Interview With T. Marie Vandelly, Author Of ‘An Evil Premise’

A few years ago I read an incredible ghost story titled Theme Music. I can’t say that ghost stories are my favorite because I have a hard time believing that it’s something that could happen in real life, which is what usually scares me. I don’t know if I would say I’m 100% not a believer, but I’ve never experienced any paranormal so that makes it hard for me to be scared of it. But this book terrified me! If you haven’t read it yet, remedy that immediately.

When I learned the author of Theme Music, T. Marie Vandelly, had a new book out, I couldn’t wait to read it. An Evil Premise is so fucking good and is the perfect follow-up to Theme Music.

An Evil Premise is a mind-bending, thrilling meta-novel about possession, insanity, and the lengths a writer will go to find inspiration.

To celebrate the release of An Evil Premise, I chatted with T. Marie about the inspiration for the book, the horror genre, horror movies, and more!

PopHorror: Theme Music was one of my favorite books in the last few years. I read it about two years ago and I loved it so much, so I was really excited to see you have a new book coming out.

T. Marie Vandelly: Oh wow!

PopHorror: An Evil Premise blew my mind so I’m excited to hear more about it.

T. Marie Vandelly: Oh, wonderful, wonderful! I haven’t had a lot of feedback, just from friends and family and you can’t really trust them on what they think. It’s like, it’s always good so I’m so glad to hear this feedback because it’s a little bit different.

PopHorror: It is, yes! I read the premise but the blurb on the back doesn’t really give you a lot of information and I like that because this really has a lot of surprises in it. I was not expecting the ending. At first I thought I knew what was happening but as it went on, I realized I had no idea how it was going to end. What sparked the idea for An Evil Premise?

T. Marie Vandelly: I was thinking about what my next novel should be and I love the horror genre so I was trying to think of different kinds of stories that I might want to be working with. I did ghosts in Theme Music. The Exorcist is one of my all time books and I’d love to write a book about demonic possession but I would be too afraid to write it. I would think I was getting possessed in the process of writing a book about being possessed. I was like, hmm, that’s an interesting thought there, about a writer who feels like she’s being possessed as she’s writing a book about possession. It just kind of started from there. I would just give up the first time I scared myself.  So I had to make it a little bit where she really kind of needed to do this for herself living in her sister’s shadow and wanting to prove herself as a writer. And then she gets, with the whole muse aspect of it, pulled into it more than she wants to be a part of it, she’s now a part of it, she is a part of the story. She is the story that’s going on.

PopHorror: So did you experience anything strange while writing it? Was that running through your mind like, this is making me feel uncomfortable?

T. Marie Vandelly: I definitely had some moments writing it where I was like… You just kind of zone out when you’re writing and you read back on it and it’s like, did I write that? Like I have no recollection of writing that sentence whatsoever. Just little things. Like you just feel like something is behind you, especially when you’re writing about it. The book was kind of like a mirror image where you look at the mirror and you just see a mirror of yourself. In the one sentence, I think I said something like, is somebody reading a story about her? She’s reading this story, is somebody reading a story about her or is somebody reading a story about them reading a story about her? And on and on and on. Those moments are like, wow is this what’s happening? It really brings the reader into the story because they’re sharing it with her. She’s reading a story, they’re reading her story. I think at the end when it comes full circle, I think that really gives the reader a good shot and makes you feel like you’re part of it.

PopHorror: Was there anything that you were adamant about keeping in the final draft, no matter what?

T. Marie Vandelly: No, my publisher and my editor were really, really great about what I should keep, what I shouldn’t. There was a lot more Satanic stuff going on in my first couple drafts and my agent was actually the one that was like, “Eh, I don’t know. Let’s tone it down a little bit.” And then my editor was like, “Let’s bring it back a little bit.” There was a little push and pull with that. There was a moment with my editor where she really wanted to know where the manuscript was. Where was the original manuscript? She’s looking for it in one version and it’s just kind of left up in the air. She was really adamant about, “Where is it? I want to know where it is!” It’s like, I don’t know where it is. Nobody knows where it is. I just drowned it in the story and kind of said, “Here I am! Over here! Remember in the beginning when you read this? This is where it is and where it’s been the whole time.” That was a surprise to me and I was like, oh yeah, there it is! It all just kind of worked out, especially with the ending when her and her sister are together at last.

PopHorror: If An Evil Premise was to be made into a movie, who would you want to cast as Jewel and Deidre? 

T. Marie Vandelly: Oh gosh, that’s a good question. I would say Olivia Wilde is more who I had in mind for Deidre, and Florence Pugh would make a great Jewel.

PopHorror: Great answers! You said that you’re a fan of horror, which I’m glad because you’re writing horror books. Why do you feel that some people resonate more with the genre than others?

T. Marie Vandelly: I think people like to be surprised and excited when they’re reading and not knowing where the story’s going to go. And like I said, I like to be pulled into the story and I really do like when things are paranormal and the horror genre really has a way of doing that more. You might feel a connection with characters in other genres, but you don’t necessarily feel like you’re in the thick of it with them. When it’s horror, you really feel like you’re in a life or death situation with the character, even what you’re imagining is what they’re imagining and how they feel about a situation is exactly how you might be feeling in that moment. I think if you’re reading a romantic novel, if you don’t have romance, you can put yourself into that situation with them, but you don’t quite get it. With horror, it really sinks your right into their shoes. You’re standing right there with them and you’re scared to death with them. You’re screaming to do what you think you would do in that moment. I don’t think you get that with a lot of other genres where you really feel invested or feel like you’re really lockstep with the characters as you move through the story, especially if it’s one that’s a single character. If there’s multiple characters you might jump in and grab ahold of one and you kind of envision yourself as them. But I think when it’s a single first person character, you’re really just going through the motions with them, especially if they’re unreliable and they’re unaware of the situation as well so everything is unfolding for you with them as they understand what’s happening and so do you. Then you start to worry for them and think, you have to get out of this. You have to see it through with them. In some other genres, you might be able to say I’m okay with them being wherever they are at the moment, they’ll be fine. But in horror you’re like, I have to see it through to the end with this person because I’m not invested with them.

PopHorror: You mentioned being invested and in the thick of it with them, which I agree because we’re rooting for them, we’re in their corner. I find other genres more surface-level. I don’t think you get as deep with the characters in other genres as you do in horror. You know them better at the end of the story.

T. Marie Vandelly: Right, because you survive together.

PopHorror: Exactly! I have just one last question for you. What’s your favorite scary movie?

T. Marie Vandelly: The Exorcist is my favorite scary book and also my favorite scary movie. That one just really scared the hell out of me.

Thank you so much to T. Marie for taking the time to chat with us. An Evil Premise releases on August 12, 2025 wherever you buy books!