SCRIBES OF SUMMER

Atlanta authors talk about their latest books and invite us inside the writer’s life

BY Suzanne Van Atten PHOTOGRAPHY BY Ben Rollins 7 1 Karin Joshilyn SLAUGHTER JACKSON YOU DON’T HAVE TO LOOK FAR to find the perfect page-turner for your beach read this year. The New York Times best-selling author The New York Times best-selling author of nine has penned 18 crime novels, and her novels serves on the board of Reforming Arts, a Seven authors with ties have new novels 2018 standalone novel Pieces of Her is nonprofit that runs educational programs in prisons. coming out before the fall. Some are seasoned being turned into a series. pros who produce a book nearly every summer, NEW TITLE Never Have I Ever and one is a first-timer making her fiction de- NEW TITLE The Last Widow WHAT IT’S ABOUT Two women who are part of a WHAT IT’S ABOUT Sex, violence, OPENING LINE drinking game at a book club learn too much “You do a lot of but. All of them are women, and one thing their OPENING LINE OF kidnapping, and the CDC rolled about each other, and it turns into a war of thinking in jail.” books share in common is a strong, complicated THE LAST WIDOW together in a quickly paced thriller dark pasts that could destroy either one of female protagonist. Their characters may not “Michelle Spivey CENTRAL CHARACTERS Will Trent is them—especially the one we like most. jogged through the an agent with the GBI. He has a AVAILABLE NOW THEMES We’ve seen all these heroes’ journeys, always make the best decisions, but the women back of the store, pretty high solve rate. He thinks and they’ve always been about a man. I frantically scanning at the center of these novels have agency to make in a different way because he has wanted to look into the abyss to see what that each aisle for her their own choices and figure their ways out of daughter, panicked dyslexia, so he struggles with looks like from a feminine and a feminist per- challenging situations. thoughts circling her paperwork, but he always gets the spective. Especially from the perspective of a brain: How did I lose bad guy. Sara Linton is a medical mother. I think the most dangerous animal on sight of her I am a examiner. She also is a pediatri- earth is a mother. A bear is dangerous, but the In their own words, here’s what the authors have horrible mother my cian. I delve a lot into her family most dangerous thing is a mother bear. baby was kidnapped in the book. This is Will’s first time INSPIRATION I had this character Roux in my to say about their new books and the writing life. by a pedophile or a human trafficker meeting them as her significant head. Sometimes I can be real literal with should I flag store other. And something awful has my names. Roux is rich, it’s flour and butter, security or call the happened, so it is even more un- and it’s a thickener. Anything you add roux to police or. . . .” comfortable and awkward for Will. becomes rich and interesting. I was thinking THEMES A lot of people have split about a character who comes into a situation AVAILABLE 08/20/19 their alliances in this country. and chemically changes it, and she’s a char- There is an erosion of trust and acter who takes a lot of pleasure in that. belief in the system. There is this DEFINE BEACH READ. DOES YOUR BOOK QUALIFY? real feeling that things are going Yes. To me, a beach read is anything that you to break apart. I happen to really Anissa are reading for pleasure and entertainment. believe in America, but a lot of It’s not a book I would suggest if your goal at people feel like things just don’t GRAY the end of it is to actually become a better per- seem very fair lately. Maybe their son. But I don’t think I read anything that’s not opinion about something isn’t the The CNN Worldwide journalist a beach read. I mostly read for pleasure and popular opinion anymore. I wanted makes her literary debut. entertainment, and sometimes that means to talk about that. fiction that’s categorized as literary, and DEFINE BEACH READ. DOES YOUR BOOK NEW TITLE The Care and Feeding of sometimes it’s categorized as commercial. QUALIFY? I think so. I think good Ravenously Hungry Girls EAGER TO READ Lady in the Lake by Laura books exist on several levels. You WHAT IT’S ABOUT It’s about a family that has to come Lippman can just read it and enjoy it and together to deal with the fallout when the matri- WORST THING ABOUT WRITING I’ve had some of have a great time. There are lots arch and her husband are sentenced to prison for my books read very literally as if my character of twists, and it’s fast-paced. But defrauding their small town. spouts beliefs that are my beliefs. Sometimes if you want to read it for a deeper CENTRAL CHARACTERS Three sisters: Althea, Viola, and my characters say things that are actively meaning, you can do that as well. Lillian hateful. I don’t like all my characters. They’re And those are the kind of books l THEMES Betrayal and forgiveness not all good people. like. A good thriller can be all things INSPIRATION I actually started out talking about one FIRST JOB Mall puppeteer to all people. member of this family, Viola, the middle sister, and EAGER TO READ The Better Sister by her work in an eating disorder clinic. It was based on Alafair Burke some of my own experiences and treatment. As I was WRITING ADVICE Define what working through the story, it felt too narrow in scope. success means to you, because There wasn’t enough there. It wasn’t until I started if it’s being No. 1 on the New York to look at Viola through the lens of the family that Times best-seller list, you have things started to come together. I could see there 52 chances out of the year, and was a broader story to tell. James Patterson is going to take CHARACTER YOU IDENTIFY WITH Probably Viola, given half of those. THE CARE AND FEEDING OF RAVENOUSLY that some elements of the eating disorder I had are

