Tag: Interview Page 10 of 18

A Few Quick Questions with…K.R.R. Lockhaven

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On November 4, 2021

In A Few Quick Questions With...

Earlier today, I posted my thoughts about K.R.R. Lockhaven’s novel, The Conjuring of Zoth-Avarex: The Self-Proclaimed Greatest Dragon in the Multiverse, a book I strongly recommend. The author was gracious enough to spend some time responding to some Qs that I posed, I hope you enjoy his As as much as I did.

I typically ask about what led someone to being a writer, but you talked about a little in your recent guest post here. So instead—what led to you being a firefighter? Other than giving you more of an income than novelist will likely provide, how does it affect your writing? Is Jake you putting yourself in the novel?
That’s a tough question, since my memory is patchy at best. But I think the seed of the idea was planted when I read The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut. There’s a line in that book; “I can think of no more stirring symbol of man’s humanity to man than a fire engine.” Reading that awakened something in me, and eventually led to me try to become a firefighter. It was probably a little of that, and a little of wanting a job that was considered “cool,” because I felt/feel very uncool.

Jake, a firefighter character from my book, is actually modeled after one of my coworkers who is this big, fun-loving guy who is nice to everyone and loves to pull pranks. I am much closer in personality to the main character, Harris, who is meeker and much more unsure of himself.

All authors have more ideas running around in their head than they can possibly develop—what was it about this idea that made you commit to it?
The fire department I work for is at a nuclear site in eastern Washington State. It’s a place that suffers from…bureaucracy issues. As a writer, I have long wanted to satirize the entire site in some way, but I could never find an angle I liked. Early on in my writing “career” I wasn’t writing fantasy, but I always felt a pull to start writing it. Then one day it just hit me—what if, instead of being a nuclear site that once made atomic bombs, there was a magical site, hidden away by the government, that tried to conjure a dragon? I was immediately taken with the notion, and the ideas really started flowing. There was no turning back from that point.

There’s a tricky element to the tone—keeping it fun and funny while maintaining the threat represented by Zoth-Avarex intact. Did that come naturally, was that something you had to work on over multiple drafts to make sure it worked?
Tone is a very tricky thing! I have to admit that it wasn’t something I thought of when writing the first draft, but I have learned a lot about it since then. My brother was the first to point out to me some of the initial inconsistencies with the tone. I went back through everything with that in mind, and tweaked it to what it is now. I think the fact that Silvia, the woman the dragon captures, is made to feel as comfortable as a prisoner can feel (like “a guest without leaving privileges”), helps to give it enough immediacy to be compelling (hopefully), but not a life-or-death, this-isn’t-fun-anymore, feel.

It’s hard to pick just one or two things to focus on to ask about that don’t involve spoiling the whole book…but I want to talk about Eddie for a minute. Where did that character come from? How do you keep yourself from letting a character as fun as that from taking over the novel?
I’m glad you liked him! He was loosely based on an old curmudgeon of a firefighter I worked with early in my career. Sometimes I feel like an imposter when I get credit for dreaming up a character like that, when I really had an inspirational embarrassment of riches at my job. He is a larger-than-life kind of guy who I was lucky enough to get to hang out with for a while.

I love a novel with comic footnotes. Can you talk a little about the choice to use that technique—in general, and how you decide when to use a footnote to deliver the joke rather than keeping it in the text?
I love footnotes, too! I recently read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke, and I thought the footnotes really expanded on the world of the book.

I wish I could explain the decisions, but it was mostly done by feel. I thought footnotes could be used to expand the world of the Site, too, and to get a into Zoth-Avarex’s history and psyche. In the end, I deleted a ton of footnotes. Many just weren’t funny, and having too many of them distracted from the story too much. Some of my favorite parts of the book are in the footnotes, though. Like the thing with the rise and fall of an entire civilization that went on for almost two pages. That was fun to write.

What was the biggest surprise about the writing of The Conjuring of Zoth-Avarex itself? Either, “I can’t believe X is so easy!” or “If I had known Y was going to be so hard, I’d have skipped this and watched more TV.”
The biggest surprise I found when writing the book is that I could actually write comedy. I wasn’t sure if I had it in me, to tell the truth. Among my group of friends, I’m probably the least funny of the bunch, but on the page, I have to admit that I have at least some comic ability. I was very hesitant to admit that, though. I mean, I made myself laugh with my goofball shit, but I didn’t know how others would receive it. It has taken a lot of positive feedback and some good reviews to convince me that maybe I don’t completely suck.

Let’s play “Online Bookstore Algorithm” (a game I made up for these Q&As). What are 3-5 books whose readers may like The Conjuring of Zoth-Avarex?
Another tough one! I know every author thinks their book is so unique, but I do have a hard time coming up with comparable titles. I am no Terry Pratchett, or Douglas Adams, but I do think that people who enjoyed The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy or anything by Pratchett might get a kick out of my book. Also anyone who grew up reading Tolkien, or just fantasy in general, and would like to see the genre lovingly skewered. One recent, semi-comparable title is The Part About the Dragon Was (Mostly) True by Sean Gibson.

What’s next for K.R.R. Lockhaven, author?
I was lucky enough to recently sign a three book deal with Shadow Spark Publishing, and they are going to publish my humorous hopepunk nautical fantasy trilogy. Book one, tentatively titled Marauders, Daughters, and Dragons, is slated to come out in the summer of 2022. The series will take place on another world, but will still be within the Zoth-Avarex multiverse (wink wink). My writing has made a slight shift toward the more heartfelt and serious, but there is still a lot of foul-mouthed fun, like a shit-talking bird companion, a reanimated skeleton with confidence issues, and a group of failed pirates who just want to sing and have adventures.

Thanks for your time—and thanks for The Conjuring of Zoth-Avarex, I had a blast with it and I hope you have plenty of success with it.
Thank you very much! I’m so glad you enjoyed my book. This interview was really fun! The questions were tough, and unique, and you really made me think. I loved it.

A Few Quick Questions with…Scott Spires

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On October 29, 2021

In A Few Quick Questions With..., Fiction, General Fiction/Literature

In a little bit here, I’ll be giving my take on Abandon All Hope, but before I do that, I thought I’d post this Q&A that Spires was kind enough to participate in with me.

Before we dive in, you might want to read a blog post he wrote about the book, too: Behind ABANDON ALL HOPE.

Describe your path to publication with this.
I actually wrote it in two chunks: the first half all the way back in 2002-03, and the other half in 2019-20 (yes, I set it aside for about 16 years). When I finished it, I knew that as an unagented author I had no chance of being published by one of the major publishing houses, so I concentrated on small presses. I got various laudatory rejections – of the type “we like your book but we’re not going to publish it” – which was frustrating but kept me going due to the positive feedback. Finally Auctus Publishers, a small press based in the Philadelphia area, accepted it in March of this year.

