Peter Heller is a longtime contributor to NPR, and a former contributing editor at Outside Magazine, Men’s Journal, and National Geographic Adventure. His previous novels include “The Dog Stars,” his celebrated debut and breakout bestseller in 2012, as well as the Colorado Book Award-winning “The Painter” in 2014. “The River” from 2019 also became a national bestseller and led to “The Guide” in 2021. “The Last Ranger,” about an enforcement ranger in Yellowstone National Park, was published last year and his latest novel, “Burn,” was published in August, 2024. Heller is also an award winning adventure writer and the author of four books of literary nonfiction. He has worked as a dishwasher, construction worker, logger, offshore fisherman, kayak instructor, river guide, and world class pizza deliverer. He lives in Denver.

SunLit: Tell us the backstory of “Burn.” Was there one particular real-life event that cemented the idea of a dystopian narrative, or was this an idea you’d been considering for some time?

Peter Heller: I never have an idea for a novel.  I came up as a poet and I’m always more interested in the music of the language than a plot.  So I start with a first line whose cadence and sound I love and follow it into the second line and the third.  The story rides on the back of the language. 

Pretty soon I bump into whatever’s on my heart, what’s really concerning me.  And that often surprises me.  You don’t have to be an aficionado of current events to feel the fracturing in our country, the growing and fundamental fissures in how we see the world and our roles as individuals and as a society; to see the disagreements curdling to hatred and sometimes to violence. 

I was once teaching kayaking on a remote river in Costa Rica.  We came out after four days and discovered that the Berlin Wall had fallen.  So having two best friends go hunting together in remotest Maine and emerge into a world of bewildering violence does not seem like much of a stretch.

SunLit: Place this excerpt you’ve chosen in context. How does it fit into the book as a whole? Why did you select it?

Heller: As I wrote myself into the narrative, I found myself following (protagonists) Storey and Jess as they moved through this landscape racked by violence.  And like them, I had no real idea what was going on.  I had to discover it with my characters — just as a reader would.  Which was thrilling and kind of terrifying.  I chose the excerpt to give a sense of this movement, and of the deep friendship between the two men.

SunLit: How does the relationship between your characters Jess and Storey, who emerge from their trip to find a starkly divided America, fit into the broader societal and political rift?

UNDERWRITTEN BY

Each week, The Colorado Sun and Colorado Humanities & Center For The Book feature an excerpt from a Colorado book and an interview with the author. Explore the SunLit archives at coloradosun.com/sunlit.

Heller: Well, there is this sense that whatever happens in this conflict — which may or may not be rippling out into the broader nation — their friendship is solid, irrevocable.  I can only hope that their bond stands for the state of our Union.  That whatever the perceived betrayals or wrongs…we can get past them.  In the history of the world there has never been a nation or a community with the manifold beauty and potential of the United States of America.  I believe that.  I pray that we endure.

SunLit: Your work has been praised often for the way your novels incorporate the natural world. What is the significance of the wilderness setting in which “Burn” unfolds?

Heller: I’m not sure what the significance is of the natural world in “Burn”.  Except that the sheer and enduring beauty of the Earth in her wildness throws into high relief the folly of men.  And that somehow her implacable silence, her refusal to hate or judge, may redeem us.  

SunLit: Your early work in adventure writing explores some amazing exploits, from surfing to sailing with eco-pirates to epic whitewater expeditions. How have those experiences influenced and informed your novels? 

Heller: On those journeys I often encountered wild country at its most ferocious and raw, and witnessed characters under great pressure.  Often, too, I chronicled my own succession of emotions through ambition, pride, desire, fear, love, terror, euphoria.  Worthy ingredients for good fiction.

“Burn”

>> Read an excerpt

Where to find it:

• Prospector: Search the combined catalogs of 23 Colorado libraries
• Libby: E-books and audio books
• NewPages Guide: List of Colorado independent bookstores
• Bookshop.org: Searchable database of bookstores nationwide

SunLit present new excerpts from some of the best Colorado authors that not only spin engaging narratives but also illuminate who we are as a community. Read more.

SunLit: Within the genre of dystopian fiction, do you have any favorite writers and/or filmmakers whose work has entertained, inspired or influenced you?

Heller: For sure.  Ishiguro slays me.  One of the most disturbing novels I ever read was his “The Unconsoled.”  It may not be strictly dystopian, but the protagonist enters a world that gradually and irretrievably tilts away from what we accept as a stable reality.  The tilting itself becomes the nightmare.  His speculative “Klara and the Sun” I found equally disturbing.  Nor can I ever shake Nevil Shute’s “On The Beach.”  It was written in 1957 and is as chilling today.  A young family in Australia tries to carry on their sweet and normal life as they wait for the fatal fallout from a nuclear World War III to waft into the Southern Hemisphere.  It broke my heart…for all of us.  And then, of course, “The Road.”  Cormac McCarthy is a great and bleak genius.

SunLit: How does the theme of male friendship fit into “Burn” and how do its distinguishing characteristics dovetail with the narrative?

Heller: Jess and Storey have been friends since kindergarten.  They grew up a mile apart on a dirt road above a small town in Vermont and they went through school together, shared a thousand dinners, helped each other’s families cut firewood and make maple syrup.  They know each other’s heartbreaks and joys and they are loyal and forgiving.  They are generous to a fault, usually gentle, but harsh when they need to be.  And they, like all of us, are far from perfect people.  The novel is as much about their friendship and about the search for a certain grace as it is about societal dystopia.

SunLit: Some early readers have described the secessionist battle in “Burn” as a “very possible” scenario in our not-so-distant future. Do you share the view that we may be closer than we think to such a consequence of our deeply divided political and social outlooks?

Heller: I think it could happen the day after tomorrow.  Truly.

SunLit: Many authors who have released books in the last couple of years have talked about the influence, for better or worse, of the pandemic on their creative process. How did you navigate the shutdown?

Heller: The shutdown was tough.  I write in a coffee shop and I had to adjust to writing at home.  That was okay.  Thank God, many of the things I love most are outdoors and often solitary.  I could keep fishing, and running whitewater with others was safe enough.  My wife has a keen sense of humor and that helped a lot.  Someone asked her how COVID went and she gave the best two word answer I ever heard:  She turned to me and said, “You again?”

SunLit: Tell us a little about your writing process. When and where do you prefer to write? Do you have a routine? Do you outline your novels or do they develop as you go?

Heller: I write in a coffee shop, as I said.  I drink two big mugs of strong coffee before I even get there.  When I’m onto a novel, I write a thousand words a day, six or seven days a week.  I never write less and always write just past the quota until I’m into something exciting and then I make myself stop.  That way I’m always in the middle of something, and the next morning I can’t wait to jump out of bed and keep going.  I don’t edit as I go, I don’t usually plot or plan, but follow the language, images, characters…follow a narrative current into new territory.  I want to be as surprised as the reader.

Caleb Stephens is an award-winning author writing from Denver, Colorado. His novels include “The Girls in the Cabin,” a psychological thriller, and “Feeders,” a speculative horror thriller. His dark fiction collection “If Only a Heart and Other Tales of Terror” includes the short story “The Wallpaper Man,” which was adapted to film by Falconer Film & Media in 2022. Join his mailing list and learn more at www.calebstephensauthor.com. Follow him on Instagram @calebstephensauthor.

“The Girls in the Cabin” was a finalist for the Colorado Book Award in the Thriller category.

SunLit: Tell us this book’s backstory. What inspired you to write it? Where did the story/theme originate?

Caleb Stephens: Great question. The book I wrote before this one, “Feeders” (also based in Colorado) centered on a speculative end-of-the-world narrative. It was horribly complex, and with “The Girls in the Cabin” I wanted to write something a little more straightforward, something that centered on familial themes and grief. 

What I landed on — a family stranded in Colorado’s remote Flat Tops wilderness who are forced to seek shelter on a remote farm during a snowstorm — became much more complicated than I intended. It turns out human monsters are even more difficult to write than the imaginary kind.  

SunLit: Place this excerpt in context. How does it fit into the book as a whole? Why did you select it?

Stephens: I think the best place to start a story is always at the beginning. The first chapter introduces the reader to Clara Carver, a troubled girl struggling to find a way to survive in horrible circumstances — someone who comes into play later in the book. 

UNDERWRITTEN BY

Each week, The Colorado Sun and Colorado Humanities & Center For The Book feature an excerpt from a Colorado book and an interview with the author. Explore the SunLit archives at coloradosun.com/sunlit.

The second chapter introduces the reader to the McKenna family (Chris, Kayla, and Emma) as they struggle to reconnect on a backpacking trip after the tragic loss of Chris’s wife and the girls’ mother to cancer. Things haven’t exactly gone to plan in this regard, and when Emma follows a rabbit into the forest, they go much worse. 

SunLit: Tell us about creating this book. What influences and/or experiences informed the project before you sat down to write? And once you did begin to write, did the work take you in any unexpected directions?

Stephens: As a Colorado native who grew up in the southwestern part of the state (Cortez), I always wanted to write a book where the state not only served as the setting, but also as a character. Some of my favorite books such as “Misery” by Stephen King, and “The Fisherman” by John Langan do this so well. 

I love books where, as you read, you can feel the snow on your face, or taste the rain as it falls. Settings should be immersive. And that’s what I wanted to do with this book — immerse the reader in a life-or-death struggle with a family and pose the question: How far would you go to save the ones you love? 

As to the writing taking me in unexpected directions, the answer is yes. It always does, and sometimes it demands that you bend to its will. For this book, I wrote all of Clara’s chapters in epistolary (diary) format. In the end that format didn’t serve the overall story the way it should. So, after a few stiff drinks (and a few more months of writing) I rewrote a third of the book. It was incredibly frustrating, and absolutely the right decision. The book is better for it.

SunLit: Are there lessons you take away from each experience of writing a book? And if so, what did the process of writing this book add to your knowledge and understanding of your craft and/or the subject matter?

Stephens: Absolutely. Each book is its own animal with its own unique challenges. Some of them just pour onto the page and others you have to rip out by the neck. I had to rip this one out. I wanted to give up so many times. 

The lesson I took away from this novel was that each book will take as long as it will take. It could be a year. It could be several. And you can’t force it. You have to accept that it comes on its own terms.

SunLit: What were the biggest challenges you faced in writing this book?

Stephens: This was my first multi-point-of-view novel, and nailing every character’s particular voice was like pulling teeth. I think I went through about seven versions before I was satisfied. Another lesson I’ve learned with writing is that a book is close to done when you are so sick of it, you can’t stand to read another word. 

By the time I’d finished, I’d never been as sick of a book as this one, and for that reason, I knew I’d written something worthwhile. 

SunLit: If you could pick just one thing – a theme, lesson, emotion or realization — that readers would take from this book, what would that be? 

Stephens: I’ll start by saying that different readers take away different themes, which is part of the beauty of writing. Something you’ve created in your life serves a purpose in theirs. For me, what I hope bleeds through is that sometimes the love and connection you’re seeking in your life has been there all along. You just haven’t looked in the right place. 

SunLit: In a highly politicized atmosphere where books, and people’s access to them, has become increasingly contentious, what would you add to the conversation about books, libraries and generally the availability of literature in the public sphere?

Stephens: I think banning books is an awful thing to do. I think people should be able to choose what they want to read and where they want to read it. Books are just another form of free speech. Censoring them, to me at least, amounts to government overreach. 

As a counterpoint to this, I think that, at times, readers can also take books, and especially fiction, too seriously. It’s easy to rip apart someone else’s work, to find something within to be angry about. Sometimes, it’s best to just kick back, open a book, and enjoy the ride. No book is perfect.

SunLit: Walk us through your writing process: Where and how do you write? 

“The Girls in the Cabin”

>> Read an excerpt

Where to find it:

• Prospector: Search the combined catalogs of 23 Colorado libraries
• Libby: E-books and audio books
• NewPages Guide: List of Colorado independent bookstores
• Bookshop.org: Searchable database of bookstores nationwide

SunLit present new excerpts from some of the best Colorado authors that not only spin engaging narratives but also illuminate who we are as a community. Read more.

Stephens: I have a family. I have a full-time job. I also have this burning desire to write. I feel like (outside of my family) it’s my purpose in life. It’s why I’m here. And to balance all of life’s demands, and write with any consistency, can be difficult, which is why I write at 5 a.m. in my home office every morning before going to work. 

I try to achieve a realistic word count (500 words a day). That kind of word count turns into a first draft in about six months. And you can realistically write a novel a year if you just stick with it, so that’s what I do. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that I have an incredibly supportive wife who allows me the time and space to write. I wouldn’t be where I am without her.

SunLit: How did you find your publisher, Joffe Books?

Stephens: I’m a formerly agented writer. Without going into details, I spent around a year-and-a-half writing this book, and another year waiting as my literary agent pitched it to publishers. We had interest but never received an offer. 

After splitting ways with my agent, I submitted this book to Joffe Books on my own, and they took it! I was thrilled. Joffe is the UK’s largest independent publisher, and they’ve done an incredible job in getting my book out there. It’s sold far more copies than I ever realistically expected to sell. I’m so grateful they took a shot on me.

SunLit: Tell us about your next project.

Stephens: I’m working on my next psychological thriller, a story that centers on a pair of estranged sisters forced to confront their issues on a Caribbean cruise, chartered by a suspected cult.

Just a few more quick questions

SunLit: Do you look forward to the actual work of writing or is it a chore that you dread but must do to achieve good things?

Stephens: I love writing. Sometimes it’s hard to get going — it’s easy to get distracted with social media and marketing — but I do look forward to getting lost in the words.

SunLit: What’s the first piece of writing – at any age – that you remember being proud of?

Stephens: Probably stuff I wrote in high school, but my real first shot of pride came after writing a failed novel in my early 30s. I almost walked away, but my parents loved it and encouraged me to keep going. I know all parents love their kids’ stuff, but for me, I took pride in knowing that they truly enjoyed the book. They gave me the confidence to continue. 

SunLit: When you look back at your early professional writing, how do you feel about it? Impressed? Embarrassed? Satisfied? Wish you could have a do-over?

Stephens: I think my early writing is what it took to get to where I am now, so I wouldn’t change anything. The only exception? I would have started writing much, much sooner. 

SunLit: What three writers, from any era, can you imagine having over for a great discussion about literature and writing? And why?

Stephens: Cormac McCarthy – He’s a legend, and “The Road” is my favorite novel of all time. J.R.R. Tolkien – Because my passion for reading started with “The Hobbit.” I’d love to thank him as well as have second breakfast together.  Stephen King – He just seems like a cool guy to hang out with.

SunLit: Do you have a favorite quote about writing?

Stephens: Yes. “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” – Mark Twain. 

My why? I’m a writer.

SunLit: What does the current collection of books on your home shelves tell visitors about you?

Stephens: There might be something wrong with this guy.

SunLit: Soundtrack or silence? What’s the audio background that helps you write?

Stephens: Silence. Or a coffee shop with white noise. 

SunLit: What event, and at what age, convinced you that you wanted to be a writer?

Stephens: I wrote a short horror story and submitted it to the Writer’s Digest Popular Fiction Awards in 2016. It landed an honorable mention, and I thought, at that point, maybe I could actually do this.

SunLit: Greatest fear as an author?

Stephens: Not being able to write. No joke. If you aren’t careful, you can waste your days, and wasted days turn into a wasted life. I’m a firm believer we are here for a reason, but you have to want it. You have to put in the work.

SunLit: Greatest satisfaction?

Stephens: Knowing my words will be here for my kids long after I will.

Silvia Pettem is a Colorado-based historical researcher, writer, and author of more than 20 books on history, biography, missing and unidentified persons, and true crime. She also has a knack for pulling intriguing women out of the past. “Separate Lives” is set in the late 19th century. “In Search of the Blonde Tigress” exposes and expands upon a true crime story from the 1930s, while “Someone’s Daughter” follows a murder investigation from the 1950s. Pettem lives with her husband and two cats in the mountains west of Boulder. She can be reached through her website, silviapettem.com.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

SunLit: Tell us this book’s backstory. How did you first learn about Mary Rippon?

Silvia Pettem: My interest in Mary Rippon began in late 1993 in the small basement room in Norlin Library on the Boulder campus that houses the University of Colorado’s archives. I was interested in the Victorian era and in women’s history, so the librarian suggested I look at some primary source documentation about Mary Rippon. Her name was familiar to me, as it is the name of the university’s outdoor theater where Shakespeare’s plays are performed every summer.

Despite the widespread use of Mary Rippon’s name, however, I had only recently learned that she chaired the German department as the university’s first female professor. And I had assumed that up until her death in 1935, she had led a quiet, scholarly, spinster’s life.

When I studied her photographs in old yearbooks, a plain, gentle-looking woman stared back at me — but I soon discovered that “Miss Rippon,” as she was called, took extraordinary steps to clothe part of her life in secrecy. In fact, her private life would have been considered scandalous at the time, and because of that she kept a low profile during her distinguished 31-year career — never involved in controversy, always praised in the local press.

UNDERWRITTEN BY

Each week, The Colorado Sun and Colorado Humanities & Center For The Book feature an excerpt from a Colorado book and an interview with the author. Explore the SunLit archives at coloradosun.com/sunlit.

The historical view of the perfect Miss Rippon was altered suddenly in February 1976 when an elderly man from the East Coast made his way down the steps to the archives and donated two photographs to the university. Although the items in this first donation were unrelated to Mary Rippon, the man identified himself to a Colorado Alumnus reporter as “Wilfred Rieder, a descendant of Mary Rippon.” The article caused a minor uproar among librarians, faculty, and long-time Boulder residents. How could the never-married “Miss Rippon” have a descendant? At that time there were no known records or documentation of a secret life. 

A decade later, Wilfred Rieder made a second donation — this time of Mary’s plain leather diaries, journals, and account books. He also told another alumni publication’s reporter that he was Mary Rippon’s grandson. He explained that in 1888, Mary had entered into a romantic relationship with one of her students and had become pregnant. She secretly married, gave birth to a baby girl during a year’s sabbatical in Germany, and then returned to Colorado where she resumed her teaching career.

I was hooked! I spent the next several years reading and studying the donated documents before I started writing the first edition of “Separate Lives,” published in 1999. 

SunLit: Tell us about creating this book. What influences and/or experiences informed the project before you sat down to write? 

Pettem: When I first held Mary’s diaries in my hands, her delicate handwriting pulled me into her day-to-day life. I knew, then, that Mary Rippon’s story needed to be told. The opportunity to write “Separate Lives” was just too good to pass up. In looking back, it literally fell into my lap. As a University of Colorado alum and author of books and articles on Boulder history, I was well aware of Mary’s setting and surroundings. But it was Mary’s writings that allowed me to vicariously experience her life and times and try to imagine her life through her own eyes. 

To help achieve that goal, I wrote my first draft in the first person –– as if I were Mary, and as if I were writing my own memoir. Her diaries were very cryptic, and the process of deciphering them allowed me to “get inside her head.” In my attempts, I believe I gained insight into some of her very private thoughts, even a glimpse into her soul.

SunLit: Place this excerpt in context. How does it fit into the book as a whole? Why did you select it?

Pettem: In Chapter 13, Mary is a 37-year-old woman who made a choice that affected the rest of her life. The excerpt is pivotal in adding depth and intrigue to Mary’s character and introduces her “hidden years” –– specifically the 1887-1888 academic year at the beginning of her love affair with her student, Will Housel. 

“Separate Lives”

>> Read an excerpt

Where to find it:

• Prospector: Search the combined catalogs of 23 Colorado libraries
• Libby: E-books and audio books
• NewPages Guide: List of Colorado independent bookstores
• Bookshop.org: Searchable database of bookstores nationwide

SunLit present new excerpts from some of the best Colorado authors that not only spin engaging narratives but also illuminate who we are as a community. Read more.

The remainder of Mary’s story focuses on the societal forces that led to Mary’s public and private lives and reveals how and why she managed to separate them. The book (as a whole) chronicles her life, as well as Will’s and that of their daughter, Miriam. This new edition continues into the 21st century with what can best be described as “ongoing ripples” in Mary’s life story.

SunLit: What did the process of writing this book add to your knowledge and understanding of the “separate lives” that Mary Rippon led?

Pettem: Mary’s separate lives are inconceivable to most readers today, and they were hard for me to believe, as well –– until I put her situation into the context of her times. When I started reading late-19th-century books, newspaper articles, and magazine stories, I was able to immerse myself into the historic context of the Victorian era. 

Married men with professional occupations were expected to support their wives and children, but society looked differently at women. Single women professionals were beginning to be accepted, but social norms dictated that if the single woman professional married, she would be taking a job away from a man with a family to support.

Some readers who don’t understand the concept ask why Mary didn’t get a nanny and live openly as both a professor and a mother. Others, who accept that –– in order to keep her job –– she needed to hide her husband and child behind a Victorian veil of secrecy, are incredulous that her few close friends kept the secret, as well.  

People’s feelings and emotions in previous time periods are no different than our feelings and emotions today. That’s why, for instance, today’s readers can understand how Mary and Will’s love affair could happen. But historical context is essential in understanding how Mary handled it. And she did that by separating her private and public lives.

SunLit: What were the biggest challenges you faced in writing this book?

Pettem: Although I had a wealth of primary source documents (diaries, journals, and account books), I still longed for more facts. In some instances, I had to speculate, but in doing so I made it clear to the reader. The original edition was turned down by a reputable publisher who told me that he wouldn’t publish the book unless I cut out all speculation and fictionalized the story, instead. That I refused to do. In my opinion, what makes Mary’s story so interesting is that it is true.

Another challenge was my need to remain nonjudgmental. Mary fascinated me, but I didn’t always agree with her actions. As a mother, myself, I could not have left my young child, for years, on the other side of the ocean. I would have given up my career to be a stay-at-home mom. But Mary may have seen herself as the breadwinner in the family, and turning over parenting to Will a necessity. Personally, I see Mary as a better “mother” to her female students than to her own child. But in order to write her biography, I had to keep my feelings out of her story.

SunLit: What was your biggest takeaway from delving so deeply into Rippon’s story? Is there a theme or lesson readers should take from how she lived – especially given how differently women’s roles are regarded now? 

Pettem: As noted above, it’s essential that historical characters be studied in the context of their times. In Mary’s time, “polite” society refrained from even discussing sexual intimacy between unmarried men and women. Today’s society considers unmarried lovers a norm. However, at the University of Colorado in 1888, there was no rule prohibiting a sexual relationship between a professor and a student as, obviously, no one thought the university needed such a rule. Today, the university requires that all intimate professor-student relationships be publicly disclosed. 

Again, it’s not the people who have changed, but only societal norms.

Historical research is a type of detective work –– one needs to keep an open mind and follow the evidence to see where it leads. Sometimes, as in Mary’s case, the outcome is unexpected. As to how Mary lived out her life, she did have choices (good fodder for book club discussions). She made, and stuck to, the decision that was right for her. I admire her determination.

SunLit: This is an updated version of the book you self-published in 1999. How did you approach taking a fresh look at both your subject and what you wrote the first time around? 

Pettem: After the original version sold out, I turned my attention to other books and various publishers. Lyons Press (a subsidiary of Rowman & Littlefield) published my most recent books. I found that I enjoyed writing on women from previous periods in time. (“The Blonde Tigress” focused on the 1930s, and “Someone’s Daughter” on the 1950s.) I wanted Mary Rippon’s story to continue to be told. My publisher readily agreed. 

What about Mary and Will’s child, Miriam? What happened to her?

Pettem: Without giving away too much of the story, Miriam was born in Stuttgart, Germany, in January 1888. After staying in various European orphanages, and then living with Mary’s extended family in Illinois, she moved in with her father and his second family. Mary would visit, but always as “Aunt Mary.”

There were many parallels in Mary’s and Miriam’s lives. Both of their children were conceived out of wedlock, and both were university foreign language professors. Professionally, Miriam followed in her mother’s footsteps. 

Except for Mary’s few close friends, the mother-daughter relationship was never disclosed during either Mary’s or Miriam’s lifetimes. Miriam’s son (the elderly man who donated Mary’s documents) was the informant for Miriam’s death certificate in 1957. In the place for “father’s name,” he wrote “Will Housel.” In the place for “mother’s name,” he simply wrote “unknown.” At that point in his life, Miriam’s son knew Mary was his grandmother. But he allowed his mother to take Mary’s secret to her grave.

Mary received wide acclaim for her teaching, but she was completely unrecognized as a mother. It’s evident, though, that she was content with her chosen path. Near the end of her life she confided to her diary, “Conventionality is the mother of dreariness.” There was nothing conventional about Mary Rippon.

SunLit: Tell us about your next project.

Pettem: I’m always looking for intriguing women from the past… 

Gary Schanbacher was born in the Midwest, raised in the southeast, came west for graduate school, and never left. He is the author of “Crossing Purgatory” (2013), winner of a SPUR Award from the Western Writers of America, and the Langum Prize in American Historical Fiction, and “Migration Patterns: Stories” (2007), a PEN/Hemingway Foundation Award Runner-up, and winner of the Colorado Book Award and the High Plains First Book Award. He and his wife live in Littleton, Colorado. 

SunLit: Place this excerpt in context. How does it fit into the book as a whole? Why did you select it? 

Gary Schanbacher: The excerpt contains the first pages of the title story, “The Waterman.” It introduces the character, Clayton Royster, who is featured throughout the linked collection of short stories. The excerpt contains the inciting event that informs stories that follow. 

And it establishes setting, the fictional coastal town of Sand Point, Virginia. I’m a fan of writing landscape as character and love stories you could not imagine happening apart from their environment. Kent Haruf’s novels set on Colorado’s Eastern Plains, Laura Pritchett’s northern Colorado novels, and Annie Proulx’s Wyoming stories all come immediately to mind.

SunLit: Tell us about creating this book. What influences and/or experiences informed the project before you sat down to write? 

UNDERWRITTEN BY

Each week, The Colorado Sun and Colorado Humanities & Center For The Book feature an excerpt from a Colorado book and an interview with the author. Explore the SunLit archives at coloradosun.com/sunlit.

Schanbacher: My first book, “Migration Patterns: Stories,” contained a 100-page novella, “The Sea in These Hills.” That novella is set in the 1950s and early ’60s and tells the story of a young Clayton Royster who makes a living fishing in the Atlantic and crabbing in the estuaries around his home in Sand Point. 

Over the years I wondered whatever became of that young Clayton. Did he ever marry? Have children? Continue as a waterman? The book grew from those questions. It’s intriguing that we create these fictional characters, drop them off at the end of the story, yet sometimes they hang around in the writer’s memory. “What about us? What’s the rest of our story?”

As I was writing and rewriting various drafts, I wondered about the form — is the book to be a novel or a collection of stories? When do I pick up Clayton’s life and how far do I follow him?

Around the same time, I became interested in the challenge of the linked short story form — Jennifer Egan’s “A Visit From The Goon Squad,” Elizabeth Stroud’s “Olive Kitteridge,” and “Olive Again.” I decided to use that format for “The Waterman.” I recast the novella from “Migration Patterns” into the 20-page introductory story and went from there. In “The Waterman,” Clayton ages through the stages of his life from teenager to octogenarian.

SunLit: What did the process of writing this book add to your knowledge and understanding of your craft and/or the subject matter

Schanbacher: First, I was reminded that writing, although immensely gratifying, is difficult, challenging work. In a Paris Review interview years ago, it was suggested to a famous writer that working on his 20th book must be less intimidating than his first, and he responded, “No, no you don’t understand…I’ve never written this book before.”

I was also reminded of what Richard Bausch calls the “mysterious paradox” — that writing gets harder the more practiced you become. I’m sure that’s true with all the arts: you notice the imperfections more acutely; you strive to be better than your last effort.

Finally, I learned that the linked story form has its own unique challenges. In early drafts, my vision was to write a collection of short stories that, read in sequence, contained the narrative arc of a novel. But each story also was to be completely stand-alone, with its own beginning, middle, and end. It took several drafts before I finally conceded that such a layout involved too much repetition — I couldn’t reintroduce characters and setting in each story. So, I had to make some concessions.

SunLit: What were the biggest challenges you faced in writing this book?

Schanbacher: Other than the usual false starts, dead-ends, and countless drafts, the challenge wasn’t so much in the writing as in finding a publisher. The format of the book is not ideal for one of the large publishing houses. It is brief (but not small, I hope) and a hybrid of sorts — Is it a novel? A story collection?  

My literary agent at the time liked the book but said she could not sell it. Because I had faith in the work, we agreed to an amicable parting.  I was not interested in self-publishing, so I began the search for an independent, traditional outlet. I feel fortunate that the book found a home with a university press, Cornerstone Press/University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. 

Cornerstone is one of only a handful of “teaching presses,” where, in addition to the management team, it operates with the support of student interns. It was a joy working with young people dedicated to pursuing careers in the field. So, it turned out that the challenge in bringing “The Waterman” to print also provided great satisfaction.

SunLit: What’s the most important thing — a theme, lesson, emotion or realization — that readers should take from this book? 

Schanbacher: I never consider themes or lessons during the writing of this or any initial draft. In later drafts, themes and emotional patterns do usually bubble to the surface and I’ll look for ways to highlight them.  

I think in “The Waterman,” one realization is that most of the characters, like most of us, are neither all good or all bad, but a mix of both at some time or another. Folks are mainly decent people looking to find their place in the universe, and to understand their sometimes complicated connection to one another. We’re all just searching for home.

SunLit: Walk us through your writing process: Where and how do you write? 

Schanbacher: Mornings always — after coffee. I have one room in the house dedicated to writing and usually complete a brief session before exercise, a mental processing during exercise, and a session after that lasts until early afternoon. I often begin by reading a bit of poetry just to get a sense of the lyrical and an appreciation of concise, compacted language. I’ll review a few pages of what I’ve written the day before, sometimes revising a sentence or two, and then carry on from there.

“The Waterman”

>> Read an excerpt

Where to find it:

• Prospector: Search the combined catalogs of 23 Colorado libraries
• Libby: E-books and audio books
• NewPages Guide: List of Colorado independent bookstores
• Bookshop.org: Searchable database of bookstores nationwide

SunLit present new excerpts from some of the best Colorado authors that not only spin engaging narratives but also illuminate who we are as a community. Read more.

In the evenings, if a project is in full swing, I’ll spend an hour or so editing the morning’s work and setting a path forward for the next day. I try to follow the advice to end a writing session mid-scene or mid-sentence, even if I know what’s to follow, so that in the morning I can pick up where I left off rather than having to begin a new section. 

I write slowly and although I don’t write every day, I do think about writing every day. A scene or a story may percolate for weeks or months in my imagination before I begin the actual writing. I know of some writers who have several projects going at once, and I envy them. But, it’s not me.

SunLit: You’ve written a book with a visual setting populated with several memorable characters — are they based on actual places and people or are they purely imaginary?

Schanbacher: A little of both. I have an actual town in mind for the setting but fictionalize it. I don’t usually write about actual places because I’ll inevitably get some detail wrong and lose credibility with the reader —“Wait, there’s only a four-way stop on Main Street, not a stoplight!” 

Same with characters. Some are based on actual people but, again, highly fictionalized. The publisher of my first book mentioned he was drawn to the stories because they were clearly fictional rather than disguised memoir. I didn’t know what he meant at the time but think I do now. The characters must be a bit larger than life because their actions and interactions hopefully reveal universal truths larger than themselves. 

SunLit: Tell us about your next project.

Schanbacher: It’s kind of an unwritten rule with writers to never attempt resurrecting a failed novel. So, of course, I’m currently trying to resurrect a novel I wrote a few years ago that did not sell. It’s turning into a major rewrite with an updated timeframe and with additional characters. We’ll see. 

 A few more quick questions 

SunLit: Which do you enjoy more as you work on a book – writing or editing? 

Schanbacher: I love the writing, but revision and deep editing is where I learn what the story is about, and where the art-making takes place. I spend much more time in revision than I do in writing the first draft.

SunLit: What’s the first piece of writing – at any age – that you remember being proud of?

Schanbacher:  As a senior in college, I had a respected professor ask to keep one of my philosophy papers for future reference — what a trip! In terms of writing fiction, years ago I won the Denver Women’s Press Club fiction contest. It was a “blind” reading where judges didn’t know the writer’s name, and when called to inform me I’d won, the judges said they were surprised to learn I was a man — they assumed from the story “voice” that it was written by a woman. I took that as a wonderful compliment.

SunLit: What three writers, from any era, would you invite over for a great discussion about literature and writing? 

Schanbacher: Hemingway, because as the writer Tobias Wolff said, “whatever you think of him, the modern short story form is defined as before Hemingway and after Hemingway.” Alice Munro, for basically the same reason. And Dickens, just because.

SunLit: Do you have a favorite quote about writing? 

Schanbacher: “Write a little every day, without hope, without despair.”  – Isak Dinesen

SunLit: What does the current collection of books on your home shelves tell visitors about you? 

Schanbacher: That I own a lot of bookshelves and that I’m disorganized. Glancing at one shelf in my writing room, I see an Amy Bloom novel next to the “Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg” next to “The Best American Short Stories of 2011”(!) next to the history of the Mayflower. Go figure.

SunLit: Soundtrack or silence? What’s the audio background that helps you write? 

Schanbacher: Eclectic music — classical, alt-country, ’60s and ’70s rock, Americana. But once I settle into the writing, it all becomes white noise.

SunLit: What music do you listen to for sheer enjoyment? 

Schanbacher: All over the map — Bach, Vivaldi, Springsteen, Prine, Dylan, Iris Dement, Lucinda Williams….

SunLit: What event, and at what age, convinced you that you wanted to be a writer? 

Schanbacher: I came to writing late — at around age 40, I felt the urge to balance my work life with a creative side.  I’d been stuck on the same three chords on guitar for 20 years and had no mechanical or artistic skill. I began fooling around with words and found it gave me immense pleasure. Shortly thereafter I joined the amazing program at Lighthouse Writers Workshop to build my “writing toolbox.”

SunLit: Greatest writing fear? 

Schanbacher: That the ideas dry up.

SunLit: Greatest writing satisfaction? 

Schanbacher: It sounds a little corny, but I love it when a sentence or paragraph or scene comes out exactly as I hoped it would — whether that particular piece of writing ever gets published or not.

Ausma Zehanat Khan holds a Ph.D. in international human rights law with a specialization in military intervention and war crimes in the Balkans. She is also a contributor to the anthologies “Private Investigations,” “Sword Stone Table” and “The Perfect Crime,” and the former editor-in-chief of Muslim Girl magazine. A British-born Canadian and former adjunct law professor, Khan lived and worked in the Denver area before relocating to Washington, D.C. with her husband.

Her novel “Blood Betrayal” won the 2024 Colorado Book Award for Mystery.

SunLit: Tell us this book’s backstory. What inspired you to write it? Where did the story/theme originate?

Ausma Zehanat Khan: I’ve been wanting to write about the racial divide in this country for some time, and I’m deeply interested in the question of emotional and physical borders, and how the use of force is sanctioned to protect those borders. So my novel is premised on scenarios where people of color come up against the excessive use of force by police in their communities. Why does that happen and why do we, as citizens of the same nation, respond so differently to it, depending on the color of our skin, and the idea of our place in the world?

Writing a crime novel about the police killings of a young Black man and a young Latino, with three lead investigators who are women—a Muslim woman, a Latina, and a Black civil rights attorney—gave me the opportunity to explore these questions from very different perspectives. The story felt urgent and necessary to me.

SunLit: Place this excerpt in context. How does it fit into the book as a whole? Why did you select it?

Khan: I selected it for impact and because it encapsulates the novel’s central themes. A white police officer mistakenly shoots and kills a young Black man whom he assumes is a criminal. Scenarios like this have become routine in the United States in recent years. And it was important to me to reflect on that knowing that the state of Colorado ranks fifth in the nation in terms of officer-involved shootings. 

UNDERWRITTEN BY

Each week, The Colorado Sun and Colorado Humanities & Center For The Book feature an excerpt from a Colorado book and an interview with the author. Explore the SunLit archives at coloradosun.com/sunlit.

Some people will read this chapter and believe that the shooting was justified. Others will read it and feel outrage. This excerpt is a good way to test our assumptions about the Other and our own deeply held convictions about race and society.

SunLit: Tell us about creating this book. What influences and/or experiences informed the project before you sat down to write? And once you did begin to write, did the work take you in any unexpected directions?

Khan: Before I became a full-time writer, I was an immigration and refugee lawyer, as well as a professor of international human rights law. So how we approach the question of borders, race, and belonging has always informed my work. And because one of the victims in my novel is Black, and the other is Latino, I read a great deal about the Black Lives Matter movement, and about the crisis at the southern border as a prelude to starting this book. As a Muslim woman, I was already well-informed about the Muslim ban, and these three issues became the focal point of the book.

I plot my novels thoroughly in advance, but I will say the excursion into two of my detectives’ family histories—excavating their roots in Afghanistan and Palestine—became more central to the novel than I had expected or originally planned for.

SunLit: Are there lessons you take away from each experience of writing a book? And if so, what did the process of writing this book add to your knowledge and understanding of your craft and/or the subject matter?

Khan: I always tell myself to get started on a book much sooner, so I’m not as pressured approaching deadline, but there’s something about that pressure that seems to unlock my creativity. Maybe it’s desperation. 

But yes, I learn craft lessons from each book—such as how to keep my readers engaged, faster plotting and pacing, deeper character development, and so on. In terms of subject matter, I’m always astounded by how my assumptions about an issue are contradicted by my research. 

For example, I had no idea how much profit is involved in militarizing the southern border as if our country is at war. I learned about an annual arms and munitions convention held in the U.S., where arms manufacturers and security technology developers vie for government contracts, and the best way to secure those contracts is to think of those trying to get across the border as a dangerous enemy army. After years of working with refugees, this casual militarization and dehumanization in the name of profit, shabbily disguised as patriotism, shocked me.

SunLit: What were the biggest challenges you faced in writing this book?

Khan: Corralling these massive social justice issues into a story about ordinary people who face desperate decisions. And taking myself and my politics out of the book to reflect a wide range of viewpoints so my readers can decide for themselves how to interpret the story.

SunLit: If you could pick just one thing – a theme, lesson, emotion or realization — that readers would take from this book, what would that be? 

Khan: The Other is not the enemy. We have much more in common than we think, and if we knew the depths of not only the suffering but the humanity of others, we might attain a wiser and more peaceable understanding of our world.

SunLit: In a highly politicized atmosphere where books, and people’s access to them, has become increasingly contentious, what would you add to the conversation about books, libraries and generally the availability of literature in the public sphere?

Khan: I think that those who want to ban books are terrified at heart. They’re afraid of how literature can both enlighten and empower us, teaching us to build instead of to destroy, to love instead of hate. If you take away the weapon of demonization, what are you left with? The belief that we are one human family, worthy and valuable exactly as we are. The question we need to answer is why that is so frightening to some.

SunLit: Walk us through your writing process: Where and how do you write? 

Khan: When I’m really ready to work on a book, I write at home in my office, surrounded by beautiful books, with the light coming in my open windows. I keep my phone and other distractions far away from me, and I usually write five hours a day, at the same time each day, five days a week. On the weekends, I edit what I’ve written, and take a break to clear my mind so I’m fresh for the following week. I write a very detailed outline of my novel before I begin, and I try to stick to that outline as closely as possible. But if I venture off course, I immediately adjust the outline, so things add up and make sense at the end.

SunLit: Why did you choose a Muslim woman as your lead detective? Does her name—Inaya Rahman—hold any significance for you?

Khan: I wanted to write a character close to my own roots—someone comfortable and familiar to me for several reasons. One, because the crime fiction I grew up on was notable for its absence of diversity or diverse perspectives. Two, there was so much else I had to research and learn for this series, that I needed a touchstone that made the process easier. Three, I also eventually wanted to write about my parents’ roots. 

“Blood Betrayal”

>> Read an excerpt

Where to find it:

• Prospector: Search the combined catalogs of 23 Colorado libraries
• Libby: E-books and audio books
• NewPages Guide: List of Colorado independent bookstores
• Bookshop.org: Searchable database of bookstores nationwide

SunLit present new excerpts from some of the best Colorado authors that not only spin engaging narratives but also illuminate who we are as a community. Read more.

Having Inaya as my lead detective gave me all of those gifts, and her unique identity as a practicing Muslim also gave me an entry point into the polarizing discourse that dominates our politics. The name “Inaya” means “care” or “protection,” while the root word for “Rahman” means mercy. Given that most communities of color do not necessarily view police officers as serving and protecting them, I thought Inaya’s name made an interesting statement: She’s a woman of color in an impossible position, trying to do her best.

I also chose the name Inaya because I was inspired by the historical figure Noor Inayat Khan. During the second World War, she was a British wireless operator sent to France to aid the French resistance. She was eventually caught and executed at Dachau, and after her death, was awarded Britain’s highest civilian honor, the George Cross. These are the kinds of stories about Muslims that rarely make the headlines, another important reason to resurrect her through my lead detective.

SunLit: Tell us about your next project.

Khan: I’m currently working on the third novel in the Blackwater Falls crime series, the sequel to “Blood Betrayal.” The crime focuses on the murder of a young activist and its implications for Lieutenant Seif, Inaya’s boss, when he finds out that his brother is involved. It’s a deeply political novel that aims to do what I always hope to do—reconcile our differences and recognize our common humanity.

 Just a few more quick questions

SunLit: Do you look forward to the actual work of writing or is it a chore that you dread but must do to achieve good things? 

Khan: Sometimes I can’t wait to write, other times it’s definitely a chore driven by a deadline. It depends on what else is going on in my life at the time.

SunLit: What’s the first piece of writing – at any age – that you remember being proud of? 

Khan: I won third place in a Royal Canadian Legion contest for an essay called “Why I Am Proud to Be a Canadian.” I was pretty excited about that when I was 10 years old.

SunLit: When you look back at your early professional writing, how do you feel about it? Impressed? Embarrassed? Satisfied? Wish you could have a do-over? 

Khan: Looking back, I still feel deeply satisfied by my debut novel “The Unquiet Dead.” I spent a decade researching the Bosnian genocide and to be able to tell part of that story will always be the most significant thing I have ever done. However, speaking purely as a writer, there is an entire subplot I wish was a little more subtle.

SunLit: What three writers, from any era, can you imagine having over for a great discussion about literature and writing? And why?

Khan: The French-Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf because I’m a huge fan of his books and his immense knowledge of history. He’s my favorite writer and his books are deeply funny and enlightening, especially “Samarkand”, his masterpiece. 

The great Moroccan feminist Fatima Mernissi because I have so many follow-up questions from her books, particularly “The Veil and the Male Elite” and “The Forgotten Queens of Islam” that I’d love to ask her. And I’ll say Frank Herbert, the author of “Dune”, because I’d like to understand why the Dune universe was so richly inspired by Islamic history. 

SunLit: Do you have a favorite quote about writing?

Khan: Attributed to Albert Camus, I believe: “The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.”

SunLit: What does the current collection of books on your home shelves tell visitors about you?

Khan: First, that I love to read. Second, that I’m an avid reader of crime fiction, science fiction and fantasy, and romance. Third, that I’m deeply fascinated by the Silk Road, as well as by the histories, cultures and languages of the Islamic civilization, and also by my own roots as a Pashtun woman. And finally, that I adore Jane Austen and all forms of poetry.

SunLit: Soundtrack or silence? What’s the audio background that helps you write?

