Isabel Cañas on The House of Gardenias, Mexican Gothic Horror & Why Humans Are the Real Monsters

Isabel Cañas is the USA Today bestselling, Bram Stoker Award nominated author of The Hacienda, Vampires of El Norte, and her YA gothic debut, The House of Gardenias.

Isabel shares how an "air quotes too Mexican" rejection on her honeymoon in Mexico City led to The Hacienda, and how she defended her PhD in medieval Islamic history the day before it came out. She reveals the 1850s quote from Rio Grande bandit Juan Cortina about "flocks of vampires" that turned Vampires of El Norte into a story about settler colonialism. She connects The Possession of Alba Díaz to pregnancy, bodily autonomy, and the fall of Roe v. Wade. And she opens up about the real family story, her grandfather's abusive stepmother counting tortillas, that opens The House of Gardenias.

Timestamps:

00:01 – Welcome to Talking Horror & Meeting Isabel Cañas

06:25 – A Self-Proclaimed Scaredy Cat Reading Dracula Under the Desk

09:12 – The YA Fantasy Books by Women of Color That Cracked Her Brain Open

10:14 – "Too Mexican": Two Novels That Died on Submission

11:34 – A Honeymoon Rejection in Mexico City and the Birth of The Hacienda

14:59 – Writing for Your Id: The Secret Lecture Passed Between Writers

19:44 – Kitchen Table Storytelling and the Grandfather Who Inspired The House of Gardenias

24:33 – The Turkish Grammar Tense Made Just for Gossip

25:48 – Becoming a Published Author and a Doctor in 24 Hours

28:25 – A Medievalist's Research Obsession (and Why the Embroidery Has to Go)

32:56 – Would She Ever Write a Modern Gothic?

36:33 – "Lol, It's Actually Colonialism": Why Humans Are the Real Monsters

43:17 – Vampires of El Norte and the One-Sentence Pitch That Sold It

48:12 – The 1850s Post Office List Where She Found Néstor

53:46 – The Real "Flocks of Vampires" Quote Behind the Book

57:52 – The Possession of Alba Díaz: Pregnancy, Control, and Who Owns a Woman's Body

1:06:56 – The House of Gardenias: A Nightmare, a Grudge, and Her YA Comeback

1:12:51 – Grief, Loss, and the "Flesh and Blood" Editing Passes

1:20:19 – 200,000 Words and What's Coming Next

Grab your copy of The House of Gardenias: https://amzn.to/4qvK89l

Connect with Isabel Cañas:

Website: https://isabelcanas.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/isabelcanas_/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@isabelcanasauthor

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