FIRST JOB Movie projectionist : WILLIAM MORROW seen in her character FAVORITE BOOK YOU READ LAST YEAR Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan FAVORITE CHILDHOOD BOOK Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume

NEVER HAVE I EVER BEST THING ABOUT BEING A WRITER Being able to create characters and stories and share them with the world WORST OR HARDEST THING Constructing the novel : HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS;

: BERKLEY; itself. The technical part of it. You’re managing sev- eral narrative threads at one time and knitting it into OPENING LINE something cohesive. “The game was Questions and answers have been Roux’s idea.” edited for space and clarity. FIRST JOB Cashier at Tasty Queen

THE LAST WIDOW GIRLS HUNGRY IF NOT A WRITER, THEN WHAT? Probably miserable AVAILABLE 07/30/19

HAIR AND MAKEUP: ROANNA BALES MAY 2019 ■ ATLANTA 73 Susan Rebecca Mary Kay WHITE ANDREWS

A former writer-in-residence at Mercer A former reporter for the Atlanta Journal- University, White has written three novels, one Constitution, the New York Times best-selling of which was shortlisted for the Townsend Prize. author has written 26 novels and a cookbook.

NEW TITLE We Are All Good defined as pure escapism, that is NEW TITLE Sunset Beach People Here not this book. But for me, when I WHAT IT’S ABOUT A woman who goes to work WHAT IT’S ABOUT Two college room- go to the beach, it means I have OPENING LINE for her ambulance-chasing lawyer father OPENING LINE mates and best friends experience time to read and I can get really “Objects had al- and comes across a shocking murder and a “The problem with a political awakening in the 1960s absorbed in a big story. My hope ways jumped into my long-unsolved cold case. At the beach. memories, Colleen that sends them in completely is that this is a novel that is really pockets, which is why CENTRAL CHARACTERS Drue Campbell is a Donohue often different directions. It’s also about absorbing and you won’t want to I didn’t think of what I competitive kiteboarder, but she’s had a se- thought, wasn’t with did as stealing.” the ones she couldn’t attempting to love each other in stop reading. And hopefully, you’re rious knee injury. Her long-estranged father let go of, but with spite of our political and moral at the beach. shows up at her mother’s funeral and offers those that wouldn’t AVAILABLE NOW divides. INSPIRATIONS One was watching her a job at his personal injury law firm. And let go of her.” CENTRAL CHARACTERS It’s about the documentary The Weather she’s also inherited her grandparents’ beach - two best friends, Daniella Gold and Underground. I hadn’t known about cottage on Sunset Beach. AVAILABLE 06/04/19 Eve Whalen. You start in Daniella’s this group of fringe radical activists THEMES I always tend to write about a woman head and you end in Daniella’s who thought violence was needed who’s having to reinvent herself. It’s also head. She is the character I most to bring about the revolution. I was about reclaiming family, figuring out what relate to. She is the daughter of a really interested in that point when family is. It’s about trust. Jessica : SIMON & SCHUS Jewish professor and Protestant [someone transitions] from “I’m EAGER TO READ Where the Crawdads Sing by mother who was always told by her fighting injustice” to “I’m mirroring HANDLER Delia Owens, Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn mom that she would never fully the injustice I’m fighting.” Jackson

belong [in the South] because she WHO WOULD STAR IN THE MOVIE The Oglethorpe University professor is : ST. MARTIN’S PRESS BEST THING ABOUT WRITING It’s hard, hard work, was half Jewish. VERSION? Elle Fanning as Eve and also the author of the memoir Invisible and I bang my head against the desk and THEMES We can try to rewrite our Rachel Brosnahan as Daniella Sisters and Braving the Fire, a guide to have sleepless nights. But I’m doing what I history, but the truth will even- EAGER TO READ The Care and Feed- writing about grief. dreamed of as a kid, and not a lot of people

tually surface. Also, how women ing of Ravenously Hungry Girls by SUNSET BEACH can say their childhood dream came true. sometimes feel the need to Anissa Gray, The Need by Helen NEW TITLE The Magnetic Girl WE ARE ALL GOOD PEOPLE HERE HARDEST THING Self-doubt and self-loathing, Patti Callahan reinvent who they once were when Phillips WHAT IT’S ABOUT A historical novel the insecurity. The Amazon reviews.

they have children. BEST THING ABOUT WRITING It really inspired by the brief vaudeville career : BERKLEY; WRITING ROUTINE Different things in different HENRY DEFINE BEACH READ. DOES YOUR BOOK helps you make sense of your of Lulu Hurst, a (real life) teenage girl phases of the book. When I’m pressed up QUALIFY? If “beach read” is being own life. from a small town in Georgia against deadline, I put my laptop beside my The New York Times best-selling author

THEMES Girl power. On one level, she : HUB CITY PRESS; bed when I go to sleep, and when I wake up, has written 15 novels, including last year’s lifted men in chairs, and she trans- I pick it up and prop myself up with pillows historical novel, Becoming Mrs. Lewis. mitted electrical or magnetic power and start writing. through objects. But the other idea WRITING ADVICE Don’t back up. If you keep NEW TITLE The Favorite WRITER The tribe. The read-

of girl power is how and when does DAUGHTER FAVORITE THE backing up, you never go forward. You can’t Daughter ers and the other writers WHAT IT’S ABOUT How a HARDEST THING The a teenage girl, or woman for that THE MAGNETIC GIRL TER; fix what you ain’t wrote. matter, decide that she has got the fractured family comes middle of the book. It’s the power to make decisions? It’s about to heal through memo- time you think you can’t power over others, real or imagined. ries that were both lost do it this time. It’s always But really, it’s about power over your and found the time you think you’re own future. CENTRAL CHARACTERS wasting your life and your WHO WOULD STAR IN THE MOVIE VER- Colleen Donahue. She’s time. SION? Shannon Purser, who played in her 30s. She has had CURE FOR WRITER’S BLOCK Barb in a terrible betrayal by the For me, because a long EAGER TO READ We Are All Good Peo- two people closest to her, time ago I read The ple Here by Susan Rebecca White, her sister and her fiance, War of Art by Steven Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jack- and she has spent her life Pressfield, I’ve redefined son, Educated by Tara Westover protecting herself from writer’s block. I call it A FAVORITE BOOK OF 2018 What Luck, that pain. resistance. When I’m This Life by Kathryn Schwille THEMES It’s about how stuck, I try to find ways BEST THING ABOUT BEING A WRITER memory defines who we to break through or get OPENING LINE Writing are. around it by filling back “Daniella’s father steered the Dodge Pi- WORST THING Writing WHO WOULD STAR IN THE up the well, whether oneer up the serpen- WRITING ADVICE Don’t worry at first MOVIE VERSION? Amy it’s by taking a walk in tine drive of Belmont about whether you will be pub- Adams nature or reading some- College, home to lished or what order does this go EAGER TO READ Everybody body else’s beautiful more than 500 girls in, what goes in what chapter. Just in this article. I’m not work. Sometimes, I’ll renowned for their Beauty and Brains, or put words on paper or the screen, OPENING LINE kidding. read poetry. at least that was what and trust that the narrative will “Drue turned the FAVORITE BOOK OF 2018 WRITING ADVICE I think the boosterish tour reveal itself if you keep going. Join key in the ignition and The Lost Queen by it’s really good for new guide who had shown a writers group whose members the white Bronco’s Signe Pike writers to know our books Daniella around the respect each other. Go to writers engine gave a dispir- FAVORITE CHILDHOOD BOOK don’t come out the way previous spring had conferences where you can listen ited cough, and then The Chronicles of Narnia they see them. They don’t claimed.” and learn and meet others like you. nothing.” by C. S. Lewis see all the work, the edits, FIRST JOB Clerk at Payless BEST THING ABOUT BEING A the dead ends. AVAILABLE 08/06/19 AVAILABLE NOW

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