Interview with Silent author, David Mellon

David Mellon (SILENT, March 18th, Merit Press)

Can you tell us a little about your latest book SILENT?

Adi, a girl from India inadvertently ruins the plans of a sinister stranger named Coal. In return he takes her twin brothers from her and proposes a wicked game to find them. He gives her a watch with four riddles hidden inside and takes her voice from her for good measure. It’s June of 1914 and World War One is beginning. Things get messy.

What inspired you to write it?Before I started writing this book, I was a painter. My pictures were largely influenced by fairy tales and illustrations from books that I read as a child. I read a lot of fairy tales. Years ago, I stumbled onto a copy of Italo Calvino’s wonderful Italian Folktales. Story #31 was called Silent for Seven Years. In it, an exhausted father curses his sons, “The Devil take you both!” he says. And sure enough the Devil does. The boys’ dutiful sister goes off in search of her brothers. Adventures ensue. The fairy tale was like a catalogue of classic fairy tale tropes, filled with weird and wonderful imagery. I won’t go into it all here but my obsession with this story went on for years and ran the course from paintings to illustrated Children’s book to screenplay and finally, with the help of several semesters of writing classes at UCLA Extension, it became this book.

Is it part of a series?
I’m afraid the sequel is clawing its way up out of my psyche as we speak.

If your latest book was made into a movie, who would you like to play the main characters?
At various points I had pictures of Daniel Day Lewis, Adrien Brody, and Donald Sutherland above my desk for Coal. All too old, of course. Nowadays? James McAvoy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Ben Foster, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Alexander Skarsgård, Tom Hiddleston? So many different ways to go. Adi? That’s going to be a challenge. She’s out there though, somewhere.

What made you want to become an author?
See question 2. I was perfectly happy painting. Something happened.

Name one of your all-time favourite book covers?
I wouldn’t want you to think I don’t love modern book covers as well, but, how about the 1900 edition of Andrew Lang’s Grey Fairy Book. Or Love is Enough. 1873 by Ellis and White. Cover designed by William Morris.

Name one book that made you think 'wow'? Why did it have such an effect on you?
Stuart Little by E.B. White. Ignore those movies and sit down on a summer afternoon and see what the deal is with this book. All about longing and growing up and hoping for that thing to come along around the next turn in the road. Not to mention, E.B. wrote the most beautiful descriptions of place that anyone’s ever put on paper.

Who, or what, inspires you?
Birds in the trees.

Where is your favourite place to write?
Depends on the day. My office. Undergrind Coffee on Robertson. My front patio.

What is your favourite movie that was based on a book?
Hm. Let’s see. Hard to do better than To Kill a Mockingbird. Or Room With a View, maybe.

Who is your favourite author (s) and why?
Alexandre Dumas. If you think there’s anybody who’s lived that’s better at plotting than Dumas, read Count of Monte Cristo, Man in the Iron Mask and The Three Musketeers and we’ll discuss.

If you could have a dinner party with any authors from any time in history, who would you choose and why?
J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. (Do I have to explain?)

Tell us a random fact about yourself.
I was roommates with Andy Kaufman. (I was young.)

Tell us something interesting about the area where you live.
Village Green. Trees in the morning, trees in the evening, trees all day long. 

David Mellon grew up in Denham Springs, a little town on a river in south east Louisiana. After attending San Francisco Art Institute and California Institute for the Arts he graduated from Art Center College of Design with a degree in Illustration. After years of painting pictures and drawing storyboards for film and tv commercials he discovered UCLA Extension Writers' Program where he was nominated for the 2016 Allegra Johnson Prize. Silent is his first novel. He's been a member of SCBWI since 2011. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Judith.

Visit David's website for more information, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

Interview with Snowbirds author Crissa-Jean Chappell

Can you tell us a little about your latest book.
Every winter, the buses roll into the sleepy neighborhood of Pinecraft, Florida, bringing families of “snowbirds,” Old Order Amish who winter in the south, then return home to their farms when the ice melts. Lucy’s best friend, Alice, is a snowbird in the middle of Rumspringa, a time when Amish teens “try out” forbidden temptations.

What inspired you to write it?
I drove up to Pinecraft, Florida and discovered the Amish snowbirds on the beaches of Sarasota. I was fascinated by the juxtaposition of old and new—the girls in their long dresses and bonnets digging for shells on the beach.

Is it part of a series?
No.

If your latest book was made into a movie, who would you like to play the main characters?
Chloe Grace Moretz as Lucy Zimmer. Elle Fanning as Alice Yoder.

What made you want to become an author?
When I was little, my dad read to me every night. We loved Frog and Toad, as well as the Serendipity series of magical creatures. I stapled my own “books” out of notepaper and doodled the illustrations with Mr. Sketch Markers. My earliest stories revolved around identical twins who lived in a tree house.

Name one of your all-time favourite book covers?
Old-school book covers are beautiful in their simplicity. Tolkien’s cover art for The Hobbit—a wispy ribbon of a dragon—is my childhood favorite.

Name one book that made you think 'wow'? Why did it have such an effect on you?Kevin Brooks’ new novel, The Bunker Diary is such a powerful read. All his stories take the shape of philosophical questions. As young adults, we start to wonder: Who am I? Why am I here? What happens when we die? That’s why I love writing stories for teens.

Who, or what, inspires you?
I’m inspired by my students, their unique perspective of the world, and most of all, the bravery of their voices.

Where is your favourite place to write?
I often write at a neighborhood café, a few steps from Prospect Park. The best part is the smell of woodsmoke from the fireplace.

What is your favourite movie that was based on a book?
The Studio Ghibli adaptation of Howl’s Moving Castle is gorgeously animated. It remains true to the original spirit of the book, yet introduces new themes, such as Miyazaki’s concern for the natural world.

Who is your favourite author and why?
I have so many favorites! It’s difficult to pick just one. I really admire the strong female protagonists in the novels of Courtney Summers.

If you could have a dinner party with any authors from any time in history, who would you choose and why?Oscar Wilde, of course! “People are either charming or tedious,” he said. No doubt, he was one of the most charming.

Tell us a random fact about yourself.
I’m allergic to mangoes (just like Aaron in my second YA novel, Narc).

Tell us something interesting about the area where you live.
In Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, you’ll find Victorian mansions, wild parrots, and the occasional ghost.

Crissa-Jean Chappell was born in Miami and now lives in Brooklyn, New York. Her debut young adult novel, TOTAL CONSTANT ORDER (HarperTeen) is a NYPL Book For The Teen Age and a VOYA Perfect Ten. Chappell’s second novel, NARC (Flux Books) is currently optioned for film. MORE THAN GOOD ENOUGH (Flux Books) is a Florida Book Awards medalist, which Kirkus calls, "compelling and emotionally nuanced." Chappell's newest YA novel is SNOWBIRDS (Merit Press, F+W Media, winter 2017). She holds a PhD and MFA from the University of Miami and has taught creative writing and cinema studies for over ten years. When she misses South Florida, she talks to the parrots in Prospect Park.

Website
crissajean.chappell
@crissachappell

Author Interview with Liza Ketchum

Can you tell us a little about your latest book.
It's 1913 and vaudeville is America's most popular form of entertainment. Thousands of theaters across the country host vaudeville troupes. In Brattleboro, Vermont, fifteen-year-old Teresa LeClair—who has a "voice like a nightingale”—remembers the thrill of singing onstage as a child. But her parents have given up life on the road, and her father has decided that Teresa, blessed with perfect pitch, should drop out of school and work in the tuning rooms of the organ factory.
Determined to escape the life her father plans for her, Teresa wins an amateur singing contest in Brattleboro's opera house and steals away on the night train to New York. She hopes to become a star on Broadway's "Great White Way," but has no idea of the challenges that lie ahead. There she runs into Pietro Jones and his father, talented African American dancers. Teresa and Pietro become competitors as well as unlikely friends.
At a time when young black men could be lynched for simply looking at a white girl, Pietro understands, better than Teresa, the danger of their relationship. Teresa's quest to find her voice onstage and in her life, far from the support of her family, takes place against a complex racial backdrop of American history.
And thanks to VOYA for this recent review: “The Life Fantastic provides a fascinating window into the 1900s New York vaudeville scene, while examining the complexities of family support and expectations, as well as burgeoning black activism. It sounds like a lot to juggle, but Ketchum fits it together seamlessly and entertainingly. Her love of vaudeville shines through Teresa and her descriptions of 1913 Broadway, but she does not ignore the built-in limitations placed on people of color, who ironically had to perform in cork (blackface) to satisfy a touchy cultural sense of appropriateness. Such expectations will never allow a romantic relationship between Teresa and Pietro; while his father is reluctantly willing to toe the line to get by, Pietro, fueled by reading [W.E. B.] Du Bois, envisions a better future.”—Lisa Martincik

The Life Fantastic by Liza Ketchum

What inspired you to write it?Vaudeville has fascinated me since I was little and my father told me the romantic story about my great-grandparents, who eloped and ran away to join a traveling theatre troupe. My great-grandmother was a singer and pianist, and her husband played the fiddle. The couple’s elopement—and their divorce later on—caused a scandal in the small town of Shreve, Ohio, where my great-grandmother grew up. Sadly, my grandmother was ashamed of her history, so she refused to answer questions about her parents and their stage careers. For my grandfather, vaudeville was the only entertainment he could afford as a young man. He told stories about sitting in the cheapest, rowdy seats, high above the vaudeville stage—and he taught me many vaudeville tunes. As an adult, I visited the Tabor Opera House in Leadville, Colorado, a restored and spectacular vaudeville theatre. As I walked down the silent aisle between rows of plush seats, I decided it was time to invent a story about what was once America’s most popular form of entertainment.

Is it part of a series?
I wrote it as a stand-alone novel, but a number of readers have been pestering me to write a sequel. I’ll see what happens!

What made you want to become an author?
I have been inventing stories since I was a little girl, when my father drew pictures to illustrate the stories my brother and I made up about our stuffed animals. I created my own palm-sized books out of construction paper when I was in second grade. I was lucky to grow up in an artistic family: my mother danced with the famous contemporary dancer Martha Graham, and my father wrote and edited books about American history. Books and story telling were always a part of our family life. My 8th grade English teacher, Norman Wilson, encouraged me to become a writer, and I was fortunate to study writing at Sarah Lawrence College. In a creative non-fiction class, Harvey Swados sent us out on wild field trips all over New York City for inspiration. Grace Paley was my advisor in Sarah Lawrence’s Senior Writing Seminar. Her ear for dialogue and voice had a lasting influence on my work. I’ve been a teacher all my life, so when a friend encouraged me to use my writing skills to write books for young readers, it seemed like a natural fit.

Name one of your all-time favourite book covers?
A hard choice! I’ve always loved the simplicity of Out of the Dust, Karen Hesse’s award-winning novel about the dust bowl during the Great Depression. The haunting Walker Evans photograph is the perfect image for Billie Joe’s stark, moving story.

Name one book that made you think 'wow'? Why did it have such an effect on you?
What an impossible question! I’m going to be disobedient and name three: First, I will never forget reading Virginia Woolf’s novel, Mrs. Dalloway for the first time. I was blown away by the structure, the beauty and rhythm of her sentences, the way she used stream of consciousness to enter into her characters. I admired the way she revealed the events of two dramatically different lives during the course of a single day. It’s a book I reread every few years. Another novel that had a profound effect on me was One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Marcía Márquez. The moment I read that dramatic opening sentence, I shivered—and I was hooked. It was my first exposure to magical realism. And I was profoundly moved by Toni Morrison’s Beloved. When I reached the last sentence I wondered: “How did she do that?” I went right back to the beginning to read it all over again.

Who, or what, inspires you?
I am inspired by young people who dare to be “upstanders:” those who speak up when they see someone being bullied or treated unfairly. Every year in the Boston area, sixth grade students write an essay about the meaning of courage. Their stories are collected and published in an anthology. Last year, Urbanity—Boston’s contemporary dance company—dramatized their stories, bringing them to life through music and dance. Hearing those stories gave me hope and motivated me to follow their example in these difficult times.

Where is your favourite place to write?
I write first drafts by hand, on lined pads. My favourite place to do that is on a comfy love seat in our bedroom alcove. It looks out towards my flower garden. I plant with pollinators in mind, so in the summer months, I’m distracted by butterflies, bees, and other insects, as well as the birds that swoop over the yard.

What is your favourite movie that was based on a book?
“The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” based on Milan Kundera’s novel of the same name.

Who is your favourite author (s) and why?
My favorite authors change from year to year, but the following have been mainstays throughout my career as a writer: Grace Paley, E.B. White, Virginia Woolf, Toni Morrison, Jim Harrison, James Baldwin, Colum McCann, Ellen Levine, M.T. Anderson, and Gary Snyder.

If you could have a dinner party with any authors from any time in history, who would you choose and why?
I’d love to listen to the stories and witness the inspirational sparks that would fly if Virginia Woolf, Rachel Carson, Toni Morrison, and Grace Paley—four strong, opinionated, brilliant women—shared a meal at our dinner table. And the evening would be even more exciting if my dear departed friend and rabble-rousing fellow writer, Ellen Levine, could join us.

Tell us a random fact about yourself.
I’m a climate activist and an environmentalist. For years, I got up once a month at 5 AM, to test the water quality in the Charles River. I’m now a member of our town’s Bee Committee (we work to protect endangered pollinators). I also write letters to the editor of newspapers on issues related to climate change and our need to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere.

Tell us something interesting about the area where you live.
Our Massachusetts neighborhood is very diverse, and our town is 30% Armenian. This means we have wonderful local markets with delicious food from the Middle East. Sometimes I’m the only person speaking English in a market where others have lively conversations in Armenian, Arabic, Turkish, or Greek. For the first few years we lived here, the Jewish community broke their Yom Kippur fast at a local Palestinian restaurant. Friends from Iran run the dry cleaner’s a few blocks away, and an Armenian family owns our favorite coffee shop. As recent posters and signs have stated: “This is what community looks like.” We’re lucky!

For more information, visit Liza's website or visit her on Facebook.

Author Interview with Jennie Yabroff

Can you tell us a little about your latest book.
If You Were Here is part mystery, part fantasy, part family drama, and part coming-of-age novel. It’s also (I hope) funny, sad, and ends on a note of optimism that readers may interpret different ways. The plot concerns Tess, a social misfit whose best friend dumps her in an attempt to join the popular crowd. Meanwhile, Tess’s prophetic dreams make her worry that she’s becoming mentally ill like her mother, and when one of her dreams come true, she finds herself under suspicion for a tragedy.

What inspired you to write it?
I’m curious about the way a childhood friendship can unravel as you outgrow each other – a natural, but still wrenching experience. I think high school is a time when you start to get a little perspective on your parents, and wonder and maybe worry about which of their traits you’ve inherited. I also wanted to write about one of my favourite movies from that time, Sixteen Candles. As a writer I spend a lot of time at home alone with my cat, so he got a role, too. (I changed his name to protect his identity.)

Is it part of a series?
Nope.

If your latest book was made into a movie, who would you like to play the main characters?
I’d love a 1980s-era Winona Ryder or Ally Sheedy as Tess. Since that’s not possible, I could imagine a de-glammed Hailee Steinfeld or Ariel Winter in that role. For Tess’s best friend Tabitha, I think Chloe Grace Moretz or Elle Fanning could convincingly make the transition from frizzy-haired outcast to shiny-ponytailed mean girl.

What made you want to become an author?
Every book I’ve ever read.

Name one of your all-time favourite book covers?
Is it incredibly conceited to say my own? I’ve always dreamed of publishing a novel, so I really can’t describe the thrill of holding the physical object in my hands. And I think the cover is so beautiful. It captures the feeling of the book without giving away any of the plot. I like to think I’d pick it up if I saw it in a bookstore even if had a different author’s name on it (I mean, of course I would, because how weird would that be to have two different novels with the exact same title and cover? But you know what I mean.)

Name one book that made you think 'wow'? Why did it have such an effect on you?
Brooklyn by Colm Toibin. It could be a YA book, because the main character is a young and naïve girl dealing with homesickness and first love and figuring out what she wants from life – classic YA themes. The writing seems so simple and transparent and nothing extraordinary happens – it’s all everyday stuff – yet somehow, at the end, you feel absolutely destroyed – or at least I did.

Who, or what, inspires you?
My husband, Jack Livings, who is also a writer.

Where is your favourite place to write?
At my dining room table in New York City. It is next to a window that looks out over the street, and I often get distracted watching people stop to take selfies in front of a blue garage door across the street. Granted, it is a very photogenic door.

What is your favourite movie that was based on a book?
A Room with a View, based on the novel by E.M. Forster

Who is your favourite author (s) and why?
Zadie Smith.

If you could have a dinner party with any authors from any time in history, who would you choose and why?
In reality, if I were invited to a dinner party with my favourite authors I would probably be miserable, too self-conscious to say anything (or worse, eat anything.) But assuming I could take a pill that would make me a fascinating and hilarious conversationalist beforehand (with no hangover the next day): Edith Wharton, Joan Didion, Nicole Krauss, and Zadie Smith. There would be lots of cake.

Tell us a random fact about yourself.
I love to bake.

