– Thanks for joining us here at YALC. We would love you to introduce yourself.
Thanks so much for having me! I’m Lora Beth Johnson, the author of the Goddess in the Machine duology and now Hell To Pay. I used to be a college English professor in the U.S., and I recently moved from North Carolina to Edinburgh, which has been one of the biggest adventures of my life.
– Can you give our readers an overview of your YA novel Hell To Pay
Hell to Pay is a fantasy heist about the job from hell. Literally. Elle Fields comes from a long line of grifters who steal secrets from the Dead. When a job goes wrong, she loses the only family she’s ever known. Then a handsome stranger approaches her with an offer she can’t refuse, and she has to get the crew back together for one last job—to steal a soul from the Afterlife.
– And, if you could do it in just 5 words or less, what would they be?
Found family. Fantasy. Felonies. Done.
– What was the original spark that inspired Hell to Pay?
I was watching a lot of The Good Place and decided to make it everyone’s problem. I remember I was worried I would never have another idea after my first series, so I was panic-pitching weird comp title combos to my friends. I landed on Six of Crows meets The Good Place and described it as “they break into heaven and all hell breaks loose.” I immediately wrote that down in my notes app.
– Who was your favourite character to write and why?
I love all my characters equally. But Crowlene knows she’s my favorite.
– Is there a character that you relate to?
Elle is what happens if I listen to my impulsive thoughts.
– Is there a particular scene that felt rewarding to write?
I weirdly love writing denouements, and the final scene in Hell to Pay felt so satisfying to write. I love calling back to things that happened earlier in the book and exploring the payoff of the character and plot arcs.
– Is there another characters backstory you would love to explore in another book?
Hell to Pay is a fast-paced heist, so there wasn’t much room to stop and tell everyone’s life story. I know far more about these characters than made it onto the page. I’d happily spend another book digging into any of them. Poppy comes to mind because there was a lot about
her history that didn’t end up in the final draft. She’s good at so many things and feels responsible for everyone, and there are reasons for that.
– Did you have to do much research before you started the writing process for the
book?
I love research, and I did a lot for this book: sleight of hand, pickpocketing, long cons, the Cult of Persephone, heuristics, cryptanalysis, Greek mythology, and even how real criminal organizations operate. My internet history out of context would be very confusing.
– Were there any books, films or myths that influenced the story?
It was obviously heavily influenced by Greek mythology, especially the Underworld and the Eleusinian Mysteries. I pitched it as Six of Crows meets The Good Place, but plenty of other stories found their way in too, including Little Thieves, A Deadly Education, Lockwood & Co., The Artful Dodger, and—somewhat inexplicably—Tangled.
– How did you approach creating the setting of Hell to Pay?
One of my favorite parts of heist stories is that the characters rarely stay in one place. They’re always recruiting, planning, scouting locations, or chasing the next target. That meant I got to set parts of the story all across the U.S. before taking readers somewhere much stranger. Building the Afterlife was the real challenge because I wanted it to feel recognizable enough that readers could navigate it, but unfamiliar enough that it feels a little uncomfortable.
– How did you come up with the title? Was it a hard process?
For a long time, the book was called Heaven Heist. Then I realized the Afterlife I’d created was much more hell than heaven. I suggested changing it to Hell Heist, but my US publisher wasn’t convinced, so I spent weeks making lists of every death- and crime related pun I could think of. Thankfully, Hell to Pay won because it perfectly combines the supernatural and heist sides of the book.
– Where do you write?
I had a proper office back in North Carolina. In Edinburgh, my flat is much smaller, so these days I mostly write on the couch. Fortunately, my laptop doesn’t seem to mind.
– What is your favourite genre to read?
Fantasy and science fiction. I love stories that let you ask impossible questions and then take those questions completely seriously.
– Where can our readers find you on social media?
I’m @lorabethjohnson on Instagram and TikTok, but I’m a little too old to understand TikTok.
– Finally can you give us your favourite quote from a novel (it can be yours!)?
Honestly? I’ve always loved Douglas Adams’ line, “The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don’t.” As a teenager, I thought it was the cleverest sentence ever written, and I still hold it as a benchmark for comedic writing.