🎧 Or listen to the episode HERE

Interview Overview

In this episode of The Writer’s Chair, Daniel Willcocks welcomes bizarro author and storyteller James Kennedy, best known for Bride of the Tornado — a genre-defying, darkly dreamlike novel about a small Midwestern town terrorised by sentient tornadoes and a girl drawn into a dangerous fascination with the mythic Tornado Killer.

James talks about the book’s roots in Midwestern tornado fear, adolescent yearning and the slow-burn horror of small-town conformity. He shares how Ray Bradbury and David Lynch shaped his approach to nostalgia, mystery and dream logic, and why he prefers stories that sit at the edge of coherence rather than explaining everything away.

They dig into the horror of “being nobody-eyesed”, cult ritual energy, and James’s deliberate choice to leave his protagonist unnamed to create intimacy, complicity and a sense of identity being stripped away. The conversation also touches on divisive art, bold storytelling choices, why The Lottery is foundational social horror, and how horror remains one of the few genres able to meet a transgressive cultural moment head-on.

Interview Transcript

Daniel Willcocks:

Welcome back, wordsmiths and story seekers. I am your host, Daniel Willcocks, broadcasting from the shadowy halls of Devil’s Rock HQ. Today I’m thrilled to share the writer’s chair with the absolutely amazing — bizarro, weird, kooky, in a wonderful way — author, James Kennedy.

As with some of the other episodes I’ve shared before, this is one that originally aired on a previous show a couple of months back, but everything in this episode is still very relevant. I’m very excited to share it again on this platform.

James Kennedy is an amazing human and an incredible writer. I first became aware of his work when I was at StokerCon in Pittsburgh a couple of years ago and got a free advanced copy of the book we talk about in this interview: The Bride of the Tornado. It’s filled with horror. It’s twisted, bizarre, and it’s about a boy that fights tornadoes — so there are fantasy elements too.

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting to like this book as much as I did. It ended up on my Top 10 Reads of 2024 list — I think it was number five. In this episode, we talk about why Bride of the Tornado defies genre, and how it nearly cost James his agent. We talk about what David Lynch and Ray Bradbury taught him about mystery, horror and dream logic. We get into the deep cultural horror of small towns, cult rituals and being “nobody-eyesed”. We talk about why he never names his protagonist, and how embracing the strange can create unforgettable art — even if some people hate it.

James is very much an artist, and I love speaking to people who are fuelled by art — powered by what can’t be explained. This book is a definition of all of that. It defies genre, but it’s definitely dark. There’s horror, cult worship and something really delicious in the air.

Before we get into the interview, a quick word: I’ve been incredibly busy with Devil’s Rock stuff behind the scenes. Over the last few weeks, people have been dropping into the Devil’s Rock Books community — new faces, old faces, readers club activity, writers sharing what they know. I even had a friend drop in who I’ve not spoken to in about seventeen years since we left school together.

Devil’s Rock is growing and the community is growing. I’m currently very, very nose deep — arms deep — in building something fun for horror writers and horror readers. Over the next few weeks there will be announcements. I’m hoping to get a lot set up so I can launch in 2026.

All of this to say: if you’re listening to this, you like dark fiction. Whether you’re here as a reader who loves hearing more about favourite authors, or as a writer of horror and dark fiction — you’re my people. Drop into the Devil’s Rock community at devilsrockbooks.com. Updates will be coming through the community, mailing list and this podcast.

Right — you came here for an interview, and James delivers in spades. This was originally aired on The Other Stories, so you might hear a couple of references to that, but the interview is for you.

James is wonderful. I hope you enjoy this interview with James Kennedy.

Welcome and Intro

Daniel Willcocks:

Hi, it’s me, Daniel Willcocks, and joining me this week in The Other Stories Writer’s Chair, I’ve got the wonderfully twisted James Kennedy.

James is the author of the horror thriller Bride of the Tornado, which Tor.com named as one of the best science fiction, fantasy and horror novels of September 2023. James’s previous books include the sci-fi novel Dare to Know, named by The Times Saturday Review as their best sci-fi book of 2021, and the young adult fantasy The Order of Oddfish.

In addition, James is the founder of the 92nd Newbery Film Festival, an annual video contest in which kid filmmakers create short movies that tell the entire stories of Newbery-winning books in about 90 seconds. He also hosts the Secrets of Story podcast with Matt Bird and most importantly lives in Chicago.

James, welcome to the show.

James Kennedy:

Thank you so much for having me, Dan. I’m really excited to be here.

Daniel Willcocks:

I’m very excited to have you here, and we’ve had a bit of a journey getting here. It’s been a couple of months, and I’ve really been looking forward to getting you in the right seat — mostly because, and I said this off air but I’ll say it again like it’s brand new…

I got an advance copy of Bride of the Tornado back in 2023 at StokerCon in Pittsburgh, and the sad thing is it sat on my shelf for too long — because this was one of my Top 10 books of last year.

Would you be happy to tell the audience: what is this book about, and why is it so amazing?

What Bride of the Tornado Is About

James Kennedy:

Bride of the Tornado is about a small town in the American Midwest — late 80s-ish — that’s always under assault. Once a generation, it comes under assault by these monstrous, sentient tornadoes. Nobody can leave and nobody can come in.

But the town also has this kind of boy — a sixteen-year-old boy — named the Tornado Killer. He can’t come into town, he can only stay outside, but he has the power to punch and kick and beat the shit out of tornadoes and wrestle them down until they’re nothing.

But he’s not the main character. The main character is a girl in town, about his age, who becomes fascinated with the Tornado Killer and a little obsessed with him. She starts finding clues around town that show some kind of connection between them. He becomes fascinated with her too. They enter into this dangerous relationship — not knowing the town has a grisly thing planned for them both.

So it’s about young adolescence, first love, cults — the peculiarly American kind of cult. Tornadoes are also a uniquely American monster. Three fourths of tornadoes in the world happen in the US. They’re pulverising, godlike columns of spinning air. They appear and vanish in a second. They demolish everything they touch.

I grew up in the American Midwest. I know this milieu. There used to be a term called “prairie madness” — pioneers going out west and going crazy from monotony and isolation. I wanted that madness feeling in the book too.

Origins and Inspirations

James Kennedy:

When I was in college, I was writing little short stories — a page long — and I wrote something about a tornado wrestler. It felt like this larger-than-life John Bunyan figure. I put it away.

Later, I realised you can’t tell Sherlock Holmes from Holmes’s point of view. You need the “normal person” viewpoint — like Amadeus or Hamilton. Someone obsessed with someone extraordinary.

I finished writing this book in 2014. And if you’re in touch with yourself, you can kind of see around corners. Small towns going crazy, religious conformity, cult-like behaviour — we’re right back in that now.

I didn’t grow up in a tiny town, but I did grow up with tornado fear. A tornado warning goes up, the whole family runs to the basement. You wait for the all-clear. And your family feels very different, because when else are you all hiding from a monster? It feels Old Testament. Then the siren stops and you go back to normal.

That feeling — plus Catholic rituals, first love, yearning from afar — because the Tornado Killer can’t touch anyone in town or he loses his powers — that’s very adolescent.

Daniel’s Reaction and the “Too Many Elements” Miracle

Daniel Willcocks:

It’s such a rich world. Even the title — Bride of the Tornado — the cover is so evocative. One of the things I love in horror is fantastical horror. Clive Barker, wild Stephen King tales. This felt Clive Barker-esque to me — like Weaveworld.

It feels like it should be too many elements to form a cohesive tale, but it works. Was there a particular influence? A style? Someone who gave you the tools to go, “This is the story I want to write”?

James Kennedy:

Yes. Ray Bradbury.

Daniel Willcocks:

Sold. I love Bradbury.

Ray Bradbury, Nostalgia and Horror

James Kennedy:

Bradbury had conflicted feelings about the Midwest. He writes small-town Midwestern life with nostalgia — but at his best, it’s nostalgia with horror in it. He’s terrified of the thing he’s nostalgic for. Those two forces pulling in opposite directions create power.

Something Wicked This Way Comes is a big influence. And David Lynch — Twin Peaks.

The publisher compares it to Twin Peaks, and some reviewers say it’s more like Eraserhead Lynch, which I take as a compliment. There’s body horror in it — especially toward the end.

There’s a moment in Twin Peaks where a character is brutally murdered. I’d never seen anything like it on broadcast TV. I watched with my parents — kooky small town show — then this brutal scene happens, and at the end my dad says, “The devil has entered this house.” He’s very religious.

I remember walking around the neighbourhood at night, completely changed. That kind of transformation only really happens when you’re seventeen.

So: Bradbury and Lynch are the two big ones.

Mystery, Dream Logic and Coherence

Daniel Willcocks:

I listened to the audiobook. There’s a lot of mystery — puzzle pieces constantly thrown in. One chapter points left, the next something appears from the right. Phones ringing. Questions stacking. It pulled me through because I needed answers.

Did the book come to you like that? Or was it massaged over rounds to get the puzzle pieces in?

James Kennedy:

Thank you. It started like every novel I’ve written: as a short story. I added and added and added. The original short story falls away, and the added material becomes the real thing.

I have a particular attitude toward mystery. I like it when something isn’t fully explained. You need to sit in the mystery for a while. That’s Lynch for me. People have explanations for Mulholland Drive. I don’t care. I want to feel a logic behind it, but I want the mystery to accompany you for weeks — maybe your whole life — instead of being solved instantly.

Life passes in a dreamlike way. Things don’t make sense until years later. Books have to be coherent to be tolerable, but I like playing right at the edge of coherence to make it feel like life feels to me.

Unnamed Protagonist

Daniel Willcocks:

One thing I noticed — and I think it might be a theme across your books — you don’t name the protagonist. Is that deliberate? Because I’ve done something similar, and I’m curious if your reason matches mine.

James Kennedy:

Yes — there’s a very particular reason.

I think intimacy is established between reader and protagonist if the protagonist doesn’t have a name. If you name your character “Eileen Bloopman”, then when she does something you go, “Oh, that’s such an Eileen Bloopman thing to do.” But if she doesn’t have a name, you’re slightly complicit in what she’s doing.

It’s dangerous because specificity is key, so vagueness must be purposeful. In this book, her identity is being taken away by the town. There’s an Emily Dickinson poem: “I’m nobody. Who are you?” Over time, the town is “nobody-eyesing” her.

Also, the less important characters are, the more specific names they have. The main character has no name. Her love interest is just “the Tornado Killer.” If his name was Kevin, you lose the sacramental feel.

And yes — it throws sand in the gears of expectations.

My books are divisive. People either say, “I love this — refreshing, interesting,” or they say, “What is this bullshit? Who does this guy think he is?”

David Lynch’s Eraserhead premiered and twenty-five people came. The next day, twenty-five people came — the same twenty-five people. That’s the audience I want: ride-or-die people ready to explore something strange.

If none of us are going to make money writing, you might as well do something bold, strange and true to how you see the world. And I realised: it’s the only way I can write anyway.

Also: Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past is 3,000 pages and we never find the main character’s name. That dreamlike feeling matters.

And one more influence: Shirley Jackson’s short story The Lottery.

Social Horror and The Lottery

James Kennedy:

Have you read The Lottery?

Daniel Willcocks:

No — I’ve only read The Haunting of Hill House.

James Kennedy:

When The Lottery ran, some people thought it was reportage from the Midwest. A lot of people cancelled their subscriptions.

A small town gathers for a lottery. Everything seems normal. People draw slips. One woman — who’s been the viewpoint character all along — gets chosen. Then everyone, including her husband and children, stones her to death. The lottery has always been done. It’s just what we do.

Social horror is maybe the most horrifying thing to me. Not heights. Not public speaking. It’s being in a room and suddenly everyone looks at you and comes at you. When you’re isolated in a small town and the only people you can rely on turn on you — that’s the deepest horror. Even your parents and your sister, because of something written before you were born.

The Cat Review

James Kennedy:

Can I read you my favourite review of Tornado?

Daniel Willcocks:

Yes. I’m very interested already.

James Kennedy:

This is from StoryGraph. Heather Jones, one star:

“I hated the experience of reading this book so much that I suppose it’s a recommendation. It’s self-consciously weird, violent at exactly the wrong times, gross when it doesn’t need to be, and the cat situation was unacceptable.”

But then she adds:

“It was also well constructed, well written, well plotted with characters who a reader can care about. You’ll love it. Assuming you are a terrible person.”

Thank you for being one of my terrible kind of people.

Daniel Willcocks:

I love reviews like that. One of my favourites was on a zombie book — zombie on the cover, zombie in the title, zombie in the blurb — and the review was: “I didn’t expect there to be zombies. One star.” I can’t help you any more than I have.

Chair Bonding and Naming Challenges

James Kennedy:

We took a quick pause and when you stood up, I realised you have the same chair I have. Brothers in the black weathered swivel chair.

Daniel Willcocks:

I’ve had it since 2014. It squeaks like hell and needs an upgrade.

Daniel Willcocks:

When a protagonist has no name, one challenge is other characters saying that name. You have to dodge it. Was that an issue?

James Kennedy:

She’s a loner. And people don’t say each other’s names in real life anyway. You don’t say, “Well, Daniel, as you know…” So it gives you licence to be more natural.

Also — I wrote this book a long time ago, so I don’t remember every technical dodge.

And here’s the thing: this book caused me to lose my agent in 2014. She read it and said, “I can’t represent this and I can’t represent you.”

I was in the wilderness for a couple of years. Then I got another agent — a much better agent — and the previous agent has since left the industry.

People either love this book or hate it.

Divisive Art and Audience Fit

Daniel Willcocks:

Any writer is ignorant to believe everyone will love their book. You can only sell to the people who will be interested. Bride of the Tornado is a unique context, and that’s why it stands out for me. It’s one of the most unique books I read last year.

James Kennedy:

Thank you. And honestly, my books do better in Britain than in America. My best reviews come from The Guardian, The Financial Times, The Times.

I think Britain has a more developed literary culture, or maybe more interest in weirder things. For some reason, my stuff does better over where you are. So thank you and your countrymen.

America is also metaphysical and weird — based on big ideas — and more religious than Britain. Maybe Americans are like, “I already get my metaphysical weirdness from life.” Maybe it’s more palatable in Britain.

Why Horror Meets the Moment

Daniel Willcocks:

This book flexes darker muscles. What drew you toward horror, and why this story as a channel into that?

James Kennedy:

Horror is uniquely transgressive. Polite horror is a failure.

We live in socially and politically transgressive times, but our art is frozen and timid — repeating conventions insufficient to the moment. Horror encourages you to smash those things, to do fucked up things. Otherwise it’s not horror.

So horror uniquely has the ability to meet the moment.

Stephen King, Going Too Far and One Madman Art

James Kennedy:

I was listening to horror writers talk about the infamous scene in IT — the one in the book, not the films. They were saying it would be better without it, trying to excuse or minimise it.

But Stephen King understands that it’s precisely that batshit thing that’s why people go to horror.

Dan Harmon has this story: a genie gives Stephen King a magic typewriter — you can write anything and everyone will love it. One catch: no backspace key. Whatever you write stays. That’s the lesson. Leave in the shit. That transgressive thing is the sacrifice you give to the god.

Books are one of the last bastions of one madman with a vision. Movies and TV are committees. Books are one madman. So take advantage of it.

Closing, Praise and Where to Find James

Daniel Willcocks:

I have so many more questions, but we’re unfortunately coming up to time. I really enjoyed talking to you and I hope you’ve enjoyed your time on The Other Stories.

James Kennedy:

I’ve really enjoyed it. Thank you. You’re a fantastic interviewer. I’ve been on podcasts where it’s clear they haven’t read my book — they ask the same questions they ask everyone. You commit. You read the book. You relate like a human being. I really appreciate that.

Daniel Willcocks:

Thank you. Before we go, where can people find out more about you and your work — and where can they grab Bride of the Tornado?

James Kennedy:

My website is jameskennedy.com. I’m on Twitter, Instagram and other places as Iamjameskennedy.

Daniel Willcocks:

Wonderful. With that, a huge thanks to James for joining us this week, and a massive thank you to you listeners for tuning in. Find out more about The Other Stories at theothersories.net, and I’ll see you next time when we strap our next willing victim into the writer’s chair. One more time from myself and from James: goodbye.

James Kennedy:

Bye bye.

Post-Interview Outro

Daniel Willcocks:

And there we go — that was the interview with James Kennedy. I hope you got as much out of that as I did. James is a wonderful person. Please do check him out — I’ll put his links in the show notes.

Before you dash off, if you’re craving deeper conversation, writing advice, or just fancy hanging out with fellow readers and storytellers, consider joining us in the Devil’s Rock community on Discord.

I’m on a mission to build the largest online space for fans of horror and dark fiction — a home where writers and readers can connect, create and thrive together. It’s free, it’s open to all, and it’s always crackling with inspiration.

If you’re ready to pull up a virtual chair, head to devilsrockbooks.com/podcast for the invite link. And until next time, my friends: write bravely and dream dark.