1--What is the title of your latest release?
THE VANISHING HOUR
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Grace Holloway keeps to herself. Since narrowly escaping death at the hands of the man who kidnapped her, she’s thrown herself into the small inn she runs in Rock Harbor, Maine. It’s quiet, quaint and, in the off-season, completely isolated—the perfect place for Grace to keep her own secrets.
But Grace isn’t the only one with something to hide, and Rock Harbor isn’t just a sleepy vacation town. Someone is taking young women—girls who look an awful lot like Grace did when she was kidnapped so many years ago.
When a surge of disappearances brings the investigation to her door, Grace finds herself unwillingly at the center of it all and doing everything she can to keep her distance. Because Grace knows something…something that could change everything. And when the truth comes to light, getting justice for the vanished might be more than Grace can handle alone…
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I thought it needed to be a lonely, coastal town—someplace cold and woodsy, not beachy, and then I settled in Maine because it’s the only state in the US I have not been to and it intrigued me. I thought I might get up there during the writing period for “research,” but I still have not. One day! I mean, it’s not really on the way to anything.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
There are really three protagonists in this book as the three stories intertwine, and I think they are all just weird enough for me to have a beer with.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Kira: Fierce, unrelenting, obsessed.
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I think I’ve been afraid to use humor in my thrillers because it doesn’t seem to have a place in the genre, but I allowed some of the characters, who are naturally funny, let that shine, and I think some of the awkward comic relief can actually have a place in the Mystery & Thriller space and add some lovely layers into the story, making even more relatable and realistic.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I never edit as I go. I don’t even read back. I outline heavily before I begin, then write the book itself fairly quickly and turn in a first draft. I take some space and wait for notes before I do any editing.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
I’m an odd duck when it comes to foodie stuff. I’m actually mostly Raw Vegan. So, I only eat raw veggies, fruits, nuts, and seeds. On the occasion I will spurge, vegan pizza and red wine have my heart.
9--Describe your writing space/office!
I feel like the whole house is my office since my husband works a traditional 9-5, and we don’t have kids. I can sort of perch wherever I feel like during the day, often that’s the front porch. My actual dedicated home office space is a lovely room in the back of the house with French doors, some built in book shelves, a big desk with a large desktop computer screen (which my old eyes prefer,) and a door to the side yard so my dog can scratch to come in and out every five minutes and drive me crazy, completely distracting me from work…I guess that’s why the front porch usually wins.
10--Who is an author you admire?
James Baldwin
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
Giovanni’s Room. It’s hard to explain why. In college, I read it for a class and it made me fall deeply in love with the complexity of the characters and in awe of how the author captured loneliness and desire and guilt. I just thought it was masterful and it made me want to write.
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
It all happened quickly. I finished my first novel in January 2019, and I had an agent a few weeks later. She called to say we had a two-book offer just a few weeks after that. I’m pretty sure I cried. I called everyone close to me, squealing. But I remember being home alone, so after those initial celebratory phone calls, I didn’t know what to do with myself. I think I did laundry! It was my first taste of how publishing goes. An initial HOORAY!...and then you realize, oh crap. It will be about a year before anything actually happens next. Lots of hurry up and wait.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
I do read a lot of thrillers now. Before I wrote them, I only read literary fiction, so I still try to add those kinds of books to my list. Lately though, I have been really into Quantum Physics and how it relates to meditation and changing our brains. I’ve become the Science nerd I wish I tapped into back in school.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
It’s an impossible question, but when pressed, I’ve had the same answer for years: Shawshank Redemption.
15--What is your favorite season?
Summer. I grew up in MN, so we have, like, nine months of winter. You really appreciate warmth. Now that I live in Dallas, people complain about the heat, but I’ll take 100 degrees all day long. Even winter here is too much. I told my husband I might leave for the month of February and go to Miami to work on a book. I require sunshine.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
The older I get, the less I like to celebrate! But, we like to travel, so often take a trip in August.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
Podcasts I have been listening to lately are Rich Roll and Joe Dispenza
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Mexican
19--What do you do when you have free time?
My husband and I love to travel the world. Nothing more exciting then planning a big trip. I also really love fitness, yoga, meditation, and hanging out with my dog.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
My next book is called THE VACANCY IN ROOM 10. It already has a tentative release date of January 9, 2024.
It’s set in a motel that was converted to rundown apartments where two characters, Cass and Anna, find themselves against their will. Anna’s husband has committed suicide at the apartments, so she goes to stay in the unit (that he was using as a cheap art studio for a few months) to gather his things and also get to the bottom of what the hell went wrong—what happened to him.
All the strange residents who hand out at the apartment pool in the heat of that summer seem to all harbor secrets and must know something they aren’t telling her.
Cass’s long-time partner cheats on her and boots her out of his house, and she realizes just how little she has of her own. With no job or money, she’s forced to take the only option presented—to be the caretaker of the building in exchange for free rent. She’s handy beyond just mowing the lawn and re-painting apartments. She fixes leaky pipes and clogged drains and she also hears and sees more than she should working inside the rundown interiors of people’s units.
When a web of lies and secrets unfold, Cass and Anna’s stories collide in explosive and unexpected ways.
From the Edgar Award–nominated author of On a Quiet Street comes a shocking thriller about secrets…and the lengths some people will go to keep them.
Grace Holloway keeps to herself. Since narrowly escaping death at the hands of the man who kidnapped her, she’s thrown herself into the small inn she runs in Rock Harbor, Maine. It’s quiet, quaint and, in the off-season, completely isolated—the perfect place for Grace to keep her own secrets.
But Grace isn’t the only one with something to hide, and Rock Harbor isn’t just a sleepy vacation town. Someone is taking young women—girls who look an awful lot like Grace did when she was kidnapped so many years ago.
When a surge of disappearances brings the investigation to her door, Grace finds herself unwillingly at the center of it all and doing everything she can to keep her distance. Because Grace knows something…something that could change everything. And when the truth comes to light, getting justice for the vanished might be more than Grace can handle alone…
Thriller Domestic [Graydon House, On Sale: May 30, 2023, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781525819582 / eISBN: 9780369736345]
Seraphina Nova Glass is an Assistant Professor of Instruction and Playwright-In-Residence at the University of Texas, Arlington where she teaches Film Studies and Playwriting.
She holds an MFA degree in Dramatic Writing from Smith College, and a second MFA in Directing from the University of Idaho. She’s also a screenwriter and award-winning playwright.
Seraphina has had the opportunity to travel the world using theatre and film as a teaching tool, living in South Africa, Guam, and Kenya as a volunteer teacher, AIDS relief worker, and documentary filmmaker.
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