Tell us something interesting about the area where you live.
I am spending the year in Rome, Italy, with my husband and daughter. Strangely, our apartment has a stove, but no oven, so I haven’t been able to do much baking while we’re here. It’s a tough, tough life.

Jennie Yabroff was born and raised in Berkeley, California and received her MFA from Columbia University. She was a staff arts and culture writer for Newsweek and now writes freelance criticism and essays. Based in New York, she currently lives in Rome, Italy, with her family. If You Were Here is her first novel. For more information, visit Jennie's website.

Keep an eye out for my review of If You Were Here, coming soon! Suzy x

Interview with Dial Em for Murder author Marni Bates

Can you tell us a little about your latest book.
Absolutely! Emmy Danvers just wants to write undisturbed in a coffee shop when a total stranger steals her drink, gives her a cryptic warning, shoves her to the ground, and dies right on top of her. Her life only gets more twisted from there…
I had an absolute blast writing DIAL EM FOR MURDER.

What inspired you to write it?
I saw a wonderful play called Dead Man’s Cell Phone (written by Sarah Ruhl) but I left the theater obsessed with an entirely different plot that kept circling in my head. I wrote down little snippets of ideas in my journal and a few years later DIAL EM FOR MURDER just came tumbling out of me. Sebastian’s close relationship with his grandfather was definitely inspired by my own grandpa. Today is actually the 10th anniversary of his passing. I think of him every day.

Is it part of a series?
I’m already working on the sequel. I love spending time in Emmy’s head!

If your latest book was made into a movie, who would you like to play the main characters?
Ooh! Well, I could totally picture Holland Roden or Molly Quinn playing Emmy. And maybe David Lambert as Sebastian? And maybe Brett Davern as Ben? I could see that being a fun cast!

What made you want to become an author?
I was a book worm as a kid and showed an interest in writing at a young age. My mom kept telling me I should write a book, but it wasn’t until I was bullied by one of my teachers in high school that I really began to write. I used it as a way to process what had happened to me. The fictional version of myself was braver and snarkier and stronger and she had awesome friends and stood up for herself. And when I finished writing the first draft of that story, I felt invincible. Sharing my stories with the world instantly became my biggest goal in life.

Name one of your all-time favourite book covers?
I love the cover to Ally Carter’s, THE HEIST SOCIETY. It’s fantastic!

Name one book that made you think 'wow'? Why did it have such an effect on you?
I read a book called I WANT TO GO HOME by Gordon Korman when I was in Elementary School and it changed my life forever. It was hilarious. Laugh-out-loud, fall-off-my-chair, everyone-is-staring-at-me-and-I-don’t-even-care funny. I didn’t know authors were allowed to be that funny. And making someone laugh over and over again seemed like the most wonderful talent in the world.

Who, or what, inspires you?
Gordon Korman’s books still inspire me. I met him last year and he was so incredibly nice! My friends inspire me to be the best version of myself, which often includes them pointing at my laptop and telling me to focus. I’ve found that hiking is a wonderful source of inspiration for me too! I love to travel and hiking allows me to constantly feel like I’m exploring the unknown.

Where is your favourite place to write?
I love writing in coffee shops! I like to work around other people, but with my headphones in and my music cranked up.

What is your favourite movie that was based on a book?
I recently watched Reese Witherspoon’s amazing performance in WILD, which is based on the autobiography by Cheryl Strayed. I was struck by how faithful it was to her real life experiences on the Pacific Crest Trail. The movie was beautifully filmed, too.
I also love the first Princess Diaries movie! So wonderful.

Who is your favourite author (s) and why?
This is such a hard question for me! I think Alicia Thompson is absolutely brilliant. I read her book Psych Major Syndrome early on in my career and turned to my mom and blurted out, “I really want to be her best friend!” And it weirdly came true!
I also love reading books by Ally Carter, Laurie Halse Anderson (as long as I have a full box of Kleenex nearby), Tracy Deebs, Sophie Jordan, Katie McGarry, and oh man, so many authors! So many amazing books out there that I still need to read!

If you could have a dinner party with any author from any time in history, who would you choose and why?
Jane Austen. I am a total PRIDE & PREJUDICE fanatic. I will watch any movie adaptation of that story that Hollywood wants to give me. They could do it as a space musical with opera singers and I would just grab the popcorn!

Tell us a random fact about yourself.
I once threw an alligator in Egypt. I still feel guilty about it, too. It wasn’t the alligator’s fault that a man tried to put him on my shoulder. But my fear response kicked in and I sent the alligator flying across the room.
There was also the time a monkey stole my baseball cap in Gibraltar and an old man used his cane to grab it back for me!
Oh, and sometimes I can’t tell my left from my right.

Tell us something interesting about the area where you live.
Portland Oregon is absolutely beautiful! There are tons of mountain trails just waiting to be explored. I try to take pictures of all my hikes! They make me smile on all the cold rainy Portland days when I stay inside with a huge cup of coffee. :)
Here are some fun pics from my local adventures!

Website
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Marni-Bates
Twitter: @MarniBates
Instagram: @marnibates

Interview with author Sheila Sobel

Can you tell us a little about your latest book.
April is having difficulty coping with her life. Her father is recently deceased and her absentee mother is MIA in the Middle East. April’s only option is to move to New Orleans, a city that she has never been to, to live with an aunt she has never met. After a cryptic conversation about family “secrets and lies”, April lashes out. Feeling alone, angry, trapped and frightened, she reaches out to Madame Marquerite, a Voodoo high priestess who has convinced April that she needs a “spiritual cleansing” in order to find peace. With one bad decision after another, April puts not only her life, but her new friend Angel’s life, at risk. Color Blind is a novel about coping with loss, consequences for poor judgement and the self-awareness that comes with finding one’s path.

What inspired you to write it?
Two things in particular inspired me to write Color Blind, 1) a three part story in the Los Angeles Times about one man’s journey to discover his family roots (which turned out to be Africa, not Italy) and, 2) a desire to trace my own ancestry, as so many of my relatives passed away too soon leaving me with a sense of disconnect from my own family history.

Is it part of a series?
I am open to the possibility.

If your latest book was made into a movie, who would you like to play the main characters?
Hailee Steinfeld as April, Quvenzhane Wallis as Angel and Evangeline Lilly as Kate.

What made you want to become an author?
I started reading at age four, but didn’t know that I wanted to write books until my junior year in high school when I registered for a creative writing class. College and the need to earn a living afterwards took priority over my passion, so I put my writing on hold for forty-five years. I’m very happy to be able to write full time at this stage of my life.

Name one of your all-time favourite book covers?
Neil Gaiman’s “The Graveyard Book” in paperback; the stark statue against the beautiful dark blues sets the mood, the raised gold letters are eye-catching and, there is that lovely gold John Newberry Medal sticker on the cover.

Name one book that made you think 'wow'? Why did it have such an effect on you?
George Orwell’s “Animal Farm.” In the beginning of the book, the revolutionaries, Snowball and Napoleon, drive out the farmer, take over The Manor Farm and establish their own Animal Farm, where all animals are equal. By the end of the book, Snowball is gone and the remaining pigs are now undifferentiated from the humans they previously considered enemies. This book, my first introduction into dystopian worlds, made me profoundly sad for the animals that risked it all for nothing.

Who, or what, inspires you?
My husband inspires me. Michael not only keeps me grounded from day to day, but he supported my decision to leave my full time job to pursue my long-buried passion for writing.

Where is your favourite place to write?
My favourite place to write is at my desk, where I am surrounded by stuffed animals, picture books, YA novels and reference books. I almost always have the company of one or two dogs and sometimes a cat, if he chooses to be sociable.

What is your favourite movie that was based on a book?
“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” As a senior auditor for Warner Bros., I was fortunate to have the experience of working on the film, visiting the location and watching as the world J.K Rowling created came to life.

Who is your favourite author (s) and why?
J.K Rowling is my favourite author. In the face of dire financial circumstances, she displayed a strong belief in herself and tremendous courage when she chose to follow her heart and write. Her words and the worlds she created transport me. She is a phenomenon.

If you could have a dinner party with any authors from any time in history, who would you choose and why?
I would like to have dinner with Norman Mailer again. While working on the film adaptation of his book “Tough Guys Don’t Dance,” which Norman directed, I got to know him quite well and had dinner with him regularly; I would love to be able to do it again. To round out the guest list for a favourite past and present author dinner, I would invite Dashiell Hammett and J. K. Rowling to join us.

Tell us a random fact about yourself.
My first job out of high school and summers in between college, was working in a factory making steel doors. I worked the assembly line for 10-12 hours a day, usually six days a week and became a member of the United Steel Workers of America.

