Rebecca Hendricks is the author of the new novel Hard Dog's Night, a sequel to her novel Hound Dogged. She lives in Colorado.
Q: Hard Dog's Night is the second in your Hound Dogs series--did you know when you wrote the first book that it would be a series?
A: I originally wrote the first book when I was 14 and recently revisited it with the intention of rewriting it. At first, I had no plans to publish it, but as I worked on it, the story started to grow in ways I hadn’t expected.
That’s when I realized there was more to explore with these characters and their journeys, and the idea of turning it into a series naturally developed from there.
Q: What inspired the plot of Hard Dog’s Night?
A: The plot of Hard Dog's Night was inspired by the first book in the series. Since this is the second installment, many of the ideas and characters naturally evolved from where the story left off.
I wanted to explore the consequences of the events in the first book and how they impacted the characters, pushing their journeys further while introducing new challenges and dynamics.
Q: Do you think your characters have changed from one book to the next?
A: The Hard Dog’s Night series is a coming-of-age story that follows the tumultuous journey we all experience while growing up. The characters face various challenges, joys, and disappointments that shape them along the way. With each milestone, they grow stronger in their abilities, beliefs, and relationships, evolving into the resilient adults they’re destined to become.
Q: Did you need to do any research to write Hard Dog’s Night, and if so, did you learn anything that especially surprised you?
A: Because Hard Dog’s Night takes place in the 1950s, it required quite a bit of research. On the surface, the 1950s often appear as a carefree, harmonious time in American history, with images of bobby socks, soda shops, drive-in movies, and sock hops setting a romantic tone in popular culture.
However, the reality was more complex. The 1950s were a tumultuous period marked by segregation, the fear of communism, and the looming threat of nuclear war.
What surprised me the most was how the events of the 1950s set the stage for the upheavals of the 1960s. Young people were growing tired of the sugar-coated, “ho-hum” lifestyle and began seeking something new. Women were eager to break out of their traditional roles as housewives and mothers, and the arrival of rock 'n' roll helped ignite those changes.
Learning more about this era definitely helped me create a richer, more complex narrative.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’m currently working on the next installment of the Hound Dogs series, where the characters continue to grow and face increasingly difficult challenges as the rock 'n' roll conflict intensifies.
This tension also deeply affects The Dice, who must decide whether to adapt to the changing music scene or risk losing their shot at stardom. The story remains interwoven with the ongoing coming-of-age journeys and the evolving relationships between the characters.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: The core message of the series is to never give up and always believe in yourself. My hope is that readers will take away the importance of being kinder to others, giving themselves grace when things get tough, and remembering to take each challenge as it comes, one day at a time.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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