We were thrilled with the opportunity to sit down with Laura Samotin to talk about her upcoming book The Sins on Their Bones. We’ve been following Laura, even before the book announcement, due to her fantastic reputation as an editor and overall supportive vibe. Read on for more about folktales, how to talk with demons, writing vs. editing, and so much more!
BookishlyJewish: Where did the idea for this story come from?
Laura Samotin: I was reading through some books on Eastern European Jewish folklore and came across the story of the homunculus of Maimonides, which included this fascinating “recipe” for creating this kind of creature. At the same time, I’d been playing around with Dimitri as a character—a man who had lost everything and blamed himself, even though objectively what happened to him wasn’t his fault. I didn’t have a story to put him into, but after reading these folktales, the threads of a plot began to come together. That’s how most of my writing works: scraps of story ideas all gather in my brain, until they eventually come together into something resembling a coherent idea.
BookishlyJewish: I imagine a ton of research went into writing this particular story, care to share any highlights?
Laura Samotin: I knew, when writing TSTB, that I wanted the book to be set in a Jewish-normative world, with a magic system based entirely on Jewish myth and mysticism. In order to make that happen, I relied on a number of scholarly and primary source texts—I have a research background, and so delving into this book the same way I researched my PhD dissertation was quite fun for me. While I have a bibliography of key texts in my author’s note, I think one of the highlights for me was reading about the ways in which Jewish mystics thought that people could interact with demons, including the (fairly disgusting) advice that people who wanted to see demons could put the powdered afterbirth of a black cat into their eyes (do not try this at home).
BookishlyJewish: That sounds like hard work! How long did this book take to bring to fruition, from idea conception to the soon to be publication?
Laura Samotin: I am a very fast writer. I wrote the first draft of this book in 19 hours over the course of a month in June 2021, but then spent the last two years revising it with my agent, and then my editor. While the initial task of putting pen to paper was quite quick, it took hundreds of hours and countless revisions to really get to the heart of the story.
BookishlyJewish: I bet that answer will surprise many of our readers. Have there been any surprises for you in the book journey, either in how the story developed or in the publishing process?
Laura Samotin: When this book went out on submission (the process where agents send the book to editors at publishing houses to see if anyone wants to buy it for publication), it had three points of view – Dimitri, his ex-husband Alexey, and a soldier named Zora. After an R&R by my now-editor, the book was acquired with three points of view – Dimitri, Alexey, and Dimitri’s spymaster Vasily. I won’t spoil the story, but suffice it to say that my editor was able to see to the heart of what the plot should have been initially, and a whole series of things fell into place when I made that POV switch.
BookishlyJewish: Who is the ideal audience for the book?
Laura Samotin: One of the best surprises for me was just how much readers connected with TSTB, Jewish or not. While I hope that Jewish readers feel at home in the book’s pages, I also intended for this to be a universal story about love, loss and belonging. Anyone who enjoys fantasy should (hopefully!) be a fan of the book. And if you’re someone who picks things to read via AO3-style tags, TSTB has: emotional hurt/comfort, mutual pining, slow burn, angst, friends to lovers, lovers to enemies, found family, confessions, and also “this story features a goat”.
BookishlyJewish: I’m in it for the goat! But seriously, is there anything you are hoping readers take away after finishing the book?
Laura Samotin: In many ways this book is about grief, the grieving process, and the ways in which it both hurts and heals to examine your past through a different lens. Dimitri’s journey is one of forgiveness of himself, and I hope that’s meaningful for readers who struggle with similar issues.
BookishlyJewish: A lot of our readers are also writers, do you have a piece of advice for them that you wish someone had shared with you?
Laura Samotin: Don’t compare your writing to books on the shelves. TSTB, when it gets into readers’ hands, will be the product of hundreds of hours of work on the part of dozens of professionals, from my agent to my editor, to in-house readers and copyeditors and sensitivity readers and more. The first draft that I wrote is very different from the finished product, and I wouldn’t be capable of producing that final product in isolation. A lot of writers get discouraged because they don’t think they’re “as good” as the authors they admire, but it’s important to remember that all of those authors had a lot of professional assistance in polishing that book and making it as good as possible.
BookishlyJewish: What’s next for you and your writing?
Laura Samotin: The sequel to TSTB will be released in 2025, so once TSTB has made it to shelves, that’s my focus for the foreseeable future! I’m excited to connect with readers as a debut author, and look forward to continuing to support and uplift other Jewish SFF authors.