Fast Five Interview: Trang Thanh Tran

Fast Five is an author interview series. The author is sent 10 questions and is asked to answer five of them. If you are an author interested in participating in the Fast Five Author Interview series, please fill out this form.

Trang Thanh Tran writes speculative stories with big emotions. They grew up in a big family in Philadelphia, then abandoned degrees in sociology and public health to tell stories in Georgia. When not writing, they can be found over-caffeinating on iced coffee and watching zombie movies. Their debut novel She Is a Haunting was an instant New York Times and Indie bestseller, a William C. Morris Debut Award finalist, and a Bram Stoker Award winner. Connect with them on Twitter @nvtran or their website www.trangthanhtran.com.

TLT: Give us the elevator pitch for your book.

Trang: They Bloom at Night is a YA horror novel set in a coastal town overtaken by red algae, where a queer teen must hunt for the creatures drowning her neighbors or turn over her family’s shrimping boat to the corrupt harbormaster. But the closer she gets to the monsters, the more she realizes that they’ve been in plain sight all along—perhaps, even, right at her skin.

It’s for readers who love strange, atmospheric settings like in Annihilation but with the intimate story and young voice of Speak.

TLT: What inspired your book?

Trang: My dad was a shrimper. I lived in a deep, rural fishing town in Louisiana from 6 to 14, across the Mississippi River and right by the Gulf of Mexico. I have vivid memories of being on his boat and smelling the sea in the air. That community, particularly the subset of Vietnamese shrimpers, was so insular. There’s no place quite like it in beauty and yet it’s ensnared in the same systems that are passed down and maintained everywhere. This convergence of place and people is fascinating to me! 

TLT: What was something challenging/surprising about writing this book?

Trang: Though Mercy, Louisiana is not a real place, I had to excavate many feelings and memories from my childhood to really create Nhung’s inner world. It’s hard when you love something or someone and see that they have failed you. It took many drafts for me to set this story free. 

TLT: What are you working on now?

Trang: I am drafting a YA book titled The Summoning of Tess Pham. It combines everything I love about complicated families, possession, and survival horror!

TLT: Do you have any upcoming events that you’d like to tell our readers about?

Trang: Tomorrow Bookstore in Indiana is hosting me at Indy Fringe on April 12th. I will be in conversation with book YouTuber Sydney Adams about They Bloom at Night. I’m so excited and tickets are available now!

About They Bloom at Night

The author of the New York Times bestselling horror phenomenon She Is a Haunting is back with a novel about the monsters that swim beneath us . . . and live within us.

Since the hurricane, the town of Mercy, Louisiana has been overtaken by a strange red algae bloom. Noon and her mother have carved out a life in the wreckage, trawling for the mutated wildlife that lurks in the water and trading it to the corrupt harbormaster. When she’s focused on survival, Noon doesn’t have to cope with what happened to her at the Cove or the monster itching at her skin.

Mercy has never been a safe place, but it’s getting worse. People are disappearing, and the only clues as to why are whispers of underwater shadows and warnings to never answer the knocks at night. When the harbormaster demands she capture the creature that’s been drowning residents, Noon finds a reluctant ally in his daughter Covey. And as the next storm approaches, the two set off to find what’s haunting Mercy. After all, Noon is no stranger to monsters . . .

ISBN-13: 9781547611119
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Publication date: 03/04/2025
Age Range: 14 – 17 Years

Filed under: Author Interview