1--What is the title of your latest release?
YOU’RE SAFE HERE
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
You’re Safe Here imagines what the wellness industry looks like forty years in the future, told from the perspective of three women whose lives converge in unexpected ways around a new technology.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
The location was the first thing I knew about the book—I had a flash of a woman floating in an isolated, futuristic pod in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and went from there.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
I would love to spend time with Maggie, who the book opens with, but don’t think I’m quite cool enough for her partner Noa. As for Emmett, the third woman in my story, I’m not sure that I could trust her…
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
The story alternates between the story of three women, so I’ll give you one for each: naive, hurt, and dogged.
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I began drafting this book when I was 25 and published it at 32—I learned so much between those ages, mostly that it’s incredibly difficult to be a human and takes a lot of bravery and effort to be a kind and generous one.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I edit as I go, in cycles. I handwrite the first draft, then type it, print it, edit it and add sentences by hand, then repeat until it’s at the place where I want it.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
I’m not sure I would call it an indulgence, but it doesn’t get much better than savoring every bite of a scoop of ice cream from a shop, in a waffle cone, on a hot day.
9--Describe your writing space/office!
I wrote this book in so many different spaces, but my current writing space is an office in the house I recently bought in Portland.
10--Who is an author you admire?
There are so many, and most of them are named in my book disguised as books my character loves. Toni Morrison, Sylvia Plath, Sally Rooney—I gravitate toward writers who aren’t afraid to dive into deep, difficult things.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
Yes, Mary Oliver’s collection of poetry, Devotions, unequivocally changed the course of my life through my relationship with myself. I try to read a poem from it every day.
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 live on the west coast, so I was in my robe drinking coffee when my agent called me to tell me that Scout Press wanted to buy it on an exclusive submission. I was at one of the lowest points in my life—recently divorced, and completely lost. It was incredible news.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
I love speculative fiction, which is the same genre my book is in—I like to know what’s going to happen.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
Richard Linklater’s ‘Before’ series or Joachim Trier’s “Worst Person in the World” are the first two that come to mind.
15--What is your favorite season?
I love them all, for different reasons!
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
I used to never celebrate my birthday, but a few years ago I realized that life is too short not to celebrate the fact that you’re alive. My ideal birthday—and the one I replicate each year now—begins with a hike and brunch, followed by an exploration through a bookstore, and ends with a dinner at a favorite restaurant with five friends (six is a perfect number for dinner).
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I love the show “Hacks” on HBO, the movie ‘Challengers,’ and Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s podcast “Wiser Than Me” is full of so many gems. I read so much that I have a tendency to recommend whatever the last book is I read and loved, which is ‘Margo’s Got Money Troubles’ by Rufi Thorpe—a wild ride, with pitch perfect observations.
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
I love Burmese, Vietnamese, Greek, and Italian food—actually there’s no type of cuisine I don’t love…
19--What do you do when you have free time?
Get outside! Hike, ski, paddle board, sit on a porch with friends.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
I’m holding it close to the vest right now, to give myself room to explore and feel it out without sticking an explanation on it yet, but I will say that I’m feeling incredibly excited by it!
Wellness, motherhood, and technology converge in a near future California, as three women’s seemingly innocuous decisions have further-reaching consequences than any of them could imagine in this timely, clever, and white-knuckled thriller.
In 2060, the WellPod is the latest launch from the largest tech company the world has ever seen—a fleet of floating personal paradises scattered throughout the Pacific Ocean, focused entirely on health, solitude, and relaxation. Created by an enigmatic founder who will stop at nothing to ensure her company’s success, it is the long-awaited pinnacle of wellness technology. For newly pregnant Maggie, the six-week program is the perfect chance to get away…especially since the baby isn’t her partner’s.
Noa Behar isn’t a perfect fiancée. She’s too distracted, too focused on her work in helping program the WellPod to give Maggie the attention she deserves. But when she discovers something rotten beneath WellPod’s shiny exterior—a history of faulty tech and dangerous cover-ups—she knows one thing: she’ll do whatever it takes to keep Maggie safe.
The problem? The malfunctioning WellPods are already at sea. And there’s a storm coming...
Thriller Techno [Gallery/Scout Press, On Sale: June 25, 2024, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9781668034316 / eISBN: 9781668034330]
Leslie Stephens is the creator of the popular newsletter Morning Person. Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Eater, and other outlets including Cupcakes & Cashmere, where she worked as an editor. A graduate of Wellesley College, she is currently earning her master’s in counseling, with specializations in addiction and ecotherapy, from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, where she lives with her pit-mix, Toast.
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