1--What is the title of your latest release?
THE NATURE OF DISAPPEARING
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Emlyn, a hunting and fishing guide, must team up with the man who ruined her life years ago to head deep into the Idaho wilderness when the friend who introduced them goes missing.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
For many years Idaho has been a favorite place for me. I would never force a setting on a book, so to speak, but when I came up with the basic plot for this one—a woman who sets out into a remote landscape in search of a missing friend—I knew Idaho would be perfect. It’s so rugged and wild and beautiful.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Definitely! I would love to have Emlyn take me to some of her favorite fishing holes! And I would do my best to build her up and assure her that there is so much more to her than how she sees herself.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Emlyn is reserved, thoughtful, and deliberate.
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I always learn a lot while writing! I tend to write about things that are of interest to me, so my “research” is often just a good excuse to read and learn more about stuff I’d like to know about, anyway. In the case of this book, I researched Idaho flora and fauna, I dug deeper into some hiking and backpacking gear, and I had my son show me how to tie a Royal Coachman fly. It’s not all fun and games, though. I also had to learn more about abandonment issues, as well as drug abuse and addiction for this book.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
Well, I do a little bit of both. I try not to edit too heavily during a first draft, because the first draft is usually the most joyous step of the journey, filled with that sense of ongoing discovery and wonder, before the less enjoyable stage of fixing my oversights, mending my plot holes, and fine-tuning my sentences begins. But ultimately, I can’t help myself: I do some editing as I go. I may loop back and revise a scene from the day before. In fact, I may do that many, many times! There are scenes in The Nature of Disappearing that I rewrote maybe a dozen times. (For the record, my method is not particularly efficient. I end up cutting a lot of words by the time I finish, and I take a long time to write a book!)
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Oh, boy. I love food. I indulge in many things.
9--Describe your writing space/office!
I have two writing spaces, really. I have a tiny office in my house. It’s very special to me because my husband built the shelves and the desk (from a tree that he cut down!). The shelves are lined with books that I love, as well as objects that people I love have given me—crafts from my kids, things they’ve found in the woods, notes, photographs. My second writing spot is more seasonal: my deck. When the weather permits, I like to work out there.
10--Who is an author you admire?
There are so many! But my favorite living writer is probably Anthony Doerr. His stories are brilliant and absorbing, and his sentences consistently sing. He is an absolute master, and I will read anything he writes.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
The Bible.
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.
I’d published two books before These Silent Woods, but that was what you might call my “breakout” book. (People thought it was a debut!) Still, my “call” for that book was particularly memorable. We sent it out in February of 2020, and when the pandemic hit the U.S., in March, I told myself, “Kimi, that book might not ever get published, and that’s okay.” And it really was. There were so many bigger issues weighing on all of us. But, to my shock, my agent reached out in the middle of March and said, “Hey, there’s an editor at St. Martin’s who likes your book…” I couldn’t believe it. I absolutely could not believe that it was happening!
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
I read widely, so I don’t really have a favorite genre. Books that I love tend to have three components in common: they’re all beautifully written, character driven, and immersive. The story can be about almost anything as long as those three facets are in place.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
Do I have to pick one? Some movies that I’ve watched more than once and will watch again are A Good Year, Dan in Real Life, and The Peanut Butter Falcon.
15--What is your favorite season?
Summer. I appreciate that we live in a place that has four distinct seasons, but the older I get, the more I love sunshine and warmth. Pennsylvania in the summertime is so lush, green, and full of life.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
For many years now, I have asked for a pet capybara, but, as my kids have told me repeatedly, capybaras are not suited for life in Pennsylvania! ;)
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I just finished The Frozen River, and I was blown away. I love books that bend genre, and this was a perfect mix of historical fiction and mystery. I loved it.
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
I love all sorts of food!
19--What do you do when you have free time?
Free time? What’s that?! Just kidding. (Sort of.) I love fly fishing, hiking, biking, kayaking… Basically, as long as the weather is cooperating, I will always choose to be outdoors rather than indoors.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
I’m super cagey about talking about my work in progress until it’s… well, sold! So for now, all I’ll say is that I’ve been working on another literary suspense novel. It’s maybe more mystery than thriller at this point, but I think it’ll end up being both.
In this captivating novel of suspense, a wilderness guide must team up with the man who ruined her life years ago when the friend who introduced them goes missing.
Emlyn doesn't let herself think about the past.
How she and her best friend, Janessa, barely speak anymore. How Tyler, the love of her life, left her half dead on the side of the road three years ago.
Her new life is simple and safe. She lives alone in her Airstream trailer and works as a fishing and hunting guide in scenic Idaho. Her closest friends are the community's makeshift reverend and a handsome Forest Service ranger who took her in at her lowest.
But when Tyler shows up with the news that Janessa is missing, Emlyn is propelled back into the world she worked so hard to forget. Janessa has become a social media star, documenting her #vanlife adventures with her rugged boyfriend. She hasn't posted lately, though, and when Emlyn realizes the most recent photo doesn't match up with its caption, she reluctantly teams up with Tyler to find her old friend. As the two trace Janessa's path through miles of wild country, Emlyn can't deny the chemistry still crackling between them. But the deeper they press into the wilderness, the more she begins to suspect that a darker truth lies in the woods—and that Janessa isn't the only one in danger.
Poignant, suspenseful, and unforgettable, Kimi Cunningham Grant's THE NATURE OF DISAPPEARING explores what it takes to start over—and the cost of letting the past pull you back in.
Suspense [Minotaur Books, On Sale: June 18, 2024, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9781250907615 / eISBN: 9781250907622]
Kimi Cunningham Grant is the author of three books. Silver Like Dust is a memoir chronicling her Japanese-American grandparents and their internment during World War II. Her second book, Fallen Mountains, is a literary mystery set in a small town in Pennsylvania, where fracking has just begun. These Silent Woods, her third book, will hit shelves in October, 2021. Kimi is a two-time winner of a Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Memorial Prize in Poetry and a recipient of a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts fellowship in creative nonfiction. Her poems and essays have appeared in Literary Mama, RATTLE, Poet Lore, and Whitefish Review. She lives, writes, and teaches in Pennsylvania.
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