In a quaint little restaurant in Echo Park, an up and coming author is sitting in a baseball cap, black tee and lululemon joggers. He’s unassuming to say the least, but then most people who want to go unbothered in Los Angeles are the same.
The location is Bacari, and it’s four p.m in the afternoon, and I’m interviewing Michael Harbron for Scrubs Magazine’s book club. For reference, horror is our number one genre with our readers.
As I arrive, Harbron jumps up to greet me and flashes a genuine interested smile.
“Nice to meet you, this place is super cute, and I feel like you can get lost in here.” He states as we exchange a greeting.
I immediately garner a non pretentious, welcoming and just overall nice guy vibe. It’s surprising on a number of facets, mainly because he seems to have come out of nowhere and his debut novels have not only been massively well reviewed by some major horror bookstagrammers, but his rating on Goodreads and Amazon scores an average 4.5. It’s almost unheard of for a debut author.
And it makes sense, Hollywood is a far cry from his home, where he was raised in the North of England near Hadrian’s Wall, the same wall that was depicted in Game of Thrones. The son of a working class family, he grew up in a poorer part of town.
“Growing up was fun, when you live in your own little bubble you tend not to really understand what is going on outside of it. My friends and I all lived in the projects and so I just didn’t really know any different. I’m not sure what it is, but in the projects, you get superstitious, we all just loved scaring each other.”
As we get the pleasantries out of the way, I start my interview with the author. I begin by talking about the book, or rather, the three of them.
Tell me about your book, we’ve read it at the Magazine, but let the readers know.
“I’ve got to tell you, that this horror story is everything you’ve ever wanted and more. I would read stories and watch movies only to be left disappointed time and time again. All too often it would be ‘oh the Devil possessed someone, priest comes in and saves the day, and bam, everything is just dandy again.’ I’m a big horror buff, and so I wanted to write a story that delivered on every angle and knock you off your seat! A story so good, that you’d question your own existence by the end of it. And considering what’s happened since I released it, I’d say it’s on track.”
Tell me more on that!
“Well, since the release of each book, they haven’t left the top thirty on Amazon’s best seller list. I’m ranking higher than Stephen King which is daunting but exciting to say the least, I’m a huge fan of his! I’ve been reading what bookstagrammers have been saying, some calling it the best horror story they’ve ever read. These are seasoned people who know their stuff, so for my debut novel, it’s come across pretty well.”
I heard that you became part of the Satanic Church for research?
“I actually considered joining it and during the process found a member who was willing to talk to me about everything instead. I kind of wanted an unbiased view and so the member worked with me for a year giving me an historical account of the church and what it all entails. I really wanted to make sure this novel hit hard. I’m not religious but I grew up catholic, so I know that side of the story, what I didn’t know was the Devil’s side.”
Was it all sacrifices and virgins?
“When I met my contact, I asked him ‘where’s the goat?’, and he just laughed. But in actual fact, the social aspect of it was just very freeing, do unto others what you’d want done to yourself. So in essence, don’t be an ass. It was the historical aspects and movements that really intrigued me. Even bringing lawsuits against America for their right to religious freedom. You’ll notice all the accuracies and references in the book.”
You claim that no one has written a book like this before, tell me why!
“I know horror really well, and I wrote this trilogy from the perspective of a fan. What do horror fans want? Why are we constantly disappointed? Why is there no after story? The ending to this trilogy should blow your mind, you won’t see it coming, and when you do, you really will question your own faith, whether you’re an atheist or devout. But obviously that’s the end, throughout I had to ensure there were so many twists. It’s like book one, for the most part, you don’t know if Joe is going mad, or he really is interviewing the Devil!”
And is he?
“Read the book.” Harbron states with a smirk.
Spooky! Do you believe in the afterlife?
I believe that there’s something, because there must be. There can’t be something from nothing. My stories are fiction, but they metaphorize religion and really challenge you to think about things in a different way, it’s one reason I wrote the book. I’m an agnostic atheist, my Dad was just a pure atheist, when your time was up, it was up! My theories are just as wild as thinking Moses parted the red sea, and I channeled a lot of my thoughts in the story, especially Epoch, there’s a lot of metaphors, especially the plot twist with God in Epoch, if you know you know. I love the scientific aspect of quantum physics and entanglement, I’m fascinated by the slit experiment, and I think there’s so many things we just don’t know. I believe that energy can’t be destroyed or created, and that there are higher frequencies, everything down to a micro level vibrates, so there has to be something with it. But overall yeah, I’ve had too many experiences to think otherwise.”
You’re building a Universe around the Devil is that right?
Yes, most of my career will be bent around this Universe. As I started writing, there were so many more stories I wanted to tell. I want Joe’s story to continue, but it’s going to go in a more Sci-Fi Alien meets Star Trek kind of angle, there’s the story of Lilly, Amy and so many more characters.
You’ve said you don’t write gore, but Chapter 12 in Resurrection was pretty gory!
Yeah, I get that. I’ve also had a couple of people wonder why the chapter is in there at all considering the disclaimer I put at the beginning. (here Harbron mentions at the beginning of the book, that if rape or torture is triggering, you can skip the chapter without losing continuity in the book) But, the goal of that chapter was to introduce Elias in a way that will make sense in other stories. I’m not just doing it for shock value. My point with gore, is that it can exist without it being the main vibe of the story. If I wanted to, I could bang out stories all day long that chopped people up, and had you hiding under the covers, but it’s already out there. I’ll never write anything like the Purge, or Saw. I think they’re great concepts and obviously hugely successful, but I just couldn’t raise that type of stuff to the surface level of my brain. The Purge and Saw is something I can see happening in real life, and that terrifies me.
What do you want people to take away from your stories?
Ya know, I’m the type of guy that looks forward to every horror movie or show that comes out. My goal with these stories is to take traditional supernatural horror, but give it the twist and ending they deserve, the ending I want to read or see. I want to leave people mind blown, questioning our existence in this universe and their place in it, along with giving them something scary and exciting to read.”
My interview with Harbron was just perfect. The author is clearly on track to becoming majorly successful with a few big name networks already talking to him about his trilogy. As I end the interview, Harbron stays behind with his laptop and puts some final touches on The Witch, an Interview with the Devil story, the first spin off.
You can buy Interview with the Devil now exclusively Amazon, or Barnes and Noble.
Influencers have been covering the book from left to right, and if you’re wondering what people are thinking, we included a few social posts below, along with their instagram details so you can follow more horror stories.
SpookyLittleBookNerd says:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This ended up being even better than I expected. I was transfixed from the very beginning. While there are plenty of creepy, hair-raising moments, and even some gore, this isn’t all horror. It’s more intriguing and thought-provoking. There’s also some dark humor that creeps up that made me laugh at times.
SarahIsReadingAgain says:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Wow. Wow. Wow. I am literally at a loss for words and that isn’t like me at all! Hands down, this is one of the best horror series I’ve ever read.
A link to some other amazing bookstagrammers who have featured the author:
