It feels like yesterday when we were announcing our first release, but here we are … already waiting for October 10 so that our second title of 2025 to release. The Haunting of Ashley Hall School by an incredible debut author, Jim D’Andrea is the perfect read this Halloween, blending dark academia and horror, and introducing the world to the next scary horror icon (we’re looking at you, Bag Head) that’ll haunt your nightmares. That’s not all, though … Check out the sizzle reel for The Haunting of Ashley Hall School at the end of the Q&A to get an idea of what’s in store!
Emily’s sensory link to memory is introduced through her strong awareness of smells. How did you decide to give her this trait, and how does it shape her perspective on the world around her?
Yes! I took this directly from my own life. Smell has always been a mnemonic device for me. When I think of a place, I often times remember the way it smells. If I think back to playing little league baseball, I can smell the grass and the food at the concession stands. When I see the pea green street cars of New Orleans, I can smell the way the brakes burn and let off a peculiar scent. The way the story opens up, Emily is only five years old. I wanted her remember the events that day not just by what she saw, but by the smell, and what better place to do that than at a nursing home. We’ve all been inside nursing homes at some point, and they have a particular odor that isn’t usually pleasant. Certainly, it’s one that a child would remember.
As far as how it shapes Emily’s perspective, I think she learns at an early age the things we as humans instinctively retract from. Sickness and death make us uncomfortable. We don’t need to be taught that, it’s instinctual. She knew at age five that a nursing home was not somewhere she wanted to be.
The novel explores how youthful optimism can clash with the realities of pain and loss. How do you see this theme influencing Emily’s growth and her understanding of the people she meets?
The thing I loved about writing this was having a teenage protagonist. It’s a group of five kids, really. I never intended to write a young adult novel, but it just organically happened. High school is such a formative stretch. We think we have all the time in the world and that we’re going to live forever. The coming-of-age aspect to this story felt to me like Stand by Me, or Diary of a Wimpy Kid, or E.T. That’s lofty company, I know. There’s a lot of humor in this book, probably more than most horror stories. And a nice love story. There’s nothing like being a teenager, everything takes on so much magnitude.
Emily’s experience with the four friends she makes is hugely impacted by their circumstances, and I wanted to give the story the feeling of “us against the world”. A boarding school is the perfect setting to create that universe.
Gia suggests that “places aren’t haunted… people are.” How does this idea guide the story, and how does it reshape what a haunting can mean?
I love the idea of people being haunted. Gia talks about spirits needing flesh and blood and nutrients to thrive; they can’t survive in brick and mortar. And what a terrifying concept: the idea that you’re haunted and there is no place to hide! It reminds me of an old horror film that they remade called When a Stranger Calls. A woman keeps getting threatening phone calls and at the end the police call and tell her the calls are coming from INSIDE THE HOUSE!
The truth is, our demons live within us. Buildings are just structures, and if there is such a thing as a haunting, it exists within the flesh and minds of human beings, not in a dank basement or a cabin on a lake. It’s also a huge metaphor for our own demons—whatever they may be, the actions we aren’t proud of, or the things we fear most. Overcoming those obstacles require mental strength and conditioning and it is a choice that we can consciously make.
Within the context of this story, Emily comes to believe she is the one who is haunted, and she is riddled with guilt for having brought so much trauma to her friends who are along for the ride. She wonders if they will abandon her, and when they don’t, they become a formidable team.
One of your adult characters is driven by a philosophy about turning obstacles into opportunities. How did this outlook influence their choices and the challenges they set in motion?
I love using philosophy in horror writing. It complements the stories so well. Philosophy and religion both. And yes, I used a quote from Marcus Aurelius that I really love: “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way”. It’s from his book Meditations. In the novel there is a philosophy professor who plays a vital role in the story, and he teaches the students this quote. It’s about learning to adapt; understanding that something that prevents you from achieving what you want is teaching you a lesson. Learn from it, and that becomes your path. Any impediment to your action will advance new action, which then becomes the route you follow.
The kids in this novel do just that, finding a way to confront the monster that haunts them. He is a conjured spirit that manifests in the flesh; a reimagining of Frankenstein in many ways, and Emily must learn what motivates him in order to destroy him.
