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Hello, and welcome to the GSMC Book Review podcast, brought
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to you by the GSMC Entertainment Network. I am your host, Sarah.
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I am delighted to be with you on this Christmas Eve.
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I have another author interview to share with you as
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we get started. I do want to remind you to like, follow,
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and subscribe on whatever platform you are listening to the
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podcast on. That really does help the algorithm. Also, if
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you would like to help out the podcast and the
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network as a whole, you can go to GSMC podcast
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dot info. There you can leave a tip or a
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donation that again really helps out the network as a whole,
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and this podcast and all of the support that give
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is always greatly appreciated, no matter what form that support takes.
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Once again, that link is GSMC podcast dot info. You
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see it next to me. You'll also see it scrolling
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along throughout the episode. Happy Christmas Eve. I hope that
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you are having a wonderful day so far. If you
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are someone who celebrates Christmas, maybe who does anything special
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on Christmas Eve, hope that your day is going well.
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We are getting ready to go to some friends for dinner.
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They invited us last year and it was a lot
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of fun, a lot of food. I don't know if
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it's it's a big family from what I'm used to,
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because I don't come from a very big family. It's
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not a big family for what my husband is used to,
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so somewhere in between. I don't know. If it's a
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big family by Portuguese standards, I don't know. But there's
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a lot of food, and they're really really nice, and
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they're very kind, and they help us with our Portuguese.
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And they speak a lot of English, which is very
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very kind of them, and there was I would be lost.
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We do a lot of a lot of Google Translate,
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a lot of charades, a lot of my limited Portuguese.
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They're very good English, and we make it work. So
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I am very grateful that we got the invitation again
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this year. It's a family that I like very very much,
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and we spend a lot of time. It's our neighbor
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our neighbors and then so we don't see their family
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as much, maybe just on holidays and here and there occasionally,
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so it's really nice when we get to see them
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and hang out with them. So whatever you're doing today,
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I hope that it is wonderful and enjoyable. If you
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are with family, soak that up. If you are without
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family and you're feeling homesick, then my heart goes out
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to you. If you're someone who doesn't do family, then
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whatever it is that you do, I hope that you
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have found family. But I hope that this day, this
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week is bringing you joy. And Honikah also starts this week,
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so it's always it's always interesting to me when Hankah
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and Christmas line up like that. They don't, you know,
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the dates move for Honkah, so this year they are
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coinciding a little bit. So happy Honkah for those of
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you who celebrate that as well. Lots and lots of
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holidays this time of year, so happy holidays, whatever you
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happen to be celebrating. Let's talk about a book. I
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have returning guest Tracy Clark with me this episode. She
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was here to talk about her first book in this series.
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This is the Harriet Foster series. The first book was
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called Hide, the second book is called Fall. This one
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is called Echo. Let me go ahead and give you
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the description of this third installment of the series. Hardwick House,
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home to Belverton College's exclusive Minotaur society is no stranger
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to tragedy, and when a body turns up in the
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field next to the mansion, the scene folks chillingly familiar.
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Chicago Pead sends hard nosed Detective Harriet Harry Foster to investigate.
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The victim is Bryce Collier, a wealthy Belverton student whose
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billionaire father Sebastian owns Hardwick and ranks as a major
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school benefactor. Sebastian also has ties to the mansions notorious past,
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when thirty years ago, hazing led to a student's death
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in the very same field. Could the deaths be connected
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With no suspects or leads, Harry and her partner, Detective
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Via Lee, will have to dig deep to find answers.
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No charges were ever filed in the first case, and
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this time Harry's determined the killer must pay, but still
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grieving her former partner's death, Harry must also contend with
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a shadowy figure called the Voice, and their dangerous game
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of cat and mouse could threaten everything. So again, that
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is the description of Echo. It is the third book
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in the Harriet Foster series, and it is crime fiction.
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As you can probably tell, We've got a murder, We've
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got winter in Chicago, which just you can see on
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the cover. It's cold and snowy and Chicago winter. I've
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spent weekends in Chicago in the winter, and that's enough.
