You may remember last week I reviewed my bestie Mary Pauline Lowry‘s (heretofore MPL) latest book Wildfire. It’s a kick ass book about a female firefighter and it rocks. Hard. I managed to wrestle and best MPL long enough to force her to answer some questions.
UNCONVENTIONAL LIBRARIAN: Welcome to our interview! Let’s get started. Do you drink coffee?
MPL: I drink a ridiculous amount of coffee. Let’s just say it helps me through my day.
UL. Samesies. I’d fall asleep at 10 am without it. Do you like donuts or cookies? Do you dunk?
MPL: What I love more than donuts or cookies are beignets, particularly from the Café Du Monde in New Orleans. If I lived in New Orleans, I would not be able to fit into my pants. And yes, I dunk.
UL: Ahhhhhh beignets. How I miss those powdery bits of Heaven. How did your book get started?
MPL: I worked for two summers as a wildland firefighter on a “hotshot” crew, which is an elite 20-person crew that travels all over the American West fighting forest fires. During that time I thought—this could be the subject for a novel!
UL: You’re right; I can’t say that I’d ever heard of a hotshot crew before. What else have you written?
MPL: “Wildfire” is my first novel published by a publishing company. But in 2012, I self-published a novel called “The Earthquake Machine” about a 14 year old girl who runs away from home and travels alone through Mexico in search of her friend who has been deported. During her travels she “passes” as a Mexican boy. It’s very fantastical and disturbing and hopefully a lot of fun.
UL: You know I love The Earthquake Machine. It’s grrrrl power to the max! Here’s my review. If you could have any superpower what would it be?
MPL: The ability to eliminate injustice and suffering.
UL: Yeah. I vote for that too. Mean people suck. What makes you happy?
MPL: Running, Crossfit, throwing a Nerf ball on the beach. Reading a novel that I really feel. Doing a cartwheel. Laughing really hard with my sisters.
UL: oh yeah. laughing is great! Wrapping up now, anything else you want to tell us?
“Wildfire” is—essentially—an adventure story about a young woman fighting wildfires. I hope that it inspires readers to take risks, to try things that scare them, to take leaps. It’s easy to let life get monotonous or boring. But I think if we are conscious about it, we can do things that make life more interesting and more fulfilling.
Visit Mary Pauline Lowery at her website.