Hank Garner's Blog, page 7

Author Stories Podcast Episode 819 | Kimmery Martin Interview

Today’s author interview guest is Kimmery Martin, author of The Antidote for Everything.

[image error] In this whip-smart and timely novel from acclaimed author Kimmery Martin, two doctors travel a surprising path when they must choose between treating their patients and keeping their jobs.

Georgia Brown’s profession as a urologist requires her to interact with plenty of naked men, but her romantic prospects have fizzled. The most important person in her life is her friend Jonah Tsukada, a funny, empathetic family medicine doctor who works at the same hospital in Charleston, South Carolina and who has become as close as family to her.

Just after Georgia leaves the country for a medical conference, Jonah shares startling news. The hospital is instructing doctors to stop providing medical care for transgender patients. Jonah, a gay man, is the first to be fired when he refuses to abandon his patients. Stunned by the predicament of her closest friend, Georgia’s natural instinct is to fight alongside him. But when her attempts to address the situation result in incalculable harm, both Georgia and Jonah find themselves facing the loss of much more than their careers.

Kimmery Martin won her first short story contest in the first grade, and was awarded a red stuffed elephant and publication in the school newspaper. Her writing career then suffered an unfortunate dry spell, finally broken with the publication of the enthralling journal article Lymphatic Mapping and Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy in the Staging of Melanoma, followed by the equally riveting sequel Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy for Pelvic Malignancies, both during medical school.

Conscious readers remained elusive, however, prompting her to wait another decade or so before trying again. This time, spurred on by a dubious but supportive husband and three constantly interfering children, she produced an entire novel. The Queen of Hearts, exploring the startling secrets in a friendship between a cardiologist and a trauma surgeon, became an instantly beloved classic amongst three of her friends. It was published by Penguin Random House in 2018 to considerable acclaim. Her next novel, The Antidote For Everything, will be published in February 2020.

When not writing, Kimmery spends her time mothering her slew of perfect children. She’s also occupied with poorly executed household chores, working as a physician, and serving on various non-profit boards in Charlotte, North Carolina. She exercises grudgingly, cooks inventively, reads voraciously, offers helpful book recommendations, interviews authors, publishes travel articles, and edits her son’s middle grade book reviews. Finally, she is a world-class Boggle champion, which most people find to be sexy beyond all description.

Author Stories Podcast Episode 818 | Dolly Alderton Interview

Today’s author interview guest is Dolly Alderton, author of Everything I Know About Love: A Memoir.

[image error]“There is no writer quite like Dolly Alderton working today and very soon the world will know it.”– Lisa Taddeo, author of #1 New York Times bestseller Three Women

“Dolly Alderton has always been a sparkling Roman candle of talent. She is funny, smart, and explosively engaged in the wonders and weirdness of the world. But what makes this memoir more than mere entertainment is the mature and sophisticated evolution that Alderton describes in these pages. It’s a beautifully told journey and a thoughtful, important book. I loved it.”–Elizabeth Gilbert, New York Times bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love and City of Girls



The wildly funny, occasionally heartbreaking internationally bestselling memoir about growing up, growing older, and learning to navigate friendships, jobs, loss, and love along the ride

When it comes to the trials and triumphs of becoming an adult, journalist and former Sunday Times columnist Dolly Alderton has seen and tried it all. In her memoir, she vividly recounts falling in love, finding a job, getting drunk, getting dumped, realizing that Ivan from the corner shop might just be the only reliable man in her life, and that absolutely no one can ever compare to her best girlfriends. Everything I Know About Love is about bad dates, good friends and—above all else— realizing that you are enough.

Glittering with wit and insight, heart and humor, Dolly Alderton’s unforgettable debut weaves together personal stories, satirical observations, a series of lists, recipes, and other vignettes that will strike a chord of recognition with women of every age—making you want to pick up the phone and tell your best friends all about it. Like Bridget Jones’ Diary but all true, Everything I Know About Love is about the struggles of early adulthood in all its terrifying and hopeful uncertainty.

