A viral epidemic is sweeping America, and one sheltered teenage girl and her dog must find some way, any way, to survive. CJ Leede’s American Rapture is a blistering horror packed violence, coming-of-age romance, lashings of religious guilt, and a road-trip through Wisconsin like no other.
As the book lands on UK bookshelves, we spoke to CJ to discuss the work of bringing the apocalypse to the page.
Could you tell us about your book? What can the reader expect from American Rapture?
American Rapture follows Sophie, a sheltered Catholic sixteen-year-old in the midwest as she comes into the beginnings of a sexual awakening, and at the same time America erupts with a violent, sexually propagating viral epidemic. She must cross the state to reach her family, stay alive, and eventually question everything she knows about the world. It’s apocalyptic religious horror, coming of age, found family, and there’s a very good boy (of the canine variety) in it. It’s very different from Maeve Fly but deals with some of the same themes, in a very different way.
It’s a book that takes us from the rule-based order of St Augustine’s to a world of complete chaos. It must have been a real trip as an author to tear up the rule book in the way you do here.
Is there a rule book? (*said with a wink and a smile). It was fun! It was difficult, logistically. You wouldn’t believe how hard it can be in a big apocalyptic novel to keep track of clothing items or characters or who has what injury when. But it was a great joy to write this book. It was painful, it was incredibly emotional. And ultimately a huge catharsis, which is I suppose what all of my books have been.
In your letter to the reader, you state: “My job as I see it is to explore all the worsts. And all the bests too.” There’s the worst of the worst in this book, but American Rapture contains plenty of light and captures the complicated joys of coming of age too. How important is it to you as a writer to balance the two?
To be honest, not particularly. (Smiling again)! American Rapture is probably the book in which I am most trying to say something out of anything I’ve written or will write. I kind of like chaotic transgressive fiction in general and feel a writer has no responsibility to write things that are particularly ethical, aspirational, or morally upstanding (because it’s fiction and it’s art, and artists should be able to express themselves however they’d like, and readers can take what they like and toss the rest).
That said, in this particular story, I was trying to say something, to speak to a way of living I think would have improved my life thus far and that I personally aspire to. And one that I give as an offering to the reader as a possibility for them too. What if we remove the shame and guilt and anything that makes us feel small? What if we focus on loving those around us and allowing others to love however they please (so long as it’s consensual and kind)? What if we question the systems that might seek to make us feel less than? Might there be a way forward that’s freer and more loving and kinder than we can even imagine? So, with this book, yes, I wanted to put forth the possibility that there could be more light in this world, and it can start with any of us.
Do you have a Mrs Parson in your own life? Someone who encouraged your love of reading?
I was very very lucky in that my parents have been incredibly supportive of my reading always. I was an only child and had a lot of alone time as a kid, and I had library books to spend the time with, and it was wonderful to get to discover a world through books. All the worlds, all the universes and possibilities. I loved my school library, and all the librarians were amazing. I could not believe that every book on every shelf was a world waiting to be discovered. It really blew my mind, and still does to this day.
The US horror literary landscape is in an incredibly healthy state – clearly the current global climate is providing fertile ground. Who are you reading, and is there much of a community between horror writers in the States?
The community of horror writers here is incredible. I’ve just come off StokerCon weekend, and I have to say, I feel so lucky to get to be a part of it all. Everyone lifts each other up and supports each other’s work, and it’s just truly wondrous to see the ways in which everyone is here for each other. As far as what I’m reading now, I’ve just started Sarah Gailey’s SPREAD ME, and it’s totally amazing.
Weirdly, one of my favourite parts of the book were the road signs and billboards dotted across the Wisconsin landscape – moments of mundanity (and occasional profundity!) amongst the chaos. Did you have a favourite?
Thank you! I don’t think it’s weird at all! Our country has a lot of problems, and saying that right now feels like the understatement of the century. But some things I think are actually wonderful here are our highways and roadside attractions and oddities and parks, and Americana culture in general. For a long time there was a feeling that it belonged to only one half of the country and their ideological systems. But I think there’s been a recent push toward the rest of us claiming it too (Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter certainly hasn’t hurt)!, and I think that’s incredibly important. It’s ours too, after all!
And I’m not sure I could pick a favourite of the billboards mentioned, but the one I’ve seen most often around the country, and the one that maybe most succinctly sums up the problem of the book is: LUST WILL DRAG YOU DOWN TO HELL.
American Rapture is out now with Footnote Press
