AUTHOR SAMANTHA JOYCE IS HERE TO TELL YOU

Samantha Joyce, author of the recently-released NOT TODAY, SATAN (Entangled Teen), will be appearing at the Buy Canadian Book Market in Toronto’s East End this upcoming June 7, and sharing a table with… you got it, me. I thought it might be fun to give you a little sneak peek as to what to expect, and share a little more about this exquisitely comedic author (and why hell is so damned funny), in her own words. 

Was it hard to write a funny book about hell?

SJ: I actually didn’t set out to write a funny book about hell; it’s just how my sense of humour works. As soon as Nate appeared, he just became the catalyst for a lot of the moments of humor and stuff like that. I tend to be the one who makes jokes in the awkward situations and uses humor to mask the really bad moments. So I’d probably be the one making jokes in hell, you know? I set out to make a very serious book, but it ended up just becoming a lot more comedic than I thought it would. But I loved that part of it.

Would you consider yourself a comedic writer typically? 

SJ: I tend to write snarky characters who are a little bit tough and use humour to mask that toughness. I’m a person who’s always trying to get somebody to laugh and say something funny. I was an actress and I always ended up playing the funny character parts. It just comes naturally to me to try to make people laugh. I don’t always succeed because my humour definitely is its own breed.

I think with all of my books, there’s always going to be a little bit of humor in them, even in serious moments, just because that’s part of who I am and how I take life. If you can’t laugh at something tough, then you might end up crying, and I’d rather laugh about it. 

Tell me about Satan’s daughter.

SJ: Devica is a total badass. I adore her. From a physical standpoint, she’s a plus-size gal, but that is not a part of the plot or story at all. It’s just who she is. She has grown up very sheltered, in a way. The stories she knows of Earth are [from] books that she steals from her father’s collection. 

Her father [taught her] that all humans are corrupt. And to be fair, that’s all she sees, the bad parts of humanity. So, when she meets Nate, this boy who really doesn’t fit what she’s been taught, it kind of throws her entire existence for a loop. 

She has a dad who’s very controlling, and who definitely is not the greatest dad. He’s often in his own world. He’s very narcissistic. He cares more about himself than anybody else. And Devica, she’s strong-willed and she’s stubborn and she’s quite sarcastic. She grows a lot in her journey, and that’s what I love about her.

Devica was who I needed when I was a teenager.

You mentioned Nate a bit. Can you tell us a bit more about Devica’s love interest? 

Nate is a 17-year-old boy who has been sent down to hell. He grew up in the foster system; he’s a foster kid accused of murdering his foster father. He has definitely suffered a lot in his life, and he has chosen to use humour to cover that up. He makes Devica laugh, but also think about humanity, because he really is kind. He’s a golden retriever boy: very loyal, very sweet, very kindhearted. Definitely the opposite of a person you think would end up in hell. 

He and Devica start out almost as two polar opposites, but they have a lot more in common than they know. On the surface, they seem like they shouldn’t belong together, but the more they learn about each other, the more they realize that they understand each other more than they thought that they did.

I adore Nate. I loved writing him. He tells a lot of dad jokes, says a lot of puns. He calls the demons by all the wrong names. There’s one serial joke where he constantly calls one of the demons by the wrong name, every single time. I’m really excited to explore him more in the second book.

So it’s a series!

SJ: It’s a two book Duology, and Book One ends on a cliffhanger. I think we’re going to learn a lot more about Nate in book two, and I’m really excited to do that.

What do you love most about Not Today, Satan?

SJ: I wrote this book to be the book I needed as a teenager. I think what I love most about it is that, on the surface, it seems like just a rom-com set in hell, but it tackles things that I dealt with as a teenager. Devica’s father wants her to take over for him, but that’s not what she wants with her life. As a teen, I definitely had the ‘what I wanted versus what my parents wanted for me’ deal. As well, Devica deals with image [problems]. She’s the daughter of the devil. She knows what people think of her is based on where she comes from. And she has to grapple with what she believes is her identity versus how other people see her.

There’s so much below the surface of this fun, funny book set in hell. It deals with questions like: what does it mean to be good or evil? What does it mean to follow in our parents’ footsteps and break away from them? Devica was who I needed when I was a teenager. I love the depth to it, but I also love the funny parts. I do love making people laugh.

…on the surface, it seems like just a rom-com set in hell, but it tackles things that I dealt with as a teenager…

Switching tracks for a little bit: what’s your favorite book trope?

I love Enemies to Lovers. I am such a sucker for a good Enemies to Lovers story, for the one bed trope.

What is the one thing you wished people knew about being a writer—or alternatively, being a writer in Canada? Because that seems to be its own bag.

Those are two different questions. Being a writer, you have to love it. This is not for the faint of heart. Getting Not Today. Satan published took 12 years. I wrote the first draft in 2013. It’s not an easy road. I almost gave up many, many times. In fact, I did give up for about a year. But when you want to be a writer, you know, it, and you can’t live without it. 

I feel like you have to really want this because you’re dealing with constant rejection. And then even if your book gets picked by an agent, then you have to go on sub and you’re dealing with more rejection. And then if your book gets published, you’re dealing with reviews and sales and it’s just a constant questioning of yourself. You have to want this really badly and be willing to work for it. 

I actually love being a Canadian author.  One of my favorite authors is Margaret Atwood. I grew up reading her. I write nothing like her. She’s a genius. (Laughs). I love reading books set in Canada. I feel like when you read a book written by a Canadian set in Canada, you just know. 

I did find that I got to make friends with a lot of lovely Canadian writers. And I love that about us.

What is your favorite book or books right now? 

I’ve been making my way through a lot of Entangled authors because I wanted to read books from my publishing siblings. So I’ve been reading Kalla Harris’s new book, The Ground That Devours Us, and E.L. Starling’s Bound by Stars. 

I’m starting to look at the Mayhem Books that just came out, such as A Stage Set for Villains by Shannon J. Spann. I’m really enjoying what Entangled is doing with books right now. I find it really exciting. I actually just started Fourth Wing. I know. I’m so behind. I was like, ‘Oh no, I’m going to get so pulled into this fandom,’ because I so easily get pulled into fandoms. I literally have only read the first chapter. 

The world needs more… What?

Kindness. I think that we live in a world where we sometimes forget to be kind. It’s so easy to get caught up in our own stuff that it’s easy to take things out on other people, sometimes even strangers. And I feel like sometimes if we just take a beat and think about that person as a person, you never know what somebody’s going through in their own life, and I feel like kindness is always the answer. I know it’s such a cheesy answer, but…

Not at all. I think we all need that a little more these days. 

SJ: Yeah. It’s tough right now. It’s hard to stay on the kind train, but I’m trying.

So, you and I are going to be our own Entangled Teen table at the Buy Canadian Book Market. Which is so weird and interesting.

SJ: It’s so funny we both are Entangled Teen authors and ended up at the same table.

Do you have other book events lined up this year?

SJ: The only other one I have booked right now is Royal City Romance in Guelph on Halloween. How could I not go do a Halloween show with a hell book? And then the Buy Canadian Book Market. I’m looking at doing another couple signings at some bookstores out in the opposite direction of where I’ve been signing now. There will be more.

Do you know what kind of swag you’re bringing to the Buy Canadian Book Market?

I have stickers and bookmarks and buttons and postcards with art on them. For every person that purchases a book, they get a little swag bag with all of it inside.

NOT TODAY, SATAN

I’m destined to rule the damned…not fall for one.

Think your life is hell?

Try being the Prince of Darkness’s only daughter―a seventeen-year-old born and raised in Hell, destined to inherit the throne, and constantly enduring the (literal) eternal moans and screams of souls who had it coming.

The only thing worse than ruling the Underworld is working here. Day after day, it’s me, a bunch of demons who are too intimidated by my dad to befriend me, and an endless lineup of sinners. Until Nathan Reynolds shows up, with a smile that could turn brimstone to butterflies, claiming he’s innocent.

I don’t question the system; it’s never wrong. But Nate’s pleading eyes have me doubting everything I’ve ever known.

So, I’m going to do the one thing I’m not supposed to do: I’m going to help him break out. Even if it means showing Nate exactly who I am. Metaphorical horns and all.

Because if we don’t make it out of here?

We’re not just damned. We’re doomed.