P.J.C. Cahill (he/him) grew up in several different houses, across three different countries, and several states. He was raised on Redwall, Lord of the Rings, Aliens, The Terminator, and the Matrix. He began writing at the age of 14 with a Star Wars fanfic (the second story was a Neon Genesis: Evangelion fanfic). He writes in both fantasy and sci-fi settings, original and fan-based.
With nearly 30 years of writing experience in his unofficial capacity, he’s comfortable telling his own style of stories, for good or ill. He’s been happily married to his wife, Erin, since 2012 despite everything the world is throwing at us these days. Erin’s constant support, gentleness, and kindness keep him going.
Every story needs a little hook, in his opinion, and he tends to ‘spice up’ his plot-lines with over-the-top fantasy or sci-fi elements (like ‘reincarnating’ the Demon King as a young lesbian). He feels that stories convey the best messages when used to inspire hope and humane treatment of each other and the world around us. Join him for anime nonsense, stay for the family love and support.
AUTHOR LINKS:
Bluesky: @pjccahill.bsky.social
Website: pjccahill.carrd.co (all book purchase options, Itch.io and Amazon)
Read a Sample of Raising the Demon King:
https://read.amazon.com/sample/B0FSJX9VWR?clientId=share
Book Elevator Pitch for Readers/Book Clubs:
The Demon King is reincarnated as a tiny lesbian who loves her family SO MUCH. Just trying to be happy, her family has to deal with bigotry, bias, and magic!
We’re going to chat about your first book in the YA Action-Adventure Demon King Daughter series, Raising the Demon King. What inspired this book, and made you want to turn it into a series rather than a standalone or duology?
The DKD series was inspired by a combination of anime tropes bouncing around in my head, and my grief about the death of my mother, Mary. She was my first fan, always kind and supportive, and always wonderful around children. With the focus of showing a happy, loving relationship between mother and daughter, the rest of the story started snapping into place in my mind, and I had drive and passion to get it going. For long it is, it was remarkably easy to write, because that passion fed every word.
The whole trilogy was actually written as a single standalone book, but was far too long to actually PRINT as a standalone book. One of my previous books, N.I.C.E.F.: Neural-Interface Controlled Exo-Frame, had run right up under Amazon’s physical print limit without me realizing, and DKD blew right past that same word-count. So, I chopped the story into three sections.
I actually got lucky on how the plot rhythm played out, giving me fairly solid climax moments for each book, building toward all the massive pay offs in Book 3 (upcoming). Books 2 and 3 are definitely benefiting from the delays, as I’m further refining a few sentences here and there, but the whole series was perfectly publishable from the jump.
The book focuses on mother and daughter duo, Masuyo and Kyoka. Introduce us to these characters, and can you tell us more about why you chose a single-parent mother-daughter relationship to centre in this book?
Oops, I skipped ahead a little with that last answer, heh. To reiterate briefly, I was processing grief over the loss of my mother while also feeling inspired by some silly anime tropes. Once the idea of focusing on the relationship between the ‘reborn’ (it’s more complex than simple reincarnation) Demon King and her mother locked in, everything else snapped into place.
Masuyo is a survivor. She trusted a boyfriend who turned out to be a coward, but she chose to keep her baby despite being abandoned. This combination of trauma and love informs a great deal of her story arc throughout the series. She dedicates her life to raising her daughter, but she’s still human, and she needs companionship of her own.
Her trauma from her ex abandoning her and Kyoka keeps her aloof despite her pain, and she tries to buy it with joy and love for her daughter. How does that pan out? How does she face it? That’s her story, and I think you’ll enjoy the ride.
Kyoka is a delightfully complex character to write for. She adores her mother, respects her strength of will, and wants nothing but the best for her. Most accurately, Kyoka is a human girl with all the memories and powers of the Demon King. It’s not a true ‘reincarnation’ trope. Kyoka is literally both the baby girl Masuyo carried in her womb AND the Demon King that gifted his essence to her. Their souls combined into a new, unique being. As a result, Kyoka has VAST stores of experience and knowledge she can draw on, but being human is new and challenging. She has to learn to how to be a good daughter and niece, a good friend, and (maybe?) a good girlfriend!
The Demon King’s influence is very strong, but she gains a unique voice and behaviors as she matures in her human life, and then her duality expresses in different ways. As she matures and helps her loved ones, seeing when her Demon King aspect comes to the fore vs. the teenage girl doing her best is a very rewarding dynamic in every scene, right down to her word choice.
What other kinds of relationships does Raising the Demon King have, and why were these important for you to include?
DKD explores several kinds of relationships, because I wanted to try and give young readers examples (good and bad) to possibly discuss or think about, and adult readers something to appreciate across a gamut of different characters.