Tell us something interesting about the area where you live.
I live in Los Angeles, where there is always something interesting going on. One activity to enjoy takes place during the summer when the Hollywood Forever Cemetery holds open-air screenings of old movies. Bring your favourite person, a blanket and a picnic to enjoy movies under the stars with the movie stars that have passed.

As a Senior Auditor for Warner Bros., Sheila oversaw production costs for films including “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” the “Matrix” trilogy, “The Dark Knight” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” After working on 70+ Independent and Studio movies, Sheila stepped away from the film business to complete her first YA novel. A member of SCBWI since 2010, Sheila is also a member of International Thriller Writers (ITW), Children’s Book Writers-LA (CBW-LA) and Women in Film (WIF). She was nominated for the 2016 Allegra Johnson Prize in Novel Writing through the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program. When not writing, Sheila volunteers her time walking dogs rescued from local shelters by the Amanda Foundation. She lives in Southern California with her husband, two rescue dogs and two rescue cats.

Website
Facebook
Twitter

Author Interview with Margo Kelly

Hi Margo! Can you tell us a little about your latest book. 
17-year-old Hannah is losing her grip on reality, which is affecting not only her but her friends and family too. She wrecked the car when bugs crawled over her hands, but were the creepy things even real? Now someone is moving Hannah’s possessions around in her room, or is she imagining that also? Why does she feel like she isn’t in control of her own brain anymore? Hannah is terrified she’s headed for a horrible life in and out of the mental institution, just like her dad.
When her friends bail, Hannah is left floundering. Her boyfriend, Manny, doesn’t believe her wild stories, and new girl Chelsea is practically replacing her at school. Only artsy outsider and self-proclaimed occult expert, Plug, agrees to help Hannah discover the truth, but even he can't help Hannah reclaim her mind from whatever is taking over. She'll have to do that on her own, especially if she wants to save her friends, her mom, and herself.

What inspired you to write it?
When I was in college I attended my first hypnotism show. In an auditorium along with a couple hundred other students, I watched as fifteen guys and girls went on stage and participated in the show. The audience laughed and clapped and hooted when the hypnotized students did ridiculous things such as quack like ducks or sing like rock stars. It was great. Terrific. Until the end.
While the participants were still completely hypnotized, the hypnotist turned to the audience and spouted his political views. He didn’t even try to hide what he was doing. He spoke clearly and abruptly. The people to my left and to my right sat in shock. My own mouth dropped open in disbelief. The hypnotist went so far as to tell everyone exactly how to vote in the upcoming election. I was dumbfounded. I felt like my trust had been violated, and I wasn’t even on the stage. I was not hypnotized. I was not in any sort of suggestive state. But those students in the show still were. And I bet there were plenty of others sitting in the audience who were impressionable from watching the hypnosis being performed.
That’s the exact moment when I decided I would never willingly take part in hypnosis. Sure, that was an isolated incident. Some hypnotists are trustworthy. But not all. Some do not have a very high ethical code. And because of that, to this day, I hate giving up control to anyone, under any circumstances. I’ve never forgotten that college night, and it inspired my novel, UNLOCKED.

Is it part of a series?
No

What made you want to become an author?
I love telling stories, and I love being scared, especially when reading a book. It’s my goal to write thrillers that will give readers the goose bumps or the itchies or the desire to rethink everyday things.

Name one of your all-time favourite book covers?
A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis

Name one book that made you think 'wow'? Why did it have such an effect on you?
A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis ---- This was the type of book that was so utterly compelling that I could not start reading another book for quite a while afterward. The characters are still in my mind. I'm still thinking about the choices they made. I'm still thinking about what I would have done in their situations. WOW. There is SO MUCH great content in this story. It's about women's rights. It's about respecting other people. It's about respecting yourself. It's about defending the defenceless. It's about justice and injustice. Frankly, it's the best book I've read in ages.

Who, or what, inspires you?
My children inspire me. Every day.

Where is your favourite place to write?
In my office at my desk. I have a large window to my left, which looks out into my garden. Birds will perch on the fence, and the clear blue sky is just a glance away.

Who is your favourite author and why?
Dean Koontz, for his page-turning thrillers. My desire is to write fast paced thrillers for the young adult audience.

Tell us a random fact about yourself.
When I was a teenager, trying to find a likeable job, I only lasted two weeks at KFC. It was so greasy that I kept slipping on the floors and falling. Grease covered every surface, and I went home feeling so icky every day. (But I still eat there occasionally!)

Tell us something interesting about the area where you live.
I love Idaho, especially when we go camping amongst the pine trees in the mountains of central Idaho next to a rushing white-water river. Best. Place. Ever. 

Margo is a native of the Northwest and currently resides in Idaho. A veteran public speaker, Margo is now actively pursuing her love of writing. Who R U Really? was her debut novel published by Merit Press (an imprint of F+W Media) in September 2014. Unlocked will be published by Merit Press in October 2016. Margo welcomes opportunities to speak to youth groups, library groups, and book clubs.

Margo loves to be scared … when she’s reading a good book, watching a good movie, or suffering from the hiccups. She enjoys writing thrillers for young adults and hopes her stories give readers the goose bumps or the itchies or the desire to rethink everyday things. Margo is represented by the not-so-scary, but totally awesome, Brianne Johnson of Writers House.
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads
Instagram

Review: Breakfast with Neruda by Laura Moe

Breakfast with Neruda by Laura Moe
Publisher: Merit Press (May 16, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1440592195

Michael Flynn is just trying to get through his community service after he made the dumb decision to try to blow up his friend's car with fireworks--the same friend who stole Michael's girl. Being expelled and losing his best buddy and his girlfriend are the least of his problems: Michael has learned to hide everything, from his sick hoarder mother to the fact that he's stuck living in a 1982 Ford LTD station wagon he calls the Blue Whale. Then one day, during mandatory community service, he meets Shelly, a girl with a past, who's also special enough to unmask Michael's deepest secrets. Can he manage to be worthy of her love, a guy living in a car, unable to return to his chaotic and fit-to-be-condemned home? Shelly won't give up, and tries to peel back the layers of garbage and pain to reveal Michael's immense heart.

Goodreads
Amazon UK / Amazon US / Amazon CA

Review

The main character of this book is Michael Flynn. He is eighteen and lives in a car that he calls the Blue Whale because his mother has a problem with hoarding. He tried to blow up his friend’s car which means that not only does he have to repeat his senior year in high school but he has to do community service. That’s where he meets Shelly who is also having to do community service for something she has done. He falls in love with the girl and they both go on a quest to find Michael’s dad. Certain aspects of their search are not being revealed and I was a bit disappointed about that. Overall it was a fun read though, interesting, well-written and I liked the romance and the fact that the two main characters really tried to help each other cope with the difficulties of life.

Shona

Review by mother and daughter duo, Helene & Shona Tiernan.
Both are avid readers of fiction, enjoying a wide range of topics. Helene is a former journalist, a trained yoga teacher and also enjoys putting pen to paper herself. Her daughter Shona is a 13-year-old teenager who sings, plays the violin, drums and is passionate about tap dancing and her little brother. Both love diving into different worlds through the eyes of an author. Originally from Belgium, they currently live in Portugal with their family.

Review: The Heir and the Spare by Emily Albright

The Heir and the Spare, Emily Albright
Publisher: Merit Press (January 1, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1440590109

Family can be complicated. Especially when skeletons from the past pop up unexpectedly. For American Evie Gray, finding out her deceased mother had a secret identity, and not one of the caped crusader variety, was quite the surprise. Evie’s mom had a secret life before she was even born, one that involved tiaras.
In this modern day fairytale, Evie is on a path to figure out who her mom really was, while discovering for herself what the future will hold. Charged with her late mother’s letters, Evie embarks on a quest into her past. The first item on the list is to attend Oxford, her mom’s alma mater. There, Evie stumbles upon a real life prince charming, Edmund Stuart the second Prince of England, who is all too happy to be the counterpart to her damsel in distress.
Evie can’t resist her growing attraction to Edmund as they spend more time together trying to unravel the clues her mother left behind. But, when doubts arise as to whether or not Edmund could ever be with an untitled American, what really ends up unraveling is Evie’s heart. When Evie uncovers all the facts about her mom’s former life, she realizes her mom’s past can open doors she never dreamed possible, doors that can help her be with Edmund. But, with everything now unveiled, Evie starts to crack under the pressure of new family responsibilities and the realization that her perfect prince may want her for all the wrong reasonsGoodreads
Amazon UK / Amazon US / Amazon CA

Review

Evie is an American student who moves to England where she meets Edmund, another young adult just joining Oxford University. I really liked the two main characters because they were kind and also strong. What Evie doesn’t know though – and only finds out later into the school year – is that Edmund is a real prince, second in line to the throne of England actually. He is royal and as the story unfolds, we find out that Evie also has very unusual ancestors. I don’t want to spoil the mystery as it is the most interesting part of the story. The only thing that bothered me is the fact that in my view Edmund should have spoken in a ‘British way’. Instead he actually uses American expressions and vocabulary. I don’t think that was believable. Apart from that I really enjoyed the book and would recommend it if you are looking for a clever, fun and romantic read.

