It’s sadly not uncommon for someone to angrily tell another person, “This is all your fault.” But in Maria Dong’s psychological suspense novel Liar, Dreamer, Thief (hardcover, Kindle, audiobook), a man named Kurt goes one step further by telling his coworker Katrina that it’s all her fault, and then he jumps off a bridge. And that’s how this story starts. In the following email interview, Dong discusses what inspired and influenced this obviously intense thriller.
Usually, sci-fi stories don’t make me want to visit the place in question. Reading Dune didn’t make me want to visit Arrakis; watching Star Wars didn’t make Tatooine look like a fun vacation spot; while Alien and Aliens made LV-426 look like a shithole. But in doing the following email interview with writer Brian Yapko about his alien invasion / apocalyptic fantasy / psychological thriller / gay romance novel El Nuevo Mundo (paperback, Kindle), I ended up wondering how much hotels cost in Santa Fe, New Mexico and, once there, where to buy alien repellant.