Goodreads asked Bill Lascher:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Bill Lascher When I was in my mid-twenties just starting my career as a professional journalist my grandmother was in the middle of a big move. As she cleared out years worth of her belongings, she found a closet full of material she'd nearly forgotten about. In the rush of memories that came to her, she thought about me and my passion for journalism. The next time I saw her she gave me a gift, a heavy, weather-beaten brown box with two metal latches. When I opened it, I discovered a portable typewriter, a 1930 Corona. My grandmother told me it used to belong to her cousin, the war correspondent, and she wanted me to have it. I was floored because I either didn't know she'd had a war correspondent cousin, or I'd forgotten. This cousin was Melville Jacoby, the subject of my book, Eve of a Hundred Midnights, and it was through talking about him with my grandmother over the ensuing years that I realized I needed to share his story with the rest of the world.

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