Cinematic Stories: A Guest Post by Soman Chainani
Soman Chainani (The School for Good and Evil) returns with a thrilling graphic novel centered on a trio of witches who respond to an otherworldly plea. Read on for an exclusive essay from Soman Chainani on what led him to write his latest book, Coven.
Paperback $15.99
Coven: A Graphic Novel
Coven: A Graphic Novel
By
Soman Chainani
Illustrator
Joel Gennari
In Stock Online
Paperback $15.99
Need your magical crime solved?
Call the Witch Coven.
Need your magical crime solved?
Call the Witch Coven.
Coming from a film background, I’ve always been drawn to stories that feel cinematic — visual, visceral, and propulsive. Long-form graphic novels seemed like the most natural form to explore that instinct. But the graphic novels I loved most — Watchmen, Maus, Fun Home — all leaned adult in tone. I wasn’t sure how to bring that kind of complexity and visual pop to younger readers… without watering things down.
Then came the idea for a horror story.
A killer stalking an island divided in two: one side a sleek, tech-driven society powered by a mysterious, underground fuel; the other, a nomadic community that believes the fuel is sacred and must never be drawn out of the ground. As tensions mount between the two sides, people begin dying — their faces magically erased before they fall to the ground, waxy and blank corpses.
Clearly not for kids, right?
And yet I kept thinking about what I devoured in middle school. The lush, bloody 1992 film Dracula, at once terrifying and beautiful. The stream of B-movie monster flicks I stayed up late to watch. Every vampire novel I could find. Kids today are hungrier than ever for darkness — but the safe kind, trapped between covers, wrapped in story. I knew there had to be a way to give them the chills they crave and say something deeper.
That’s where COVEN was born.
Part murder mystery. Part unsettling fable. A story that’s scary but safe and charged with the anxiety of living in a world at war with itself. Reviewers have called COVEN “eco-horror,” which I wish I’d come up with myself, because that’s exactly what it is: a magical story rooted in very real fears.
In many ways, it’s a new kind of Grimm’s fairy tale, the kind I’ve been writing for a decade. COVEN stars three fan-favorites from The School for Good and Evil: the Witch Coven — Hester, Anadil, and Dot — now reimagined as rogue detectives investigating magical crimes in the deep, haunted woods. But COVEN lives outside the series. It’s a complete standalone — a genre-bender meant for fans and for first-timers, regardless of age.
It took four years to bring this book to life. Artist Joel Gennari took my script and dove into the abyss, returning with a world that’s eerie, gorgeous, and alive. The final result is a descent into the darkest corners of human nature — and hopefully, a light to the way back out.