Q&A with Kate Clark Stone

  

 

 

Kate Clark Stone is the author of the new novel The Last Sunday in May. A former attorney, she lives in Tennessee. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Last Sunday in May, and how did you create your character Mack?

 

A: I’ve attended the Indianapolis 500 since I was 6 years old. It’s a family tradition! The race itself is held on the last Sunday in May, and that’s where the name of the book comes from. 

 

The year my daughter was born, not a single woman was driving in the Indy 500, and I felt really frustrated by the male-dominated industry of this sport that I love. So I wrote about it!

 

Mack has had so many personalities over the years I worked on the book (she started out as a teenager in a YA version) but I realized I wanted to write about motherhood and ambition, and how those things don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Mack and I have very little in common, but she has so many of my own fears and insecurities around parenting and work.

 

Q: How would you describe the dynamic between Mack and your character Leo?

 

A: Mack lives hard and fast, so the attraction to Leo is instant. But because of her past, she moves cautiously, and Leo helps her let loose with tenderness and patience.

 

Q: What do you think the novel says about the role of women in motorsports?

 

A: I hope The Last Sunday in May shows that there is a place for women in motorsports. The barriers between women and success on the track has nothing to do with talent or skill, and everything to do money and gatekeeping. Racing is a sport where gender and body composition have no bearing on success and yet there’s still such a huge preference for men by sponsors and teams.

 

I absolutely believe a woman can win the Indy 500, if she has the same financial, structural, and logistical support that men have had since the first race was held in 1911.

 

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

 

A: There’s no shame in wanting what you want! Motherhood (and parenting in general) doesn’t have to be an obstacle to doing the thing that makes your own heart sing. I think particularly for my generation of moms, we sacrifice so much of ourselves so that our children can have everything. But moms also get to live a life full of passion, joy, and fulfillment!

 

Also, I hope readers feel a sense of hope. No matter what has happened to them or whatever obstacles stand in their way, hope is vital. Hope kept me going over the six years it took me to write The Last Sunday in May, and for the three years it took me to get to publication.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m working on something very different! I’m writing a book about Southern country club moms who behave very badly. It’s a lot of fun to write!

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I’ve lived in Tennessee for all my adult life, but I’m a born-and-bred Hoosier. My dad loved IndyCar and we shared a love of racing. He died in 2023 and never got to read The Last Sunday in May. I wish I could share the book with him, but more than anything, I wish we could go to one more Indy 500 together.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with Nora Gold

Photo by Yaal Herman

  

 

 

 

Nora Gold is the author of the new novella Doubles. Her other books include In Sickness and In Health/Yom Kippur in a Gym. She is the founder of the literary journal Jewish Fiction.

 

Q: In your new novella’s acknowledgments, you write that Doubles was inspired by your work as a social worker and social work professor. Can you say more about that, and about how you created the book’s narrator?

 

A: When I was a social worker in the 1980s, one of my jobs was working with the families of children and adolescents with autism, some of whom were living in group homes. Part of my role was to visit them there and assess how they were doing. As I mentioned in my acknowledgments in Doubles, many of the administrators and staff in these places were caring and committed professionals.

 

However, there was one particular visit I made that was so shocking and disturbing to me that I remember it to this day. I arrived mid-morning on a weekday, and the kids there were all just sitting around watching TV. Instead of being educated, stimulated, and helped to grow academically, developmentally, and socially, they were merely being babysat.

 

I was appalled. I didn’t see anyone being overtly unkind to the kids, but neither were they engaging with them; and although at the time I did not see neglect as a form of abuse, we now know that it is, and obviously this experience registered with me emotionally as such.

 

In retrospect – even though I was not aware of this when writing Doubles – I believe that this long-ago group home visit is what prompted the scenes in this book where the kids are just sitting around, day after day, doing nothing.

 

As for how I created Doubles’ narrator, I really have no idea. I don’t believe I created her.  She came to me fully formed. She created herself.

 

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

 

A: The title, Doubles, just came to me, and as soon as I heard it, I felt it was perfect because the concept of a “double” is so rich and resonant. There is one point in this book where the narrator refers to her sister as her “double”: the girl who is free, not institutionalized as she is, and who is therefore able to do all the things the narrator used to do, and wants to do again, but can’t.

 

I think many of us have “doubles” in our lives, in the sense of some other “me” that exists in our minds. This might be a shadow self, or a what-if self, or a self that we wish we were, or might have been, or think we still could be.

 

The “double,” of course, is also a theme in literature: think Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde or The Picture of Dorian Gray.

 

Last but not least, “double” is a mathematical concept – and in this book, math is everything to the main character. It is her language, her home, and her hope. So the title, Doubles, signifies, captures, and expands on, all these elements.

 

Q: Why did you set the story in 1968?

 

A: The late ‘60s are a time that I lived through, remember vividly, and find historically fascinating. On the one hand, this was a period of seismic social, political, and cultural change; on the other hand, it was still quite conservative in many ways.

 

It was a fluctuating and liminal time, which is an interesting context in which to set a story. So I made this novella about a girl living in this era, with all its complexities and contradictions.

 

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

 

A: I hope readers come away from reading Doubles with greater empathy and compassion for young people living in institutional care, not only in the past but in the present. Despite the good intentions of many professionals in the child welfare field, the system itself remains flawed and can be very damaging to the children and adolescents who are dependent on it.

 

I’d also like readers to come away from this novella with increased respect and compassion for young people in general. A 12-year-old, for example the narrator of Doubles, has considerable knowledge, and even wisdom, about the world, including the capacity to see through the lies, games, and pretenses of adults.

 

In a way, this book is a plea to take children and adolescents seriously, to not underestimate them, to recognize their dignity, fragility, strength, struggles, and beauty, and to treat them with the respect, compassion, and love they deserve.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’ve recently started something new, which will end up being either a story or another novella. I’m at the beginning of this new project and I’m enjoying it immensely.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I love the main character of Doubles. One doesn’t always love one’s characters, but I love this girl – her spunkiness, sensitivity, intelligence, sense of humour, strength, and truth-telling.

 

Like some many of us, she searches for, and fortunately finds, a language that can help her survive (in her case, the language of numbers and math). This whole novella, in a sense, is about the importance of language, and finding, or creating, an inner language through which we can tell our truth.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Nora Gold. 

Q&A with Michael J. Bowler

  

 

 

Michael J. Bowler is the author of the new middle grade novel Muppit Boy and the Allergies of Evil. His other books include Forever Boy. He is also an educator and a screenwriter.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Muppit Boy and the Allergies of Evil, and how did you create your character Mo?

 

A: When my son was in middle school, I decided to write a book that he might enjoy. He loved books that weren’t super wordy, but were funny and adventurous, so I concocted the offbeat incidents and humorous moments that became this book.

 

My son has the sharp wit and snark that I placed into Mo, so writing Mo’s voice was easy since I listened to it every day. My son had been labeled ADHD, but as an educator myself I knew he didn’t have it to any serious extent. I did, however, work with many boys who really did have ADHD and decided Mo would fall on this spectrum.

 

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

 

A: Since its inception, the title was “Muppit Boy Saves the World.” I shopped it around to middle grade book agents, but none were interested in the concept.

 

When I decided to release it myself, I thought of the series of books to follow and the titles of those books and decided that every title would begin with “Muppit Boy and the…,” hence my current version. It also pops up first in search engines when someone types “Muppit Boy,” and that can’t hurt.

 

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

 

A: I always have an ending in sight when I write my books, at least a general one, and this one was preplanned because it sets up the series to follow. I tested the ending with some middle grade readers—including my son— and they approved, displaying interest in what will happen to Mo in Book 2.

 

I did many revisions along the way and even removed a character that wasn’t necessary because the removal improved pacing. The ending always remained the same.

 

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

 

A: I hope kids who are smart will not allow bullies to put them down. Kash is a great example of this theme. Mo has reasons to be self-conscious, but even he doesn’t let others dictate his decisions.

 

I also want kids, and parents, to see the pitfalls of seeking social media fame at a young age, because when kids are in middle school, they already feel awkward in every possible way and don’t need added attention. They need their privacy to develop into who they’ll be as teenagers and young adults.

 

There are also strong themes of respect, trust, and doing what’s right rather than what’s easy—a choice Mo is faced with in the finale.

 

Lastly, forming solid friendships and learning what makes good friends are essential to this age group and I hope I present a solid friend group for readers to enjoy, and maybe attempt to emulate in their own lives.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I have the next four “Muppit Boy” books written and am currently writing the sixth installment. Book 2 is being edited and I hope to release it in the fall of 2026, with Books 3 and 4 releasing in 2027.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I also have numerous books in print for teens 13 and up and hope one day to complete a cozy mystery for adults that I’ve plotted out. Too many ideas, too little time.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. This Q&A was conducted in partnership with Michael J. Bowler. Readers who enter this giveaway will have the chance to win one signed hardcover, one of five signed paperback copies, or one of five audiobook downloads of Muppit Boy and the Allergies of Evil by Michael J. Bowler. One grand prize winner will receive a signed hardcover plus a $50 Amazon gift card!

May 1

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
May 1, 1923: Joseph Heller born.