Q&A with Elle Marr

  

Photo by Kitta Bodmer

 

 

Elle Marr is the author of the new novel She Dies in the End. Her other books include The Lie She Wears. She lives in Oregon.

 

Q: You’ve said the inspiration for She Dies in the End came from an article about a body broker. Can you say more about that, and about how you created your character Penny?

 

A: Yes, it's actually all thanks to doom-scrolling, believe it or not. Several years ago, while I was awake with my then-infant at 3 a.m., I was scrolling on my phone when I read an article detailing the profession of body brokerage that shocked me wide awake.

 

The actions of a body broker in Las Vegas, and the egregious ways with which he handled cadavers donated to science, got me thinking: If the industry is as poorly regulated at the federal level of the country, as the article suggests, is there any actual oversight at the local level? Could an additional, unknown cadaver be slipped into a container by someone desiring to hide a body?

 

The whole idea smacked of an incredible premise for a thriller, but it was missing a heroine. Cue my body broker with a heart of gold, Penny Lin.

 

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

 

A: I dug into the recent history of body brokerage, and learned the industry only developed in the last 10 years or so. Traditionally, hospitals managed the donors' remains and ensured they were shipped to medical teaching programs, surgeon schools, and research institutes, all with the altrusitic goal of furthering medical research.

 

However, body brokers eventually began to fill that role by leasing cadavers from the hospitals or buying them out right, then shipping them to said teaching programs.

 

I'd venture many act in legal and ethical ways; but a few other body brokers, whose actions made national headlines, surprised me by the carelessness they displayed in shipping human remains in cardboard, Saran wrap, and other highly questionable containers. 

 

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

 

A: I came up with this title because it grabbed my attention, simply put. It echoes the story's premise that centers around body brokerage; the awareness that my main character, Penny, has for death as the end for us all; and the way in which death is a literal part of her daily routine. 

 

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

 

A: A sense of hope, always. That although we might carry baggage with us from one location to the next, we're never locked into wearing that burden indefinitely. 

 

Q: What are you working on now? 

 

A: I'm deep in the manuscript on my next thriller, and I'm so excited by how it's turning out. I can't say much yet, as a lot of the story line can change while I'm still drafting, but I think it might be my most ambitious yet. 

 

Q: Anything else we should know? 

 

A: Recently, I launched my Substack and have been so thrilled to connect with readers there, in addition to the usual places on social media. 

 

I'm also grateful for the chance to talk all things She Dies in the End with you, here. This was a book that had many iterations, but which, I think, has the strongest ending of any that I've written. I hope readers love exploring the twisty, secretive world of this book!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Elle Marr. 

Q&A with Kyle Harper

  

 

Kyle Harper is the author of the new book The Last Animal: Human History and the Fate of Life on Earth from the Ice Age to the Sixth Extinction. His other books include The Fate of Rome. He is a professor at the University of Oklahoma.

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Last Animal?

 

A: An alignment of personal and intellectual motivations. I live in the same place I grew up (the great state of Oklahoma), and the natural world I knew as a kid is radically different than the ones that my own children are experiencing. As a historian, I want to know where things come from, and I felt like there wasn’t a good history of the biodiversity crisis. 

 

I am an environmental historian and love writing big, global histories that try to capture the place of humans in nature. Our relationship with animals is integral to our story, and I was inspired to try to write a book that might help us see that.

 

Q: The book covers so much history--how did you research it, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?

 

A: There are five primary drivers of biodiversity loss today: hunting or direct harvesting; land-use change; invasive species; pollution/biocides; climate change. The first three of these have been influential for thousands of years. So one strategy was to think about the origins of each of these drivers of biodiversity change. 

 

I found many surprises along the way! How systemically humans have eliminated big animals. How long we have persecuted predators. How sweeping global land-use change is (such that we have an almost deluded account of what the Earth would look like without us). 

 

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

 

A: Well, I confess I like the title before I knew exactly what it meant. I wrestle throughout the book with the idea of the Sixth Extinction - the claim that humans are on pace to, or could, cause a mass extinction event on par with the worst catastrophes in the last 541 million years of life on our planet.

 

It is a contested claim, and I have mixed feelings about it personally, because we have driven nowhere near that many species to extinction.

 

In the end, though, I think it’s a powerful and valuable idea, because it forces us to ask what our legacy will be in the history of evolution, in the long-term fossil record. And there is no doubt that the human moment will register as a consequential turning point in evolutionary history - even if it is still up to us to decide exactly what our legacy is.

 

But someday, there will be a last animal on Earth, and we can be certain that our legacy will endure for that long, the choices that we make today will echo for eons. So, the “last animal” is a way of thinking about humanity’s place in evolutionary history and Earth history.

 

Q: The author Sean B. Carroll said of the book, “This is a history that we desperately need to grasp and begin to change.” What do you think of that assessment, and what do you hope readers take away from the book?

 

A: On the one hand, it’s worse than we think. Ecologists use the term “shifting baseline syndrome” to describe our tendency to underestimate the changes that transpired in the deeper past.

 

My book argues that we vastly underestimate them. Many of these changes are irreversible. But we need to be honest about things - about how we got here - to know where we want to go.

 

I like to say there is plenty of gloom but not doom in the book. I hope it inspires a sense of wonder for the diversity of animal life that is gone forever but also for the diversity that is still all around us. 

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I have a couple of projects. One returns to my long interest in the history of health and disease, but with a new challenge: I’m writing a history of dementia. It’s a tragic and complicated and prevalent condition that is linked to aging, which is also fascinating and complex. 

 

I also have a book project on the long-term history of humans and plants. It will complete a kind of trilogy on microbes, animals, and plants, all with Princeton University Press, that tries to give a historical perspective on how humans fit into the story of life. 

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Thank you!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with Adam Jay Epstein

  

Photo by Elizabeth Yarwood

 

 

Adam Jay Epstein is the author of the new children's picture book Have You Seen Axel?. His other books include Have You Seen Gordon?. He lives in Los Angeles. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write Have You Seen Axel?

 

A: Thanks, Deborah! So nice to meet you. Have You Seen Axel? and the prior book in the series, Have You Seen Gordon?, were a direct result of my daughters’ love of look-and-find books. Every night when they were little, I would read them three or four picture books.

 

One was often a look-and-find book. They would spend a half hour scanning the page for every last fairy or shell or ladybug. And that was such a special time with them… but I found that none of the ones we owned had a story. I thought, “Wouldn’t it be fun to create a look-and-find that goes spectacularly wrong!”

 

In the first book, Have You Seen Gordon?, I wanted to ask the question, “What if the protagonist of a look-and-find book decides that they are proud of their identity and don’t want to hide anymore?” And, in addition, in that book, I placed a secret message from an overeager axolotl wishing that they could be the star of their own book.

 

So, for the second book, Have You Seen Axel?, I wondered what would happen if Axel the Axolotl got her wish to be the star of her own book. I felt like she would want to “win” by hiding so well that no one would be able to find her.

 

Which in hide-and-seek is the objective… but less so in a look-and-find book. You can’t hide too well, or no kid will find you! Both my daughters are very competitive and I think there is a lot of them in the character of Axel.  

 

Q: Why did you choose an axolotl as your protagonist?

 

A: After Ruth drew the initial illustrations for the first book, I scanned the sketches to see who I thought looked like they should be the one with the secret message wishing for their own book.

 

The adorable axolotl immediately jumped off the page. And this was before she was even colored. There was also a photo of an axolotl on the cover of a nature book that I read when I was little that had this big smile that always resonated with me.

 

And then, for whatever cosmic reason, axolotls took off in the public consciousness. They were the animal of the year for the Girl Scouts. They were huge on social media. Having Axel as the star of this book when axolotls are so popular is a happy coincidence!

 

Q: What do you think Ruth Chan’s illustrations add to the book?

 

A: Ruth has an absolutely incredible talent for drawing busy scenes full of life and humor. We both wanted to make sure that there was always something fun to look at no matter where your eyes drifted on the page. She and I worked together on coming up with background stories to fill each page with.

 

But then Ruth took it to a wonderful next level! Whether it was a hippo chef or a shark with a fishbowl on its head, she found so many ways to make me smile and laugh. I am in awe of her talent and even I find something new every time I read the book!

 

Q: The Kirkus Review of the book says, “Waldo, Schmaldo. This hilarious book takes the seek-and-find someplace new.” What do you think of that assessment?

 

A: Martin Handford’s Where’s Waldo? (Where’s Wally?) books are absolutely the visual benchmark for all other look-and-find books. That said, I am certainly proud of what we are doing with the Have You Seen series! Adding story, lots of humor and meaningful lessons was the intent from the beginning.

 

I truly hope that caregivers, teachers, librarians, and all other readers will have fun reading the books over and over because, as we all know, children’s books are meant to be revisited countless times. And I hope kids will have a lot of laughs as they discover all the hidden details on the 100th read! 

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Oct. 25

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Oct. 25, 1941: Anne Tyler born.

Q&A with Mary Hannah Terzino

  

 

 

Mary Hannah Terzino is the author of the new story collection Secrets and Other Hobbies. She lives in Saugatuck, Michigan. 

 

Q: Over how long a period did you write the stories in your new collection?

 

A: Of these 21 stories, the first one I wrote, before I knew there would be a collection, was “The Arc of the Birch.” It’s about a woman grappling with loss and change as exemplified by a beloved birch tree in her yard that her husband cuts down. I finished it in late 2017; it was published in mid-2018.

 

Four years later, I attended a writing residency where I printed out every story I’d written that was in final or near-final form. It dawned on me then that I’d written over two-thirds of a whole book.

 

Did I want that? I decided I did, that the themes of loss and attempted redemption threaded through my work could unify a collection. I wrote additional stories to cohabitate under the same book cover. The last story was completed in late 2023.

 

I continued to revise the entire collection before committing the book to Cornerstone Press in May 2024. That makes the answer to your question almost seven years.

 

Q: The author Katey Schultz said of the book, “Secrets and Other Hobbies isn't your average debut story collection; it’s a literary coup for all those who love the Midwest, and for any bookworm yearning to feel transported.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I am honored by that description. I consider myself a Midwestern writer and I focus on Midwestern characters and culture – and yes, there is a culture to the middle and upper Midwest.

 

Partly it’s a balance of friendliness and reserve, curiosity and let-it-be, eating good food that’s not very good for you, visiting on the porch, stubborn hardiness in cold winters, adoration of the Great Lakes, and real conflicts and controversies that simmer under the surface rather than smack you in the face.

 

Good fiction transports the reader. I hope my fiction is good enough to do that.

 

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

 

A: I didn't consciously write these stories with secrets as a unifying theme. I wanted to write about characters experiencing loss, and how difficult it can be to achieve redemption from certain kinds of loss-- the sometimes-awkward ways we try to rise above and the ways we succeed and fail.

 

What holds many of my characters back is their own flaws. In a number of the stories, keeping secrets becomes a barrier to redemption. Because other flaws besides secrecy affect some of my protagonists, I added "other hobbies" to the title. That pulls in hoarding, drunkenness, outsized ambition, and various juicy tendencies my characters exhibit.

 

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

 

A: One organizing idea was that some of the heavier and longer stories should live next door to flash fiction pieces (fewer than 1,000 words) or stories that are more humorous in nature, like “Jack’s Eulogy” and “Blank Slate.” I hoped this would create a pleasing ebb and flow.

 

“Three Seasons of Judy Mitchell” is the longest story and in a way, is a culmination of the touchpoints that went before it. It also includes scenes set in the middle of the last century and in the present. It was easy to decide it should end the book.

 

It was also clear to me that “Bridge Club” should start it. The story opens with the sentence, “Even at six years old, I knew who the alcoholics were.” That was the first “Bridge Club” sentence I wrote. It then informed the entire story.

 

As I was organizing my collection, I realized this opening line reflected the knowingness, and maybe weariness, of adolescent and teen characters elsewhere in the book. That told me “Bridge Club” had to be the first story. 

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: My fascination with small-town Midwesterners in the mid-century years has continued. The next book centers on a weather mystery. It will tap into real events in my hometown of La Porte, Indiana: an anomaly in which the precipitation that fell on La Porte in warm months far exceeded the precipitation anywhere nearby.

 

In this work of fiction, I’ll tell a story of people who believed the anomaly was man-made—caused by the effect of pollution--and the people who fought them. A Climate Change tale.

 

Against this backdrop, I plan to create narratives of ordinary La Porteans in the 1960s and how the big rains, thunderstorms, and hail affected pivotal moments in their lives.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: It may seem odd to combine stories set in the mid-century with contemporary tales. I did it to show that we still haven’t solved the issues that disrupted Midwestern life in the 1950s and ‘60s.

 

I've been disturbed by the fantasy that the mid-century involved some kind of extraordinary cultural greatness that we should strive to return to.

 

There was a lot that was great –for example, I had a great childhood—but there was often a societal controversy or conflict bubbling under the polite Midwestern surface of our town: issues like economic class inequality; prejudice regarding sexual preferences; bias against the disabled; constraints on the role of women; and the sometimes-damaging pull of organized religion. And always, secrets!  

 

I want to show that while the mid-century was the heyday of Jello salads and Seventeen Magazine, it was also a hard time for a lot of individuals who couldn’t flourish under its rigid cultural norms and biases. And I think those issues resonate because they still haven't been resolved today, as the contemporary stories reveal.

 

I’d also like to assure readers that there’s wit and humor in this book, as there often is in serious tales. I really can’t help myself! I have to lighten the load.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with Steven Raichlen

  

 

Steven Raichlen is the author of the new memoir Man on Fire: Of Life, Love, Literature, and Really Good Barbecue. His many other books include Man Made Meals. He is also a lecturer, journalist, and TV host, and he lives in Miami and Martha's Vineyard.

 

Q: Why did you decide to write this memoir?

 

A: Let me count the ways! Most people think of me as a cookbook author, but I’ve also written fiction (The Hermit of Chappaquiddick) and restaurant and travel guides. I wanted people to know me for more than barbecue. 

 

My life has followed a highly improbable trajectory: from medievalist with a degree in French literature to an Iron Chef battle in Tokyo (I won!) to induction into the Barbecue Hall of Fame.  

 

I’m a guy who didn’t own a television until age 37 (I finally acquired one by marriage), yet I’ve done 20 years of television in three languages.  

 

I figured I would lead a quiet scholarly life as a comparative literature professor, yet I’ve circumnavigated the globe a half dozen times to research and promote live fire cooking.    

 

Oh, and I’ve never had a boss or a “real” job or reported to an office.  

 

In short, I wrote Man On Fire to make sense of the odd arc of my professional life and my unlikely path to barbecue enlightenment.  

 

All that, and I wanted my grandkids to know what PopPop really did for a living!

 

Q: Chef and author Aaron Franklin said of the book, “Man on Fire is a deeply personal look at how the magic of food and cooking can nurture our souls, shape our lives, and feed a lifetime of exploration.” What do you think of that assessment?

 

A: Aaron hit the nail on the head. The book is intensely personal, and I tried to chronicle the emotions and motivations behind each book and professional success.  

 

How my mother’s suicide and the feeling I didn’t do enough to prevent it led me to write more than 30 books—some of them 600-page monsters.

 

How cooking connected a lonely kid (me) to his father during monthly Men’s Nights in the kitchen when I was growing up, and how that in turn inspired my book Man Made Meals, dedicated to my longtime publisher and friend Peter Workman.  

 

I’ve been obsessed with food for as long as I can remember—probably in part because I grew up in a spectacularly non-foodie household. (My ballet dancer mother was obsessed with holding down her weight.) I’m probably the only food writer who was raised on TV dinners! Happy, my grandparents and great aunts were excellent cooks.  

 

Like many men, I’m guarded with my feelings, and early on I came to see cooking as a way to express my emotions.

 

Food has certainly shaped my life, from my early days as restaurant critic (for Boston Magazine) and wine and spirits columnist (for GQ) to a longtime contributor to The New York Times, cooking teacher and founder of Barbecue University, and the author of a sizable library of barbecue books.  

 

Then as now, there’s nothing I enjoy more than cooking (or more accurately grilling) a great meal to serve to people I care about.  

 

As for the lifetime of exploration, my curiosity about food in general and live fire cooking in particular has taken me to 75 countries on six continents. I love how traveling to do barbecue research has dropped me deep into a culture, transforming me from a tourist to an insider.  

 

To this day, I spend two to three months on the road, and my focus has always been on the food.  

 

Q: How did you choose the recipes to include in the book?

 

A: That was the easy part. Each recipe represents a particular phase of my life—from the Real Deal Crab Cakes I grew up on in Baltimore to the Hippocras (medieval spiced wine) I learned about as a French lit major and medievalist in college; from the petits pots de crème (insanely rich custards) I mastered during my cooking school days in Paris to the grilled egg breakfast I developed for my Steven Raichlen Grills Italy show for Italian television.  

 

Readers will expect barbecue recipes, and I oblige them with the likes of Thai Flavored Grilled Game Hens and the Baby Back Ribs That Beat the Iron Chef in Tokyo. But they’ll also find recipes for my Starving Student Spaghetti (a mainstay in collage) and Morning-After Hash—the ultimate post-seduction breakfast. 

 

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

 

A: Book writing has been my passion since college, but I especially enjoyed writing this one. It brought back a rush of memories—of the people I’ve met on my life’s journey, the places I’ve lived, the experiences I’ve had (both good and bad—mostly good), and of course all the great food I’ve gotten to eat in my travels.  

 

The early chapters helped me come to terms with a difficult childhood. The book allowed me to honor the many family members, friends, and colleagues who have shaped and helped me along the way.   

 

I hope that readers will learn some really cool stuff—like the origin of the words “book” and “recipe”; how to write a cookbook; what really goes into making a TV show; and how to say “barbecue” (and what to order) wherever they travel around the globe.  

 

I hope that readers will learn some of the business and life lessons that have helped build my career, starting with Julia Child’s advice on book writing: Pick a subject of broad (make that universal) appeal, but take an approach that you and only you can do.  

 

In my case, the subject was barbecue—everyone everywhere loves barbecue—while my approach was global grilling. I doubt there was anyone crazy enough to visit 75 countries to explore what’s on the grill.

 

Among the other lessons I learned are: Start any endeavor with the end in mind. Under promise and over deliver. Get there early and stay until the rest of your team is done.

 

Above all, I hope that readers will get to know the real Steven Raichlen—the man behind the smoke and fire.

Q: What are you working on now?  

 

A: An incorrigible multi-tasker, I’m working on several projects at once.   In April, I have a new cookbook coming out—Barbecue University—based on my cooking school at the Alisal Ranch in Solvang, California. I’ve started on a new novel—a foodie mystery set in Amsterdam called In Rembrandt’s Kitchen.  

 

On the metaphorical back burner, I have a History of Barbecue documentary and a YA novel in the works. Then there’s my sailboat, a 38-foot Jeanneau Sun Odyssey that awaits her captain in Miami.  

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Well, first, the book is available at bookstores everywhere, including your local independent and online booksellers, like Amazon and Barnes & Noble. It’s always a blessing to buy a book—especially when you know or follow the author.

 

My website is barbecuebible.com. When you visit, sign up for my free biweekly newsletter, Up In Smoke. My social media platforms are @stevenraichlen and I try to post daily about my adventures in the world of live fire cooking.

 

Finally, if you enjoy this book, please tell your friends and review it on Amazon. Thanks!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with Jennifer S. Miller

  

 

 

Jennifer S. Miller is the author of the new book Humanaissance: Igniting Courage in Our Teens and Ourselves. She also has written the book Confident Parents, Confident Kids. She lives in Columbus, Ohio. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write Humanaissance? 

 

A: A theme started emerging in my life as my son entered middle school and I entered mid-life and all of the complications that go with it. I began longing for courage on a daily basis.

 

I noticed things were breaking down in my own professional and personal life and I was being forced to reckon with my adapted self - the one that is so responsive to life's obligations and responsibilities -- and my true self which had been too quiet and neglected for too long.

 

My son was facing into peer judgment and bullying as he had to deal with his own seismic physical and emotional changes.

 

I wondered if it was some cosmic irony or synchrony that we undergo peri/menopause (or second puberty) just as our children are going through puberty. Add to those conditions, the fact that the digital world continued to expand its reach, its addictive pull, its potential for darkness and I was fearing the teenage years.

 

What I needed most was courage so I began writing about it to learn how I could face into these truths with agency. Writing in a journal helps me unpack my feelings. But writing for others, starts a dialogue, deepens my learning by deeply listening to others' stories, and ultimately, it holds me accountable.

 

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

 

A: I recall standing over my dining room table angry about the injustice I was feeling for not only this generation but also the parents who are working so hard to raise teens to thrive but contending with cultural forces like the hyper-achievement focus and particularly technology that is making it all more challenging.

 

I said to my husband, "We need a humanaissance." In other words, we need to champion the human spirit for ourselves and this next generation so that they grow to be confident in who they are and how they relate to others, courageous in their actions, taking responsibility and considering future generations, and prepared to give their best gifts to contribute to a better world.

 

As I began considering the implications of the title more deeply, I began to see that our teenagers are renaissance artists, or primed to be the most creative and innovative in their lives because of numerous developmental themes.

 

They are novelty-seeking. They view risk-taking as reward producing and need to experiment in order to figure out their identity. What if we, as parents and educators, raised and educated our teens as the artists they are? How would that look differently? How could that vantage help us create the conditions for thriving?

 

Q: The psychologist and writer Marc Brackett said of the book, “Jennifer Miller reminds us that our job is not to eliminate young people’s difficult experiences, but to help them understand them, act on them wisely, and become more fully themselves.” What do you think of that assessment?

 

A: I think his assessment is spot on. Resilience does not grow without moving through hard experiences. Teens are born resilient-ready. But like a muscle, resilience, or the ability to bounce back from adversity, increases with practice and experience.

 

They are also born courage-ready. But it is moving through their fears to face into discomfort, pain, and difficult experiences and then learn and grow from those chances that helps them more regularly practice and embody courage.

 

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

 

A: The feeling of fear is ever-present when raising our tweens and teens. It is in how we respond to that fear that defines how we meet the challenges of raising the next generation to thrive.

 

Courage is a choice. Courage always has a noble purpose. It is always waiting in the wings, ready to access, when fear is present. When courage is regularly practiced, it can evolve into habits that make it more regularly accessible. We, as parents and educators, are essential models of courage in our teens’ lives.

 

In these unprecedented and complex times, our teens require us to step up to demonstrate that the exceptional assets of being human - our heart and spirit - and the honing of skills that go with those assets - like self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making - determine our ability to live a good life and contribute to others' lives. 

 

I will be successful if parents begin to regularly ask the question: What is the courageous choice here?

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: Spreading the message far and wide.

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I interviewed numerous adolescent development experts and educators in researching this book. With every one, I asked about their roles with their own children.

 

When I brought up the need to help children turn to their inner wisdom for guidance as they were seeking their sense of purpose and identity, they all agreed that was critically important. Yet when I asked what language they used or how they did it, not a single person was making a point of doing this in their parenting. Not one.

 

We need to point our children to that quieter voice inside -- their inner wisdom -- which will take the courageous habit of pausing and listening within. "Courage is the fulcrum necessary for living out our deepest values instead of becoming subject to external forces." 

 

How will our teens' moral compass form? How will they learn to become responsible decision-makers if the cues they take are only from social comparison and social media?

 

The book provides specific and practical language and practices to help parents take that courageous pause with their teens, help point them back to their inner wisdom, and make meaning together to become intentional about how they are living their whole lives and how specifically they are using technology as a life-giving tool and connecting village.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb