Stephen Metcalfe

Stephen Metcalfe's latest novel is The Practical Navigator. From his Q&A with Deborah Kalb:

Q: How was your new novel's title selected, and what does it signify for you?

A: The title refers to a book on marine navigation. The American Practical Navigator is by Nathaniel Bowditch. It starts with – and I quote – “Marine navigation blends both science and art. The science of navigation can be taught, but the art of navigation must be developed from experience.” This sounded a lot like everyday life to me.

Q: As a parent of a son with autism, how did your own life affect your creation of the characters of Michael and Jamie?

A: I am the proud father of an 18-year old-son on the autism spectrum. The last thing I ever expected. A life changer. Asperger’s, the doctor’s assistant said.

My wife and I didn’t even know what the word meant. We looked it up. It was 2002, the net was in its infancy and there wasn’t a lot out there, but what there was suggested...[read on]

--Marshal Zeringue

Patricia Smiley

Patricia Smiley's latest mystery is Pacific Homicide. From her Q&A with Holly West at Do Some Damage:

Holly West (HW): Your new book, PACIFIC HOMICIDE, [came] out on November 8. What’s it about?

Patricia Smiley (PS): I’ll borrow from a blurb written by the talented Kim Fay, author of THE MAP OF LOST MEMORIES, who so beautifully encapsulated the essence of the novel. It’s about “…the emotional wounds that drive the best of cops to buck the system in search of justice.”

Some people may not know this, but patrol officers in high crime areas may draw their weapons every workday but most cops spend their entire careers without firing a gun in the line of duty. Davie Richards is a petite, red-haired woman, a second-generation LAPD detective, and an expert marksman. She’s also an outlier, a cop who killed a suspect to save her partner’s life.

While she waits for the police commission to rule that the shooting was within policy, she’s called out to investigate the gruesome murder of a young Russian girl whose body is found in the Los Angeles sewer system. As she hunts for the killer, somebody from her past is hunting her…and it’s no longer just her job that’s on the line.

HW: The Los Angeles police procedural is well trod, but always compelling, territory. Still, it’s important to set oneself apart. With this in mind, what when into planning the Davie Richards series, particularly Davie Richards herself and the West Los Angeles setting?

PS: Davie Richards is a composite of...[read on]

Visit Patricia Smiley's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Carrie Fisher

Carrie Fisher's final book is The Princess Diarist. From the transcript of her November 2016 interview with Terry Gross:

GROSS: So what's really made news from your book is your affair with Harrison Ford when you were making "Star Wars." He was in his mid-30s and married. You were 19. Did you tell him you were going to write about it before you actually published the book?

FISHER: Oh, yeah. I don't think...

GROSS: I'm relieved to hear that (laughter).

FISHER: You're relieved to hear it?

GROSS: I'm relieved, yeah.

FISHER: Oh, no, I wouldn't have ambushed him like that. But it's still - no matter if I told him or not, it would - it probably feels like an ambush. It feels like an ambush to me, and I'm the one that wrote it.

GROSS: Did you tell him or did you ask him for permission?

FISHER: No. I said, I found the journals that I kept during the first movie, and I'm probably going to publish them. And he just sort of raised his finger and said, lawyer.

GROSS: (Laughter).

FISHER: And then I said, no, I won't, you know, write anything that you don't want. I mean, I'll show it to you before and you can take anything out that you want taken out. I don't want to, you know, make you uncomfortable, which I, of course, have - unduly uncomfortable.

GROSS: So he read it before it was published. And did he ask for any changes?

FISHER: I sent it to him. I called him. I said, where are you, you know? And I sent it to him. And I never heard back so I can't imagine that he wasn't - that he was comfortable with everything that was in it. But it's not like it's negative about him. It's just a personal story that's been a secret for a long time.

GROSS: Well, you do describe him as being kind of quiet and maybe kind of cold.

FISHER: Well, he's not the warmest person. He's not accessible, let's say that. He doesn't talk a lot, and I'm very extroverted. And so that - it sort of was going nowhere. It was sort of one half of a conversation was happening. You know, he's not a big talker. That's all. He just - he's very quiet and chews...[read on]

--Marshal Zeringue

Michael Scott

Michael Scott's new book is Ancient Worlds: A Global History of Antiquity. From his Q&A with Deborah Kalb:

Q: You divide the book into three sections focusing on politics, war, and religion. How did you decide on the organization of the book?

A: This is the most difficult step with global history – how do you make the story manageable without creating your own artificial boundaries – either temporal or geographical.

To me, these three moments in time – end 6th century BC, 3-2nd century BCE and 4th century CE – seemed to me fascinating moments when all the parts of the ancient world was changing - sometimes independently of one another and sometimes because of one another.

And those moments in time seemed to me to be about different things: politics, warfare and empire building, and religious...[read on]

--Marshal Zeringue

Victor Gischler

Victor Gischler's books include Gestapo Mars. From his 2015 interview at My Bookish Ways:

Gestapo Mars sounds like a ton of fun! Will you tell us a little about it and what inspired you to write it?

I’m a huge Kurt Vonnegut fan and was always fascinated by his “alter ego” Kilgore Trout, so I invented an old school dime novel author of pulp sci-fi named Emerson LaSalle. My ambition had been to write a series of over the top, pulp sci-fi novels under the LaSalle name, but there just was never the time to develop the idea fully. But one novel Gestapo Mars kept nagging at me like it really wanted to be written. So eventually I did write it but under my own name rather than LaSalle’s.

Why do you think Carter Sloan is a compelling character? Why do you think readers will root for him?

I think he is compelling because there is so much in his makeup that’s familiar. He’s part James Bond, part Buck Rogers, and Part Mike Hammer. Those readers who “get it” won’t have any trouble rooting for him.

Will you tell us more about the “world” of Gestapo Mars?

I guess technically it’s “alternate history.” Or maybe the future of an alternate history. It’s a universe in which the Nazi’s...[read on]

Learn more about the author and his work at Victor Gischler's Blogpocalypse.

The Page 69 Test: Shotgun Opera.

My Book, The Movie: Shotgun Opera.

The Page 69 Test: Go-Go-Girls of the Apocalypse.

The Page 69 Test: Vampire a Go-Go.

--Marshal Zeringue

John Pipkin

John Pipkin's latest novel is The Blind Astronomer's Daughter. From his Q&A with Deborah Kalb:

Q: How did you research your new book, and was there anything that especially surprised you in the course of your research?

A: I spent a lot of time doing archival research, not only in the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, but also at the British Library in London, and at the National Irish Library in Dublin, and I also traveled to many of the locations described in the novel in Ireland, England, and Scotland.

What surprised me most in researching astronomy during this time period was just how dangerous this pursuit could be. First there were the immediate physical dangers of running around in the dark, often on rooftops, and working with heavy equipment without the aid of lights or machinery. Caroline Herschel herself tripped over a chain in the dark and severely gouged her thigh on a hook anchoring the telescope.

In addition, remaining exposed to the cold, damp air, night after night, left many astronomers vulnerable to sicknesses in an era when something as simple as a fever or a sore throat cold be fatal. And there were also some reports of astronomer's staring at the sun through filtered lenses that shattered under the heat of sunlight. Previously I had not..[read on]

Learn more about the book and author at John Pipkin's website.

The Page 69 Test: Woodsburner.

--Marshal Zeringue

Meg Little Reilly

Meg Little Reilly is a writer, environmentalist, crafter, hiker of mountains, swimmer of lakes, and reader of everything.

Before she got serious about writing books, she worked for President Obama as Deputy Associate Director at the White House Office of Management and Budget; and prior to that, as Spokesperson at the U.S. Treasury. She has worked at the Environmental Defense Fund, a couple great consulting firms, and had more political internships than she can count.

Reilly's debut novel is We Are Unprepared.

From her Q&A with The Book Report Network’s Megan Elliott:

TBRN: WE ARE UNPREPARED takes a concept that's abstract to a lot of people --- global warming and major environmental change --- but approaches it in a very human way. How did you go about marrying the story of Ash and Pia’s journey as a couple with the overarching drama of The Storm?

MLR: I chose to write about a storm because it’s one of the few manifestations of climate change that feels immediate and urgent. You simply can’t look away. I didn’t know I was going to write about a troubled marriage, though…that part snuck up on me. I wanted to explore how fear can corrode our personal lives, and as I kept peeling back layers of that fear onion, it took me to a very intimate place. This is as much a story about how we live together in fearful times as it is about changing weather patterns.

TBRN: I was struck by the detailed descriptions of the weather patterns leading up to The Storm. What kind of research did you do for these parts of the novel? Is a storm of the magnitude you describe really a possibility? Should everyone on the eastern seaboard take a cue from survivalists like Crow and start building bunkers in their backyards?

MLR: I researched my fictional storm by looking at forecasts and reports from all the largest storms on the eastern seaboard in recent history. This storm is a composite of all the worst-case scenarios projected for past storms...[read on]

Visit Meg Little Reilly's website.

Writers Read: Meg Little Reilly.

--Marshal Zeringue

Yona Zeldis McDonough

Yona Zeldis McDonough is the author of novels such as A Wedding in Great Neck and You Were Meant for Me as well as dozens of books for children, including the newly released The Bicycle Spy. She is the editor of and a contributor to The Barbie Chronicles: A Living Doll Turns Forty, as well as All the Available Light: A Marilyn Monroe Reader.

From the author's Q&A with Deborah Kalb:

Q: The Bicycle Spy, your new novel for kids, takes place in World War II-era France. Why did you decide on that setting, and how did you research the book?

A: In this case, I was tapped by an editor at Scholastic and given a very brief synopsis which I was invited to expand. I also wrote a few sample chapters.

Researching the book was a pure delight because I love historical fiction and am a total Francophile besides. So I read books, scoured the Internet, and consulted with a professor of French history at Vanderbilt University. There is so much material on this period that the issue was not finding it, but selecting it.

…I loved researching the Tour de France, and especially enjoyed...[read on]

Learn more about the author and her work at Yona Zeldis McDonough's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Yona Zeldis McDonough & Willa and Holden.

--Marshal Zeringue

Steve Coll

Steve Coll is the author of Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power. From the transcript of his December 2016 Q&A with Fresh Air's Dave Davies:

DAVIES: You know, you write that an oil company needs stability in the places it operates. It - drilling wells is expensive. It takes decades to get the return from them, so they want places that will be stable. So they have to - so Exxon has dealt with a lot of authoritarian regimes, some of which, you know, are ruled by dictators who enrich themselves. What's [Exxon CEO Rex] Tillerson's record when it comes to dealing with those kinds of governments?

COLL: Well, he's been successful at making arrangements with authoritarian governments in many places in the world, certainly in Vladimir Putin's Russia, in West Africa, in Equatorial Guinea, in Chad and in other places across the Middle East. In Qatar, they have a strong presence, and elsewhere in the Gulf states, ExxonMobil's very active. You know, they also operate in more raucous environments.

But, generally, they've had better success economic and business success in environments that are stable because of authoritarian government than in a place like Alaska where Tillerson has repeatedly expressed frustration that ExxonMobil can't get stable terms to the deals it wants to make because the government keeps changing. Well, that's because we have elections in Alaska, and politics of oil up there are pretty - you know, pretty raucous. So I'm not saying that that means he's anti-democratic, but I am just saying he's been conditioned by experience to work productively and without a lot of criticism or interference in politically authoritarian environments.

DAVIES: You know, there are a lot of decisions that companies that work in - with authoritarian regimes have to make. And it's one thing to say, well, we're not going to, you know, seek the overthrow of an authoritarian regime. But there are other decisions you can make. You can participate in bribing officials or facilitating, you know, the extraction of large amounts of assets for the - for royal families. Do you have any sense of how Exxon and Tillerson's - any sense of their record in terms of the extent to which they violate things like the Corrupt Foreign Practices Act? And what's their...

COLL: They're - they're...

DAVIES: ...What's their record of integrity in that area?

COLL: Well, we talked before about their rulemaking and their adherence to rules. And I do think that they use the law as a - as an organizing principle everywhere. And they're very - very devoted to trying to figure out how not to get outside of the law and also to promote the rule of law internationally because that aids their business model in the sense that it makes contracts enforceable. And it also gives them a way to avoid the kinds of dilemmas that are presented when dictators' relatives come around looking for contracts or for favors. ExxonMobil can say, hey, we follow the law everywhere. This is not legal. We're not going to do it. And so it's a way to be consistent. You know, where it gets more subtle is outside of the direct corruption of enabling capital flight or taking payoffs or making payoffs.

You know, what do you do in these societies while you're there to promote better humanitarian conditions, better governance? Are you willing to...[read on]

--Marshal Zeringue

Anne Korkeakivi

Anne Korkeakivi's new novel is Shining Sea. From her Q&A with Deborah Kalb:

Q: How did you come up with the idea for Shining Sea, and for the Gannon family?

A: When my father died four years ago, my mother and sisters and I discovered he was still carrying his honorable discharge card from the U.S. Army in his wallet. My father had served in Italy during World War II—i.e., 60 years earlier. That’s how much his army service meant to him.

Meanwhile, I grew up in the ‘60s and ‘70s two blocks from the main gates of Columbia University. Some of my earliest childhood memories are of watching anti-Vietnam War protests and the nightly body count on the TV news. So, my own first understanding of U.S. involvement in war was overwhelmingly negative, opposite to my father.

This got me thinking. How do war experiences—or experiences of any conflict--trickle down through generations? How might members of the same family respond differently? And what might all this mean to the cohesion of a family and to the lives of the individuals within it?

I didn’t want the story to become in any way autobiographical, so I ...[read on]

Visit Anne Korkeakivi's website.

--Marshal Zeringue