Q&A with Ian Boothby and Pia Guerra

  

Ian Boothby

 

 

 

Ian Boothby and Pia Guerra are the author and illustrator of the new young adult graphic novel Frostbite. The husband-and-wife team has contributed to a variety of publications, including The New Yorker and MAD Magazine. They live in Vancouver, British Columbia. 

 

Q: What inspired you to create Frostbite, and how did you create your characters Jen and Dante?

 

A: We wrote the first version of Frostbite on our honeymoon in Hawaii. How we got from sand to snow neither of us remember. But we both grew up in Canada where snow could be a real threat. The idea of falling into it like quicksand after a snowstorm and being trapped. That said we now live where there's very little snow and we miss it. 

 

With Jen and Dante we wanted to create two characters trying to prove themselves to each other and step siblings felt like a good way. They've both been trying to show their father they're the best. But when it comes down to it, they also want to protect each other. 

Pia Guerra

 

Q: How did the two of you collaborate on the book?

 

A: Pia was working on Y The Last Man for DC and Ian for The Simpsons and Futurama Comics for most of their careers. But a few years ago Pia was given the opportunity to submit joke cartoons for The New Yorker and asked Ian to collaborate. 

 

From then they went on to do a regular feature called Meanwhile... for MAD Magazine and the comic strip Mannequin on the Moon. Where there came a time to submit a pitch to Scholastic we remembered a scary story we came up with on our honeymoon and wrote the plot together, then Ian wrote the script and Pia drew it up. 

 

Q: What came first, the text or the art? Or both simultaneously?

 

A: The story was originally a short film idea and after that we worked on the story together to make it a graphic novel. Then Ian wrote the script and Pia did the art. 

 

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

 

A: We hope it's chilling and thrilling. But doesn't make you not want to walk in the snow. Snow is still good. Mostly. 

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: We're doing other book pitches. Ian is producing a live version of his and Nina Matsumoto's Sparks! book series. Pia is doing editorial cartoons, which she was a Pulitzer finalist for.

 

And Pia and Ian continue to do work for The New Yorker and MAD Magazine as well as their three times a week Mannequin on the Moon comic strip Patreon.com/mannequinonthemoon 

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Snow is your friend. Except when it isn't. 

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with Emil Wilson

  

 

 

Emil Wilson is the author and illustrator of the new graphic novel The Nightingales. He is also an art director and cartoonist, and he lives in San Francisco. 

 

Q: How much did your family’s experiences inspire The Nightingales?

 

A: It inspired the central premise of the book. I wanted to create a graphic novel about my family. I was in my mid-50s, my father was dying, and I found myself reflecting on the relationships and experiences that shaped us. The story grew from a part of our family's history that we rarely talked about—which is often where the best stories begin.

 

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

 

A: The title comes from a small moment in the book when one of the characters compares himself to a nightingale. The nightingale has inspired poems, fables, and operas for centuries, yet it's a plain brown bird that often goes unnoticed.

 

I love the idea that someone who appears ordinary can possess extraordinary gifts. In many ways, that describes every major character in this book.

 

One of my favorite facts is that the famous nightingale song is sung exclusively by the male birds. Most people assume it's the female because we tend to associate beauty with her, but in the world of nightingales, it's the males who possess that remarkable voice.

 

Q: Did you work on the text and the illustrations simultaneously, or did you focus on one before turning to the other?

 

A: Most cartoonists write the script first and then draw. That makes perfect sense because drawing is so time-consuming. I don't work that way because I'm constantly revising. For me, the words and pictures are always in conversation with one another.

 

That's one reason I chose to tell the story through the pages of a sketchbook. Not only does it reflect the way memory looks and feels to me—fragmentary, expressive, and a little chaotic—but it also gives me the freedom to revise both the writing and the artwork without sending shockwaves through the rest of the book.

 

I wish I were a creator who could finalize the words before I started drawing. But the more I draw a character, the more questions I ask: What is this person feeling? What does she want? What does her facial expression look like when she's uncomfortable?

 

As my understanding deepens, both the writing and the artwork evolve together. I keep revising until the last minute. It probably drives my editors—and especially my production team—a little crazy.

 

Q: The author Will Schwalbe said of the book, “Emil Wilson manages to convey the quirky joys as well as the horrors of the 1980s—highlighting the relentless nightmare of the early days of AIDS—while also speaking to issues that couldn’t be more current.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I was especially touched by Will Schwalbe's words. He was a young gay man in New York City during the AIDS crisis, while I grew up in a small town in Oregon, so he witnessed firsthand the darkest days of the early epidemic. I'm a few years younger, and I believe those few years probably spared me from the period when so many young gay men were getting sick and dying.

 

After I moved to New York, I volunteered with Gay Men's Health Crisis as a buddy for people living with AIDS. I saw how profoundly the disease affected individuals, families, and entire communities.

 

As was the case in 1985, we find ourselves in a moment that feels deeply divided, where people are often misunderstood and basic human decency seems in short supply.

 

At its heart, The Nightingales is a story about choosing compassion over fear. Sometimes the person most changed by an act of kindness isn't only the one who receives it, but the one who offers it.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I'm working on another semi-autobiographical novel, though this one is much closer to memoir. It's about the relationship between siblings, one of whom is me.

 

The biggest difference from The Nightingales is that this time I'm writing about experiences in which I wasn't just present—I was one of the people driving the story. Although I make a brief appearance in The Nightingales, I'm the central character in this new book.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: As a reader, I'm always looking for books that surprise me. I love discovering stories that feel unexpected, nuanced, and singular, regardless of genre.

 

I didn't discover graphic novels until I was in my 50s. Before then, I assumed comics were meant for younger readers. Then I realized they could tell deeply human stories about adults with as much emotional depth as any novel.

 

That's the kind of book I wanted to make. The Nightingales is about a family trying to understand one another and find their place in the world. If it inspires someone to pick up a graphic novel they otherwise might have overlooked, I'd be thrilled.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with Matt Bloom

  

 

Matt Bloom is the author of the new book Lasting Wellbeing: Science-Based Practices for Tranquility, Authenticity, Meaning, and Joy. He is an emeritus professor of business at the University of Notre Dame, and is the cofounder of the Ritual app, which focuses on wellbeing. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write Lasting Wellbeing?

 

A: Over the almost three decades I studied wellbeing, I learned how much people struggle to find the best ways to take care of themselves and the people in their lives. Many said they didn’t really know what wellbeing is, which made it very difficult to know what to do. They told me they are flooded with remedies, advice and information, and they don’t know how to navigate this bewildering barrage.

 

I’ve heard from hundreds of people who are discouraged because everything they have tried has failed to help. When I asked about their experience, most have been relying on bad advice because they didn’t know where to turn to for good help.

 

I know that scientific research can provide the guidance we all need to really understand our wellbeing and to find ways to flourish over long periods of time. I wanted to share some of the most important insights to empower people good choices for themselves and help their family and friends do the same. Achieving lasting wellbeing does not have to be complicated and confusing.

 

Q: The author Alexandra Elle said of the book, “Matt Bloom beautifully blends science-backed practices with accessible guidance, inviting readers into a more aligned way of living.” What do you think of that description, and what do you see as the role of science in your approach?

 

A: Alex is very generous in her praise, and I am grateful. I think science is the essential foundation for making good choices about our wellbeing, just as it is when it comes to our health. People find it hard to navigate the flood of “advice” and offerings they are exposed to.

 

The problem is that in that flood contains some really good advice, some worthless ideas, and some insidiously harmful advice. Science can help people identify the good advice and avoid both the bad and the ugly.

 

Alex’s books and other resources are examples of really good advice, the kind people can count on to help them.

 

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

 

A: I studied people who work in the helping and healing professions—international aid workers, health care professionals, public school teachers, clergy, among others.

 

My team and I used large-scale surveys to collect data form thousands of people so we could learn about general patterns in their wellbeing, where the pain-points were in their lives, and what their daily experiences were like.

 

The richest research came from the deep, qualitative work we did. I spent time in with aid workers in field camps located in places like Afghanistan, the Philippines, Central African Republic, and India.

 

I worked with physicians in their clinics, and pastors in their churches. I gathered stories about their lives, observed their daily routines, and experienced the challenges they faced firsthand.

 

It was the combination of quantitative research and data from the field studies that produced the most important discoveries.

 

Many things surprised me, like how ill-equipped many people felt they were to take care of themselves. I was also surprised about how much the challenges those amazing people faced matched the challenges that the rest of us experience, even though we may think our work and lives isn’t as tough as helping and healing professionals.

 

One of my biggest takeaways was, as I mentioned above, that the advice and guidance all of these people needed was locked-up in academic journals. My goal with this book is to unlock that treasure trove so folks in the real world can us it.

 

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

 

A: I appreciated the challenge of translating research into helpful resources for people. I learned a lot about how to do this when I was asked to give speeches or lead workshops. I received a lot of good feedback by being face-to-face with people.

 

But I have often said that I want to help as many people as I can, and help them as much as I can, so writing a book was one way I could reach a larger audience.

 

I was deeply gratified by the response I received from the people who read early drafts, and am encouraged that this book can make a difference. I hope readers feel more confident that they can make good choices.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m working on several things. One project is a book I am tentatively calling Measuring Up, which is about one of the biggest threats to our wellbeing--all the time and energy we spend comparing ourselves to other people.

 

The way social comparison takes shape in modern life is often profoundly detrimental to our wellbeing. Cultural forces compel us to measure ourselves against other people in myriad ways — are we successful, beautiful, smart, healthy enough — that can leave us feeling diminished and unworthy.

 

Chasing after status is one powerful way our culture encourages us to obsess about social comparisons. Our infatuation with competition and achievement, our lionizing of ambition and success, are others. I want to help people escape from the powerful pull of social comparison.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I would encourage people to be gentle and patient with themselves. The wellbeing challenges we face didn’t pop up because of one tough day or a single difficult experience. They are the result of an accumulation of tough experiences.

 

Improving and sustaining wellbeing follows the same process. The best way to do this is use simple, evidence-based practices that take 10 to 15 minutes. Use the practices consistently, and over time, big improvements will happen.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Aug. 5

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Aug. 5, 1850: Guy de Maupassant born.

Q&A with Tracy Borman

   

Photo by Sophia Spring

 

 

Tracy Borman is the author of the new novel The House of Boleyn. Her many other books include The Stolen Crown. She is chief historian of Historic Royal Palaces, and she is based in the UK.

 

Q: What inspired you to write this new novel about the Boleyn family?

 

A: I’ve spent a lot of time with the Boleyns over the years. Even though they were the most famous family in Tudor England, they left little physical trace behind.

 

This was deliberate on Henry VIII's part: when Anne Boleyn fell from grace, he tried to airbrush her and her family from history, so there are hardly any letters, portraits or other remnants of their lives.

 

As a historian, all the gaps in the contemporary sources can be frustrating, but as a novelist, they're a gift! It was such a joy and a privilege to be able to fill them with my imagination in my new novel.

 

Q: As a historian and novelist, how do you see the two intersecting in your work?

 

A: It doesn't necessarily come naturally to a historian to make things up! In writing my fictional books, I always take care to stick as closely as possible to the known history. But I'm not slavish to it, or it would be just nonfiction with a bit of dialogue thrown in.

 

Fiction is all about letting your own - and your readers' - imagination run wild; immersing yourself in another time and place; creating scenes and plotlines, and conveying information in more subtle ways than just telling the reader what happened.

 

I always include an author's note at the end of my novels, too, so that I can explain to my readers where I've diverged from the known facts. I think that's an important responsibility for historical novelists and always appreciate it when I read them in other people's novels.

 

Q: What do you think are some of the most common perceptions and misconceptions about Anne Boleyn?

 

A: The one I hear most often is that she had her eyes on the crown from the very first moment that Henry VIII started showing an interest in her, and that she schemed and manoeuvred him into getting rid of his first wife so that he could make Anne his queen.

 

In this, she was apparently fully supported by her father, who used his children as collateral damage in his quest for power and riches.

 

In fact, neither of those things is true. All the evidence points to Anne being genuinely reluctant to be Henry's mistress or his wife.

 

Likewise, her father Thomas was clearly trying to protect her by bringing her back to Hever Castle whenever the king became too insistent. He'd already had one daughter ruined by Henry and didn't want to see another go the same way. He also knew how dangerous his royal master could be.

 

Q: What role does Hever Castle play for the Boleyn family in the novel?

 

A: It's the star of the show! I wanted to show the Boleyns in their natural habitat. It was at Hever that they could be their true selves, discarding the courtierly mask; where they could escape the snakepit of Henry VIII’s court and plan their next move, enjoy their triumphs and lick their wounds. 

 

I loved spending lots of time at Hever while researching this novel. Set in the beautiful countryside of southeast England, Hever has everything that a fairytale castle should: a moat, drawbridge, portcullis, courtyard and turrets.

 

Crossing the drawbridge and entering the courtyard, you can smell the woodsmoke from the old kitchens and see the glimmer of the sunlight reflected on the ceiling of the great chamber above at certain times of the day. It really is like stepping back into the world of the Boleyns.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: It hasn't been announced yet, but suffice to say it's nonfiction and not Tudor... but very close to that period. It's one of the most controversial subjects in history so I'm very excited!

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I have a brand-new theatre show. Tudors on Tour will tour theatres across England this autumn. And of course, the Boleyns will make an appearance!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Tracy Borman. 

Q&A with Rhys Bowen

  

 

 

Rhys Bowen is the author of the new novel The Castle in the Glen. Her many other books include The Rose Arbor. She lives in California and in Arizona.

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Castle in the Glen, and how did you create your character Emma?

A: I love writing stories in two time periods, or a story within a story. This one? I think the idea first came to me as I considered my own age (having turned 80). What if a famous writer couldn’t finish her last book? She has to hire someone to finish it for her. But why choose this young woman?

 

And I had been dying to revisit Scotland in a book. I remembered my own magical time on the island.

I think Emma was a product of my own life at that time. I was her age in swinging London in the ‘60s, and then went to live in Australia. So the girls I roomed with were just like Emma. Everyone wanted to see Europe, to work in England for a while.

 

I like her because she’s so vulnerable. She has no family she can rely on and I love that this book gives her new roots.

Q: Was your character Iris Blackburn based on a particular mystery writer?

A: I was thinking Agatha Christie. It had to be that level of fame.

Q: Why did you choose the Isle of Skye as the setting for this novel?

A: When I was Emma’s age I spent a magical vacation with friends on Skye. Those landscapes have remained with me—the stark mountains, the waterfalls and cliffs… such rugged beauty, always with a hint of danger. A perfect setting, in fact, for a mystery story.

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

A: I always want to TAKE my readers to the place I’m writing about, to give them a mini vacation, but also I love to peel away layers of a story so that the reader is constantly surprised.

Q: What are you working on now?

A: Another stand-alone novel, this one taking place in the present but also in 1450! An appraiser sent to value a private library discovers a rare book, written by a nun in 1450 and it contains the definitive list of collective nouns. Two stories interacting again! In the present a fight to hang onto an English manor house and in the past the writing of a special book.

Q: Anything else we should know?

A: In spite of my age I am not slowing down. I still write two books a year, plus a shared novel with my daughter. And I have more ideas than I will ever get to in my life.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Rhys Bowen.

Q&A with Ellery Lloyd

  

 

 

Ellery Lloyd, the pen name for husband-and-wife writing team Collette Lyons and Paul Vlitos, is the author of the new novel Time to Burn. Their other books include People Like Her. They live in London.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Time to Burn, and how did you create your characters Inigo Frank and Phoebe Hunt?

 

A: It’s always a patchwork of inspiration, which is why all of our novels have been so different.

 

We both love time travel stories, and when you’re plotting one, you have to make an early decision about the mechanics of it: is it driven by magic or technology?

 

We chose technology, specifically technology perfected by a billionaire with a singular obsession and the resources to realise it, who makes it available only to the super-rich. Basically, time travel as a super-exclusive leisure activity. Sound familiar?

 

Anyway, that’s how Inigo Frank came about.

 

Inigo is definitely tech-bro adjacent – you won’t have to look too hard to find real-world parallels. He’s an extremely clever mathematician who is so single-minded that he unleashes a new technology on the world without considering – or really caring – how it might affect ordinary people.

 

Plus, of course, he has secrets of his own that would destroy him if they were uncovered.

 

Phoebe’s role was born from another idea we found interesting. We had been watching a lot of documentaries on Netflix that had been executive produced by their subjects.

 

We thought making Phoebe a serious, award-winning director commissioned by Inigo to make something similar about him would provide a really interesting window into his world, because she’s trying to be objective while Inigo fully expects to be the hero of the piece.

 

Then, as things go wrong and events unfold, she realises the story is much more personal than she ever imagined.

 

Q: Why did you choose the London Blitz as the time period to which your travelers would go?

 

A: One thing we always knew was that we wanted a really atmospheric and dramatic opening to the novel. We loved the idea that, if you carried out enough historical research – which Inigo’s company, Tempus Tours, claims to do – then, with 20/20 hindsight, you could plot a safe route through even something as dangerous as the Blitz.

 

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

 

A: We did quite a lot of walking around London while researching the novel, including a tour of one of London’s ghost Tube stations, which had been used as offices during the Blitz and then basically not touched since.

 

We were probably also influenced by living in the East End of London, which was heavily bombed. We pass the plaque commemorating where the first V2 rocket fell every day on the school run.

 

The biggest challenge was working out the mechanics of the time travel, with its own internal logic and set of rules. We didn't want it to become a lecture, though, so we tried to arrive at just enough of the theoretical physics for it to feel plausible without swamping the reader.

 

We also researched the sort of commune where Phoebe and Sasha grew up, which plays a big role in the novel. That was fascinating, and probably the most surprising thing we discovered was that we actually know several people who had grown up in similar communities, so we had lots of questions for them.

 

Q: Do you have any other favorite time travel novels?

 

A: The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley, the novella By His Bootstraps by Robert A. Heinlein, and Ray Bradbury’s short story “A Sound of Thunder.”

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: Lots of things! We’re working on some concepts for TV and a few short stories, while plotting our next novel.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: A fun Ellery Lloyd fact: we cannot work in the same room because we’re both incredibly loud typers!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Ellery Lloyd.