In her dazzling debut novel Aftertaste, Daria Lavelle takes us on a sensory journey where food, grief, & romance intertwine in this inventive ghost story. 

What if you could taste the ghosts of the people you've lost? In this intimate conversation, Daria shares how her Ukrainian heritage, her childhood food memories, and her love of genre-bending storytelling all shaped one of the most unique novels of the year.

You'll love the reveals of how this story took on surprising symbolism, the genre challenges of marketing such a unique book, and the reader stories that have stayed with her long after her tour ended.

📚 FREE BONUS BOOK LIST: Today, we celebrate books about food with this new list of 33 books that aren't just about what's on the plate, but more about the bigger stories simmering behind every meal.

In our warm conversation, Daria and I discussed:

• Identifying The Taste of Ghosts– How she discovered the idea of "clairgustance," the psychic ability to taste the favorite foods of the dead, and transformed it into a fully fleshed-out magic system for her story.
• Weaving In Her Cultural Identity– From the "stinky lunchbox" moments of childhood to the joy and shame often tied to food in immigrant families, Daria shares how her own memories informed the emotional heartbeat of Aftertaste.
• Cinematic Writing & What's Next– With Sony Pictures developing Aftertaste for film, Daria talks about writing with cinematic flair and the thrill of seeing her work move to the screen.

Meet Daria Lavelle

Daria Lavelle is an American fiction writer. Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, and raised in the New York metro area, her work explores themes of identity and belonging through magic and the uncanny. Her short stories have appeared in The Deadlands, Dread Machine, and elsewhere, and she holds degrees in writing from Princeton University and Sarah Lawrence College. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, children, and goldendoodle, all of whom love a great meal almost as much as she does.

Mentioned in this episode:

Download Today's Show Transcript

NEW BOOK LIST: 33 Incredible Books About Food

NEW BOOK LIST: 41 Immersive Speculative Fiction Books

Join the September Book Club Chat (Rust & Stardust by T. Greenwood)

Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Fantasmagoriana

The Anatomy of Story by John Truby

Glee Mashups

Chocolate Nut from Le Jules Verne

I Grew Up Ashamed of My Immigrant Parents' Food. Now I'm Teaching My Kids Lunch Room Tolerance

What Dreams May Come

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