Interview: “Above Us, Hell” by Alicia Cay

In “Above Us, Hell,” Alicia Cay sends a treasure hunter and his grandfather into the Caribbean deep, where a WWII submarine has risen from the Cayman Trench—and brought its ghosts with it. What they find below the surface is older, stranger, and far more dangerous than sunken treasure.

Interview Questions

Did a real place or moment inspire part of your story?

Yes. The entire story was inspired by the very real sinking of the Awa Maru—a passenger liner that was “mistakenly” torpedoed by the U.S. submarine USS Queenfish on April 1, 1945, in the Taiwan Strait.

As I was researching this, I became particularly taken (as a writer of the fantastical) with the rumors that surrounded this event with the Awa Maru. It’s been said the ship was delivering more than just supplies for Allied prisoners of war, and in fact had enormous amounts of treasure on board, including the fossils of the Peking Man. Over 2,000 passengers lost their lives because of that “mistake,” and the entire thing has since been embroiled in rumor, speculation, and mystery.

I put Cash and his fellow crew on board a nearby submarine as outcast soldiers who hadn’t been allowed to join in the fight of WWII. So, they went to war as pirates—or, if you love a good conspiracy theory as much as I do, perhaps they were acting as privateers instead of outlaws. And in the end, as we find out, they did get their hands on some treasure…

What part of writing this story stuck with you the longest?

I did quite a bit of research on these submarines (the exact class of the Queenfish and what appears in “Above Us, Hell”) and read several accounts from sailors who were aboard submarines during WWII. The experiences they wrote and talked about are what has stuck with me the most. One of the accounts I read painted such a vivid picture of living and working in a “tin can” while war raged above them (from ships on the waves) and around them (other submarines in the water), that I wanted to (try and) recreate the emotions and sheer horror of what they must have experienced sitting blind in deep, dark water, the canned air, the claustrophobia and then—you’re attacked by something in the water below your boat. That idea, that terror, is what I was going for at the heart of this story.

The phrase “I shall fear no evil” appears in both timelines—Owen clutching his St. Anthony charm on the submarine’s deck, and Cash pressing Betty’s photo to his chest in the sinking boat. That echo feels deliberate. How did you think about threading that through-line between two men facing death in the same water, generations apart?

My desired intention with that small, shared action, was to show that these two men—though lifetimes apart and shown in the story as opposing forces (just like with war)—actually have much in common. They hold similar beliefs and hopes, are motivated by similar goals, they both like treasure (ha-ha), but more to the point, they are both just human and afraid and doing the best they can. A very relatable thing, I think.

Cash and his crew are framed as wartime pirates—men who manipulated a distress signal and plundered a sinking ship—yet Cash’s voice is so vivid and human that readers may find themselves rooting for him. How did you want readers to hold that tension? Is Cash a villain, a victim, or something more complicated?

I think the answers to what motivates people will always be more complicated than the simplicity of labels such as villain or victim. Cash thinks he’s fighting for his country in WWII against the enemy, and that he’s helping by weakening the opposing forces. One could argue that he’s right. One could also argue that his actions resulted in dying a terrible death, trapping his spirit, and twisting his soul. Or we could all just agree that should we think we’re the biggest and baddest person or thing in the ocean/on the planet/in the galaxy—we’re wrong. There are very old and very large things that live deep within the recesses of this planet that would disagree.

Grandpa Cormac is genuinely funny—his comic timing lands even in the middle of supernatural horror—and yet he’s also the story’s emotional bedrock. Was he always that character, or did he surprise you as he developed?

Aw, thank you for that. Gramps came out fully evolved as the “salty dog” character he is. He’s based on members of my family in that, he loves his family above all else, and also, does not understand all the complaining from the younger generations. In this case, he does not understand Owen’s whining or worrying while also not understanding the need for things like stitches or seeing a doctor for broken bones and internal bleeding. Just put a band-aid on it!

What are you working on now—and what’s fun or exciting about it?

I am working on the first novel in a series that I’ve been developing over the past year. It’s a paranormal romance that I hope will be a fun escape for my readers, sprinkled with some magic, a pinch of spiciness, and maybe even a shadow daddy, while also, hopefully, turning some familiar tropes on their heads. This is one of my favorite things about fiction and most notably about F/SF fiction. It allows us to ask: What if? and then let our imaginations run wild.

About the Author

Alicia Cay is a writer of speculative and mystery stories. Her short fiction has appeared in Galaxy’s Edge magazine and in several anthologies including Unmasked from WordFire Press and The Wild Hunt from Air and Nothingness Press. She suffers from wanderlust, dreams of far-away places, crochets, collects quotes, and currently lives by the beach where she’s slowly unfurling and soaking in the sunshine.

Find out more about Alicia at aliciacay.com

Read the Story

“Above Us, Hell” appears in Haunted Waters, available now from Blackbird Publishing.

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