Amy Lukavics | |
|---|---|
 Lukavics in 2018 | |
| Born | United States |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Young adult fiction, horror |
| Notable works | Daughters Unto Devils, The Ravenous |
| Years active | 2015–present |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | |
| www | |
Amy Lukavics is an American author of young adult horror novels, best known for her debut novel Daughters Unto Devils and the Bram Stoker Award-nominated The Ravenous.
Lukavics was raised in Northern Arizona. [1]
Lukavics says that she has always been intrigued by books and horror movies starting from a young age, but never considered becoming a writer because it seemed impossible to her. [2] She especially loved the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series by Alvin Schwartz and the 1974 novel Carrie by Stephen King. [3]
During middle school, she contemplated becoming an editor or a journalist for two months, but never tried to get the scholarships she would've needed in order to pursue a career path like that. [2] [4] She attended Prescott High School and graduated in 2006. [5] After graduation, she worked as a dental assistant and as a front office medical assistant. [4]
When she was 19, after she got let go from her medical assistant job, she first developed the idea of wanting to become a writer when sitting in a library. [2] [4] She started writing her first novel the next day. [2] Lukavics never attended college, saying that she didn't feel passionately enough about any field to justify spending money on studying it. [4]
She lives in Prescott, Arizona, with her husband and two children. [6]
The first three books she wrote were dark contemporary novels that ended up never getting published. [7] Lukavics didn't start writing horror until her fourth novel. [7]
Prior to publishing her first novel, Lukavics was offered to rewrite the fourth novel she ever wrote with an editor from a "big publishing house." [2] Along the way, she realized that their creative visions differed, but went ahead with the revisions anyway, only to create a novel that wasn't up to either of their standards and ultimately was declined for publication. [2] That same novel would later be rewritten and went on to sell to another publishing house, Harlequin Teen, which published it as Daughters Unto Devils in September 2015. [2] It stars Amanda, a teen who finds herself pregnant during pioneer times while her family is searching for a new home in the prairie and settles on cursed land. [8]
Lukavics says that the novel is "sort of Little House on the Prairie meets The Exorcist inspired." [7] She originally wrote the Daughters Unto Devils with the intention of writing something set in the past, finding the idea of a pioneer horror story particularly intriguing, inspired by Stephen King's novella 1922, included in the Full Dark, No Stars novella collection. [3] [9]
In 2022, Daughters Unto Devils was listed among 52 books banned by the Alpine School District following the implementation of Utah law H.B. 374, “Sensitive Materials In Schools," [10] 42% of which “feature LBGTQ+ characters and or themes.” [11] [12] Many of the books were removed because they were considered to contain pornographic material according to the new law, which defines porn using the following criteria:
Her second novel, The Women in the Walls, follows Lucy, a teen who suspects something strange is going on in her mansion home with her family [14] after her mother dies, her aunt goes missing and her cousin claims she can hear voices coming from the walls. It was published by Harlequin Teen in October 2016. [14]
The Ravenous is about four sisters and their youngest sister, who dies in a car accident and gets resurrected by her mother, only to have developed cannibalistic tendencies. [15] It was published by Harlequin Teen in September 2017. [15] Lukavics describes The Ravenous as The Virgin Suicides meets Pet Sematary. [4] It was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Best Young Adult Novel in 2018. [16]
Her fourth young adult novel, Nightingale, is set in an asylum in 1951, telling the story of June, who finds herself held there against her will. [17] It was published by Harlequin Teen in 2018. [17]
She also wrote a horror short story called "The Feeding", about a monster creeping in the woods of a small town, available for free on Wattpad. [7] Another one of her short stories was featured in issue six of Unnverving Magazine . [7]
Abraham Stoker was an Irish author who is celebrated for his 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula. During his lifetime, he was better known as the personal assistant of actor Sir Henry Irving and business manager of the Lyceum Theatre, which Irving owned. In his early years, Stoker worked as a theatre critic for an Irish newspaper and wrote stories as well as commentaries. He also enjoyed travelling, particularly to Cruden Bay where he set two of his novels. During another visit to the English coastal town of Whitby, Stoker drew inspiration for writing Dracula. He died on 20 April 1912 due to Locomotor ataxia and was cremated in north London. Since his death, his magnum opus Dracula has become one of the most well-known works in English literature, and the novel has been adapted for numerous films, short stories and plays.
The Bram Stoker Award is a recognition presented annually by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) for "superior achievement" in dark fantasy and horror writing.
The Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement annually recognizes one to three living artists for "superior achievement in an entire career" which has "substantially influenced the horror genre". It is conferred by the Horror Writers Association, and most winners have been horror fiction writers, but other creative occupations are eligible.
The Bram Stoker Award for Best Screenplay is an award presented by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) for "superior achievement" in horror writing for best screenplay.
The Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection is an award presented by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) for "superior achievement" in horror writing for best fiction collection.
The Bram Stoker Award for Best Non-Fiction is an award presented by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) for "superior achievement" in horror writing for non-fiction.
The Bram Stoker Award for Best Anthology is an award presented by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) for "superior achievement" in horror writing for an anthology.
Tananarive Priscilla Due is an American author and educator. Due won the American Book Award for her novel The Living Blood. She is also known as a film historian with expertise in Black horror. Due teaches a course at UCLA called "The Sunken Place: Racism, Survival and the Black Horror Aesthetic", which focuses on the Jordan Peele film Get Out.
Joe Richard Lansdale is an American writer and martial arts instructor.
The Bram Stoker Award for Best Poetry Collection is an award presented by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) for "superior achievement" in horror writing for a poetry collection.
Tim Pratt is an American science fiction and fantasy writer and poet. He won a Hugo Award in 2007 for his short story "Impossible Dreams". He has written over 20 books, including the Marla Mason series and several Pathfinder Tales novels. His writing has earned him nominations for Nebula, Mythopoeic, World Fantasy, and Bram Stoker awards and been published in numerous markets, including Asimov's Science Fiction, Realms of Fantasy, Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show, and Strange Horizons.
Jonathan Maberry is an American suspense author, anthology editor, comic book writer, magazine feature writer, playwright, content creator and writing teacher/lecturer. He was named one of the Today's Top Ten Horror Writers.
Lisa Morton is an American horror author and screenwriter.
Lucy A. Snyder is an American science fiction, fantasy, humor, horror, and nonfiction writer.
T. M. Gray is an American horror author of many short stories, several novels and a nonfiction book on ghost hunting. Gray lives in Birch Harbor, Maine, and is a member of the Horror Writers Association.
Sarah Langan is an American horror author and three-time Bram Stoker Award winner. Langan was also one of the judges for the inaugural Shirley Jackson Award and is currently on the Board of Directors.
The Bram Stoker Award for Best Young Adult Novel is an award presented by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) for "superior achievement" in horror writing for young adult novels.
The Bram Stoker Award for Best Graphic Novel is an award presented by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) for "superior achievement" in horror writing for graphic novels.
Jeff Strand is an American writer, best known for his works of horror-comedy. He has written novels, short stories, screenplays and comedy sketches. In addition to his adult-oriented horror works, Strand also writes young adult fiction. He has been nominated for the Bram Stoker Award five times, winning the award for the first time in 2022 in the long fiction category for his novella Twentieth Anniversary Screening.
Kiersten White is an American author of fiction for children and young adults. Her first book, Paranormalcy, was published by HarperCollins in 2009.
