A(nother) Conversation With Jenny Milchman

Jenny Milchman made her first appearance here on OBAAT in March. It’s rare that I interview the same author so close together, but Jenny was promoting The Night of the Flood that time, which was edited by Ed Aymar and Sarah Chen, and—no offense to Sarah, who is a lovely person—I thought Jenny was entitled to an interview of her own without the Shadow of Aymar hanging over her.

Jenny is the author of four books, of which Wicked River is the most recent, having launched May 1. Her debut, Cover of Snow, won the Mary Higgins Clark Award. Jenny is also Vice President of Author Programming for International Thriller Writers, and the founder of Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day. She teaches writing and publishing for the New York Writers Workshop.

She took time from her Wicked River tour to chat with OBAAT.

One Bite at a Time: Let’s hit the ground running. Tell us about your new book, Wicked River.

Jenny Milchman: Wicked River arises from an incident in real life. No, my husband and I

weren’t stalked through the wilderness by an extremely smart and manipulative madman, but we did set out on a back-country honeymoon deep in the Adirondacks. The only difference between us and my heroine, Natalie, and her husband, Doug, was that my hubby and I had to turn back after just one day. (We wound up going to Paris on a borrowed credit card, and paid it off for-ev-ah). Natalie and Doug didn’t get so lucky, however. For them to make it out of the woods will require the fight of their lives. The question that stalked me as ardently as the madman in the novel was: what if my hubby and I hadn’t turned back when we did? I had to sit down and write a book about it.

OBAAT: Ahhh, the classic “What If?” premise. Think of how many thrillers would never have been written if authors didn’t think like that. Do you find yourself killing time coming up with “What If?” scenarios for the most innocuous things? “The counterperson at Wendy’s seems distracted. Maybe I’ve stumbled onto a hostage situation.” That sort of thing.

JM: You just described my life. I think that if I weren’t such a scared person, seriously living with a degree of fear that would probably strike most people as panic-inducing on an everyday basis, then I never would’ve come to crime fiction. The counterperson at Wendy’s, the guy who stands too close on a subway, the car that swerves on the road, the overly nice babysitter…I could go on and on. That said, it wasn’t a what if that made me first take the plunge and start writing suspense fiction, but a what was.

Here’s how it happened. I was working as an intern at a rural community mental health center when I got assigned this very frightening case. A mother brought her cherubic, blonde, five year old daughter in to see me. This little girl had just killed the family pet.

It was my job to find out why. And with that, life became a suspense novel, a mystery, a thriller all wrapped into one. I sat down and wrote the first work of crime fiction I’d ever tried my hand at. Seven manuscripts later, I would be published. And now my fourth novel, Wicked River, a true “what if” is about to come out May 1^st.

OBAAT: You and I talked before about how your books are essentially a series of standalones that inhabit the same universe built around the fictional town of Wedeskyull. Was this something you thought would be cool from the get-go, or did it kind of evolve as you went along?

JM: Very little of my writing is something I thought would be cool—or thought about at all, to be strictly truthful. It’s not really intentional, in other words. And some of my all-time favorite crime writers would scoff at me for this (politely, of course). They feel writing to be a business, a pursuit, a job like any other, and of course it is.

Just not always.

For me, the creative part feels very much sent from elsewhere. Flowing through me—like a river—wild and out of my control.

The town of Wedeskyull, where all four of my novels are either set or have some close tie to—Wicked River takes place almost entirely in the wilderness, but Wedeskyull’s police chief must venture into the woods at one point in the story—exemplifies this. It feels less like any creation of my own, and more like a place I’ve been shown. A secret parallel universe to which I’ve been granted entry.

 

OBAAT: You take legendary promotional tours. What’s the agenda for Wicked River?

JM: Those legendary tours—dubbed “the world’s longest book tour” by Shelf Awareness—

were unique in a couple of ways. First, the whole family came with. My husband worked from the front seat, kids were “car-schooled” in the rear. We drove a total of 75,000 miles over 15 months for my first three releases. Second, although we had the help of a fantastic independent publicity firm, my husband and I set up each of those tours on our own.

Then a few things changed. The kids got older, and got lives of their own, go figure. (Actually, it’s a freaking miracle, is what it is). And I got something too: a new, dream publisher. One that sets up pretty magnificent tours.

