Amy Lukavics
Amy Lukavics | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Lukavics in 2018 | |
| Born | United States |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Young adult fiction, horror |
| Years active | 2015–present |
| Notable works | Daughters Unto Devils, The Ravenous |
| 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.
Personal life
[edit]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]
Career
[edit]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]
Daughters Unto Devils (2015)
[edit]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][10] 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:
- "The average person" would find that the material, on the whole, "appeals to prurient interest in sex"[12]
- The material "is patently offensive in the description or depiction of nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, sadomasochistic abuse, or excretion"[12]
- The material, on the whole, "does not have serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value."[12]
The Women in the Walls (2016)
[edit]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[13] 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.[13]
The Ravenous (2017)
[edit]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.[14] It was published by Harlequin Teen in September 2017.[14] 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.[15]
Nightingale (2018)
[edit]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.[16] It was published by Harlequin Teen in 2018.[16]
Other works
[edit]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]
References
[edit]
- ^ "About The Author". inky creepings. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Amy Lukavics". WildMind Creative. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
- ^ a b "Happy Hallow'Read: Interview with Author Amy Lukavics". Bookish Notions. October 29, 2015. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e "Badass Ladies You Should Know: Amy Lukavics". Kate Hart. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
- ^ "2006 Prescott High grad Amy Lukavics' debut novel, 'Daughters unto Devils,' garners attention". The Daily Courier. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
- ^ "Amy Lukavics". www.fantasticfiction.com. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e Stories, Local. "Art & Life with Amy Lukavics". VoyagePhoenix. Phoenix. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
- ^ "'Daughters Unto Devils' book review: Evil lay within". Hypable. October 19, 2015. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
- ^ "Veronica Roth interviews YA horror author Amy Lukavics — exclusive". EW.com. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
- ^ a b "Ban on 52 Books in Largest Utah School District is a Worrisome Escalation of Censorship". PEN America. August 1, 2022. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
- ^ "School District Removes 52 Books From Libraries". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
- ^ a b c Mullahy, Brian (July 28, 2022). "Alpine School District pulls dozens of books from school library shelves". KUTV. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
- ^ a b Spisak, April (August 17, 2016). "The Women in the Walls by Amy Lukavics (review)". Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. 70 (1): 35–35. doi:10.1353/bcc.2016.0688. ISSN 1558-6766.
- ^ a b than 200, Booklist Online: More; Librarians, 000 Book Reviews for; Groups, Book; Association, book lovers-from the trusted experts at the American Library. Ravenous, by Amy Lukavics | Booklist Online.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "sfadb: Bram Stoker Awards 2018". www.sfadb.com. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
- ^ a b Nightengale by Amy Lukavics | Kirkus Reviews.