Parent-child, young (first) love, adult love, platonic love are all explored through various characters across a (by the end) large cast.
It is LGBTQ+ inclusive, and tackles some of the bigotry both children and adults face in that community. It does also explore the fantastical dynamic of human/demon relationships (mostly via Kiseki (human) and Hasava (demon)), which is equal-parts world building as character development and meta-moral exploration.
Really, I wanted to show how anyone and everyone can be understanding and loving, regardless of the specific type of love they wish to share.
The book also features a range of villainous characters, from the sympathetic to full-on evil; is it possible to give us some spoiler-free/low-spoiler examples of these characters, how you developed them and why you chose to write them in these ways, and perhaps give us some reader reactions to them?
I can certainly share some ‘starting point’ insight on the various villains that get the point across, I believe!
The ‘main’ villains are Hideyoshi (corrupt leader of the Demon Slayers) and Torlash (traitor Demon General who ‘killed’ the Demon King).
They’re scheming together, using each other, and both fully intend to stab the other in the back at the opportune moment. Hideyoshi wants to use the ‘endless war’ with the demons to promote and glorify himself and the Slayers, while Torlash wants control of the world, with humanity reduced to livestock. Either by greed or malice, these two create most of the danger and threat the cast face.
Then there’s Celineux, who will be introduced in Book 2 as a servant to Torlash.
She’s the most classically ‘evil’ character of the cast, obsessed with pain and mastering her curses. She’s one of the most direct and dangerous threats to the protagonists, and has no remorse about it.
Book 1’s direct villains are the ‘school bullies,’ Tetsuyo and his gang. They’re upperclass (paladin) snobs who look down on witches (Kyoka and her friend). Tetsuyo thinks he’s Himari’s boyfriend, but Himari befriends Kyoka. Jealousy sets Tetsuyo off, and things quickly get out of control. They ARE just teenagers, but their lack of discipline gets them in deep, and it becomes a concern whether or not Kyoka might snap with too much power in response.
And then there’s Himari’s parents, Nori and Yuuto. They are the most directly sympathetic of all the antagonists, because they aren’t evil. They believe they’re doing what’s right by their daughter, without realizing how toxic and harmful it is. Their bigotry against witches puts them at odds with Kyoka and Masuyo, especially once Himari gets involved. However, they’re never truly malicious. Angry, frustrated, but never malicious. If anyone on this list might be truly redeemed, it’s them, and they have a full arc across the series exploring how they come to terms with their beliefs, protecting their daughter, and their distrust of Kyoka.
Let’s talk about worldbuilding – introduce us to the setting for the series! Can you describe the world order and the locations of the first novel? Where did you draw inspiration from for your worldbuilding process?
The quick and dirty description is: Our world + demons = wow!
It’s a contemporary setting, absolutely intended to be our world, simply with the addition of demons, curses, magic, mages, witches, and paladins as completely normal, everyday issues.
911 calls get Demon Slayers and exorcists alongside police, EMTs, and firemen. Hospitals have exorcists working alongside surgeons. Almost every myth or legend is probably quite literally real in some form or another.
The main ‘addition’ to our world is the ‘Demon Island’ out in the Pacific (near Japan, which is the main setting of the series). Not ALL demons are from the island (local myths and legends ARE local, they didn’t need the island), but MOST are, and it was the Demon King’s seat of power.
Demon Slayers are overall respected as protectors, but internally they’re rife with corruption and bias. Paladins (humans with blessed weapons and holy magic) are the top-dogs, mages (those who learn magic) are a little below them, and witches (born with magical ability) are distrusted underdogs. Despite all of them working to defeat demonkind, the paladin hegemony is often downright cruel to witches (and yes, Kyoka and her loved ones are almost all ‘witches’).
A lot of the inspiration for this dynamic came from a few different anime, such as Bleach, Solo-Leveling (but, you know, actually respecting female characters to have agency…), various reincarnation tropes I wanted to play with, and other ‘hidden supernatural war’ settings in a contemporary world. Heck, there’s even a little Ghost Busters in there.
What’s next for the DKD series? What can readers expect for Book 2?
Book 2, The Demon King and the Paladin, continues by paying off some of the immediate promises made at the end of Book 1.
Masuyo has an admirer, but how will she handle it if they reach out?
Kyoka, Himari, and Seina (best friend) can rely on each other, but how is Himari going to handle Kyoka’s crush on her?
Seina feels lonely seeing them together. What will she do?
Kiseki and Hasava have a lovely life together, but it’s always teetering on the edge if Hasava gets exposed for what she is. With so many eyes on Kyoka, isn’t it inevitable that Hasava will get scrutinized, too?
Hideyoshi and Torlash have been cooking up some kind of awful plan the whole time, specifically targeting the witch training class. It comes to fruition in Book 2.
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