New Book Spotlight

The Cellar Below the Cellar

A mini-interview with Ivy Grimes

Tell us about your new book?

When I began this book, I was thinking about the story “Vasilisa the Beautiful,” which has some similarities to the “Cinderella” story, beginning with a cruel stepfamily. Instead of going to a ball, Vasilisa goes to the weirdest place on earth: Baba Yaga’s house. There are all kinds of supernatural things there like cosmic horsemen and glowing skulls, and Baba Yaga makes her do some classic fairy tale labors (like cleaning lots of wheat), and Vasilisa receives help from strange places. Before Vasilisa’s mother died, she gave her daughter a doll that happens to do chores very quickly. My story is not a retelling, but it’s inspired by some of the themes and talismans of the story. A woman in a difficult situation is forced to rely on supernatural aid to survive. She has no choice.

My story takes place after a society-changing situation, a huge solar storm that knocks out infrastructure and traps our main character, Jane, in the woods with her grandmother. She encounters some very strange phenomena as she and her small community strives for survival, trying to secure adequate food and clean water. In my story, the Baba Yaga figure is the main character’s grandmother, so part of Jane’s story is embracing the supernatural forces that live below her and around her. It’s not so different from any coming-of-age story. A woman learns how to stand up for herself and to use the tools that belong to her.

What aspect of the book was the most fun to write?

I love weird side characters. I had a lot of fun with Pastor Dan, who carries jars of demons around in his wheelbarrow. I also enjoyed writing the cruel and broken Mr. and Mrs. Osprey, the traumatized, doll-loving girl Mary, and the mysterious Bill in his liminal space.

I loved writing scenes between Jane and her Grandma, too, where Grandma tries to teach Jane to be honest with herself and other people. Neither Grandma nor Jane are very sweet people, and I like when they can own up to that. They have work to do for themselves and other people, but they aren’t saints. They’re both harsher than they realize.

And I loved the skeletons!

If there is one emotion or theme that you would hope that the reader connects with, what would that be?

Curiosity and wonder are perhaps most important here! It’s easy to be swept along by the everyday, but this is a story about wondering what lies above and below everything. I hope readers become curious about what lives in the cellar below their own cellar.