Shona

Review by mother and daughter duo, Helene & Shona Tiernan.
Both are avid readers of fiction, enjoying a wide range of topics. Helene is a former journalist, a trained yoga teacher and also enjoys putting pen to paper herself. Her daughter Shona is a 13-year-old teenager who sings, plays the violin, drums and is passionate about tap dancing and her little brother. Both love diving into different worlds through the eyes of an author. Originally from Belgium, they currently live in Portugal with their family.

Author Interview with Ellen Wittlinger

Hi Ellen! Can you tell us a little about your latest book?

Local Girl Swept Away (Merit Press, June 2016) tells the story of four best friends, 2 boys, 2 girls, who, in the wake of a tragedy and then revealed secrets, deal with grief, love and betrayal. It’s set in Provincetown, MA on Cape Cod, a small, eccentric community where everybody knows everybody.

What inspired you to write it?
Many years ago when I lived in Provincetown, two young women were swept off the breakwater and into the sea. One survived, the other did not. This event disturbed my imagination for years and finally, I rearranged it to become this book.

How did you come up with the idea for the cover?
I didn’t. The publisher always decides the cover. However, I like it a lot—it has a sadness to it and a foreboding feeling.

If it was made into a movie, who would you like to play the main characters?
Well, by the time any movie would be cast, these actors would probably be too old for the parts, but I could see them in it right this minute:
Jackie: Kiernan Shipka (with dark hair)
Lorna: Evan Rachel Wood (with red hair)
Finn: Ansel Elgort
Lucas: Josh Hutcherson
Dream team.

Is it part of a series or is it a stand-alone novel?
Stand-alone.

Where is the novel set and why did you choose to set it there?
Provincetown, MA on Cape Cod. This place has spoken to me for years. It’s such an unusual town with its mix of fishermen/townies, LGBT people and artists/writers—it’s like no place else on earth. It’s also secluded at the very tip of a peninsula and I liked the way that isolated these characters and made them depend on each other. And the weather is fierce and beautiful.

What is it about this genre that appeals to you so much?
I like writing coming-of-age novels because the teenage years are so exciting. Everything that’s happening to you is new and you feel as if no one else has ever had these feelings before. I don’t think there’s another time in life that’s as dramatic and emotional.

What made you want to become an author?
I always loved writing, but loved painting too. I majored in art in college, but when it came right down to it, I was a better writer than a painter. Basically, I knew I’d do something in the arts, and writing is the thing that worked out for me.

How do you come up with character names?
I LOVE picking character names. They have to feel right for the idea of this person I have in my head. I have three or four baby name books that I go through over and over for each character. I make lists of possibilities. To me, it’s the most fun part, and I have to do it pretty near the beginning of the process so I can live with the name for a while. Sometimes names change as I go along, but not usually.

Do you struggle to come up with book titles? Do they come before, during or after you've written your book?
Different with every book. Local Girl Swept Away was obvious. It was the banner headline in the newspaper when one of the characters is swept off the breakwater. But sometimes it’s harder and I end up with lists of possibilities. Often my editor suggests something.

Name one of your all-time favourite books?
Feed by M.T. Anderson

Who, or what, inspires you?
My writer friends who keep on working, even when the work is hard and the publishers aren’t buying.

Where is your favourite place to write?
Either the screen porch at my house or the local coffee shop.

What is your favourite movie that was based on a book?
Probably The Hunger Games. Or possibly The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Name two of your favourite authors.
Only two? Grace Paley and Elizabeth Strout.

Tell us a random fact about yourself.
I never really learned to swim.

Who would play you in the movie about your life?
Janeane Garofalo because of her grouchy voice and self-deprecating humor.

Tell us an interesting fact about where you live.
I live in a village of 1,000 people.

What are your (writing) plans for the future?
I’ve begun another YA novel, but I’m also working on a play and thinking about starting a third screenplay. Love the movies!

Tell us one thing that's on your bucket list.
Selling a screenplay and having it filmed.

Favourite myth / fairytale?
The Princess and the Pea. And also the musical made about it: Once Upon a Mattress

Who/What did you want to be when you were a kid?
I remember telling people I wanted to be a “grease monkey,” but I’m not sure I really knew what that was. I liked the word and the idea that you could wear old clothes and get dirty. In reality, I’ve never changed a tire. As I got older, I wanted to be an artist, a painter, but that didn’t work out.

Ellen Wittlinger is the author of seventeen YA and middle-grade novels. Her novel Hard Love won both a Printz Honor Award and a Lambda Literary Award. Her books have been on numerous ALA Best Books lists, Bank Street College of Education lists and state award lists. Ellen has won state awards in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. Her work has been translated into many other languages including Turkish, Croatian and Korean. She has taught at Emerson College in Boston and in the Simmons College Writing for Children MFA program. Out June, 2015 is a YA, Local Girl Swept Away, set in Provincetown, MA.
Amazon Author Page
SaveSave

Breakfast with Neruda by Laura Moe

Michael Flynn is just trying to get through his community service after he made the dumb decision to try to blow up his friend's car with fireworks--the same friend who stole Michael's girl. Being expelled and losing his best buddy and his girlfriend are the least of his problems: Michael has learned to hide everything, from his sick hoarder mother to the fact that he's stuck living in a 1982 Ford LTD station wagon he calls the Blue Whale.
Then one day, during mandatory community service, he meets Shelly, a girl with a past, who's also special enough to unmask Michael's deepest secrets. Can he manage to be worthy of her love, a guy living in a car, unable to return to his chaotic and fit-to-be-condemned home? Shelly won't give up, and tries to peel back the layers of garbage and pain to reveal Michael's immense heart.

"Moe uses lyrical language to introduce teenagers whose problems go beyond bullying or unrequited love. She treats Michael's unusual home situation with realistic grace, while the relationship between the two teenagers is organic and interesting. A summer long punishment becomes a sensitive, thoughtful novel."—Kirkus Reviews

Amazon 

Hi Laura! What inspired you to write Breakfast with Neruda? 

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly who or what will incite a story within me. For this one, one of my students was bemoaning having to do several weeks of community service at school to make up for excessive absences. At the same time we had been having bomb scares…All the elements fell into place and Michael Flynn and his story was born.

How did you come up with the idea for the cover? 

My editor wanted a cover reminiscent of the early poetry books of Pablo Neruda, so the cover artist designed it based on her preferences.

If it was made into a movie, who would you like to play the main characters? 

I pictured Nat Wolff as Michael as I wrote it, and Tommy Lee Jones as Earl.

Is it part of a series or is it a stand-alone novel? 

I hadn’t meant to write a three book series, but shortly after I completed what I thought was a single novel, Michael and Shelly appeared in a dream and started yelling at me. “There’s more to our story!” I was writing the sequel while simultaneously working on edits for Breakfast For Neruda for my publisher. And now I am drafting what has become a third, and I believe final book or these characters.

Where is the novel set and why did you choose to set it there? 

The setting is in Southeastern Ohio. I spent more than twenty years living and working in this area of the state. Rooster itself does not exist, but elements of it resemble Zanesville and the communities around it.

What is it about this genre that appeals to you so much? 

The teen years are such a vulnerable, passionate time of life. My teaching career was spent in largely high schools, and I think I’m still a teenager at heart. Not that I want to relive those days. Being a teenager now is even harder than when I was young.

What made you want to become an author? 

I love books, libraries and bookstores, and I wanted to contribute to literary canon.

How do you come up with character names? 

My characters usually tell me their names. Sometimes when a character appears and I don’t know his or her name I’ll type in something like TALL DUDE until he reveals his name.

Do you struggle to come up with book titles? Do they come before, during or after you've written your book? 

Titles are almost as difficult as drafting a novel for me. I want the title not to be a spoiler, yet to place its hands around the story. They almost always come after I’ve written the book. After reading an early draft of what is now Breakfast With Neruda, my evil friend Elizabeth suggested I call it A whole Lotta Smirking Going On because of my overuse of the verb ‘smirk.’ In my Word file it’s till called ‘Michael Novel.’

Name one of your all-time favourite books? 

I’m glad you asked ‘one of,’ because all readers know we have many, many favourites. A standout that comes to mind is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. I read it in Junior high, and recently reread it for a book discussion group.

