Big Idea Category
The Big Idea: David Walton
Posted on October 18, 2022 5 Comments
Author David Walton offers us a glimpse into the past, the far past, in his Big Idea for his newest novel, Living Memory. Can the past be able to shape the future? Walton has thoughts! DAVID WALTON: Admit it: You wish you could ride a triceratops. As a child, I would have handed over my library card for […]
The Big Idea: Mary Robinette Kowal
Posted on October 17, 2022 25 Comments
“The book was better than the movie!” What about when the book was inspired by a movie? Hugo Award Winning author Mary Robinette Kowal talks to us today about what inspired her to write her newest novel, The Spare Man. MARY ROBINETTE KOWAL: The Thin Man in Space — That’s what The Spare Man is. […]
The Big Idea: Ever Dundas
Posted on October 14, 2022 8 Comments
There are typefaces that have passed into infamy for being terrible… but in HellSans, there’s one that’s gone just beyond being terrible into being terrifying. And for author Ever Dundas, this typeface is a metaphor, not for awful kerning and character design, but something altogether more sinister and troubling. EVER DUNDAS: I spent my childhood […]
The Big Idea: Aidan Moher
Posted on October 13, 2022 1 Comment
There are a number of mass culture phenomena that came from Japan to the United States and western culture generally, and in Fight, Magic, Items, author Aidan Moher delves into one such phenomenon, that the casual fan might not know had sprung from there at all. AIDEN MOHER: Back in the 1990s, I became a […]
The Big Idea: Jason Denzel
Posted on October 12, 2022 1 Comment
Author Jason Denzel knows the challenge of enticing readers to one book — but what about an entire trilogy. With this Big Idea about the final installment in his Mystic Trilogy, Mystic Skies, Denzel is going to give it a shot… and be sure to check out the book trailer at the end. JASON DENZEL: […]
The Big Idea: Brandon Crilly
Posted on October 11, 2022 1 Comment
Look, up in the sky! It’s not a bird, or a plane, it’s… squid gods? Author Brandon Crilly gives us a look inside his newest novel, Catalyst, and what it means to have faith; especially in something you can see. BRANDON CRILLY: When I was a kid, I grew up with two very different family branches. […]
The Big Idea: Nicole Dieker
Posted on October 6, 2022 2 Comments
Author Nicole Dieker couldn’t solve a mystery in her own life, so she tried to solve one in her newest novel, Ode to Murder. And as her big idea explains, there were plot twists in store for her as she made the attempt. NICOLE DIEKER: When I began drafting Ode to Murder, I had just two […]
The Big Idea: Mur Lafferty
Posted on October 4, 2022 10 Comments
Master storyteller Mur Lafferty is back, and in her new novel Station Eternity, she confronts the question of what would really happen if the one thing that always happened around you, was the one thing you wish would never happen… MUR LAFFERTY: I am of Generation X, and grew up with Murder She Wrote, watching Jessica Fletcher […]
The Big Idea: Rob Wilkins
Posted on September 29, 2022 17 Comments
Rob Wilkins was close enough to beloved author Terry Pratchett that the two of them shared the same Twitter account. From that vantage point Wilkins was able to see Pratchett as a friend, as a writer and as a human being – one who had a thing for hats, magical, metaphorical, and material. All of […]
The Big Idea: Laura Kat Young
Posted on September 27, 2022 4 Comments
Laura Kat Young was determined to write a story that she wanted to read, even if at first it was difficult to find a place for it amongst the shelves. Read on to see how The Butcher came to be. LAURA KAT YOUNG: An Eye for an Eye A horrible crime had just shocked the nation, and […]
The Big Idea: William C. Tracy
Posted on September 23, 2022 3 Comments
Always have a backup plan. And if that doesn’t work, have another back up plan… and another after that. Let’s just say Plan A didn’t work out for the characters in William C. Tracy’s new novel, Of Mycelium and Men. Follow along in his Big Idea as he tells you of their Plan B, and Plan […]
The Big Idea: R. B. Lemberg
Posted on September 22, 2022 5 Comments
It can be hard to find the right words to express yourself. For author and linguist R. B. Lemberg, it might help that they have several languages to choose from. Come along in their Big Idea as they tell you about how language can be ever-changing, adaptable, or even restricting, and how this plays into […]
The Big Idea: Jennifer Estep
Posted on September 20, 2022 2 Comments
Sometimes, combining your favorite things can result in something even better than the individual things you put together. Like pineapple on pizza, or peanut butter on pickles. Or in author Jennifer Estep’s case, genres. Come along in the Big Idea for her newest novel, Only Bad Options, to see which genres she chose to perfectly […]
The Big Idea: Gemma Amor
Posted on September 15, 2022
Author Gemma Amor was in a different state of mind when she was writing Full Immersion, and that state of mind made a mark on what she wrote… and how she wrote it. GEMMA AMOR: How much is a woman’s life worth? Not only to others, but to herself? How far would one go to […]
The Big Idea: Max Brallier
Posted on September 14, 2022 9 Comments
The third time’s the charm! Or the fifth. Or perhaps the twelfth? Or maybe, just maybe, the first time was the charm all along? Follow along in author Max Brallier’s Big Idea as he tells you about his journey to crafting the series he truly wanted to, and its newest installment, The Last Kids On […]
The Big Idea: Stacey McEwan
Posted on September 13, 2022 2 Comments
Humans can make a life in almost any circumstance, but when things get really rough, what sort of life can it be? Stacey McEwan has been thinking about this a lot, and in Ledge, she’s got a few answers, at least as they will apply to the folks in her book. STACEY McEWAN: How would […]
The Big Idea: Victor Manibo
Posted on September 8, 2022 5 Comments
The grind never stops. Except for sleep, of course, but what would our world look like if you could remove that part of the equation? Author Victor Manibo had this same question, and decided to create a whole world to answer it in his newest novel, The Sleepless. VICTOR MANIBO: The story seed for The Sleepless […]
The Big Idea: Katherine Cowley
Posted on September 6, 2022 2 Comments
Napoleon is many things: Emperor, exile, enemy. And in Katherine Cowley’s newest novel, The Lady’s Guide to Death and Deception, he is one other thing: Inspiration. Although, as Cowley explains in this Big Idea, not exactly in the way one might think. KATHERINE COWLEY: After Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from his confinement on the Isle of […]
The Big Idea: Jody Keiser
Posted on September 1, 2022
Author Jody Keisner comes to us today with some classic advice: face your fears. Or at least, don’t ignore them. Open up about them! Explore them. That’s exactly what she does in her memoir, Under My Bed. JODY KEISNER: My Big Idea started as My Big Humiliation. “What is your greatest fear?” I asked the room […]
The Big Idea: Bob Smietana
Posted on August 30, 2022 16 Comments
For years now, Bob Smietana has been a writer, reporter and editor for the Religion News Service, and as such has had a front row view of the changes in, and challenges of, religious organizations and entities here in the United States. Where is it all going — and where should it be going? In […]
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