Tracy Lynne Oliver

Tracy Lynne Oliver is a writer based in Los Angeles. She has been published online at a variety of places such as Medium, Fanzine, and Occulum. She co-authored the graphic novel, The Sacrifice of Darkness, with Roxane Gay. Her story, “This Weekend” was included in Best Microfiction 2019.

Her new book, Magician, is "dark magic debut novel featuring the Boy who becomes the Magician and the villainous Mother whose sadism might end it all."

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

I really struggled with titling my book. The story started with a powerful image; an old black man, head in his hands, sitting on the edge of a bed in a decrepit hotel room or some sort of run-down apartment. I needed to write his story. After putting words down, and learning where it was going, I eventually just used Magician as a working title. I referred to my work in progress as such until the book was complete.

But when the novel was finished, the question I asked myself was what to call it. I did my best to come up with alternatives but nothing else seemed to fit. I kept Magician.

As the book’s story takes you through the life journey of one man, Magician doesn’t seem to capture what the totality of the book is. Magician is only the final version of this man. His story begins even before he is the Boy. So, it might not be the best representation of what the novel is fully about, but it does highlight the gravitas of what he becomes and in that, overcomes.

What's in a name?

My main character doesn’t have a name. Neither do most of the characters in this book.

For many people, names have associations. You know an Ashlee, a Tom, a Vicki or a Steve and you have experiences and feelings about those people, both good, bad or indifferent. For this novel, I wanted my characters to be clean slates. Plus, the novel is set in a world that is ours yet is also kind of not. I wanted my Magician to feel outside the world we are from. Same for his Mother and his Her. If my Magician was named Brad, well, the entire vibe of the book would be different. (No offense to any Brads out there.)

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your novel?

I think the only surprise my teenage self would have at my novel was that I wrote one. At that time in my life, I was primarily a reader who loved English class the best and enjoyed every writing assignment given by said English class. If my future-self handed my teenage self my very own novel, I think I would’ve been stunned. (It probably would’ve set me on my writing path a lot earlier than it started).

However, I don’t think teenage Tracy would’ve been surprised by the novel itself. I had dark subject matter vibes threaded through me since I bought ghost story books at every Scholastic Book Fair in elementary school. I think teenage me would’ve devoured and loved my novel.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

Beginnings are harder for me. While I usually start with strong imagery and feeling, I don’t know where it’s going until I start writing words down. So, with no clear direction or outline, I hesitantly write my beginning, all the while trying to just ‘let go’ and not think, knowing I’ll eventually come back to polish and shine.

Endings eventually reveal themselves. Why constrict my story to build to an already decided ending when my characters may take me elsewhere?

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

I don’t exactly see myself in my characters. They are my creations and I put myself into them rather than the other way around.

At least for now. At least until I write a ‘closer to me’ story, perhaps.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

A bright red pair of pants worn by a cooler than I’ll ever be 70-year-old.

A Playschool table and chairs set carefully arranged and ready, sitting in an old creek bed.

A spatula owned for the entirety of the marriage and years after the divorce.

Two cocktails made, poured, garnished and set out, in a sad way, for one.

An offer to a man holding one pack of steak to go ahead of me in a grocery store, who then shakes his head no, then gives me a perverted up and down stare-smile.

Any impactful thing.

Visit Tracy Lynne Oliver's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Tessa Yang

Tessa Yang is a reader, writer, and shark enthusiast from New York State. She received her MFA from Indiana University where she served as the Editor of Indiana Review.

Her debut novel is The Jellyfish Problem.

Yang's story collection, The Runaway Restaurant, was published by 7.13 Books in 2022. Her stories have appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, The Cincinnati Review, Foglifter, and elsewhere, and her flash fiction has been featured in Best Small Fictions 2024, Flash Fiction America, and Wigleaf's Top 50 Very Short Fictions of 2018 and 2019.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

“Jellyfish problems” was the thoughtless title I gave the Microsoft Word file where I was writing. It evolved into the title of the book because, as it turned out, it was doing quite a bit to take readers into the story. What problem is being caused by a jellyfish? How will the characters solve it? The book actually sold as Clementine; or, The Jellyfish Problem, à la Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, and was shortened during edits to just The Jellyfish Problem. I appreciate that it’s a mysterious title with a touch of whimsy, like the story.

What's in a name?

I love a name with nickname potential. The protagonist of The Jellyfish Problem is named Josephine Ness, and in the first chapter, we learn that she’s been called Josephine, Jo, Josie, Jo-Ness, and Nessie depending on the context. I think you can discover a little something about the relationship Jo has with each side character based on what they’ve chosen to call her.

The name of the main setting is Shattering Point, which I came up with by drafting a list of 20 potential names and picking the least terrible. I wanted something that sounded ominous but believable, that would maybe have the reader thinking, “Hmm…that doesn’t sound like a place where good things are going to happen.”

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

I read mostly fantasy as a kid, so my teenage self would be surprised that The Jellyfish Problem is so grounded in realism. I’ve seen it on a few sci-fi lists, which makes sense, but no one’s going to shelve this book as straight-up fantasy. I was also still closeted at that age. I didn’t read a book with a lesbian character until I was in college. My teenage self would be like, “Why are you writing all this gay stuff?” Well, she’ll know the answer soon!

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

I changed both for The Jellyfish Problem, but the ending was harder. For the longest time, I had no idea how to solve the titular “problem” that Jo experiences. I was in the dark with the characters, trying to find my way out.

The beginning kept backing up, taking Jo farther from the island where the main drama takes place—the opposite of Vonnegut’s “start as close to the end as possible”—because I discovered there was important emotional backstory readers needed to absorb before they reached Shattering Point.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

The earliest thematic inspiration for The Jellyfish Problem was the movie Jaws. I ended up rewatching it (also Alien and Nope) while I was revising; I literally mapped out the structure of all three movies into a sort of timeline, recording what major plot developments happened at 25%, 50%, and 75% of the way through and trying to mimic those beats in my book.

Because The Jellyfish Problem was so research-intensive, I also took a lot of influence from nonfiction: podcasts, lectures, articles, interviews, and reference books. I decided to have Jo working on her own book within The Jellyfish Problem, partially to give me a vehicle for sharing all the amazing stuff I was learning!

Visit Tessa Yang's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Kerri Hakoda

Kerri Hakoda has worked in and out of Alaska in advertising and marketing, marine transportation, cable television and trade magazine ad sales. She was born and raised in Hawaii, but now calls northwest Washington her home, where she lives with her husband (himself a veteran of the Alaska fishing industry) and writes mystery, historical, and young adult science fiction.

Hakoda's new novel is Too Deep to Cross: A Thriller.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

I believe that title and cover design play a huge role, especially for a fairly new (but chronologically old) author like myself! My publisher and I labored over the title to Too Deep to Cross, far more so than for the first book. Since my first novel was titled Cold to the Touch, and Too Deep to Cross is a sequel, I think initially we were both stuck on the “Cold” theme. Considering that most of the action of the second book takes place in the summer, we ultimately thought a “Cold” title would be a stretch. I think that I came up with Too Deep to Cross early in the process and it made the cut each time. After much discussion, we agreed that it seemed like a “conversation” between the titles of the first and the second books. Since much of the book takes place on the Yukon River in Alaska, and there are themes of alienation and irreconcilable differences throughout, I think it works.

What’s in a name?

I had a lot of fun with character names – especially with my protagonist and his family. DeHavilland Beans is named after an aircraft as are his siblings Hercules, Piper and Otter. His oldest brother was named Lindbergh after the famous aviator. Their father was a bush pilot and obviously had far too much say in naming his offspring. One of my early reviewers thought my naming scheme was “silly” – maybe, but I allowed myself this indulgence.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your novel?

Very surprised, since my teenage self had never left the Hawaiian Islands. My teenage world, although idyllic in many ways, was very small. The thought of writing a series of mysteries set in Alaska would have never occurred to me back then.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

I love writing beginnings and endings! It’s the mushy middle part that sometimes gets away from me. Beginnings usually come fairly easily. Although I almost always know how I plan on ending the book, I do tend to change it more often than the beginning. Pesky loose ends suddenly appear and need tying up, especially in the mystery genre.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they are world apart?

My characters share some of my cultural experiences and my insecurities, but ultimately, they give me the opportunity to step outside myself. So I’d have to say that no, I don’t normally see a whole lot of myself in them.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

The initial idea for my first book Cold to the Touch was kindled by the real-life tragedy of Samantha Koenig, a young barista who was kidnapped and killed by serial killer Israel Keyes. While I don’t strictly model my novels after actual events, I do keep a file of intriguing news “clippings,” that may or may not make their way into my books. Truth being stranger than fiction, and all that. Those of us in the Pacific Northwest remember a few years ago when human feet, encased in athletic shoes, began washing up on British Columbia beaches. I think the seed of Too Deep to Cross germinated from these real-life events, but grew in a different direction. Unlike Cold to the Touch, which is more linear in structure, Too Deep to Cross employs historical elements and events throughout.

Visit Kerri Hakoda's website.

Writers Read: Kerri Hakoda.

--Marshal Zeringue

Samantha Silva

Samantha Silva is an author and screenwriter based in Idaho. Over her career, she’s sold film projects to Paramount, Universal, and New Line Cinema. Sometime This Century is her third novel, following Love and Fury: A Novel of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mr. Dickens and His Carol, her debut.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

Sometime This Century began life as a screenplay (sold to Universal 25 years ago) called What You Wish For about a young woman transported to Regency England who gets everything she’s ever dreamed of, or does she? It’s hard to give up a title you’ve lived with that long, but my editor thought it didn’t do enough to suggest the time-travel in the book. We brainstormed for weeks to come up with a title that nodded to that or the Regency era or Jane Austen (since my book riffs on hers). Then I stumbled onto a line for my heroine, Annabel Blake, that she utters in an early scene when she’s roundly rejected by her hot literary crush. “Well, it would be nice to be kissed sometime this century!” And there it was, the perfect title.

What's in a name?

Early in the novel, Annabel Blake arrives at Kidlington House charged with sorting out her English ex-pat boss’s “crumbling old pile” of a country home. It’s a good long walk from the village of Wakefield, where Annabel attends her first ever ball. “Kidlington” felt playful to me but also suggests that Annabel and her companions haven’t quite progressed from kids to mature adults when the story begins. “Wakefield” gives both a sense of the countryside, as the town is surrounded in fact by open fields, and signals that Annabel will have an awakening over the course of the story, which is the heart of the novel.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

My teenage self would be utterly delighted that I had the wherewithal to finish a novel at all! I wanted to be a writer since about age six, then lost the plot and got distracted for years before I turned back to it. This novel would feel like it captured some of the pull I felt between being a straight-A student, bookish, and introverted, a bit lonely, and wanting to be a messier version of myself, a devil-may-care party girl who could do or say whatever she wanted. But it very much has my sense of humor (from wit to broad comedy) and my soft, romantic heart.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

I’ve twice written the beginning chapter of a novel that ended up being its ending, so apparently for me they can be fungible! I think the unconscious writer mind knows things the conscious writer doesn’t and it’s worth following one’s nose in the early going but staying open to where it might lead. Because Sometime This Century started as a screenplay, I knew the beginning, middle, and end before I started adapting it as a novel. The beginning and the ending were great fun to write and didn’t change much at all, except to go deeper than one can in a screenplay. The middle, where all the complication happens, is the tricky part, but also offered up rich opportunities for things to go awry, which is all the more satisfying when Annabel Blake overcomes them, becoming who she was always meant to be.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

I think writers often pick projects that help them work out their own unconscious longings and issues, so it’s natural that our characters represent aspects of who we are. I’m far more the book-loving, introverted Annabel Blake—the Elinor Dashwood of my novel—than I am Cassie Blake, her party-girl-slash-influencer sister, who has more in common with Marianne Dashwood, of Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. Annabel is more Sense; Cassie's more Sensibility, or, in modern parlance, Demure and Brat. But as with Austen’s masterpiece, my sisters come to value how the other lives in the world. The sisters become more whole as they integrate that other part of themselves. Living as a woman in the world, with its never-ending conversation about how we ought to be, I like the idea of integration and wholeness, of being both/and, not either/or.

Visit Samantha Silva's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

J.P. Lacrampe

J.P. Lacrampe received his MFA in creative writing from Saint Mary’s College. His short fiction has been published by Glimmer Train, McSweeney's, Instant City, and in Howl: A Collection of the Best Contemporary Dog Wit. He is a professor at Santa Clara University & SJSU, where he teaches courses in composition, fiction, and screenwriting.

Lacrampe's new novel is Valet.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

A lot, I hope. Valet is an acronym within the story, the occupation of the main character (a robot butler), and a homage to Wodehouse's Jeeves. My aim was that the title would set up the dynamic between the narrator and his human ward.

What's in a name?

I love this question! And my answer is: it depends. Sometimes you just need a name. You don't need to overthink or over complicate it. George. Emily. Jake. Other times, you want to play against type (i.e., give a character a name that seems ironic or unique in light of the characteristics you've established). Other times you want a name that helps establish those characteristics. I usually decide on this by feel: how important is the character, how many times will the reader see the name, what work have I already tried to do with the other characters' names, etc. One thing I learned from successive rounds of edits for my forthcoming novel is: don't make the names similar. It's needlessly confusing for the reader.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

I was a cynical, pretentious teenager, so I think he'd mostly be surprised that it took me this long to write a novel.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

Much harder to write endings, I think. Finding something that feels believable within the story but delivers a satisfying sense of closure to the reader is a tricky balance to strike! And I typically want an ending that extends the story outward just a little. So it's tough to get right. But I change the beginning more. Not just the exact moment that opens the story, but the details that help establish the world, characters, and conflicts for the reader.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

I see a lot of myself in my characters: their flaws, their ever-failing efforts to hide those flaws from the world, their ambitions, etc. I primarily write in first-person, and it would be very hard, for me, to do that without connecting my personality to theirs in some way.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

So many! I grew up watching British comedy on PBS every Saturday night -- Are You Being Served?, Keeping Up Appearances, Fawlty Towers, etc. -- and those had a major influence on my sense of humor and tone. But I draw inspiration from so much: basketball, TV/film, music, etc. Marveling at what other people can do inspires me.

Visit J.P. Lacrampe's website.

The Page 69 Test: Valet.

--Marshal Zeringue

Katie Holt

Katie Holt is a New York City resident but a Tennessee native. She studied English with a concentration in creative writing at NYU and fought with every professor to prove that romance novels were worthy of their time. She’s a Nora Ephron fanatic, Swiftie, and warm chocolate chip cookie enthusiast.

Holt is also the author of her highly-acclaimed debut Not in My Book.

Her new novel is The Last Page.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

In the past, I’ve had trouble naming my novels, but this one was extremely easy. From the minute I got the idea, I knew that The Last Page would be named after the store. The store is as much of a character as anyone else. The store is pivotal in the romance—Ella and Henry would’ve never even met without the store. They need to band together to save the bookstore, but along the way they fall in love.

Originally, though, I had named the bookstore in the novel The Next Page, but my brilliant editor had the idea to name it after Taylor Swift’s song New Year’s Day. She sings, “Don’t read the last page, I’ll stay when it’s hard or it’s wrong or we’re making mistakes.” I love this song and do think it summarizes the thesis of the book well. It’s not easy at all to save an indie bookstore, but both of them do their best and put their heart into it.

What's in a name?

I named Carmella (Ella) after my mom, Carmen. In the book, Ella is fierce, strong, and doesn’t let anyone tell her what to do. She forges her own path and refuses to stray from it. My mom is the exact same way. I would follow that woman into the darkest dark and know that everything would be okay.

Whereas Henry, honestly, I just thought it was a hot name.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your novel?

I think she’d be delighted! I drew from my experiences as a bookseller at The Strand when writing The Last Page. As a teen, two of my biggest dreams were working at The Strand and writing romance novels. To combine it in one fell swoop…I think she’d probably passed out.

But, as a teen, I really wanted to write young adult novels. I hadn’t really discovered adult romance and didn’t know that side of the genre really existed. She’s be certainly surprised that this was the route I chose.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

The beginning is definitely more difficult and changes the most. My favorite thing about romance novels is the happily ever after. There’s a guarantee that these characters are going to be together for forever. I don’t always know how they’ll get there, but I know that they will.

When I start a new novel, I often think: why does the story need to start here? What are my characters dissatisfied with? What’s changing in their lives? I write linearly so it can be difficult at first to weave these pieces together. And as I start writing, I’m getting to know the characters better, too. Initially, I wanted Ella to be a very grumpy heroine with a chip on her shoulder. But about a fourth of the way through, I knew that she was too passionate about her family and friends to ever have that kind of attitude.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

Totally! I love to romanticize my life in my books. Like I said, I was a bookseller at The Strand for some time (albeit I didn’t fall in love with an ex-football playing, sensitive nerd with hot glasses…). There are a lot of stories from my time there that I included in the book: Bill Clinton really did come in and look through the C’s in American History and there truly was a naked man that ran through the store that no one could catch.

I’m also passionate about bringing forward Peruvian representation. As a kid, I felt like I never saw it in media and it frustrated me to no end. I love my culture and for forever, I will write about Peruvian characters and culture.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

Certainly music and movies. I’m such a fan of Nora Ephron. When Harry Met Sally is one of my favorite movies of all time and it’s how I fell in love with New York. She made New York feel like a character and that you were standing right there in Katz’s or the Met alongside them. I work hard to try to capture that same feeling in my books and include real places in the city that I love.

I have to listen to music when I write. I can’t sit in silence otherwise my mind will wander. I’ll usually craft a playlist that features mostly Taylor Swift and captures the vibe of the book. I also like to think a lot about if a character would or wouldn’t relate to a song I’m listening to.

Visit Katie Holt's website.

Writers Read: Katie Holt.

--Marshal Zeringue

David Hirshberg

David Hirshberg is the pseudonym for a biotech executive who prefers to keep his business activities separate from his writing endeavors. He adopted the first name of his father-in-law and the last name of his maternal grandfather as a tribute to their impact on his life.He is the author of two previous novels, My Mother's Son and Jacobo's Rainbow, each of which has won multiple awards. In addition, he has published four short stories and written the introduction for a nonfiction book. Hirshberg holds an undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College and a master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He lives with his wife and two dogs in Westchester County, New York.

Hirshberg's new novel is Crossing the Bronx.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

Crossing the Bronx was the fourth title chosen, and as soon as it was adopted, the reaction of the cover designer and the copy editor could be characterized as, “Now that’s what it should have been from the beginning!”

It’s obvious that the action takes place in The Bronx, the northernmost part of New York City. And crossing is a double entendre, meaning both spanning the borough (the Cross Bronx Expressway bifurcates The Bronx connecting the George Washington Bridge to the west and the New England Thruway to the east alongside Long Island Sound) and implying a double-cross, as evidenced by the scheme cooked up by city officials and the mobbed-up construction company to route the roadway in such a manner as to make huge profits, some of which are funneled back into campaign contributions…the local community be damned in the process.

What's in a name?

The best example of the origin of a character’s name is related to the father of the protagonist. Here is a short paragraph in which Jay deVenezia, the narrator, gives both a brief history of his father and how he got his nickname.

My father was a dago-Jew, more Italian than Heeb. deVenezia, from the original ghetto. Orphaned, which may explain his lust for acceptance by those in power and his rage when he beat the shit out of me. Or maybe not. Let’s face it, I’m not the shrink. He was the only Jew in the orphanage with a hundred Catholic kids, and it was his good fortune that he had the physical characteristics to stand up for himself. At twelve, he pried a crucifix off one of the walls and used it to pound the daylights out of a kid four years older who’d taunted him in front of the others on account of his circumcised dick. That night, so he said, he got rid of Isaac and became Ike—the self-described Ike the Kike. How’s that for balls?

In general, I tried to give distinct names to characters that would allow the readers to both visualize the person and make it easy for readers to recall when they reappear later in the novel.

As another example, here is the description of how one of the soldatos (a soldier in the crime family) got his name, from a conversation between Jay deVenezia and his court-appointed shrink.

Around four o’clock the back door opened, and a guy I could swear was Bobby “Bootsie” Albanese, one of 2-Cig’s soldatos came in. He was part of a crew that came to Ike’s fortieth birthday party. They’d tapped a keg in the backyard, and it was the first time I had beer. I remember I threw up. That was a scene.

“Bootsie?” she said.

“Yeah, Bootsie. He supposedly got his name from his penchant for wearing engineer boots to weddings, baptisms, and even funerals. Yet, it was equally likely that he got this nickname because after he whacked some guy, he’d invariably bend down to make sure he wasn’t breathing and then would barf all over him.”

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your novel?

In a word: very. As a teenager, I read mostly classic novels (such as For Whom the Bell Tolls, A Farewell to Arms, The Great Gatsby, 1919) none of which explored the depths of an America that was changing dramatically by urbanization and the impact of immigration. Frankly, I didn’t think in those terms. I have vivid recall of reading The Catcher in the Rye under the bed covers with a flashlight (my boarding school had a strict lights-out policy at 10:30 pm) and I imagined that I was one of Holden Caulfield’s classmates at Pencey Prep. In English class, we all thought of ourselves as JD Salinger wannabees, writing short stories about thinly disguised peers and school settings. I didn’t think about writing seriously until I was 70; the teenage me wouldn’t be shocked by the contents and styles of the three novels I’ve written, but would be stunned that I was the one who wrote them.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

I can’t start a novel until I complete the opening line. Full stop. Once I create it, I never change it, as the rest of the novel flows organically from it. My debut novel—My Mother’s Son—opens with, “When you’re a kid, they don’t always tell you the truth.” I didn’t know how it would end, but once I had that opening, I knew what I wanted to say about how family stories don’t always reconcile with the truth, and how that impacts each member of the family.

Crossing the Bronx opens with,

It was reported in the New York Mirror that a City cop had stopped his car when he saw a woman trying to change a tire on the other side of the road, yelled over the top of the partially opened window that he was going to give her assistance, opened the door, swiveled his body out and then, well, was crushed by a car that sped by, ripping the door clear off the hinges and dragging him underneath; when I heard the news, I mouthed say good fucking farewell to Ike deVenezia.

When I showed the opening to my wife, her rapid fire reaction was, “Who’s telling this story, why doesn’t he care about some guy’s death, the New York Mirror folded in the early sixties, didn’t it, so he’s a cop being a Good Samaritan, yet the narrator revels in his death? Get back upstairs and finish the first chapter already!”

I could actually visualize the ending even as I wrote the opening. Although some of the ending words changed a bit, the substance stayed the same. Then the trick became how to go from Point A to Point B, which were known, but the terrain in between was unmapped. For me, that’s the fun of writing fiction.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

All my books are works of complete fiction. No characters or settings are remotely related to anything that deals with me, my family, friends, or acquaintances. To avoid any misconceptions, no fictional character is based on any real person.

To use your words, the characters are a world apart from me.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

Three movies: Glengarry, Glen Ross by David Mamet had a profound impact on me, as it showed how people actually speak to one another. The Usual Suspects by Christopher McQuarrie not only had conversations representative of real life, but it had mis-directions that gave me insights into how I could set up Crossing the Bronx with feints, tension, and cliff-hangers. Pulp Fiction is a masterpiece of storytelling; Quentin Tarantino juggles many different plots, but drops none of the balls and brings them all together seamlessly. That was a blueprint for me. Kudos to all three of these extraordinarily accomplished writers.

Visit David Hirshberg's website.

The Page 69 Test: Crossing the Bronx.

My Book, The Movie: Crossing the Bronx.

--Marshal Zeringue

John Katzenbach

John Katzenbach is the New York Times bestselling author of such novels as the Edgar Award-nominated In the Heat of the Summer, which was adapted for the screen as The Mean Season; The Traveler; Day of Reckoning; Just Cause and Hart's War, which were also made into movies; The Shadow Man, another Edgar nominee; State of Mind; The Analyst; and The Madman's Tale. Katzenbach has been a criminal court reporter for the Miami Herald and Miami News and a featured writer for the Herald's Tropic magazine.

His new novel is The Architect.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

Titles are odd deals. When they work (Jaws or The World According to Garp) they can accompany the book into popular culture. Or...not. In my case, The Architect, I hoped to remain very simple, yet subtly suggestive. What is an architect after all? Someone who designs and builds. Basic concepts that require significant, hidden depths and skills. That’s what I hope/pray/trust readers will feel when they consider the title to my story. In any mystery-thriller, the protagonist must construct a path to get him/her through a maze. At the same time, the antagonist is building roadblocks. Sometimes 9 mm or .40 caliber roadblocks. Lots of emotional architecture in a good psychological thriller.

What's in a name?

A modest question, that asks much.

In The Architect, the main character is a young woman named Sloane Connolly. On the opening page she receives a note from her potentially suicidal mother that includes the admonition: Remember what your name means.

That bit of remembering and the elusive history that accompanies it are critical themes throughout the novel. They help provide necessary tension and underscore twists in the story.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

I like to imagine my teenage self would see some of his burgeoning personality in my lead character. Both the thoughtful good... and the headstrong not so good. When I was seventeen, I first encountered Crime and Punishment. It had an immediate impact on me. At the time, I owned a long, black overcoat. For days I walked around my New Hampshire bitter icy unfriendly winter school imagining that I – like Raskolnikov – had a hidden axe concealed beneath the folds of cloth. I believe I considered most of the school’s administrative staff as potential victims – like the old woman in Dostoevsky’s great tale. Fast forward decades, and I hope that my teenage self would identify with The Architect of the title in much the same fashion. See her as a sort of soul-sister and inwardly say things like, “That makes sense...” and “She doesn’t have a choice, and neither would I...” and “Pull the trigger, goddammit!”

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

Both are equally challenging, with substantially different requirements. I probably ponder the beginning more – because the rhythms of a thriller are established at the start, along with the critical elements of plot and character. One needs to get that opening right – and frequently that demands much thought and much rewriting. Endings for me are easier – because I already know the ending when I start the story. In any thriller, the writer is asking readers to come along with him on a journey. Now, if your buddy said “Let’s just jump in the car and go I don’t know where and see where we end up...” I suspect you’d have a few more questions before agreeing to take that trip. All that said – one truly needs to hit the right notes at the end. Readers need to be satisfied and appreciative of the trip they’ve been on. One of the greatest fears for any author: A reader slamming shut the finished book and uttering a long sigh and a meh!Loudly.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

The safe answer: No.

The accurate answer: Of course I do.

The secret addendum: My personality is reflected – in both the hero/heroine and in the killer/bad guy. And this is true for all my books, not just the latest.

My wife sometimes tells me that I had three potential career paths: 1) Novelist (the chosen approach); 2) Journalist (I was good at this when I was a young man); 3) Psychopathic Serial Killer (managed to avoid this. So far.).

The truth is -- to make characters come alive on a page, I have often relied on psychological elements in my own make-up. I think there is a bit of me in every character I’ve ever delved deeply into. As I said, good guys and bad guys. It helps to be comfortable in one’s own skin when one is creating new skins between the covers of a book. When writing The Architect I constantly recalled my own stumbling start in my early 20s. And I frequently asked myself, when my characters reach decisive points, “Are they doing what I hope I would do?”

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

Lots. Too many to single out more than a few.

Movies: “Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown.”

And: “My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius... and I will have my vengeance in this life of the next.”

And: “I’ll be back...”

And: “I do wish we could chat longer, but I’m having an old friend for dinner...”

And: “Jack, I swear...”

Songs. By Warren Zevon, Chris Smither and James McMurtry and Tyler Childers. “I remember your words, Lord, they give me a chill...”. And many others.

Music: Ravel’s "Bolero" employs the same rhythms as a good novel. So does Beethoven’s 5th and Miles Davis’s Sketches of Spain.

Art: I defy anyone to stand in front of Picasso’s Guernica for more than ten seconds without feeling that they now own a better understanding of panic, despair, savagery and heartbreak.

Photography: There are many images that continually haunt me:

Alfred Eisenstadt’s photo of a mother and child in the Hiroshima rubble. Gerald Waller’s Life Magazine photo of the orphan in Vienna in 1946 clutching a new pair of shoes. The famous pictures from Viet Nam by Eddie Adams, Art Greenspon and many others. Lawrence Schiller’s evocative photos of Marilyn Monroe. (Want to get an idea of beauty and vulnerability? Go no further.)

And here is an aside – sort of semi-literary, so it maybe shouldn’t count in answering this question: When I need to search for inspiration (a word I don’t really like) I have sometimes in the past turned to Bartlett’s Famous Quotations. Reading the memorable words folks have written or spoken over centuries can pitch me into thinking about the present and the pages awaiting me.

Visit John Katzenbach's website.

My Book, The Movie: Red 1-2-3.

Writers Read: John Katzenbach (January 2014).

The Page 69 Test: Red 1-2-3.

Writers Read: John Katzenbach.

--Marshal Zeringue

K.M. Colley

K.M. Colley writes thrillers, contemporary mysteries, and cinematic stories that explore legacy and ambition. Her work often centers around powerful families, glamorous settings, and complex characters. Born in Mobile, Alabama, she’s currently based in Tampa and Philadelphia. When not writing or reading, Colley enjoys traveling, learning new languages, and building a creative legacy. She’s also passionate about raising her autistic daughter, who dreams of creating her own comic book one day.

Colley's new novel is The Roaring Ridleys.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

Call me biased, but I think The Roaring Ridleys is a great title. In two words it conveys the 1920s setting (roaring) and the family dynasty dynamic (Ridleys). The Roaring Ridleys is a sharp and lush mystery thriller set in 1920s New York, where the adopted heirs of a powerful multicultural family fall under suspicion after a scandalous columnist is found dead, unraveling secrets from Harlem to the Gold Coast mansions of Long Island.

What's in a name?

My granny was strong on the idea that names have power. She would have me Google the meanings of the names of people I met ever since I was a child. So, for the daughters' names, Adesua means "center of wealth;" she radiates this wherever she goes. Amelia means work and striving, which is fitting for her as the eldest daughter; and Kavita means poem, which, for her, she's one of the most expressive characters. Poems are sometimes complex and perplexed, like her.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

I would say she wouldn't be too surprised but definitely relieved. For a long time, I would struggle writing my first books on a gifted laptop, which I am sure was around during the dinosaur age. So in all, she would probably think it's about time! Honestly, being an avid reader since I was a little girl, I was fascinated by the worlds and characters people would create, and I hoped one day that I would do the same.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

For sure, the endings. I usually keep the beginnings of the story concrete because, in reality, for me, not sure for everyone else, that is the backbone. I don't ever see myself changing the beginning, but the ending has definitely been through surgery, as I call it.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

I definitely feel similar to the sisters. Each of them has their own special character traits that I relate to in some way. Take Kavita, for instance. That girl is so unpredictable and makes such drastic life choices. She reminds me of myself. Sometimes I go against the grain on purpose to liven up my life. Adesua has this soft-spoken nature, wanting to be alone in her own world. And Amelia has this quiet, authoritative nature that is very determined in everything she does.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

Music has inspired my writing a lot. I love listening to Big Band Jazz. Music truly makes me feel something in a way where I can imagine worlds like no other. I remember the day I stumbled upon swing era jazz music. I was listening to Pandora, which was the cool music platform before Spotify! So shoutout to Pandora for getting me into the world of the 1920s.

Visit K.M. Colley’s website.

My Book, The Movie: The Roaring Ridleys.

--Marshal Zeringue

Carmela Dutra

Carmela Dutra is a Bay Area–based author who writes cozy mysteries with sharp banter, strong sibling bonds, and the vibrant food culture of Northern California’s most eclectic region. Her Food Truck Mystery Series blends culinary competition, small-town secrets, and humor-forward sleuthing, all rooted in the distinctly diverse rhythms of the Bay Area.

Dutra's debut novel, A Murder Most Fowl, received praise from Kirkus Reviews for its “serious set of crimes leavened by plenty of amusing moments,” and from Criminal Element for the “juicy reasoning behind the sabotage [that] was almost as shocking as the murder itself.” New York Times bestselling author Ellery Adams called it “the perfect escapist read, brimming with banter and an extra helping of fun.” Dutra has also been featured in CrimeReads.

The second installment in the series, Hot Wings and Homicide, earned additional praise from Kirkus Reviews, which said, “Winner, winner, murder for dinner ... An entertaining mystery with amusing characters—including a pet chicken.” Further cementing the author’s voice in the cozy mystery space.

A frequent podcast guest and live-event panelist, Dutra has appeared on Bookish Flights, The Fiction Lounge, Cozy Crime Reads, and Bookshelf Odyssey, and has spoken at bookstores including Kepler’s Books & Magazines. She is known for her warm, engaging presence and her ability to connect with readers through humor, craft, and community.

Dutra lives in the Bay Area with her husband, two dinosaur-obsessed sons, and an assortment of over-cuddled pets. When she’s not writing, she can usually be found at a bookstore, a farmers’ market, or chasing the perfect chicken wing.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

A surprising amount. I wanted something that felt catchy, cozy, and immediately signaled “culinary cozy mystery,” but also made readers pause and smile, or do a double take. I went through an entire list of possibilities and couldn’t quite land on the right one, so I asked my agent for help. She’s very collaborative, and that’s one of the things I love most about working together. I sent her a few options, and she immediately chose Hot Wings and Homicide. Marketing loved it, and readers have responded in exactly the way I’d hoped: curiosity, humor, and yes, hunger. People see the title and immediately have a comment or want to know more.

What’s in a name?

The name Beth Lloyd was actually a placeholder when I originally drafted book one. I even remember telling alpha readers not to get attached to any names because I planned to change them. But by the time I finished drafting and self-editing, the name Beth just fit. Naming her twin brother Seth was a total accident. I didn’t even realize I rhymed their names until a beta reader told me how much they loved the rhyming. My agent liked it too, so I kept them as Beth and Seth Lloyd.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

Very surprised. My teenage self was still trying to decide between architecture (which I quickly learned was not my path after failing trig) and photography. I ultimately landed on photography, which feels like it shaped the way I see the world. Observing details, framing moments, and noticing the stories happening in everyday life. I don’t think she would have predicted food trucks and chickens, but the cozy mysteries or murder plots wouldn’t surprise her.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

Both. Beginnings are harder for me because I’m trying to hook a reader within the first five pages. However, I tend to revise the ending chapters more because while I know where everything is heading emotionally and structurally, I’m trying to make sure every lose thread is wrapped up. The beginning has to hook readers, but the ending has to satisfy them.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

There’s definitely a blend. I don’t intentionally base characters on myself, but pieces of me sneak in, especially in Beth’s tendency to speak before thinking. Or in the way she notices small details other people miss. At the same time, my characters are much braver and more chaotic than I am in real life. If I see an open gate into a backyard, I’m not just going to waltz through then tuck and roll then drop into an army crawl for flair. But I might press my nose up against a window as I try to see in. But yes, I will somehow manage to get myself wrapped up in something questionable and survive it with sarcasm, and questionable judgment.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

Daily life is my biggest influence. Farmers markets, taking my kids to the park, rainy afternoons, overheard conversations in public, and people-watching are all constant sources of inspiration. I’m always fascinated by small moments. Watching how people interact, what they say when they think no one is listening, and the tiny quirks that make everyday life feel a little unpredictable. Those details often find their way into my stories, even when I’m writing about food trucks, festivals, and the occasional murder.

Visit Carmela Dutra's website.

--Marshal Zeringue