Q&A with Stephanie Mack

  

 

 

Stephanie Mack is the author of the new novel Twenty Something Else. She hosts the podcast Underline That, and she lives in Orange County, California.  

 

Q: What inspired you to write Twenty Something Else, and how did you create your character Sutton?

 

A: Twenty Something Else was born at the intersection of two things: my own approaching 40th birthday and my lifelong love for It’s a Wonderful Life. I’ve always been fascinated by the ripple effect of our choices—how one yes or no can shape decades and impact thousands.

 

As I stood on the brink of 40, I found myself reflecting not with regret, but with curiosity. Who was the 21-year-old version of me? What parts of her are still alive and well? What parts have evolved?

 

Sutton began as a bit of an extension-of-self character—same stage of life, similar questions, similar passions. But very quickly she took on her own heartbeat. I gave her my curiosity, my love for beauty and the arts, and my deep loyalty to family. But I gave her ample space to wrestle differently, to respond differently, to grow in ways uniquely her own.

 

She is familiar to me—especially after so much precious time together—but she is not me. That distinction was important.

 

Q: What do you see as the relationship between your novel and the classic film It’s a Wonderful Life?

 

A: At its core, It’s a Wonderful Life asks one profound question: What would the world look like if you had never existed?

 

Twenty Something Else asks a sister question: What would your life look like if you had chosen differently—perhaps never existing in certain ways, yet fully flourishing in others?

 

Both stories explore the sacred weight of ordinary decisions. George Bailey sees how his kindness and quiet faithfulness shaped an entire town. Sutton sees how her “small” choices—love, marriage, motherhood, sacrifice, ambition—shaped her own becoming, created whole humans, and changed other lives.

 

I didn’t want to recreate the film or even mirror it. I wanted to honor its spirit. The reminder that our lives matter. That our unseen choices matter. That kindness, obedience, courage, and even detours ripple further than we’ll ever fully know.

 

Q: The author Bethany Turner called the book a “one-of-a-kind gem that sparkles with wit and wisdom that feels uniquely millennial but will undoubtedly appeal to readers of all ages.” What do you think of that assessment?

 

A: First of all, I adore Bethany and all her books, so I might frame that quote!

 

Secondly, I do think this story carries a distinctly millennial lens—the nostalgia, the outfits, the “did I do this right?” internal dialogue, the weight of social media comparison, the balancing act between ambition and presence. But I also believe the deeper themes—identity, marriage, second acts, gratitude, grief, faith—are timeless.

 

We may move through the world and process it differently than our mothers did. We may question and experience things our grandmothers didn’t. But women across generations have always wrestled with who they are becoming—and how to weigh and balance the elusive all. If this book feels millennial in tone but universal in heart, that’s the highest compliment.

 

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

 

A: I hope readers walk away with gratitude instead of regret—with a total exhale and full belief that they’re really something else.

 

I hope they feel permission to look back on their 20s—or 30s, or 50s—not to rewrite them, but to understand them. I hope every reader sees that the woman she is today didn’t happen by accident. She was formed through brave choices, hard seasons, faithful obedience, laughter, heartbreak, and love.

 

Most of all, I hope readers close the book thinking: My life counts. My story matters. And what’s ahead is still unfolding. Forty is just the beginning. I feel that deeply.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m continuing to write fictional stories centered on women navigating modern life with honesty, humor, and hope. I’m currently developing my next novel—my first truly “summer” book! It’s another emotionally layered story exploring identity, love, and reinvention in a Southern California setting.

 

I’m also deeply invested in my podcast, Underline That, where I have the joy of interviewing authors and thinkers about craft, calling, courage, and so much more. I love exploring “the things worth underlining”—anything we pause to highlight, literally or metaphorically. I’m honored by the weekly conversations I have with women who blow me away. Storytelling is truly my passion, and it takes many forms.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: That I’m 40 now—and I love it! The milestone didn’t feel like a closing door. It felt like an invitation. To clarity. To deeper friendships. To creative boldness. To saying no to what no longer fits and yes to what matters most.

 

If there’s one thing I learned while writing Twenty Something Else, it’s that we don’t have to fear the next decade. We get to steward it. We get to celebrate it! What a gift. Turns out it really is a wonderful life.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with Eliza Knight

  

Photo by Michael Devaney

 

 

Eliza Knight is the author of the new novel Lost in the Summer of '69. Her many other novels include Confessions of a Grammar Queen.  

 

Q: What inspired you to write Lost in the Summer of ‘69?

 

A: There were so many ideas filtering through my head that inspired Lost in the Summer of ’69, and after a walk-and-plot with a writer pal of mine, the pieces started to fall into place.

 

Following my novel Confessions of a Grammar Queen, I knew I wanted to write another book that took place in the ‘60s, so I started to do some exploratory research about what happened in that decade of change.

 

I came across the summer of 1969, which was filled with not only music festivals, but other changes in the country, including the first year Yale allowed women to matriculate. I’ve always been fascinated by women’s stories, mothers and daughters, ways we change and empower each other, and I knew I needed to write a generational story.

 

There’s also a thread of exploring stories together and how reading can spark conversation, so you’ll see that in a number of ways.

 

Every novel I write has a little piece of me in it, and that year, there were some personal things going on in my life as well that sparked inspiration and the need to explore—my father-in-law’s battle with Alzheimer’s and my daughter going off to college. As the ideas snowballed, so too did the urgency to write this story.

 

Q: How would you describe the dynamics among the various generations of women in the novel?

 

A: At the start of the novel the dynamics between mothers and daughters is tense.

 

On the one hand you have Eleanor, the matriarch of the family who is keeping her diagnosis a secret and now she’s run away, not trusting her daughter to let her live her life on her own terms.

 

Then you have Leanne, a housewife, about to be an empty nester who is also struggling to connect with her own daughter, Nora, who is about to go off to college.

 

Each of them carries their own secrets, desires, and need for self-discovery and change. Sometimes those needs don’t align with each other, which results in some butting heads. But as they embark on this epic summer road trip, they learn more about not only themselves, but each other.

 

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

 

A: The research for this book consisted of reading several books about the summer of concerts, as well as reading the books that Leanne and Nora bond over in the car. I did extensive research on what the road trip itself would entail, as well as the music industry.

 

I learned so much about the creation of rock n’ roll, as well as how the industry changed for women through the decades. I was fascinated too by the change in fashion from 1960 to 1969.

 

I also learned a lot about dementia and Alzheimer’s. I’ve experienced dementia and Alzheimer’s in my own family, and you study what’s needed emotionally and medically for your own family, but to study it more personally from other people’s experiences and to recreate it on the page was eye opening and heart-wrenching.

 

Leanne’s character was the biggest surprise for me. She started out one way, and ended another, and I really enjoyed watching her flourish.

 

Q: What do you think was special about the summer of 1969?

 

A: I think it was a special summer of change across the country! Women’s rights, civil rights, and a cultural revolution that was inspired and spurred on by the music. There was a sense of freedom, of growth. The music changed, clothes changed, even the way we danced changed. In the immortal lyrics of The Doors, it helped us Break on Through to the Other Side.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m working on two stories right now. One is a gothic historical, disaster mashup, and one is a women’s fiction novel of self-discovery! I can’t say more than that now, but I’m very excited for both!

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I hope readers feel a genuine connection to the story, the characters, and to the emotions threaded throughout. I hope that those connections spark conversations between mothers and daughters, or with friends about their relationships, their hopes, their dreams, their desires for change or stories they want to share.

 

I want my book to be the jumping off point for people to revisit the music or maybe listen for the first time. To read the books mentioned. I want readers to reminisce about the stories that shaped them, and to reflect on not only who they were, but who they’re still becoming.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Eliza Knight.  

