 Chris Mendius is a Chicago resident, so it only makes sense that his novel, Spoonful, is set in the windy city. Once on the fringes of the drug world that his novel revolves around, Chris is now a happily married man. I'm excited to have Chris join us today for a few questions.
AB: Despite its sometimes humorous tone, Spoonful has a dark and depressing side to it. It was so real at times that I felt as though I was reading a piece of non-fiction. How much reality was there to the stories within Spoonful?
Chris: Well, the story in a work of fiction, and none of the characters exist in real life. That said, the authenticity you and other readers seem to experience was possible due to my familiarity with situations and people I did know in real life. The world I created for Spoonful illuminates an often distorted reality of our society, and that glimpse into that particular worldview is part of what people seem appreciate about the book.
AB: You had an uncanny ability to make me forgive the main character for his actions, no matter how wrong they were. I was rooting for him the whole way through. What did you do to make your characters so likable?
Chris: I knew guys Michael, so it wasn’t a stretch. There are a lot of scumbag junkies out there, but there are also more complicated, interesting dope fiends. They’re not trying to hurt anybody. They’re just trying to get what they need—which requires them to work outside the law and civilized society. I'm glad you found Michael likable. I like him. But I make no moral judgments when it comes to what my characters do. I'm just trying to tell a good story.
AB: Having cleaned up, was it hard to revisit that time in your life, or was Spoonful part of the process?
Chris: It's been more than a few years since I had anything close to the type of lifestyle of Michael and his friends. It's been well over a decade. The story is set in in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood in the late '90s during the Clinton dot-com boom. The general zeitgeist of that period seems a lifetime away from today, and personally, it feels like ancient history to me. But I do think it took the time elapsed and the subsequent changes in my life to allow me to gain the perspective I needed to express the atmosphere of the time and place as well as describe the drug use and brawling and other elements of the story in a way that would draw in mainstream readers. At the time I wrote Spoonful a few years ago, I enjoyed revisiting that world in the safe, vicarious way writing the novel offered me.
AB: When you wrote Spoonful, did you intend to convey a message, or did you simply have a story to tell?
 Praise of Motherhood may paint a picture of a young man trying to scrape together the last strings of his sanity, but don’t let the memoir fool you: Phil Jourdan is a multi-talented man with a wealth of knowledge. Phil is working on a PHD in Religion and Comparative Literature from the University of Warwick, is part of a grunge band called Paris and the Hiltons, writes the off-beat blog Slothrop and is the co-founder of an emerging literary website and writing workshop called LitReactor. AB: Thanks for joining us today, Phil. Let’s start by talking about your memoir, Praise of Motherhood. When did you decide to put your experiences into writing? Phil: The very night my mother died. Simple as that. She died, and I wrote. What else was I going to do? I wasn’t sleeping alone in a suddenly very empty house. That wasn't pleasant. The dogs were there just looking confused. I needed a way out, and I couldn't really kill myself without feeling horrible about it the next morning, so I wrote. I was 21, I had unfailing self-confidence, and my mother was dead. "I'll write about this, I guess. Tell people about my pain." Well, that's not quite how it happened, actually. I was 21, I had just lost my mother that evening, and yes, I was alone in her house. But the writing wasn't a "decision" and I never decided to put my experiences into writing. It was more something like this: "Good God, what am I going to do with myself to survive tonight?" And the answer was writing, but that only became clear later on. I wrote a lot of rambling pages that night. I kept starting over: "My mother died tonight, and like Camus, I cannot cry." "Mom's dead, by the way." And the opening line that stuck for a year or so before I decided to change it: "So my mother died and it was very sad." That felt honest. It was a very different book at first, and I'd say everything changed, as far as the writing is concerned, when I did decide to write a "book" instead of just typing away to forget the pain. AB: Praise of Motherhood contains a lot of scenes that are improbable at best, and often simply impossible. You leave it up to the reader to decide what’s real and what’s in your head, if it’s imagined or simply a good metaphor. Why did you decide to write the book in such a surreal way, and still label it a memoir?
 Nathan Larson isn’t just the author of The Dewey Decimal System. He is also a musician, a producer, an artist, and a self-proclaimed “thought criminal.” He lives is New York City, which is also the setting of his post-apocalyptic novel. I’m excited to have Nathan with us today to answer a few questions.
AB: You’re obviously interested and involved in many different artistic venues. What made you move from visual and audio media, and try to write a book?
Nathan: The opportunity presented itself and I jumped on it. Had I not personally known Johnny Temple, who runs Akashic Press, it's quite likely I would have never thought to write a novel, particularly a "genre" type of thing. It came out of nowhere and I'm just so happy it did, it's like a bonus round for me.
AB: How long did it take you to write The Dewey Decimal System? Tell us a little bit about your writing process.
Nathan: I wrote this book over the course of perhaps 2 months, my wife was on bedrest, pregnant with our son, so I had taken some time off to look after her...this still left me with far more spare time than I'm accustomed to having, so in the extra hours I would write. Pretty much everything was written sitting in one chair, listening to either Steve Reich or King Tubby. Some of it was written at the NYP Library itself, in the very room about which I speak, so I could simply look up and make calculations as to where this or that was...I wrote fast and sloppy and had no plan, the rewrites then took another 2 months....so all told 4 months I'd say.
AB: In the world of publishing, I’ve found that connections are the most important way to get yourself noticed. Do you feel that your previous artistic ventures helped you secure a publisher?
 I'm pleased to introduce Ali Luke, online blogger and author of Lycopolis. Ali lives in the UK and blogs about writing on her site, Aliventures. AB: I understand that you based the fictional online world of Lycopolis on your own experience with text-based role-playing. What inspired you to write a story about online gaming? Ali: For several years before starting Lycopolis, I had the kernel of a story in my head – about a group of players who summon a demon into their game, without realising the consequences it’s going to cause in the real world. I wanted to write about the (sometimes slightly odd!) relationships we form online, and explore the boundaries between the real, the virtual, and the imaginary. Online gaming was a big part of my life in my late teens, and it seemed like a great fit. On a broader level, I'm interested in how digital media is opening up storytelling and publishing to more and more people: fan fiction, games, forums, ebooks ... there are so many great possibilities compared with twenty years ago. AB: Are you still involved in the online gaming community? Ali: Sadly not, because I’d never get any productive work done! AB: Your characters make up an eclectic cast. Did you base them off of people you know, or did you summon them up from your imagination? Ali: None of them are based on anyone real. I’d say that all of them carry some aspects of me (even the less-than-nice characters...) and I’m sure that’s the case for every author. After all, writing fiction is about getting inside people’s heads, and the only head we have access to is our own. AB: How long did it take to write Lycopolis? Was it your first attempt to pen a novel?
 Roz Morris, the author of My Memories of a Future Life, is a writer, editor and book doctor who lives in London with her husband, the writer Dave Morris. Roz has written multiple books as a ghost writer, some of them best sellers, and has a how-to book about the art of writing novels that is called Nail Your Novel, along with a helpful blog of the same title. I chose to review Roz as a debut author because, even though she has numerous books under her belt, this is the first novel she has published using her real name. I’m excited to invite Roz to the Underground to answer a few questions.
AB: Your book, My Memories of a Future Life, follows a piano player who has lost her ability to play. I felt as though you had a real connection to the passion for music that the main character possessed. Do you have a musical background that inspired you to write with such musical passion?
Roz: Not formally. I can amuse myself on a piano, but I can't read a note. Professionals would probably cover their ears. I have had singing training, though it still never taught me to read the blobs. But I love being drenched in sound, or even better, making it. It's not that different from the way I feel about writing and stories - where we create experiences to explore and express the inexplicable.
So I found it very easy to inhabit a character who made music her life. I researched what it's like to play professionally and made friends with a concert pianist, who sorted out my misconceptions and led me to even better insights. I got to know some pieces very well - such as the Grieg piano concerto in A minor, a soaring, romantic piece with intricate history for the main character, Carol. I have a good ear anyway, but I marinated in that piece so often that I developed absolute pitch and could sing the note A out of thin air, accurately.
I’m so pleased that readers tell me I've captured the player’s way of life. It was love of making music and admiration for musicians that led me there.
AB: I was intrigued by the futuristic world that you created through Carol’s hypnosis sessions. In fact, I wanted more. You could have written the whole book about the futuristic underwater world, and I would have gobbled it up. How did you come up with such a fantastic setting?
 Lynne M. Hinkley, the author of Marina Melee, is a marine scientist who has spent a considerable amount of time in the Caribbean studying oceanography. She currently lives in South Carolina, where she teaches, writes and spends time with her family. It was a pleasure to read her book and correspond with Lynne, and I am excited to welcome her to the Underground for an interview.
AB: When did you decide to become a writer? Were you inspired to write by your travels, or have you always had stories that you wanted to put down on paper?
Lynne: You've probably heard this from dozens of other writers, but I've been writing stories since I was kid. I wrote my first complete "novels" when I was in junior high and high school. So, I've always had stories I wanted to put down on paper. But, I pursued a science career --in marine science-- instead. That gave me the opportunity to travel and gain a world of new and interesting experiences and perspectives. I spent my formative years, as a young adult, living, studying, and working in the Caribbean where I was exposed to different cultures, languages, and a whole different world from where I grew up in upstate New York. I gained a much broader perspective to write from and about.
AB: I love learning how different books are put together. Tell us about your writing method. Did you start with a story idea, a scene, a cast of characters?
Lynne: Marina Melee was mostly character driven, but even with a cast of fabulous characters running around in my head talking to me, I can't write until I know where the story is going. I'm a hard-core plotter. I have to know my beginning, end, and waypoints to get me there before I start to write. A lot of the story is already written in my head before I ever turn on the computer, then I write an outline or a timeline to follow. Parts of the story and characters may change to be more effective at getting to the ending as I go along, but the essence remains the same.
AB: Your stories were obviously inspired in part by personal experience. Sometimes I found myself wondering if you had actually witnessed some of the outlandish scenes that George experienced. Can you tell me the real story behind one of George's escapades?
 I met Mark Covington at Writer's Wednesday, a casual meeting for writers of all types, put together by the James River Writer's group and held every Wednesday in Richmond, VA. At the time, Mark had recently completed his novel Homemade Sin and it was picked up by a small publisher, and was working on 2012 Montezuma's Revenge. Since then, we've kept in touch, and updated each other on our progress as writers. I'm excited to invite Mark to the Underground for an interview to discuss his success story, his new book, and his writing methods. AB: You have quite a few titles under your belt at this time, but they are from different publishing companies. Tell me a little about your journey through the publishing industry. Mark: Hi Amy, thanks for inviting me to be interviewed. So far I have written 6 books: The Church of the Path of Least Resistence, Bullfish, Heavenly Pleasure, Homemade Sin, 2012 Montezuma's Revenge, and Khamel Towing (coming soon). I’ve also written a play, "Shakespeare in the Trailer Park." Church of the Path was my first book and there is an old saying,' toss your first into the trunk and come back in 10 years and re-write it' so I'm kind of holding Church of the Path in reserve, letting it age like a good Bordeaux. I did shop Bullfish around to agents and got requests for full reads from a few agents, the funniest response was "I love the story but I didn't like the way you told it." So I got sick of the agents and just published it myself. There are lots of pros and cons to doing that. For me it made me feel like an author, and once you see yourself as something you start becoming that, kind of a self-fulfilling prophesy. Heavenly Pleasure got picked up by a small commercial press, Aspen Mountain press, which is now defunct so I have my rights back on that one and I'm going to re-edit it and start shopping it around. Montezuma's Revenge was picked up by Solstice and sales are steady. Homemade Sin was picked up in March by Rebel Press in South Africa, and it is due out in December. I met an agent at the James River Writer's conference who took an interest in Khamel Towing, the one I'm writing now. I plan to get that to him in the Spring. Oh, yeah, I forgot my play, "Shakespeare in the Trailer Park" took me about 15 years to write and it opened in Philly last April to great reviews. It hits the stage in Richmond at the 200 seat Gottwald Theater this April, with Billy Christopher Maupin directing. AB: Which book has seen the most success? Did you see a difference in sales between different publishing companies? Mark: So far my current publisher, Solstice, is selling more books but my first publisher did mostly romances so they really weren't focused on my genre. I have great hopes for the new book, Homemade Sin. With that one I have a South African publisher that commands markets in the UK, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand and those folks read more and love a dry, cynical sense of humor. It seems like in the US, unless you have the term "glistening loins" somewhere in the book you won't sell many. AB: Your stories are comic, wild, and yet thoughtful. What do you do to balance comedy with insight? Mark: Thank you. I think there is a natural balance between comedy and insight, you just have to see it. I see everything as potentially funny and it is my job to point to it and laugh and show other folks. I was asked to leave a funeral once because I was 'being funny." Hey, I knew the dead guy and he would have loved the comments, oh well. The first time I was expelled from school was in 5th grade, our math teacher was also the girl's basketball coach and she "lingered" in the locker room during shower-time. One day we were doing fractions and she pointed to the board and said, "Mark, what is our common denominator?" I said, "We both like little girls." The principal stopped laughing long enough to give me three days. Anyway, the more you see the true nature of the universe the more you will find hilariously funny. Einstein had a great sense of humor, so did Churchill. Queen Victoria coined the phrase "we are not amused," so there you go.
 I am pleased to welcome Ryan David Jahn to the Underground. Ryan agreed to answer a few questions about his debut crime novel, Good Neighbors.
AB: I understand that Good Neighbors is based on a true story. What inspired you to write a fictional account of this particular event? What research did you have to do for the novel? Ryan: Because I ignored the facts whenever I felt like it, I'd say Good Neighbors is inspired by a true story rather than based on a true story. I think I kept the heart of the actual events and built a world of fiction around them. I've been fascinated with the murder of Kitty Genovese ever since I first heard about it seventeen or eighteen years ago. It has the feel of a biblical fable about it. It's simple and horrific and tells us something about ourselves, I think. I tried to keep those elements intact while writing the novel. Apart from researching the case itself, most of the research I did was period related. I didn't want the story to get bogged down in details, but it's of its time, and I wanted that time -- the mid-sixties -- to feel real. AB: To me, Good Neighbors is more than just a crime novel. It's a dark social and sociological study. What overall message did you intend to make when you were writing the book? Ryan: I actually tried not to send any kind of message. I think the moral of the story is imbedded in the story itself, is there within the details, so any authorial preaching would be redundant. All I did was present the details as well as I knew how, trusting that readers would read between the lines. AB: How long did it take you to get the book published once it was written? Did you approach agents and publishers, or did the Dagger Award from the Crime Writer’s Association play a role in getting Good Neighbors published? Ryan: I finished the novel in September 2008 and, sending the manuscript out myself, found a publisher by January 2009. Will Atkins, who was an acquiring editor Macmillan UK at the time, bought world rights, and the rights department went about selling the novel in thirteen territories, including in the US -- to John Siciliano at Penguin. The CWA John Creasey Dagger came a year later. AB: Your book was originally sold with the title Acts of Violence. What was the reason for the name change? What else changed? Ryan: Acts of Violence is the title in the UK. When Penguin bought American rights, they thought a different title would be better for the US market. We brainstormed and came up with a couple dozen, finally settling on Good Neighbors. The text, though, is exactly the same. AB: What advice would you give to aspiring, unpublished writers looking to publish their first novel? Ryan: I'm not comfortable offering advice. I still feel as if this whole thing is a fluke, or some kind of misunderstanding. I will share the books I found most useful during my early efforts, though: Telling Lies for Fun & Profit by Lawrence Block, On Writing by Stephen King, and On Becoming a Novelist by John Gardiner. AB: Finally, could you tell me a little about your next book? Ryan: My next book is called The Dispatcher, and comes out on December 27. It's about a police dispatcher in a small town in Texas whose daughter went missing seven years earlier and has since been pronounced dead in absentia. One day, as his shift is ending, he takes an emergency call, which turns out to be from his dead daughter. The call ends in a scream. The rest of the novel is about his attempts to get her back. Visit Ryan David Jahn's website. If you enjoyed this interview subscribe to the Underground or follow us on Facebook.
 It takes a lot to write a novel, but once the manuscript is complete, the work has only just begun. Finding a publisher may be the hardest part of becoming a published author. That's where literary agents come in: they are the liaison between author and publisher. Michelle Brower from Folio Literary Management in New York is one such liaison, and she worked the magic behind The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors by Michele Young-Stone (check back this Thursday for a glowing review). Despite her busy schedule, she agreed to answer a few questions about her role as a literary agent.
AB: What was it that first hooked you when you started reading The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors by Michele Young-Stone? What made you decide to represent it?
MICHELLE: Originally, it was the title that grabbed me. I get a ton of queries from prospective authors, and this title just stood out. After that, though, I fell in love with the writing, and Michele’s ability to make me care for all of the wonderful characters that populate the book. When I cried at the end, I knew I could sell this book.
AB: According to your website, you have an eclectic taste, from thrillers to woman's fiction to personal memoirs. What genres are selling best in today's market? How does the market affect your decision-making as you look for books to represent?
MICHELLE: Today’s market is a tough one, and I do tweak my expectations based on what is working. I think women’s fiction and book club fiction is always a strong area for debut authors, but I become more selective as the market does. One thing that always works, but is difficult to explain, is the idea of having a high-concept story. To me, that means that you can pitch the idea in one sentence, and it just sounds irresistible.
AB: What do you think of previously self-published books? Does self-publishing help or hinder the chances of getting picked up by a larger publishing house?
MICHELLE: Self-publishing is great if you have proven that you can actually move copies. If you’ve self-published and only 200 people have bought your work, it will not carry any weight with publishers. However, a good book is a good book, and if your work is amazing I don’t think it matters. However, I generally recommend that people see if they can go the traditional route first, and use that feedback in order to make their decision.
AB: Once you have agreed to represent a book, what do you expect the author to do in terms of self-promotion and editing?
MICHELLE: Everything! I am a very editorial agent, and so I like to work closely with my authors on editing their work before submitting to publishers. Sometimes that takes three months, and sometimes that takes a year. In terms of self-promotion, anything that an author can do on their own to supplement their publisher’s efforts is worthwhile. Tweeting, Facebook, etc are de rigeur at this point. I also often suggest to authors that they set aside a portion of their advance for travel, publicity, or additional marketing if the situation calls for it.
AB: The world of publishing is highly competitive, but literary taste is subjective. What do you do if you fall in love with a book, but can't find the right publisher for it?
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