For the “Get Wicked” tour I will be in the air and on the road for a total of five weeks. Something like 25 cities and as many events. You can see the whole itinerary here: http://jennymilchman.com/tour/get-wicked-2018

And then, the month after I return, my publisher is doing something equally cool. They are sending four authors out together, coast-to-coast, on the Up All Night Thriller Tour. We’ll appear at events as a quartet. I can just imagine what all four of us will do. Sing? Dance? Debrief every night over drinks, or, in my case, cake? Take a quick, energizing hike before we appear at the legendary Tattered Cover, only to get lost in the Rockies, and have to rely on each other to survive…oh wait, I’m writing another thriller.

OBAAT: You’re the founder of Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day. How did that come about?

JM: Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day began back in 2010 when I had two preschool children whom I was taking to story hour at our local bookstore almost every week.

Inspired by Days such as Take Your Daughter to Work, I floated the idea for a special holiday linking kids and bookstores. Bloggers and listserv members took to the web and before I knew it, 80 bookstores were celebrating. By the following year, Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day had grown to nearly 300 bookstores. And today TYCBD is celebrated by over 800 bookstores, including one national chain, on five continents.

During one of the recent years, I turned my attention to the fact that not all children have access to bookstores. In fact, with one in five kids in the United States "food insecure," owning a book can be an unheard of luxury.

Through the help of generous volunteers and donors, we now have TYCBD field trips for kids in an at-risk region of New York State. One day, I hope such programs can be instituted in towns and cities nationwide.

A Good Time Was Had by All

This is going to be a difficult blog post to write, among the my hardest ever. If all blog posts required this level of gut-wrenching effort to produce, I wouldn’t fool with it. Okay. Enough. Let’s rip this Band-Aid off all at once: I’m going to say nice things about Ed Aymar. Happy?

Ed used his not inconsiderable (and wholly inexplicable) skill at talking people into things to get One More Page Books in Arlington to host an evening of crime fiction last Friday. Ed cobbled together a panel that consisted of Christina Kovac (The Cutaway), Sherry Harris (author of the Sarah Winston Garage Sale series), and Burt Solomon (Killing Willie Lincoln), then risked it all by inviting me.

A crowd of about thirty people showed up anyway and was treated to an evening that showed the uninitiated why crime fiction writers are so often described as the friendliest and most open of all writers: because they are. From Christina’s tales of gruesome dead bodies through Sherry’s cats on her book covers (there are no cats in the books) to Burt’s trials to get the proper Lincoln son on his cover, Ed led an entertaining evening that lasted well past when the good people at One More Page thought they’d be able to go home.

Regardless of who came up with the idea, having a cross-section of crime writers was inspired. Christina writes contemporary thrillers; Sherry does cozies; Burt leverages his non-fiction research skills for historical mysteries; I’m hard-boiled. The audience that appears at such an event is pre-disposed to like crime fiction. Why not give them a taste of what they already like, but in different flavors? The audience questions kept us on our toes and the chats during the signing period were just as good.

So thanks to everyone at One More Page for having me, thanks to everyone who showed up (especially those who bought every book I carried in with me), and special thanks to Christina, Sherry, and Burt for being such great co-panelists.

And, damn it, special special thanks to Ed Aymar, who was directly responsible for 75% of the events on the Resurrection Mall World Tour™. He teed me up for the moderator’s gig at the Gaithersburg Book Festival last month and invited me to read at the Noir at the Bar he set up later that evening, in addition to the event at One More Page. If one is judged by one’s friends, Ed’s can get away with anything.

One thing about him, though. He has like no back hair. None. It’s weird.

Bouchercon 2015: Day One

(Editor’s note: There are no photographs of the dignitaries mentioned in this and subsequent Bouchercon-related posts. Between Witness Protection and wanted posters, many of those described are leery of any attempt to distribute their likeness.)

The Raleigh Bouchercon is over. For me, it was the best of the half dozen I’ve attended. I know more people now, so the ice breaking issues that made my first couple awkward are past. I also bring The Beloved Spouse with me, and she’ll talk to an aardvark. A lot went on those four days, and I could only be one place at a time, so let’s get to my personal highlights.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8

Here’s how author speed dating works: authors are paired up and spend six minutes at each of 15 tables over the course of an hour and a half, talking to anywhere from one to six people at each table. (The numbers were lower than expected due to bad weather south of Raleigh, and, just possibly, people realizing it was eight o’clock in the goddamn morning.) Given the rate things moved, it was more like an author drive-by. Speed dating implies two-way communication. A drive-by is more unidirectional.

They paired me with Ed Aymar, which was good. (For me, at least.) I know and like Ed, so I was comfortable. He’s also drop-dead funny. He handed out goody bags to our readers that contained sunglasses (so you can look cool while you read his book), temporary tattoos (so you can look tough while you read his book), a mask (so you can do some of the crimes described in his book), and a paddle ball (so you can take a break). Also included, a pen that lit up and flashed, which he guaranteed to produce seizures inside of 30 seconds.

Was it worth it? It was fun, though exhausting. I did sell one book for sure because of it. On the other hand, a woman who was in my last group asked me for directions 15 minutes later and had no idea who I was. Probably too much drinking from the fire hose for everyone.

11:30 True Criminals / True Detectives

One researcher claims women read true crime to put themselves in the victim’s place in the hope of recognizing things to be aware of. Some apparently use things learned there to get out of bad situations.

Carla Norton gives rides to hitchhikers, along with copies of her book The Perfect Victim as a caution.

If a person “confesses” to a clergyman in a non-confessional setting—say a place where they could be overheard—that if not a privileged conversation.

1:00 Just the Facts: The Police Procedural

My favorite panel of the weekend, though my impartiality is questionable because I was on it. Jim Born did a great job of keeping things entertaining and moving, while panelists Colin Campbell, Stephanie Gayle, and Larry Kelter did yeomen’s work in carrying me. I’d learned to seek out Colin’s panels because he’s always fun, so it was a treat to get to sit next to him. Jim Born was a revelation. Funny, and someone it’s about impossible to feel uneasy around. (Unless maybe you’re a crook.) That’s not to take anything away from Stephanie and Larry, who were more than up to the challenge.

I was brought back to earth in the signing room, where alphabetical order put me next to Michael Koryta. I signed one book while he signed at least 50. The Beloved Spouse worked hard to photograph me from the opposite side of Michael’s line, so it looks like those people were there to see me. The she crossed over when things calmed down and took a few shots to make it appear I’m sitting there chatting with my close personal friend Michael Koryta. The good news from that arrangement was getting to talk with him a bit, and finding out he’s writing PI stories again.

2:30 Beyond Hammett, Chandler, Macdonald, and Spillane

This was a Peter Rozovsky panel. He’s the best moderator there is, so the organizers gave him a sow’s ear of a panel from which to make a silk purse: Jordan Foster, Laura Lippmann, Kevin Burton Smith, and Sarah Weinman. (Imagine what he could do with a worthy panel.) Each discussed a favorite author the general public may not be aware of.

Laura Lippmann’s description of Dare Me may have summed up why I am the only person who read the book and didn’t like it: these are things girls do that boys have no concept of. She also described Chandler as a “mean boy,” for how he talked behind people’s backs, and was overly critical of his closest competitors. (Much as I love Chandler’s writing, the more I learn about him as a person, the more I agree with her evaluation.)

Sarah Weinman explained how often writers fall off the radar because the heirs either can’t be found, or they can’t agree among themselves about how to handle the rights.

Neither The Beloved Spouse nor I had eaten all day, so we wandered off early and found Clyde Cooper’s on Wilmington Street, not three blocks from the hotel. Best fired chicken I can remember eating, and without question the best hush puppies. Well worth a trip if you’re in Raleigh and hungry.

After that it was off to Common 414 for Noir at the Bar. Eryk Pruitt put this one together, and he did himself proud. The venue was perfect, the crowd was as raucous as was necessary and no more, and the readings were dead on. The only people who didn’t have a good time were those who weren’t there. I hate to single anyone out—everyone was worthy—but, looking back several days, Eric Beetner, Jedidiah Ayres, and Johnny Shaw stood out among even this cast of luminaries.

After that it was off to the Marriott bar. Recollections are hazy, though one sticks out. Heartfelt thanks to the den mother of crime writers, Michelle Turlock Isler, for introducing me to Eric Campbell. I asked her if that was him, she said why, I said I’m supposed to find him and now I know what he looks like, and she grabbed my arm and drug me over to meet him right now.

(Come back Monday for more.)