02/14/2026 An interview with L. Marie Wood about her new novel THE TRYST!

L. Marie Wood is the recipient of the Golden Stake Award for Literature and the International Impact Book Award. She is also a MICO Award-winning screenwriter, a two-time Bookfest Award winner, a four-time Bram Stoker Award® Nominee, a Bram Stoker Award® winner, an Ignyte Award finalist, a Rhysling nominated poet, and an accomplished essayist. Wood is the President of the Horror Writers Association, the founder of the Speculative Fiction Academy, an English and Creative Writing professor, as well as a horror scholar. Learn more at www.lmariewood.com. In 2024, the HWA presented her with the Mentor of the Year Award.

Today she’s talking to us about her new novel, The Tryst, releasing on Valentine’s Day! Thanks for agreeing to talk to both me and Candace Nola at Uncomfortably Dark.

You described The Tryst as a slipstream novel. Can you explain what that means to you and where its inspiration came from?

The Tryst, indeed, the whole Red Thread Saga, plays with elements from the romance, horror, sci-fi, action, mystery, thriller, and suspense genres. At first blush, that might seem like cross-genre, but there’s more to it than that. It is not the mash-up of genres where both/all are represented with adherence to the expectations that come with those kinds of stories. Slipstream uses elements of multiple subgenres to create something new, something that has its own expectations of flow and conclusion. The beauty of slipstream is that those expectations shift depending upon the subgenres that are borrowed from. It’s a beautifully experimental genre that allows authors to truly explore storytelling outside the boundaries of convention.

Psychological horror has been my main subgenre throughout my career. This subgenre straddles the line of so many others spaces: mystery, thriller, suspense, in addition to other horror subgenres like quiet and gothic. Creating a story that makes space for all of those elements to coexist was a natural progression for me.

From the vampires in The Promise Keeper to the psychological horror of 12 Hours, you’re an author who takes risks and follows her inspiration—that’s one of my favorite parts about your work, and I know it’s something that Mocha Memoirs Press also values. I also know you’re a pantser. How do you think those work together to create your stories, and how does that relate to who you are as an artist?

I think they speak to my overall approach to my art. I write stories that I want to read. I want to read things that are multifaceted, that challenge me to connect some of the dots, that make me think about it when I’m done. This is also what interests me when viewing movies and listening to music; the intricacy of a piece is important to me. The process itself – what could appear to be a lack of structure, but actually reflects immense control of prose and narrative, is what is most important to me and informs my interest, whether that is in someone else’s produced work or my own. Being a pantser allows me to consistently surprise myself with the path while simultaneously challenging me to hold up the prose. If either falters, so does my interest.

The Tryst has significant elements of romance—fated love, a threesome. But it doesn’t follow the traditional plot, pacing, or character conventions of romance. How would you relate the novel to the romance tradition?

I have always said that I write the lived experience. The lived experience is impermanent, and that state relates to all aspects of life, romance included. Scenarios rarely present themselves perfectly; variables hardly ever fall into place to create the perfect meeting, the perfect union, the perfect obstacle to overcome. My work relates to the realism that lives in romance. It exists between the pages because it exists in our real lives.

One of the greatest strengths of this novel is both the characterization and the characters’ believable reactions (which would seem out of place in a traditional romance). How did you go about crafting those characters? How do you approach characterization?

I believe in having characters that feel so real, one is reminded of someone in their lives or see themselves in that space. The only way I have ever been able to do that is to think about characters as though they are real people and I am eavesdropping on a scene in front of me. This goes hand in hand with being a pantser – I am genuinely surprised by where my story goes and by what my characters do. Every response is authentic. I achieve that by being present in my life, engaging actively with people and understanding how they engage with me. I am a people watcher (sounds creepy, but hear me out), relishing in the interactions that play out in social settings. I talk with strangers at random moments about trivial things. I share a glance or a smile with someone I don’t know. I’ve been doing all of these things for years. All of these experiences have helped me to craft characters that respond with genuine emotion and not something contrived.

There are four more books in the series. Did you know that when you started? If so, how did you approach such a big project, and if not, did your process change as you realized how big the story was?

I knew this was bigger than one book, but it wasn’t until I got to the end of the first book that I realized there would be so many more. My process did not change, interestingly enough, I just took a deep breath and said, ‘ok… wow…’ I’d had experience writing a multi-book project (The Realm Trilogy), so the enormity of it didn’t bother me. I was actually excited to give these characters the space they needed to tell their story.

When I write, I always feel an urgency about something I want the reader to understand—a theme I want to explore, an idea I want to communicate. What do you hope the reader gets out of The Tryst?

Love conquers all.

Period.

There are ‘buts’ and ‘ands’ associated, but that is the undercurrent.

Did you hit any snags while you were writing?

No – this was a smooth ride, which I found interesting. I wrote them back-to-back and literally wrote nothing else in between, which is also strange for me (I usually take a break and write a short story or two in between larger projects, but not this time). It took me less than a year to put this story down on paper… it really needed to be written.

I hear you had some input in the series’ covers. Who was your artists, what was important about this particular cover to you, and what did the cover art process look like?

Maya Preisler is the amazing artist for all of the covers in this saga – they do such amazing work. We have worked together on several projects, so our process is really informal. They let me prattle on about colors and vibes and then they come up with the most amazing creations based on the disjointed thoughts I spout off. With this saga I wanted the covers to pull from the stories and be meaningful to the reader once uncovered. I also wanted a minimalist vibe. Maya made all of this come together with a cover I am extremely proud to call mine. I am truly awed and thankful they let me play.

Both of us appreciate great editors. Who edited The Tryst, and how did that process work? What do you love in an editor?

Lucy Blue edited The Tryst and the process, in a nutshell, is this: you pour your words onto the page, and the editor takes out their red pen…

😊

Lucy Blue was able to understand the layers of the story and assess whether or not the tone was being hit the way I wanted it to be. She read more than just the words; she read sentiment, mood, innuendo, quirks, and she dealt with my obsession with em dashes despite not being able to format them. This is what I value most in an editor – she saw ME on the paper, the good and the bad.

What part of the novel are you most proud of?

All of it, to be honest. I am a horror author, so I am kind of proud of myself for even thinking about writing a little romance. I am excited to have sat squarely in slipstream and let myself work in that space. I love the psychological horror tones that pop up every now and then to remind me who I am. I love how the story came together – in this book and at the end of the five. Honestly, I love this series and these characters.

And the inevitable: who’s playing which character in the movie?

Ooh, good question! I am going to let that one hang… I want readers to envision who they would like to see in these roles. The story they tell in their heads is just as important as the words I put on the page!

About the Book

A moment in time… insignificant and fleeting for most, but for Nicole, Mark, and Eric, it is life-altering. Three strangers meet in a town they don’t know in a place they hadn’t expected to end up only to find that they are exactly where they were supposed to be… again.

Love always finds a way.Through space and time, past and future, through lifetimes and storylines they were destined to find each other, love each other, lose each other – coordinates and weapons, scenarios and demographics be damned. A malfunction, to be sure. But when Ryan tries to tinker with his project, a weapon the likes of which has never been seen in all of the Galactic Collaborative, he finds out just how inexorable their link is… and how insidious.

The first book of a slipstream series that will challenge the way you think about love, life, connection, and purpose, The Tryst will catch you in its whirlwind and never let you go. Each book in The Red Thread Saga will combine of mixture of urban fantasy, mystery, thriller, psychological horror, action, suspense, science fiction elements in differing measures, always with romance as an undercurrent.

Love always finds a way.

But sometimes that way is paved with bones.

GET THE TRYST TODAY!

The Tryst is available NOW from Mocha Memoirs Press. Grab your copy, because The Red Thread Saga is releasing fast! You can also grab a copy on Amazon, but please support Mocha Memoir Press if you can—yay for Black women-owned presses, AND they do four-day shipping, so you’ve got no excuse <3

Find L. Marie Wood

https://www.lmariewood.com