Q&A with F.T. Lukens

  

 

 

F.T. Lukens is the author of the new young adult novel The Last Best Quest Ever. Their other books include Love at Second Sight. They live in North Carolina. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Last Best Quest Ever, and how did you create your character Ellinore?

 

A: I had written a string of contemporary fantasies and wanted to return to fantasy realms like the ones I’d written in So This is Ever After and In Deeper Waters. That was the starting point for The Last Best Quest Ever.

 

I had also read several novels that had dragons as characters and realized I had never written a dragon despite loving them. And once I had dragons, I knew the world would need to be populated with other fantasy creatures and that’s how the world building began.

 

After I had the initial setting and world mechanics, I thought about who would be a good character to have the story center around. I wanted the plot to be quest based, but I didn’t want the dragon to be the subject of the quest or really a main character.

 

After a bit of brainstorming, I decided there was nothing more comedic than a character who had to bluff their way through some kind of situation (a convention which is pretty much a rom-com staple) and thus Ellinore was created—a decorated adventurer who had basically lied about their accomplishments but had to actually complete a life-or-death quest while under the scrutiny of other questers. The ultimate “fake it till you make it” story.

 

Q: The School Library Journal review of the novel calls it a “witty fantasy adventure that deconstructs heroic legend while celebrating found family and queer romance...” What do you think of that description?

A: That description is fairly spot on, though I don’t think of myself as “witty.” I’m glad the reviewer did, though!

 

I just really like playing around with trope expectations and pushing situations toward the absurd while ensuring the underlying theme remains consistent throughout the narrative.

 

Also, anyone who has read my other books know that I always include queer romance and some type of found family.

 

Q: How did you create the world in which the novel is set?

A: I think of myself as a “what if” type of creator. Like “what if the dragon is the main character’s best friend?” and then tease out details from that point.

 

For this book, the large set pieces are fantasy staples—castles, small towns, haunted forests, etc. The finer details all stem from what allows the plot to work—like the tiers of magical creatures, why history has been lost, what allowed Ellinore to get away with her not-quite-truthful version of events for so long, why is that faery so murderous and so on.

 

Worldbuilding for each book is different based on where the spark of the initial idea comes from. For this one, I started with the larger picture, then built inward toward the finer details.

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?

A: There are a few messages in there if a reader wants to look, but I always say first and foremost that I hope readers have a good time and are entertained.

 

I hope readers can find comfort in the found family and queer romance, especially as we are living in stressful times.

 

Beyond that, there is discussion of imposter syndrome and living up to others’ expectations, environmental conservation, and how difficult it can be, but the importance of the truth, just in general but also in relationships and in media.

Q: What are you working on now?

A: I just turned in my next YA novel called Chaos Ensues, which was announced last year. I’m awaiting edits and I’m working on a pitch and first few chapters of another project.

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: A fun tidbit, I named Dave the dragon after my friend’s cat.

 

Signed copies of The Last Best Quest Ever are available via Fable Hollow Bookstore in Knoxville and Malaprop's Bookstore in Asheville.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with F.T. Lukens. 

Q&A with Fredrick E. Vars

  

 

Photo courtesy of the University of Alabama

 

 

Fredrick E. Vars is the author of the new book Through the Fire: How People with Mental Illness Are Empowering Each Other. He is also the co-author of the book Weapon of Choice. He is the Robert W. Hodgkins Chairholder of Law at the University of Alabama School of Law, and he lives in Birmingham, Alabama.

Q: What inspired you to write Through the Fire?

 

A: I had been teaching mental health law for many years and wanted to step back and survey the system more broadly. 

 

I started with my own journey, including two psychiatric hospitalizations eventually leading to law reform in five states, when I quickly discovered the peer movement. 

 

I was shocked to learn that there are many more peer-run organizations providing mental health services in this country than traditional non-peer organizations.  That's when the subtitle and plan for the book emerged: "How People With Mental Illness Are Empowering Each Other."

 

I hope that inspiring stories about people with mental illness working within the system and working to make the system better might counter negative stereotypes and might suggest evidence-based policy reforms.

 

Q: What do you see as the role of peer support in helping people with mental illness?

