Q&A with John Feal and Charles Daly

  

John Feal

 

 

John Feal is the author, with Charles Daly, of the new book I Will Follow You Anywhere: The True Story of the 9/11 Responders Who Took On Congress. Feal worked as a demolition supervisor at Ground Zero, and has lobbied Congress to assist 9/11 responders. He is the founder of the FealGood Foundation. Daly is the author of the book Make Peace or Die. He lives in Ireland. 

 

Q: John, why did you decide to write I Will Follow You Anywhere?

 

JF: One, to cleanse myself. Two, to tell an accurate story because my story was told by others in other books. Three, to find my way home. It’s taken 25 years.

More importantly, I wanted America to know it wasn't just [the comedian] Jon Stewart and John Feal. It was Ivonn Sanchez, Michael O’Connell, Tom Wilson, Glenn Klein, and others whose stories are in the book. It took a village.

 

America needs to know that there are good people in this world, and these men and women exemplify that more than anybody I ever met.

Charles Daly

 

Q: Charlie, how did you end up working on this book with John?

CD: Bridget Gormley, a friend and filmmaker, whose story is in the book, put us in touch. She also introduced me to the woman I married. Every good thing in my life is Bridget-adjacent. John and I hit it off immediately and got to work.  

 

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

JF: There were several titles floating around, and then I recall Jon [Stewart] saying, “I will follow you anywhere.”

In the last press conference in 2019, after we got the VCF [Victim Compensation Fund] extended to 2090, and everybody wanted that, and that's who we went with when Jon Stewart said, "I will follow you anywhere,” we went on to do the burn pit bill after that. I believe Jon and I both have a lot of years left in us, hopefully, and I believe Washington, D.C., hasn't seen the last of Jon and John, and if he's not following, they all follow him.

CD: This is a “Big Yellow Taxi” title. It sounds good on its own, but the meaning and origin is embedded in the work. Those are my favorite kind of title. The subtitle drove us insane. We went back and forth for months and finally made a game-day decision to go with the one we have. 

 

Q: John, the comedian Jon Stewart said of you and your activism, "He saw a community that was sick and struggling, and he made it his mission to not allow our elected officials to escape accountability.” What do you think of that assessment, and how have you and Jon Stewart worked together?

JF: I’ll tell you what I know about Jon Stewart. He doesn't waste words. He's a he's a verbal sniper. He's an assassin. He uses every word with precision. And if Jon Stewart said something negative or positive about me, then he sincerely meant it.

 

One of the challenges of this book was putting into words just how much he means to me: as a friend, as a brother, and as someone who cared.

 

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

JF: I thought I would just write a book and walk away scot-free and not have any worries in the world. I find that I have more responsibility now that I wrote the book. It's already added to a stressful workload. But I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world because I need to go home. And I want this story to be told.

 

CD: This community of responders and survivors brought me into their world, and that’s a very special place to be. I hope I captured what that world is like–the joy and sadness of that world. I especially wanted to capture the humanity that we can lose when we put people on pedestals as heroes. 

 

Q: What are you working on now?

JF: Getting illnesses added to the bill. Because of the latency of some of these illnesses, we’re just starting to see the first cases of some cancers and autoimmune conditions 25 years after the initial exposure. 

 

Going back to D.C., I’m making sure that no members of Congress play funky games with our legislation, to ensure that the World Trade Center Health Program, the VCF, and elected officials evolve with a finite number of people affected by 9/11 as they age, and to ensure that as we evolve, we incorporate easier ways for them to get into their older years.

 

CD: I have some exciting ghostwriting projects I can’t talk about and a co-authored project coming out in September, 2027, Crush Depth: How One Woman Made Navy History Beneath the Waves. It’s the memoir of Marquette Leveque, one of the first women to serve on a U.S Navy submarine. She’s a fellow millennial, so that should tell you how recently they integrated subs. 

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

JF: I'm not done with what I'm doing. I believe if people think my resume is substantial, I'm not content or happy with it, and I'm going to do something bigger. There's more people out there to help. If I can help 150,000 people in the World Trade Center help program, and then 3 million veterans with the PACT Act, then I'm sure I can help 5 or 10 million Americans with something.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with Jacqueline Jules

  

 

 

Jacqueline Jules is the author of the book Smoke at the Pentagon: Poems to Remember, a novel in verse for children. It focuses on the September 11, 2001 attack on the Pentagon. Her many other books include the Zapato Power series. She is also an educator and a librarian.

 

Q: We did a previous Q&A three years ago about your book Smoke at the Pentagon, but we're revisiting the book on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of 9/11--what reflections do you have about the book on this anniversary?

 

A: First off, it is startling to realize that it has actually been 25 years since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. My memory of that day feels too vivid to have taken place over two decades ago.

 

The majority of Americans can still recall exactly what they were doing when they heard news of the attacks. And if they lost loved ones on September 11, the day drastically altered the course of their lives. Thousands still suffer from health problems related to September 11.

 

Due to heightened security at airports and buildings, daily life has not been the same since September 11.  One month prior, in August 2001, I took a flight from Europe with my then 17-year-old son. He’d bought a Swiss Army knife on our trip and was allowed to take it on the plane. (We asked at check-in.) Can you imagine that happening since the attacks on September 11?

 

September 11 was a watershed event. Like Pearl Harbor, Americans lost their sense of safety. In addition to a major U.S. city, the headquarters of the United States military was attacked. The narrator in the first poem of my book, Smoke at the Pentagon, expresses the frightening thought: “If the Pentagon isn’t safe, no place is.”

 

Q: What reactions have you had from readers since the book was published?

 

A: Readers have been appreciative of the attention paid to the experience at the Pentagon. Almost all titles on this topic describe the fall of the Twin Towers and the tragedy in New York City while giving the Pentagon crash limited coverage.

 

Smoke at the Pentagon is unique in that it gives voice to those who witnessed this event in Northern Virginia and addresses the aftermath there. Both the Capitol Building and the Pentagon were targeted by the terrorists on 9/11.

 

Only the heroism of the passengers who went down with the plane in Pennsylvania prevented tragedy inside the District of Columbia. One of my neighbors chose to move out of Arlington because they no longer felt safe living in the nation’s capital.

 

When we remember 9/11, we should not overlook the lives lost at the Pentagon and the emotions of those who lived in the area at the time.   

 

Q: Why did you initially decide to write this book, and do you think young people today understand what happened on September 11, 2001?

 

A: In 2008, as an elementary school librarian in Northern Virginia, I realized that my students were unaware that anything had happened at the Pentagon. It was understandable since my elementary school students were toddlers in 2001.

 

However, I was disturbed by the lack of classroom discussion on the anniversary of September 11. This history was not a part of the curriculum students are tested on.

 

In 2026, many residents of the Washington, D.C., area still haven’t visited the memorial to 9/11 on the grounds of the Pentagon. Many locals don’t even know the memorial exists. People who live in other parts of the country are surprised to be reminded that the Pentagon was attacked the same day the Twin Towers fell.

 

The memory of 9/11 is dimming and limited in general, but particularly when it comes to the Pentagon crash. To my knowledge, Smoke at the Pentagon: Poems to Remember is the only book which focuses on the Arlington experience.

 

Q: What do you see as the legacy of the attacks?

 

A: The hole in the Pentagon, visible from the roadway, was repaired within a year. As a symbol of  American military strength, it was healing to see the building restored so quickly.

 

A middle school narrator in Smoke at the Pentagon recalls watching the Pentagon reconstruction from her school bus every morning. She says, “Seeing that building reborn bit by bit helps me believe that one day I won’t feel so broken, either.”

 

History can teach us that terrible things happen. It can also teach us that we can rebuild after tragedy and move forward.

 

Learning about the terrorist attacks on 9/11 is much more than a lesson in honoring the lives lost. It is an opportunity to remember that this country and its people have survived great difficulties before. If the need arises, we can do so again.

 

We live in anxious times, fearing disaster. A belief in our own resilience, gleaned from our knowledge of the past, can provide comfort and foster strength.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: Lately I have been writing poetry and picture books. Both genres require economy of language. I love the challenge of choosing precise words to describe what I want to say as briefly as possible.  

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

A: Smoke at the Pentagon: Poems to Remember has 20 narrative poems and an introduction easily broken into speaking parts. It could be performed as Reader’s Theater for a meaningful lesson remembering 9/11 on this important anniversary. Other teacher tips are available in a teacher’s  guide available on my website and the publisher’s website.

 

I am available to do virtual author visits free of charge with any classroom reading the book. Please contact me through my website at www.jacquelinejules.com.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Jacqueline Jules. 

Q&A with Jen Weaver and Gayle Veitenheimer

  

Jen Weaver

 

Jen Weaver and Gayle Veitenheimer are the authors of the new middle grade novel The Mystery of the Missing Falls, the first in a new series. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Mystery of the Missing Falls, and how did you create your characters Luka and Ember?

 

A: The Mystery of the Missing Falls really started as a book we wanted but couldn’t find.

 

Jen: I wanted a series like this for my kids.

 

Gayle: I agreed and wanted books like these for my grandkids.

 

Jen: We both love mysteries and adventure stories, and we want to give kids that same page-turning fun while taking their spiritual lives seriously too.

 

Luka and Ember represent so many of the kids we know. They’re brave, kind, smart, and they ask great questions. They’re not perfect and they don’t have to be. They’re also very different from each other, which makes them a great detective team.

Gayle Veitenheimer

 

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

 

Jen: The true ending was a mystery to us at the beginning too! We knew the major pieces before we started drafting, but books change a lot as you write. Clues change. Our characters needed things to get messy and to go wrong.

 

And as authors, we pace big discoveries so they happen at the right times. That’s one of the fun—but challenging—parts of writing mysteries. We’re constantly considering what the reader knows, what they think they know, and what we want them to discover next.

 

Q: How did the two of you collaborate on the book? Can you describe your writing process?

 

Jen: We have different creative processes, and we’ve learned to use those differences as a collaborative advantage. We start by talking through the big-picture story—the mystery concept, discipleship theme, characters, setting, and major plot points.

 

Gayle then builds beat sheets to map out what needs to happen and where the mystery is going. We review together, work out any details we notice upfront, and then Gayle drafts some initial chapters. She’s a concise writer with a strong instinct for keeping the mystery moving. She focuses on essential action, plants clues we’ll need later, and gives us a clear story framework to build from.

 

Gayle: Jen is more about characters and scene development. She works from my starter chapters to craft relatable, believable characters and scene dynamics, including emotional arcs, vibrant settings, and action. After Jen’s developmental passes, including some new chapters, we jump on Zoom to read out loud and edit.

 

Jen: There’s lots of prayer, spreadsheets, spiral notebooks, and long conversations. Occasionally, we realize a brilliant clue or treasured scene completely breaks the mystery, so we need to scrap it and rewrite that part.

 

Gayle: Prayer is a big part of our process. We always ask for God’s direction as we write. So it’s fun when we realize God had planted things in the early draft that we didn’t catch until revision and His “surprise” met a plot point need we were already discussing.

 

Jen: It's definitely a collaborative process, much like the team theme in the book. It’s great that we don’t have to write exactly the same way or bring the same strengths to the table. Our series is better because we’re crafting it together.

 

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

 

Gayle: We hope that readers finish the novel knowing that life with God starts now. Not when they’re older. Not when they can drive, go to college, or get a job. Now. God, our good Father, talks with His kids. They can talk to God and learn to hear His voice as an elementary-aged student, just like Luka and Ember. At home, at school, anywhere.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

Gayle: We are currently writing Book 4. This time, the kid detectives are at STEAM camp and murder is afoot. But don’t worry, parents, the victim is a robot. Book 4 explores the idea of finding truth in a confusing world, rounding out the themes of identity and belonging in Book 2 and overcoming fear in Book 3.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

Gayle: The Kingswell Kid Detective site, KingswellKids.com, offers a Book Club for kids with maps, codes, mad libs, and other activity printables, and insider scoop on the coming novels. The site also offers parent resources like Secret Clues, pairing spiritual content from the book with Scripture and application, and resources for teachers and homeschoolers.

 

The Mystery of the Missing Falls is available wherever you like to shop for books.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. This Q&A was conducted in partnership with Jen Weaver and Gayle Veitenheimer. Calling all junior detectives! Follow along on this virtual book tour and enter to win one of five copies of The Mystery of the Missing Falls by Jen Weaver and Gayle Veitenheimer.

Sept. 11

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Sept. 11, 2001: Remembering this day 25 years later.

Q&A with Kasey Lansdale

  

Photo by Kyle Bri Photography

 

 

 

Kasey Lansdale is the author of the new novel First Chance. She is also an audiobook narrator, musician, and small business owner, and she lives in Los Angeles.

 

Q: What inspired you to write First Chance, and how did you create your character Chance Kirby?

 

A: The idea of Chance has been there for a while in vague terms, but when the world slowed down with the pandemic and I found myself at home more after a lifetime as a touring musician, I really started putting pen to paper. I’ve been writing since I was about 6, published at 8, and I think everything I’d been working on up until then was just leading me to her. 

 

That and my mother became ill, and I really needed a place to put all those complicated feelings. In many ways, that’s what the book is about– growing up and navigating all those rights of passage, the good and the bad. Each character is at a different stage in their life, and the way they deal with grief, happiness, and all those human emotions vary widely. 

 

Chance Kirby developed more as I went, but she’s really just me when it comes down to it. Writing the book was also an opportunity to provide a hat tip to my parents and the work that they did in the creative field. In the back of the book in the acknowledgements I say this, and I meant it, it’s a love letter to them. 

 

There just happens to be a lot of murder involved. 

 

Q: The novel is set in Texas--how important is setting to you in your writing?

 

A: I tend to stick pretty close to the old adage of write what you know. 

 

I grew up in the back woods of East Texas, and I don’t think it’s something you can fully explain to someone not from there, but this was my attempt.

 

The town of Hopeful is basically my hometown of Nacogdoches, but really, it’s all the small towns in the deep South with a main street and an old theater, and unfortunately, a lot of poverty and difficult conditions. That’s the side I could relate to most, even if I grew up with better circumstances.

 

Of course that’s just one side of it, but that’s the side I felt was important to show. The oppressiveness of it all, right down to the weather. But in some ways, that’s the beauty of it. 

 

Q: The writer Jeffery Deaver said of the book, “It’s rare that a thriller offers up a tale with such a page-turning, edge-of-the-seat plot that also grips your heart so tightly, but First Chance does just that, and then some!” What do you think of that description? And what draws you to the thriller genre?

 

A: Honestly, when Jeff sent over that blurb, I thought well, I’ve made it. If I never do another thing, I’ve made it.

 

I do find it interesting how different people interpret the work. You’ll have one review calling it a page-turning thriller, and the next a slow building mystery, or a Southern gothic, or… you get it.

 

I think what matters to me is less about what it’s called and more about can people connect with it. Getting that blurb was just the cherry on top so I don’t like to question it, lest I unravel something I shouldn’t. 

 

As for what draws me to the thriller genre, I am constantly fascinated/horrified/intrigued by what humans will do to one another. It’s the scariest thing that exists, the darkness of man, and I think this is a safe place to explore some of those tragic stories from the real world, and in some cases, give it a rewrite. 

 

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

 

A: I did not. 

 

I actually had an entirely different ending that finished on a cliffhanger of sorts. I guess it was unresolved more than a cliffhanger. While I hope to bring that element into the next book, ultimately, I decided for practical purposes that as a debut author I needed to close the storyline fully. 

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: Second Chance. That may or may not be the name of it, (there’s actually a tag line but I’ll keep it to myself for now) but I’m really excited about it. The gang is back, and they’ve been talking to me pretty loud. I also have a collection of dark fiction forthcoming in 2027 called Grim at Heart. 

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: In general, you can find me at kaseylansdale.com, and there are all my links to stay connected. In terms of First Chance, I just want people to find a little comfort when they visit Hopeful, Texas. Just to know they’re not alone in whatever it is they’re going through.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with Carly Hillman

  

Photo by Kelly Giarrocco

 

 

Carly Hillman is the author of the new novel The Refuge. She spent 10 years as a producer for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and she lives in New York City and Philadelphia.

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Refuge, and how did you create your characters Ava, Maeve, and Johnny?

 

A: My inspiration for The Refuge is one of the great mysteries of my life. I was on a hike, observing the beauty around me, and the opening scene just… arrived. I really don’t know how to explain it. I pictured a little girl hiding in the grass, ready to start a new life in this paradise, and my mind started spinning. I had an outline of the whole book later that same afternoon.

 

But Ava, Maeve, and Johnny were all forged in the time that I spent not writing. It took me years to gain the confidence to commit to working on something as ambitious as a novel. In those years, I spent so much time picturing my characters and thinking about how they moved through the world. By the time I started writing in earnest, they had lived so long in my mind that I felt like I knew them.

 

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

 

A: I always knew exactly how the novel ended, but I did not know how exactly the characters got there. The two first scenes I could picture were the opening scene and the final climax. The fun was figuring out how we got from one point to the other. I made tons of other changes throughout the way, but those bookends stayed the same.