Khan: For setting a particular scene, I will listen to a piece of music beforehand. When I need to wrench emotions out of myself, it’s usually Albinoni’s “Adagio.” Most of my early writing is linked to it. But I need absolute silence to concentrate when I sit down to write.

SunLit: What event, and at what age, convinced you that you wanted to be a writer?

Khan: When I was growing up, my parents used to hold these wonderful gatherings at our home—poetry recitals called mushairahs. The poets who visited these gatherings were held in immense respect, and these were evenings of laughter and celebration. These mushairahs taught me how beautiful the written word could be. But it took a long detour through other careers before I came to the idea of writing as a full-time career.

SunLit: As an author, what do you most fear?

Khan: Not doing justice to the stories I want to tell.

SunLit: What brings you the greatest satisfaction?

Khan: If my stories make a difference to my readers’ understanding of the world—if they are able to convey my belief in our common humanity.

Laura Pritchett is the author of seven novels and two books of nonfiction. Her work is rooted in the American West and has been significantly influenced by her upbringing in Colorado. Both her fiction and nonfiction often focus on issues of ecology, conservation, climate change, and social justice. She has been awarded the PEN USA Award for Fiction, the High Plains Literary Award, the Milkweed National Fiction Prize, the Colorado Book Award, the WILLA Fiction Award, and shortlisted for many others. She is the editor of three anthologies, all on environmental topics, and writes regularly for magazines. 

SunLit: Tell us the backstory for your new novel, “Three Keys.” What inspired you to write it? Where did the idea originate?

Laura Pritchett: Such a fun question, because I love the backstory for this novel. I was at a writing residency in New Mexico, sipping coffee and considering the sunrise and Sangre de Cristo mountains, when I first entertained the idea of becoming a criminal. Or, rather, having a character do so. 

What if I just stayed after my month was up? Or broke back in later? Besides the two wild horses that rambled by occasionally, I wasn’t sure anyone would notice my continued presence. So, that’s what my character does – she breaks into people’s homes as she travels across the West and then the world. But just so you know, she’s very polite about it. 

To be clear, I had no plans to really overstay my welcome. I’m fundamentally too polite and basically a law-abiding person. But I started considering the anonymity a middle-age woman might want in certain circumstances and the kind she gets from society, whether she wants it or not. Also, because I was at the Aldo and Estella Leopold Writing residency, land ethics and care of Planet Earth was on my mind, and that’s one of the big themes. It all happened in one sunrise. 

SunLit: Your excerpt is from Chapter 1. How does it fit into the book as a whole? Why did you select it?

Pritchett: Well, first chapters are always nice — this selection allows readers to begin from the beginning. If it’s intriguing — and I hope it is — then they can order the book and read on!

SunLit: Your protagonist, Ammalie Brinks, is wrestling with middle age and a world that no longer conforms to the norms she used to observe. Did you construct this character from whole cloth, or is she more of a composite? 

Pritchett: Like me, Ammalie is going through the transformation into middle age — and confronting the accompanying invisibility situation. And it’s true that our culture does a fine job of erasing older women — an impulse that must be met with resistance, of course. How satisfying, then, to be playing around with the idea of anonymity and the exact opposite, which is really being seen as the manifested, powerful, perfect self we are. 

As we all know, the pandemic changed the world, and as it went on, I became increasingly interested in the ways we adapted to isolation, our newfound awareness of the fragility of all we’d taken for granted, and how the outdoors can serve as a safe haven.

So all these themes — remoteness, invisibility, middle age, self-sufficiency, adventuring, the glory of nature, and the responsibility of caretaking of our planet — came together in “Three Keys.” Ammalie is not me – and not a composite either, really – she is just Ammalie, and Ammalie wanted to take a “Very Grand Adventure,” as Peter Pan puts it. She discovers that by breaking into other people’s lives, she can find her own. I suppose I’m always on my own path of finding myself, too. Aren’t we all? 

UNDERWRITTEN BY

Each week, The Colorado Sun and Colorado Humanities & Center For The Book feature an excerpt from a Colorado book and an interview with the author. Explore the SunLit archives at coloradosun.com/sunlit.

SunLit: Ammalie has a rather unique adventure. What influences and/or experiences informed the storyline before you sat down to write? 

Pritchett: I love to travel – and I’ve spent time in all the remote locations that she does – Colorado, Arizona, New Zealand. I’ve also experienced a few of the adventures she gets into, such as doing a “water drop” on the US/Mexico border (which I wrote about for Colorado Sun). 

My experiences as a solo female traveler added to the plotline — there are certain safety and self-reliance concerns that come up for Ammalie that have also come up for me. I have never broken into a home, though! And much is fiction. I can’t give away the plot, but much of what happens to her is pure imagination. That is the joy of writing fiction. 

SunLit: You’ve long had an affinity for nature. What role does the natural world play in the “Three Keys” storyline? 

“Three Keys”

>> Read an excerpt

Where to find it:

• Prospector: Search the combined catalogs of 23 Colorado libraries
• Libby: E-books and audio books
• NewPages Guide: List of Colorado independent bookstores
• Bookshop.org: Searchable database of bookstores nationwide

SunLit present new excerpts from some of the best Colorado authors that not only spin engaging narratives but also illuminate who we are as a community. Read more.

Pritchett: A huge role. Ammalie is wanting to fall in love again — she’s single and lonely and wants companionship — and she does have some excellent romantic adventures. But she is also falling in love with the planet. And when we love something, we yearn to protect it. 

Part of her arc is learning the natural history along the way, and then deciding to do something for Earth. I can’t give her storyline away — that would ruin the plot! — but her story is fundamentally about a new and better relationship with our spectacular and rare planet. 

Anyone who knows me knows the forces that guide my life: books and nature (specifically in Colorado). I have the honor of directing the MFA in Nature Writing at Western Colorado University, and so nature-filled, place-based books are my thing — and thus the natural world shows up in all my writing. 

SunLit: How does Colorado, in particular, figure into the story?

Pritchett: One-third of the book takes place in an unnamed area near Salida, in a home that is remote enough that she can remain unseen. She also stops to admire the start of the Royal Gorge, which is near Antonito, Colorado, before traveling on to New Mexico and Arizona. 

As a Coloradan since birth, I love this state, and all my other books are set here too. This is the first book that I’ve taken elsewhere, in fact.

On that Colorado note, I’ll add that I’m looking forward to upcoming readings all over Colorado: Denver, Fort Collins, Grand Junction, Montrose, Glenwood, Steamboat, Durango . . . I’m getting to explore this whole state, which, as you know, is one of my goals. I always joke that I want business cards that read “Professional Coloradan.” Interested readers can find my tour schedule at www.laurapritchett.com 

SunLit: What was the most fun part about creating the book?

Pritchett: A playlist! For the first time in my publishing life, I’ve been asked to create an official Book Club Kit, complete with discussion questions, a map, a recipe, and so on. My favorite thing to make, perhaps, was the playlist that Ammalie listens to on her drive. 

I picked a lot of Colorado-centric songs (either the musicians are from here or the song is set here). You can find it here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0dI5uDJOLB4dBWOEMsgK0z?si=6689f442d4d34cd6

SunLit: You’ve already had a big year: “Three Keys” is your second book to be published in 2024. What has it been like to have two releases so close together?

Pritchett: Busy but happy. On days when I’m tired, I remind myself that this is what I always wanted and have worked decades for. I’ve gotten thousands of rejections and earned three degrees and have typed millions of words for this dream. Also, it’s a short term busyness — I’m sure I’ll be quietly writing in the years to come. They just happened to come out at the same time. It really wasn’t my plan. But I’m certainly delighted by it! 

SunLit: You’ve mentioned that you’ve got a memoir in the works. What can you tell us about it – both in terms of the inspiration for it and your timeline for completion, especially given your exceptionally busy year?

Pritchett: I’ve had to back-burner it so as to “birth” these other babies — and a book release is really a big deal for an author, so I want to give it my full attention. Authors work so hard for years, so dedicating time to finding our audience is important. 

Arthur Kane has been an award-winning investigative reporter, editor, producer and executive producer for three decades. At The Denver Post, he exposed problems with the state medical board’s discipline of doctors that sparked a change in state law, and at KMGH-TV he produced or oversaw investigations that won the Peabody and two duPont-Columbia awards. He is currently investigations editor at the Las Vegas Review-Journal and was named Nevada’s outstanding journalist of the year in 2020 and 2022 by the Nevada Press Association.

SunLit: Tell us this book’s backstory. What inspired you to write it? Where did the story/theme originate?

Art Kane: I worked with Jeff German for six years before he was murdered. Police and prosecutors say he was killed because of the stories he wrote about an elected official.  While journalists around the world face violence for their work, most people think that doesn’t happen in the U.S. I wanted to tell people Jeff’s story as a cautionary tale of what reporters in the U.S. face.

SunLit: Place this excerpt in context. How does it fit into the book as a whole? Why did you select it?

Kane: I think this excerpt shows the dangers and conflict Jeff faced throughout his years of reporting and the tenacity and bravery he showed when met with physical and verbal attacks. It also illustrates how he was in the middle of some of the biggest stories in the 40 years he covered the city.

SunLit: Tell us about creating this book. What influences and/or experiences informed the project before you sat down to write? 

Kane: I have always enjoyed narrative nonfiction. Most of the books I read are written in that style so I wanted to build as compelling a narrative about Jeff’s life and death as I could. I feel that compelling storytelling will attract more readers who will better remember the story so I focused on that narrative to make  sure the book had the most impact possible.

UNDERWRITTEN BY

Each week, The Colorado Sun and Colorado Humanities & Center For The Book feature an excerpt from a Colorado book and an interview with the author. Explore the SunLit archives at coloradosun.com/sunlit.

SunLit: What did the process of writing this book add to your knowledge and understanding of your craft and/or the subject matter? 

Kane: I was struck by the amount of controversy, corruption and violence faced by journalists in Las Vegas. Researching the book also gave me a better understanding of the history of this town and the key players that shaped and influenced Las Vegas.

SunLit: What were the biggest challenges you faced in writing this book?

Kane: Many people, including Jeff’s family, refused to participate and be interviewed. I tried hard to get as many voices and sources in the book as possible. I was able to interview more than 80 people – some more than once – but having Jeff’s family and close friends discussing his life would have added another layer of narrative to the book.

SunLit: What’s the most important thing — a theme, lesson, emotion or realization — that readers should take from this book? 

Kane: The theme is the danger faced by journalists to get key information about government corruption, graft and waste out to the public. Despite the public’s concern about bias and fake news, journalists play a key function in the U.S. democracy and that role is enshrined in the First Amendment of the Constitution. 

“The Last Story”

>> Read an excerpt

Where to find it:

• Prospector: Search the combined catalogs of 23 Colorado libraries
• Libby: E-books and audio books
• NewPages Guide: List of Colorado independent bookstores
• Bookshop.org: Searchable database of bookstores nationwide

SunLit present new excerpts from some of the best Colorado authors that not only spin engaging narratives but also illuminate who we are as a community. Read more.

While some reporting is opinion-based and biased, it is important to understand that most journalists are hard-working and take their role of watchdog over government seriously. Without journalism, a significant amount of corruption and theft of taxpayer resources would go unpunished.

SunLit: Walk us through your writing process: Where and how do you write? 

Kane: I wrote in my home office here in Henderson, Nevada. Because I was just promoted from reporter to editor, I had to be efficient in my reporting and writing for the book around my work responsibilities. 

I put together an outline and reported and wrote each chapter separately. That way it was like I was researching and writing a long story for each chapter instead of a nearly 300-page book. Having to do all the reporting and then writing a book would have been overwhelming so breaking into the bite-sized chapters helped me get it done around my other responsibilities.

SunLit: What kind of life do investigative reporters lead?

Kane: Most people glamorize the work of investigative reporters because of movies like “All the President’s Men” and “Spotlight,” but much of the work is looking through public documents or sorting databases. The most important skill set is an ability to gain the confidence of sources and people who can tell what is happening inside government and then protect those sources from exposure. 

There is a lot of hard work but the payoff is that front-page story that ends up sparking the indictment of a government official or changes in state law that will improve the lives of readers and taxpayers.

SunLit: Tell us about your next project.

Kane: Right now I’m just focused on editing the investigative team at the Las Vegas Review-Journal. I have some ideas that I might pursue outside work but nothing that I am ready to reveal.

A few more quick questions

SunLit: Which do you enjoy more as you work on a book – writing or editing? 

Kane: Writing.

SunLit: What’s the first piece of writing – at any age – that you remember being proud of? 

Kane: I wrote some op-ed pieces for the school paper before becoming a reporter that I thought were interesting and funny. It was the first time my work was published and that was good feedback that I could be a professional writer.

SunLit: What three writers, from any era, would you invite over for a great discussion about literature and writing? 

Kane: Hunter Thompson, David Halberstam and James B. Stewart.

SunLit: Do you have a favorite quote about writing? 

Kane: “Journalism is printing something that someone does not want printed. Everything else is public relations.” – George Orwell

SunLit: What does the current collection of books on your home shelves tell visitors about you? 

Kane: The books I read show my love of nonfiction and particularly narrative nonfiction that brings the conventions of fiction into the factual reporting and writing.

SunLit: Soundtrack or silence? What’s the audio background that helps you write?

Kane: Usually metal bands like Tool, Slayer, Pantera and Motorhead.

SunLit: What event, and at what age, convinced you that you wanted to be a writer?

Kane: When I was in high school, a friend gave me a copy of “Hells Angels” by Hunter Thompson and I was inspired to pursue journalism based on that book and others by writers called the New Journalists.

SunLit: Greatest writing fear? 

Kane: Making a mistake or presenting something out of context.

SunLit: Greatest writing satisfaction? 

Kane: Exposing what the government wants hidden from the taxpayers and voters who are supposed to be their bosses.

Bethany Turner is a bestselling author of romantic comedies. She has received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, been repeatedly named to Family Fiction Magazine’s annual list of 40 Essential Romance Authors and POPSUGAR’s Best Romance Novels of the year, and has been an Amazon Editors’ Pick for Best Romance, “Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other.” She lives in southwest Colorado with her husband and two sons. 

“Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other” won the 2024 Colorado Book Award for Romance.

SunLit: Tell us this book’s backstory. What inspired you to write it? Where did the story/theme originate?

Bethany Turner: Something interesting happened with this book that had never happened to me before. I created the fictional town in which it takes place first, and then figured out the story and characters that were going to exist there. 

I’d begun writing a completely different story set in this fictional town — Adelaide Springs, Colorado — nearly a decade ago, but the time was never right for that story, no matter how many times I tried. I finally got to the point of being ready (I thought) to move on from that story, but I couldn’t move on from the town. 

Before I knew it, I had created a group of friends who had grown up in Adelaide Springs together before going their separate ways, and one of those friends was Brynn Cornell, who has become a major celebrity in the 20 years since she essentially ran away from home. I knew that if I could find a believable reason to make her (begrudgingly) go back home, there was a story there. 

(Incidentally, the time is finally right for that original Adelaide Springs story, too. “Wes and Addie Had Their Chance” will release in 2025.) 

SunLit: Place this excerpt in context. How does it fit into the book as a whole? Why did you select it?

Turner: The excerpt is from the first chapter, and it’s essential to laying the groundwork for the story. Brynn Cornell is the beloved co-host of “Sunup” — the number one morning news entertainment program in the country. But suddenly, the wheels come off in the final few minutes of the Friday episode.

UNDERWRITTEN BY

Each week, The Colorado Sun and Colorado Humanities & Center For The Book feature an excerpt from a Colorado book and an interview with the author. Explore the SunLit archives at coloradosun.com/sunlit.

In this excerpt, we see Brynn go from a star on the rise to a complete disaster. She’s known as “America’s Ray of Sunshine,” but suddenly she reveals her true character…and she’s a bit of a mean girl. The excerpt sets us up for all that is to come as Brynn is forced to go back to Adelaide Springs to try and save her reputation. 

SunLit: Tell us about creating this book. What influences and/or experiences informed the project before you sat down to write? And once you did begin to write, did the work take you in any unexpected directions?

Turner: I tend to find that stories always take me somewhere unexpected! I knew when I sat down to write that I wanted to share the warmth and occasional quirkiness of small-town living from the perspectives of these two very different (though certainly not as different as they think) characters. 

Brynn has found it so easy to blame her difficulties in life on her upbringing in Adelaide Springs. Sebastian, meanwhile, has come to the town as a somewhat damaged adult, and Adelaide Springs is a source of peace and healing for him. One thing I really didn’t anticipate was how much healing was to be found, for both of them, in simply being loved and accepted. 

And once the healing began, they were able to connect across their differences and through their similarities. I also don’t think I expected to laugh with these two characters as much as I did. I write romantic comedy, so obviously I hoped it would be funny. But it was the laughing with Brynn and Sebastian — mostly as they laughed with (and occasionally at) each other — that I treasured.

SunLit: Are there lessons you take away from each experience of writing a book? And if so, what did the process of writing this book add to your knowledge and understanding of your craft and/or the subject matter?

“Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other”

>> Read an excerpt

Where to find it:

• Prospector: Search the combined catalogs of 23 Colorado libraries
• Libby: E-books and audio books
• NewPages Guide: List of Colorado independent bookstores
• Bookshop.org: Searchable database of bookstores nationwide

SunLit present new excerpts from some of the best Colorado authors that not only spin engaging narratives but also illuminate who we are as a community. Read more.

Turner: Oh, always! For a long time, I thought the fact that each new book I wrote became my new favorite just meant I was flighty or had a bad memory! That’s not true, of course. (Well, the bad memory thing isn’t untrue…) 

Each new book I write tends to be my favorite book I’ve written because each book adds to my mental and emotional library of resources — what I’m good at; what I struggle with; what makes me laugh; what makes readers laugh; what makes us both cry. 

With this book in particular, I realized that in my first drafts, I tend to get too caught up in the exposition. I’m what we call a “pantser” — I fly by the seat of my pants as I write and go wherever the story takes me, rather than plotting out a book ahead of time — so in my first draft, it’s usually obvious in the first few chapters that I’m just trying to figure things out. There’s nothing wrong with that. That’s my process, and that’s what edits and rewrites are for! 

But as I wrote (or more accurately, rewrote) “Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other,” it finally clicked for me that I’m better served, and the story is better served, if I just jump into the action…even if I don’t understand anything behind the action yet. The edits and the rewrites will still be necessary, of course, but the characters reveal themselves to me more quickly when I give them more to do, right off the bat.

SunLit: What were the biggest challenges you faced in writing this book?

Turner: Brynn Cornell is not very likable in the beginning of this book. I knew that would be the case and I had no desire to skirt around that. It was a challenge, however, to embrace the negative side of my primary protagonist’s personality while still creating a character readers would want to stick with and root for. 

Ultimately, the story is about Brynn’s redemption and healing, and in order to get her where she needed to go, we needed to first see her at her worst. The adage “hurt people hurt people” very much applies to Brynn, but ultimately, she is deep and layered and has a great capacity for love and compassion. 

It takes the patience and understanding of those who love her to help her rediscover those qualities in herself, and I definitely rely on the patience and understanding of the reader, as well, as they get to know who Brynn really is. 

SunLit: If you could pick just one thing – a theme, lesson, emotion or realization — that readers would take from this book, what would that be? 

Turner: Laila Olivet, one of the supporting characters in the book, has a quote that I think sums it up: “Sometimes when you look for the best in someone, you actually find it.” As we all know, we live in a very divided world. We have a lot of differences that stretch across a lot of issues. That’s part of being human. 

But if we go to the effort of looking for connection and looking for common ground, or even just looking at the person rather than the rhetoric, there’s no telling what we may find.

SunLit: In a highly politicized atmosphere where books, and people’s access to them, has become increasingly contentious, what would you add to the conversation about books, libraries and generally the availability of literature in the public sphere?

Turner: I think if we could all just commit to building up and supporting the books and authors we like to read rather than tearing down the books and authors we don’t like to read, most of the problems would take care of themselves. Support libraries, support independent booksellers, support any reputable channel of literary distribution you choose! But the key word is support.

SunLit: Walk us through your writing process: Where and how do you write? 

Turner: Like so many writers, I have a separate full-time job, a family, and a very busy life. I don’t have a lot of time to write, so it’s important to me that the time I do have is productive. 

My very supportive husband and I gave up the guest room in our house and turned it into my office, and my family is very respectful of my writing time. Most of my writing is done sitting in front of a large monitor at my desk in that office with headphones on and a cup of coffee nearby. 

SunLit: You deal with difficult issues in your stories, and then surround those difficulties with comedy. What do you see as the connection between pain and laughter?

Turner: Just like there is a thin line between love and hate (as Brynn and Sebastian demonstrate in this book), there is a thin line between pain and laughter. The acknowledgement of both genuine pain and genuine laughter requires a certain level of vulnerability. 

There’s a reason families so often share their deepest laughs together as they mourn the loss of a loved one. An authentic life lived richly will be full of peaks and valleys, and it’s often the traveling from one to the other that reveals to us who we are and what we value. 

SunLit: Tell us about your next project.

Turner: My next romantic comedy is called “Cole and Laila Are Just Friends: A Love Story.” It once again takes place in the fictional town of Adelaide Springs, Colorado, and features two supporting characters we meet in “Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other.” It was so fun to return to this cast of characters! 

Each story stands on its own and can be read in any order, but Cole and Laila’s story does continue on after the events of Brynn and Sebastian’s story. Cole and Laila have a very different dynamic than that of Brynn and Sebastian, as the titles suggest, and it was simply joyous to spend time with these lifelong best friends as they began to wonder if they’d been missing something right in front of them for their entire lives. That book released earlier this month. And then in 2025, we return to Adelaide Springs one final time with “Wes and Addie Had Their Chance: A Love Story”.

Just a few more quick questions

SunLit: Do you look forward to the actual work of writing or is it a chore that you dread but must do to achieve good things?

Turner: I tend to look at it as a chore, until I actually sit down and the words start flowing. Then I never want to stop!

SunLit: What’s the first piece of writing – at any age – that you remember being proud of?

Turner: In the second grade I won a state-level contest in Kentucky, where I grew up. The assignment was to write about who we would have lunch with, if we could choose anyone living or dead, and to write about that lunch as we imagined it. 

I chose John Stamos, who was Uncle Jesse on the sitcom “Full House” at the time, and my essay certainly stood out, considering most of my peers wrote about more serious lunchmates! But, like I said, I won. I didn’t realize it at the time, of course, but now I see just how much that early success bolstered me and encouraged me to write what matters to me, even if it seems less important. 

It’s not less important. If it matters to me, it probably matters to some readers out there who are waiting for a story like mine to come along.

SunLit: When you look back at your early professional writing, how do you feel about it? Impressed? Embarrassed? Satisfied? Wish you could have a do-over?

Turner: I’ve definitely gotten better through the years, but I’m honestly proud of all of it. Each story has shaped me into the writer I am today — for better or worse — and will continue to shape me into the writer I hope to become.

SunLit: What three writers, from any era, can you imagine having over for a great discussion about literature and writing? And why?

Turner: John Stamos released a book last year, so I suppose I could get away with including him in this conversation, as well! Having said that, I’ll go with Jane Austen, Nora Ephron (who, in addition to many other genius works, wrote the rom-com movie classics “When Harry Met Sally,” “Sleepless in Seattle” and “You’ve Got Mail”) and Helen Fielding (who wrote the Bridget Jones novels). 

Those three are my writing inspiration with every love story I write, and they each broke the mold within the genre in their own individual ways. They make me laugh and swoon and cry and then laugh again, and I would love to pick their brains and just marvel at their brilliance.  

SunLit: Do you have a favorite quote about writing?

Turner: Jane Austen wrote, “I am not at all in a humor for writing; I must write on till I am.” That’s my favorite because it is so real, and such a good reminder. Writing can absolutely be a joy. There are times, when the words are flowing and the imagination is running wild, that it really is like you dream it will be. 

But there are also deadlines and writer’s block and headaches and days when you’re convinced you’ll never write anything worth reading, ever again. The key is to keep at it. The next moment of joy is only a word or a page or a chapter away.

SunLit: What does the current collection of books on your home shelves tell visitors about you?

Turner: That I have some ridiculously talented friends! I’m in the process of reading books written by friends—either to endorse them, prepublication, or to get caught up on stories I’ve missed—and I’m blown away by their talent and creativity.

SunLit: Soundtrack or silence? What’s the audio background that helps you write?

Turner: Soundtrack! I know it doesn’t work for every writer, but I have discovered the beauty of creating a playlist that fits the story’s emotional needs, and using it as a shortcut to that emotion, essentially. Music holds an indescribable power that way.

SunLit: What event, and at what age, convinced you that you wanted to be a writer?

Turner: I didn’t know I wanted to be a writer until I began writing in my early 30s. I suppose I was always a decent writer (see, once again, the John Stamos story), but it never occurred to me that I would write entire books! 

Then in my early 30s, I was the vice president of a bank that was enduring its second buyout in a couple of years, and I was burning out quickly. My children were young and I was tired and stressed, and I began writing as a creative outlet and stress relief. It didn’t take long, once I got going, for me to realize how much I loved it.

SunLit: Greatest fear as an author?

Turner: The end of the ideas. So far it’s been an unfounded fear, but it’s always there, just under the surface.

SunLit: Greatest satisfaction?

Turner: Connecting with readers. In-person reader events are my absolute favorite thing, but connecting through email or social media or virtual book clubs is amazing as well! From the time a reader dives into a book, it no longer belongs to the author. It belongs to the reader. And it’s such a gift to be able to share a story with another person.

Ramona Ausubel is the bestselling author of “The Last Animal,” which was named a best book of 2023 by many outlets. Her previous books are “Awayland: Stories,” “Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty, A Guide to Being Born” and “No One is Here Except All of Us.” She is the recipient of the PEN/USA Fiction Award, the Cabell First Novelist Award and has been a finalist for both the California and Colorado Book Awards and the New York Public Library Young Lions Award. Her work has been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Paris Review daily, One Story, Tin House, The Oxford American, Ploughshares and elsewhere. She is a professor at Colorado State University and lives in Boulder, Colorado, with her family. 

Her book “The Last Animal” was a finalist for the Colorado Book Award for Novels.

SunLit: Tell us this book’s backstory. What inspired you to write it? Where did the story/theme originate?

Ramona Ausubel: When my daughter was a few weeks old, she was lying on my chest and I thought about how crazy it was that I had this brand-new creature, tiny and delicate. She fell asleep, and I opened my laptop to do some work and a news story popped up about scientists working to de-extinct various creatures, including the woolly mammoth and I was hit with this rush of feelings and questions. 

Hubris! Unintended consequences! Why can’t we humans ever just take care of what we have, rather than reaching for the sexiest, most expensive and complicated idea? But also, here is a group of people who want to make and care for an animal, just like I was doing with my new baby. There was tenderness in the project, along with everything else. 

SunLit: Place this excerpt in context. How does it fit into the book as a whole? Why did you select it?

Ausubel: This is the very beginning of the novel and I think it make a good introduction for the characters and setting. 

SunLit: Tell us about creating this book. What influences and/or experiences informed the project before you sat down to write? 

Ausubel: I read a lot about CRISPR, which is the gene editing process scientists will use to bring back extinct creatures (or to be more precise, they will use this to make a new creature with a very similar genetic code to the extinct animal). But “The Last Animal” is not science fiction and is really about a family in the throes of grief and transformation, so I did a lot of thinking in that realm, too. It’s about growing up, about climate change, motherhood, care, and loss. It’s about how we take care of one another.

UNDERWRITTEN BY

Each week, The Colorado Sun and Colorado Humanities & Center For The Book feature an excerpt from a Colorado book and an interview with the author. Explore the SunLit archives at coloradosun.com/sunlit.

SunLit: What did the process of writing this book add to your knowledge and understanding of your craft and/or the subject matter?

Ausubel: I started “The Last Animal” not long before the start of the pandemic and when the world shut down, the world of the book became a much bigger part of my personal landscape than I ever could have imagined. I escaped there when I wasn’t teaching Zoom school at Colorado State University or caring for my kids. 

A big question of the book is whether we can stay in love with the world, even if it might break our hearts a lot of the time. The pandemic was a pretty powerful living laboratory of that, for me. 

SunLit: What were the biggest challenges you faced in writing this book?

Ausubel: Every book is a new universe and no matter how much experience I have, the fact that it’s always new is both the hard part and the pleasure. The challenge this time was partly to balance the emotional worlds of the characters with the backdrop of de-extinction. 

Readers needed to understand that project without giant info dumps, and always, always the lives of the characters and their relationships needed to be centered. 

SunLit: What’s the most important thing — a theme, lesson, emotion or realization — that readers should take from this book? 

Ausubel: There is so much magic in this world. So much possibility. So much loss. It’s all of it, all the time, and one piece does not cancel out the rest. 

SunLit: Walk us through your writing process: Where and how do you write? 

Ausubel: Because I have a full-time teaching job and a family, I have to be flexible and adaptable. This spring I have been working on a new novel and trying to write most days, for about 90 minutes at a time so that I make noticeable progress and stay connected to the project. 

But it changes depending on the demands in my life and what I’m working on. I write on the couch, at the kitchen table, at cafes — wherever I can! Some days I only have 15 minutes to write, but if I keep typing, even that can be enough. And there were weeks when big stuff came up and I didn’t write at all, and it’s so important to say, “oh, well!” and dive back in without guilt or shame. Life is full, which is why I have stories to write. It’s important for me to reframe the proposition so that life and writing are not in competition with one another.

“The Last Animal”

>> Read an excerpt

Where to find it:

• Prospector: Search the combined catalogs of 23 Colorado libraries
• Libby: E-books and audio books
• NewPages Guide: List of Colorado independent bookstores
• Bookshop.org: Searchable database of bookstores nationwide

SunLit present new excerpts from some of the best Colorado authors that not only spin engaging narratives but also illuminate who we are as a community. Read more.

SunLit: Tell us about your next project.

Ausubel: I’m working on a new novel, and it’s too early to say a lot but I can tell you that it’s about shapeshifting, open water ocean swimming, wildfires and the people we turn into when circumstances push us out of the known world. 

 A few more quick questions

SunLit: Which do you enjoy more as you work on a book – writing or editing?

Ausubel: Editing! Once I have the material, I love the long process of building and shaping. It’s just as creative as the drafting process, at least!

SunLit: What’s the first piece of writing – at any age – that you remember being proud of?

Ausubel: I was a super super shy kid and I didn’t feel very confident, but in the 6^th grade we studied poetry and I felt like I had discovered something miraculous. I had things to say! And people actually got it! 

SunLit: What three writers, from any era, would you invite over for a great discussion about literature and writing? 

Ausubel: This is too hard! Everyone? Shakespeare, James Baldwin and Louise Erdrich? This would change on any given day! 

SunLit: Do you have a favorite quote about writing?

Ausubel: “Follow your weird.” – Jim Shepard 

SunLit: What does the current collection of books on your home shelves tell visitors about you?

Ausubel: That I depend on all sorts of voices to help me see the world! 

SunLit: Soundtrack or silence? What’s the audio background that helps you write?

Ausubel: I like the ambient noise of a café, and I like music but I hate choosing music. Colorado local Gregory Alan Isakov is a favorite for writing company, though. 

SunLit: What music do you listen to for sheer enjoyment?

Ausubel: I am not the DJ in our house — my husband and 9-year-old daughter are the music choosers most of the time and I’m happy to listen to what they love. 

SunLit: What event, and at what age, convinced you that you wanted to be a writer?

Ausubel: Since that poem in 6^th grade I have known that writing would be a big part of my life. In high school and college I became more and more serious, and though I had no idea if or how I’d make writing part of my career, I knew it would be part of my life. 

I remember doing the final reading for a poetry class in a local café in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I grew up, and looking out at the audience and feeling a connection to them and to myself. That’s magic. 

SunLit: Greatest writing fear?

Ausubel: Slowly or accidentally stopping. Letting other responsibilities crowd out the part of me that knows how to create something from nothing. 

SunLit: Greatest writing satisfaction?

Ausubel: The way a writing practice keeps me awake to this miraculous, strange world. If I’m writing, I’m more alive. 

Lou Dean is the author of countless articles in major magazines, five books of memoirs and two young adult novels. She has received four Colorado Authors’ League Awards and a prestigious Wrangler Award for her work. She grew up on a farm in Osage County, Oklahoma, and attended Oklahoma State University. She now resides in an isolated area of northwest Colorado.

Her novel “Autumn of the Big Snow” is a Colorado Book Award finalist for Romance.

SunLit: Tell us this book’s backstory. What inspired you to write it? Where did the story/theme originate?

Lou Dean: This story evolved out of my love for hiking and riding my donkey in the mountains of northwestern Colorado. I came from Oklahoma to Colorado because my son had chronic asthma. The doctor recommended moving my 5-year-old to a high, dry climate. Scott was on a dozen meds and struggling to breathe when we arrived in Rangely, but after only a few months his health began to improve. 

Homesickness for Oklahoma choked me that first year, but as Scott’s health improved, my attitude changed. Ten years later, when I moved to rural Blue Mountain and began to hike with my dogs, I slowly fell in love with the mountain mystic and all of its wonder. My love for this country became the setting for the novel and my years of experience working construction jobs to support my writing habit and son inspired the plot.

SunLit: Place this excerpt in context. How does it fit into the book as a whole? Why did you select it?

Dean: The excerpt, where the wife of my heroine’s lover arrives with a gun and announces she intends to shoot Katie Jo, is a turning point for the protagonist, who, for two years has believed the lies of her married lover. It also deepens her attraction to her handsome coworker, August Atkins, who warned her that “men lie to get what they want.” 

UNDERWRITTEN BY

Each week, The Colorado Sun and Colorado Humanities & Center For The Book feature an excerpt from a Colorado book and an interview with the author. Explore the SunLit archives at coloradosun.com/sunlit.

The preparation for Katie Jo’s hiking trip to the mountains and the gathering of her animal family is something I’ve done for decades and love doing, probably that is why I selected it.

SunLit: Tell us about creating this book. What influences and/or experiences informed the project before you sat down to write? 

Dean: Many factors in my life influenced this book. I play the guitar and for years wrote songs that I entered into contests. I have had the experience of being lied to in a relationship and remaining very naïve when others tried to warn me. I have lived alone for years, supported by my family of canine companions. The time I spent hiking in the foothills and mountains around Blue Mountain slowly became therapy for me and began to shape this story long before I began to write about Katie Jo and August Atkins. My characters, of course are fictional. Yes, many unexpected twists and turns took me in different directions through 10 years and four drafts of this novel.

SunLit: What did the process of writing this book add to your knowledge and understanding of your craft and/or the subject matter?

Dean: I have nine books in print. Each has been a lesson. I sold my first article in 1974 to the American Human Association for one and a half cents per word. In 1993 I sold my first book, a young adult romance, to a German publisher through a California literary agent. I called everyone I’d ever known to tell them I’d sold my first book. 

Two weeks later, the agent informed me the book would only be published in German. I had to call everyone back and tell them I did sell the book, but they wouldn’t be able to read it. Yes, every book is a lesson in humility. This novel was written in between four other projects that were eventually published. I kept going back to it and even last year at 75 years young, was determined to get it published. Perhaps, the writing of this novel made me realize, yet again, the importance of never giving up on a project you love.

SunLit: What were the biggest challenges you faced in writing this book?

Dean: The biggest challenge in finishing this novel was the fact that other projects kept getting in the way. In 2007 a man I’d known 30 years before came back into my life in Oklahoma. He had spent his early years racing horses on the old bush tracks in the fifties. As he introduced me to other jockeys of that era, a book, “The Boys from the Bushes,” surfaced and demanded I drop everything and write it while these men and women (most in their 80s) could still talk to me. 

After that four year marathon of interviewing, collecting, and writing this nonfiction book, an editor at a small publishing house in Wyoming, High Plains Press, approached me about writing a memoir. In 2001 I rode my donkey across the state of Colorado to promote nonviolence in the schools. That 400 mile trek that took a month involved two years of writing and editing and became “On My Ass, Riding the Midlife Crisis Trail.” That memoir was a finalist in the 2014 Colorado Authors League Awards.  

I returned to the current romance novel while still traveling around promoting the two above mentioned books, but at age 70, I was slowing down. Then, I sold an article to the Guidepost Magazine, All Creatures, entitled “Too old for a puppy.” The response I received across the country from that story and a special puppy named Dell, inspired me to write my last memoir, “The Amazing Grace of Dogs.”  

In the fifties, when my mama left our family farm in Oklahoma, a very caring teacher enrolled Shorty Dog in school so he could comfort me. Four decades later, a dog named Jake saved me from a life-threatening ATV accident on a horse ranch in Utah. Dell Dog, the puppy I acquired at age 70, made me realize I had one more important memoir to write. “The Amazing Grace of Dogs,” became the unforgettable story of how love from dedicated canine companions gave me the strength to survive family tragedy and the unmerited divine assistance (grace) to become an award-winning author. 

During the writing of this book, I connected with an editor who had, at one time, worked with Doubleday Publishing. He loved my book, jumped on board to help me edit and tried to find an agent for me. Then COVID happened and everything changed for two years. Because of my age, I made the decision to offer the book myself on Amazon.  It was a Colorado Authors League finalist in the memoir category in 2021.

SunLit: What’s the most important thing – a theme, lesson, emotion or realization — that readers should take from this book? 

Dean: If you’ve been devastated in a loving relationship and are struggling to persevere, believe in hope and cling to a sense of humor.

SunLit: Walk us through your writing process: Where and how do you write? 

Dean: The desk where I do my daily writing faces south. From my picture window, I can see thousands of acres of sagebrush-covered public lands without a trace of civilization. I am so fortunate that God put me in northwest Colorado, where I can walk for hours with my dogs off leash and never see another human. 

The Blue Mountain Community sets nearby with eight houses east of me on small acreages, most peppered with horses, cows, and chickens. Since I was born and raised on an Oklahoma farm, being in the middle of nowhere suits me.  In my early days, when I had to work a day job to support my son, I wrote evenings and weekends. Later, as I began to sell articles, I had more writing time and wrote 8-10 hours a day. I have been blessed with the ability to discipline myself.  

Now, 10 years past retirement age, I usually write early morning until noon. I started out on a Smith Corona electric typewriter and finally got my first laptop in the early 1990s. For decades, I typed up my manuscripts, sent them out in a manila envelope with a stamped, self-addressed envelope included, in order to get either a rejection or a check. I still have boxes of rejections from that era, but also countless articles in major magazines. 

SunLit: When are you going to write the sequel to “Autumn of the Big Snow?

“Autumn of the Big Snow”

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Dean: I answer that question with, “Time will tell.” I have other projects that are beckoning. Over a period of 50 years, I’ve written poems for many different occasions and events. Many were for fun, some more serious. I may do something with those. I wrote six or eight picture books in rhymed verse that I think are good. 

My greatest weakness as a writer was always in marketing. If I sent a manuscript out a few times and no one seemed interested, I tucked it away and went on. For me, the writing always took priority over the selling. I have a middle grade novel that is good. At my age, it becomes a question of “what is the most important project for me?” So, as I said, “Time will tell.”

SunLit: Tell us about your next project.

Dean: Currently, I have one article already scheduled later this year for Guideposts           Magazine and another in the works. I have a short Father’s Day piece coming out in the June/July issue of Guideposts, an another project in progress for their “Joys of Christmas” special issue.  I enjoy these shorter projects and the input I get from Guideposts readers, so will continue with that. 

As far as a longer project, I’ve finally learned to be patient, consider all possibilities and see where I’m led.

A few more quick questions

SunLit: Which do you enjoy more as you work on a book – writing or editing?

Dean: I must love the work. I’ve been dedicated to it since 1974, when I sold my first article and saw my name in print. Of course, it is lonely, sometimes very hard work, but the satisfaction of getting the response from readers is rewarding. Like any other profession, at times it is discouraging.. Living where I do and being able to get out and hike with my dogs has saved me from despair. When I get stuck in a bad place and feel blocked, I go out with my dogs to the hills, hike and relax. I have found many answers to plot twists in my northwestern Colorado foothills. Probably the hardest part of continuing to write was transitioning to the current technology and learning how to give editors what they needed.

SunLit: What’s the first piece of writing – at any age – that you remember being proud of?

Dean: In 1967, I was enrolled at Oklahoma State University in pre-vet-med. Because of my early love for dogs and animals, veterinary medicine seemed to be a good fit. But I had a poor background in math and science and for a female to get into vet school (during that era) was next to impossible without a straight A average. As I struggled daily with tutoring and dealt with the possibility that I might never comprehend chemistry, I entered a campus poetry contest and won. 

The fact that I won was a shock to me. Although I’d kept a personal journal for years, I had never considered the possibility of pursuing writing as a career. My roommate. Elaine was a serious-minded academic who rarely showed emotion of any kind. She was impressed that I won the contest and asked me to read the poem to her. To my astonishment, she openly wept as I read the poem about leaving my horse in order to attend college. Even though it was several years later when I enrolled in my first creative writing class, I never forgot the way my words moved Elaine.

SunLit: What three writers, from any era, would you invite over for a great discussion about literature and writing? 

Dean: When I began to seriously consider writing, I read all of the old classics. Mark

Twain quickly became my favorite. I read everything he’d written and all that was written about him. So he would be invited to my Blue Mountain home to have a discussion about literature. My second invitation would go out to James Herriot, he had the gift of humor and a deep love and respect for animals. My third invite would have to go to Margaret Mitchell, who wrote and published one book that became an instant classic and was one of the greatest novels ever written. 

SunLit: Do you have a favorite quote about writing?

Dean: I have several inspirational quotes around my desk, but my favorite would be 

a Peanuts cartoon taped beneath my keyboard. Snoopy is sitting on his doghouse with his typewriter. “Why Dogs Are the Most Superior of All Creatures On Land, Sea and Sky and Maybe Space.” Lucy reads this and says, “I think your title is a bit long.” Snoopy, still behind his typewriter, thinks for a moment and decides, “I’ll take out the ‘maybe.’”

SunLit: What does the current collection of books on your home shelves tell visitors about you?

Dean: My books would tell any visitor that I love books of every genre. I love books 

that are classics and books that are little known. I love memoir, novels, history, inspirational and self-help. I have the work of Hemingway, Shakespeare, Dickens, and Poe displayed on the shelf next to the novels of Tony Hillerman.

SunLit: Soundtrack or silence? What’s the audio background that helps you write?

Dean: Silence except for the doves and red-winged blackbirds in the yard.

SunLit: What event, and at what age, convinced you that you wanted to be a writer?

Dean: When I was seven, my mama left our Oklahoma farm. My teacher enrolled my dog, Shorty, so he could be with me at our one-room schoolhouse. Shorty became my security. Our farm was located less than a mile from the school, so I got in the habit of sitting on the school steps in the late afternoon long after everyone else left and reading to my dog. Books and reading became my escape from the pain of Mama leaving and sharing stories was a balm for my soul. I didn’t know then, but I know now, I became a writer sitting on the steps of Braden School in 1955 in Osage County, Oklahoma, at age 7. 

SunLit: Greatest writing fear?

Dean: Since I will be 76 in June this year, I guess I am afraid of losing the ability to create. But, I have written and published two books in the past four years and sold six feature articles, so I have no intention of retiring.                                                                                                                                      

SunLit: Greatest writing satisfaction?

Dean: The process of writing is fascinating to me. Getting an idea, letting it develop, rearranging story elements, watching a story grow. The completion of an article or a book is a great feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction.