Q&A with Tara Lynn Masih

  

 

 

Tara Lynn Masih is the author of the new novel The Silent Women. Her other books include How We Disappear. She lives in Plymouth, Massachusetts. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Silent Women?

 

A: I was in Andover, Massachusetts, doing research in the historical society’s archives when I got into a discussion with Marilyn Hemmers, the director at the time. She told me about June Carmichael, a parachute rigger in WWII who’d lived in Andover. I dropped the research I was doing and turned to researching June’s volunteer work as a “silkworm.”

 

Eventually, I came across a book by Denise Kiernan, The Atomic City Girls, and in it found the story of Colleen Black, who worked in K-25. The vision of a young woman climbing over pipes—which held dangerous gases and were so gigantic she needed a ladder to get to the top—stuck in my mind.

 

She became the lead character in The Silent Women, and the rigger became one of her friends. All the stories I read were inspiring, but Colleen’s seemed unique to me.

 

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

 

A: Mostly, I read. I read many nonfiction books on the subject, ranging from women’s roles in the armed forces and in the Manhattan Project, especially at Oak Ridge. I had to steep myself in the events of WWII, events that occurred in the States rather than abroad, as I had to do with my previous novel.

 

Besides memoirs and history books, the local newspapers were a huge resource. For instance, in St. Augustine, the paper came out daily during the war years. I actually scanned two years’ worth of dailies! It was exhaustive research, but doing so helped me find details I could bring to the story that I think make it unique.

 

Hmmm, what surprised me? I was unaware that the Italian population was also targeted and even interred as possible enemies of the state while we were at war with Italy; I was surprised at the enormity of the Manhattan Project and how many different locations it had and how monumental the task must have been to plan it, build it, and execute it so quickly in the race toward the atom bomb; I was also surprised at how many minority populations contributed to the Project.

 

Q: The writer Janet Rich Edwards said of the book, “It does for WWII what The Women did for Vietnam.” What do you think of this comparison to Kristin Hannah’s Vietnam novel?

 

A: Oh gosh, I was over the moon when Janet sent her comments. What more could I ask for? Does my book truly compare to Hannah’s? If not in accomplishment, then certainly, I hope, in the research and scope of the book in terms of contributions women made and the fall out of their stressful and sometimes even tragic roles. I hope my book mirrors some of the same themes.

 

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

 

A: The original title was Only the Bittersweet. No, actually, it was Song Holloway. After writing the book, I settled on the bittersweet title as there is something about that in the book that readers will have to discover for themselves.

 

The publisher changed it to The Silent Women to better showcase the content. We all loved the original one, but it didn’t give any indication of what was happening in the book, during those times. I think they made the right call. I love being able to bring those women to life for new generations and to showcase their amazing contributions and sacrifices.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I haven’t started a new project yet. Historical fiction takes a lot of time to promote as there is way more preparation for talks and slideshows and such. Right now, I’m solely in promo mode. Something is percolating but on the farthest burner away from me.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: The book spans different locations and is also set during pre- and post-WWII. So you’ll get a sense of what it was like to live in the US during the early years and post years as well. The citizens of that time are called the “Great Generation,” and I hope this book shines a light on where that accolade came from.

 

Know that almost everything that happens in this book is based on historical facts. Truth can be more remarkable than fiction, for sure!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Tara Lynn Masih. 

Q&A with Laura Kalpakian

  

 

 

 

Laura Kalpakian is the author of the new book Undesirable: The Vietnam War and a Father's Battle for Justice. Her many other books include Memory into Memoir. She lives in the Pacific Northwest. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write this new book about your brother’s Vietnam service and your father’s efforts to change his “undesirable” military discharge to “honorable”?

 

A: I was not inspired to write this book; I was compelled to after I discovered in a safe in my basement the huge cache of letters and documents on which I have based Undesirable. I had no idea they existed.

 

I came upon them in the fall of 2023 when my mom, age 101, was in the last throes of her life in a nursing home. Not until February 2024 could I unearth them and bring them up and begin to read and reread, to ponder and organize what all this meant. The pain, the pathos, the sheer monumental effort that my father invested meant it had to be a book.

 

Q: How much of this history did you know before writing the book, and how did you research it? What did you learn that especially surprised you? 

 

A: I knew very little of this history. I was not living in Southern California at the time; I was a grad student on the East Coast. I did not know my brother had been given an Undesirable discharge until I brought these documents up from the basement. I thought he had been given a General and that my father had got it changed to Honorable. This was not so.

 

Undesirable is based upon the letters and documents exhumed from the basement. It is not a history of the Vietnam War or my brother’s role in that war. Over the course of two years, I asked questions of the past as revealed in these documents. As I returned again and again to the material, what came to light was a cover-up on the part of the Army and a grave injustice done to a vulnerable serviceman

 

Q: The author Paula Becker said of the book, “Undesirable is a poignant examination of duty: the author’s father’s to his son, her brother’s to his country, society’s to those who serve, and her own obligation to her father’s memory.” What do you think of that assessment?

 

A: I think Ms. Becker’s reading is correct. My brother was a physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual wreck when the Army spit him out.

 

Doug Johnson served his country in Vietnam for 14 months and in return—had my father not worked so hard to overturn the Undesirable—Doug would have had nada, no veteran’s benefits whatever. My father felt it his duty to fight this injustice, but that sense of duty was grounded in his love for his son.

 

Q: What do you think your family’s experience says about the legacy of the Vietnam War?

 

A: The legacy of that war is unremitting tragedy. The war, as we now know from history and memoirs, never had a chance of conventional victory and Americans at the time (myself included) were passionately against it.

 

When these soldiers came home, they were met with scorn. They carried their burdens, burdens of all sorts, into the rest of their lives and into the lives of their families. Certainly, that was true of my brother, who both endured pain personally and inflicted pain on others for decades.

 

Those young men who fought that war are old now. Many are still suffering, afflicted with ills from Agent Orange they all breathed in 50 years ago. The bitter legacy of that war is felt to this day, not just for Americans but for the Vietnamese as well. Sadly, the Vietnam War defined a whole generation.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: In the next few months, I will be getting my novel American Cookery ready for re-release by Paint Creek Press. And I will be finalizing a collection of stories and novellas and beginning early drafts of a new novel.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: When I first looked at the actual document of the Undesirable Discharge (reproduced in the book) no great leaps of imagination were required to fathom what such a statement would do to one’s sense of self. Doug Johnson was a 20-year-old kid who had enlisted at 19 and returned home 14 months later as a drug addict with a prison record.

 

Many small stories arose in the writing of Undesirable that simply did not fit into the arc of the book itself. These can be found in the blogposts on my website, laurakalpakian.com.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with India Hill Brown

  

 

 

India Hill Brown is the author of the new middle grade novel Girl from the Ashes. Her other books include The Forgotten Girl. She lives in South Carolina. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write Girl from the Ashes, and how did you create your characters Gianna and Carter John?

 

A: I was inspired after doing a school visit at Johnsonville Middle School in my home state of South Carolina. The students there so graciously made me a travel guide of their favorite places to visit in Johnsonville and surrounding areas, and one of the places most highly mentioned was The Ron McNair Life History Center in Lake City, South Carolina.

 

Growing up, I heard a good bit about Dr. Ron McNair, his accomplishments, and the tragic Challenger Space Shuttle explosion.

 

What I didn’t know was that, at the age of 9 years old, he had the police called on him at a segregated library. He wanted to check out a book that he wasn’t allowed to and didn’t want to leave without it. This library was eventually renamed The Ron McNair Life History Center in his honor!

 

When I read this, it had me interested to research more about segregated libraries, and write a story centered around a young, Black boy who loved space. That Black boy eventually became Carter John!

 

Gianna was a lot like me as a kid: a teacher’s pet, a bit of a smart aleck, sometimes picked on for liking “kid stuff.” However, Carter John was a lot like me in my teenage years: misunderstood and constantly getting in trouble for things I didn’t do or didn’t mean to do.

 

Since I experienced both of these point of views, I empathize with both, and wanted to share so others could do the same.

 

Q: How would you describe the dynamic between them?

 

A: They are fiercely protective of each other and see the good in each other. Their strengths and weaknesses play off of each other’s, so they make a great team.

 

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

 

A: It signifies rebuilding. The ghost in the story is red hot with the need for revenge, and while it’s understandable, it’s not always the right answer. The kids understand that the real way to change was to expose the bad, and rebuild with something beautiful.

 

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

 

A: I hope people readers learn to appreciate their strengths, and lean on one another for help in their weaknesses. I hope they learn how important it is to have compassion for one another, and that through history and the bad choices of others is a huge way that we can improve and do better.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I don’t know how much I can say right now, but I am working on something that I am hugely excited about! Visit my website at indiahillbrown.com and subscribe to my newsletter/blog (indiahillbrown.com/blog) to learn more.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: That I truly hope you love Girl from the Ashes. I can’t wait for you to meet Carter John and Gianna! 

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

July 17

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

July 17, 1888: S.Y. Agnon born. 

Q&A with Lauren Acampora

  

 

 

Lauren Acampora is the author of the new linked story collection The Animal Room. Her other books include The Wonder Garden. She lives in Westchester County, New York. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Animal Room?

 

A: Ever since I was a child, I’ve been intrigued by animals and stories involving animals. I’m pulled in by newspaper articles and neighborhood reports about animals, whether the story of a police dog apprehending a fugitive, a bear getting into a birdfeeder, a safari-goer being trampled by an elephant, or red-tailed hawks nesting on the ledge of a Manhattan apartment building.

 

I’m fascinated by what these stories suggest about human nature—and humanity’s relationship with Nature. Taken together, they illustrate our deeply complicated, paradoxical, delicate, sometimes fraught co-existence with other species.

 

I’d long planned to write a collection of stories featuring human-animal relationships, mostly because I thought it would be fun to create characters involved in these kinds of situations.

 

There’s so much cognitive dissonance that arises from our varied relationships with animals. We cherish our pets as family members, while also living with the fact that scientific researchers carry out experiments on animals, including domestic ones.

 

So many complex questions arise from human-animal scenarios. Who are we within the natural world? How has humanity’s place changed, or not changed, over time? How much can it ever really change? We are biological, mortal beings, after all—animals ourselves—and other species are, in many ways, our mirrors.

 

Q: The author Mona Awad said of the book, “In this dazzling panoply of intersecting lives and stories, Acampora explores our relationship to the animal in all its forms and throws into profound relief our great and tragic humanity.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: Well, of course I love Mona’s wonderfully generous quote! And I think that the idea of our humanity being both great and tragic is spot on. We are a terminally confused species, too smart for our own good. The knowledge of our own mortality and our painful awareness of the passage of time really messes us up.

 

This is a critical difference between us and our fellow animals who live moment to moment. Being human is a gift, yes, but also by definition a tragedy.

 

Q: Why did you decide to return to your fictional town of Old Cranbury, Connecticut, in this book?

 

A: At first, only one of the stories, “Dominion,” was meant to be set in Old Cranbury. I wanted to write a story from the perspective of Roy Fox, the retired oil CEO with an exotic animal estate, who features in my book The Hundred Waters, which is set in the Nearwater area of Old Cranbury.

 

In that novel, Roy is an opaque character, a bit of a cartoon villain in others’ eyes. I wanted to give him a chance to show his good (if sometimes misguided) intentions.

 

After finishing that story, I thought it would be fun to loop in some of my other characters from my first linked collection, The Wonder Garden. Once I had the idea of connecting these stories with previous books, I started connecting them with each other and couldn’t stop.

 

I do love a linked story collection, especially those that include characters from an author’s previous books. As a reader, I enjoy discovering Easter eggs, and so I included some for the readers of my other books, who will encounter familiar friends and incidents. That’s how all the stories ended up in Old Cranbury. I seem to keep coming back there.

 

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

 

A: When we moved into our house 17 years ago, we took ownership from a couple who’d lived here for 40 years and raised two daughters to adulthood. I chose one of the girls’ old bedrooms as my writing office.

 

While putting things away in the bedroom closet, I found taped to the far inside wall an old green construction paper sign with purple cut-out letters spelling “ANIMAL ROOM.” I picture a little girl’s stuffed animals arranged in the closet, maybe—but who knows?

 

I never took the sign down and never will. Those two words, “animal” and “room,” are so interesting together. Animals don’t belong in rooms. We put them there. We entrap them, rescue them, study them, admire them, and keep them close. I thought “The Animal Room” would make a great title for something someday.

 

And then I encountered those same words again while researching the story “Husbandry,” about an animal husbandry technician at a research institute. I learned that the rooms where laboratory animals are kept are called “animal rooms.”

 

Further researching that story, which has a strong neuroscience angle, I learned about the structure of the brain and its different compartments, so to speak. There are areas responsible for sophisticated reasoning and planning, and areas that are evolutionarily much older, which is where our instincts, intuitions, and self-protective, propagating drives come from.

 

I imagined this primitive compartment of our brains as a kind of “animal room,” where our deepest animal selves and urges are kept and which secretly drives our desires and purposes.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’ve been taking notes for years on a novel that may or may not expand upon this world I’ve been building and may or may not bring all four of my books together.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: My dog Auggie was a major contributor to this book, just by napping on the guest bed near my desk. He provided companionship and inspiration and forced me to take mandatory breaks. While walking him, I thought through many of the ideas and problems in the book.

 

Also, being near Auggie activates the special energy that exists between humans and animals who share time on Earth. We’re drawn to animals for good reason. And being in his company reminds me that creatures of all species are deserving of respect, compassion, and dignity.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Lauren Acampora. 

Q&A with Bryan Gruley

  

 

 

Bryan Gruley is the author of the new novel River Deep. His other books include the novel Bitterfrost. He is also a journalist, and he lives in Michigan. 

 

Q: River Deep is your second novel featuring your characters Devyn Payne and Detective Garth Klimmek--do you think they have changed at all from one book to the next?

 

A: Absolutely. Devyn is coming off a failed experiment with living downstate and has crossed the courtroom aisle by signing up with prosecutor's office. And she's considering whether Jimmy Baker is a long-term relationship, or not.

 

Klimmek is looking forward to retirement and replacement surgery for his aching hip when this double-murder case is dropped in his lap. They will both have difficult choices to make throughout the book. 

 

Q: What inspired the plot of River Deep?

 

A: A 1989 case in which a man named Larry DeLisle drove his wife and four young children into the Detroit River. He supposedly confessed in a grueling police interrogation and for the past 20-some years has been appealing to have his life conviction overturned.

 

His appellate briefs served up some great material for the interrogation of Catriona Dulaney and the courtroom scenes in River Deep.

 

Q: The author Danielle Girard said of the book, “Haunting and morally complex, River Deep asks how well we ever truly know the people we love.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: It's certainly haunting, given that the inciting incident is the drowning of two infants. And I always strive for the morally complex, because that's how humans are. The knowing or not knowing of people--from Devyn to Jimmy to Klimmek to Catriona to the enigmatic, one-eyed stranger Hooper--is vital throughout.

 

Q: The novel is set in a small town in northern Michigan--how important is setting to you in your writing?

 

A: It's crucial. I try to make the setting, whether it's Bitterfrost, Starvation Lake, or Bleak Harbor, a character unto itself. Readers seem to think I succeed at that.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I'm about halfway through a draft of the third Bitterfrost book, tentatively titled Savage Falls. It's a mess!

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I really love hearing from readers, whether it's via my website or social media channels--and not just readers who like my books. I welcome constructive criticism (and sometimes nasty review quotes wind up on T-shirts!). Thanks for the great questions, Deborah!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Bryan Gruley. 

Q&A with Bill Smoot

  

 

 

Bill Smoot is the author of the new novel San Quentin Exodus. He is also an educator, and he has taught college courses at Mount Tamalpais College in San Quentin Prison for 14 years. He lives in Berkeley, California. 

 

Q: How much did your own experiences teaching at San Quentin Prison influence the writing of your new novel?

 

A: Very much. The setting, the daily realities, the experience of incarcerated people—all of these became raw material for my novel. However, the characters are completely fictional. None of them are based on real people.

 

Q: How did you create your characters James and Allison?

 

A: Over the years, when I entered the prison, I found myself gazing up at the imposing walls and wondering how one might escape. The character of Allison grew out of that wondering. She was a mystery solver in the vein of Nancy Drew, her childhood hero, and she wondered how one could fashion a key for this most formidable of locks.

 

As for James, he came out of my realization that one could be an archetypal “good boy” and still stumble into committing a serious crime. That’s the contradiction he lives—a good boy who did a bad thing.

 

I know this may sound strange, but I developed these characters by putting myself in a receptive state of mind and letting them come to me. They felt more dreamed than rationally constructed. I felt like I watched them live and then wrote down what I saw.

 

Q: The author Lori Ostlund said of the book, “Like all good literature, San Quentin Exodus ultimately asks us to reconsider everything we believe—or think we believe.” What do you think of that assessment?

 

A: I think it’s an accurate assessment. Of course, this will vary from reader to reader, but I think most people have a brutal and dehumanized image of incarcerated individuals that they have formed from TV, film, and works of fiction.

 

I believe my novel challenges that view and reveals the hearts and souls of people in prison. Teaching there for 14 years allowed me to appreciate their fierce humanity. As absurd as this might sound coming from a middle-class man with a Ph.D., I realized that in some deep way, we are all the same person.

 

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

 

A: First, I hope they will be caught up in the journey of some very interesting and very likeable—even loveable—characters. Beyond that, I want them to feel the souls and hearts of those who are incarcerated. It’s often said that fiction can develop empathy in readers. I hope that’s what San Quentin Exodus will do.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I have recently finished a new novel, tentatively called Looking to Eleusis, about a classics professor obsessed with the Eleusinian mystery religion of ancient Greece. In 1968, He goes to Greece to work on the excavation at Eleusis during the reign of the military junta and gets caught up in the resistance movement.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: To my great distress, someone in the California prison bureaucracy heard about my novel and raised a stink—without having read it, of course. The college program in which I have taught for 14 years responded by throwing me under the bus, and I was fired (if “fired” is the right word for losing an unpaid job).

 

This is an act of violence—against the new California Model of prison as rehabilitative, against the ideals of freedom of expression, and against the students, who deserve professors who have the guarantee of freedom that all professors do—or should—enjoy.

 

I still hope this ham-fisted response will be reversed.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb