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Los Angeles has its own mythology in media. Obviously, Hollywood movies are a huge contributor to this, and whatever the hell influencers are posting on social media. But there's a tradition of LA myth-making through music, as well. After all, the City of Angels is home to major record labels and has a CD-shaped landmark in the form of the Capitol Records building in Hollywood. Sound City Studios in Van Nuys was the subject of a documentary directed by Dave Grohl! I learned basic LA geography as a kid through Beck lyrics! 

This is precisely the legacy that author Delilah S. Dawson taps into with her newest book, House of Idyll. It follows a barista named Angelina who dreams of pursuing a career as a singer, but is weighed down by the realities of her day job in Hollywood. One day, however, Angelina is invited to join an artist collective on a compound owned by her idol, Jesper Idyll of the rock band, Black Idyll. And while Jesper is every bit as dreamy as Angelina imagined, there's a sinister evil lurking at the core of the compound that is beyond her imagination. 

I've read the book already and am pleased to report that it absolutely rocks. I read it in one sitting because I was so engrossed in Angelina's journey and whether or not she was going to make it out alright! I was lucky enough to have the chance to interview Delilah S. Dawson about writing House of Idyll, which you can read below. 

Popverse: This book is set in LA. Were there any LA-specific stories, movies, TV shows, etc. that inspired you to put your own spin on Tinsel Town? Mulholland Drive is one that comes to mind.

Delilah S. Dawson: As a David Lynch fan, I love that you thought of Mulholland Drive! The surreal experience of LA as a façade hiding darkness is definitely a theme. Eyes Wide Shut and Nine Perfect Strangers have that same feel, and I’ll admit that ‘LA Devotee’ by Panic! At the Disco is on my current playlist rotation. I’m always fascinated by things that look beautiful and hide horror behind red velvet curtains.

Each chapter of House of Idyll opens with a lyric from a Black Idyll song, and there are lots of references to the band’s music videos throughout the book. How did you come up with the unique voice of the Black Idyll songs, and what kinds of bands were you inspired by when coming up with an identity for the band?

This was my first time writing lyrics, and I’ll admit I got a little obsessed. My musical training ends with my role as Sister Bertha in The Sound of Music in eighth grade, so I had no idea what I was doing, but there was also a passion and power there that just felt right. I called on my younger days poring over CD liner notes and writing slam poetry, and I have always loved theatrical music videos that tell a story. Black Idyll has a little My Chemical Romance, a little Deftones, a little Red Hot Chili Peppers, a little Ghost, and of course a little 30 Seconds to Mars in the mix.

House of Idyll, Guillotine, and your Star Wars book, The Rise of the Red Blade, explore women who, for one reason or another, are on the outskirts of powerful institutions. For Iskat in Rise of the Red Blade, she feels ostracized from the rest of the Jedi Order and misunderstood by her master Sember Vey, while Angelina in House of Idyll is a talented musician forced to support herself as a barista in Hollywood. What do you think attracts you to these types of stories?

Can I answer this question with the meme of Ben Kenobi saying, “Well, of course I know him. He’s me!” 😂 I grew up feeling like an alien, like I was always on the outside looking in. They didn’t have words for girls like me in the 80s, but now we’re beginning to understand how ADHD and autism show up in gifted young women. I wanted to fit in, I wanted to have friends, I wanted to be understood, but it seemed like I could master any topic except social ones. I love writing characters like that, especially when I can give them the confidence and strength that I did not have in my younger days. It’s cathartic to watch my heroines rise—and to let them do so with a violence I would never employ myself.

At San Diego Comic-Con 2025, you spoke about your interest as a writer in defying tropes about how women are perceived in society (i.e., that they are inherently “safe” and “soft”). Were there any particular tropes you were interested in upending with House of Idyll in particular?

House of Idyll begins on the third worst day of Angelina’s life, when she is offered a deal that seems too good to be true: an all-expenses paid sabbatical in a luxury compound sponsored by her favorite band. All she has to do is sign a contract and commit to creating art. From one point of view, it’s perfectly reasonable that billionaires could (and should!) fund such a venture, and that it should be easy to abide by the contract, but of course things are not so simple. Bit by bit, Angelina is coerced into succumbing to certain rules and mores, and each time she gives in, she loses a little of herself. She is definitely expected to be safe and soft—and pliable and gracious and easily manipulated. It was a joy watching her rediscover her backbone and decide that there are some lines that cannot be crossed—even by her favorite rock star crush. If society wants women to be soft, it takes work to become hard and sharp, but reality is a very eager whetstone.

Your love of the horror genre is on full display here. House of Idyll has a bit of folk horror, psychological horror, and more. Where do you start with writing a horror book like this? Do you start with a particular fear you want to unpack with the story, or are you more motivated by character and the situations you can put them in?

This book was inspired by a photo on Buzzfeed of long-haired Jared Leto in all white robes and sunglasses, barefoot as he leads a group of white-clad followers down a beach like Rock Star Jesus. I couldn’t help thinking about how I used to sigh over Jordan Catalano on My So-Called Life, and now he’s won multiple awards for music and acting, sells out stadiums, and leads retreats. How? How can this happen? So I dreamed up the most horrific answer I could. That’s where a lot of my Horror stories come from—taking the seed of an idea and making it as scary or bloody as possible. Guillotine also came from a Buzzfeed article—this one about the mega-rich and their obsession with yachts that carry yet more yachts. Much like the orcas, that article made me want to punish them for their careless greed. And Bloom happened because my teen daughter watched the Hannibal TV show and asked me why all the hot serial killers were dudes.

Related to that, horror is an immensely personal genre that also has the power to promote empathy through our universal experience of being scared of something in the world, something that House of Idyll is absolutely successful in. What is something that you hope readers will walk away with in their minds after reading House of Idyll?

If a character is going to experience horror, they have to ignore red flags. If Angelina was smart, she would take one look inside that black limo and say, “Thanks but no thanks, you beautiful rock star. This is too good to be true,” and then there would be no story, or at least it would be a plucky underdog drama/romance instead of a blood-drenched murder orgy.

When you want something with all your heart, it is so easy to write off the red flags—or at least see them as pink. Most of the bad experiences I’ve had in life as an adult have come from explaining away something that gave me pause and thinking, “This will probably be fine.” My other novella, Bloom, is almost an object lesson in not ignoring the red flags in a sapphic relationship when, if a man were involved, the woman would run away. We gave my daughter The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker when she became a teen, and she has since gifted it to several friends. Always listen to your gut. That’s your lizard brain, telling you that there is danger.  

Just like yourself, the Popverse staff spends a whole lot of time with our respective noses in respective books. It's why we've come up with stuff like:

• The hottest upcoming fiction
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• A genre fiction literary column called If It Bleeds, We Read

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