Q&A with Emily Renk Hawthorne

  

 

 

Emily Renk Hawthorne is the author of the new novel From the Depths, the second in her Of Mountains and Seas duology. She is also a dentist, and she lives on California's Central Coast. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write your Of Mountains and Seas series?

 

A: I grew up reading fantasy and always wanted to write my own fantasy novel. Being half Chinese and from California, I wanted to write a story that a younger version of me could relate to, so I mixed Chinese mythology with a California setting. 

 

Q: How did you come up with the plot for your new novel, From the Depths, and how did you create your character Nivi?

 

A: The plot for From the Depths continues from where Of Mountains and Seas left off. I read through Of Mountains and Seas and made notes of any plotlines that hadn't been tied up and made it my goal to complete them all in From the Depths. 

 

Nivi is a character in Book 1, whom I based on a younger version of myself: a teenager trying to figure out her place in the world. In Book 2, I continue her character development and have her face larger challenges.

 

Q: How did you create the world in which the stories take place?

 

A: I started with places in California that are familiar to me and then slowly wove the magic and mythology in. I tried to imagine what a parallel society hidden in plain sight would look like and what measures would keep the two worlds separate.

 

Q: Do you usually know how your novels will end, or do you make many changes along the way?

 

A: I sometimes have a rough idea of where the novel is heading, but as the characters develop, I'm always surprised by how they take control of the narrative and change the plot.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I have several new ideas that all include a bit of magic or the paranormal, but there are two that I'm actively working on: a winter romance with a touch of magic and a medieval retelling of a well-known romance with a twist that hasn’t been done yet.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I live on the Central Coast with my husband, our daughter, and two elderly dogs. :-)

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

June 10

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
June 10, 1915: Saul Bellow born.

Q&A with Lisa See

  

 

 

Lisa See is the author of the new novel Daughters of the Sun and Moon. Her many other books include Lady Tan's Circle of Women. She lives in Los Angeles.

 

Q: Why did you decide to highlight the Chinese Massacre of 1871 in your new novel?

 

A: I have long been inspired by history that’s been lost, forgotten, or deliberately covered up. With this story, I found multiple layers of lost and forgotten history.

 

It’s hard to imagine the Los Angeles of today as it was back in 1870. The state of California was just 18 years old, the Civil War had ended five years earlier, and the transcontinental railroad had just been completed. People were coming to California from all points of the compass, and they were a rough and tumble lot. 

 

We tend to think of Tombstone, Dodge City, and Deadwood as the wildest of the Wild West towns, but Los Angeles was, by every measure, the most brutal and violent, with a murder rate three times that of New York City and double that of the country at large. Who knew?

 

Los Angeles was home to a little over 5,000 residents, of whom 145 were Chinese men and 34 were Chinese women. What must those women have thought about being in this tiny, dirty, violent place? 

 

On October 24, 1871, only 10 days after the great Chicago fire, one-tenth of the population—over 500 Angelenos—rioted against the Chinese. By the end of the evening, one tenth of the Chinese population—18 men and boys—had been shot, stabbed, mutilated, and then hung for good measure. 

 

The Chinese Massacre of 1871—the so-called Night of Horrors—is considered to be one of the largest mass lynchings in the history of the United States and certainly the largest in California.

 

And boy oh boy, do the events of that night fit exactly with what I care about—history that’s been lost, forgotten, or deliberately covered up. In Daughters of the Sun and Moon, I wanted to write about the events of 1870-71 but from the perspective of the Chinese women who were here.

 

Q: Your characters Moon, Petal, and Dove were based in part on historical figures. How did you research their stories, and what did you learn that particularly surprised you?

 

A: Dove was inspired by a young woman, whose name in real life was Yut Ho. I found much of her story in newspaper accounts and in the surviving trial documents related to the 1871 Massacre, most of which are held in the Huntington Library’s collection.

 

Yut Ho was brought here in an arranged marriage to a much older merchant, who the press described as being “hideously ugly.” She wasn’t here for very long before she was kidnapped and held captive for many months.

