Denise Derya Brandt

Denise Derya Brandt worked in international development for more than twenty years and led women’s health projects in Afghanistan, Liberia, and Myanmar before becoming a published author. A Book Incubator graduate, 2024 Women's Fiction Writers Association Rising Star Award finalist, and 2025 Poets & Writers Publicity Incubator Fellow, Brandt has degrees from Arizona State and the London School of Economics. As a Turkish American, she claims she can fool tourists but not taxi drivers! Raised in Arizona, Brandt now lives in northern Kentucky with her husband.

Her debut novel is Istanbul Dreaming.

My Q&A with the author:

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

A lot, I hope! I was originally going to title the novel A Modern Turkish Woman, but ultimately I think I went with the better choice. I wanted Istanbul in the title for a few reasons. It’s my favorite city in the world, and it’s where my main character’s life changes in ways she could previously only have dreamed of.

I was cautioned against using a gerund in the title, but I kept coming back to “California Dreamin’” by the Mamas and Papas. If it worked for them, I figured it could work for me too! My main character, Ayten, really does dream about Istanbul.

What’s in a name?

The names in Istanbul Dreaming were very important for me to get right. My parents inspired the novel, so I gave their first names, Ayten and Earl, to my leads. Then I picked other Turkish names I liked. But my early beta readers said they were getting some of the character names confused because too many started with the same letter or sounded too similar. So I went back and changed things, picked names that were easy to read and pronounce in English and didn’t blur together. When you’re writing an English novel full of non-English names, I think you owe your reader that—keep it simple and memorable.

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

Honestly? Not very. I’ve wanted to write something inspired by my parents for as long as I can remember. So teenage Denise would probably just say, “finally!”

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

Since this was my first novel, both were difficult to write, and both changed from my early drafts. The beginning took the most work. It’s probably where most writers spend the bulk of their time, since it’s what people read to decide if they’re sticking around. The stakes are high! I always knew I wanted a flash forward, but my first version was too long and gave away too much. So I cut it, added some intrigue, and hopefully now it makes readers curious and turning the page.

But the ending was actually harder to nail. I kept trying to stay true to what I knew really happened to the people who inspired the book and it just wasn’t landing. The stakes were not high enough. Then friends in my writer group reminded me I’m writing fiction and can make up any ending I want! That freed me completely. The old ending, the one I scrapped, will probably become the start of another book someday, following one of the minor characters from this one.

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

Since the story is inspired by my parents and family in Turkey, and by all the stories my parents shared with me, it’s impossible not to see some of myself in there somewhere. I’m Turkish-American, grew up in the U.S. speaking English, and only ever picked up intermediate Turkish on a good day. We visited Turkey every year or two when I was growing up, so I’ve got plenty of firsthand experience with the whole tuning-out-a-conversation-you-don’t-understand thing, the frustration of not having the words, the little cultural blunders you make without meaning to. I tried to work all of that into the book, especially between Ayten and Earl.

Personality-wise, though, I probably relate most to Yasemin, Ayten’s bold best friend. She more often and naturally challenges the cultural expectations of a young woman. I can relate to that.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

My multicultural background, my years living and working abroad, watching up close what’s expected of women and girls in different places—all of that shaped the book. And on a more practical level, a few TV shows helped too. To get a feel for 1950s Turkey, I took notes while watching the Turkish Netflix show, The Club, which is about a woman just out of prison, working as a seamstress at a nightclub, trying to reconnect with the daughter she had to give up. 1950s Istanbul basically becomes its own character in that show, which is exactly what I’m hoping happens in Istanbul Dreaming.

Visit Denise Derya Brandt's website.

Writers Read: Denise Derya Brandt.

The Page 69 Test: Istanbul Dreaming.

--Marshal Zeringue

Marivi Soliven

Marivi Soliven has authored seventeen books, taught creative writing at the University of the Philippines and the University of California San Diego and was admitted to the Hedgebrook Writer-in-Residence Program in 2012. Her debut novel The Mango Bride won the 2011 Grand Prize at the Palanca Awards, the Philippine counterpart of the Pulitzer Prize. Additionally, two of Soliven's books for children were awarded silver medals at the 1991 and 1993 Palanca Awards. The film adaptation of her story “Pandemic Bread” has screened at film festivals across the country. She writes and works as a Filipino interpreter in San Diego, California.

Soliven's new novel is Taxi Dancer.

My Q&A with the author:

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

A decent amount of work seeing as folks are unfamiliar with the term Taxi Dancer which refers to the profession fairly common among young white women who worked in taxi dance halls in the 1930s through the '50s. They were called Taxi Dancers because patrons paid for the time they danced with these women - a dime bought you about 3 minutes of dancing time. Because the term is no longer in common use, it draws readers into a bygone era, an era alluded to by the Art Deco border that frames the book's image of a couple dancing.

What's in a name?

I named the Filipino protagonist Eli, which is short for Elias who was a major character in Noli me Tangere a seminal novel written by the Philippine national hero Jose Rizal, published in 1887. In that novel Elias is a farmworker who represents the oppressed, suffering Filipino masses who struggle for reform. Likewise, in my novel, Eli is also a farmworker who yearns to get around the anti-miscegenation laws that prevent him from marrying the American taxi dancer he's fallen in love with, Lucinda. Lucinda means "light" or "illumination." I chose the name because she seeks to bring to light the murder conspiracy that ensnares Eli. Mamie Savage is the actual name of a taxi dance hall owner involved in the real life 1930s murder that inspired this novel. I simply couldn't resist using a name like that.

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

Pretty stunned, considering my teenage reader self back in Manila would never have imagined that 1) I could write an entire novel and 2) that it would be published in the US.

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

They are equally hard to write. I changed the beginning of this novel multiple times, even as I always knew how it would end. On the other hand getting to that ending turned out to be a bit more complicated and challenging than I expected.

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 some of myself in both Lucinda and in Mamie. Lucinda for her stubborn perseverance; Mamie for the way she manipulates people with her charm.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

I watched every film of James Cagney and Fred Astaire I could find, as well as film noire to get the feel of the movie, to learn how folks dressed and danced, fought and flirted. Additionally, while writing I listened to a playlist that included Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Billie Holiday, Cab Calloway and Louie Armstrong. One of the novel's drafts actually had chapters named after songs from the era, but I figured that would present a copyright issue.

Visit Marivi Soliven's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Robbie Couch

Robbie Couch is the New York Times bestselling author of If I See You Again Tomorrow, in addition to Blaine for the Win, The Sky Blues, and Another First Chance. He is also the author of the novel Bloom for adults. Originally from small-town Michigan, Couch now calls Los Angeles home.

His new novel is Just the Good Parts.

My Q&A with the author:

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

My hope for every one of my titles is to spark more intrigue in the book than introduce them to the narrative itself. I think my novels' titles tend to feel more relevant after having read the books, and Just the Good Parts is no exception. It, of course, conveys the idea that there's been an elimination of the bad parts—whatever good, bad, or parts are even supposed to mean out of context—but my hope is that the framing brings a richer understanding to readers after they've been introduced to Caspen, a nostalgic character whose penchant for forgetting the bleaker sides of his past may cost him his future.

What's in a name?

I have a very uninspiring answer to this (that may make some people angry)! I think, generally speaking, character names are overrated and reflect an author's own state of mind—or even self-indulgence—more than they serve the story. I've never enjoyed a novel more or less because a character was named Patrick instead of Peter. There are definitely exceptions; if the name of a character is meaningful to the bones of the story itself beyond some clever symbolism that gets lost in the weeds, for instance. And there can be cultural considerations to keep in mind while creating characters, as an ahistorical error or nonsensical name risks distracting the reader and pulling them out of the story. But in terms of the creative process of naming characters or leaning into the symbolism of names, I'd rather spend that time on more important things (sorry not sorry!).

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

I think my teenage self would be (pleasantly) shocked that I'd written a book that was about to be published at all, let alone six gay ones! I'd always dreamt of writing a novel as a kid, so I suspect Teenage Robbie would be on cloud nine. Because Just the Good Parts is speculative fiction and my earliest reading obsessions tended to lean in the fantasy direction, he may be a bit surprised by the genre, but I'd have to revisit my childhood memories to find out ... which I'd do, if only I were Caspen Coolsby.

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

I find it much more difficult to write beginnings, even if I'm incredibly inspired by the scene and story. I want my first page (my first sentence, really) to immediately hook the reader with a compelling conflict, a strong character, or, ideally, both. And that results in my putting a lot of pressure on getting it just right, which usually comes with about a dozen or two heavy edits. Getting to write the ending of my books incentivizes me in the same way I imagine it feels for a marathon runner to make it to mile 26; I'll be exhausted by the time I reach the finish line, but that moment fuels my forward motion the whole journey.

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

It really depends on the book. My debut novel, The Sky Blues, was my most autobiographical of the six novels I've written, so, naturally, I saw a lot of myself in its main character, Sky Baker. But I've spread my narrative wings since then. I try to challenge myself to write as complicated characters as I can—because the messier they are, the more compelling they seem to be—and that requires getting outside of my own thoughts, my own history, and my own lived experiences.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

I find a lot of inspiration in TV and film, particularly when they're written in ways that blend genres or frame narratives in inventive ways. I recently rewatched one of my favorite movies, Arrival, for the fifth or sixth time, and continue to be amazed at how a chilling, sci-fi story about an alien invasion is actually a heart-shattering tale about Amy Adams' character grieving the loss of her daughter. And I just finished Widow's Bay, which swings between horror and hilarity in a way I've never seen done before on TV, let alone done well. It's very inspiring to see other writers reinvent the storytelling wheel.

Visit Robbie Couch's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Erin Cotter

Erin Cotter writes young adult fiction. Originally from Buffalo, New York, she currently calls Austin home. When not writing she spends time with her partner and pets, eating tacos, and searching for Golden-cheeked Warblers in the Texas Hill Country.

Cotter's new novel is A Dangerous Bargain.

My Q&A with the author:

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

For my book, I want the title to both hint at the action to come and also serve as a bit of a metaphor for what the book explores thematically. At first, my book was titled The Angel’s Bargain, but I didn’t love that title because while the book is about bargaining with angels for magic, it’s also about the cost of such magic, and what someone is willing to give up for greatness. There’s a sense of unease to the divine magic in my story, a sense that this power, while relied on heavily by the Renaissance artists in their workshops, is a sinister, ticking bomb with an agenda of its own. A Dangerous Bargain obviously points to that theme much more effectively than The Angel’s Bargain.

What's in a name?

The protagonist is called Virgil, and in all the books I’ve written, I’ve never felt more strongly about a character’s name before. The name isn’t historically accurate to 1400s Florence so I had to create a backstory for why Virgil calls himself this. Virgil chooses this name because he likes the thought of being someone who can lead people through darkness—a direct nod to the fact that the famous Roman poet Virgil is Dante’s guide through hell in The Divine Comedy. A Dangerous Bargain explores some heavy topics such as forgiveness, guilt, and reckoning with the cost of bad decisions, so Virgil himself goes on a personal journey through his own darkness and emerges on the other side knowing he’s worthy of love and self-kindness.

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

My teenage self wouldn’t be surprised by A Dangerous Bargain. This book is the most teenage me coded story I’ve written so far. I loved dark, historical leaning tales, and Sabriel by Garth Nix was and still is one of my favorite books. The lush Renaissance setting, the grounded, sinister magic, and the romance between pricky self-sabotaging Virgil and annoying, flirtatious Leonardo would’ve been cat nip to me at seventeen! The only aspect of this story that would surprise teenage me is the queer element. There were virtually zero queer YA books on shelves when I was a teen, and I wish so much that wasn’t the case.

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

Sticking the landing for this book was the hardest part of the entire writing process. I knew the exact final image I wanted to end on. Without spoiling anything, I wanted Virgil’s journey out of the darkness to symbolize something bigger than his own struggles but I must’ve rewritten the ending three times before I figure out what that bigger thing was and how to get there. I hope readers love the way everything ties together in the end—I know I do even though it took me a long time to get there!

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

My characters, especially, my protagonists, carry large parts of myself in them. I wrote A Dangerous Bargain during a time in my life when I struggling with a lot of personal guilt and regret, and I think Virgil is clearly a posterchild for that. When I sit down to create a new story, of course I want to create a story readers enjoy, but I also sit down to write to explore something that’s nagging me in my own life. Maybe it’s a form of therapy, I’m not sure!

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

Contemporary technology had a very large influence on A Dangerous Bargain: the magic was inspired by AI. I was sitting in the airport traveling to promote my second book when I learned from the Atlantic LibGen database that my book had already been pirated to train AI less than two weeks after its release. I was angry, but also heartbroken. What’s the point of writing a book without doing any of the labour of it? How could anyone call themselves an artist when they were skipping the creative process? I began to wonder if bygone artists would be as pissed about this as I was, and this turned into imagining what an age of AI would’ve looked like during the Italian Renaissance—one of my favourite time periods—and the magic of A Dangerous Bargain emerged.

Visit Erin Cotter's website.

Writers Read: Erin Cotter.

The Page 69 Test: A Dangerous Bargain.

My Book, The Movie: A Dangerous Bargain.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ryan Douglass

Ryan Douglass is the author of young adult horror novel The Taking of Jake Livingston, a New York Times bestseller and an ALA Rainbow Book List Pick; The Great Disillusionment of Nick and Jay, a reimagining of The Great Gatsby set in 1920s Harlem; and Night of Madness, a collaboration with the company behind Clown in a Cornfield. His work explores the ways young people fight to survive in hostile worlds. He lives in Atlanta with his dog and spends his free time baking ambitious desserts and scoping out true crime documentaries.

My Q&A with the author:

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

I think Night of Madness is pretty on-the-nose for what you’re getting. It’s a horror novel that takes place over one night and follows a character who gets trapped in a death game disguised as a game show. “Madness” is the perfect descriptor for what happens as the game induces sensory confusion. This is a collaboration with Temple Hill, so the book was originally called A Night of Madness, but I advocated to drop the “A.” Something about starting with “Night” feels very foreboding to me.

What's in a name?

The main cast was mostly named by Temple Hill, so for their characterizations I followed what the names evoked. For the characters I created, like Mara’s younger brother, Charlie, I wanted to see how I could lean into Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, which is what the plot derives from. Most of the characters have common names, some of which call back to the original cast in ways that are felt rather than explicit.

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

My teenage self would not be surprised by this at all, because I remember how changed I felt when I read Full Tilt by Neal Shusterman. I knew I wanted to do something similar, with a funhouse/carnival aesthetic that was psychologically dark underneath and formed allegories for the main character’s mental state. I had been playing with story ideas like this for years.

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

I find endings to be the hardest part because I like to take risks and go to ambitious places in my writing, but endings require you to give the reader payoff—to ground all your flights of whimsy in logic. I am very Type B, a mood reader, and naturally a more abstract, metaphysical, and metaphorical writer, since my education is in poetry. So while writing beginnings can feel like running into something exciting and new, writing endings always brings me to a grounded place and allows me to stretch that logical muscle.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

Music is always the big one for me. Movies as well, especially when I want to pull off something cinematic. I use the news as noise more than anything, because I get my news online. I stay abreast of politics because I always want to make sure my writing is tuned in to the current moment as much as possible, and because I see that as part of my civic responsibility.

Follow Ryan Douglass on Instagram and Threads.

--Marshal Zeringue

Beck Kubrick

Beck Kubrick is an award-winning writer and cartoonist living in Manchester, UK. They like stories about terrible girls and thinking about the apocalypse. They have worked with Cartoon Network, Mad Cave Studios, Oni Press, and more.

Kubrick's new book is Dead Girls, their debut graphic novel as author-illustrator.

My Q&A with the author-illustrator:

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

I like weirdly blunt, long titles like Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory or The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires but then I have this short title. I like my title, my editors did too, they called it ‘punchy’. It’s a little tongue-in-cheek and funny because…they’re not dead. I think it captures the dichotomy of the comedy/ horror well. ‘Dead’ is so blunt and it’s juxtaposed with ‘girl’, who traditionally we think of as innocent or sweet. My characters are girls, literal children, dealing with life and death (in the form of murderous furry- head wearing killers). Girlhood is a beautiful thing but it’s also a box others can try to trap you in.

It’s also worth saying that to be a dead girl, you don’t literally have to be a girl; Ernie, a thirty- something, adult man who is Ash’s surrogate uncle is totally a dead girl, it’s a state of mind.

I wanted to play with the traditional horror conventions of a ‘final girl’, so they’re not ‘final girls’, they’re something else. Ash is essentially a dead girl walking. It’s also stolen from a Penelope Scott song of the same name. This song and ‘Lotta True Crime’ have a lot of themes that are present in my book. The title is also inspired a little by the anime, Angel Beats! (2010), the kids are literally dead and call themselves ‘the not-yet-dead’ club.

What's in a name?

Final girls traditionally have a name or nickname that is gender-neutral, I wanted to play with tropes, not totally negate them for the sake of it. I also think having names that are typically nicknames is fun as it informs us of the character, their choices and how other treat and perceive them. Identity and expectations is a big theme of the story; Ash and Cassie both prefer a shortened version of their name and Ash further shortens Cassie to ‘Cass’ as a sign of affection.

On the flip side, authority figures often call them by their full names as a sign of disrespect, Ash reacts with anger and corrects them (whether they respect her correction informs us of their character too) whilst Cassie is happy to be ‘Cassandra’ when someone is projecting that on her. It’s not directly stated in the book, but I think of Jamie as having a traditional Korean birth name but preferring to go by Jamie and dealing with her own sense of identity via that.

Heather’s name comes from a joke from season 3 of RuPaul’s Drag Race (2009), the exact line ‘Who is Heather?’ didn’t make it into the script but ‘Where is Heather?’ did. The joke is in turn inspired by the comedy-horror film, Heathers (1988).

Most characters' last names are from The Walking Dead characters because I suck. Ash’s last name, ‘Hargreeves’, comes from Umbrella Academy by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá and Naomi’s last name comes from Velma Dinkley from Scooby-Doo (1969). There’s a bunch of referential names like that throughout, especially the usernames for Naomi’s livestream chat.

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

Everything I create is for the weird kids and I was such a weird kid. Teenage me would be pretty amazed, I didn’t grow up around readers so just being an author seemed so intangible. I figured it’d never happen for me as I would never know the right people or be good enough at art etc. and yet, here we are!

I was a little self-serious and dark so I would probably wish it was just pure horror and all dark and moody and not horror-comedy, but I think I’d be into it.

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

Beginnings are easy; they’re just thoughts and ideas and potential, I am forever creating beginnings. Endings are final, they must tie up all the problems you just spent hundreds of pages creating but not be too perfect. I want it to feel like the characters continue to exist beyond the story, but not in an ambiguous, annoying way. I always knew where Ash’s story ended but actually putting that to the page was more difficult, it was the thing I got the most edits and notes about in edits. Ernie’s ending changed quite dramatically despite being a smaller side character.

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

Absolutely I see myself, this book is so selfishly self-indulgent and ‘me’. I’d been trying to contort myself into someone who makes (what I thought were) marketable stories that editors would like and wasn’t getting much traction. (Don’t do this, it’s a terrible strategy).

I like stories about terrible girls doing terrible things in terrible situations. I wanted unconventional heroes who don’t have to conform to the way girls ‘should’ be and to navigate the complex history of horror and which characters, especially girls and women, get to survive and why (hint: because they’re pure and virginal and innocent.). I wanted characters who felt like me and my friends and people I love; even the bad guys and even the furries (that’s a joke, shout out furries, I’m an ally). I wanted everyone to feel like real and complex humans with wants and desires. Like the Rattail twins, they look nothing alike, are they really twins? Why do they have matching rattails? I’ll never tell.

An editor did suggest making Ash more likeable early on, which stung a little as I’ve been her. I’ve been angry and felt alone and just been so mad at the world; I think a lot of us have. I’m writing for those readers, who don’t need her to be overtly sweet/ vulnerable to be on her side and endeared to her. She’s anyone who has felt trapped in a story someone else has assigned to you.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

I’m inspired by anything and everything, I can’t switch off my brain. If I drop something on the floor, by the time it’s landed, I’ve imbued it with a tragic backstory or something, it’s like a Rorschach test for where I’m at that day. I have pages in notebooks and long notes on my phone of thoughts and ideas. Every thought, experience and idea for the past couple years has been absorbed into this story.

Obviously, Dead Girls is heavily inspired by slashers, more traditional ones and the tropes and conventions they laid out and then the comedy-horrors and meta-slashers, like Scream (1996) I started watching when I was a little too young that blew my mind. Cabin in the Woods (2011), Tucker and Dale VS Evil (2010) and You’re Next (2011) rewired my brain, I was like ‘this! this is what I want!’.

Sometimes I can only see the inspiration in hindsight; in answering this question I’m realizing how important music was to creating the story. Some of the big inspirations were Penleope Scott’s entire discography, ‘Brutus’ by Buttress, ‘Burn your village’ by Kiki Rockwell, Ashnikko’s whole vibe and ‘Hayloft 1’ and ‘Hayloft 2’ by Mother Mother.

Follow Beck Kubrick on Instagram.

My Book, The Movie: Dead Girls.

The Page 69 Test: Dead Girls.

Writers Read: Beck Kubrick.

--Marshal Zeringue

Lara Stokes

Lara Stokes grew up in Northern Ontario and now lives and writes in Kawartha Lakes, Ontario. Her work has appeared in The Danforth Review, The Ottawa Arts Review, Burnt Toast (newsletter for The Writer’s Union of Canada) and has been shortlisted for the Toronto Fringe New Play Contest and Geist’s CanLit Short Fiction contest. In 2007 she completed an Honors BA in Theatre and Creative Writing at York University, where she was the recipient of the b.p. Nichol award and the Judith Eve Gewertz Award.

Stokes's debut novel is Midsummer Nights.

My Q&A with the author:

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

Midsummer Nights was originally called Community Theatre. In the editorial process, we wanted something more immediate that would place readers in the world of the novel more easily. As it is set in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, is set in summer and has romantic elements, the shortened Midsummer Nights does more to establish the tone and subject. It’s a change I’m very happy to have made.

What's in a name?

A lot! My protagonist’s name is Miranda. I wanted her to have a Shakespearean name that didn’t have too many immediate connotations (Juliet, Ophelia…) but that also informed her character a little. Her parents are an actor and director who own a local theatre named Tempest Theatre - in The Tempest, Miranda is the daughter of the sorcerer Prospero. In the book, she is up against her parents’ creative power over her, and, as in the play, has to fight to establish her own identity within a male-dominated society (and in my book, industry). Maybe it’s an unnecessary layer, but I wanted to make sure that when it came to Shakespearean references, I was making intentional choices.

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

My teenage self would be delighted! My whole world was theatre - I read Shakespeare for fun, had my first kiss onstage, and took myself very seriously. There is a lot of teenage Lara in this book (including playing Wendy and smoking a cigar out back in my nightgown!). I was such an earnest little nerd. A lot of this book is for her.

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

I hate writing both, but both went roughly as planned in this book. Miranda makes a choice towards the end that is her own - I didn’t plan that, but I had to go with it! The very first page is actually one of the last things I wrote.

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

The main critical feedback on this book has been that my protagonist is unlikeable, so it’s hard to answer that! I really reject the idea that a protagonist has to be likeable (and it’s rarely expected of male characters!) Many readers have loved her - she is very human, flawed and selfish, and I don’t shy away from that in a character. There is enough to love to appreciate the arc of her growth. Miranda’s snark and wit are very much my own, but I’m nicer!

Visit Lara Stokes's website.

Writers Read: Lara Stokes.

The Page 69 Test: Midsummer Nights.

--Marshal Zeringue

Tracy Maton

Tracy Maton has had a varied career as a copywriter, a marketer, a quality improvement ambassador in the UK’s National Health Service, and a children’s entertainer. When she’s not writing, she can be found swimming in her local lake. Maton was born in Montreal and now lives in Bristol, England, with her husband and three occasionally present children.

The Artful Anna Harris is her debut novel.

My Q&A with the author:

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

My book was inspired by Patricia Highsmith’s classic, The Talented Mr Ripley. Being upfront about her influence felt important, hence the similarity between our two titles. To a Ripley-fan, the title offers a plethora of hints. For those without any awareness of Ripley, the title still works to a degree, awarding ownership of the story to Anna Harris and implying trickery or cunning, of which there is plenty.

The draft title was The Affable Anna Harris, chosen because the syllables match the original more closely (and Anna is undoubtedly affable, at least on the outside) but the editorial team suggested Artful to avoid any suggestion the novel is a cosy read. I think they were right.

What's in a name?

Anna Harris is a common name of little note. Anna herself is chameleon-like, blending in with ease, keen not to draw too much attention. Any plain name would have served the narrative but I wanted to echo the rhythm of Mr Ripley.

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

Not surprised at all. I was drawn to the rebels, the irreverent and the slightly scary and had no interest in the law-abiding school prefects. I’d have been Anna’s friend without a doubt.

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

I’ll opt for endings. I had a very clear picture of Anna’s opening scene and delighted in introducing my amoral character by placing her in a church. Very little changed in the editing process. The ending, however, was revised several times albeit with the same outcome for Anna. I’m not sure I would be able to start writing without knowing the beginning and the end. Everything else is up for grabs as I go along.

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

Anna’s views are, occasionally, similar to my own. Her humour is all mine. (My sister is convinced she’s Anna’s mother-in-law, which she isn’t.) The elderly lady, Jan, is who I want to be at eighty.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

My psychology degree has proved useful when I’m deciding how characters should behave. Being slightly playful, I also gave Anna an interest in pop psychology, and placed her in a copy of my childhood village where, life being stranger than fiction, there was an actual murder while I was writing the book.

Follow Tracy Maton on Instagram and Threads.

--Marshal Zeringue

Helene Wecker

Helene Wecker’s first novel, The Golem and the Jinni, was awarded the Mythopoeic Award for Adult Literature, the VCU Cabell Award for First Novel, and the Harold U. Ribalow Prize, and was nominated for a Nebula Award and a World Fantasy Award. A Midwest native, Wecker holds a B.A. in English from Carleton College and an M.F.A. in Fiction Writing from Columbia University. Her work has appeared in literary journals such as Joyland and Catamaran, as well as the fantasy anthology The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories. She currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and children.

Wecker's new novel, The Gates of Midnight, is the much-anticipated conclusion to The Golem and the Jinni trilogy.

My Q&A with the author:

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

It took me so long to come up with The Gates of Midnight! It's both a vibes-based title (dark, foreboding, a point of no return) and a direct reference to two different elements of the book. “Gate” comes from the wrought-iron gate to Chava the golem's house in Brooklyn, which is the threshold (both real and symbolic) between her own personal realm and the rest of the human world. And “Midnight” refers to Ahmad's regularly scheduled phone call to Chava, which he places every night at midnight. A long-distance call was an expensive proposition back in 1930, and it was never guaranteed to go through properly -- but since they live thousands of miles apart now, it's the only way to keep their relationship alive. I always second guess myself when it comes to titles, but The Gates of Midnight has really grown on me. And frankly I was shocked that it wasn't already taken!

What's in a name?

There’s so much significance in a name – sometimes too much for comfort! The act of choosing and changing a name, either one’s own or someone else’s, is a running theme in the Golem and the Jinni series. Ahmad used to be known as Ahmad al-Hadid, back when he lived a humble tinsmith's life in Manhattan -- but in The Gates of Midnight he works at an architecture firm under the name John Ahmad, as a concession to the racial realities of white- collar hiring at the time. He knows he needs to blend in, but also resents being expected to conform and knows he'll never truly be accepted, no matter what his name is. It doesn’t say so in the book, but my head canon is that he picked John because it was the least threatening first name he could think of, but then stubbornly reclaimed Ahmad as a last name because he couldn’t bear to part with it.

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

I think she'd be surprised by the true-to-life historical setting more than anything else. I read a lot of fantasy when I was in middle school and high school, but it was mostly high fantasy in invented worlds, quests and dragons and so on. At some point closer to college I got very into Gael Baudino and read her Strands of Starlight series, which begins in medieval Europe and moves forward in time through each book until it reaches the modern U.S.. A number of her characters are near-immortal elves who live among humans, and they pop up here and there through the different time periods. Looking back, that might've been my first exposure to historical fantasy, and the idea that you could bring the same characters forward in time from book to book. My time jumps aren't quite as drastic, though!

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

They're both difficult, but endings are worse. They have to carry so much more weight than beginnings. I tend to shove most of the action into the back third of any given book, and that was certainly true with The Gates of Midnight. The lead-up to the end involves multiple plot threads, each seen from several points of view, as they converge for the final showdown -- at which point the characters have to achieve their epiphanies and/or comeuppances on schedule. It took a lot of tinkering and shuffling scenes around to get the pacing right. And since this is the end of a trilogy, I needed to make Chava and Ahmad's ending feel extra expansive and meaningful so it could be a capstone for the larger story. The larger ending didn’t change much from how I imagined it, except for a handful of details. But the process of getting there made me question my life choices.

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

Oh, my characters definitely have parts of my personality. Especially Chava! We're both neurotic Jewish women who are scared of being noticed, but who also want to be told what a good job we're doing. (I, however, am not afraid of accidentally killing someone with my brute berserker strength.) I also made Chava extremely curious about the larger world, mostly in order to broaden her character -- but it gets her into trouble in the same way that my own curiosity does, especially when I let it push me over a social boundary. Kreindel Altschul, who is one of the main characters of The Gates of Midnight, has my stubbornness and my love of studying. Seriously, I could go to college for the rest of my life and be utterly content. In fact, I wonder sometimes if I only ended up in historical fantasy because a part of me wanted to research something!

Visit Helene Wecker's website.

Writers Read: Helene Wecker (June 2013).

The Page 69 Test: The Golem and the Jinni.

Writers Read: Helene Wecker.

--Marshal Zeringue

Laura Creedle

Laura Creedle is the author of The Deep Well, which Kirkus Reviews called “a fresh take on horror,” and The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily. When they’re not writing, Creedle can usually be found playing pinball or watching indie horror. They live in Austin, Texas, with their husband and a feral cat named Hellman who was found with her head stuck in a mayonnaise jar.

Creedle's new novel is The Girl in Green.

My Q&A with the author:

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

I love a Victorian ghost story names like The Lady in White, or The Woman in Black. I chose the title of The Girl in Green as an reference to those classic ghost stories, but it’s a bit of a bait and switch. The legacy is much darker. I don’t want to give any spoilers, so I’ll leave it at that.

What's in a name?

I consciously gave my main character Jess, a gender neutral name. It’s abrupt and sibilant, and it fits her personality. I spent a lot of time rabbit-holing around historic Appalachian last names. I gave Jess’ love interest, Barlow, one of those names. He is supposedly the scion of his family, and I thought it would be fitting if he carried a maternal last name as his first name.

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

My teenage self would probably not be very surprised by this novel. My character is ADHD and struggles with impulsivity. I drew on my own experiences here.

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

This is such an easy answer! I know exactly how every book ends, but I never know how (or where) they start. I rewrite beginnings over and over.

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

My first book, The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily was really based on my experiences growing up ADHD and dyslexic. I feel like Jess is Lily, if Lily had been abandoned at a horror-ridden boarding school. She would chew her own arm off to get out of school, which is exactly how I felt about high school.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

I love horror movies! One of my favorite horror movies of all time is The Descent, about an all woman group of cave explorers. In The Girl in Green, I wanted to capture the same claustrophobic feeling of being trapped under tons of rock, with limited avenues of escape.

Visit Laura Creedle's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily.

My Book, The Movie: The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily.

Writers Read: Laura Creedle (January 2018).

Writers Read: Laura Creedle.

--Marshal Zeringue