Auralee Wallace: On Balancing Different Genres
In this interview, author Auralee Wallace discusses balancing gore and coziness with her new fantasy novel, The Late-Night Witches.
Auralee Wallace is the author of multiple novels, including the Otter Lake mystery series and the Evenfall Witches B&B Mysteries. She has an undergraduate degree in psychology and a master’s degree in English literature, and she worked in the publishing industry for a number of years before teaching at the college level. When this perpetually sleep-deprived mother of three children and one rescue cat isn’t writing, reading, or playing soccer, she can be found watching BBC mysteries and warring with a family of peregrine falcons for the rights to her backyard. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram.
In this interview, Auralee discusses balancing gore and coziness with her new fantasy novel, The Late-Night Witches, her hope for readers, and more.
Name: Auralee Wallace
Literary agent: Natalie Lakosil, Looking Glass Literary & Media
Book title: The Late-Night Witches
Publisher: ACE
Release date: August 19, 2025
Genre/category: Contemporary Fantasy
Previous titles: In the Company of Witches, When the Crow’s Away
Elevator pitch: Exhausted super-mom Cassie Beckett is juggling a teenager, twin boys, and a husband working overseas when she discovers one tiny detail nobody mentioned in the school newsletter: she's fated to duel a centuries-old master vampire on Halloween night. Think Buffy meets Practical Magic on Prince Edward Island's red-sand beaches.
What prompted you to write this book?
I knew I wanted to create a witchy story with “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” vibes, but ultimately it was my experience with breast cancer that made me want to write about an overwhelmed mom fighting an indomitable enemy. Cancer felt like my own personal vampire, and I had to face it whether I was ready or not. One of the things that experience taught me is that life doesn’t wait for the perfect time to throw you a curve ball, and being a mom sometimes means doing lots of hard things at once.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
It took just over a year to go from pitch to publication—which is pretty quick—but Penguin had previously expressed interest in publishing my next work. When the time came to pitch, I had already floated a couple of ideas to my agent, and she first presented a different option to my editor. The team wasn’t sold, so she pulled out my rough concept for Witches vs. Vampires (working title), and they jumped on it. I think the idea of a baby dressed in a garlic onesie sealed the deal. There really weren’t any major changes from the original concept, but there was a lot of playing around with the balance between cozy and horror elements.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
The marketing/promotion for this book was much more intense than it had been for my previous works, and to be honest, I was nervous about the podcasts and interviews that had been lined up for me. Much to my surprise, though, I had a lot of fun talking about books with fellow book lovers. Who knew? The questions were often incredibly insightful and made me think about my process in new ways. I’m still a bit uncomfortable talking about myself in general, but overall, the experience was a lot of fun.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
As I mentioned briefly, mashing up genres is tricky business. Cozies have their conventions, just as horror does—pleasing both audiences isn't an easy task. The biggest challenge was the stakes (pun intended). Ultimately, this is a heartwarming book, but vampires imply life-and-death scenarios. That can be a tough mix. For instance, how do you write a scene where someone's fighting for their life but also worrying about who's picking up the kids from soccer practice? Or how much vampire decapitation is too much vampire decapitation for a cozy bookworm? Readers have different tolerances for both blood and coziness (yes, even too much coziness can be grating). Balancing the two was challenging, but I’m happy with how the story turned out.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
I hope readers recognize that ordinary people do extraordinarily hard things every day. It might not be pretty, but sometimes there's real courage in simply getting out of bed and putting one foot in front of the other. That maxim that you don't know how much you can handle until you're forced to handle it is true. Sometimes that might mean chemotherapy, sometimes it's managing a break-up, and sometimes—if you're Cassie—it's learning to stake vampires while packing lunches.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
Feelings of imposter syndrome are inevitable but try not to waste too much time on them. Every minute spent ruminating on your fears would be better spent writing. We all feel like frauds sometimes, but I believe getting published has far more to do with perseverance and having a growth mindset than talent and innate confidence.
