1--What is the title of your latest release?
LOVE AND HOT CHICKEN
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Queer PhD student PJ Spoon returns to her Tennessee hometown after the death of her father and winds up working at a hot chicken shack, competing in a beauty pageant, and falling for her adorable singer-songwriter coworker.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I knew I wanted it to be in Tennessee (my home state) but I wanted a slightly more rural setting than my hometown (Nashville). I was inspired by the small towns in Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Café and Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Of course! We both enjoy corn dogs, trail rides, books, and our mammas.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Plucky, irreverent, earnest.
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I learned that I’m not one of those authors who starts with a 100,000 word draft and cuts it down. For me, every word is precious. In other words, this book started as a scrawny skeleton and I had to work to put some meat on its bones.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I try to push ahead and get the plot down, but I’m also a big nitpicker of my own work. I care a lot about the chime of each paragraph—the musicality, the sentence flow—and getting that right takes time.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Christmas Tree Zebra Cakes by Little Debbie.
9--Describe your writing space/office!
I love my office! I’ve got this old teal desk (which I’m pretty sure is a kid’s desk based on the height) and a great view of the neighborhood dogs, stray cats, walkers, etc. I’m often joined in the office by my calico, Georgie, who would really prefer it if I didn’t write, but instead pet her all day. We are in a constant battle over whether the knick knacks on my desk should stay put or be batted onto the floor with reckless abandon.
10--Who is an author you admire?
Ann Patchett. I love her writing—both fiction and nonfiction—and her writerly sensibility. Both of us had that “I’m going to be a writer” thing going from a young age. Plus, she’s done incredible things for Nashville with her bookstore, Parnassus.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? It’s a gorgeous memoir about family, coming out, and radical joy. It came to me at the exact right time and is the only book I’ve ever marked up. If I opened my copy now, I’d see a lot of scribbled-on exclamation points in the margins.
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.
To tell you the truth, I got the call when I was about to take a shower. I was standing in my towel going, “What? Really?” and, because I wanted to immediately tell my parents, I ended up calling them while still in my towel. I remember my agent said, “This is my favorite call to make.” It was so sweet and so silly to be hearing this half-naked.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
Realistic fiction/quirky fiction. Bonus points for southern protagonists!
14--What’s your favorite movie?
Juno or Home Alone
15--What is your favorite season?
Fall. Sweaters, pumpkins, and sprawling afternoons at the farmer’s market all make me wag my tail.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Do I ever love my birthday! This year I ate breakfast at my favorite coffee shop with my fiancée, went thrift shopping, shared an enormous ice cream cake with my friends, and topped it all off with a nice dinner with my family. I also let a few calls go to voicemail, so I’d have some sweet nothings saved up for a rainy day.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
The Inn at Lake Divine. This book was recommended to me by a good friend, and I found it so, so charming. Sort of like a Nora Ephron movie and an Ann Patchett book combined. I can’t put the magic into words, but it’s been a long time since a book delighted me like this one did.
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Diner food. It’s enormous, cheap, reliable, and lush. The opposite would be anything described as “small plates.” I’m always suspicious of small plates.
19--What do you do when you have free time?
I’m a big dabbler. I love getting into a new craft, especially sewing projects or anything you’d use a hot glue gun for. I recently made a mouse house in a tuna can. Exciting stuff, I know!
20--What can readers expect from you next?
Right now, I’m working on a coming-of-age novel. It’s probably my favorite genre of book/show because there are so many ways to approach it. You’ve got Never Have I Ever and you’ve got Because of Winn Dixie and they both have something to say about growing up. I’m hoping to put my southern queer spin on being a teenager in the 2010s.
The debut of a dynamite new voice from the South, Love and Hot Chicken is a spicy and hilarious Tennessee story about family, friendship, fried chicken, and two girls in love.
The Chickie Shak is something of a historical landmark. Red clapboard walls, thriving wasp population, yard-toilets resplendent with sunflowers. My best friend Lee Ray and I used to come after our softball games and snag a picnic table while our mammas ordered the home team special. Truth is, most people around here order the same thing until the day somebody throws their ashes off a roller coaster at Dollywood. The line snakes around the building as far as you can see, the grimiest bunch of Jessies, Pearls, and Scooters you ever did behold, hobnobbing in the parking lot from noon until night.
When PJ Spoon returns home for her beloved daddy’s funeral, she doesn’t expect to stick around. Why abandon her PhD program at Vanderbilt for the humble charms of her hometown, Pennywhistle, Tennessee? Mamma’s broken heart, that’s why. But truth be told, PJ’s own heart ain’t doing too good either. She impulsively takes a job as a fry cook at Pennywhistle’s beloved Chickie Shak, where locals gather for Nashville-style hot chicken. It may not be glamorous, but it’s something to do.
Fate shakes up PJ’s life again when the town rallies around the terribly retro and terribly fun Hot Chicken Pageant. PJ finally notices her cute redheaded coworker Boof, a singer-songwriter with a talent as striking as her curly hair, and learns to fear her smack-talking manager, Linda.
As PJ and Boof fall for each other, Boof’s search for her birth mother—a Pennywhistle native—catapults the budding couple into a mystery that might be better left unsolved. The Chickie Shak pageant takes off, spurring old rivalries and new friendships in this tale of unexpected connections and new beginnings.
Romance Chick-Lit [William Morrow, On Sale: February 20, 2024, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9780063304796 / ]
Mary Liza graduated from Dartmouth College in 2016 with a degree in English and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She also holds an MA from Dartmouth in Creative Writing (2018) and an MA from the University College Cork in British and American Literature (2020). Mary Liza is a Fulbright Scholar, an aunt, and a proud member of the queer community. She lives and writes in her hometown of Nashville. Her first novel, Love and Hot Chicken, is forthcoming from William Morrow in 2024.
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