1–What is the title of your latest release?
2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Sisters Anna and Jennie live in a historic bungalow along the Chicago River. An inexplicable number of drownings in the area cause them to worry, and soon two detectives come calling, believing there’s a connection between the home and a potential serial killer.
3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
My most recent novels have been love letters to the city of Chicago, where I live, and it felt right that this be one as well.
4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
With Anna? Most certainly. She is very sweet and full of curiosity and wonder. She just needs to get out of her house more.
5–What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Lovely. Sweet. Sad.
6–What’s something you learned while writing this book?
That the sinking of the S.S. Eastland, in which over 800 peopled died in the Chicago River in 1915, is one of the largest maritime disasters in United States history.
7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
This novel had a strange life. It began as a novella and then morphed into a novel. Overall, I write straight through and then go back and edit once completed.
8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Ah! I love a great cheeseburger, fries and a vanilla milkshake.
9–Describe your writing space/office!
It’s a small office that’s connected to my bedroom. It was once the second-floor porch, but we had it refinished into my tiny little office. It’s all white with accents of pink throughout. A pink sofa and yes, a pink computer.
10–Who is an author you admire?
Jesse Ball is my favorite living author.
11–Is there a book that changed your life?
The Way Through Doors by Jesse Ball
12–Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
My agent called me and asked if I was sitting down. I told him to hold on and I ran down the stairs so my husband could hear as well.
13–What’s your favorite genre to read?
I really like mysteries and thrillers, and poetry as well. Wait, I think all of them. Let’s just say all of them.
14–What’s your favorite movie?
The Wizard of Oz
15–What is your favorite season?
Spring in Chicago is unmatched
16–How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Maybe pick up a pizza and cake, but it’s mostly for the kids to celebrate. I don’t really celebrate my birthday otherwise, but I do pizza and cake just for them.
17–What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
18–What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Italian
19–What do you do when you have free time?
Sleep!
20–What can readers expect from you next?
My next novel is tentatively titled RED GATE WOODS and it’s an adaptation of Charles Perrault’s “The Sleeping Beauty of the Wood”
FORGOTTEN SISTERS by Cynthia Pelayo
A city’s haunted history and fairy-tale horrors converge for two women in an addictive novel of psychological suspense by a multiple Bram Stoker Award–nominated author.
Sisters Anna and Jennie live in a historic bungalow on the Chicago River. They’re tethered to a disquieting past, and with nowhere else to go, nothing can part them from their family home. Not the maddening creaks and disembodied voices that rattle the old walls. Not the inexplicable drownings in the area, or the increasing number of bodies that float by Anna’s window.
To stave off loneliness, Anna has a podcast, spinning ghostly tales of Chicago’s tragic history. But when Anna captures the attention of an ardent male listener, she awakens to the possibilities of a world outside.
As their relationship grows, so do Jennie’s fears. More and more people are going missing in the river. And then two detectives come calling.
They’re looking for a link between the mysteries of the river and what’s housed on the bank. Even Anna and Jennie don’t understand how dreadful it is—and still can be—when the truth about their unsettled lives begins to surface.
Suspense Psychological [Thomas & Mercer, On Sale: March 19, 2024, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781662513916 / ]
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About Cynthia Pelayo
Cynthia Pelayo is a Bram Stoker Award winning and International Latino Book Award winning author and poet.
Pelayo writes fairy tales that blend genre and explore concepts of grief, mourning, and cycles of violence. She is the author of Loteria, Santa Muerte, The Missing, Poems of My Night, Into the Forest and All the Way Through, Children of Chicago, Crime Scene, The Shoemaker’s Magician, as well as dozens of standalone short stories and poems.
Loteria, which was her MFA in Writing thesis at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, was re-released to praise with Esquire calling it one of the ‘Best Horror Books of 2023.’ Santa Muerte and The Missing, her young adult horror novels were each nominated for International Latino Book Awards. Poems of My Night was nominated for an Elgin Award. Into the Forest and All the Way Through was nominated for an Elgin Award and was also nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection. Children of Chicago was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award in Superior Achievement in a Novel and won an International Latino Book Award for Best Mystery. Crime Scene won the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection. The Shoemaker’s Magician has been released to praise with Library Journal awarding it a starred review.
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