About Dolly Alderton:

Hello! I’m Dolly Alderton – an author, journalist and podcast host. I used to write these About sections in the third person, to imply that a mystery narrator was observing all these things about me from afar, but I’ve decided to abandon that form in this iteration of my website oeuvre.

So, I’ll try to keep this brief. I am the author of the Sunday Times best-selling memoir Everything I Know About Love, published by Fig Tree/Penguin. It won a National Book Award, was nominated for Waterstones Book Of The Year and a British Book Award and has been translated into 20 languages. I am currently writing my second book for Fig Tree, a novel called Ghosts, which will be published in October 2020.

I have also been a freelance journalist for the best part of a decade, writing features, interviews and columns for a range of magazines and papers such as The Sunday Times, The Telegraph, GQ, The New Statesman, Red, Marie Claire, Marie Claire Australia, Esquire, Grazia, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Stylist, ES Magazine, The Evening Standard, Spectator, Man Repeller, Vice, and Elle. From 2015-2017 I wrote a weekly dating column for The Sunday Times Style. Since September 2018 I have written a general column for The Sunday Times Style. In 2019 I was shortlisted for a BSME award for columnist of the year. I also regularly contribute interviews and features for the magazine. In 2014, I came third place in The Telegraph’s Cassandra Jardine Memorial Prize for young women journalists with my piece on my love of Desert Island Discs.

Alongside Pandora Sykes, I am the co-host and co-creator of The High Low, a current affairs and pop culture discussion show and Britain’s leading women’s podcast. The High Low began in February 2017 and now reaches an average of 250,000 weekly listeners and one million downloads a month.

To mark the publication of Everything I Know About Love, I created and hosted a podcast mini-series called Love Stories, in which I talked to guests about their most defining relationships. All 18 episodes, including conversations with Vanessa Kirby, Stanley Tucci, Lilly Allen and Sharon Horgan, are available to listen to online.

In 2018-2019, I went on a 22-date tour called Everything I Know About Love Live, produced by Fane Productions. In the show, writer Lauren Bensted and I were in conversation on topics relating to the themes of the book. The opening night of the second leg of the tour was at a sold-out Palladium, where we like to think we made theatre history when the bar completely ran out of white wine. In autumn, Fane Productions produced The High Low’s first tour The High Low Experience.

I also write for TV. I currently have two scripts in development – the TV adaptation of Everything I Know About Love with Working Title TV and a comedy drama with Tiger Aspect.

Before I became a full-time freelance writer in 2015, I worked full-time in TV. My first job in 2011 was as the Story Producer for series 2-5 of The BAFTA-winning Made in Chelsea, made by Monkey Kingdom. I then worked in structured reality, comedy and entertainment development at Monkey Kingdom and drama development at Objective Productions for three years. I was script assistant on the final series of E4’s Fresh Meat and directed all the behind-the-scenes online videos for the last series of Fresh Meat and the last series of Channel 4’s Peep Show. ​

In 2015, my first short film Anna, Island – co-written and co-directed with Lauren Bensted produced by Ben Woodsmith and starring Sia Berkeley, Harry Michell, Jessie Cave, and Alfie Brown – was accepted to The London Short Film Festival. Prior to that, we also made The Confluence; a short documentary film about two friends who swim around Tagg’s Island – a little known haven in The Thames. Both can be watched in the film section of this site.

From 2016-2018, I wrote a weekly newsletter, The Dolly Mail. It featured a piece written by me at the top and a guest piece by a writer whose work I love. It gained just under 10,000 subscribers. You can still read the archive of all the early newsletters here and later ones can be read here.

In 2019, I was honoured to be a judge for The Women’s Prize For Fiction – you can read more about the prize, long-list, short-list and winner here. I have been featured on Forbes’ 2018 30 Under 30 List, The Elle List and The Evening Standard’s Progress 1000 in 2018 and 2019. My proudest moment, however, was finally being featured on The Rod Stewart official fan-club site.

Author Stories Podcast Episode 817 | Heather Chavez Interview

Today’s author interview guest is Heather Chavez, author of the new thriller No Bad Deed.

[image error] “A twisty , jet-fueled thriller… Don’t miss it!” – L isa Gardner

Packed with the electrifying pacing and pulse-pounding suspense of Harlan Coben and Lisa Gardner, a thrilling debut about a mother desperate to find the connections between her missing husband and a deadly stalker who knows too much about her own dark family history.

Driving home one rainy night, Cassie Larkin sees a man and woman fighting on the side of the road. After calling 911, the veterinarian makes a split-second decision that will throw her sedate suburban life into chaos. Against all reason and advice, she gets out of her minivan and chases after the violent man, trying to help his victim. When Cassie physically tries to stop him, he suddenly turns on her and spits out an ominous threat: “Let her die, and I’ll let you live.”

A veterinarian trained to heal, Cassie can’t let the woman die. But while she’s examining the unconscious victim, the attacker steals her car. Now he has her name. Her address. And he knows about her children. Though they warn her to be careful, the police assure her that the perpetrator—a criminal named Carver Sweet—won’t get near her. Cassie isn’t so sure.

The next day—Halloween—her husband disappears while trick-or-treating with their six-year-old daughter. Are these disturbing events a coincidence or the beginning of a horrifying nightmare? Her husband has been growing distant—is it possible he’s become involved with another woman? Is Cassie’s confrontation with the road-side attacker connected to her husband’s disappearance? With all these questions swirling in her mind Cassie can trust no one, maybe not even herself. The only thing she knows for sure is that she can’t sit back while the people she loves are in danger.

As she desperately searches for answers, Cassie discovers that nothing is as random as it seems, and that she is more than willing to fight—to go the most terrifying extremes—to save her family and her marriage.

Heather Chavez is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley’s English literature program and has worked as a newspaper reporter, editor and contributor to mystery and television blogs. Currently, she’s employed in public affairs for a major health care organization where she writes human interest stories. She lives with her family in Santa Rosa, California, and is at work on her second novel.

Author Stories Podcast Episode 816 | Lee Matalone Interview

Today’s author interview guest is Lee Matlone, author of Home Making: A Novel.

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The Millions Most Anticipated Books in February

“An intricate exploration of family and home, of mother and child, of friends, of women and written with both precision and style.”—Weike Wang, author of Chemistry

From a talented, powerful new voice in fiction comes a stunning novel about the intersection of three lives coming to grips with identity, family legacy, and what it means to make a house a true home.

Cybil is a war child—the result of a brief affair between a young Japanese woman and a French soldier—who at a young age is transplanted to Tucson, Arizona, and raised by an American officer and his rigid wife. After a rebellious adolescence, she grows up to become a successful ob-gyn.

Chloe, Cybil’s daughter, is adrift in an empty house in the hills of Virginia. Her marriage has fallen apart, and her estranged husband is dying of cancer. Room by room, Chloe makes her new house into a home, grappling always with the real and imagined boundaries that limit her as a single, childless woman in contemporary America.

Beau, Chloe’s closest friend, is in love with a man he’s only met on the internet, who lives across the country. Shepherding Chloe through her grief, he is often called back to his loud, humid, chaotic childhood in Southwest Louisiana, where he first reckoned with the intricate ties between queerness, loneliness, and place.

Through each of these characters Matalone weaves a moving, beautiful narrative of home, identity, and belonging. Home Making is a somber, yet hopeful, ode to the stories we tell ourselves in order to make a family.

Lee Matalone writes about death and loss for The Rumpus. Her fiction has been featured in the The Offing, Denver Quarterly Review, Hobart, Joyland, Jellyfish Review, Nat. Brut, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, the Austin Review, and Cosmonauts Avenue. Her essays and reporting have appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books, the National, and Flavorwire, among others. She has been a contributor to the Tin House, Bread Loaf, and Sewanee writers conferences, and has been awarded residencies at the Arctic Circle program, Pocoapoco and Art Farm. Home Making is her first novel. She lives in South Carolina where she is a lecturer at Clemson University.

Author Stories Podcast Episode 815 | Nan Rossiter Interview

Today’s author interview guest is Nan Rossiter, author of Promises of the Heart: A Novel (Savannah Skies Book 1).

[image error]The first novel in a new series from bestselling author Nan Rossiter tells the moving story of a couple struggling to start a family and the young foster girl with a heart condition who changes their lives forever.

“A multi-leveled, beautifully written story that will glow in readers’ hearts long after the last page is turned.”—Kristan Higgins, New York Times bestselling author

Can the course that they’ve set for the future handle a slight detour…?

Macey and Ben Samuelson have much to be thankful for: great friends, a beautiful—if high-maintenance—Victorian house on idyllic Tybee Island, and a rock-solid marriage. The only thing missing is what they want the most. After her fifth miscarriage in six years, Macey worries that the family they’ve always dreamed of might be out of reach. Her sister suggests adoption, but Macey and Ben aren’t interested in pursuing that path…until a three-legged Golden Retriever named Keeper wags his way into their home and their hearts.

Harper Wheaton just got kicked out of another foster home and it won’t be the last if she keeps losing her temper. She’s not sure why she gets mad; maybe because no family seems to want a nine-year-old girl with a heart condition. She loves her social worker, Cora, but knows that staying with her forever isn’t an option. Will she ever find a family to call her own?

As a physician’s assistant, Macey meets lots of kids. Harper Wheaton’s a tough one, but Macey knows the little girl has already struggled more than most. It gets Macey and Ben to thinking about all the children who need homes. Then Harper goes missing, and one thing is suddenly crystal clear: life is complicated—but love doesn’t have to be.

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Nan Rossiter grew up in Pelham, New York. Some of her earliest memories include riding a green Stingray bike–complete with a banana seat and sissy bar–to the Pelham Library which, at the time, was a tiny cave like space tucked beneath Hutchinson Elementary School. It was from the shelves of this library that Nan first discovered the magic of books. Some of her favorite characters included Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and Harriet the Spy. Nan later moved with her parents to a quiet country road in Barkhamsted, Connecticut and went on to graduate from Rhode Island School of Design. After freelancing for several years, she began writing and illustrating books for children, including RUGBY & ROSIE (Dutton Children’s Books), winner of Nebraska’s Golden Sower Award, and THE FO’C’SLE: Henry Beston’s Outermost House (David R. Godine). In recent years, Nan has turned her attention to writing contemporary fiction. Her books have been highly acclaimed by reviewers from Publisher’s Weekly to Booklist. Her seventh novel, SUMMER DANCE was the 2018 winner of the Nancy Pearl Book Award, and her newest novel, PROMISES OF THE HEART, will be released by Harper Perennial in February, 2020. 

Nan continues to live on a quiet country road in Connecticut with her amazingly supportive husband and a noble black Lab named Finn who diligently watches her every move and can be roused from a nap in a distant room by the sound of a banana being peeled or a cookie crumb hitting the floor. Finn also finds writing to be a humdrum pastime and makes sure Nan doesn’t spend too much time doing it, insisting on two long walks a day, no matter what the weather. Nan and her husband are the parents of two handsome sons who have struck out on life journeys of their own, and after college, have decided to pursue careers in aviation. Lastly, Nan is a member of P.E.O. International and she hopes her P.E.O. sisters–and other new readers–will find her books to always include the threads of faith and family.

For more information, please visit http://www.nanrossiter.com/

on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/NanRossiter/

on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nanrossiter/

on Twitter https://twitter.com/NanRossiter

or at BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/profile/nan-r...

Author Stories Podcast Episode 814 | Alexandra Monir Interview

Today’s author interview guest is Alexandra Monir, author of The Life Below.

[image error] Perfect for fans of The Illuminae Files and The 100, in this heart-racing sequel to The Final Six the teen astronauts must figure out the truth about Europa before it’s too late.

It was hard enough for Naomi to leave Leo, a fellow Final Six contestant, behind on a dying Earth. Now she doesn’t know who to trust.

The International Space Training Camp continues to dodge every question about its past failed mission, and Naomi is suspicious that not everything is as it seems on her own mission to Europa. With just one shot at Jupiter’s moon, Naomi is determined to find out if there is dangerous alien life on Europa before she and her crew get there.

Leo, back on Earth, has been working with renegade scientist Dr. Greta Wagner, who promises to fly him to space where he can dock with Naomi’s ship. And if Wagner’s hypothesis is right, it isn’t a possibility of coming in contact with extraterrestrial life on Europa—it’s a definite, and it’s up to Leo to find and warn Naomi and the crew.

With questions piling up, everything gets more dangerous the closer that the mission gets to Europa. A storm threatens to interfere with Leo’s takeoff, a deadly entity makes itself known to the Final Six, and all questions the ISTC has been avoiding about the previous mission get answered in a terrifying way.

If the dream was to establish a new world for humans on Europa…the Final Six are about to enter a nightmare.

Alexandra Monir, Iranian-American author and recording artist, has published five novels for young adults, including her popular debut, Timeless. A Barnes & Noble best-seller and one of Amazon’s “Best Books of the Month,” Timeless and its sequel, Timekeeper, have been featured in numerous media outlets and been published in different countries around the world. She followed the duology with Suspicion and The Girl in the Picture, both standalone YA thrillers. Her upcoming science fiction novel, THE FINAL SIX (March 6, 2018) was acquired by HarperCollins and Sony Pictures during the same week, in two major pre-emptive deals.

Alexandra is also a singer/songwriter who often integrates music into her books’ pages. She wrote and recorded three original songs to accompany Timeless and Timekeeper, which were released as the album “The Timeless EP” and distributed by Jimmy Buffett’s record label, Mailboat Records. She also recorded a song that was released with the publication of Suspicion, and is composing a stage musical geared toward Broadway. Her musical roots are deep, as she is the granddaughter of the late Monir Vakili, the foremost Iranian opera singer.

Alexandra Monir is a frequent speaker at middle schools and high schools across the country, and at major events including fan conventions, women’s leadership conferences, and book festivals. She is a member of the Iranian American Women Foundation, an organization near to her heart. Alexandra currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband and newborn son. To learn more about Alexandra, visit her online at www.alexandramonir.com.

Feisty Heroines Romance Collection of Shorts: Paranormal-Contemporary-Fantasy-Historical

Author Stories Podcast Episode 813 | Lori Rader-Day Returns With The Lucky One

Today’s author interview guest is Lori Rader-Day. Lori returns to the show today to talk about writing crime fiction and her new book The Lucky One.

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“This might well be my favorite Rader-Day so far: a brilliant premise intriguingly developed, totally believable characters and a climax that took my breath away.”  — Ann Cleeves, New York Times bestselling author of The Shetland and Vera Series  

From the author of the Edgar Award®-nominated Under A Dark Sky comes an unforgettable, chilling novel about a young woman who recognizes the man who kidnapped her as a child, setting off a search for justice, and into danger.

Most people who go missing are never found. But Alice was the lucky one…

As a child, Alice was stolen from her backyard in a tiny Indiana community, but against the odds, her policeman father tracked her down within twenty-four hours and rescued her from harm. In the aftermath of the crime, her family decided to move to Chicago and close the door on that horrible day.

Yet Alice hasn’t forgotten. She devotes her spare time volunteering for a website called The Doe Pages scrolling through pages upon pages of unidentified people, searching for clues that could help reunite families with their missing loved ones. When a face appears on Alice’s screen that she recognizes, she’s stunned to realize it’s the same man who kidnapped her decades ago. The post is deleted as quickly as it appeared, leaving Alice with more questions than answers.

Embarking on a search for the truth, she enlists the help of friends from The Doe Pages to connect the dots and find her kidnapper before he hurts someone else. Then Alice crosses paths with Merrily Cruz, another woman who’s been hunting for answers of her own. Together, they begin to unravel a dark, painful web of lies that will change what they thought they knew—and could cost them everything.

Twisting and compulsively readable, The Lucky One explores the lies we tell ourselves to feel safe.

Lori Rader-Day is the acclaimed author of five mystery novels and national president-elect of Sisters in Crime. She won Anthony and Lovey Awards for her 2014 debut thriller, The Black Hour, and is a three-time Mary Higgins Clark Award nominee, winning in 2016 for Little Pretty Things. Her first novel with William Morrow, The Day I Died, won the 2018 Illinois Woman’s Press Association Mate E. Palmer Professional Communications Contest in fiction and was a finalist for the 2018 Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year and the International Thriller Writers (ITW) Thriller Award. Most recently, her locked-room mystery Under a Dark Sky was nominated for Edgar®, Lefty, and Anthony Awards.

Author Stories Podcast Episode 812 | Sarah Pinborough Returns With Dead To Her

Today’s author interview guest is Sarah Pinborough, who returns to talk about her new book Dead To Her.

[image error] For fans of Liane Moriarty, Liv Constantine and Lisa Jewell, a twisty psychological thriller about a savvy second wife who will do almost anything to come out on top from the New York Times bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes.

Marriage can be murder…

SOMETHING OLD

Marcie’s affair with Jason Maddox catapulted her into the world of the elite.

Old money, old ties, old secrets. Marcie may have married into this world—

but she’ll never be part of it.

 

SOMETHING NEW

Then Jason’s boss brings back a new wife from his trip to London.

Young, attractive, reckless—nobody can take their eyes off Keisha.

Including Marcie’s husband.

SOMETHING YOU CAN NEVER, EVER UNDO…

Some people would kill for the life Marcie has—what will she do to keep it?

Sarah Pinborough is the author of more than twenty novels and novellas, including Behind Her Eyes, which was a New York Times and number-one Sunday Times bestseller; Sunday Times bestseller Cross Her Heart, The Death House, and the YA thriller 13 Minutes, and more than twenty novels and novellas. She has also written for the BBC. Behind Her Eyes is currently filming in London for a Netflix 6-part series from Left Bank Pictures (Outlander, The Crown, Wallander). Cross Her Heart is being developed by ITV, and 13 Minutes is being adapted by Josh Schwartz (Gossip Girl, The O.C.) for Netflix. Sarah lives in England.

Author Stories Podcast Episode 811 | Scott Carson Interview

Today’s author interview guest is Scott Carson (pen name for New York Times bestselling author Michael Koryta) joins us to talk about his new horror/suspense novel The Chill.

[image error] “Wow! This is one terrific horror/suspense/disaster novel. Characters you root for and a story that grips from the first page.” —Stephen King, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Institute

“Horror has a new name and it’s Scott Carson. The Chill is an eerie dive into the murky depths of the supernatural. A story that has you looking back over your shoulder on every page.” —Michael Connelly, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Night Fire

“A creepy tale of supernatural terror.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

In this terrifying thriller, a supernatural force—set in motion a century ago—threatens to devastate New York City.

Far upstate, in New York’s ancient forests, a drowned village lays beneath the dark, still waters of the Chilewaukee reservoir. Early in the 20th century, the town was destroyed for the greater good: bringing water to the millions living downstate. Or at least that’s what the politicians from Manhattan insisted at the time. The local families, settled there since America’s founding, were forced from their land, but they didn’t move far, and some didn’t move at all…

Now, a century later, the repercussions of human arrogance are finally making themselves known. An inspector assigned to oversee the dam, dangerously neglected for decades, witnesses something inexplicable. It turns out that more than the village was left behind in the waters of the Chill when it was abandoned. The townspeople didn’t evacuate without a fight. A dark prophecy remained, too, and the time has come for it to be fulfilled. Those who remember must ask themselves: who will be next? For sacrifices must be made. And as the dark waters begin to inexorably rise, the demand for a fresh sacrifice emerges from the deep…

Scott Carson is the pen name for a New York Times bestselling author and screenwriter. He lives in New England—just above a dam.

THE CHILL is my first foray into the supernatural territory of THE RIDGE and SO COLD THE RIVER in – this is hard to believe – nearly a decade.

I think it’s worth purchasing because it has a beautiful cover and, for the first time in my career, it has some pictures on the inside, too!

Savvy readers might detect something unique about THE CHILL compared to the rest of my work, which is that my name isn’t on the cover. Baffled? Me, too. Let’s dive into some FAQ’s to see what we can figure out. Starting with…

Why are you using a pseudonym?

A few reasons. To have fun with you, most of all. I’ll enjoy seeing who is paying attention!

I feel like most writers secretly desire another identity. Why pass on the chance to blame someone else for your typos? Many of my literary heroes have written under multiple names, and most of them seem to have had some fun with it.

It’s also the fulfillment of a lifelong fantasy: having a name that could be spelled and pronounced.

What type of book does Scott Carson write?

Scott Carson is going to handle the supernatural stories for me. This lets me sleep better at night. And because, as noted, it has been nearly a decade since I dipped my toe into the dark side, so I figured it would be worthwhile to hand the ghost stories off to another name, thus cleansing myself of their curses. (If you think novels about assassins or cold cases or forest fires threatening children on the run qualify as “the dark side” then you disappoint me.)

Why did you pick the name Scott Carson?

Because Scott(y) Carson is one of my favorite figures of film and literature, the scout who signed Roy Hobbs in THE NATURAL, but never appears on the screen. He is trusted by both Pop Fisher (good) and the Judge (evil.) Which one of them was right to trust him? What are his motives? Was he the dumbest baseball scout in history, somehow failing to observe that Roy Hobbs hits every third pitch into the grandstands? Or was he secretly undermining the Judge to help Pop Fisher? These are big questions, people. They matter. I’m open to your opinions. If we can agree on nothing else in 2020, perhaps we can reach a consensus about the intentions and intelligence of the chief scout of the New York Knights.

Why does Scott Carson’s bio say he lives in New England?

When a lifelong Colts fan sets out to write about the darkest horrors in our world, what’s the first place that comes to mind?

Scott spends his time in Maine. Not in Foxboro, Massachusetts. Just want to be real clear on that.

Will I see Scott Carson again?

Damn straight. He’s already pondering another story that he hopes will keep you awake into the night.

Why are you telling us about your secret new identity, instead of keeping it an actual secret?

Because I do not want to have to work for a living. Real jobs terrify me. I would much rather make things up. I can’t do this without you. I thank you. My dog thanks you. My cat…well, he’s never been big on gratitude. But you get the idea.

If you’ve read and enjoyed my books before, I am truly more grateful than you’ll ever know. It’s a special privilege to share stories and characters with people who enjoy them, and it seems rather ungrateful to hide new stories from those who’d like to read them!

I hope THE CHILL is one of these stories for you.

Author Stories Podcast Episode 810 | Roxanna Elden Interview

Today’s author interview guest is Roxanna Elden, author of the hilarious insiders look at school life Adequate Yearly Progress: A Novel.

[image error] A debut novel told with humor, intelligence, and heart, a “funny but insightful look at teachers in the workplace…reminiscent of the TV show The Office but set in an urban high school” (The Washington Post), perfect for fans of Tom Perrotta and Laurie Gelman.

Roxanna Elden’s “laugh-out-loud funny satire” (Forbes) is a brilliantly entertaining and moving look at our education system.

Each new school year brings familiar challenges to Brae Hill Valley, a struggling high school in one the biggest cities in Texas. But the teachers also face plenty of personal challenges and this year, they may finally spill over into the classroom.

English teacher Lena Wright, a spoken-word poet, can never seem to truly connect with her students. Hernan D. Hernandez is confident in front of his biology classes, but tongue-tied around the woman he most wants to impress. Down the hall, math teacher Maybelline Galang focuses on the numbers as she struggles to parent her daughter, while Coach Ray hustles his troubled football team toward another winning season. Recording it all is idealistic second-year history teacher Kaytee Mahoney, whose anonymous blog gains new readers by the day as it drifts ever further from her in-class reality. And this year, a new superintendent is determined to leave his own mark on the school—even if that means shutting the whole place down.

Roxanna Elden is the author, most recently, of Adequate Yearly Progress: A Novel.

A teacher of writing and writer of teaching, she combines eleven years of experience as a public school teacher with a decade of speaking about education issues. Her first book, See Me After Class, is a staple in school districts and educator training programs throughout the country, and her work has been featured on NPR as well as in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Atlantic, Education Week, and many other outlets.

She also teaches creative workshops in collaboration with the Miami Book Fair.

She is at her best after two cups of coffee.