AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Nadi Reed Perez Talks The Afterlife of Mal Caldera

Welcome to this Track of Words author interview, in which Fabienne chats to Nadi Reed Perez about her fantasy novel The Afterlife of Mal Caldera, which is out now from Titan Books. In The Afterlife of Mal Caldera, debut author Perez introduces us to a potential afterlife which takes the form of a giant party. The story is philosophical and pulpy at the same time, centred around the very real characters, whether alive or dead. The eponymous Mal is selfish, deeply hurt, funny – and charming. Nadi Reed Perez is a voice to watch, and we had the chance to catch up with them to discuss music, writing and debuting.

First, here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

Mal Caldera – former rockstar, retired wild-child and excommunicated black sheep of her Catholic family – is dead. Not that she cares. She only feels bad that her younger sister, Cris, has been left alone with their religious zealot of a mother, picking up the pieces Mal has left behind. While her fellow ghosts party their afterlives away at an abandoned mansion they call the Haunt, Mal is determined to make contact with Cris from beyond the grave.

She manages to enlist the help of reluctant local medium Ren, and together, they concoct a plan to pass on a message to Cris. But the more time they spend together, the more both begin to wonder what might have been if they’d met before Mal died.

Mal knows it’s wrong to hold on so tightly to her old life. Bad things happen to ghosts who interfere with the living, and Mal can’t help wondering if she’s hurting the people she loves by hanging around, haunting their lives. But Mal has always been selfish, and letting go might just be the hardest thing she’s ever had to do…

And now, on with the interview…

Track of Words: Can you pitch The Afterlife of Mal Caldera in a sentence or two?

Nadi Reed Perez: It’s a very late coming of age story about a millennial ghost picking up the pieces after her death while figuring out what to do with the rest of her afterlife. I used to describe it in Twitter pitch contests as Fleabag meets Beetlejuice.

ToW: Between the Haunt’s band and the various bands that play a role in the story, what songs would you put on the book’s playlist?

NRP: Funny you should ask, since I’ve made over a dozen playlists for this book over the years. Music is essential to my brainstorming process. Here’s handful of the songs that piqued my muse early on:

Dead! – My Chemical Romance
Dead Man’s Party – Oingo Boingo
Drumming Song – Florence and the Machine
St. James Infirmary – Cab Calloway
That’s Okay – The Hush Sound

ToW: Is there a song or album that you see as “this is Mal vibes”?

NRP: Oh boy, are there! Once again, it’s hard to narrow them down. Most of my playlists for this book feature melancholy, ethereal melodies from Florence Welch and Lord Huron, but the kind of music Mal would make herself is way more down to earth and grungy. Her mix is full of indie rock, midwestern emo, and folk punk – and, yes, a hint of ska, because that’s the scene I first came to know growing up, so she’s stuck with that, as well.

ToW: Can you talk a bit about how you use the stages of grief to structure the story?

NRP: Originally, the book didn’t have much structure at all. I just followed Mal as she took steps forward and steps back in her healing journey, hoping readers would be invested enough to tag along. Thankfully, my Pitch Wars mentor Roma Panganiban nudged me toward including a framing device to help assure readers that there would be some method to her madness. I came across critiques on the five stages of grief that claimed five stages aren’t enough to encompass such a complicated emotional process, and that often, mourners tend to skip around or repeat stages rather than make linear progress. So I decided to riff on the concept by making up my own stages of grief, specifically for coming to terms with your own death post mortem.

ToW: Mal is a very complex character, living life to the fullest, but also experiencing profound loneliness, addiction issues and depression. Can you talk a bit more about where she comes from, what makes her such an interesting character to write about?

NRP: Mal’s been dwelling in my head for a long time. I had the idea of a ghost protagonist at a pretty young age, but I realized even then that the message of her story wouldn’t ring true until I’d had enough life experience myself to draw from. So as I grew into young adulthood and made big mistakes, like dropping out of college, falling into depression, and losing friends, she was like my shadow self who made even bigger mistakes, took all my failings and blew them up to larger-than-life, glamorous rock n’ roll proportions. She’s the tortured artist I was too shy and awkward to be myself, though I’m glad I’m less self-destructive. It was fun and more than a little cathartic to play out those dangerous what-if’s through Mal, contained in the safety of words on a page. Then it became healing to reel her back in and help her process the consequences of her actions.

ToW: You address some very heavy topics in the story – from suicide to delusions to twisted relationships – while keeping the tone very light, making this a comforting rather than a hard novel to read. I’d love to know more about how that voice emerged and why it was important?

NRP: I think Mal’s glib voice is an echo of my Mexican roots. That’s why Día de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, is a celebration full of color and skulls made of sugar. Our preferred coping mechanism for dealing with death is to laugh and wave it over like an old friend. There’s a spirit of defiance in it. It’s similar to the kind of dark humor I’ve seen and shared with fellow depressives over the years, or nihilistic memes from 2010-era sad girl Tumblr – breaking the taboo about discussing mental illness by turning it into edgy jokes. But I think there’s a balance needed. You can’t lean too far over the edge, or it turns into wallowing in hopelessness rather than resisting it. I hope I’ve managed to strike that balance.

ToW: I really like the striking cover of The Afterlife of Mal Caldera and in your acknowledgments you mention having dreamed of having the title on a headstone. Can you talk a bit about the cover design process, what you imagined your book looking like and how involved you were?

NRP: I had a hard time picturing a cover that would encompass all the themes and tones of this story, so I actually didn’t share any ideas or preferences at all. One day two beautiful drafts just appeared in my inbox courtesy of designer Natasha Mackenzie (@missnatmack). The first featured a gorgeous illustration of Mal in calavera makeup standing over her headstone, in vibrant reds and blues and oranges, and the other looked a lot like the final cover, featuring the Haunt and the silhouettes of ghosts in all the windows, though that color scheme was pink and blue.

I could hardly choose between them, but luckily Nat made it easier by combining the two, swapping the color scheme and incorporating the headstone shape into the Haunt. As much as I liked the bisexual pride flag covers of the first draft, the blues and oranges were much more fitting – those are the colors I mentioned most in the prose. I hope one day there will be a special edition or something that draws from the calavera cover, but I couldn’t be happier with the one I have now. It really captures the sprawling cast of characters and the playfully macabre side of the story.

ToW: How does it feel to have your debut novel out in the world?

NRP: It’s simultaneously exhilarating and terrifying for these characters that dwelled for so long only in my own head to be unleashed on the world. I hope they haunt readers in the best possible way.

ToW: As we learn in The Afterlife of Mal Caldera, hindsight is a bitch. Is there any advice (in writing or life) you’d like to give your younger self?

NRP: That’s such a tricky question, since a good deal of what I would normally consider “mistakes” in my life, like I mentioned before – all those failures and heartbreak – turned into inspiration for Mal’s backstory. I’m not sure if I even consider them mistakes anymore, since they informed the person that I’ve become, and I’ve grown to like myself. I’m medicated for ADHD now, going back to school and actually enjoying it, and dress like the Tim Burton characters my twelve year old self wasn’t brave enough to emulate. Besides, just like Mal, I’ve always been stubborn. So I guess, rather than advise my younger self to avoid this or that, I’d tell them that they have time. You don’t have to have everything figured out so young. It really is never too late to start living.

ToW: Can you tell us anything about what comes next?

NRP: Well, I got diagnosed with autism and ADHD far too late in the drafting process to look back and re-evaluate whether this shines through in any of the main cast of Afterlife. Maybe they all reflect some of my neurodivergence, even if I didn’t set out to write intentional representation. I did go back and give some of my stims and habits to the character Danny, but in my next book, I’m ready to delve deeper. Basically, my writing process is exorcising my inner demons onto the page and hoping that the ensuing battle is entertaining. Next up in the ring, it’s Gender with a steel chair!

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Nadi Reed Perez © Isabella Briganti

Nadi Reed Perez is an author and writer for The Call of the Flame, a fantasy fiction podcast. They live near Denver with a growing menagerie of cats and a few probable ghosts. The Afterlife of Mal Caldera is their debut book. You can find them on Instagram, YouTube, and (for better or worse) on Tumblr @nadireedperez.

Find out more at Nadi’s website.

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Fabienne works in books by day and runs the review side of Grimdark Magazine at night. You can find her on Twitter @FLSchwizer.

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Big thanks to Nadi for agreeing to this interview, and to Fabienne for putting everything together! I don’t know about you, but I think this book sounds fascinating…

If this has whetted your appetite for The Afterlife of Mal Caldera, you can follow the links below to pick up a copy and support Track of Words while you’re at it*.