Interview with J.V. Gachs about Epiphany
I recently devoured Epiphany, a novel by Spanish horror writer J.V. Gachs. The reader follows Estela as she pieces together the clues left behind by her wife Eva, who died mysteriously while investigating some famous murders for her true crime podcast. I couldn’t stop reading to solve the mystery, and this dark tale has stayed with me since. I loved being transported to Spain, and to the night of Epiphany when children await the visit of the gift-giving Los Reyes Magos.
J.V. Gachs has kindly agreed to answer some questions!
Do you think something like a kid stumbling upon the truth about Santa Claus or Los Reyes Magos too early can be traumatic? I found this part of the story so creepy, and it's such a universal feeling to be a child waking up to some hidden truth.
I think it’s a small rite of passage into adulthood. Most children are encouraged to believe in some kind of magic, be it the Reyes Magos, Santa, or the Tooth Fairy. You grow up in a world where magical creatures are real, and everyone knows it. But then, one day, out of the blue, someone unveils the awful truth and plucks you from the beautiful lie you’ve been living in and drops you into the magicless world where you’ll be stuck for the rest of your life.
I remember being mad at my mom and refusing to believe everything was fake. I fought her, and tried to prove the Reyes Magos were real by writing a letter and not disclosing the contents with her. Of course, after a couple of days, I gave in and accepted that new boring reality. I took that feeling of betrayal and sadness a little bit further in the book.
Any stand-out traditions/memories of celebrating Epiphany when you were a kid?
Funny enough, we didn’t really celebrate that night at home because my dad worked away and he couldn’t take days off at that time, so we celebrated Christmas and Papa Noel, which wasn’t really in fashion in Spain back in the 80s. We only did it so my father could be a part of the celebration, so Epiphany was just a day where I got socks, and pajamas. The parades, as described in the book, were fun when I believed in the Reyes Magos’ magic, but once I learnt the truth, all I could see were adults playing dress up.
I think fans of Hereditary would enjoy Epiphany, as it touches on a couple of similar themes (and is similarly shocking). As you wrote this book, what were you thinking about the idea of legacy?
Legacy plays a big role in the first half of the book. My grandmother used to tell stories about how she and her sisters were visited by ghosts and received messages from loved ones from beyond. But, as much as she liked recounting her stories, she wasn’t passing any knowledge down. I don’t have memories of her teaching me anything, really. It felt selfish to me. I remember wondering if the family’s power would die with her because she refused to share her secrets with us, her descendants.
Coral, Epiphany’s main character, craves that feeling of being part of something going back generations, and in the absence of answers she blows it out of proportion. I wanted to put her as a character in a situation in which knowing her legacy, the real extent of it, could have saved so many lives.
I'm fascinated by the ability to write fiction in more than one language. For you, is the process of writing fiction in English very different from the process of writing it in Spanish?
My process has wildly changed from the time I started. At first, I wrote my short stories in Spanish and then translated them, but that turned out to be very inefficient as I would have to completely rethink sentence structure and word choices, so I decided to write directly in English.
However, when I was drafting Epiphany, I realized some of the topics I wanted to talk about felt too close to my heart to be open about them in my second language. It feels like I have two different personalities depending on the language I’m speaking, and I believe it boils down to English not being attached to some core memories in my brain. My mother tongue allowed me to be raw and vulnerable when telling myself the story. It was a necessary step for this book in particular that has paid off in the end, because that Spanish version is going to be published in the first semester of 2024 by Dolmen Editorial, a Spanish press, which I’m extremely excited about.
I wrote Spooky Lovers, a novella coming out later this year with Interstellar Flight Press, in English thinking I wouldn’t need to translate it, but… Roberto Carrasco the EIC of Dimensiones Ocultas gave me the chance to share the English manuscript with him... And as I’m typing this, I’m almost done with the Spanish translation of Spooky Lovers for its Halloween 2024 Spanish release.
It was funny to me back when I signed that contract, that my debut novella in English and Spanish wouldn’t be the same book, especially because Epiphany and Spooky Lovers are wildly different books, so I’m glad Dolmen has given the chance to change that.
5) Who are some of your writing inspirations?
I’ve always been an avid reader, but horror came later in life. I’ve always loved horror movies, but when it came to books, I wasn’t that much into it. Obviously, I read Poe and Lovecraft in my teens, but the authors I was drawn to back when I started developing my love for literature were 19th century Spanish authors like Benito Pérez Galdos and Larra. I was deeply fascinated by the works of Boris Vian, Marguerite Duras and Virginia Woolf, who were the authors my uncle kept in his shelves (where I stole them), and I had a deep literary crush on Gabriel García Márquez that’s still ongoing. I believe reading outside your genre is important, and I’m glad I have these influences to draw from that aren’t even speculative in most cases.
It was only recently, when I read The Rust Maidens by Gwendolyn Kiste and Crossroads by Laurel Hightower, that my love for horror beyond movies flourished. I realized I could find stories that really spoke to me, and those books in particular allowed me to see that the door was open for me to tell my own, that what was horrific to me could resonate with others too. I went back to the classics and started devouring everything horror that came to my hands.
6) Anything to share about future projects you're working on?
Right now, I’m very excited about Spooky Lovers being released in two different languages. After Epiphany, I needed to write something a bit lighter, although there are horrible things happening in Spooky Lovers, the tone and the characters are somewhat softer, cozier.
Soon, I’ll be able to share some news about a 2025 release I’m very excited about, a book that dives into religious horror and cults, and it’s also a bit smutty.
The rest of the year, I’m going to focus on writing a gothic novel and promoting the books that will come out next Fall.
Thanks, J
Thanks for sharing with us!