 

Reporters at the time and scholars even today believe her kidnapping was the initial spark for what would come to be known as the Night of Horrors. I think of her as the Helen of Troy of the piece.

 

Petal is actually a composite of two women—Sing Ye and Sing Yu—who were sold by their families in China, brought here, and sold into prostitution. From the moment they got here, both women did everything they could to escape and find freedom. I found accounts of their escapes, and in one case kidnapping, in the local press of the day and in surviving court documents.

 

Tong Yu was Doctor Chee Long “Gene” Tong’s wife and the inspiration for Moon. After her husband’s death during the Night of Horrors, she became one of the earliest Chinese women in the country to file a lawsuit. It was against the gang leader she held responsible for the massacre and her husband’s murder. But nothing came of it. 

 

Or perhaps I should say that there’s nothing left in the historic record to show what happened. I kept thinking about that absence and what it might mean…

 

I guess what surprised me most is that these real women each made a short appearance in the press—what we might call their 15 minutes of fame—and then they disappeared from the historic record. Their “disappearance,” while not all that surprising as 15 minutes of fame disappear even today, is what inspired me.

 

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

 

A: I’ve seen one reference to Chinese prostitutes being called “daughters of the sun and moon.” But only the one reference! Still, I kept thinking about the description and what it might say about women in general, Chinese women in particular, and the women in the novel most specifically. 

 

Moon, Dove, and Petal are very different from each other—by class, by their ability to read or not, by the size and shape of their feet, by marriage status, by whether they are free or not. They are as different as can be from each other, yet they are connected as women. 

 

I believe this is true for all women around the world. We may look different, practice different religions, live in very different cultures, and yet we are bound by our shared female biology and anatomy, our shared desire to be loved, and our shared need to survive and endure.

 

Q: Do you see parallels between the events in your novel and our world today?

 

A: I started working on Daughters of the Sun and Moon long before the ICE raids that have disrupted communities, including my own, but discrimination, racism, and violence are nothing new.

 

I hope readers will think about what was happening to the Chinese in America in the 19th century and more specifically during the Night of Horrors in Los Angeles and how those events relate to what many immigrants are experiencing today in this country. Can we learn from our mistakes or are we doomed to repeat them?

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m still in the very early stages of research, so the story could still change a lot, depending on what I find. 

 

I can tell you a bit about my initial inspiration, which is a Chinese lute called Xiao Hulei—Little Thunder—which was made in 781, passed through many hands, and is now in the collection at the Palace Museum in the Forbidden City. 

 

This final home—rather, I should say a return to its original home in the palace—inspired me to think about the history of the Palace Museum and what happened to the collection and the curators during the Cultural Revolution.

 

Beautiful Flower and Little Thunder (working title) will weave together two parallel stories of love, separation, isolation, survival, and reunion.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Each time we’ve done interviews together, I’ve always been struck by this last question. It always reminds me of your dad and what a great journalist he is. And now you too!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Lisa See. 

Q&A with Kate Khavari

  

 

 

Kate Khavari is the author of the new novel A Botanist's Guide to Tradition and Treachery, the latest in her Saffron Everleigh mystery series. She lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.  

 

Q: What inspired the plot of your new Saffron Everleigh mystery?

 

A: The plot of this book follows two traditions I love in longer running mystery series: the sleuth abroad and the sleuth accused.

 

Saffron being sent on an expedition takes her out of her comfort zone and far from the resources she’s developed book to book, and her being accused of the crime and (gasp!) arrested further limits her ability to investigate. It’s a lot of pressure for both her and Alexander, and I hope it makes for a really exciting story.

 

Q: Do you think Saffron has changed over the course of the series?

 

A: I hope so! It was one of my goals when beginning this series, to have her learn and grow in each book.

 

The series begins with Saffron literally hiding in a bathroom from the horrible man harassing her at work, and Tradition & Treachery shows her stepping right up to her bully and telling him off.  She’s at once more confident in herself and her self-worth but starting to question her place in the world and her future in a way she’s never done before.

 

Q: How would you describe the dynamic between Saffron and Alexander?

 

A: They’ve also come a long way from the first book in the series, A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons. This book sees them put to rest some long-standing issues between them but also starts them on a whole new path!

 

They’ve come to not only love one another but respect how they want to move through the world and are learning how best to support one another. Saffron brings the playfulness out in Alexander, and Alexander challenges Saffron to think through her ideas more carefully. I love their dynamic!

 

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

 

A: Learning about the state of Turkey in 1924 was very interesting. I visited Turkey many years ago, so I tried to combine what I remembered of the warm culture and beauty with the details I learned of the history of the country and its development. I really enjoyed learning about where the East-meets-West persona that Turkey is known for today began.

 

I was lucky enough to have a friend read for me as a sensitivity reader and her insight into Turkish food (delicious) and Turkish idioms (occasionally confusing) was both a lifesaver and really fun to learn from!

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m currently writing the sixth Saffron Everleigh Mystery and enjoying researching a historical fantasy project, also set in the 1920s but in a world with magical relics. It’s been so fun to combine my love and knowledge of the ‘20s with the ability to make up fun magical stuff!

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I’m just really happy to be writing these stories, not only because they’re fun, rompy mysteries but also because they give me the chance to brush up on issues relevant today like misogyny and how women like Saffron deal with it.

 

This book gets to address an issue that was hugely important back then and right now—the problem of partage and ownership in archeology. In the past, it was accepted that those who dug things up got ownership.

 

That’s the part that I think my beloved Indiana Jones gets wrong—artifacts don’t always belong in a museum, and rarely do they belong in a museum half a world away from their origins. Saffron and her expedition team confront the ethics of archeology as a part of this mystery. 

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Kate Khavari. 

Q&A with Nina Chayka

  

 

 

Nina Chayka is the author of the new linked story collection Seagulls. She is a Russian-American writer, and is a graduate student at Harvard.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Seagulls?

 

A: Seagulls began as my personal way of processing the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. I wrote a draft of what would later become one of the chapters only a few weeks into the war. As often happens, I didn’t think of it as a book when I started writing it – it was simply something I had to put down on paper, for myself, without any intention of sharing it.

 

Over time, writing down stories of people impacted by displacement, immigration struggles, and the intensely personal dramas of our lives – divorces, marriages, childbirth, falling in and out of love – unfolding against the backdrop of geopolitical crisis was a way for me to connect with those people, to find resonance between their stories and mine.

 

Q: The writer Cristina García said of the book, “Inspired by Chekhov’s famous play, the characters seem almost to oscillate in time, hovering like seagulls over their own uncertain destinies.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: First, that’s so generous of Cristina! The collection is indeed inspired by Anton Chekhov – the play, of course, but also the short stories.

 

There’s a sense of nostalgia for a lost Russia that permeates Chekhov’s work and deeply moves me: nostalgia even for the Russia that still physically exists, but you can feel it already slipping away. A kind of longing that arrives before the loss itself– missing something even while you still have it.

 

Q: How did you decide on the order in which the stories would appear in the book?

 

A: I wanted first to show the main characters in the lives they built after the immigration. The first three chapters follow these women after they’ve already left Ukraine or Russia – we meet them in Barcelona, New York, and Istanbul.

 

The sense of loss surrounding events as monumental as immigration, war, or displacement can be overwhelming, so I wanted to give these women the dignity of new beginnings. In a sense, I wanted to reassure the reader – these women are okay, they make it through – before leading the reader to follow them into darker places.

 

After this initial flash-forward, the stories move chronologically, and we finish more or less where we started. To quote T.S.Eliot,

 

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.

 

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

 

A: Being a Russian in America without outside of an immigrant community can feel isolating. It’s hard to explain to my American friends what this war means to my family and friends back home. Writing this book was my attempt to bridge that distance.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m working on a novel set in New York about a woman who’s lying about everything until her lies start catching up with her.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Thank you so much for your questions and hope you enjoy the book! 

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb