#ThisorThatThusday Author Interview with Margaret Montet

I’d like to welcome Margaret Montet to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Things you need for your writing sessions: I need Sharpie pens in many colors and a notebook. All of my first drafts are written in longhand. My first revision happens when I type up my sloppy, colorful mess of a first draft.

Things that hamper your writing: Noise and hunger.

Things you love about writing: I love the act of putting my ideas onto paper in order to tell a story in a unique but logical way. I love talking about my writing, answering questions about my writing, researching ideas, and meeting other authors and finding out their processes and ideas. I love reading books about writing.

Things you hate about writing: I hate when I don’t have time to write when a clever idea occurs to me, and I have to wait until I have a way to put this all down in detail. By then there are probably fewer details.

Favorite foods: I like pizza, burritos, Boston Cream donuts, blackberries, and lately, chicken & waffles.

Things that make you want to gag: Coffee, Brussels sprouts, fish

Favorite music or song: I love classical music (including opera), Bruce Springsteen, Prince, the Glenn Miller Band and swing, Dexter Gordon and saxophone jazz.

Music that drives you crazy: Country (except Johnny Cash)

Favorite beverage: Diet Coke, Chocolate Egg Cream, Shirley Temple, spring water

Something that gives you a sour face: anything with coffee mixed in: mocha is not an approved flavor.

The last thing you ordered online: Drawer dividers for the kitchen in the beach house.

The last thing you regret buying: That black winter coat with the soft fake fur around the neck which is plenty warm, but the zipper that worked in the store refuses to work in real life. It has snaps, too, but the zipper would be better.

Things to say to an author: I’ve read your book many times, and it becomes more meaningful with every reading.

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: How long did it take you to write this?

Favorite places you’ve been: Cape May, NJ; Philadelphia, Manhattan, Colorado, Brooklyn, Paris, Vienna, Barcelona

Places you never want to go to again: I can’t think of any. I’d go anywhere again just to see if it changed, or I noticed something new!

Favorite books (or genre): Nonfiction, memoir, literary fiction (I read pretty broadly)

Books you wouldn’t buy: horror, fantasy, romance

People you’d like to invite to dinner (living): Bruce Springsteen, John McPhee, Colin Firth, Elizabeth Gilbert, James McBride

People you’d cancel dinner on: Miley Cyrus

The nicest thing a reader said to you: “I read a lot of your book on the beach, and it made me LAUGH!”

The craziest thing a reader said to you: “Margaret probably has a lot of money because she writes commercially.” Actually this probably wasn’t a reader, just another writer in my circle. It has been a couple of years, and I am still trying to figure out what she really meant.

About Margaret:

Margaret Montet's narratives of place feature music, memoir, culture and occasionally genealogy. Also a college librarian, Margaret holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction, teaches public speaking, and presents multimedia music-centered lectures at lifelong learning venues. Her creative nonfiction has been published in many journals and anthologies. Margaret’s first collection of travel essays is Nerd Traveler (2021). Brooklyn Family Album will be published in September 2024.

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#WriterWednesday Interview with Bill Hemmig

I’d like to welcome author Bill Hemmig to the blog for #WriterWedneday.

A few of your favorite things: oysters on the half shell, red wine, popcorn, cats.

Things you need to throw out: amaryllises that have given up blooming (not to be thrown out—to be given to a friend who has family in Florida, where they’ll be planted outdoors and thrive); blazers I don’t like anymore (to clothing drive); ground spices that have been around for years (compost pile).

Things you need for your writing sessions: a dedicated space; a legal pad (color of paper irrelevant); Uni-Ball pens (black fine point); a handy means to do quick internet research; music inside my head.

Things that hamper your writing: music outside my head; constant typos; multi-tasking.

Things you love about writing: first drafts; research; public readings; that aha moment when I realize where I’m going next.

Things you hate about writing: persnickety revisions; self-promotion; researching places to submit to.

Favorite foods: salt and pepper grilled chicken wings; roasted okra; fried calamari; wienerschnitzel; BLTs.

Things that make you want to gag: out of season tomatoes.

Favorite music or song: Renaissance polyphony; Bach, Beethoven and Brahms; Mahler; Joni Mitchell.

Music that drives you crazy: much but not all Country; most Philip Glass.

Something you wish you could do: sew (my parents both operated sewing machines for a living, and probably for that reason I never learned how).

Something you wish you’d never learned to do: make candles (I almost burned the house down when I was about twelve years old).

Last best thing you ate: a spectacular lobster mac and cheese.

Last thing you regret eating: that expired mayonnaise in the fridge.

Things you’d walk a mile for: a great meal (and I have, literally).

Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: physical therapy, the most boring activity on earth.

Things you always put in your books: cars; children; golden sections.

Things you never put in your books: motorcycles; infants; fictitious song lyrics.

Favorite places you’ve been: Venice (Italy, not CA); Vita Sackville-West’s Sissinghurst; Granada; Rincon, Puerto Rico.

Places you never want to go to again: Dallas (sorry, Dallas); Anaheim, CA; the Key West Airport.

Favorite books (or genre): Orlando, Mrs. Dalloway (both Virginia Woolf); The Magic Mountain (Thomas Mann); The Bridge of San Luis Rey (Thornton Wilder); Mastering the Art of French Cooking (Julia Child, et al.).

Books you wouldn’t buy: A thousand apologies, but the Harry Potter books have no appeal for me.

Best thing you’ve ever done: Made myself chief caregiver for my ex when he way dying.

Biggest mistake: See my response to “Something you wish you’d never learned to do.”

About Bill:

Bill Hemmig is the author of Americana: Stories and Brethren Hollow, both published by Read Furiously. His short stories appear in Read Furiously’s Life in the Garden State anthologies, The World Takes and Stay Salty.  He has had stories published in the journals The Madison Review, Philadelphia Stories, Pink Disco, BarBar, and Children, Churches and Daddies (cc&d), and he is a three-time finalist in the New Millennium Writing Awards. He is a native of Reading, PA and now lives in Bucks County.

Let’s Be Social:

Website: https://www.bucksarts.org/bill-hemmig/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.hemmig/

Twitter: @Bill Hemmig 

Instagram: @Bill Hemmig 

What I Learned about Character Development from Vicki Delany

Recently, I attended the Sisters in Crime - Grand Canyon Writers’ presentation featuring the fabulous Vicki Delany on Character Development. If you haven’t checked out her multiple series yet, you need to add them to your to be read pile. (She also writes as Eva Gates). Here is some of her great advice.

• A series is a chance for characters to grow. When you start, you’re in the head of a new character for the first time, and it takes time to learn about him/her. You don’t always have this luxury in a stand-alone novel.

• Trust yourself as a writer.

• Read all the time. Curiosity and reading are important for writers.

• In many cozy mysteries, authors introduce a lot of characters at once. This can be tricky. Make sure that the characters’ names don’t look or sound alike. You don’t want to confuse readers.

• In fiction, writers often drop or call out names in conversation more than what happens in real life. This is often done to make it clear to the reader who is talking.

• Be careful if you write dialogue with an accent. It can easily be overdone.

• Names are a strong indicator of age. Use online baby name lists from specific years to see what names were popular during an era.

• If your sleuth has friends or sidekicks, their likes and personalities should be different. They should complement the traits of your protagonist.

• In mysteries, sidekicks give the sleuth someone to talk through the case with, and while they don’t solve the crime, they often offer suggestions that puts the protagonist on the right path.

• A sidekick also offers the author a way to break up internal dialogue of the main character.

#ThisorThatThursday Interview with Alethea Lyons

I’d like to welcome the amazing Alethea Lyons to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Things you need for your writing sessions: Laptop if I’m editing or notebook for new ideas, coloured pens and post-its for plotting, background music is preferred

Things that hamper your writing: My toddler waking up early, unexpected noise, the internet, other story ideas

Favorite foods: Chocolate, ice cream, cheese, pizza, most Italian food, my husband’s roast potatoes, hot sugared pecans, curry… basically, I’m a bit of a foody.

Things that make you want to gag: Tuna (intolerant or something), scampi (I used to work in a scampi factory), mint sauce (Savoury mint sauce. Weirdly I do like the sweet.)

Favorite beverage: Tea – comfort drink is Assam with a touch of milk, but I like most types of plain tea. Flavourings added to tea are very hit and miss.

Something that gives you a sour face: Coffee. I hate it. Can’t even stand the smell.

Something you’re really good at: Writing (I hope), listening, finding my way

Something you’re really bad at: Anything with balance e.g. bike riding, skating

Things you always put in your books: Found family, queer rep, mental health rep – these aren’t always intentional, I guess it’s just the kind of character who lives in my head

Things you never put in your books: Abusive relationships, heavy gore

Things to say to an author: “I love your book.” “I like character because…” “I enjoyed [element of book], that really touched me.”

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: “[Famous Person] has to query [some ridiculously low number] of agents/publishers and now they make hundreds of thousands of pounds.”

Favorite places you’ve been: Italy (Rome & Venice), Arches National Park, The Yorkshire Dales, The John Rylands Library

Places you never want to go to again: Any food factory, inside an MRI machine

Favorite books (or genre): Fantasy although I also like sci-fi, thriller, crime fiction, and historical fiction

Books you wouldn’t buy: Straight up horror that’s really gory, contemporary romance without any speculative elements. No problems with them as genres, just not my personal cup of tea.

Things that make you happy: Family, stories, hilly scenery, music, sunshine

Things that drive you crazy: Inefficiency, ‘because we’ve always done that,’ books in the wrong order.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Either the first time I went to see my now-husband after breaking up with my then-boyfriend (see below about how I feel about talking to people!) or rock wall climbing after getting halfway up and getting literally frozen with terror, then doing it again because I was stubbornly determined to get to the top. I then had to do it a third time so my mother could watch.

Something you chickened out from doing: A lot of times when I kept thinking I should talk to someone and couldn’t work up the nerve. Starting conversations with strangers, especially if I have to talk about myself, e.g. if it’s a date or about my book, is so hard!

The nicest thing a reader said to you: That one of the scenes in The Hiding was like a cross between Neil Gaiman and Guillermo Del Toro.

The craziest thing a reader said to you: When people say they don’t like the romance subplot in The Hiding, because, as far as I’m aware, there isn’t really one. Also two people who read the same chapter one in the same week and one said it made perfect sense and the other said they didn’t understand anything that was going on. Really drives home how subjective things are.

About Alethea:

Alethea Lyons (she/ze) writes various forms of SFF, with a particular love for science-fantasy, dark fantasy, dystopias, and folklore. Her debut, The Hiding, is out March 5, 2024 as part of a three-book deal with Brigids Gate Press. Her short stories can be found in a variety of publications. Alethea lives in Manchester, U.K., with her husband, little Sprite, a cacophony of stringed instruments, and more tea than she can drink in a lifetime. Buy works or follow on social media at https://linktr.ee/alethearlyons

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#WriterWednesday Interview with Katherine Hayes

I’d like to welcome Katherine Hayes to the blog for #WriterWednesday!

Things you never want to run out of: I never want to run out of friends and family members to love, engage with, and do life with.

Things you wish you’d never bought: I wish I’d never bought black licorice. I thought I would like it because of the delightful smell, but I wouldn’t say I like the taste.

The hardest thing about being a writer is that it’s challenging to make a living strictly from writing. It’s also hard to balance the business and marketing of being a writer.

Easiest thing about being a writer: The easiest thing about being a writer is being able to write all the stories, ideas, and worlds I’ve created in my mind.

Things you need for your writing sessions: I need candles, delicious snacks, the fitting soundtrack, caffeine, my fur babies, and my laptop. But I’ll settle for my notebook and pen if these things aren't available.

Things that hamper your writing: I’m hampered by clutter, an untidy space, and too many outside distractions.

A few of your favorite things: I love God, my husband, my children, my grandson, short lines, lattes, spicy food, and gatherings at my home with uplifting music, good food, and laughter. I adore animals, children, and traveling with friends and family.

Things you need to throw out: I despise clutter but desperately need to clean my junk drawers where I shove too many random things.

Words that describe you: Vibrant, eclectic, artistic, hospitable, and vivacious.

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Procrastinator (especially if something is important to me) and sometimes tardy. Ugh!

Favorite foods: I love Jamaican food, especially curry chicken, curried shrimp, jerk pork, and ackee and saltfish. I also love authentic Korean, Italian, and Mexican.

Things that make you want to gag: Mean people, untidiness, rhubarb, and liver make me want to gag.

Something you’re really good at: I’m good at painting (as in pictures), cooking, teaching, and mentoring.

Something you’re really bad at math and laundry. Thankfully, my husband is my accountant and prefers doing the laundry in exchange for great meals and a clean house.

Favorite music or song: My favorite types of music are reggae, jazz, classical piano, gospel, contemporary worship, and Afro-beats. My favorite song is Don’t Worry About A Thing” by Bob Marley.

Music that drives you crazy: Heavy metal and most country music.

Favorite smells: Lavender, jasmine, and the farm. The farm is nostalgic for me, as my grandparents lived on one.

Something that makes you hold your nose: locker rooms and bad breath.

Last best thing you ate: Ackee and saltfish with johnny cakes.

Last thing you regret eating: Bad sushi.

Things you always put in your books: Hope and hidden references to things and people only a few close friends and family members would know about.

Things you never put in your books: Hopelessness.

The funniest thing to happen to you: When I was still a school principal, I brought Tony, my then fiancé (now husband), to our annual Christmas party. When I returned from a visit to the bathroom, Tony had the group of teachers he was surrounded by in stitches. I soon found out he jokingly told everyone we’d met while I was in a bookstore in the self-help section, reading a book, “How to Get a Man.” The staff believed him.

The most embarrassing thing to happen to you: I tripped while on a treadmill in a crowded gym. It happened so fast that I grabbed onto the bottom sides of the equipment, where my clothing got tangled. I mooned the entire gym.

About Katherine:

Author, speaker, educational consultant, and editor–Katherine Hutchinson-Hayes, Ed. D. has had her hand in leadership for many years. She loves speaking to groups and delivering messages with a quick wit and real-life stories. Katherine is a freelance writer/content editor, a content editor/writing coach for Iron Stream Media, and a sensitivity reader for Sensitivity Between the Lines. She is a review board member and contributor to Inkspirations (an online magazine for Christian writers), and her writing has been published in Guideposts. Her work in art/writing is distinguished by awards, including the New York Mayor’s Contribution to the Arts, Outstanding Resident Artist of Arizona, and the Foundations Awards at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writer’s Conference (2016, 2019, 2021). She is a member of Word Weavers International and serves as an online chapter president and mentor. She belongs to FWA (Florida Writers Association), ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers), CWoC (Crime Writers of Color), AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association), and AASA (American Association of School Administrators). She serves on the board of the nonprofit organization Submersion 14 and is an art instructor for the nonprofit organization Light for the Future. Katherine hosts the podcast Murder, Mystery & Mayhem Laced with Morality. She has authored a Christian Bible study for women and is currently working on the sequel to her first general market thriller novel.

Let’s Be Social:

Website: https://www.drkatherinehayes.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/khutch0767

Personal Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/katherine.hutchinsonhayes

Author Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authordrkatherinehayes/

Books:   https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Little-Black-Dress-Women/dp/1365056163  

LinkedIn:   https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-katherine-hutchinson-hayes-3b5a3254/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.kathy.hayes/

Podcast (Apple): https://podcastsconnect.apple.com/my-podcasts/show/murder-mysterymayhem-laced-with-morality/ade5f5bb-6cbf-4722-a421-9874b24fa49d

Podcast (Spotify): https://open.spotify.com/show/4zWmZckdnPsYG9CUAKkv1p

What I've Learned Recently about Book Marketing

I’ve attended some Sisters in Crime chapter presentations recently, and I’m loving that I can experience speakers and workshops from all over the country. Here’s what I’ve learned recently about book marketing from Chessie, Grand Canyon Writers, and Central Virginia chapters.

From Brian Paone’s session on effective marketing, I learned:

• You cannot wait for readers or sales to come to you.

• If you decide to write in a new genre, be prepared that it will be almost like starting over with your marketing and platform-building.

• Your website, headshot, and social sites need to look professional. You also need to look professional on virtual calls and in-person events.

• For in-person events where you have an author table, you need to make it unique and attractive. You want people to approach you. Make sure to take a look at how your table looks to the audience before the doors open. Make sure that all book covers face the audience (and not you).

• Have a good elevator pitch about your book(s). You need to practice this and be ready, but you don’t want it to sound too rehearsed.

• When you are at in-person events, stand as much as possible. Stay off your phone and smile. You want to be approachable.

• When someone approaches your table, be the first to speak. At in-person events, readers want to connect with authors. Be conversational.

Nicolette Lemmon had some very helpful advice. You also need to check out her book for writers at any stage. It’s called Write. Market. Succeed. An Author’s Marketing Playbook.

• Know where your readers are. Know what social media platforms they prefer.

• If you are trying to figure out who your reader is, go on social media and find authors that are similar to you. Look at what they are doing and look at their reviews. You’ll get an idea of what their fans like.

• Start your marketing plans BEFORE your book is out.

• You have about 8 seconds to get someone’s attention on social media.

• You have about 30 seconds when you talk to someone about your book to get your key points across. Make sure you have a short elevator speech ready to go.

• Your audience has to see your message 7 times before they remember and recognize you/your work.

• Make sure you stay visible on your website and social media.

• Your website is your online office. Make sure that you update it regularly.

• Google yourself to see what comes up.

• Pay attention to your writing business.

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Anna St. John

I’d like to welcome the fabulous Anna St. John to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Things you never want to run out of: Coffee, pens, time.

Things you wish you’d never bought: Wrinkle cream. It didn’t work.

Things you need for your writing sessions: A quiet place, my computer, and a candle

Things that hamper your writing: Phone calls, household chores, rabbit holes when I’m doing research.

A few of your favorite things: A collection of Madeline dolls, a super soft sweatshirt, and my desk chair.

Things you need to throw out: Outdated clothes in my closet, and a lot of cookbooks I have never used.

Favorite foods: Potato soup, pecan pie, and ice cream sundaes.

Things that make you want to gag: Turnips, horseradish, and steak when it’s served too rare.

Favorite music or song: Songs from the 60’s, because they make me smile.

Music that drives you crazy: Rap, because I can never understand the lyrics.

Favorite smell: The sweet scent of lilacs reminds me of my mother’s garden.

Something that makes you hold your nose: Skunk spray.

The last thing you ordered online: Silver polish.

The last thing you regret buying: Silver polish. Now I have no excuse to avoid cleaning my tarnished tableware.

Things to say to an author: I love your characters and your books.

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: Writing cozy mysteries must be so easy.

Favorite books (or genre): Mysteries, Biographies, Historical Fiction, Romance, and Beach Reads.

Books you wouldn’t buy: Diet books, math books, or anything about taxes.

Besides writing, what’s the most creative thing you’ve done: I once painted our large college dorm window to look like a stained-glass image of the three wise men for the holidays. (I haven’t accomplished anything that ambitious, since.)

A project that didn’t quite turn out the way you planned it: I knitted a sweater for my boyfriend and the sleeves stretched…and…stretched…and stretched, until they were waaay too long. He claimed he liked them that way. Shoved the sleeves up to his elbows and wore the sweater everywhere. I married him.

About Anna:

Anna St. John writes cozy mysteries featuring a mature, yet feisty, fomer crime reporter, Josie Posey, as the amateur sleuth.

Her debut novel, DOOMED BY BLOOMS, was released by Level Best Books in February 2023. CLOCKED OUT is the second book in her Josie Posey Mystery Series.

Anna is a former journalist, award-winning advertising copywriter and ad agency owner. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and the Kansas Authors Club.

Anna is represented by Cindy Bullard, of Birch Literary Agency.

Let’s Be Social:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cozyauthor/

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/AuthorStJohn

Website: www.anna-stjohn.com

About CLOCKED OUT

Josie Posey and her posse of Mahjong Mavens are at it again, in this cozy mystery where the retired big city crime reporter turned small town crime solver uncovers another murder in picturesque English Village.

When the clockmaker’s daughter returns home for a visit, reporter Josie Posey is assigned the task of interviewing the talented watch designer. That very afternoon the young woman falls from a ladder while inventorying antique clocks.

At first, Josie is certain the fall was an accident. Everyone loved Ella McGregor Benjamin. But Ella’s deathbed statement is a mysterious riddle that can’t be ignored. With her Old English Sheepdog Moe by her side, and an ever-growing list of suspects, Josie scrambles to identify the killer before anyone else gets hurt.

The local police chief wants Josie to help solve the puzzle, but stay out of his murder case. The editor of The Village Gazette wants an in-depth story for the next edition. And somebody wants Josie to stop asking questions. Deadlines loom.

In this fast-paced rollercoaster ride of a mystery, the clock is ticking as Josie vows to find the killer before time runs out.

#WriterWednesday Interview with Mark Morton

I’d like to welcome Mark Morton to the blog for #WriterWednesday!

A few of your favorite things: I love amber: the warmth of its translucent color, the way it forms over eons from tree resin, the bits of leaves and even tiny insects that it often contains. When my wife and I got married, I gave her a piece of amber I found as a child on the grain farm where I grew up; I had a jeweler drill a hole into it and made it into a necklace for her. If I could only take one thing from our house, that would be it!

Things you need to throw out: Nothing! Our house is full of “artifacts”: little wooden boxes, curious stones we’ve found, vintage items like a rotary phone, a sewing machine from 1910 that belonged to my grandmother, antique coins, pocket watches, carvings—all of them embody a memory, and I couldn’t let any of them go. (However, we do, I guess, have a lot of half-chewed dog toys I could cull!)

Things you need for your writing sessions: A bit of ambient hubbub—I can’t write if it’s too quiet. Our dog Myah curled up behind my head on the top of my armchair. A glass of my home-made ginger beer.

Things that hamper your writing: Fatigue from lack of sleep; interruptions; worrying about existential threats like climate change, the possibility of new pandemics, the escalation and continuance of wars and conflicts.

Things you love about writing: I love how characters organically “emerge” as I’m writing—it’s as if they reveal themselves to me in a way I could never have intentionally imagined, like pulling treasure up from the bottom of a deep lake.

Things you hate about writing: I can’t think of a single thing—I enjoy all aspects of the writing process—even realizing that I need to rewrite a section of a manuscript is something I appreciate. Writing is a privilege that most people in the world don’t have—so who am I to complain about any part of it!

Hardest thing about being a writer: Finding time is of course always a challenge, as I so far have not been able to persuade an 18th-century patron to pay my bills. Also, as I grow older, my memory is not what it used to be: holding many plot elements in my head at the same time has become more challenging.

Easiest thing about being a writer: Thanks to tools like ChatGPT, finding peculiar facts and needed answers to obscure questions has become much easier! But at the same time, I have a genuine fear of where AI will take us as a species (see existential threats, above!).

Things you never want to run out of: Wonder; love; dogs.

Things you wish you’d never bought: A pound of steamed mussels still in their shells—one of them must have been off… it didn’t end well!

Favorite music or song: So many songs by Alison Goldfrapp (e.g., Black Cherry), John Prine (e.g., Angel from Montgomery), and The Tragically Hip (e.g. Ahead by a Century). That latter group is perhaps Canada’s “national rock band.”

Music that drives you crazy: Avant garde jazz—I just can’t enjoy anything that goes beep bop squawk.

Something you’re really good at: Mental compartmentalization.

Something you’re really bad at: Recognizing faces (I have prosopagnosia: face blindness—it’s harmless except that it often results in embarrassing mix ups and also makes it harder to follow movies).

Something you wish you could do: Forget certain memories—and not necessarily bad ones. Sometimes a good memory can remain so vivid that it becomes hard to assimilate into the past.

Something you wish you’d never learned to do: Troubleshoot other people’s computers.

Something you like to do: Watch educational YouTube series: Smarter Every Day, Vsauce, Veritasium, Philosophy Tube, ContraPoints, Up and Atom. Also, short films on YouTube channels such as Dust and Omeleto.

Something you wish you’d never done: Eaten an entire large cinnamon bun while completing these questions.

Favorite place you’ve been: Manitoulin Island—the largest freshwater island in the world. My wife’s mom has a cabin there. No electricity, no plumbing, but it has a river right behind it with salmon in it and the shore of Lake Huron is just a four-minute walk away. A remote and magical place.

Places you never want to go to again: Houston, Texas (see steamed mussels, above!).

Favorite books: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel; Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist; The Road and Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy; the complete set of the Oxford English Dictionary.

Books you wouldn’t buy: Cooking with Spam. The Collected Blondie and Dagwood. Intelligent Design for Dummies. Curious George and the Electric Fence. Bigger and Better Boners (not what one might think!).

Best thing you’ve ever done: Adopting our four kids.

Biggest mistake: Not taking my mom up on her offer to pay for music lessons when I was ten. (Wait, did I get the answers to these two questions mixed up?)

About Mark:

Mark Morton, author of The Headmasters and Cupboard Love: A Dictionary of Culinary Curiosities (nominated for a Julia Child Award), is also the author of three other nonfiction titles, The End: Closing Words for a Millennium (winner of the Alexander Isbister Award for nonfiction); The Lover’s Tongue: A Merry Romp Through the Language of Love and Sex (republished in the UK as Dirty Words), and Cooking with Shakespeare. He’s also written more than 50 columns for Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture (University of California Press) and has written and broadcast more than a hundred columns about language and culture for Canada’s national radio, CBC Radio One. Mark has a PhD in sixteenth-century literature from the University of Toronto and has taught at several universities in France and Canada.

Let’s Be Social:

• Website: www.markmorton.ca

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.morton.author

• X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/NotromKram

• Publisher’s website: https://shadowpawpress.com/