Dara Horn's new novel is Eternal Life.From her Q&A with Deborah Kalb:
Q: You note that you read a number of news stories about companies seeking to solve the issue of immortality--but that the people involved in the stories were mostly men. What made you decide to create your immortal character Rachel?Learn more about the author and her work at Dara Horn's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.
A: Exactly that. It wasn’t just these “life extension” enthusiasts (not all of whom are men, but the most flamboyant “I’m going to live forever!” ones mostly are). It’s also the entire literary history of the idea.
Immortal characters are nothing new in literature, right? Tuck Everlasting, The Highlander....the Epic of Gilgamesh....immortality and the quest for it is a theme as old as literature. But what’s weird about those stories is that they’re almost never about fertile women. And when you swap out that 2,000 Year Old Man for a 2,000 Year Old Mom, the whole story changes.
My main character Rachel has been married dozens of times and has had hundreds and hundreds of children—and outlives them all, which makes immortality less fun. Once I switched the gender on the typical story...[read on]
The Page 99 Test: The World to Come.
The Page 99 Test: All Other Nights.
The Page 69 Test: A Guide for the Perplexed.
The Page 69 Test: Eternal Life.
Writers Read: Dara Horn.
--Marshal Zeringue