Goodreads asked Keith R. Fentonmiller:

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

Keith R. Fentonmiller I wrote a speculative fiction novel for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel competition in 2011 that revolved around a family curse stemming from the ancient theft of Hermes' wishing hat. That book, which was set in the present day, briefly described a black and white photo sitting on a main character's fireplace mantle. It was a photo of his grandfather, Kasper, from the 1930's. Kasper had been a Berlin hatmaker, and the photo depicted him wearing one of his whimsical creations. That image haunted me for a while. I wanted to explore how whimsy might have existed during the rise of Nazism. This inspired a tremendous amount of research into hatmaking and day to day life under Nazi rule. I learned that at the core of Nazi ideology was the creation of an idealized Aryan face to which the German people--the Volk--had to conform. Of course, certain people--Jews, blacks, Roma, homosexuals--could never conform. The Klaus character, the "Stealer of Faces," embodies this concept.

flag