 

Q: The author Ashley Woo called the book “an ode to majestic beauty of the American Northwest, the profound and sometimes questionable depths a mother will go to in order to protect her child, and the healing power of found family.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I was so touched by that description, especially coming from an author as wildly talented as Ashley Woo. I felt very “seen,” as they say.

 

Of course I hope this book is thrilling and engaging and propulsive, but, at its core, it is a story about familial love, healing from generational trauma, and the wonder of getting to live in our beautiful world. To hear Ashley pick up on all those themes meant the world to me.

 

Q: How did your experiences as a TV producer influence your fiction writing?

 

A: My experience as a producer at The Late Show with Stephen Colbert influenced my writing in every way. Most importantly, it was the only reason I started writing in the first place.

 

I suffered from major imposter syndrome when it came to writing fiction, always doubting myself when I faced the blank page. But after a decade of producing interviews at The Late Show and working with the incredible creatives who came on our show, I realized that there was no “success story” that didn’t start with someone taking a risk and believing in themselves before anyone else did. 

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am working on book number two! While I can’t say too much about it now, I am really excited about how it is shaping up. Plus, I’m enjoying the process of writing a book with a deeper understanding of the publishing process—it’s made me far less of an obsessive perfectionist, now that I know how much editing is still ahead of me.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I am so grateful to people like you reading this who care about books and authors and keep this vital industry alive. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with Tracy Wise

 

 

 

 

Tracy Wise is the author of the new novel Manufacturing a Duchess. She also has written the novel Madame Sorel's Lodger. She lives in California. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write Manufacturing a Duchess, and how did you create your character Aurora?

 

A: Many years ago, I thought I might try my hand at writing genre fiction and perhaps sell it and be able to quit my day job! I selected a genre I knew and loved, because of my mother, which was Regency fiction.

 

But I found, as I began to write the novel, that I got stuck because I was trying to fit my characters into a format that they just didn’t want to go into, and I got bored. My mother made me promise, though, that one day I would finish it.

 

Fast forward, and I shared the opening chapter with my writing critique group to see if it would work as a short story and they said, We like the little girl in this story. At which point I thought, what if I went back and wrote it the way the story wants to tell itself? And that is what I did.

 

So, Aurora’s “birth” initially came from the trope of the young, innocent woman arriving on the Marriage Mart to secure a title, etc. But as I re-wrote, her background as the daughter of an early industrialist began to shape her more strongly, along with her educational background. I also wanted her to grow and develop over the course of the story, as well as taking the other characters through their own journeys.

 

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

 

A: I drew upon a lifetime of my reading in the Regency genre, along with Jane Austen and also the more Victorian Elizabeth Gaskell.

 

My research was more a case of doublechecking details, to try and ensure I did not insert any howlers (in terms of errors). I hope I caught them all, but any remaining errors are my own. (If my mother were still alive, she would have given the book a read with an eagle eye for any errors as to customs, etc.)

 

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

 

A: The working title was A Mother for Marjorie, but, upon further discussion with my publisher (Type Eighteen Books), we looked for an alternative.

 

I like Manufacturing a Duchess because the book is literally about turning a non-member of Society into a member of the upper reaches of Society, while also referring to the fact that she comes from the industry of manufacturing.

 

Q: How would you describe the dynamic between Aurora and Alec?

 

A: At first, she is awestruck by him and develops a crush, and he considers her a nondescript teenager (though using that term is an anachronism).

 

But, as they interact, they begin to see each other as people and respond to one another that way. Each stretches and grows and finds new aspects to themselves that they did not have at the beginning of the novel. For me, the caring and the love that grow between them is an organic thing.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I would love to spend some more time in the world of Aurora, Alec, Marjorie, Finn, and Missie, so I am working on a sequel to Manufacturing a Duchess. I have lots of ideas buzzing in my brain about each of them.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: For me, writing is a combination of a learned and long-practiced skillset along with everything I have read and experienced.

 

I grew up living internationally because of my father’s work with a nonprofit aid organization, pursued theatre (acting) and then opera, worked in higher education administration at several universities, and now am finally getting the time to do my own creative writing. I also love bringing my acting and vocal skills into creating audiobooks of my writing.

 

My first novella, Madame Sorel's Lodger, came out in February 2025, also published by Type Eighteen Books. It is inspired by the life and work of Vincent Van Gogh and is also literary/historical fiction.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb