1--What’s the name of your latest release?
The Antidote for Everything
2--What is it about?
It tells the story of what goes spectacularly wrong in the deep friendship between a woman named Georgia (a urologist) and a man named Jonah (a family medicine doctor) after one of them is unjustly fired.
3--What word best describes your main character(s)?
Bullheaded
4--What makes your story relatable?
I think we are all tuned in to the concept of friendship as a fundamental human relationship, maybe even more so than family in certain ways, since friendships are voluntary and self-selected. But also the novel poses the question of who should get to make medical decisions: politicians? Administrators? Or doctors and patients? And what is a justifiable response to injustice?
5--Who are the people your main characters turn to when they need help?
I have two main characters and there is no question: they turn to one another. Neither of them has close family and they have the magical kind of friendship where they are completely comfortable with each other. There’s no artifice, no self-censoring, no fear of abandonment between them.
6--What do you love about the setting of your book?
It’s set in Charleston and Amsterdam so what’s not to love?
7--Are you a plotter (follow an outline) or a pantster (write by the seat of your pants)?
100% pantster, baby. Trying to outline makes my head explode.
8--What is an ideal writing day for you?
A minion bringing me a steady stream of lattes while I churn out sheer brilliance. Never gonna happen, obviously.
9--Do you listen to music while you write, need total silence, or do you have the TV on?
I can write in silence or with any amount of noise. Visual clutter tends to bother me, though. Since I have three kids, I’m basically doomed.
10-- How do you approach research?
Initially with enthusiasm and then with progressive dread as I bog down in extraneous details. I’d like it a lot more if it weren’t for deadlines.
11--What is your publishing journey story?
I’ve written a lot about this--you can read some of my blogs about it on my website (kimmerymartin.com) or on The Debutante Ball, a website for debut authors where I wrote an article every week for a year about the process. But it was a long, humbling journey--I was a bad query-letter writer and had so many query rejections I would feel my face flame up in pre-emptive shame every time my computer made an incoming email noise. Over 100 agents declined to even read my manuscript, let alone represent me. I persevered, obviously, and got better. But as for why I started writing initially: I’m an obsessive reader. I wanted to try my hand at the endeavor that’s given me so much joy and knowledge throughout my life.
12--Do you have critique partners/writing groups you want to give a shout-out to?
Yes, yes, yes! I’m in many author groups, including a big group of female physicians who write. But my heart beats for my in-person writing group: Bess Kercher, Tracy Curtis, and Trish Rohr, three women in Charlotte who’ve become my closest friends. We do everything: critiquing, proofreading, publicizing, signal-boosting, comforting, and, you know, drinking.
13--What’re the most frustrating things about being an author?
Realizing you did something badly once it’s too late.
14--What’s your favorite scent?
Almonds. Also the scent of a baby’s head.
15--What movie will you watch no matter what if it’s on TV?
Love Actually. Also, Raising Arizona.
16--Do you like breakfast, lunch, or dinner best?
Yes ;)
17--What’s one thing you wish you knew more about?
I wish I understood theoretical physics.
18--What’s the silliest thing you’ve recently done?
I allowed my youngest child to draw a “tattoo” on my back. I was sleepy and did not think it through when she came at me with a marker.
19--What can readers expect from you next?
I’m excited about my untitled work-in-progress; my publisher is pitching it as The Hot Zone meets Sophie’s Choice, which should give you some idea about the subject. The main character is an infectious disease doctor who is traveling with her two children in the midst of a new viral pandemic--and she has to decide which of her children will receive the only available dose of an experimental antidote. I hope that life doesn’t imitate art here, given this new real-life coronavirus outbreak!
20--How can readers reach you?
Through my website: kimmerymartin.com. I’m @kimmerymartin on Instagram (I love Instagram) @kimmerym on Twitter and Kimmery Martin, Author on Facebook.
***
In this whip-smart and timely novel from acclaimed author Kimmery Martin, two doctors travel a surprising path when they must choose between treating their patients and keeping their jobs.
Georgia Brown’s profession as a urologist requires her to interact with plenty of naked men, but her romantic prospects have fizzled. The most important person in her life is her friend Jonah Tsukada, a funny, empathetic family medicine doctor who works at the same hospital in Charleston, South Carolina and who has become as close as family to her.
Just after Georgia leaves the country for a medical conference, Jonah shares startling news. The hospital is instructing doctors to stop providing medical care for transgender patients. Jonah, a gay man, is the first to be fired when he refuses to abandon his patients. Stunned by the predicament of her closest friend, Georgia’s natural instinct is to fight alongside him. But when her attempts to address the situation result in incalculable harm, both Georgia and Jonah find themselves facing the loss of much more than their careers.
Fiction [Berkley, On Sale: February 18, 2020, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9781984802835 / ]
Kimmery Martin is an emergency medicine doctor, born and raised in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky. A lifelong literary nerd, she reviews books, interviews authors, and works extensively with the library foundation in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she resides with her husband and three children.
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