J.V. Gachs: "Sudden Death, Ghosts, and Bisexual Characters"

The sixth and final interview in my Women in Horror Month 2025 series is J. V. Gachs. Thank you for being here, J.V.!

J. V. Gachs is a Spanish ESL writer.

Her work has been featured in anthologies like Chelsea Pumpkins’ AHH! That’s What I Call Horror! Her debut novel, Epiphany, was published by Off Limits Press in 2023, and in Spanish by Dolmen Editorial in 2024. As a self-translating author, her second novella Spooky Lovers will be published in English by Interstellar Flight Press and in Spanish by Dimensiones Ocultas in 2025. Obsessed with sudden death, ghosts, and bisexual characters, she always writes with a cat (or two) in her lap.

I really loved your debut novel, Epiphany. Would you like to tell readers a bit about that one?

Epiphany is a coming-of-age novel told mainly through interviews, e-mails, news clips and diaries. It's set in Northern Spain and it features a Spanish mythological creature, a Xana. It tackles themes like motherhood, grief and abuse from the perspective of the two (unreliable) narrators, Estela and Coral. Sadly, it's currently unavailable in English because its former publisher, Off Limits Press, is closing, but it'll have a rerelease next June from Sobelo Books.

I read that you translated Epiphany into Spanish. What was that process like? Did you know you were going to get to do the translation early on?

Coral’s bits were all written in English, but when I decided to include Estela as a narrator, her story was too close to my heart and I felt I needed to write it in Spanish, so I ended up with a book in two different languages. I decided then to write the two different versions, and the English one was the first to sell. Epifanía was published six months after. I debuted first in English, but I'm glad my debut novel was the same one in both languages.

Do you also compose in Spanish, or do you mostly write in English and then translate into Spanish?

I find it easier to write in English and then translate into Spanish, because sentence structure is so different, when I try doing it the other way around I end up with very stiff English. When I translate my stories back into Spanish I just read the paragraphs and rewrite them trying not to think of the English words, but the images I have in my mind.

I also loved reading an advance copy of your upcoming book Unholy. When did this book come out, and what should readers know about it?

Unholy was released on March 25th by Mad Axe Media. It's an erotic horror novella in which a nun and a sex shop owner have to infiltrate a sex cult to stop the Apocalypse. I think it's a fast read, and I'd encourage people to not pass on it because of the sexual nature of some of the scenes. I really believe they’re all justified and most of the times they serve the purpose of getting to know the characters better. It's my very personal take on domestic violence, faith and structured religion.

I haven’t read your book Spooky Lovers, or Amantes Espeluznantes, but I see Lee Murray described it as “cozy horror,” which intrigued me because I’d say the books of yours I read were, um, not too cozy. Did this feel like a departure for you?

I love this question because most people seem to be (rightfully) confused about the term, especially if they've read Epiphany or even my short stories. The tone in Spooky Lovers is lighter, but the themes are not. The two main characters have a great sense of humor and approach the horrors they have to live through with hope. That paired with how short and fast-paced the book is makes Spooky Lovers the perfect rainy weekend read (add hot chocolate and snacks.)

After writing Epiphany, I needed to write something with more love and sorority in it.

What’s next for you as a writer?

My first short story collection, Sins of my Sisters, will be published at the end of the year by Infested Publishing. I'm very excited to have my short stories coming together in one volume. Also, Spooky Lovers will be out soon, after a couple of delays. Its Spanish translation was released last January and it's getting great reviews so far. I'm currently writing a novel I'm really excited about. I think writing several novellas after Epiphany helped me improve my craft so now I'm ready to jump into this more ambitious book I didn't feel prepared to write before.

Thanks so much for being interviewed, J.V.!

As always in Noglesque, I will end with some of my own stuff:

• I was recently interviewed on Mae Murray’s blog

• I have a new newsletter on Creativity & Inspiration

• My newest updates are always at https://linktr.ee/christinogle

• My novel Beulah is available at Amazon, and my other books should be available at any online seller: