John Kelly

John Kelly is the author of 2005's The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time.

From his Q&A with Caroline Leavitt:

Q: What lessons can we learn today from your much-touted 2005 book?

A: First of all, Caroline, thank you for complimenting the book. Secondly, as that wit Voltaire once said, "History always changes, but people never do.”

First I will write about the medical / scientific / geographic similarities, then about the human ones.

The plague that I wrote about -- La Moria Grandissima: The Black Death -- was a pandemic that killed a third of Europe's then-75 million people during the years 1347-49. This high figure is, thankfully, not going to be reached by our current pandemic, coronavirus, because enough countries, so far, have been practicing vigilant shelter-in-place in a world with the instant media that the 14th century would not have even guessed was imaginable. (Despite the egregious and cruel irresponsibility of our coward in the White House, most of our governors and heroic health care workers and other local leaders and citizens are taking it upon themselves to do this necessary work themselves.) But the fact that half of the world is in lockdown – half of the world! – shows us that the enormous reach of this pandemic is close to the more fatal reach of the 14th century one.

The Black Death was borne by a bacteria on a rodent, just as this pandemic – coronavirus -- was borne by a virus from a bat. The Black Death also travelled from nation to nation from north-central Asia to China to the west, when trade opened up. Today, in our instant-global-travel world, the spread has been much more rapid – what took years in the 14th century has taken short months today.

The appalling – grotesque, by our standards -- lack of hygiene in European cities spread the Black Death like wildfire. People bathed monthly at best. About six streets in Paris were named for merde, which was often tossed out windows in buckets. Here was daytime London in 1348: “Imagine a shopping mall where everyone shouts, no one washes, front teeth are uncommon, and the shopping music is provided by the slaughterhouse up the road.”

Today’s pandemic was made for our more sterile times; coronavirus doesn’t need filth because the 21st century world is that much different than the 14th. It is highly contagious in even the cleanest and most elite circles (Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson and Prince Philip and Boris Johnson all got it).

But, in both the long-ago and today, mere talking proved dangerous. In 1348, delirious seamen reached ports in Italy so infested that, merely by having a brief conversation with one of them, an uninfected person could catch it. Today...[read on]

--Marshal Zeringue

Hilary Davidson

Hilary Davidson is the bestselling author of One Small Sacrifice. Toronto-born but based in New York, she’s also the author of the Lily Moore series, the standalone thriller Blood Always Tells, and the short-story collection The Black Widow Club. Her work has won two Anthony Awards and a Derringer Award.

Davidson's new novel is Don’t Look Down.

From her Q&A with Deborah Kalb:

Q: How did you come up with the idea for Don't Look Down?

A: I grew up watching a lot of old movies, and I was thinking about what was considered blackmail material back then versus what’s possible now.

We love to think that we’re more open today — and in some ways, we are — but social-media influencers construct identities that are just as artificial as those picture-perfect 1950s families were.

I started thinking about what kinds of secrets a person would pay dearly to keep, and realized that it’s not necessarily so different for a woman today, especially an ambitious one.

Jo Greaver, the suspect at the center of Don’t Look Down, was trafficked as a teenager, and while that makes her the victim, society can be...[read on]

Learn more about the book and the author at the official Hilary Davidson site.

The Page 69 Test: The Damage Done.

The Page 69 Test: Blood Always Tells.

The Page 69 Test: One Small Sacrifice.

Writers Read: Hilary Davidson (July 2019).

The Page 69 Test: Don't Look Down.

--Marshal Zeringue

Alma Katsu

Alma Katsu is the author of The Hunger, a reimagining of the story of the Donner Party with a horror twist. The Hunger made NPR’s list of the 100 Best Horror Stories, was named one of the best novels of 2018 by the Observer, Barnes & Noble, Powell’s Books (and more), and was nominated for a Stoker and Locus Award for best horror novel.

The Taker, her debut novel, has been compared to the early works of Anne Rice and Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander for combining historical, the supernatural, and fantasy into one story. The Taker was named a Top Ten Debut Novel of 2011 by Booklist, was nominated for a Goodreads Readers Choice award, and has been published in over 10 languages. It is the first in an award-winning trilogy that includes The Reckoning and The Descent.

Katsu's new novel is The Deep.

From her Q&A with Rami Ungar:

RU: ... [O]bviously you have to take some creative liberties when it comes to famous events in history for the sake of the story. How do you decide what changes to make and how do you go about making them?

AK: Historical fiction is quite a big tent. Some books strive to be reproductions of historical fact with a thin veneer of fiction on top, but that’s not me. I use the historical event as the basis of another story, a different story, usually centered around a theme. The idea behind the THE DEEP has to do with women’s rights, which was a huge issue of the day. In the novel, you see a range of women, poor and very, very rich, struggling with the confines placed on their lives by society. On one end you have Annie Hebbley, the main character, a poor Irish girl who has come to work on the Titanic, and on the other, Madeline Astor, new second wife of JJ Astor, the richest man in America. In between you have a woman doctor (a rarity of the day), an aristocrat who earned her living running a high fashion house, and other poor women with few choices. There’s also the issue of class, and I can think of few settings better to explore this issue than the Titanic!

The changes I make to the historical record are in order to tell the story I’m trying to tell. As long as readers understand...[read on]

Learn more about the book and author at Alma Katsu's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Taker.

My Book, The Movie: The Hunger.

The Page 69 Test: The Hunger.

Writers Read: Alma Katsu.

The Page 69 Test: The Deep.

--Marshal Zeringue

Johann Hari

Johann Hari is the author of Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions.

From his Q&A with Roge Karma for Vox:

Roge Karma: ...Almost overnight, huge swaths of the American workforce have been thrown into a precarious financial situation. Unemployment has risen to unprecedented levels. Local businesses are in dire straits. How should we be thinking about these changes from a mental health perspective?

Johann Hari: It massively depends on what political action happens. I’m very frustrated that whenever I turn on the news and they’re talking about what people should do about anxiety and depression, you have these mental health professionals who exclusively say things like “meditate” and “turn off the news.”

Now, that’s all fine — I’m doing that stuff. But the single biggest thing that will affect people’s anxiety is not knowing if you’re going to be thrown out of your home next month or how you’re going to feed your children. And I think there’s an element of cruel optimism in telling a country of people living paycheck to paycheck that they should be responding to the anxiety they’re experiencing this moment primarily by meditating and switching off the news. That’s not going to solve the problem. The single most important thing that has to be done to deal with people’s depression and anxiety is to deal with the financial insecurity they’re facing.

And this isn’t some pie in the sky thing. El Salvador, one of the poorest countries in the world, has canceled everyone’s utility bills and canceled their rent for the next three months. If El Salvador can do it, America can do it.

Roge Karma: What you’re saying is that these shouldn’t just be thought of as economic policies, but mental health policies as well?

Johann Hari: Yes. We need to radically expand our idea of what an antidepressant is. Anything that reduces depression and anxiety should be regarded as an antidepressant. For some people...[read on]

--Marshal Zeringue

Jennifer Keishin Armstrong

Jennifer Keishin Armstrong's new book is Pop Star Goddesses: And How to Tap Into Their Energies to Invoke Your Best Self.

From her Q&A with Deborah Kalb:

Q: How did you come up with the idea for Pop Star Goddesses, and how would you define a pop star goddess?

A: I noticed that we tend to treat our female pop stars in particular very much like we think of goddesses and goddess worship: These women represent specific energies, and we look to them as inspiration to invoke those energies in our own lives.

For example, I have a “What Would Beyoncé Do?” sign above my desk and a Britney Spears “Work Bitch” prayer candle, both of which give me genuine encouragement throughout my work days. So I thought it would be fun to write a book looking at the ways different pop stars inspire us.

I ended up doing 35, and that still meant doing some serious narrowing down. I was looking specifically for pop stars who started their careers in the 1990s or after, who clearly represent a certain kind of inspiration, and who had a story I could tell in the essays.

Q: Can you say more about how you chose the women you included in the book--as well as their ancient goddess sisters?

A: I looked for women who...[read on]

Visit Jennifer Keishin Armstrong's website.

My Book, The Movie: Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted.

The Page 99 Test: Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted.

The Page 99 Test: Seinfeldia.

The Page 99 Test: Sex and the City and Us.

--Marshal Zeringue

Don Winslow

Don Winslow's new book is Broken, a collection of six short novels, several of which revisit characters and scenes from some old favorites.

From the author's CrimeReads Q&A with Dwyer Murphy:

Murphy: Three of the novellas have dedications: “Crime 101” to Steve McQueen; “Zoo” to Elmore Leonard; and “Sunset” to Raymond Chandler. They’re all interesting to consider, but the McQueen dedication jumped out at me most. It’s such a palpable part of that story.

Winslow: Look, McQueen was the absolute embodiment of California cool. He still is, since he lives on in film. When I think about that era of the mid-Sixties, I don’t think about the hippies as much as I think about Steve McQueen and cool cars and the early surf music. So writing about Highway 101, it was great fun to think about what would it be like if you had a thief who was modeling himself on Steve McQueen? And what if the cop gets it? A cop who’s very un-Steve McQueen like. Lou Lubesnick, the name of which I got from a guy who used to sit around Solana Beach Coffee Company. I bring him back in the next couple of stories just because I like him. He was fun to write. But there’s also this real guy, Ron Lubesnick, whom I met sitting at those tables at the SBCC. Who grew up dirty poor in Chicago selling hot dogs in his mother’s stand and is now a millionaire living in one of those condos. Who is one of the nicest people I ever met even though we disagreed about everything. Those conversations the guys have in “Sunset,” about the to-go cups, those are...[read on]

Learn about Winslow's hero from outside literature.

--Marshal Zeringue

Tracy Wolff

Tracy Wolff's new novel is Crave.

From her Q&A with Deborah Kalb:

Q: How did you come up with the idea for Crave, and for your character Grace?

A: I never figured I’d write a vampire series because I didn’t want to even attempt it unless I thought I had an original take on vamps.

But when Jaxon’s world came to me (much of which will be revealed in books two and three of the series), I knew I had something a little different and that I wanted to run with it. And since I am blessed to have a publisher who is determined to bring vampires back, I got lucky enough to be able to write Crave.

Then Grace and Flint started talking to me in the back of my head and the story just kind of poured out.

As for coming up with Grace, she just started talking to me one day as I was thinking about who I wanted my heroine for this book to be. I didn’t know much about her, but she just had this witty, slightly sarcastic voice that hooked me the second I started to write her.

And, if I’m honest, I have to admit there’s a lot of me in Grace, probably more so than with any other character I’ve ever written—life experience (though I’ve never dated a hot vampire, sadly) and...[read on]

Visit Tracy Wolff's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Michael Lewis

Michael Lewis's latest book is The Fifth Risk.

From his interview with Roge Karma for Vox:

Roge Karma: In the book you talk about a few other ways Trump increases the possibility of future risk — those connected to his particular personality and temperament. What are some of the other ways Trump amplifies risk?

Michael Lewis: Trump has created a bizarre absence of information channels from people who know things to the Oval Office. Just look at the coronavirus. People were trying to tell him this was a problem in early January. And on the rare occasions anybody who knows something gets through to him, he doesn’t want to hear it. That’s his temperament. He doesn’t want you to give him the bad news. And if you give him the bad news, you’re fired.

That’s exactly the opposite of the temperament you want in somebody who’s managing risk. People are already reluctant to give you bad news or bad information or tell you about risky situations because it’s an inherently unpleasant thing to do. If you disincentivize them even further, you’re just not going to find out what you need to know.

But there’s a third aspect to him that I find is almost the key to everything. So far, we’ve been talking about Trump as if he cares about risk and he wants to manage it well. I don’t think that’s true. I think that his whole life is about doing whatever his impulses tell him to do. And then, after the fact, telling a story that renders him the hero of the story — the person who saved the day. He’s always done this, no matter the facts.

I actually think he moves through life thinking, whatever happens, I can undo it with a story. That’s why he’s so numb to [experts]. He has no use for them. So I...[read on]

--Marshal Zeringue

Bonnie Tsui

Bonnie Tsui's new book is Why We Swim.

From her Q&A with Matt Sutherland for Foreword Reviews:

Full blown aquaphobia isn’t all that common, but it seems just about everyone has a fear of drowning and sharks. Even so, people love to swim. Is danger part of the allure of swimming?

I think danger is part of the appeal of swimming for some people—to swim in open water is to accept the unknown. You don’t know what animals are swimming out there with you, or exactly what the water conditions will be from one moment to the next. You confront those fears, and realize you are capable of dealing with them. You relinquish some of the control that you’re accustomed to in the rest of your life. That can be freeing.

Setting aside insane swimmers like Lewis Pugh, who swam across the geographic North Pole in 29 degree water temps in a Speedo, cold water swimming is believed by many to have health benefits. Can you talk about the theory and science and anecdotal evidence behind the idea?

You don’t have to get into extreme cold water to feel those benefits! Getting into a regular swimming pool—typically kept at 80 degrees and below—has been shown to stimulate mobility and circulation, without pain, for arthritis patients. It has the same effect for...[read on]

Visit Bonnie Tsui's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Sarah Tarkoff

Sarah Tarkoff's new novel is Ruthless (Eye of the Beholder; Volume number 3).

From her Q&A with Deborah Kalb:

Q: This is your third book about your character Grace. How do you think she's changed over the course of the series?

A: Grace’s journey is intended to mirror the experience of reaching adulthood: thinking you know everything, and then going out into the world (like to college/the workforce) and discovering that everything is more complicated and nuanced than you thought it was.

Grace starts the series being confident in her beliefs, but timid – she’s been taught to stay in her place. When her beliefs are challenged, she begins a journey that transforms her into a really different character.

In book one, she’s still very hesitant, afraid to take action because she’s afraid of the responsibility that comes along with taking that action. By book three, she’s become almost the opposite of that.

Q: Did you know from the beginning that you'd be writing a series about her?

A: I originally pitched this idea as a film, and the producers loved the world, but they asked me, can you get rid of this teenage girl named Grace and make the main character a 30-year-old man, so it’s easier to cast?

They...[read on]

--Marshal Zeringue