We’ve all met people who have good bullshit detectors.
But in Izzy Lee’s psychological thriller / supernatural horror mystery novella I Can See Your Lies (paperback, Kindle), she has a woman who can actually see when someone is lying. Though whether that will help her find her missing mom…
In the following email interview, Lee discusses what inspired and influenced this story, which includes her work in the film industry.
To begin, what is I Can See Your Lies about?
The plot follows Fin, a beleaguered woman in a bad marriage. She has the ability to tell when people lie to her by way of seeing festering manifestations on the faces of said liars. Now that her daughter Marnie is beginning to have similar and even more powerful visions, Fin must figure out a better life for them both — but before that, she’s driven to find out what really happened to her own mother, a rising Hollywood actress who disappeared in 1979.
And what kind of a world is it set in?
A current world pretty much just like our own reality, but even weirder. Same timeline as us, with some creepy supernatural and sci-fi flourishes. The story is set in both southern California and the Pacific Northwest, particularly Arch Cape, Oregon.
Where did you get the idea for this story?
Well, in the film industry, you hear a lot of bullshit. Sometimes you can tell what someone is telling you is utter garbage, and sometimes you can’t. I’d just always wished I’d had the power to absolutely know when someone was lying to me, even if that ability would be as much of a curse as it would be a blessing.
Is that why Fin’s missing mom is an actress? Because you’re a filmmaker?
I used to be an actor as well, a few lifetimes ago. Acting in particular, is one of those avenues for people who feel things very deeply. I wrote in a bit of Hollywood because this is an alluring place that takes away even more than it gives; it’s a quite a cruel god.
It sounds like I Can See Your Lies might be a psychological thriller, and maybe a noir one at that. But the press materials says it’s a supernatural horror mystery.
It’s all of these things, and even has those little sci-fi touches I mentioned above as well.
I myself describe it as a supernatural thriller because you have to pick one or two genres in order to market it. You have to ask yourself: What genres present in the work the most? Ultimately, it’s up to the reader to decide what the work is to them, and I think that’s part of the fun of art and storytelling, what people take away from it.
I’ve also been told that the book is Gothic in a sense, which makes me smile, because I love Gothic stories.
I Can See Your Lies is your first published novella, but you’ve had short stories in such anthologies as Haunted Reels. Are there any writers, or specific stories, that had a big influence on Lies but not on anything else you’ve written?
Not especially; writing this book was more of a stream of consciousness for me than anything. I’ve been asked if there were any particular noir or gothic books or films, and while those genres were certainly influential on me as a creator, I didn’t have anything in mind as I wrote this book.
As you said, I Can See Your Lies was inspired by the film industry. But was it influenced by any specific films? Or TV shows?
No, nothing came to mind. I just wanted to tell a weird, creepy adventure.
I Can See Your Lies seems like it’s a stand-alone story. But since you never know, I’ll ask: Is I Can See Your Lies a stand-alone novella or the first book in a series?
It’s a stand-alone for now. However, there’s always room for more, either with Fin, or Marnie, whose own powers are rapidly developing as she grows into a pre-teen. Children with supernatural abilities have always been terrifying in both literature and film. Firestarter comes to mind. I don’t have plans, but if either of those characters starts speaking to me again with a story I can’t refuse, I’m down to explore what they have to say to me.
I mentioned a moment ago that you had a story in the anthology Haunted Reels. While that book came out last summer, the audiobook version only came out last month. First, what is your story, “The Beginning,” about?
Funny enough, it’s about another mom navigating hard times with a little girl. I’m not a mom, and I’ve never planned on being one, but there’s something about the struggle of having to care for someone young when you’re going through your own ordeals that somehow speaks to me.
In “The Beginning,” freelance designer Lily lives out in the middle of nowhere with her daughter, coming to grips with being a single mom and the loss of her drug-addicted husband when insectoid-crab-like creatures and a strange box and hole in the ground appear.
Is there any connection between “The Beginning” and I Can See Your Lies?
Only the fact that they both feature strong moms dealing with a ton of absolute shit and terrible situations without any help.
One of the stories on the audiobook version of Haunted Reels — “Fugazi,” which was written by Janina Gavankar and Russo Schelling — features the vocal stylings (as they used to say) of Bernard White [The Matrix], Ahmet Best [Star Wars: The Mandalorian], and Sam Witwer [The Mist]. What cool person did they get to do “The Beginning,” and how much self-control did it take you to not immediately ask them to be in one of your movies?
These stories are all written by filmmakers. As far as I know, that story is a standout in the way it was recorded, like a radio play with multiple performers. One of the authors of that story is a legit Hollywood actress, which is her main career, and therefore has a lot more reach than I do; I’m nowhere near that successful yet. We were allowed to either record our own versions, or our publisher, Dark Matter, would find a voiceover artist to record for us. I was in various stages of prepping my first feature film, House Of Ashes, and I let Dark Matter handle the audio version of the story. I haven’t yet heard any of the stories.
I’m also curious why you decided to write I Can See Your Lies as a prose novella as opposed to as a movie?
If you’ve ever tried to get a movie made, you’d know how excruciating it is and how long it takes. Instead of writing a script on spec and pitching to men who’d never fund me and waste years of my life, I decided to reverse engineer things and write a book. It was hard, but trying to make a feature film is infinitely harder, because you can’t just do it alone like you can sit down and type a story into existence.
Does that mean that you think I Can See Your Lies wouldn’t work as a movie?
Quite the opposite. I wanted to write the book this time so my story would exist in some form in the world. I always want to direct what I write. Hollywood is extremely risk averse and conservative these days. It’s rare that original stories are greenlit. The industry is so hot for IP [intellectual property]. This means that stories exist in a previous form, which means that they’re seen as less risky (at least these days) to studios.
If you got to make a movie based on I Can See Your Lies, who would you cast as Fin?
Emma Stone would be fantastic as Fin. She’s proven to take changes on weird material, and she has the rare talent of an actor who does physical action extremely well, and by this, I mean how she actually carries herself in her Poor Things role. She’s incredible.
So, is there anything else you think people need to know about I Can See Your Lies?
It may make you sad or scared, but it will make you feel.
Finally, if someone enjoys I Can See Your Lies, what novel or novella of someone else’s would you suggest they read next, and why that?
I’ve enjoyed these books: Night Film by Marisha Pessl for being set in a weird, twisty film world mystery that has constant layers; The Mad Women’s Ball by Victoria Mas because this is all about the sharp perspective of women being cast aside and committed in asylums by men, and their adventures in survival; and The Death Of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling, which is a strange Gothic tale that also delves into impossible magic that keeps you guessing.
