Todd asked Erica Ferencik:

Could you share a bit about your inspiration/motivation for your latest beautifully written novel - Into the Jungle? In particular, I believe I read that you have a background in comedy. Could you connect some of the dots from standup comedian to visceral thriller?

Erica Ferencik Hi Todd: First of all, thank you for your beautiful and insightful review of the book! My inspiration came from a friend of mine who actually lived much of this story - she, like Lily, was a foster kid who made her way to Bolivia, fell in love with a local man and followed him to his remote jungle village. She was 16 at the time and didn't come back to the states until she was 26. I conducted countless interviews with her and many other jungle experts, read books, watched movies, and spent a month in the Peruvian rainforest as research. Now, moving on to the next part of your question: my life as a comedian:)! Well, I'm 60, so that's a lot of years to do a lot of things, so from 25-25 I did standup in the Boston area. I was a frustrated novelist and screenwriter, in reality, so this was an outlet for me, but in the end, it just wasn't something I wanted to devote my life to. And actually, comedians are very dark people: try to think of a joke that's funny without a dark side: it's not easy:)

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