The figure at the heart of the book is motivated by regret. What inspired you to give a supernatural presence such a psychological depth, and how does it connect with your characters’ vulnerabilities?
I always found it strange to have monsters that can’t be explained. Like Mike Myers in Halloween, he’s just this dude going around pointlessly murdering people and nothing can kill him. It makes no sense. I actually liked the Rob Zombie remake because he tried to give us some background on Myers, but some other people didn’t want that. Pointless slasher stories never appealed to me.
The monster in my novel is created, like Frankenstein was, and the creators had a purpose for it, beyond simply trying to bring something to life. There are points at the end of the book where you might actually feel sympathy for the monster—in spite of all the horrible things he’s done—because you understand where he comes from and what he represents. I think “bad guys” who are three dimensional are so much more interesting, and I tried to create that.
A mysterious VHS tape plays an important role in the plot. What drew you to use this device, and how does it reflect Emily’s growing connection to the mystery surrounding Ashley Hall?
I love lost-footage story lines, there’s so much you can do with them. And yes, Emily and her friends find a VHS tape hidden in the heating vent of a condemned building. They watch it and discover it is a recording of the night the school became haunted forty years earlier by a group of students.
The importance to the protagonist is that it galvanizes her worst fears: that she is, in fact, dealing with a spirit who is haunting her. That epiphany changes her perspective, making her realize she’s in a life-and-death struggle against evil.
Both Emily and Martin face insecurities that push them to grow. Which aspects of their development were most important to you, and how do their paths mirror or contrast with each other?
Character arc is a huge part of this novel. These kids are fourteen years old, and I tried to harken back to those days in my own life. Teenage years are steeped with insecurities for all of us, even the most successful people. I wanted to capture that element of their personalities. I wanted people to feel like they were in high school again as they read the interactions amongst the five main characters in the story. I want the reader to be able to relate to them.
Personal growth was not only important to make the characters feel real, but it’s a tool they use to help them defeat their demon. I love that they grow together, as a group, and their friendship blossoms through the trauma they endure.
The story weaves in Ouija boards, Wicca, and Voodoo. What research helped you portray these elements, and what do you hope readers take away about how belief and the unknown shape us?
I lived in New Orleans several years ago, and I remember being fascinated by the Voodoo shops around the French Quarter. Yes, there were loads of trinkets for tourists to take home, but it also made me want to learn more about the actual religion. Once again, religion (and philosophy) are wonderful vehicles to use when writing a horror story. Good and evil are so closely positioned; mere inches from each other. Inextricably linked. I think as a writer you can play with that relationship. This person could have been good if things had broken just slightly differently. Good guys and bad guys are cut from the same cloth, and it’s the tiny choices that will determine their fate.
The book suggests that some dark events may come from human choices rather than pure chance. How do you balance psychological roots of horror with forces beyond our control?
So many horror stories are built around the loss of control. A possession. A madman on the loose. A murderous clown run amok. And that’s all great, but I always loved the stories that drag you across a razor blade in slow-motion. Stories like Rosemary’s Baby or Silence of the Lambs are fantastic because they’re built upon the abilities and frailties of the human mind. No clown needed. No Jason Vorhees.
Everything in our lives is filtered through our own minds, and every experience is our interpretation of what is happening, and that’s a prodigious tool to use as a storyteller. I enjoy stories like The Sixth Sense that use psychological manipulation to walk the viewer to a really spooky place.
By the close of the story, there’s a sense that hauntings may be as much about people as places. What lasting impression did you want readers to carry about memory, fear, and the weight of the past?
I saw Tom Cruise in an interview talking about fear (answering a question about his stunts) and he said of it: “Whatever it is you’re afraid of, just keep looking right at it. Don’t look away. Stare at it until it doesn’t scare you anymore”. I thought that was brilliant, and can be extrapolated into so many aspects of fear as an emotion.
That idea was something I used in this novel. The characters are in an existential crisis, and they have to attack their fears individually and collectively in order to survive.
But in the end, if the readers of this story are entertained, and feel it was well-written and enjoyable, I will be proud. That’s my number one objective. I sincerely appreciate anyone who takes the time to read my novel, and I hope you find it entertaining!
