Q&A with DeAndra Davis

  

Photo by Briah Christia

 

 

DeAndra Davis is the author of the new young adult novel The Lovers, the Liars, and Me. She also has written the YA novel All the Noise at Once.  

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Lovers, the Liars, and Me, and how did you create your character Jaliya?

A: This book was definitely more inspired by my own experiences than any other book I’ve written. As a first-generation immigrant to a fully Jamaican family and being raised how I was, I was really interested in exploring the intersections of culture, especially with sexuality and identity overall.

 

Jaliya was created as parts of me, and parts of family members. She’s truly an amalgamation of familial history for me. 

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

 

A: The title is interesting as it was once something simpler, but that was already the title of a popular novel and I wanted it to stand out more.

 

I started by leaning into the tarot elements and knew I wanted to include a tarot card in the title and settled on the Lovers. It branched out from there with me focusing on all the secrets in the book and how Jaliya fits within it all.

 

For me, I loved using the Lovers card especially because I don’t always read it as love with another but also as a self-love card. There’s a duality to it that I adore that goes beyond just reading it romantically, and I loved using it to reflect both of those themes for the book.

Q: The Kirkus Review of the book calls it “[p]art mystery, part love triangle, and a whole journey of self-discovery.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I thought that was such a fun description (and lovely review) and very true! This book does so many different things and really it all comes together for Jaliya’s coming of age.

 

It makes it harder to pin down as a capital-R romance or capital-C contemporary. I pulled from many genres to just tell her story the way it needed to be told and I love that the genre-blending could really be embraced by that description.

 

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

A: Bravery for sure. And to know that bravery isn’t always standing up. It isn’t always speaking out. Sometimes, bravery is quieter and it looks like accepting yourself even when nobody else does, even when you aren’t coming out, even when you aren’t outspoken.

 

Bravery can be personal. Strength can be just as satisfying when you stand up to your own mind, limitations, and begin to love yourself wholly. That’s radical. That’s brave.

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: Am I allowed to say things? I don’t know how much I can reveal but I will let it be known that I’m writing more books! In YA, I’m working on another autistic character and a story that is so fun and funny while still being my typical scathing critique of the nonsense of the world. I’m hoping that hilarious but mad at the state of society will become my writing identity, haha. 

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Support authors! Especially debuts. Pre-order, request them at libraries, and hype them up. If you love stories, be vocal. Too often, powers that be are trying to take storytelling and the ability to spread stories away from us. We can stop them by supporting the stories we love, especially when they’re marginalized voices. :)

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with DeAndra Davis. 

Q&A with Alison Gadsby

   

Photo by Angela Lewis

 

 

 

 

Alison Gadsby is the author of the new story collection Breathing Is How Some People Stay Alive. She is the founder and host of the reading series Junction Reads, and she lives in Toronto.

 

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

 

A: I have found this such a difficult question to answer, but it’s a good one. As an emerging writer I am always interested in knowing about other writers’ processes.

 

A couple of the stories were written in my undergrad, so 20 years ago. They looked nothing like they do in the collection, but the germ of the idea was born in a workshop at York. Many were written in the months my dad was dying and the years after, when the strange grief (relief) tried to swallow me up.

 

What I can say about each, and every, story is that they were written, revised, and reborn dozens of times, over more than a year. Only one of them exists as it is in its third-draft form (Irreplaceable).

 

Q: How was the book’s title--also the title of one of the stories--chosen, and what does it signify for you?

 

A: About three drafts before the final, it was still short story collection. When I made the decision to send it to an editor before pitching publishers, I read it again, searching for a title.

 

In the moment when a character Darren deep-sighs in the car and his wife Kristina loses her cool and tells him to stop doing that, he says, what, breathe? Breathing is how some people stay alive.

 

And it’s in the moments after that, Kristina contemplates just how easy it is for some people to live, to get up in the morning and choose to live, all they have to do is breathe.

 

But for her, and for many other characters in the book, it’s not that easy. How can one just breathe, when we’re choking to death on trauma, on grief, on all the losses in lives we’ve barely survived.

 

Q: The author Damian Tarnopolsky said of the book, “Searingly sharp, intricately constructed, and hugely original, these stories take you down into the viscera of life while showing you just what the world is today.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I have known Damian for over 20 years, so having his words attached to my book is both an honour and an obligation…haha.

 

When he joined a writers’ workshop I started in 2004, Bloor West Writers, he already had a collection of stories that he was sending out to publishers (I think). He was working on his novel, Goya’s Dog, and I remember thinking, I can’t believe I get to read and critique this incredible book by such an impressive writer.

 

When he writes “viscera of life,” I know that he means the absolute gut-punch style of writing he is so great at, and so I have to say that I love that he thinks my words do the same thing. “Hugely original” is the real honour because to have my weird and wild imagination called original instead of plain strange, well, that’s a gift.

 

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

 

A: This is all (independent editor) Jane Warren, who is the absolute best editor/human being and to whom I owe a huge debt for so much of how this collection came to life. I mean I paid her, so maybe I don’t owe her, owe her, but I am eternally grateful for the gift she gave me working on this collection.

 

That we chatted for hours, cursing and struggling through this, that she connected the child characters to their adult counterparts, that she found the ways in which they’re all barely surviving, that she came up with the ways in which the stories connected, and of course the ways the stories needed to reveal themselves in the collection, to her, and to her genius, I do owe so much!

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am working on a final version of a novel that is going to be published by Palimpsest Press in 2028 (or 2027). Dreams of the Weary is a dual-timeline novel that takes place in the middle of the last century in the last days of the carnival sideshow. Told from the perspectives of a mother and her daughter, born with a facial difference.

 

I wrote the story for my son, who asked, at a young age, about famous people, celebrities or characters, who looked like him. There are plenty of villains, but not many heroes, with facial differences. This novel is a dedication of all my love for him, and for everyone with a visible difference.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: If anyone out there wants to join me in in my short story revolution, I believe we are at the beginning of a renaissance. I have another collection in the works, and another novel, but if I could spend the rest of my life writing short stories, all my dreams would come true. So, put down that novel, and start writing stories. Let’s do this thing!!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

June 22

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
June 22, 1898: Erich Maria Remarque born.

Q&A with Liz Lawler

  

 

 

Liz Lawler is the author of the new novel The Next Wife. Her other books include Don't Wake Up. She spent 20 years as a nurse, and she lives in Bath, UK. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Next Wife, and how did you create your characters Tess and Martha?

 

A: I was inspired to write this story while working at a railway station and seeing all the people taking the train. The commuters. The tourists. The day-trippers. The platform crammed with passengers eager to board the incoming train.

 

Then there are the individuals that catch your eye, as standing too close to the edge of a platform, and something doesn’t feel right. Immediately alert you can’t ignore the troubling situation as the environment was way too dangerous. They may not be there to make a journey, but to put an end to a sadness.

 

Rail suicide is a deeply tragic reality and I’m grateful to have been able to stop this happening on more than one occasion. When I wrote this story, I found myself remembering these vulnerable souls. Tess’s sadness was as deep as theirs and I knew I would have to watch over her to stop her stepping over the yellow line. Otherwise her story would not get told.

 

Martha’s feisty, gritty character possesses similar traits to my late mother, so I always had Mum in mind when I wrote about her. My mum didn’t have a failing memory, but my father did, so Martha has a bit of both my parents in her character.

 

My fondness for Martha is abiding, especially when I visualise her small, wrinkled features and sparse fluffy hair around her forehead.

 

Q: How does your background as a nurse factor into your writing?

 

A: I suppose after 20 years of nursing lots of memories are tucked away that at an unconscious level find their way into my writing.

 

Nursing exposes you to the entire spectrum of human behaviour. You see people at their absolute lowest and most vulnerable – when they are scared, grieving, or in pain. You learn to communicate with individuals experiencing confusion, delirium, or severe mental health. Wearing a uniform doesn’t protect you from second-hand impacts from absorbing patients’ trauma.

 

The plethora of characters I have experienced in my life translate into my writing; even if the plot is made up, the memories of real, visceral emotions are felt in the moment by fictional characters in the pages of my story.

 

Working in a hospital often feels like a second home; every corridor holds a story. Nursing was a large part of my life. Working as a nurse in Accident and Emergency gives you exposure to the most critical patients, and provides unparalleled, fast-paced clinical experience, which hopefully I bring to life in this story.

 

Transitioning from nursing to writing was by no means easy. Writing takes a psychological toll. While it frequently serves as a cathartic outlet, sliding under the skin of sociopaths and their victims can have me chewing my fingernails and afraid for what might happen next, as emotional attachment often forms and I cry when something really sad happens.

 

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

 

A: I visualise a story like an unfolding movie in my head for weeks before writing it down so had seen the ending. I hear vivid conversations between characters and start mumbling the dialogue, while wearing the facial expressions of these individuals. I end up looking like the Mad Hatter, walking along talking to myself, with unkempt hair and oblivious to my surroundings!

 

However, translating the mental movie in my head to paper was a process of trial and error and many changes were made along the way. Characters develop their own agency and step out of the original outline, so I had to adjust their trajectory and write scenes again.

 

It’s not something I understand on an explicit conscious level, but something in the back of my brain telling me to trust in the direction the story is taking me.

 

Q: The novel is set in Bath and in London – how important is setting to you in your writing?

 

A: It was important to have Tess whisked away from everything familiar to a city she didn’t know. Bath is considered one of the safest cities in the UK and internationally. Leaving the fast-paced, metropolis city of London for the tranquil Georgian city of Bath should have made it a safe place for Tess to live.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: A story set in a London hospital where a patient tells a nurse a deadly secret.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I was the first child in my family to be born in the UK. My mother had 14 children, and my 10 older siblings were born in Dublin in Ireland.

 

The experience of coming from a large Irish Catholic family meant I was never lonely or bored. It also meant that we never went anywhere on a plane. Holidays were either day trips to the seaside, or sometimes we stayed in a seaside chalet. Depending on my age at the time, there could be up to eight of us in a vehicle, plus a dog, as we set off for our destination.

 

My parents had enormous energy and while elderly, never tired of talking to us. My father was a great storyteller and regaled us with his own life as a child – he left school aged 10 and half and began his work life by selling kindling wood. My mother’s mother died when she was 4, and my mother was sent to an orphanage.

 

They were strong and confident parents and would have loved knowing that I became an author.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with Nicole Conn

  

 

 

 

Nicole Conn is the author of the novel Descending Thirds. She is also a filmmaker.

 

Q: How much was Descending Thirds inspired by your mother’s life story?

 

A: The emotional heart of the novel was deeply inspired by my mother, Christa Hoven, who was a classical pianist and teacher.

 

Music was present in my life from the very beginning. My father bought her a new piano the day after I was born, and she often joked that the moment we came home from the hospital, she tossed me into a crib beside it and played.

 

Years later, I would lie beneath her piano, absorbing the vibrations, entranced and mesmerized by all of it which became a scene in the novel. Music truly became part of my DNA.

 

One of my favorite parts of the research was sharing recordings of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition with her. We raced through every episode together, and those experiences became the foundation for the opening of the novel.

 

I was fascinated by how the characters would unfold during the tension-filled three weeks of competition, where a single performance could transform a struggling pianist's career. Those memories of watching those shows with her are especially precious now that she has passed.

 

While Descending Thirds is not my mother's story, her love of music, her devotion to her students, and the way she experienced the world through music shaped every page. In many ways, the novel became my love letter to her.

 

Q: Did you need to do much research to write the book, and if so, what did you learn that especially surprised you?

 

A: I spent several years researching the world of elite piano competitions, composers, and concert pianists back in the day where it was reading from actual books with copious notes.

 

Much of that research began with those Van Cliburn recordings and eventually expanded into biographies, interviews, performances, and the insights into many famous and more obscure composers. The Van Cliburn competition is held but every four years upping the ante and risks.

 

What surprised me most was the enormous psychological pressure placed on these young musicians. The public sees the glamour and artistry, but behind the scenes are years of sacrifice, isolation, and relentless discipline.

 

Many competitors are asked to perform at a level that would challenge even seasoned professionals while still in their teens or early 20s. I became fascinated by the emotional cost of greatness and how ambition can both elevate and consume us.

 

Q: How did you create your characters Alexandra, Sebastian, and Conrad, and how would you describe the dynamic among them?

 

A: The three characters represent three very different relationships to art. Alexandra came first. In many ways she is my straight alter ego. She leads with her heart. For her, music is first and foremost an emotional experience. Technique matters, of course, but only in service of expressing something truthful and deeply felt.

 

Sebastian and Conrad became two opposing forces acting upon her. Sebastian is charismatic, passionate, and magnetic. He thrives on performance, attention, and the intoxicating energy that exists between artist and audience. Conrad is his opposite—quiet, introspective, a genius savant indifferent to recognition. He writes music because he must. It is as natural to him as breathing.

 

As I wrote the novel, I began to think of them as a modern-day Dionysus and Apollo. One embodies passion, instinct, and sensuality; the other discipline, order, and transcendent beauty. What interested me wasn't simply a romantic triangle, but what happens when Alexandra encounters these competing philosophies of art and life.

 

Ultimately, Descending Thirds is Alexandra's story. Through her relationships with both brothers, she discovers not only who she loves, but who she is, what kind of artist she wants to become, and what role music will ultimately play in her life.

 

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

 

A: I knew the major emotional destination from the beginning, but the journey changed many times. Descending Thirds began life as a screenplay before it became a novel and served as an excellent outline for the book.

 

What surprised me most was how much deeper the characters became once I moved into the novel form. A screenplay allows you to observe a character. A novel allows you to live inside them. Alexandra, Sebastian, and Conrad all revealed aspects of themselves that I hadn't fully understood when I first conceived the story.

 

When I wrote the screenplay, there was one major reveal. While writing the novel, I discovered a second revelation that changed everything and ultimately made the story far stronger. It was one of those rare moments where the characters seemed to know more than I did and I wasn’t about to second guess them!

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: At the moment, much of my attention is focused on introducing readers to Descending Thirds and its recently released audiobook which features musical snippets to help introduce the reader to classical music and to enhance the experience.

 

I am also developing the story as a limited television series, which feels like a natural return to the medium where the project first began.

 

Beyond that, I have my next feature film, do we not grieve, in early development. I also have another novel, Armand's Tango, which I hope to bring out sometime next year.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: At its core, Descending Thirds is a novel about passion—our passion for art, for excellence, and for one another. While it unfolds against the backdrop of classical music and international piano competitions, it is ultimately a searing triangular love affair.

 

Individually each character grapples with family, obsession, sacrifice, and the choices that shape our lives. It asks a question that fascinated me throughout the writing process: What is the true price of greatness? And what is the cost for true greatness.

 

My greatest hope is that readers don't need to know anything about classical music to be swept away by the story. Like all great music, the emotions are universal.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

June 21

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
June 21, 1905: Jean-Paul Sartre born.

Q&A with Anne Shaw Heinrich

  

 

 

Anne Shaw Heinrich is the author of the new novel House of Teeth, the latest in her Women of Paradise County series. She is also a journalist and communications professional. 

 

Q: House of Teeth is the third in your Women of Paradise County series--what inspired the plot of this new novel?

 

A: House of Teeth has been a great opportunity to throw open the windows and let readers see how deeply the characters from the first two novels in the series (God Bless the Child and Violet Is Blue) are connected to one another and Poulson, the fictional town where they find themselves living, loving, hating, surviving, and simply being human.

 

The primary arc of this book’s story follows a young man named Jules Marks and his five younger sisters as they adjust to living with their Uncle Larry and Aunt Sally, who swooped in to give them the safe and secure existence they’ve never had.

 

It’s a welcome saving, but none of the characters go riding off into the sunset. Not everyone in town thinks the Marks kids deserve all the good that has come their way. I thought that this very nuanced aspect of small-town life, of the ups and downs of being human, was worth exploring more deeply.

 

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

 

A: House of Teeth’s title alludes to one of the primary conflicts that crops up when the town’s only dentist decides quietly to help Jules and all five of his sisters take care of one of the last remaining signs of their stinking origins: their rotting teeth.

 

Not everyone approves of the gesture. For some, it’s a bridge too far.

 

The Marks kids, all six of them, have settled into one of the largest, nicest homes in town, thanks to the unexpected generosity of old Margaret Burns, who knows a thing or two about being from Shakey’s Half. The town is still getting used to the idea of a pack of scroungy kids living in such a nice place, when news about the generous dental care lands.

 

Delving into the complicated backlash is a chance to explore themes of generosity, envy, class division, and the gritty truths of gaps in privilege that we cannot seem to shake.

Q: How would you describe the relationship between this novel and the two earlier books in the series, and would you need to read those before turning to this one?

 

A: The good news about The Women of Paradise County series is that each book can stand on its own. Of course, the full story is richer and more challenging if you read the first two books before House of Teeth.

 

The entire series is presented in multiple, staggered points of view, and there are a lot of memory sequences and playing around with past and present, so this makes  the larger story of the full series fluid.  

 

Some of the characters are connected deeply to one another, and others only in very tangential ways. What ties all the characters and the books is the world of Poulson, a fictional town in a fictional Paradise County.

 

None of it is real, but it could be, and I think that’s why readers are drawn to this kind of storytelling. It allows us to examine ourselves and where we stand in the world, but to do so from a safe distance.

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

 

A: I would consider it a win if readers walk away from House of Teeth, and the other books in the series, remembering that we all have the capacity to be empathetic, that villains probably love someone and have a favorite kind of ice cream and those we consider heroes harbor dark thoughts and regrets. The binding agent for the full spectrum of humanity is we are made to love and to be loved.

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am very deep into writing Unfettered, the fourth and final book in The Women of Paradise County series. It’s this stage of writing that I find the most satisfying!

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I think it’s really critical that authors and readers remember that we didn’t invent storytelling. It’s a primal, instinctual pull that distinguishes us from animals.

 

Storytelling helps us remember that others were here before us, living and loving, laughing, and crying just like we do. And long after we’re gone, others will stand where we stood, doing all the same things that make us human.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Anne Shaw Heinrich.