What's the story behind the story? What inspired you to write Overmorrow?
This one was a fluke! Tara and I were babysitting three children of former overseas workers who had come to NYC for a visit. Their parents went to watch Sweeney Todd, and while that happened, Tara and I took them out on the Central Park boats. We got all the way from the boathouse to the other side of the lake when a giant rain bomb just started pouring on us from the sky.
We were soaked immediately and hustled to a bridge for some measure of shelter. People ran over that bridge, and in the rain, the children started laughing and shouting, "WE ARE BRIDGE TROLLS AND WE WILL EAT YOU WHOLE." We heard, then, a person say, "Oooh nooo" and run faster over the bridge, but their footsteps sounded like hooves. And I wondered, "What if that really was a centaur? And what if most of New York is full of magical creatures who have forgotten they're magical?"
If you had to pick theme songs for the main characters of Overmorrow, what would they be?
Forget You by CeeLo Green (Oblivion)
The Mother by Brandi Carlile (for Ellie)
Brother — Mahogany x IRIS by Jake Isaac (Levi)
Fire and Rain by James Taylor (Annie)
What's your favorite genre to read? Is it the same as your favorite genre to write?
Fantasy/Sci-Fi is default, but I read Dostoevsky, romance, philosophy, whatever. I'm fickle and read whatever strikes my fancy.
What books are on your TBR pile right now?
Whole stack on Byzantine history for an epic fantasy I'm working on, as well as Karl Rahner and Bulgakov, finishing Christopher Ruoochio's Sun Eater series, I have N.K. Jemesin and others are making eyes at me, but also Heidegger and Aquinas. I'm a hot mess.
What scene in your book was your favorite to write?
There's one involving a mech that was fun, there's one involving a bunch of thresholds that was fun, and there's one involving the world's largest fish that was an absolute blast.
Do you have any quirky writing habits? (lucky mugs, cats on laps, etc.)
Only insofar as I'll write anywhere. I wrote most of It Rides Upon Us, which will come out in a few years, on the D train subway at night. I wrote Bell Hammers from interviews with my grandpa. I like writing from home, but I've done it in hotel rooms and weird cafes and everywhere else. Everything else is almost incidental -- what mug I use, etc. I suppose journaling prayers every morning might be considered quirky to some, reading ancient history and philosophy might be, I see that all as fodder. I have a memento mori calendar above my desk for the day I'll die if I live to be 80, so every week I blacken a box to keep it in mind.
Do you have a motto, quote, or philosophy you live by?
So many. Several are in the book.
If you could choose one thing for readers to remember after reading your book, what would it be?
I take myself on unplanned, unexpected artist dates. That is, I'll go into buildings I wasn't expecting and explore until I get kicked out. I'll go see museums I didn't know existed. I explore derelict urban environs and also marinas, and forests. I go off the beaten path. I make a margin for unexpected detours.
What do you do for inspiration?
I take myself on unplanned, unexpected artist dates. That is, I'll go into buildings I wasn't expecting and explore until I get kicked out. I'll go see museums I didn't know existed. I explore derelict urban environs and also marinas, and forests. I go off the beaten path. I make a margin for unexpected detours.
Sign up for our email and we’ll send you the best new books in your favorite genres weekly.
