“My go-to tagline is, ‘What if your guardian angel was a devil in disguise?'” author Johnny Compton says of his new novel. Credit: Courtesy Photo / Johnny Compton

San Antonio author Johnny Compton scared the world last year with the release of his Bram Stoker Award-nominated debut novel The Spite House.

The book offered a modern take on the classic haunted house story that Publishers Weekly called a “tense work of gothic horror” that examines “how anger, grief and trauma can strengthen bonds of familial love.”

This autumn, Compton returned with a new offering for fans of all things spooky: Devils Kill Devils. Guardian angels, vampires and — yes — devils — await readers daring enough to explore the new work.

To celebrate the release of Devils Kill Devils by Tor Nightfire, we chased Compton down in the midst of a busy book tour for a quick interrogation.

Devils Kill Devils is available now wherever books are sold.

First, thank you for taking a break from your current book tour to speak with the Current. How’s the tour been so far? Any particular highlights?

A woman in Boston complimented by saying, “You’re really messed up.” That was great.

Speaking of Boston, I got to see “the skinny house” there, a rumored Spite house and the first one I read about, inspiring me to write the book that’s given me these opportunities. Even better, it is directly across the street from a 365-year-old cemetery, and had I known that previously, I definitely would have included that in The Spite House.

Your debut novel came out February 2023. A year and a half later, your sophomore novel, Devils Kill Devils, has finally hit shelves. Walk us through the differences between releases you’ve experienced.

This tour took me to a few more places and festivals. I went coast to coast and was gone from home for about 12 days straight, which was notably longer than the tour for the first book.

The marketing felt different in a sort of neutral way. Obviously I’m no longer a “debut” author, so there are other expectations that come with that, and I’m presented in a different way. I’m getting more opportunities this time to talk about the book, or to be in conversation with others who have books upcoming. And I feel far more comfortable in settings where I get to have those conversations now than I did when I debuted.

Nowadays, there seems to be a demand for writers to focus on sequels. Everything needs to be a franchise. Devils Kill Devils, on the other hand, feels like it couldn’t be more different than your first novel. Was this an intentional strategy on your end? Were you pressured to pump out a Spite House sequel?

Fortunately, I didn’t receive any pressure from the publisher to write a sequel or spinoff. I know that franchises are popular and have a lot of potential to be more lucrative, but I don’t have any imminent interest in writing similar stories. I had a four-book plan in mind to write a range of horrors — four completely different books to open my career. So far, I’m halfway through and working on book three, and I’ve luckily had publishers who are on board with the objective.

I do have some sequel ideas in my pocket that I would like to write when the timing is right and the stories are more fully formed, but I have at least 20 other ideas I’d like to write as well. And, for me, it’s always a little more exciting to write something new than revisit what’s been written.

Devils Kill Devils is Compton’s second novel. Credit: Courtesy Image / Tor Nightfire

Let’s dig a little deeper into Devils Kill Devils. By my understanding, you had the idea for this book before writing The Spite House. Is that right? What’s your go-to pitch for the premise?

Yep, I’ve had the bones for this idea, at minimum, for about 20 years.

My go-to tagline is, “What if your guardian angel was a devil in disguise?”

The longer pitch is: A young woman named Sarita has had a guardian angel all her life, and has never had cause to distrust him. That changes when her “angel” beats her husband to death on her wedding night, making her rethink what this being actually is, why he’s been protecting her and who in her family could be next.

Devils Kill Devils contains some gnarly vampire stuff. What was the research process like? Any particularly strange vampire trivia you regretted not being able to work into it?

The research was fun and layered, and there were a lot of things I wish could have stayed [on], but I understand why it was shaved. There are these weird types of vampires with pointed tongues. Also the fact that you can be turned into a vampire just by having a “big cat” jump over your corpse. Both are a little too odd, probably, to be kept. I also wanted to work in a coffin full of blood, which is something I read about a vampire sleeping in. Maybe some other time.

How would you say Texas has inspired your writing, especially with this latest novel?

There are a lot of weird, creepily cool, terrifying and unfortunate things about Texas, and being a horror writer that gives me a lot to be inspired by. I really enjoy introducing settings that not only defy expectations that people outside of Texas might have of the state, but even preconceptions that locals may have. There are stories I’ve collected from little out-of-the-way towns that I haven’t come close to getting around to yet, but once I find the story they’ll fit in, I’ll be eager to deploy them.

For Devils, I was able to dive into some Texas lore more so than history, whereas with The Spite House, it was the other way around. I was also able to draw inspiration from some people I know here in San Antonio, with my mixed Black and Mexican-American protagonist, and her white in-laws that have a variety of feelings about her, from the expected to the surprising. I was able to draw on things I’ve seen, heard of and lived through in Texas for those characters.

Who are some other Texas horror writers you’d like more local readers to know about?

I’d like to highlight Celso Hurtado (The Ghost Tracks), L.P. Hernandez (In the Valley of the Headless Men), Tonia Ransom (the Afflicted audio-thriller podcast), John Baltisberger (Whispers of the Dead Saint), RJ Joseph (Hell Hath No Sorrow Like a Woman Haunted) and Wrath James White (The Ecstasy of Agony). There are plenty of others, of course, from acclaimed and more well-known names like Joe Lansdale and Gabino Iglesias to writers on the horizon like Agatha Andrews — more famous for her She Wore Black interviews, but whose novel-in-progress I’ve had an early look at and is going to turn heads.

In honor of spooky season, could you recommend your top three haunted house novels and your top three vampire novels?

For haunted houses, The Elementals by Michael McDowell, Hell House by Richard Matheson and The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons.

For vampires, Salem’s Lot, Octavia Butler’s Fledgling and Let the Right One In.

Caveat: The Haunting of Hill House is very likely the best haunted house novel, but it doesn’t feel as much like a “spooky season” book to me. Somewhat similar to how the film Thirst by Park Chan-wook is an extraordinary vampire film but not something I’ll probably put on in October. Maybe it’s just me, but I like for my Halloween horrors to have a certain tone. [That said, Let the Right One In] might break the “rule” I just established about tone.

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This article appears in Oct 16-29, 2024.