is a genderfluid nonsense maker who currently lives in Los Angeles. They are not, as some darkweb forums allege, 13 otters in a trenchcoat pretending to be a human. When not writing, Ashley enjoys boxing, yoga, and diving to the bottom of the ocean to hunt for clams.
On October 6th I dropped a review here of Midnight 99, which was recently released by NeoText, and the story was so out there that I knew I’d love to get a chance to chat with it’s creator. I was lucky enough to get a chance to send Ashley Christine a few questions, and after our correspondence I just want to know more.
Where did you get the idea from?
Most of my ideas start with a character. In this case I was staring at a piece of fanart of an alternative universe Dana Scully, where she’s covered in tattoos, wearing a leather jacket and casually brandishing a switchblade. At the time I was listening to the song “Hurricane” by Grace Jones, so I kind of combined the idea of Grace Jones and a tattooed paranormal investigator. Then I pulled in the manic energy of Hunter S. Thompson and Tank Girl and my own nonsense brain. And that’s how Tulsa Kalhoun was born.
Next came the world she inhabited, populated with Lizard people and weird aliens and weirder drugs.
Then I needed a plot. And because the character and world were so out there, I decided a traditional detective whodunit would ground everything a bit.
Does the name of the drug Midnight 99 have any deeper meaning?
The term Midnight 99 came into my head as a title long before I named it after the main drug. For me Midnight 99 describes the world of the story. It conjures up dark alley ways, drenched in neon lights, bright garish colors over inner darkness. But when I needed a name for the consciousness expanding drug, Midnight 99 was right there waiting for me.
How much research did you do into actual flora and their drug properties?
I did quite a bit of research, just so I had a basis of knowledge for the made up plants. I’ve never done psychedelics and never will since I was sober when I started writing this book, so I did a lot of reading like Doors of Perception and the works of Carlos Castenda. I talked a lot to my friend who’s a certified herbalist, so she was able to educate me on plant properties and the different ways to unlock them. I’m especially fascinated by fermentation.
What comes next?
Well Midnight 99 ends on a pretty epic cliffhanger, so I’m writing the next installment of the Big Dead Lizard Saga, which will be full of twists and turns and double crosses and copious footnotes.
