Ask the Author: Laura Sims

“Ask me a question.” Laura Sims

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I loved How Can I help You? I work at a library but am in no way Margo lol? Will there be a sequel?

Laura Sims Thank you so much, Lisa! I'm sure you're nothing like Margo, lol. I don't think there will be a sequel, no. I like to leave things open-ended in my novels so the reader can imagine what might happen next in the story...

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You did not mention poetry, but I believe you write some, don’t you?

Laura Sims Yes! I can't believe I neglected it. I haven't been reading a lot of poetry since starting to write fiction. In fact, I always read more fiction than poetry, even when writing verse. Poets who've influenced me include: Sylvia Plath, Louise Gluck, Claudia Rankine, John Berryman, C. D. Wright, Emily Dickinson, Cole Swensen, Lorine Niedecker, Wallace Stevens, T.S. Eliot...and many more.

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Hi Laura! I have been wondering about the ending...is Patricia basically turning into Margot now? Is she going to carry on what Margot started? Or is it supposed to be open to interpretation for the readers?

Laura Sims

This answer contains spoilers… (view spoiler)

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Authors read widely themselves. Which genres and authors do you particularly enjoy?

Laura Sims Hi Paul, thanks for this question! I read very widely, across many genres: literary fiction, science fiction, horror, mystery/thriller, nonfiction, historical fiction, and so on. I guess the one genre I don't spend much time with is romance, but I'm sure I've read books that qualify as romance, too. I like the idea of genre fluidity and really appreciate books that play with genre--especially since I like to play with genre myself! I have SO many favorite authors that it would be hard to list them, so I'll name a few books / authors I've read recently that I've loved: OUR SHARE OF NIGHT, by Mariana Enriquez is a dazzling literary horror novel recommended to me by the great Paul Tremblay; THE ART THIEF by Michael Finkel is an intense and incredibly compelling nonfiction portrait of obsession (a favorite topic of mine); and Marcy Dermansky's HURRICANE GIRL was another recent favorite--I adore her work. I'm reading TERRACE STORY by Hilary Leichter right now and have been transported by it every time I dip in--it's a strange and whimsical contemporary fable. I like writers who don't conform to expectations, who surprise me on every page--but keep me compulsively reading at the same time!

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could our protagonist possibly have lived up around the vicinity of pinehurst avenue or cabrini boulevard in hudson heights, or what? would the heights have fit her character?

Laura Sims Hmm...I think of her living in an area more like Park Slope. Maybe "up-and-coming" Park Slope. Thanks for your question!

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If you could travel to any fictional book world, where would you go and what would you do there?

Laura Sims I would go to Louise Penny's Three Pines and eat at the bistro.

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What books are on your summer reading list this year?

Laura Sims Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami
Territory of Light by Yuko Tsushima
The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman
Meaty by Samantha Irby
The Gone Dead by Chanelle Benz
American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson

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I loved your book! What or who gave you the inspiration to write Looker?

Laura Sims Hi Shirley! Thanks so much, I'm glad you loved the book! As for the inspiration, I used to live in a neighborhood of Brooklyn where you would see celebrities around fairly often...I started to think about how strange it was that we were living our very regular lives alongside people who were living extraordinary (or extraordinary-seeming) lives, and the dissonance that created. Then, the voice of my narrator kind of popped into my head one day--she was so angry and bitter and envious! I had to start writing her thoughts down...so I did, and that's how the whole thing started. Thanks for your question!

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Just finished The Looker today and have already recommended it to my best friend and my daughter! I am typically very critical of suspense fiction but thoroughly enjoyed this book. Do you have another suspense novel in the works?

Laura Sims Thank you so much for reading and recommending Looker! I'm glad to hear you liked it even though you're usually critical of suspense fiction...I do have another novel in the works, and yes, I guess I'd classify it as suspenseful!! Though maybe not strictly "suspense fiction." Kind of like Looker in that way... Please stay tuned, and thanks again, Sonja!

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