About three months ago, I recommended that book publicists (and suffficiently motivated authors) discover John Scalzi‘s “Big Idea” series, a category of posts on his blog where guest writers discuss some of the concepts underpinning their latest books. Last week, the featured guest was N.M. Kelby, who revealed how a madcap Florida murder mystery like The Bad Girl’s Bar & Grill was born out of a visit to a puppet workshop in the coldest throes of a Vermont winter.
(Insert the now-standard disclosure of interests I wish I’d come up with myself: “Whatever. Google me.”)
Kelby (who’s in the middle of a big tour that extends into the fall, including an October date here in New York) told me last week about another one of her inspirations, a blog called The Homeless Guy by Kevin Barbieux, who has lived extensively on the streets of Nashville, though he was able to move into an apartment last month—and, after learning of his literary influence, is doing his best to get his public library to bring her in for a reading. The influences run in the other direction, too: BBQ specialist Ardie Davis decided the novel needed an official barbecue sauce, so he made one, “slightly spicy with a little bit of orange.” I can’t wait to taste them… and I already have a good idea about which bloggers I’m going to make sure get my extra jars, and the copies of the novel that go with them…