Q&A with Liz Lawler

  

 

 

Liz Lawler is the author of the new novel The Next Wife. Her other books include Don't Wake Up. She spent 20 years as a nurse, and she lives in Bath, UK. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Next Wife, and how did you create your characters Tess and Martha?

 

A: I was inspired to write this story while working at a railway station and seeing all the people taking the train. The commuters. The tourists. The day-trippers. The platform crammed with passengers eager to board the incoming train.

 

Then there are the individuals that catch your eye, as standing too close to the edge of a platform, and something doesn’t feel right. Immediately alert you can’t ignore the troubling situation as the environment was way too dangerous. They may not be there to make a journey, but to put an end to a sadness.

 

Rail suicide is a deeply tragic reality and I’m grateful to have been able to stop this happening on more than one occasion. When I wrote this story, I found myself remembering these vulnerable souls. Tess’s sadness was as deep as theirs and I knew I would have to watch over her to stop her stepping over the yellow line. Otherwise her story would not get told.

 

Martha’s feisty, gritty character possesses similar traits to my late mother, so I always had Mum in mind when I wrote about her. My mum didn’t have a failing memory, but my father did, so Martha has a bit of both my parents in her character.

 

My fondness for Martha is abiding, especially when I visualise her small, wrinkled features and sparse fluffy hair around her forehead.

 

Q: How does your background as a nurse factor into your writing?

 

A: I suppose after 20 years of nursing lots of memories are tucked away that at an unconscious level find their way into my writing.

 

Nursing exposes you to the entire spectrum of human behaviour. You see people at their absolute lowest and most vulnerable – when they are scared, grieving, or in pain. You learn to communicate with individuals experiencing confusion, delirium, or severe mental health. Wearing a uniform doesn’t protect you from second-hand impacts from absorbing patients’ trauma.

 

The plethora of characters I have experienced in my life translate into my writing; even if the plot is made up, the memories of real, visceral emotions are felt in the moment by fictional characters in the pages of my story.

 

Working in a hospital often feels like a second home; every corridor holds a story. Nursing was a large part of my life. Working as a nurse in Accident and Emergency gives you exposure to the most critical patients, and provides unparalleled, fast-paced clinical experience, which hopefully I bring to life in this story.

 

Transitioning from nursing to writing was by no means easy. Writing takes a psychological toll. While it frequently serves as a cathartic outlet, sliding under the skin of sociopaths and their victims can have me chewing my fingernails and afraid for what might happen next, as emotional attachment often forms and I cry when something really sad happens.

 

Q: Did you know how the novel would end before you started writing, or did you make many changes along the way?

 

A: I visualise a story like an unfolding movie in my head for weeks before writing it down so had seen the ending. I hear vivid conversations between characters and start mumbling the dialogue, while wearing the facial expressions of these individuals. I end up looking like the Mad Hatter, walking along talking to myself, with unkempt hair and oblivious to my surroundings!

 

However, translating the mental movie in my head to paper was a process of trial and error and many changes were made along the way. Characters develop their own agency and step out of the original outline, so I had to adjust their trajectory and write scenes again.

 

It’s not something I understand on an explicit conscious level, but something in the back of my brain telling me to trust in the direction the story is taking me.

 

Q: The novel is set in Bath and in London – how important is setting to you in your writing?

 

A: It was important to have Tess whisked away from everything familiar to a city she didn’t know. Bath is considered one of the safest cities in the UK and internationally. Leaving the fast-paced, metropolis city of London for the tranquil Georgian city of Bath should have made it a safe place for Tess to live.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: A story set in a London hospital where a patient tells a nurse a deadly secret.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I was the first child in my family to be born in the UK. My mother had 14 children, and my 10 older siblings were born in Dublin in Ireland.

 

The experience of coming from a large Irish Catholic family meant I was never lonely or bored. It also meant that we never went anywhere on a plane. Holidays were either day trips to the seaside, or sometimes we stayed in a seaside chalet. Depending on my age at the time, there could be up to eight of us in a vehicle, plus a dog, as we set off for our destination.

 

My parents had enormous energy and while elderly, never tired of talking to us. My father was a great storyteller and regaled us with his own life as a child – he left school aged 10 and half and began his work life by selling kindling wood. My mother’s mother died when she was 4, and my mother was sent to an orphanage.

 

They were strong and confident parents and would have loved knowing that I became an author.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with Nicole Conn

  

 

 

 

Nicole Conn is the author of the novel Descending Thirds. She is also a filmmaker.

 

Q: How much was Descending Thirds inspired by your mother’s life story?

 

A: The emotional heart of the novel was deeply inspired by my mother, Christa Hoven, who was a classical pianist and teacher.

 

Music was present in my life from the very beginning. My father bought her a new piano the day after I was born, and she often joked that the moment we came home from the hospital, she tossed me into a crib beside it and played.

 

Years later, I would lie beneath her piano, absorbing the vibrations, entranced and mesmerized by all of it which became a scene in the novel. Music truly became part of my DNA.

 

One of my favorite parts of the research was sharing recordings of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition with her. We raced through every episode together, and those experiences became the foundation for the opening of the novel.

 

I was fascinated by how the characters would unfold during the tension-filled three weeks of competition, where a single performance could transform a struggling pianist's career. Those memories of watching those shows with her are especially precious now that she has passed.

 

While Descending Thirds is not my mother's story, her love of music, her devotion to her students, and the way she experienced the world through music shaped every page. In many ways, the novel became my love letter to her.

 

Q: Did you need to do much research to write the book, and if so, what did you learn that especially surprised you?

 

A: I spent several years researching the world of elite piano competitions, composers, and concert pianists back in the day where it was reading from actual books with copious notes.

 

Much of that research began with those Van Cliburn recordings and eventually expanded into biographies, interviews, performances, and the insights into many famous and more obscure composers. The Van Cliburn competition is held but every four years upping the ante and risks.

 

What surprised me most was the enormous psychological pressure placed on these young musicians. The public sees the glamour and artistry, but behind the scenes are years of sacrifice, isolation, and relentless discipline.

 

Many competitors are asked to perform at a level that would challenge even seasoned professionals while still in their teens or early 20s. I became fascinated by the emotional cost of greatness and how ambition can both elevate and consume us.

 

Q: How did you create your characters Alexandra, Sebastian, and Conrad, and how would you describe the dynamic among them?

 

A: The three characters represent three very different relationships to art. Alexandra came first. In many ways she is my straight alter ego. She leads with her heart. For her, music is first and foremost an emotional experience. Technique matters, of course, but only in service of expressing something truthful and deeply felt.

 

Sebastian and Conrad became two opposing forces acting upon her. Sebastian is charismatic, passionate, and magnetic. He thrives on performance, attention, and the intoxicating energy that exists between artist and audience. Conrad is his opposite—quiet, introspective, a genius savant indifferent to recognition. He writes music because he must. It is as natural to him as breathing.

 

As I wrote the novel, I began to think of them as a modern-day Dionysus and Apollo. One embodies passion, instinct, and sensuality; the other discipline, order, and transcendent beauty. What interested me wasn't simply a romantic triangle, but what happens when Alexandra encounters these competing philosophies of art and life.

 

Ultimately, Descending Thirds is Alexandra's story. Through her relationships with both brothers, she discovers not only who she loves, but who she is, what kind of artist she wants to become, and what role music will ultimately play in her life.

 

Q: Did you know how the story would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?

 

A: I knew the major emotional destination from the beginning, but the journey changed many times. Descending Thirds began life as a screenplay before it became a novel and served as an excellent outline for the book.

 

What surprised me most was how much deeper the characters became once I moved into the novel form. A screenplay allows you to observe a character. A novel allows you to live inside them. Alexandra, Sebastian, and Conrad all revealed aspects of themselves that I hadn't fully understood when I first conceived the story.

 

When I wrote the screenplay, there was one major reveal. While writing the novel, I discovered a second revelation that changed everything and ultimately made the story far stronger. It was one of those rare moments where the characters seemed to know more than I did and I wasn’t about to second guess them!

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: At the moment, much of my attention is focused on introducing readers to Descending Thirds and its recently released audiobook which features musical snippets to help introduce the reader to classical music and to enhance the experience.

 

I am also developing the story as a limited television series, which feels like a natural return to the medium where the project first began.

 

Beyond that, I have my next feature film, do we not grieve, in early development. I also have another novel, Armand's Tango, which I hope to bring out sometime next year.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: At its core, Descending Thirds is a novel about passion—our passion for art, for excellence, and for one another. While it unfolds against the backdrop of classical music and international piano competitions, it is ultimately a searing triangular love affair.

 

Individually each character grapples with family, obsession, sacrifice, and the choices that shape our lives. It asks a question that fascinated me throughout the writing process: What is the true price of greatness? And what is the cost for true greatness.

 

My greatest hope is that readers don't need to know anything about classical music to be swept away by the story. Like all great music, the emotions are universal.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

June 21

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
June 21, 1905: Jean-Paul Sartre born.

Q&A with Anne Shaw Heinrich

  

 

 

Anne Shaw Heinrich is the author of the new novel House of Teeth, the latest in her Women of Paradise County series. She is also a journalist and communications professional. 

 

Q: House of Teeth is the third in your Women of Paradise County series--what inspired the plot of this new novel?

 

A: House of Teeth has been a great opportunity to throw open the windows and let readers see how deeply the characters from the first two novels in the series (God Bless the Child and Violet Is Blue) are connected to one another and Poulson, the fictional town where they find themselves living, loving, hating, surviving, and simply being human.

 

The primary arc of this book’s story follows a young man named Jules Marks and his five younger sisters as they adjust to living with their Uncle Larry and Aunt Sally, who swooped in to give them the safe and secure existence they’ve never had.

 

It’s a welcome saving, but none of the characters go riding off into the sunset. Not everyone in town thinks the Marks kids deserve all the good that has come their way. I thought that this very nuanced aspect of small-town life, of the ups and downs of being human, was worth exploring more deeply.

 

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

 

A: House of Teeth’s title alludes to one of the primary conflicts that crops up when the town’s only dentist decides quietly to help Jules and all five of his sisters take care of one of the last remaining signs of their stinking origins: their rotting teeth.

 

Not everyone approves of the gesture. For some, it’s a bridge too far.

 

The Marks kids, all six of them, have settled into one of the largest, nicest homes in town, thanks to the unexpected generosity of old Margaret Burns, who knows a thing or two about being from Shakey’s Half. The town is still getting used to the idea of a pack of scroungy kids living in such a nice place, when news about the generous dental care lands.

 

Delving into the complicated backlash is a chance to explore themes of generosity, envy, class division, and the gritty truths of gaps in privilege that we cannot seem to shake.

Q: How would you describe the relationship between this novel and the two earlier books in the series, and would you need to read those before turning to this one?

 

A: The good news about The Women of Paradise County series is that each book can stand on its own. Of course, the full story is richer and more challenging if you read the first two books before House of Teeth.

 

The entire series is presented in multiple, staggered points of view, and there are a lot of memory sequences and playing around with past and present, so this makes  the larger story of the full series fluid.  

 

Some of the characters are connected deeply to one another, and others only in very tangential ways. What ties all the characters and the books is the world of Poulson, a fictional town in a fictional Paradise County.

 

None of it is real, but it could be, and I think that’s why readers are drawn to this kind of storytelling. It allows us to examine ourselves and where we stand in the world, but to do so from a safe distance.

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

 

A: I would consider it a win if readers walk away from House of Teeth, and the other books in the series, remembering that we all have the capacity to be empathetic, that villains probably love someone and have a favorite kind of ice cream and those we consider heroes harbor dark thoughts and regrets. The binding agent for the full spectrum of humanity is we are made to love and to be loved.

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am very deep into writing Unfettered, the fourth and final book in The Women of Paradise County series. It’s this stage of writing that I find the most satisfying!

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I think it’s really critical that authors and readers remember that we didn’t invent storytelling. It’s a primal, instinctual pull that distinguishes us from animals.

 

Storytelling helps us remember that others were here before us, living and loving, laughing, and crying just like we do. And long after we’re gone, others will stand where we stood, doing all the same things that make us human.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Anne Shaw Heinrich. 

Q&A with Lindsay Kent

  

 

 

Lindsay Kent is the author of the new novel My Twin the Murderer. She is also a filmmaker, and she lives in Half Moon Bay, California.

 

Q: What inspired you to write My Twin the Murderer, and how did you create your character Evelyn Malcolm?

 

A: After directing my first feature documentary, Going Furthur, in 2014, I unexpectedly became something of a psychedelic historian. The film explored the history of the CIA’s MKUltra program, Ken Kesey’s involvement, and how LSD profoundly altered both his life and the trajectory of American counterculture.

 

I remember thinking, I can’t believe MKUltra actually happened. How are there not more books and films about this? The CIA was dosing people with LSD—often without their knowledge. It was staggering.

 

That question sparked a larger one: What if MKUltra never really ended? Where would it be today? That idea became the foundation for the TV pilot I wrote first.

 

When I shared it with my twin sister, an award-winning screenwriter, she told me, “You know too much about this subject. It should be a book.”

 

After plenty of resistance, I got to work.

 

I created Evelyn as a pragmatic scientist who begins the story with a firm, deeply skeptical understanding of psychedelics. To her, they are not a force for good. Over the course of this book—and the larger series—she is compelled to confront both her own firsthand experiences and a lifetime of reductionist scientific thinking.

 

That evolution felt like a compelling arc to build on, one that mirrors the questions the scientific community is actively grappling with as the psychedelic renaissance reaches new heights.

 

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

 

A: I immersed myself in books on MKUltra by John Lisle, Stephen Kinzer, and Tom O’Neill, while also speaking with Bay Area neuroscientists about psychedelics, memory, and trauma—Gül Dölen’s work, in particular, has been a personal favorite.

 

I leaned on my legally minded husband for police procedural insight, and I drew several of my characters’ internal struggles from people I’ve known over the years who were pursuing healing through plant medicine ceremonies.

 

What surprised me most during my research was how little we truly understand about the human mind—and how quickly we often reach for a prescription without examining the deeper source of suffering, whether it’s trauma, grief, or some other profound loss.

 

The CIA was remarkably willing to dose unsuspecting Americans with LSD without any real understanding of what it was doing to the mind. In my own experience, psychedelics can be profoundly healing, but they can also be deeply destabilizing—disorienting, even psychosis-inducing.

 

Exploring that duality, both within psychedelics themselves and within the characters who encounter them, became one of the central themes of the book.

 

Q: Did you know how the story would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?

 

A: I had a clear image in my mind of the final shot from the very beginning. It’s much like how I approach filmmaking: I start with the first frame and the last, then work backward to figure out everything in between.

 

The greatest challenge was bridging those two points—figuring out how to move my characters from point A to point B in a way that felt compelling, while throwing them into the deep end without getting so lost in the details that the reader lost momentum.

 

The most significant transformation came in a later draft, when the climax changed entirely. I had originally written a completely different final confrontation, but then I had an epiphany that reshaped the entire ending. It was frustrating, as any writer can imagine, to dismantle something so substantial and rebuild it—but in the end, it was far more satisfying.

 

Q: How do your experiences as a novelist and a filmmaker coexist?

 

A: Twenty years as a documentary filmmaker has profoundly sharpened my storytelling instincts. I can sit down with a hundred hours of footage—often mostly talking-head interviews—and shape it into a compelling narrative in the edit.

 

I’ve spent decades learning how to see and hear the finished story in my mind before it fully exists, and that skill became invaluable when writing a cinematic novel like My Twin the Murderer.

 

What fiction offers that documentary often cannot is a different kind of access point. If someone chooses to watch a documentary or read nonfiction, they’re usually already interested in the subject matter.

 

With fiction, I wanted to enter through the realm of imagination—where readers could viscerally experience what my characters are going through without needing any prior knowledge of MKUltra or psychedelics.

 

That’s what I love most about fiction: it invites readers in through story first, then deepens its impact by making them feel, question, and understand ideas on an entirely new level. 

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m currently writing the second book in the series, My Twin the Witch, which follows Evelyn and Vivian on a new adventure in the Brazilian Amazon.

 

What’s been most fascinating is how completely different my creative process has become. I “pantsed” the first draft of My Twin the Murderer, writing largely by instinct and discovery, but this time I’m approaching the story through deep plotting and careful structure.

 

I think that shift comes from the fact that I’m exploring cultures and communities that are entirely unfamiliar to me. It’s both exciting and intimidating, but it also means I have the opportunity to dive much deeper into research, connecting with experts and luminaries in these fields to better understand the world I’m writing about.

 

I’m hoping to release this next installment in 2027.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: A few years ago, my sister and I founded our production company, Sisters Kent Films. Our first short film, The Split, is available now on YouTube.

 

We’re currently developing an indie horror feature that incorporates our real home movies as found footage—an especially personal and unsettling approach to the genre. You can follow our journey as we bring the film to life on Instagram at @sisterskentfilms.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

June 20

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
June 20, 1858: Charles W. Chesnutt born.

Q&A with Nicole S. Kluemper

  

 

 

Nicole S. Kluemper is the author of the new children's picture book Simon the Scared Rottweiler. She is a child psychologist.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Simon the Scared Rottweiler?

 

A: I saw a need within my own practice for a tool to help therapists (myself included) working with young children dealing with anxiety. I couldn’t find what I needed, so I created it. Sometimes I read books like this out loud during a session. It can be a place to start in terms of conversation and a common language.

 

I also knew that such a book could help young kids dealing with anxiety just in general. Sometimes barriers get in the way of families getting their kids to the therapy setting. Whatever that reason is, I wanted to bring a little piece (and peace) to them.

 

I think parents struggle with how to help their kids aside from bringing them to therapy, sitting in the waiting area for 45 minutes, then driving them home again. In this book, I give the parents of young kids something they can do to help their kids at home.

 

My Rottweiler, Simon, has dealt with a lot of behavioral issues that stemmed from his underlying anxiety. I thought it would be a cool twist if this stereotyped “tough guy” dog was the one dealing with the worry.

 

Q: How does your work as a child psychologist intersect with your writing for kids?

 

A: Both come from the same place in my heart in which I want to help children, and especially those dealing with emotional concerns.

 

To use an analogy – adjusting a ship’s heading very early in the journey will result in a very big change in terms of its destination. In other words, helping someone during childhood has the potential to create change in a way not seen at any other period across the lifespan.

 

This desire stems from my own childhood experiences. During a very difficult time in my life, a mental health professional listened and cared what I had to say without his own agenda.

 

This impacted me deeply. So much so that from the age of 5 years old I knew I wanted to be a child psychologist and help other kids who had been through hard things. I believe my calling in life is to help, with a primary focus on kids.

 

Q: What would you say are some of the most common perceptions and misconceptions about Rottweilers?

 

A: Rottweilers have this reputation for being vicious or mean, and it just isn’t true. Most of them aren’t even really all that tough! Simon is my fourth Rottie, and I can say with certainty that most of these gentle giants are as loyal and loving as they are goofy. I wish people could see that.

 

Simon is such a little cuddle bug. He’s quick to roll over and ask for tummy rubs or lick our faces when he gets excited. He’s a very good boy.

 

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

 

A: I hope kids learn the coping skills, of course, but I also hope that they see that they are not alone. Anxiety can feel so isolating, and I want every child to feel seen and understood. They don’t have to “be strong” or “tough it out.” It’s okay to feel all the feels.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: In terms of writing, I’m waiting for inspiration to strike again! I certainly hope my creativity hasn’t run out!

 

I work full time at a community clinic seeing patients and supervising graduate students.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Our veterinarian says we have a gift for caring for tough cases when it comes to dogs. Honestly, Simon has been our biggest challenge yet. The trainer we hired (to train us more than him) believes Simon may be neurodivergent. She loves him as much as we do. (He may love her more than us!) She still comes over to have dinner and sit with Simon, even though she no longer trains with him.

 

While the real Simon still has his moments, he is doing pretty well these days. We support him through them and love him just the way he is!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. This Q&A was conducted in partnership with Nicole S. Kluemper. Five lucky readers who follow along on this virtual book tour will have a chance to win a paperback copy of Simon the Scared Rottweiler.