 

A: One of the 50 peers I interviewed for the book defined "recovery" as "living the life you choose." That is the operating principle of peer support. Peer support therefore starts with questions: "What do you need?" "What do you want?" There is no limit. 

 

One peer who worked in housing explained: "If you tell me you want to live in a Park Avenue condominium, I'll try to help you get one." "If you need me to translate a notice from the gas company into Spanish, I'll do that." And when a client (who had initially been racist toward him) requested that the peer visit her on her deathbed, he did not hesitate.

 

Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

 

A: I described the book to about 10 college friends and collected suggestions. No winners, but some great ideas! As mentioned above, I think the subtitle emerged relatively quickly. 

 

"Through the Fire" is part of an Oscar Wilde quotation: "They have been through the fire, and what fire does not destroy, it hardens." The idea, of course, is that lived experience builds strength, but also empathy and the capacity to help others.

 

Q: What impact did it have on you to write this book, and what do you hope readers take away from it?

 

A: I intersperse some of my own experiences throughout the book, so writing about them helped me put them in context. If just one or two things had been different in my life, I know my outcomes would have been much worse. I am now even more thankful of the layers of privilege that kept me from homelessness, jail, or death.

 

But the biggest takeaway for me is awe and respect for my interviewees. They survived some of the most difficult circumstances imaginable and instead of running away, ran right back into the fire, and started pulling other people out. I hope telling their stories will debunk stereotypes about people with mental illness and inspire action.

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am working on three scholarly projects: two related to firearm policy and one criticizing the practice of arresting people for misconduct on psych wards.

 

Q:  Anything else we should know?

 

A: I experienced my third psychiatric hospitalization while writing this book. It was particularly traumatic and underscored so many of the themes in the book. As a result, I wrote an entirely unexpected epilogue. 

 

The one point I want to emphasize is that involuntary, coerced treatment imposes greater harm than anyone who hasn't experienced it can appreciate. Make a list of everything that should be tried before resorting to forced treatment. Now double or triple the list. Bolster community care, of course, but add housing, education, and employment interventions. 

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with Christian B. Miller

  

 

 

Christian B. Miller is the author of the new book The Honesty Crisis: Preserving Our Most Treasured Virtue in an Increasingly Dishonest World. His other books include Honesty: The Philosophy and Psychology of a Neglected Virtue. He is the A.C. Reid Professor of Philosophy at Wake Forest University. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Honesty Crisis?

 

A: I had three things that motivated me at the same time.

 

One was that I noticed writers didn’t seem to be paying enough attention to honesty. In my own field of philosophy, for instance, I found only a couple of articles written in the span of 50 years!

 

At the same time, it seemed to me (and still does) that honesty is tremendously important, and that at some level most of us recognize this fact. Indeed the subtitle of the book says that honesty is our most treasured virtue, and there is some data to back that up.

 

Yet sadly – and this is the third motivation for the book – it became apparent to me that honesty was (and is) under attack, eroding at an alarming rate in multiple areas of society all at once. If we don’t do something to stop this erosion, we are all going to be much worse off.

 

Q: You’ve written about honesty before--what has compelled you to explore this topic?

 

A: Prior to my work on honesty, I lead a huge research project on character, and wrote several books and 30+ articles on the topic. After a while, though, I got a bit tired of that topic, as I felt like I had said everything I could say about it.

 

So I was looking for something fresh but not completely unrelated to character. That’s when I started thinking about what might be called “neglected virtues.” They are neglected in the sense that academics were not writing on them. They are neglected also in the sense that they are rarely possessed in society in general.

 

Virtues like generosity, practical wisdom, and patience all fit this description. But so too did honesty. And I wanted to do what I could to try to get more people – both my fellow academics and non-academics too – to pay a lot more attention to this especially neglected virtue that, it seemed to me, was and still is gradually eroding in our society.

 

Q: What are some of the factors that have made society “increasingly dishonest,” as your subtitle says, and do you see any hope for the future?

 

A: In the book, I focus on six different honesty crises having to do with AI student cheating, sermon plagiarism, celebrity and dishonesty, deepfakes, political misinformation, and Internet infidelity.

 

If there is one factor that runs throughout these crises, it is the role of technology in facilitating greater opportunities for dishonest behavior that is harder to detect.

 

For instance, student cheating has been around forever, and we already had one honesty crisis with the Internet and the ability of students to extract material from websites for their use without citation. But now we are all keenly aware of the most recent honesty crisis surrounding AI student cheating.

 

As far as hope goes, I think it depends. For some of these crises, I honestly do not see much hope.

 

The student cheating case is one of them. It is so easy to use an AI now to improve a student paper, and to do so in a way that minimizes the risk of detection. When such a resource is so powerful and easy to use, I fear the temptation will be too much.

 

In other areas, though, I am a bit more hopeful. For instance, there is good momentum at the moment to push back against the creation and distribution of harmful deepfake videos, especially pornographic ones. Here legal interventions can be especially impactful.

 

So I can’t give a simple answer to the hope question. It’s a mixed bag for me.

 

Q: How did you research the book, and did you learn anything that especially surprised you?

 

A: I already had a lot of the conceptual framework for thinking about honesty worked out in my head, and actually published that framework in a prior academic book which came out in 2021.

 

The research I had to do for The Honesty Crisis was mostly empirical. I consulted studies on lying behavior, on pornography, on political misinformation, on student cheating, and on a dozen of other topics as well.

 

In every case, I learned something that surprised me. For example, in chapter two I talk about research which finds that most people don’t lie most of the time, and it is only a handful of people who are responsible for most of the lying that happens in society today.

 

And in the chapter on politics, I looked at cutting-edge work on how social media can take people out of an accuracy mindset and make them much more likely to share political misinformation, even when they wouldn’t ordinarily think it is true.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I have been working a bit on some other virtues that academics have not been paying much attention to, like generosity, patience, and practical wisdom.

 

But in the coming years I think I will be shifting my focus more and more to topics concerning religion and morality, including whether morality comes from a higher power and whether religion tends to be good for us.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: If you are interested in a more general discussion of character and of how good or bad most people are today, then I’d encourage you to check out my first book for a general audience, The Character Gap: How Good Are We?. It is where I first got to explore writing for people other than my fellow academics!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with Ela Thier

  

Photo by Uri Thier

 

 

Ela Thier is the author of the new memoir How to Fail As an Artist, My Best Tips. She is also a filmmaker and actor, and she founded The Independent Film School. She is based in New York.

 

Q: What inspired you to write How to Fail As an Artist?

 

A: Twenty-five years ago, after spending 12 weeks working through The Artist’s Way, I kept thinking “I want to write my version of this book!” Twenty years later I read Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert and I had the same thought: “I want to write my version of this book!”

 

I picked up Big Magic when I was in a funk, feeling utterly defeated and depressed about my career. I felt dried up, blocked, and hopeless. Any writer (or any artist) knows that these slumps are part of the journey. They come and go. They’re nothing to really worry about, they’re just really uncomfortable when they happen.

 

I always know that it’s a “cocoon phase” and that something really interesting will emerge from it. It’s my brain saying: time to grow. Take your time figuring out what growth looks like. You can’t rush it.

 

It was during my time in that very uncomfortable cocooning phase that I listened to Big Magic, and even before I was done listening to it, I picked up my laptop and randomly wrote chapter 1. Before I went to sleep, I was writing chapter 2.

 

What emerged on the page was a memoir spanning five decades as an artist, that doubles as a pep talk for all creatives.

 

Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

 

A: I have no recollection of coming up with that title. It might have been the first thing I wrote, or I might have come up with it 30 chapters in. I really have no idea. At some point, it’s what I named the Google doc I was working in, and it stuck. It’s always been called that, and I can’t imagine this book being called anything else.

 

Q: In your book, you describe the concept of “Mr. Stop”--what role has it played in your life?

 

A: I can spend all day pointing fingers at clueless industry gatekeepers (and/or industry decision makers who despite the recommendations of gatekeepers) who stalled or slowed down my career. And I wouldn’t be wrong. I’ve gotten more pass letters than I could fit in a mac truck.

 

From not getting a speaking part in a high school play, to pass letter number 985 from Sundance, where my (amaaazing!) film was turned this year. It’s been over 40 years of walking down a path carpeted with pass letters.

 

While all that does, in very concrete ways, keep me from the resources needed to create work, the worst part of it isn’t the deprivation of opportunities. The worst part is absorbing it under your skin, even if you don’t realize that you absorb it.

 

Living in a society that dismisses the arts as a trivial extracurricular; that doesn’t fund artists; a society in which there is an entire profession designed to do nothing other than criticize someone’s creative work – it penetrates deep without your awareness until the gatekeeper is no longer something that sends you pass letters. The gatekeeper lives in your own head.

 

In my book, “Mr. Stop” is what I playfully name my inner critic, as I flow in and out of writing my memoir, to writing about what it’s like to try and write a memoir – or write anything.

 

It was a cool but unexpected ploy: Instead of letting Mr. Stop keep me from writing the book, or slow me down, I turned my inner critic into a co-writer, as I fully exposed what those inner dialogues feel like – what it’s like to try and get a single word down, while a voice in your head tells you that this very sentence is a run-on sentence and you really should quit writing (as it did just now!).

 

Q: What impact did it have on you to write this book, and what do you hope readers take away from it?

 

A: The book pushed me from a stage of cocooning to busting out as a butterfly. Since then I wrote several new feature scripts. 109 Billion Followers, with J.K. Simmons, was completed this year. Three other scripts have notable attachments in place and are being packaged as we speak!

 

So yeah – a lot happened after writing this book! It yanked me out of a major dry spell!

 

I hope it does the same to some of my readers? I’ve already seen it have that effect on a few of its very first readers.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: A new script is brewing. And now that I caught the bug, a new book might be brewing too. Though most actively what I’m focused on day to day is the release of my new film and getting the next film made.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I’m intrigued by the short-form video medium, which often gets dismissed as “brain rot,” when in fact some of the freshest talent today is showing up through shorts and reels.

 

This weekend I’m getting together with my nephew to mess around and make a bunch of short videos to promote the book. I suspect I’ll have as much fun doing that as I had writing it. And as I always tell my students, and as this book proves: fun is the most efficient use of our time.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

May 21

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
May 21, 1688: Alexander Pope born.

Q&A with Fazlur Rahman

  

 

 

Fazlur Rahman is the author of the new memoir The Temple Road: A Doctor's Journey. He also has written the book Our Connected Lives. A longtime oncologist, he is an adjunct professor of biology at Angelo State University. He lives in West Texas.

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Temple Road?

 

A: I was born and raised in a Mullah family—an old-line Muslim clan—in a remote village in what is now Bangladesh, with its hardships and heartaches, its myths and superstitions. The people, places, and cultures that I was a part of have almost entirely disappeared. 

 

At the age of 7, I lost my mother, the heart of my family. But even at my tender age, before she died, she imprinted on my impressionable mind her wish for me: “Someday you will be a doctor, Fazlur, and help people.” She had seen enough suffering and death in her short life without having access to any doctors.

 

As my ill luck would have it, to compound my anguish, soon after she was gone, a parasitic illness called kala-azar almost extinguished my own life. 

 

Looking back at my tenuous beginning and where I am today, I felt compelled to preserve my past and my mother’s memory, and that’s how The Temple Road: A Doctor’s Journey came to be.

 

I also hoped that this engaging story of love, joy, suffering, and achievement would inspire others.

 

Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

 

A: My “Temple Road” is both literal and metaphorical.

 

It’s a real path that passed by the then-isolated Hare Krishna Temple, surrounded by jungles, infested with dangerous sharp-tusked wild boars and cobras and the rest.

 

I took this fear-ridden path every day from my village to my school in the town of Benapole. If I didn’t begin my journey on this road, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

 

Then, I had to travel several metaphorical Temple Roads: from my village to Dhaka, the megalopolis, for my medical education; from Dhaka to New York to begin my American life 57 years ago; from Houston to far West Texas, in San Angelo, where I practiced cancer medicine for 35 years, and so on. Each of us has our own Temple Road to travel. 

 

Q: The author Tarfia Faizullah said of the book, “To see the world through Rahman’s eyes is to remember that the earliest maps we make are sometimes the truest.” What do you think of that assessment?

 

A: Tarfia is an accomplished Bangladeshi American poet, with two well-recognized poetry collections. One, Registers of Illuminated Villages (Graywolf, 2018), tells of the untold brutality to Bangladeshi women by the soldiers during the pitiless civil war with Pakistan in 1971, when Bangladesh was born out of East Pakistan. Despite all this, these women prevailed in the end as true heroines.

 

Tarfia grew up in West Texas, so she has knowledge about the peoples, places, cultures, and sights and sounds of both Bangladesh and of West Texas. Hence, her comment touches me because of its truth. 

 

Q: What impact did it have on you to write this memoir, and what do you hope readers take away from it?

 

A: Recalling the painful past and putting it on paper was hard. But then that was mitigated by the joys and humor that also came into my life by writing. Putting it all together was gratifying, though at times inscribing the words the way I wanted, the way they were in my head, wasn’t easy either.

 

On occasions, this also led me to thinking where I have been or how I have spent my days, as in Annie Dillard’s dictum: “How we spend our days, is of course, is how we spend our lives.” I can’t say that I have faithfully followed the dictum.

 

As mentioned above, my “Temple Road” is both literal and metaphorical, and each of us has our own Temple Road to travel. With humility, I pray that my book will also shed a little light on readers’ paths.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: A novel entitled A Family Shame. The story takes place in Dallas and Dhaka, Bangladesh. An exceptional autistic boy's highly educated, elite-society Bengali parents in Dallas can't accept their son's limitations and hide him from society and most of their family. The book traces the story of their lives and turmoil as the boy, Shuja, grows up and becomes a young man.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Please look at my website, fazlurrahmanmd.com, to learn more about myself and my wife, Jahanara (Ara), who has been an anchor in my life.

 

My website also has the picture of my Bangladesh village in which I was born and grew up and features my other books, as well as my articles, essays, columns, and stories on medical, ethical, and bedside issues on patient care.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with Joanne Redding

  

 

 

Joanne Redding is the author of the new memoir House of Pretend. She worked on Wall Street for more than 16 years, and she lives just outside of New York City. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write this memoir?

 

A: All my life books have been extremely important to me. When I was very young, they showed me a world where families did not live as mine did. I saw families with emotional connections, shared hopes and dreams, and support and love for each other.  

 

I first started writing during a difficult period a few years ago. I took part in a trauma therapy program which helped me come to terms with what had happened to me.

 

Gradually I came to forgive both of my flawed, troubled parents and reclaimed my voice which led me to write this memoir.

 

Q: The author Laura Munson said of the book, “House of Pretend is raw, unsentimental, and deeply human—an unmasking of survival, resilience, and self-worth.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I think it’s accurate. Parts of my story are very painful, very raw. I still cry when I some of them, thinking of that little girl I was. There are also scenes that, even after so many readings, still have me laughing out loud.

 

In the book, I speak of the importance of acknowledging suicide, recognizing child endangerment beyond physical and sexual abuse, the impact of childhood trauma on relationships in adulthood, and I examine the links between grief, mental illness, addiction, and self-destructive patterns.

 

Fundamentally, House of Pretend is about how after a childhood of taking care of myself, and pretending, shapeshifting, to adapt to my mother’s ever-changing moods, I set out and forged my own path to success.

 

In my 20s, when women in finance were rare, I thrived as a trader on Wall Street, earning the respect of colleagues through competence and resilience. To get there, I had to shed a lot of shame and guilt and find the courage to love myself and deem myself worthy.

 

Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

 

A: I think House of Pretend is an apt description of where I lived for so long – both externally and internally. I’ve had that title in mind since very early on in the writing process.

 

It rings true to my life experience. Growing up, whenever I left our apartment, I knew to wear a mask that made it look like I was fine. I was fed and dressed appropriately. I knew how to perform, to please, and to pretend. I appeared to be okay. But I was far from it.

 

I learned from my mother. She knew how to act when there were others around. But when the door to the apartment closed and it was just us, life was rife with silence, secrecy, and shame.

 

As an adult, I continued to pretend. I copied behaviors to fit in. I didn’t want anyone to see what was inside of me. Afraid and ashamed, I pushed down the grief and trauma which I had never dealt with. 

 

I love the title.

 

Q: What impact did it have on you to write the book, and what do you hope readers take away from it?

 

A: The act of putting these memories and feelings down on paper felt like I was ridding myself of them. I physically felt better, lighter. It felt almost as though I had vomited, I felt relieved.

 

I suspect many readers will have unfortunately struggled with issues of mental illness, whether it be suicide, addiction, sexual abuse, or depression. Some readers will be in a place in their lives where they don’t want to be.

 

I hope they recognize that they can make changes. I hope they recognize their own self-worth, and that what has been done to them is not their fault. I hope they are brave enough to let people see them as they are and ask for help. I hope they can see the importance of forgiveness and trusting again. I hope they reclaim their power.  

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: Right now, I am enjoying the release of this book. I’ve been encouraged to try my hand at a novel. I have some ideas percolating… but as of now, I am enjoying the moment, taking some time to decide what’s next.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I am on Instagram as joanne_redding, Facebook as Joanne Redding author, and my website is www.joannereddingauthor.com.

 

I’d also like to thank everyone I have met along the way who have helped me get to this point – the team at She Writes Press, Simon & Schuster, Emi Battaglia Public Relations, and my friends and my children.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with Amy Lorowitz

  

 

 

Amy Lorowitz is the author of the new novel Summer Husband. She lives in New York. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write Summer Husband, and how did you create your character Lori?

 

A: I always felt that I had a book inside of me, but it wasn’t until my youngest daughter went off to college that I had the time to try writing a book. I joined the writing workshop of bestselling author Jennifer Belle in 2013 not knowing how to go about writing a book. I like to say that Jennifer skillfully and patiently guided Summer Husband into existence.

 

Lori is a mixture of my bungalow colony girlfriends, and the BFF’s I made later in life when I followed my two daughters to sleepaway camp for seven summers. She was easy to bring to life on paper because I hear all their voices in my head laughing about our experiences together in those collective hot summer days and nights.

 

Other than following my daughters to camp Summer Husband is entirely fictional.

 

Q: As you noted, the novel is set at a summer camp--how important is setting to you in your writing?

 

A: I remember reading an article about the television show Sex and the City. The article pointed out that New York City was one of the characters. That stuck with me. I look at the camp Woodlands as one of the characters in Summer Husband.

 

Relationships, whether friends or romance, are heightened at a sleepaway camp because you are living and working together in a bubble that is 24 hours a day for eight consecutive weeks.

 

Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify to you?

 

A: Originally, I wanted the book to be titled Camp Fires - two words - because of the underlying fires throughout the book: Lori can’t build a fire, she almost sets her room on fire, campfire karaoke and the fireplace scene and the heat between Teddy and Lori.

 

But I was told that Summer Husband places the book directly into the romance genre, whereas Camp Fires would be confusing and misspelled.

 

But I’m extremely happy that I chose Summer Husband. I thought it was relatable; many people have had someone they work with that they become close to and consider their work wife/husband.

 

Q: The author Nicola Harrison called the book a “warm, hopeful story of friendship, love, and rediscovery...” What do you think of that description?

 

A: Let me start with how flattered I am that Nicola agreed to read Summer Husband and give that spot-on blurb. She’s talented storyteller and blurb writer. Her fourth book, The Island Club, came out in April.

 

Sleepaway camp is when you discover yourself. For the first time your parents aren’t with you. You have to figure out who you are by yourself and during those eight weeks you make friendship that will stick with you for the rest of your life. It’s also a time for exploring your sexuality, it’s not unusual to have your first kiss at camp.

 

This is all happening to Lori, but as an adult who had never went to sleepaway camp. She rediscovers the person she lost when she became a wife and mother. She finally gets to have camp BFFs, and she gets her first camp kiss at the age of 39.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am up to my neck in lake water finishing a sequel to Summer Husband with the hope that one day my books will become a television series. I can picture it easily. I hope the reader will be able to also.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I am enjoying this chapter in my life. Being retired. Writing. Playing with my grandchildren. And being part of the writing community.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb