing.

So I was really teaching myself how to write and like what it meant to write a book.

And, so I will always treasure that book and it will always stay in a drawer, a very dark drawer.

(Holly) For just a few people to lay their eyes on.

(Emily) Yeah.

(Holly) I love that.

(Emily) Yeah.

(Holly) All right, so, tell me more about the kind of the genre of books that you read.

Do you stay within the genre that you write or do you explore other?

(Emily) I read everything I read, like I just, read a book called Audition.

I think it's Katie Kitamura.

It's up for a Booker prize.

So I love literary, like, very adventurous, kind of off the wall, like, what is, you know, what does this mean?

Like, kind of the hoity toity books, you know?

(Holly) Right.

(Emily) But I also love genre.

I just recently and I love audiobooks.

I listened to project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, which is science fiction.

I loved it.

Highly recommend.

I love romance, I love the, only one I haven't gotten into that is super popular is romantacy, but I figure sooner or later I'll be.

I'll be into that as well.

(Holly) You'll get there.

(Emily) Yeah, I do, I love it all.

Historical.

(Holly) I do love hearing people's writing process because it always varies.

Are you very trained?

Like, do you have to train yourself of, these are my hours, this is my time?

This is, or is it more of like when the spirit leads you type thing?

(Emily) Yeah.

Now.

So this, Gothictown, is book six Spell is book seven, so I kind of have my routine down.

I am a very internally motivated and driven person.

So when I have a book idea that I know is like a fully fleshed out book idea, like, you can't stop me from writing it.

I don't have time.

(Emily) So lets go back to that advertisement you saw for the.

(Emily) The Italian Villas.

(Holly) Yes.

Alright so.

(Emily) Yes.

(Holly) So you see that advertisement.

Then what happens?

(Emily) I am like, I have a moment.

It's like a light bulb moment, and I'm like, oh, this is.

Yeah, this would work for me.

And I a lot of my process in the beginning is just internal.

I'm just thinking about who's my main character, what, what does she do?

Like for instance, first she was going to be a bookstore owner and open a bookstore, and then she changed to being a restauranteur.

(Holly) Right.

(Emily) And I just start thinking about like, the setting and the other characters.

And once I feel like, I don't know, it's like this magical moment where all of a sudden I am like, okay, it's there, it's a real book.

And then I sit down and I do try to write every day because it's a momentum thing.

On that first draft, I do 2000 words at least a day, until it's done.

And it's just like running a marathon.

I'm just like, I do it until it's over and it may not look pretty and it may be messy, and I know I'm going to go back and change some things, but that's my process.

(Holly) Have you heard from your family and friends that they know what stage of writing you're and by the way you act?

(Emily) My husband calls it being down on the reef.

Like, if I'm a deep, I'm a scuba diver and I've gone down to the coral (Holly) That's the level you're at.

(Emily) reef and he's just like, she's, she is, I cannot contact her.

(Holly) Yeah.

(Emily) Because she is down on the reef and it really is funny.

He'll come into my little writing area and he'll be like, are you down on the reef?

Can we talk about something?

(Holly) Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Turn it off for just a minute.

(Emily) Yeah.

Yeah.

(Holly) I'm here.

That's awesome.

Alright, well, I think that's all.

Thank you so much for joining us.

This has been a great conversation.

So much happening!

Oh my gosh, I mean we've got two here and another one on the way.

We've got TV.

You're staying busy.

(Emily) Yeah, I am.

Thank you so much.

(Holly) that's really exciting.

It's been wonderful to talk to you.

And I want to say thanks to all of you for joining us.

For Books by the River.

We do love having you around.

I am your host, Holly Jackson, for, thanks for joining us.

Until the next book.

(Emily) The email sat two thirds of the way down my depressingly sparse inbox.

Entrepreneurs, remote workers, professionals, the subject line read.

Then farther down the body, the gentle south beckons you.

I paused, the Netflix documentary playing in the background.

Another pyramid scheme turned cult series where the perpetrators of whatever scam were now sitting in a jail cell.

It was my jam these days.

Two years after New York's pandemic lockdown, comfort watching shows about appalling scammers with God complexes.

They reassured me that sometimes the bad guys really did lose That the people taken in by them, the victims who had suffered major professional and personal loss, could rise from the ashes.

I tossed the remote aside and focused on my laptop.

The email was from someone named Bonnie Saint John.

Probably junk, but what the hell.

My Lower East Side restaurant, Billy's, had been closed long enough that I wasn't even getting any emails related to the business anymore.

I certainly wasn't getting any from mom.

So yeah, even spam had started to look interesting.

I opened it.

'Dear Billy Hope, start your life today in a community that cares.

Courtesy of the Giuliana Initiative.

Founded in 1832, Juliana, Georgia is an idyllic historic river, riverside mill town that offers every amenity you need to start your new business, continue your remote work, or set up your practice in a safe, secure and vital environment.

We may be two hours northwest of bustling Atlanta, but we are a world away from city life.

Julianna has always been its own town and we are proud of it.

The weather is warm here and so are the people.

A perfect place to raise your family or start one at last.

Purchase your dream home in Julianna for only $100 and receive a generous business grant from our Town Council.

We welcome all races, genders, orientations, religions and creeds to Juliana's gentle jewel.'

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (Announcer) Major funding for Books by the River is brought to you by the ETV Endowment of South Carolina, the proud partner of South Carolina ETV and public Radio.

With the generosity of individuals, corporations and foundations, the ETV Endowment is committed to sharing southern storytelling and compelling conversations with viewers across the nation.

This program is supported by Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina.

This program is made possible by the support of Peter Zamuka and Lynn Baker.

Additional funding for Books by the River is provided by Visit Beaufort, Port Royal and Sea Islands and Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at USC, Beaufort.

♪ ♪