Who, or what, inspires you? 

While much of my work is from my wild imagination, some of the things that happen in my work derive from real life. Sometimes a news story will intrigue me or an event from my or a friend’s life.

Where is your favourite place to write? 

I do my best work in a coffee shop where I block out the world wearing noise canceling headphones as music helps guide my words.

What is your favourite movie that was based on a book? 

I think To Kill a Mockingbird stands up as well as the book.

Name two of your favourite authors. T

wo of my top authors are Ray Bradbury uses such poetic syntax and of course, the poet Pablo Neruda for words that elevate.

Tell us a random fact about yourself. 

I got tossed out of the high school library for two weeks for tying a kid’s shoes together when he fell asleep..

Who would play you in the movie about your life? 

I’d love it if Meryl Streep was on board, but more likely Shrek would have to play me.

Tell us an interesting fact about where you live. 

I recently relocated to Seattle, but where I lived and wrote this book in Ohio is one of the two places in the world with a Y shaped bridge.

What are your (writing) plans for the future? 

I’m finishing a draft on Book Three (no title yet) and will either revisit an adult novel I abandoned a couple years ago or begin a new YA. I won't know until the characters and their stories find me.

Tell us one thing that's on your bucket list. 

I’m planning to build a mantle for my imaginary Oscar for best adapted screenplay.

Favourite myth / fairytale? 

I always loved Rapunzel. I wanted her hair.

Who/What did you want to be when you were a kid? 

A writer, of course. 

A high school teacher and librarian, Laura Moe is a published poet (in journals included Mischief, Caprice, and Other Poetic Devices), but her great love is fiction. This is her first novel.

Half in Love with Death by Emily Ross

Hi Emily! Can you tell us a little about your latest book?
Half in Love with Death is a young adult thriller for all ages, inspired by a true crime. It takes place in Tucson in 1965, the time of peace and love, but nothing is peaceful in fifteen-year-old Caroline's life. Since her beautiful older sister Jess disappeared, Caroline might as well have disappeared too. She's invisible to her parents, who can't stop blaming each other. The police assume Jess is a runaway and aren’t trying very hard to find her. The only person who pays any attention to her is Jess’s boyfriend Tony. Every time she turns around, he’s looking at her with magical blue eyes, telling her how they can find Jess together, how anything is possible if you believe it. Tony is convinced that the answer to Jess's disappearance is in California, the land of endless summer, among the runaways and flower children. Heis so loving, and all he cares about is bringing Jess home. And so Caroline follows, and by the time she learns the difference between truth and illusion, it may be too late.

What inspired you to write it?
Half in Love with Death was inspired by the case of Charles Schmid, ‘the Pied Piper of Tucson.’Schmid was a charismatic young man who murdered three teenage girls, and buried them in the desert.Two of his victims were sisters. I was intrigued by the tragic story of the sisters and by Schmid. He was a handsome guy, who didn’t look like a murderer. In fact he didn’t look all that different from kids I’d known in high school. Researching this case got me thinking about how little I understood about my own friends as a teen, and how blindly I’d counted on love to solve everything.Slowly a story emerged about secrets, lies, love, and deception.

How did you come up with the idea for the cover?

My publisher came up with the cover and I really love it. The gold tone gives it a soft dreamy quality but at the same time reflects the fact that the desert is very important in my novel. I like the ambiguity as to whether the girl on the cover is sleeping, dreaming, or dead. That really reflects the central mystery of my novel.

If it was made into a movie, who would you like to play the main characters?
I’d choose Kiernan Shipka (Sally Draper from Mad Men) as Caroline, my 15-year-old protagonist. Like Caroline, Shipka has a quiet loveliness and changes from child to sophisticate in an instant.
ZacEfron would be my choice for Tony, the charismatic boyfriend of Caroline’s missing sister Jess. With his pale blue eyes and pretty-boy good looks, Efronis Tony!

Is it part of a series or is it a stand-alone novel?
It is a stand-alone.

Where is the novel set and why did you choose to set it there?
The novel is set in Tucson where the true crime that inspired it took place, but that’s not the only reason I set it there. The photos ofTucson from1965 intrigued me, and the idea of writing about a place far from homefelt liberating. Also the vast expanses of desert that bordered many of the suburban housing developments in Tucson sparked my imagination. I wondered what it would feel like for a teen to have such a mysterious, alluring, and frightening place so close to home. The desert ended up being a significant element in my novel.

What is it about this genre that appeals to you so much?
I really like writing about teens because adolescence is such an intense life-changing time, full of feelings you never forget. And I love the strong narrative voice in many YA novels, and how creative the stories are. I also love crime fiction, especially psychological thrillers, and I think my novel crosses over into that genre as well. I’m drawn to dark stories that have some sort of mystery at the heart of them and that’s why crime fiction appeals to me so much.

What made you want to become an author?
Early on I discovered that writing absorbs and excites me more than anything else I do. It feels like something is missing when I’m not writing. I get bored easily and novel writing, in particular, is the only thing that fully engages both the creative and analytic sides of my brain. I also love the music and magic of language, and exploring the mysterious nature of existence with words and stories.

How do you come up with character names?
I go with my instincts to find the name that ‘feels’ right, and will often Google lists of best baby names etc. to get ideas. SometimesI discover I’ve randomly picked a bunch of names that all sound alike or begin with the same first letter, and then I have to fix that.

Do you struggle to come up with book titles? Do they come before, during or after you've written your book?
I do struggle and thankfully have gotten a lot of help from other people with my titles.Before it was finished, my book was called The Way She Left Us. I got that title from someone in my writing group. Then my agent changed the title to Death and the Buttercup. I loved that title because it is the title of a poem Caroline writes in the book. But after I did a significant revision I felt the book was so changed it needed a new title. When my sister suggested Half in Love with Death, I knew that was the one I wanted to use. Luckily my agent and publisher felt the same way.

Name one of your all-time favorite books?
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
This is one of the first books I read in which the language utterly captivated me. The prose is gorgeous and captures the exotic setting perfectly. Roy plays with words in magical ways. She also tells a compelling story. It’s both political and a family drama soaked in mystery, and it takes place in India, a country that never ceases to fascinate me. I haven’t read a book quite like this since. I wish Roy would write another novel!

Who, or what, inspires you?
I’m inspired by other writers. Reading a book that excites me gets me to write. Movies also inspire me. They often give me ideas for stories, feelings I’d like to invoke, and images that lead me down imaginative rabbit holes. I also look to true crimes for inspiration. People do far weirder things in real life than I could ever imagine, and I’m always on the look out for true crimes that might make good fiction.

Where is your favorite place to write?
I write in the room my son had before he moved out. It is the sunniest and warmest room in our drafty Victorian and has a bay window with a beautiful view of the city of Quincy. I’m also pretty fond of my son’s shot glass collection displayed on the desk, his soccer trophies, and the posters of Bob Marley and Tupac on the wall!

What is your favorite movie that was based on a book?
There are so many good movies made from books, but I’d have to say Silver Linings Playbook is my favorite. Bradley Cooper’s portrayal of a bipolar young man in this movie made me cry. It’s an amazing movie about an important topic, and the book is as good as the movie.

Name two of your favorite authors.
Daphne Du Maurier and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Tell us a random fact about yourself.
I was featured in aLookMagazinearticle, called “Emily in Wonderland”, when I was four.The theme of the article was city girl goes to the country, but actually I already lived in the country. I was, however, truly terrified of the cows on the farm where they took the photos. I guess that was my fifteen minutes of fame.

Who would play you in the movie about your life?
Ugh, do I really have to answer this? I really can’t imagine myself on the big screen (I’m pretty camera shy). But if I had to pick someone I guess I’d say Aubrey Plaza. I really like her deadpan style and how delightfully negative she was in Parks and Recreation.

Tell us an interesting fact about where you live.
Quincy MA is not only the birthplace of two presidents, John Adams and John Quincy Adams, it is also the home of the first Dunkin Donuts. No more presidents reside here but there is a Dunkin Donutson practically every block.

What are your (writing) plans for the future?
I’m working on a YA contemporary novel that involves dance teams, creepy butterflies, and murder. My working title is The Black Sea and it takes place in my gritty, beloved hometown of Quincy.

Tell us one thing that's on your bucket list.
I would like to go to Hawaii and soak up the sun on abeach with a pina colada and a good book.

Favorite myth / fairytale?
Orpheus and Eurydice. Girl falls for a musician and ends up dead, and he follows her into the underworld in order to save her—what’s not to love? I have a soft spot for romance with rock stars, but seriously this myth is just so mysterious. I’ve read it over and over and I still don’t really understand the ending.

Who/What did you want to be when you were a kid?
I wanted to be a ballerina or a pathologist. Neither of those dreams worked out.

The Yearbook by Carol Masciola

Can you tell us a little about your latest book?
The Yearbook is the story of 16-year-old misfit Lola Lundy, who finds a very old yearbook (from 1923) in her school library and becomes fascinated with it. She dozes off in the library and wakes up to find herself in that long-ago time. She decides to abandon her old, messed-up life for a fresh future in the past. But Lola’s family has a history of major mental illness. She might just be losing her mind. You have to read it to find out what’s really going on with her.

What inspired you to write it?
The inspiration was my grandmother’s 1923 Charleston (W. Va.) High School yearbook. I inherited it when she died and liked to look through it from time to time because there was an entire, lively world in it, of vintage photographs that at the same time felt so fresh, events, humor columns, quotes from the students about their favorite things and people. Looking at it one day, I thought, what if I could just drop myself into that book somehow and walk around? All old yearbooks stir up feelings like that, I think. As an artifact, the school yearbook carries a lot of importance for people. It’s like a souvenir of that key moment where they embark on their lives as adults and start making their own decisions, for better or worse. It’s the permanent “before” picture.

How did you come up with the idea for the cover?

Christina Riddle, a freelance graphic designer, found the vintage 1920s photo of a flapper that works so beautifully on the cover, and combined it with the image of old library shelves. I love the way the girl in the picture is reaching out, as if it’s Lola moving back and forth between eras. Frank Rivera, a designer with Merit Press, worked with the concept and the type and it all came together. I’m so thrilled with it and have had many compliments.

If it was made into a movie, who would you like to play the main characters?
I’m not sure. But I’d love to see them come to life on the screen.

Is it part of a series or is it a stand-alone novel?
The Yearbook is a stand-alone, with a very definitive conclusion.

Where is the novel set and why did you choose to set it there?
The town of Ashfield is modeled loosely on Lorain, Ohio, a rustbelt town in Ohio near where I grew up. I wanted to use a town that had left behind its glory days, and have the main character travel back and rediscover the place as it was.

What is it about this genre that appeals to you so much?
I love worlds where the rules bend and anything can happen. In this story the laws of physics are suspended. The characters get chances that we never get in real life.

What made you want to become an author?
I just enjoy stories - reading them and telling them. I like the complete control I have over my story-world. It’s my own little universe and I make all the decisions. Godlike power, I guess. There’s also the challenge of seeing if I can do it. It’s rewarding to create something.

How do you come up with character names?
I took a lot of the first names and nicknames for the 1920s characters straight out of my grandmother’s yearbook — Luther, Horace, Henrietta, Virgil. People just aren’t named names like that anymore. I actually used one person’s entire name: Ruby Gadd. I thought it was a cool name, and it suited Ruby, who’s a gadabout. Lola Lundy, the name for the main character, just popped into my head the first day I sat down to work on the story. I named her social worker, Mrs. Hershey, after a school principal in my hometown.

Do you struggle to come up with book titles? Do they come before, during or after you've written your book?
I almost always know the title first. Somehow it helps me shape the idea, the whole concept of the thing.

Name one of your all-time favourite books?
This Sweet Sickness by Patricia Highsmith. It’s about a man who’s obsessed with an ex-girlfriend who has married somebody else. He buys and furnishes a beautiful house and goes there on the weekends and pretends he lives there with her. He’s utterly bonkers.

Who, or what, inspires you?
I like to read author biographies to see how people have managed to fit writing into their lives. I like to hear about their challenges, and how they went about getting things done. Hearing about how somebody else has done it makes it seem doable — quantifies it somehow to make it seem like a thing a human being could actually do.

Where is your favourite place to write?
I write anywhere, everywhere. I have no special place. I like quiet, but rarely experience it. I have two boys. My formative experiences as a writer were in newspaper newsrooms, which tend to be very chaotic and noisy, so I think that’s helped me not to require some kind of ideal environment to work.

What is your favourite movie that was based on a book?
I very much liked the original Great Gatsby, the one with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow.

Name two of your favourite authors.
Lately I’m really into John Banville, the Irish novelist, and Dorothy Hughes, the 1940s noir fiction writer. (among others)

Tell us a random fact about yourself.
In the past 16 years I’ve lived in eight different countries, on four different continents.

Who would play you in the movie about your life? 

That question is causing me a lot of confusion. Let’s just say I’d like to look like Elizabeth Taylor, but I don’t.

Tell us an interesting fact about where you live.
I live in Geneva, Switzerland. Forty percent of the residents here come from somewhere else, making it the most international city in the world.

What are your (writing) plans for the future? 

I have another novel cooking, this one about a scandal involving group of college freshman who are music students at an elite conservatory. But I’m also doing a rewrite at the moment of a teen fantasy screenplay. I have done six screenplays in various genres and really feel comfortable in the form.

Tell us one thing that's on your bucket list.
I’d like to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade from the window of a fancy hotel along the parade route, drinking champagne, or excellent coffee.

Favourite myth / fairytale? 

I love the story of The Boy and the North Wind. The boy gets three magic gifts, a donkey that gives gold coins, a tablecloth that makes a fantastic meal just by putting it on the table, and a stick that protects the boy from his enemies, especially thieves who try to steal the donkey and the tablecloth.

Who/What did you want to be when you were a kid?
I wanted to be a movie star. I think for a while I also wanted to be Miss America. Ha ha!

Carol Masciola worked as a newspaper reporter in Southern California for 12 years. Her longest stint was seven years at the Orange County Register, where as a general assignment reporter she covered the mundane and the bizarre. In 1999 she won the PEN/West Literary Award in Journalism for the serial “Mr. Maxwell’s Baby”, about a 77-year-old man’s struggle to take care of a baby by himself. After that, she turned to fiction and is the author of six feature screenplays. BAGHDAD BUREAU, her black comedy about foreign correspondents in Iraq, was named a semifinalist in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Nicholl Fellowship screenwriting contest. The Yearbook is her first novel.
Carol is represented by Jacqueline Flynn at the Delbourgo Literary Agency. She lives in Geneva, Switzerland, with her husband, Ibon Villelabeitia, and her sons Endika and Leonardo.
CAROL MASCIOLA is the author of THE YEARBOOK, Merit Press (Dec.). 

Author Interview with Tracy Manaster

Can you tell us a little about your latest book?
You Could Be Home By Now (Tyrus Books, now out in paperback) unfolds in The Commons, an expensive, exclusive Arizona retirement community where regulations prohibit full-time residents under fifty-five years of age. It's the height of the housing crisis and a resident who is underwater on her mortgage and unable to relocate is revealed to be raising her grandson in secret. So the community, which is essentially built on the promise of folks having a well-earned really good time, now has an ethical conundrum to stir things up.
I have three fairly damaged (but desperately trying not to be) narrators navigating both the secret grandchild issue and their own complicated lives, and their good impulses and bad mistakes make You Could Be Home By Now either a very, very funny sad book or a very, very sad happy one.

What inspired you to write it?
The initial inspiration was an NPR story I heard while driving down a country road (in the futile hope my then one-year-old twins would fall asleep) that featured The Villages, a Florida retirement community that's a hyperconcentrated on of the version I created in You Could Be Home By Now. I was completely intrigued by the setting, and more so by the question of who keeps the community going if everyone's retired. Characters followed quickly (well, quickly in writer-time) from there, as did a rough sense of how the story would unfold. Of course, book writing is a long process (for me at least) and so other tensions and inspirations fueled me along the way. I suspect a lot of the book's emotional oomph comes from witnessing my parents and in-laws develop relationships with their first grandchildren.

How did you come up with the idea for the cover?
I love the cover but can take zero credit for it; I'm a terrible visual thinker.
The team at Tyrus Books came up with the image of the antique toy truck and it felt exactly right. Almost everyone in the book comes to The Commons from somewhere else, so the moving truck struck the perfect note, and the fact that it's both a toy and quite old speaks to some of the book's themes of aging and grief without being gloomy. It's an image that's completely in keeping with what I was trying to accomplish while not being something I'd ever come up with myself. Every time I see it, I'm wowed.

If it was made into a movie, who would you like to play the main characters?
Confession: I'm going to be terrible at this question. When I get really (or even nominally) into a movie, I get so caught up in the characters that the actors playing them don't really register. I'd hope that the actors would take that as sign of my appreciation of their craft--and will also take this as an opportunity to apologize to everyone I've ever let down by flubbing "who-played-which-character" questions during Pub Quizzes.
Of course, there's always an exception, and if I were the boss of the universe (or at least a casting director), I would love to seen Kiernan Shipka play Lily, the teen-aged visitor to The Commons who discovers the secret grandchild and does some serious growing up as the book progresses. Lily is just so much fun: a snarky, lesbian beauty-blogger and math whiz who is so much more tenderhearted than even she knows. It's a role that would require reluctant fragility and killer comedic timing--does anyone out there happen to know Ms. Shipka's agent?

Is it part of a series or is it a stand-alone novel?Stand alone. I've put my poor characters through enough already.
Jokes aside, I like that the book ends on a good note. Not a tidy one--these are characters with untidy feelings--but with the sense that everyone has struggled toward the forward momentum their lives need. Following through on that trajectory would be, I suspect, smooth sailing for the characters but fairly dull for their readers.

Where is the novel set and why did you choose to set it there?
The setting is the heart of the book--it's a story that really could only take place in an upscale retirement community with scads of rules, and I found that the more I developed The Commons, the more assured the characters, voice, and overall story were. I've always been a sucker for the sprawling, old, provincial novels, and there is (in retrospect; I wish I'd been clever enough to realize that was what I was doing from the start) something of that at play in You Could Be Home By Now, with all the characters stuck with one another and ping ponging off the bounds of very specific mores. In a world as mobile as ours is, I think an intentional community like The Commons is one of the few settings where that kind of narrative tension can be replicated.

What is it about this genre that appeals to you so much?
I love literary fiction for its emotional messiness, for the closeness of observation involved, and for its general sense that things can be--like life--sad and funny and beautiful and exhausting simultaneously.

What made you want to become an author?
I suspect nine out of ten authors you ask would say "reading really good books," and I'm no exception. When I'm working on a book, I'm working on the kind of book I like to read, and will sometimes get that reader's brain fizzing rush of discovering a passage or plot twist that's gorgeous and surprising and just right, only it's coupled with a touch of "whoa, I did that. Wow." There's nothing like it in the world.
And I'll confess that there is an ego factor. People said I was good at writing growing up, and I liked those compliments and worked hard for more, got better, garnered more praise, kept on working, and thirty years later, here I am. It's not that simple, of course, but still, I do owe a tremendous debt to those very early cheerleaders.

How do you come up with character names?
I've had many day jobs that involved data entry and luckily retained a mental roster of names (mostly first names) that hit that ideal combination of uncommon, believable, and pronounceable without being heavy handed or unbearably symbolic. Surnames are trickier, but Facebook is a great resource for that. I've absolutely plucked a surname or so from the comments in friends' and friends-of-friends' posts.
Names are something I try not to stress over too much in early drafts, because the "find and replace" function makes switching them up relatively painless and there are so many fantastic character (well, baby, but the result is much the same) naming websites out there that I could easily spend hours searching for the perfect name, convince myself that it counted as writing, and never actually get anything done.

Do you struggle to come up with book titles? Do they come before, during or after you've written your book?
I'm not sure it's fair to say struggle, though if for some reason I absolutely had to come up with the final title for my current work in progress right this minute I can guarantee it would be a bad one. If I recall correctly, You Could Be Home By Now was the fourth title I came up with. Each iteration got me closer--in feeling, if not in precise wording--to the the final one (which I couldn't be more pleased with). For me at least, writing a book is a long process. The titles get better as the book approaches completion, and it's one of those things that at this point I simply trust I'll figure out.

Name one of your all-time favourite books.
I'm going to go with Middlemarch. You can't talk about being a sucker for sprawling provincial novels and then not say Middlemarch.

Who, or what, inspires you?
Above all, good books. I bet all the authors you interview say that.

Where is your favourite place to write?
I've very much a coffeehouse/cafe writer (though perhaps that would change if I bought a fancy coffee maker and cleaned and reorganized my home office). I love the bustle of other people around me (writing can be a lonely venture). And tackling my work in a public space makes me accountable in a way that working at home really doesn't. Also, I really, really like coffee.
With You Could Be Home By Now, I actually had a preferred coffee shop for each of the three main narrative voices. It wasn't something I set off to do deliberately, but I was pleased and amused to realize it was a habit I had fallen into.

What is your favourite movie that was based on a book?
I love the 1935 (I think? I did mention that I'm not particularly good with movie trivia...) Anna Karenina, which is weird, because it omits many of my favorite parts of the book and to a modern eye many of the performances--not to mention the overall look--feel stilted. But Greta Garbo (see? I do know an actor's name!)'s performance actually furthered my understanding of the Anna Karenina character and made re-reads more nuanced and enjoyable. After seeing that movie, I read the character of Anna not simply as Anna, but as Anna-who-sees-herself-as-if-Garbo's-playing her.

Name two of your favourite authors.
Margaret Atwood and Kate Atkinson.

Tell us a random fact about yourself.
I have seen all of Shakespeare's plays except King John performed live, and would drive upwards of one hundred and fifty miles for a chance to complete the cannon.

Who would play you in the movie about your life?
I confess I punted this one to my husband, who says Susan Sarandon twenty years ago.
I also confess to swanning about as if I were being played by Greta Garbo, but not when anyone else is watching.

Tell us an interesting fact about where you live.
It's the nineteenth place and thirteenth state I've lived in. On a clear day I can see four mountains and two rivers, so I'm pretty sure I'm here to stay.

What are your (writing) plans for the future?
I'm toggling between the final draft of another work of literary fiction and an early draft of a young adult project, while debating which of two little seedling ideas I should nurture into the next book after those. So my head is very cluttered (in a good way), and my ambition is to clear it by writing all of those books, and writing them as well as I possibly can.

Tell us one thing that's on your bucket list.
I've been a SCUBA diver since age twelve and have grand ambitions involving the Great Barrier Reef.

Favourite myth / fairytale?
There's something particularly haunting about the Persephone and Demeter myth, and the idea of this warm and vibrant mother seeking her daughter in the grim underworld. Without revealing too much, there is a thread of that in You Could Be Home By Now.

Who/What did you want to be when you were a kid?
What didn't I want to be? My earliest ambition was to be a balloon seller in central park, but at times I wanted to be a scientist, an actress, an aviator, a translator, a politician, an archaeologist (I actually trained for that one in college), the inventor of a time machine, a detective, an Olympian (I was always vague about which sport), the Queen (of what? I don't recall), a chef, a librarian, an auctioneer...
I think that diversity of ambitions--and the specificity with which I imagined myself living them--may have a lot to do with my winding up a writer, thinking all those what-ifs and then writing them down.

Reviews

"Manaster weaves...disparate tales of strife and grief eloquently, impressively depicting an adolescent girl and an aging man with equal fullness and depth. She also resists the urge for easy resolution...instead offering small amounts of emotional satisfaction that feel realistic and earned." --Publishers Weekly

"The setting is the only thing sleepy about Manaster's debut. Complex, interweaving stories tangle inside The Commons, a retirement community outside Tucson, Arizona.... A scintillating drama that's touching, funny and impossible to put down." --Kirkus Reviews

"Manaster's debut is an adventurous undertaking, both light and insightful. The wide range of characters...is well depicted and appealing. For fans of realistically written, flawed-human narratives--with a flair for fun." --Library Journal

"Poignant, funny debut.... A hoot that will touch your heart!" --People Magazine

"Each character has quirks that can be entertaining, saddening and harrowing.... Manaster weaves an entertaining tale of retirees and youthful souls who are living with circumstances that challenge their personal expectations of life.... The experiences of the characters in the story are...delightful." --The Deseret News

"Tracy Manaster's debut novel You Could Be Home by Now is a book for the New Year if ever there was one." --BookTrib

"Manaster creates vivid characters who come alive on the page, characters the reader can feel for and identify with even as they often seem to go over the edge.... In her retirement community there is humor and heartbreak, but most of all there is the poignancy of people, old and young, finding ways to go on living, and perhaps finding happiness." --Blogcritics.org/SeattlePI.com

"Some books you just don't want to end; Tracy Manaster's You Could Be Home By Now is one of those books. The story moves at a good clip, and Manaster is the rare author that finds the almost always elusive balance between plot and character. There's a sense of hope that these characters will find what they are looking for. It's just hard not to close this book with a bit of a sigh and a wish that we could be there when they do." --Pop Matters

"This book is so much more than readers could possibly anticipate. It explores the twisted emotions of loss and grief in depth, talks about the way we deceive ourselves in order to keep going, and touches on our innate need to belong somewhere, among other things. This novel is a fantastic read, and one that will stay with readers long after they've finished the final page." --San Francisco Book Review

Tracy Manaster is a graduate of Wesleyan University and The Iowa Writers' Workshop. She was the 2006 recipient of the National League of American Pen Women's Joanna Catherine Scott prize for novel excerpt. Her nonfiction has appeared in iAgora and Moxie magazines and as interactive exhibit texts for the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and twin daughters.