All authors have more ideas running around in their head than they can possibly develop—what was it about this idea that made you commit to it?
I liked the idea of having characters coming from similar backgrounds but having completely different approaches to life. Basically, it’s realism vs. idealism, one of the eternal themes. Also, I was intrigued by the idea of writing Don Quixote in reverse – that is, with the somewhat cynical Sancho Panza character being the lead, and the idealistic Don Quixote figure being the secondary protagonist.

It’s hard to pick just one or two things to focus on to ask about that don’t involve spoiling the whole book…but I want to talk about Vic for a bit. Where did the character come from? He seems to be the only well-adjusted character in the novel (that may not be the best word…he’s the one who has it all together), was that the intent? (did I miss something in him?). Also, post-High Fidelity, record shop owners seems to be more popular in fiction than they are in reality—what’s your pet theory for that?
I agree that Vic is the most “together” character, in the sense that he’s figured out a path in life that suits him, and doesn’t suffer from the feeling of alienation that afflicts most of the other characters. I can’t say that it was my conscious intent to make him that way. To the extent he has some basis in reality, he’s a grad-school dropout who became an entrepreneur, and I’ve known a number of people like that. As for record-shop owners being more popular in fiction than in reality, I don’t quite agree with you on that. Vinyl has been undergoing a big resurgence in the last decade or so, and there have been quite a few physical outlets selling it, although they have to contend with a lot of pressure from online sellers. Vinyl is much more fashionable now than it was in the 1990s, when both High Fidelity and my book are set.

Evan’s tenure as a Temp seemed too specific to be simply the product of someone’s imagination—did you spend a season of life doing this kind of thing, or did you have friends whose lives you plundered for material? How fictionalized were these? Any you decided that you couldn’t use?
Most of the work-related episodes in the book are based on my own personal experience. For example, I had precisely the kind of phone-survey job that Evan does in Chapter 5, and Eric’s office job draws heavily on my own job experience with a fairly well-known company that shall remain nameless. Of course, I modified this material to fit the story I wanted to tell – my own office job wasn’t nearly as deadly or traumatic as the one in the book!

What was the biggest surprise about the writing of Abandon All Hope itself? Either, “I can’t believe X is so easy!” or “If I had known Y was going to be so hard, I’d have skipped this and watched more TV.”
Well, I did watch more TV (so to speak), because I hit a roadblock when I was first writing it, and put aside the manuscript for a short while, which turned into a 16-year break! My basic problem was the lack of a theme, focus, or clear plotline when I started writing it. I had my characters and episodes, but nothing to hold them together. It was only in 2019 when I sat down with this old material and resolved to finish the book that I figured those things out. So I suppose the biggest surprise was that I actually managed to finish writing the book. If you had told me five or ten years ago that I would finish it and get it published, I would have been greatly surprised!

Let’s play “Online Bookstore Algorithm” (a game I made up for these Q&As). What are 3-5 books whose readers may like Abandon All Hope?
Obviously, as already mentioned, High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. Record collecting as a quest for meaning, and as a way to avoid growing up.
The Elementary Particles by Michel Houllebecq. Another 1990s classic, with contrasting, related protagonists trying to make sense of the world in their very different ways.
The Moviegoer by Walker Percy. A fictional excursion into existentialism, with a strong regional flavor (New Orleans in this case).
Finally, this is cheating a bit, but I must mention “Forlesen” by Gene Wolfe. It’s a long short story or novella, not a complete novel, but it’s highly relevant because it’s a poignant, fantastical take on the inanities of office life, which figure so strongly in Abandon All Hope.

What’s next for Scott Spires, author?
I don’t know exactly, but I’m contemplating a couple of projects. One is a “photonovel,” a story that combines text with photographs. The other is a collection of novellas. I think the novella is a great form, but since it’s caught in a kind of limbo between short stories and novels, it’s difficult to publish as a free-standing work. But I think a book of three or four novellas would work very well.

Thanks for your time—and thanks for Abandon All Hope</b?, and I hope you have plenty of success with it.

TRUE DEAD TOUR: A Q&A with Faith Hunter

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On September 6, 2021

In A Few Quick Questions With..., Faith Hunter, Jane Yellowrock/Soulwood, Urban Fantasy

True Dead Banner
Thanks to an overactive Spam filter, I missed the invitation to submit questions. Thankfully, Audrey at Let’s Talk came through for me and got me this Q&A. I enjoyed it, hope you do, too.

What was your inspiration for Jane’s character/storyline? Was it the Katie’s Ladies idea or something else. You have probably already answered this 1000 times.

It’s always a great question. I started out with Katie’s Ladies. The first time I thought about writing an urban fantasy it was with the description of Katie’s Ladies running through my mind. I had the idea of a vamp bordello and the madam trying to figure out who had killed her girl. But it very quickly morphed into a Cherokee chick solving paranormal crimes and getting sucked into working for the master of the city. I love writing mystery and thrillers, and in fact spent the first 15 years or so my career writing just that under the name Gwen Hunter.

When you started writing Skinwalker, did you envision how many books this would stretch to?

Oh heck no. I planned on three. The end of book three was supposed to be Rick and Jane riding off into the sunset together, a reformed bad boy werecat and a skinwalker. Then while I was writing that book, Charlaine Harris (yes, the Charlaine Harris) posted in her blog that she was reading Skinwalker. I was at Dragon Con when I learned that my book sales took off and Penguin wanted three more books. Soooo. Things changed. I owe it all to a friend who had no idea that Faith Hunter was the Gwen Hunter she met back in my mystery writing days at Mystery Writers of America. The kindness of successful writers helps to make other writers successful. We depend on each other so much!

Did Jane ever have a pet? I know dogs are afraid of her scent, but what about other cats?

No, Jane never had a pet. Well… except Beast. (Wanders away laughing as Beast chuffs with irritation)

How do you decide who will die and does it affect you the same way as it does your readers?

If a character needs to die, I usually know it as I’m writing the outline for that book, but not always. Sometimes it happens as I write the scene and I have been known to have to go back and alter the outline for a whole book when a character dies. And then there are the characters like Adrianna who keep coming back because times change and Leo doesn’t want her dead. Of course, Leo doesn’t want the Sons of Darkness dead either and Jane kinda ignored that all around.

Is Ricky Bo based on an old boyfriend?

Nope. Physically, Rick is based on my first cousin, Frenchy black eyes, Frenchy black hair, lean and rangy, long-lived, and self-contained. Emotionally Rick is based on a template of player, overlaid with cop-think.


My thanks to Let’s Talk! Promotions for the invitation to participate in this tour, this Q&A, and the materials (including the book via NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group) they provided.

Yet A Few More Quick Questions with…Matthew Hanover

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On August 24, 2021

In A Few Quick Questions With..., Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, Matthew Hanover

Another novel from Matthew Hanover means another chance to ask him a few questions–I’ve been looking forward to sharing this with you–it’s a little look behind the curtain, a little insight to his process. I enjoyed this, I hope you do, too.

And remember–it’s publication day for Not Awkward–go get yourself a copy. And if you haven’t yet, grab Not Famous and Not Dressed, too!

I remember seeing you tweet about working on Not Awkward and Book 4 at the same time. How was that process? Was it the kind of thing you’d do again, or was that a special set of circumstances?

It was a very confusing time, to be honest. I’d had the idea for Not Awkward since before Not Dressed was complete, and I wanted to start… but it took me a long time to really get into it because shortly after Not Dressed was published, the pandemic hit. For some reason, that just made it very difficult to get into a creative writing state of mind. So, when I found myself in that place, I’d come up with the idea for my fourth novel, and it came in a torrent, and I felt the best thing to do was to just let myself write whichever novel I was inspired to work on at any given time. Eventually, Novel #4 eclipsed Not Awkward in word count, though eventually, I had to focus on Not Awkward alone.

I used to think it would be impossible to write two books at the same time, but the more I write, the easier it is to switch lanes and just get absorbed in one story or another. In fact, I’ve already written a small amount for Novel #5, and anticipated getting a jump on it as I complete #4.

So in the Not-verse, or Alli-verse, or whatever you’re calling it, you’re scattering characters from the previous novels in the next. Is that something you plan before you start to write—or do you just get to the point where you see an opportunity to bring back someone and go for it? In particular, I’m thinking of [redacted], who readers may look at differently than they did before after her pivotal role here. How long were you sitting on that?

I honestly hadn’t considered writing novels in a shared universe until late in the writing of Not Famous when I was nearly finished and hated the idea of leaving those characters. The problem was that I didn’t want to write a sequel because I felt Nick and Alli’s story had reached a point where I’d taken it as far as I could. But, writing separate novels in a shared universe allowed me to offer little glimpses into characters’ lives outside of their primary story, while also allowing for each novel to stand on its own.

Not Awkward is about the road not taken (or the road you’re shoved off of). Sure, Leila and Scott were in pretty good places when we met them, but that doesn’t mean they don’t want to check out the greenness of the grass on the other side of the fence. Is this Matthew Hanover working through some stuff? Waxing philosophical? Or is it just the byproduct of telling Leila and Scott’s story?

In Not Awkward, the main character, Scott, learns that his ex-girlfriend’s father has passed away, decides to go to the funeral, and ends up staying for a few days and a whole bunch of things happen. Rest assured, I’ve never been in such a situation. However, the idea for this novel came to me after I found out that a college girlfriend’s father had passed away. It did take me a long time to get over that relationship, and I never would have considered going to his funeral (in fact, I found out well after the fact) but it did get me thinking about a lot of “What ifs” and I could tell there was a story in that. There are other biographical elements in the story, but very much fictionalized. But, truthfully, I got over her many, many years ago.

One thing I picked up from reading your novel is just how bad a job Tropper’s Foxman family was at sitting Shiva. How do you approach something so important, so sacred to many, and yet use it for entertainment purposes? I imagine it’s tricky—did you go into it saying “I’ll play with this part of it, but not that part?”

Honestly, it never really occurred to me that a shiva might be problematic. I needed a reason to keep Scott around for multiple days, and a shiva just worked out beautifully. Of course, Leila’s family, the Rosenfelds, are very different from the Foxmans. Leila is an only child, while the Foxmans are four adult children of a dysfunctional family. Judd Foxman also got to tell their story as an insider, as Scott was more an outside observer trying his best to not be a distraction and failing miserably. I felt the best thing to honor the Jewish traditions was to have them explained for those who may not be familiar with them.

Speedcubing, eh? Where did that come from for Charlotte? How are you with a Rubik’s Cube?

This was pure serendipity. I’d always seen the character of Charlotte, Scott’s fiancée, as being uber smart and socially awkward, and I’d been trying to think of some kind of quirk that spoke to that. And I kept coming up stuck. Then, I happened to watch “The Speed Cubers” on Netflix, and was totally blown away at how there are people who can solve the Rubik’s cube in a matter of seconds. And I thought, “That’s it!” and then I researched the hell out of speedcubing, and the more I found out, the more it was clear this was just perfect for the character of Charlotte.

As for myself, I remember having a Rubik’s cube when I was a kid, but solving it was something I never accomplished. Sadly, I lack the patience and discipline to learn the algorithms necessary to solve it!

Not to take the focus off of Not Awkward, but what’s the timeline for #4? Are you still wrapping it up, or have you moved on to what’s next? Care to tease anything?

It’s actually been a few months since I worked on it, but it currently sits at around 23,000 words. So, it has a long way to go. While I’m not ready to discuss plot points, I can say that my next two novels will be focusing on characters in their late 30s and early 40s, not their 20s like my first three novels. I’m ready to focus on stories of people in a slightly later stage of life.

Thanks for taking the time to answer these—and for Not Awkward—I had a blast reading it and hope it finds its audience.

PUB DAY REPOST: In Ten Years by Ian Shane: They’re Perfect For Each Other…But Can They Make It Work? Do They Even Want to Try?

By

On August 17, 2021

In Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, Ian Shane

In Ten Years

In Ten Years

by Ian Shane

eARC, 261 pg.
2021

Read: July 23-26, 2021

What’s In Ten Years About?

In 2000, two Denver University students meet in such a way that practically guarantees Jack will have one of dullest (and probably worse than just dull) twenty-first birthdays. Liz unintentionally contributed to that but also did everything she could to make up for that. After this, she decides that the two of them are going to be great friends.

After spending a couple of chapters in 2000, we see them again in 2009—and it turns out that Liz’s plan to be great friends worked. They’ve become incredibly close, the Two Musketeers. They’re so close that everyone (including every romantic interest they ever have) assumes they have/are/want to be involved. The idea never really lodges with either of them—and they don’t understand why no one believes them.

We catch up to them in 2018. At some point, they’ve made that pact that you’ve seen in countless sitcoms and movies, if they’re not married by _____ time, they’ll marry each other.* In this case, it’s when Jack turns 40 (he’s a little younger than her, so at that point, they’ll both be 40), and in 2018 that’s a year away.

* The scene where the pact is made is just about perfect, I should add.

Both of them try to treat the pact as a joke—while hoping the other forgot about it. But neither did and despite the preposterous notion—they both kind of take it seriously. They can’t imagine not growing old together, why not?

And then one of them starts to realize that their interest in the pact isn’t because of a drunken promise, pragmatism, or the lack of a better option—but there just might be something right about the whole idea, a reality that’s been before them all along.

Supporting Characters

I’d intended on spending a few paragraphs talking about both Jack and Liz, and after a couple of failed attempts, I realized I couldn’t do either justice without just recapping the whole novel. So, instead, let’s talk about the other characters.

I wasn’t that far into the 2018 part when I made a note about, “Of course they end up together, everyone else they know is horrible.” Which was a little harsh, but essentially true—that’s up to and including their closest friends. Thankfully, that didn’t stay that way—sure, their friends didn’t make a great first impression, but as I got to spend some more time with them, I ended up liking them. They also proved to be good friends to Jack and Liz.

But when it comes to other romantic interests or dalliances? The reader can understand the appeal of (most) of the people they’re interested in—at least initially. But you don’t spend time thinking, “yeah, Person X would really be a good long-term partner for them.” I might have appreciated it more had I actually considered anyone to be a rival for Liz or Jack. But maybe after a few chapters, I’d already ruled out anyone who wasn’t Jack or Liz for the other.

I’m not sure it matters, ultimately. But what Shane did give each character plenty of frogs of various sides and coloring to kiss so that they’d inevitably discover their Prince/Princess.

The supporting characters, from college roommates to overbearing and overly-inquisitive mothers, to Russian hockey players to waitresses in a bar or inappropriate former students are well-written, they all stand out as pretty well-rounded (at least as much as someone who’s only around for a few paragraphs can be).

The Dialogue

I talked about this a little in the Q&A with Shane, and you should read what he said about writing it. My favorite part of this novel was the dialogue. Jack has some great lines when he’s upset or angry with someone, for example.

But what really won me over was the interaction with Jack and Liz—either when they’re being silly about something or when they’re talking about something serious. This is fitting for a contemporary When Harry Met Sally-esque story, Harry and Sally talking to each other is what made viewers fall for the pair, and Shane hits some Ephron-level interchanges with Jack and Liz.

So, what did I think about In Ten Years?

There are a few other highlights that I really don’t have the time or space to get into, I’d recommend checking out the aforementioned Q&A with Shane that I posted yesterday to catch a few other selling points for this book.

The novel is just funny—humor that arises from the situations and the characters’ inherent and reflexive wit and charm. It’s in the way they react to situations, and not because silly and madcap things happen around or to them (well, sure, there’s a little bit of that). Shane’s voice is part of it, too—but mostly it’s because these are smart, funny people who express that.

I can’t get into it without ruining anything, but there’s a chapter in the 2009 portion of the book that is my favorite chapter of 2021—it was so painful, and yet so funny. Shane was careful not to go too far in either direction, which would’ve blunted the impact. Instead, he’s able to portray the emotionally damaging circumstance and let the character’s wit and the ridiculousness of the situation keep it from being maudlin. The rest of the book is just as good, and just as balanced.

In Ten Years ticked just about every box that I can think of as a reader. I both couldn’t wait to find out what happened and didn’t want to get to the end because I was having such a blast. There’s a fresh-feeling take on a tried-and-true story (two, I’d argue), characters I genuinely liked, dialogue that I’d frequently reread a time or to before moving on, and a great mix of emotion and laughs. I wasn’t even 20% through the book when I noticed I was highlighting and making notes too often—had I stopped there, I had more things than I could squeeze into a post. I can only imagine how massive my notes collection would’ve been had I not made a conscious effort to stop. There was just so much that I wanted to remember about this book.

I know that I’m going to be talking about this book in January when I look back on the best of 2021, and I probably won’t be alone.

5 Stars

In Ten Years by Ian Shane: They’re Perfect For Each Other…But Can They Make It Work? Do They Even Want to Try?

By

On August 10, 2021

In Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, Ian Shane

In Ten Years

In Ten Years

by Ian Shane

eARC, 261 pg.
2021

Read: July 23-26, 2021

What’s In Ten Years About?

In 2000, two Denver University students meet in such a way that practically guarantees Jack will have one of dullest (and probably worse than just dull) twenty-first birthdays. Liz unintentionally contributed to that but also did everything she could to make up for that. After this, she decides that the two of them are going to be great friends.

After spending a couple of chapters in 2000, we see them again in 2009—and it turns out that Liz’s plan to be great friends worked. They’ve become incredibly close, the Two Musketeers. They’re so close that everyone (including every romantic interest they ever have) assumes they have/are/want to be involved. The idea never really lodges with either of them—and they don’t understand why no one believes them.

We catch up to them in 2018. At some point, they’ve made that pact that you’ve seen in countless sitcoms and movies, if they’re not married by _____ time, they’ll marry each other.* In this case, it’s when Jack turns 40 (he’s a little younger than her, so at that point, they’ll both be 40), and in 2018 that’s a year away.

* The scene where the pact is made is just about perfect, I should add.

Both of them try to treat the pact as a joke—while hoping the other forgot about it. But neither did and despite the preposterous notion—they both kind of take it seriously. They can’t imagine not growing old together, why not?

And then one of them starts to realize that their interest in the pact isn’t because of a drunken promise, pragmatism, or the lack of a better option—but there just might be something right about the whole idea, a reality that’s been before them all along.

Supporting Characters

I’d intended on spending a few paragraphs talking about both Jack and Liz, and after a couple of failed attempts, I realized I couldn’t do either justice without just recapping the whole novel. So, instead, let’s talk about the other characters.

I wasn’t that far into the 2018 part when I made a note about, “Of course they end up together, everyone else they know is horrible.” Which was a little harsh, but essentially true—that’s up to and including their closest friends. Thankfully, that didn’t stay that way—sure, their friends didn’t make a great first impression, but as I got to spend some more time with them, I ended up liking them. They also proved to be good friends to Jack and Liz.

But when it comes to other romantic interests or dalliances? The reader can understand the appeal of (most) of the people they’re interested in—at least initially. But you don’t spend time thinking, “yeah, Person X would really be a good long-term partner for them.” I might have appreciated it more had I actually considered anyone to be a rival for Liz or Jack. But maybe after a few chapters, I’d already ruled out anyone who wasn’t Jack or Liz for the other.

I’m not sure it matters, ultimately. But what Shane did give each character plenty of frogs of various sides and coloring to kiss so that they’d inevitably discover their Prince/Princess.

The supporting characters, from college roommates to overbearing and overly-inquisitive mothers, to Russian hockey players to waitresses in a bar or inappropriate former students are well-written, they all stand out as pretty well-rounded (at least as much as someone who’s only around for a few paragraphs can be).

The Dialogue

I talked about this a little in the Q&A with Shane, and you should read what he said about writing it. My favorite part of this novel was the dialogue. Jack has some great lines when he’s upset or angry with someone, for example.

But what really won me over was the interaction with Jack and Liz—either when they’re being silly about something or when they’re talking about something serious. This is fitting for a contemporary When Harry Met Sally-esque story, Harry and Sally talking to each other is what made viewers fall for the pair, and Shane hits some Ephron-level interchanges with Jack and Liz.

So, what did I think about In Ten Years?

There are a few other highlights that I really don’t have the time or space to get into, I’d recommend checking out the aforementioned Q&A with Shane that I posted yesterday to catch a few other selling points for this book.

The novel is just funny—humor that arises from the situations and the characters’ inherent and reflexive wit and charm. It’s in the way they react to situations, and not because silly and madcap things happen around or to them (well, sure, there’s a little bit of that). Shane’s voice is part of it, too—but mostly it’s because these are smart, funny people who express that.

I can’t get into it without ruining anything, but there’s a chapter in the 2009 portion of the book that is my favorite chapter of 2021—it was so painful, and yet so funny. Shane was careful not to go too far in either direction, which would’ve blunted the impact. Instead, he’s able to portray the emotionally damaging circumstance and let the character’s wit and the ridiculousness of the situation keep it from being maudlin. The rest of the book is just as good, and just as balanced.

In Ten Years ticked just about every box that I can think of as a reader. I both couldn’t wait to find out what happened and didn’t want to get to the end because I was having such a blast. There’s a fresh-feeling take on a tried-and-true story (two, I’d argue), characters I genuinely liked, dialogue that I’d frequently reread a time or to before moving on, and a great mix of emotion and laughs. I wasn’t even 20% through the book when I noticed I was highlighting and making notes too often—had I stopped there, I had more things than I could squeeze into a post. I can only imagine how massive my notes collection would’ve been had I not made a conscious effort to stop. There was just so much that I wanted to remember about this book.

I know that I’m going to be talking about this book in January when I look back on the best of 2021, and I probably won’t be alone.

5 Stars

A Few (More) Quick Questions with…Ian Shane

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On August 9, 2021

In A Few Quick Questions With..., Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, Ian Shane

In Ten YearsI’d fully intended for my post about In Ten Years by Ian Shane to go up this morning along with this Q&A. But as is so often the case with a book that I absolutely loved, I just don’t like what I’ve managed to write about it—and even then, I’m only half-done with my outline.

But I want to start talking about this book and hopefully convince some of my readers to read it—or at the very least, to buy it. It comes out on August 17, but don’t wait until then to order it. So, let’s start with the synopsis from Shane’s website, so you’ll have a general idea what we’re talking about in a couple of the questions. Then I’ll dive in with this great Q&A—well, the Qs are passable, the great stuff comes in the As.

Jock Jack and socially awkward Liz weren’t likely to become best friends, but they’ve had each other’s back since college. On a night both of their romantic lives implode, they make a pact; if they aren’t married in ten years, they will marry each other. With a year left before their deadline, Jack and Liz make a mad dash to find “The One” while navigating a minefield of modern dating complications.

Despite their friends’ efforts to convince them that it’s a terrible idea, Jack and Liz devise an unconventional life partnership plan. However, a face from the past and hidden jealousies and feelings neither one will ever admit threatens their friendship.

Your male protagonist, Jack, is a former college hockey player, and now plays with a bunch of other men in their thirties. I don’t think I’d ever read a hockey scene before—as far as I can tell, you capture both the feel of a game and feel of being on the stakes realistically. Is this first-hand knowledge, or the product of research? How do you decide to let this be Jack’s “thing”?

First off, I’m a huge hockey fan. Skill level be damned; if I find a hockey game on TV, there’s a better than average chance that the next three hours of my life have just been planned. Growing up in southern Indiana, there wasn’t a huge youth hockey movement there, so I never played the game. However, a good friend of mine in college, Turner, did. I had pieced together things he talked about over the years and wrote a draft of the pick-up game scene. I sent it to Turner, and he told me my description was about ninety percent accurate. He gave me some notes on what I needed to change.

I live in Denver now, and it’s a huge hockey town. The University of Denver has a rich tradition of winning championships. It just seemed too perfect to have him be a hockey player.

You’ve called this “a contemporary When Harry Met Sally,” was that the goal, or did that just come out once you started writing? How did you land on doing your take on the “if we’re not married by X…” story?

The idea for the story hit me when I found an article online about marriage pacts and platonic marriages, and I thought it was good fodder for a story. I originally planned for In Ten Years to be a novella, just focusing on the present-day storyline. The more I thought about the story, the more of a background of who these people were and how they became friends. As I was writing their backstories, I knew that there would have to be three eras of their lives, just like When Harry Met Sally, so I decided to run with it. I even name-checked the movie in the first part just for the fun of it.

I also wanted to put in some of the more modern means for dating, which didn’t exist when When Harry Met Sally came out. There’s a chapter devoted to Tinder and one that makes fun of speed dating.

Speaking of When Harry Met Sally, what’s your favorite Nora Ephron work (novel, screenplay, essay, etc)?

Not to sound like an uneducated rube, but I’m not that well versed in her work . . . so I’ll stick with When Harry Met Sally.

It’s hard to beath WHMS anyway, no matter how versed you are.

You used dual perspectives here, for the first time, I believe. What were the specific challenges of telling your story that way? How was it writing from the female Point of View? Are you going to be returning to one/both of those in the future?

Yes, this is my first time. Not too long before I wrote In Ten Years, I read Nick Spalding’s hilarious book, Dry Hard, and I loved the multiple narrations. I really wanted to give it a try. It was challenging to arrange the story so Jack and Liz could alternate chapters. Some chapters could have easily been told from either’s point of view, but others had to be from a specific character. I pantsed this book more than plotting it, so it was challenging to make sure I had the proper balance.

Writing from the female point of view was a bit challenging. My first draft was designed to be as light on Liz as possible, and then I would present it to a female beta and get some feedback. The response was . . . polite. She gave me some pointers on things women would never say.

I also ignored the paradigm that two different characters would not think and talk alike. I figured since Liz and Jack had been a massive part of each other’s lives for almost twenty years, their phraseology would blend.

I absolutely loved this dialogue. How do you approach a scene (especially a Liz/Jack scene)? How many rewrites does it take to get something right? Do you sit around talking to yourself so you can hear it? Or do you just know?

Thank you very much. Dialogue is where I start with a book. I treat the early writings almost like a screenplay. I love witty banter. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a huge fan of Aaron Sorkin, and I want to bring that kind of level dialogue to my writing. As I’m writing dialogue, I write responses as I wish I would say in real life, but it wouldn’t be the right thing to say for most people I talk to. The case with Jack and Liz is that they have been around each other for so long, they bypass social convention and just say it like it is.

I’ve also been known to talk out dialogue as it’s forming in my mind. Before the pandemic, I took public transportation to work, and I would be inspired to work out dialogue with many people around. I would put on my headphones, record on my phone, and act like I was on a call.

As far as rewriting, it takes time to figure out the right words. Again, going back to my Sorkin devotion, I want the words to play like music. I’ll read it aloud, and I’ll listen to it with Word’s “Read Aloud” tool to get the rhythm right. It’s amazing how you can punch up a line of dialogue just by making a minor adjustment.

You’ve got a memoir coming out shortly, can you tell us a little about that? Do you have anything else in progress?

Being the guy who wrote two novels centered around music, it should come as no surprise that my memoir will be based on songs that have been important to my life with stories from my life. As the pandemic started, I was having a hard time writing fiction. Hearing nothing but COVID was stifling my mojo. In Ten Years had already been written and I was going to release it last June, but the last part of the story was supposed to take place in the spring of 2020. I shelved In Ten Years until I could figure out what I wanted to do with it. I took a lot of time researching elements that happened in the years in the backstory, so it wasn’t as simple as just shifting the dates.

A very close friend suggested that if I can’t write fiction, I should write non-fiction to keep the muscle memory. It started a blog series titled, Sundry Notes of Music. It started off like Songbook by Nick Hornby, which was approached by a music critic, then it evolved into my version of Al Young’s musical memoir, Drowning in the Sea of Love. Sundry Notes of Music will have stories about lost loves, my first trip to Europe, and how I started writing my first book.

I’m also plotting a sequel to my first novel, Radio Radio, but that’s way into the future.

Thanks for your time and for In Ten Years—I loved it, and hope you have a lot of success with it.

Thank you so much for reading it and the kind words.

A Few Quick Questions…with John McMahon

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On June 16, 2021

In A Few Quick Questions With..., Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

I wasn’t able to finish my post about John McMahon’s A Good Kill in time for this morning, but I wanted to get something up about the book today. Thankfully, McMahon had taken part in the Q&A with me over the weekend. I really enjoyed his answers to this, and hope you do, too. Even more, I hope this Q&A makes you curious about the book, which is absolutely worth your time. Before we get to the his As and my Qs, here’s a little about the book:

A Good KillIn the years since the unsolved deaths of his wife and son, Detective P.T. Marsh of Mason Falls, Georgia, has faced demons professional and personal. But when he is called to the scene of an unfolding crime and secures a clean look at an active shooter, the professional and personal become intertwined…and the consequences are shattering.

As Marsh and his partner Remy investigate the shooting, they confront confounding questions—and their search for answers leads them to a conspiracy at the highest levels of local government. The stakes in the case become increasingly high, culminating in a showdown that has Marsh questioning everything he knows…and wondering if some secrets are better left undiscovered.

At some point in time you decide that the instigating event for this book is going to be a school shooting—easily one of the most divisive things in the country. What led you to that pick? How do you go about researching that to make it authentic? How often did you regret that choice?
You’re 100% right to say that it’s a touchy subject, and for good reason. There’s been so many devastating active shooter events, at schools and other locations in the last two decades. But I think as you read the book, you see that the subject is not entered into divisively or politically.

In terms of the research, there was a playbook for how police handled this situation for years. Now that’s changed multiple times, most notably after Columbine. So unfortunately we’re living in an age where police manuals are available, as well as a lot of minute-by-minute reporting on the subject. Both those helped with authenticity.

There are elements of this novel that have their roots in (I assume, as this is my first encounter with your work) in the first novel. Had you been planning to keep this story going this long initially? How do you juggle the need to plant seeds to develop this slowly while keeping the readers of Books 1 and 2 engaged and keeping newcomers from feeling lost?
The three books are definitely a trilogy in my head, and certain storylines are one and two books long—while others last three books. But you’re right—it’s a juggling act.

I think it’s incumbent on the author to re-introduce key elements and characters in each book, so someone can join the hunt wherever they find a book. But you don’t want to bog it down for existing readers. Also, as you said, I’m planting seeds and laying long leads for future stories, past this book. I think part of the key is to leave some details unknown even to the author. Trust the subconscious.

I think of the three novels—#1 and #3 are the easiest to pick up and simply read as a stand-alone. So the optimal read starts with THE GOOD DETECTIVE—goes to THE EVIL MEN DO – and continues now with A GOOD KILL. That said, I’ve realized that readers will find book #2 first, then read #1. In my acknowledgments, I’ve invited readers to reach out, and a lot have emailed me they had no issues reading backwards, from two to one.

I loved Purvis—both in choosing to give Marsh a dog, and the choice of/characterization of this particular dog. Is there a real-life model for him? What are the downsides of having a character like him?
When I was writing book one, THE GOOD DETECTIVE… at some point, Purvis was in the back of P.T. Marsh’s F-150. I was writing the first 50 pages and Purvis just suddenly blurted out something. Like aloud.

I think in the first draft the bulldog said “So this is how we’re dealing with this shit, huh? For real?” As a writer I thought—am I crazy? Does P.T. have a talking dog? This is moody stuff I’m writing. Not a Disney movie. But surprisingly it worked. Purvis is sort of P.T.’s conscience in a lot of ways. Plus, he was technically not originally P.T.’s dog. He belonged to Jonas, P.T.’s son (who passed before the time of the first book). So Purvis is also a window into that old life and time period.

But in Book #3, A GOOD KILL, another dog is introduced, called Beau. This one has a real-life model: my own five-year-old Huskie retriever mix, Tessie. You might say they’re identical.

It’s Release Week for A Good Kill. How nervous are you? How’s it compare to the previous novels?
Where I get nervous is—will people discover the book? I had about 10 test readers on this one, through the final edits and into the final manuscript. Many were writers. Some were big time authors I’ve met in the last two years. And everyone was loving the book. But… that doesn’t mean readers will find it.

Book #2 came out last March, and there were a lot more pressing things going on in the world in March 2020. I was literally on tour on a Tuesday with fans in Houston, and the following day the world shut down. That was hard and hurt discovery of the book. So about three times as many people read #1 than #2. It’s understandable given the pandemic, but book discovery is a challenge for new authors. Avid readers are following 6 or 7 series, and they’re not physically browsing stores like they used to. So getting your work out there is a challenge. I’ve been featured in The NY Times “Top 10 Crime Novels of the Year” the last two years, and that’s helped tremendously.

For this book, I’m really excited to have people read it. The story in A GOOD KILL poured out of me faster than anything I’d written. Also, because of the pandemic, I had extra time to do a full re-write. I think it’s my strongest book, so I am excited to hear what readers think.

There’s a game we play around here, called “Online Bookstore Algorithm”. What are 3-5 books whose readers may like A Good Kill?
That’s a fun game. I think people who like these books would love A GOOD KILL:

  • Michael Connelly, THE DROP.
  • James Lee Burke, HEAVEN’S PRISONERS.
  • Brian Panowich, BULL MOUNTAIN.

I think the Panowich book would hit the algorithm for characters, the Connelly book for plot and police procedural, and James Lee Burke, for setting, although my settings/descriptions are not as thick as Burke’s. I should add that the above 3 are some of my favorite writers, so this could be a dream algorithm too.

What’s next for John McMahon, author?
I’ve been working for ten months on a new stand-alone. It’s not set in Mason Falls, Georgia, and P.T. Marsh is not in the story. It’s a high-concept FBI ensemble book, and I cannot wait for people to read it. Because it’s a new world and I want to get it right, I’ve decided to add 6-8 months to my writing timetable. My agent has read a partial, thinks the book feels big and reads like a T.V. show. So fingers crossed.

(Post note: The main character’s nickname in the stand-alone is “H.C.” Can’t say more than that now  but funny coincidence)

Clearly, this main character is a person of wisdom and taste—can’t wait to meet them.

Thanks for your time—and thanks for A Good Kill. I’m really enjoying it, and hope you have plenty of success with it.

I also want to thank Wiley Saichek and Saichek Publicity for arranging this Q&A and bringing the novel to my attention.

A Few Quick Questions with…Jonathan Nevair

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On May 18, 2021

In A Few Quick Questions With..., Science Fiction

Earlier this morning, I posted my take on the novel Goodbye to the Sun–out today, I should add. Now, I get to present this Q&A the author was gracious enough to participate in with me. There are some great answers here (at least I think there are), hope you enjoy.

Describe your path to publication with this.
Goodbye to the Sun was the second novel I wrote. The first will never see the light of day and I now understand that it was more a personal exercise in getting my “literary legs” than a book to be shared with readers. I’d written academic essays, etc. for years but fiction was an entirely new language. One important piece of feedback I got from an agent on the first book was that while they enjoyed it, especially the world-building and prose, they wanted more investment in the main character – more emotional connection.

I took that to heart and Goodbye to the Sun was the result. I did a good deal of research on how to write characters that are emotionally charged and how to increase empathy and investment in a reader’s relationship to a protagonist. When it came time to construct the plot for Goodbye to the Sun, I decided to model the story off of one of the most heavy-hitting examples I could find – the tragedy. It had everything I needed to ground the story in a rollercoaster of emotional transformations, struggle, and hardship.

After an early structural edit and feedback from a sensitivity reader, Goodbye to the Sun was sent out into the literary agent ether, and then, someone I follow on twitter posted a call for submissions to a small indie press specializing in SFF and horror, Shadow Spark Publishing. They were closing to submissions the next day – talk about luck… I whisked off a query letter (an improvised one, not the official one I’d been using for agents) and got a response back and a request for a partial manuscript. From there a full request followed, and after some back and forth, I signed a three-book deal.

I knew I was in the right place for the series when I read the mission statement that Jessica Moon and Mandy Russell had on the publishing house website. It made clear that they were seeking authors whose works tested boundaries and experimented with approaches – they wanted fiction that pushed in new directions. The POV structure of Goodbye to the Sun is a bit unorthodox and I was thrilled when they read the manuscript and responded positively to the story and my writing. From there, it’s been the usual publication process – editing rounds, proofs, cover designs, etc.

All authors have more ideas running around in their head than they can possibly develop—what was it about this idea that made you commit to it?
This is a great question because I don’t usually stop and reflect on the process of literary invention. As an art historian and educator, much of my recent focus has been on ethics. At the time I was writing Goodbye to the Sun, I was teaching and writing academically about ethics in art and that spirit translated into the Wind Tide universe. One thing I am starting to understand is that while I may not consciously know it, I have something to say in my fiction writing – whether it’s human themes, issues relating to ecology, or just wanting to share an appreciation of the wonders of the imagination (often visual) with others through the written and spoken word (that’s one of the reasons I love my job as an educator – putting visual experience into words and sharing my perspective with others, and engaging in a back-and-forth with others about their impressions, is one of the best parts of being an art historian).

What really made me stick with this story is the characters. Razor and Keen became intimate and close companions and something about them forced me to commit to their journeys and see them through to a narrative resolution. I didn’t grasp it until I’d written Goodbye to the Sun, but I’m a character-driven writer. I adore world-building, both settings and cultures, but when it comes down to it, I build them to put characters into the settings – to live with them in those worlds and experience what they experience, struggle alongside them, and revel in their growth and evolutions.

Clearly, you put a lot of time and effort into the world/culture-building for the novel—were there historical analogues for some/all of these groups? What kind of research did you do for this?
This is one of the reasons why I am enjoying writing science fiction – it presents a whole new, expanded set of research experiences necessary to build convincing and interesting secondary worlds. I spent time reading about tidal cycles, wind, and tropical weather to construct the two main planetary settings for Goodbye to the Sun. Some other random world-building research tangents arose like the nature of cave systems, bioluminescence, and a very intimate reading on trees (Wohlleben’s The Hidden Life of Trees) to help develop not only the famed cantinool trees on Heroon but also a broader ecological philosophy emphasizing a hidden biological communication network tied to a cause-and-effect system of human interaction with terraforming, etc.

It was also the time when the most recent cycle of Star Wars movies hit theaters and as a big fan from my childhood, the films drove me to fantasize about living in a similar secondary fictional world. Rogue One was especially inspirational to me. The rebellion, as well as the very complicated set of players mixed up between opposing sides (and the emphasis on family vs. state that related to other important sources like Antigone), played an important role as a precedent. The Motes are indebted to that source as well as giving a nod to the Fremen in Frank Herbert’s Dune.

As a middle-aged person, I’m drawn to stories of people who’ve been pushed back into circumstances of their youthful years, and I’d read Legend by David Gemmell not too long before writing Goodbye to the Sun – Keen Draden probably has some Druss “qualities” sprinkled on him. I’ve also had a lifelong interest in martial philosophy and many texts written over the centuries provided source material for Keen’s warrior philosophy and the fighting scenes. Razor’s voice and tone were strongly influenced by some other writing research I did on character voicing. Although not written in the same POV, I was strongly affected as a writer by Essun in N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season.

What was the biggest surprise about the writing of Goodbye to the Sun itself? Either, “I can’t believe X is so easy!” or “If I had known Y was going to be so hard, I’d have skipped this and watched more TV”
Oh, this one is easy! And I’ll take the, “I’d have skipped this and watched more TV for 200$, please.” Even though I set up plot points and had an outline, as well as a close sense of how this narrative would adapt a tragedy model, I got bogged down at ACT III – halted in my writing tracks. It took a month of talking to myself (out loud on walks with my dog, in my head, and many scribbles that were scrunched up and tossed in the trash) to find my way out. I learned two things from this: first, I needed to be open to change and surprises in writing, but have a general plan and an “arc” for the entire plot, and second, sometimes you need to just sit down and write to get out of a rut. These are, of course, personal reflections and not advice to anyone else writing fiction. I heeded my own words for the second book in the Wind Tide series, Jati’s Wager, and that one went much better with no torturous plot crises.

Let’s play “Online Bookstore Algorithm” (a game I’ve recently invented). What are 3-5 books whose readers may like Goodbye to the Sun?
Gareth Powell, Embers of War
Essa Hansen, Nophek Gloss
James S.A. Corey, The Expanse
Becky Chambers, A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet
Frank Herbert, Dune

Thanks for your time—and thanks for Goodbye to the Sun, and I hope you have plenty of success with it.

A Few Quick Questions with…Robert Germaux

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On April 2, 2021

In A Few Quick Questions With..., Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Before I get to the questions, I have to say that I’m surprised that we haven’t done one of these before–I did post a Q&As with Germaux as part of tours for Hard Court and One by One, but those questions came from the tours. I’m glad I finally got the chance to ask these few questions.

We’re talking about Small Talk and the Daniel Hayes series today, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t plug the Jeremy Barnes books, too. Where did Jeremy come from, and what would readers want to know about him before they dive in?
Jeremy is my alter ego. As I often tell people, other than the fact that he’s younger, smarter, taller, stronger and has way more hair, you can hardly tell us apart. As for what readers should know before they dive into a Jeremy Barnes mystery, well, JB (a high school English teacher in a previous life) can quote Shakespeare as quickly and easily as he can land a mean left jab, has an irreverent sense of humor and a definite soft spot in his heart for life’s underdogs.

But before you gave us Jeremy, you published Small Talk and introduced us to Daniel Hayes and his team. What was the inspiration for that series and Hays in particular?
Actually, I wrote three books about Jeremy Barnes before I wrote Small Talk. I held off putting those three books on Amazon because my agent at the time had hopes of finding a traditional publisher for them. While he was doing his best in that ultimately unsuccessful endeavor, I came up with the idea of a serial killer novel. Since I couldn’t see a private detective hunting a serial killer as effectively as a police detective who had all the tools of a large urban police department at his disposal, I created my Daniel Hayes character.

Daniel’s not a lone-wolf detective like Bosch or Rebus, he comes with (and works within) a team. While being more realistic isn’t the typical choice for Detective Fiction—why did you make that choice? Talk about the team a bit.
I wanted Daniel to work with a small group of people with diverse backgrounds and talents, a team that could bounce ideas off each other as they searched for the killer. Writing their interactions allowed me to show my readers how the investigation progressed from one level to the next as they closed in on that killer. Each member of the team brings something different to the table. Ted has a long history in local law enforcement, Samantha’s a respected city cop with an FBI contact who helps them in their hunt for the killer, and Henry’s a young suburban cop with great instincts. Together, Daniel (a former pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates) and his team are a classic example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.

Take a moment and compare the two series—what are the limitations and advantages to writing a lone PI and a Police Detective?
Interesting question, H.C. I’ve never really thought about these two series that way. I guess the advantage to writing my Jeremy Barnes books is that I’m able to focus solely on JB’s determination to solve the case, by whatever means necessary, whereas Daniel has to be aware of the legal constraints imposed upon him by the system within which he works. Both he and JB will ultimately get the job done. It’s just that they sometimes take different paths to get there. Again, great question.

Both of your series are based in Pittsburgh, a city that I honestly don’t think I’ve read novels set in before. Is that one of your reasons behind choosing it? What is it about the series that draws you—and why do you think it’s ignored in favor of LA, New York, Boston, Chicago, etc.?
The easiest answer to this question is that old adage: Write what you know. While I’ve been fortunate enough to visit many far-flung locales, from Tahiti to Paris to Rome, I’m a yinzer at heart, born and raised in Pittsburgh. I find the city’s wealth of diverse neighborhoods, from the Oakland area (home to both Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh) to the Hill District (site of many of August Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle of award-winning plays) to be a treasure trove of fascinating people and places for my novels. The other cities you mentioned do, indeed, get more attention in terms of settings for books, probably because they all have that big city “panache,” but I think we’re seeing more and more books and, especially, movies being set in and around Pittsburgh.

In addition to your mysteries, you’ve put out some humor collections, and two “General Fiction” (for lack of a better term) novels. Are there genres you wouldn’t want to try? What is it about Mystery novels that brings you back to them?
I wouldn’t try to write anything in the horror or supernatural genres. Although I know they’re enormously popular, and I definitely acknowledge and applaud the writers who are successful in those literary categories, I’ve just never been bitten by that particular bug. As for my love of mysteries, it probably goes back to my childhood, when I couldn’t get enough of The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. I devoured those books.
Let’s play “Online Bookstore Algorithm” (a game I’ve recently invented). What are 3-5 books whose readers may like Small Talk?
Any of the Spenser novels written by Robert B. Parker, along with Robert Crais’ Elvis Cole books and Harlen Coben’s Myron Bolitar mysteries.

What’s next for Robert Germaux, more Jeremy Barnes, Daniel Hayes, or do you have something else up your sleeve?
I just finished Grammar Sex 3, my third book of humorous essays (I like to call them my Grammar Sex Trilogy), so that will be out soon, along with Leaving the LAW and Speak Softly, two of the early Jeremy Barnes novels. And just recently, I finally figured out the plot for a sixth JB book, so I’ll be getting to work on that.

Thanks for your time and these answers, and I hope both the Jeremy Barns and Daniel Hays books have enough success that you can keep going with them!
Hey, H.C., this has been fun. Thanks!

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