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That is enough for me. I do not need that
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intense and I'm from Montana work it's really cold, but
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Chicago is a different kind of cold for me, And
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especially now that I live where we get three hundred
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days of sun a year, Chicago winter just does not
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sound like someplace that I want to spend. So I
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just felt cold the entire time I was reading this book,
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and everyone's always just bundled up and going out into
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the sleet and the slush and the snow. But there's
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also there's also a crime that needs to be solved.
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There is a murder there. Actually there are two murders,
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but they're thirty years apart. There's lots of different things
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to figure out. In addition to the current case being
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investigated by Harriet and her partner Vera, there's on an
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ongoing situation that has been developing throughout the course of
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the three books, and Harry is trying to figure out
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what's going on with that, who is involved, why they
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are doing what they are doing. I don't want to
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give too much away, but that is an arc that's
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been developing and continues to develop through this That adds
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another layer to this story. Let's go ahead and let
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Tracy talk about the book so you can hear more
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about the series and this book in particular. Again, it's
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the Harriet Foster series. This book is Echo, and the
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author is Tracy Brown. Tracy Brown, that would be a
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friend of mine, not the author of this series. The
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author is Tracy Clark. My apologies.
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Hi, Tracy, welcome back to the podcast.
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Hello, hik Sarah. Thanks for having me.
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It is nice to have you.
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I'm excited to talk to you and talk about this
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newest book in the Harriet Foster series. Before we do,
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if you wouldn't mind giving a refresher, just reintroducing yourself
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so my listeners can either.
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Get to know you or refresh their memories on who
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you are.
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Right well, I am Tracy Clark. I am the author
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of the Cash Rains series and also the detective Harriet
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Foster series, both set in Chicago, both featuring a strong
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female protagonists and their team of misfits. And so Echo
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is the latest installment in the Harriet Foster series, and
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it's about a murder case or cases. They're separated by decades,
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but they're somehow sort of linked, and so I'm my
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homicide team has to sort of figure it out all
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out and figure out what kind of killer waits thirty
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years to kill again. So it's kind of a weird
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sort of a thing to sort of write, and I
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hope readers enjoy it.
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And this is the third in the series.
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So the first time you were here, we talked about
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the first one. So it's always it's always a little
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bit tricky to talk about a series, especially if you've
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got people who've maybe read one or haven't read any.
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So we'll do our best to talk about things. What
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was your inspiration for Let mean, obviously we have the
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murders thirty years apart, but what what what sparked the idea?
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Was your inspiration for this particular book?
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Well, this one started with the setting. I found a
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field next to a college campus that looked pretty interesting,
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interesting place to sort of put a body. I was
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looking for someplace to put it fictionally, and so this
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field I passed by, this field, is that's interesting? And
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then I said, well, what kind of case would sort
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of pop up from there, and then I sort of
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put a frat house where another house used to be,
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or is. It's not quite a frat house, but I
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made it that. So now the story starts to percolate.
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We've got a dead body, we've got a field there,
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we've got the college campus right in a near distance.
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And then now we've got a frat house that I've created.
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And now the you know, things come together. So what
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could possibly have put that body there? Or who? Why? Uh?
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And then I have a case for my homicide detective.
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So it starts with very little things. Sometimes sometimes it
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starts with location. Sometimes it starts with a season. Sometimes
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it starts with a character, and then it sort of
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blooms from there. Echo started with the field, and so
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the story grew from there, sort of encircles around this body,
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this field, this case. And so that's how I'm a panther.
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So I don't have an outline or a plan or anything.
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So that's it. The body's there, homicide detectives called in.
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Now we're off to the races. So that's how it
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starts for me. That's how every book starts for me.
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And I just sort of picked my way along until
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I get to the end.
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I like that you inserted that word fictionally, that you're
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not good place to put a body fectionally my door.
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I would imagine that's an interesting way that your brain
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probably kind of thinks like that, being as you know,
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since you write crime fiction that you are, you could
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just be walking along someday and literally think you know,
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that would.
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Be I mean, it happens all kinds of ways, which
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is kind of a cool thing about it. I mean,
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creativity sparks everywhere, So you could be in the cleaners
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or in the laundromat or doing anything and something will happen,
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and you know, you file it away and it might
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end up in a book somewhere or not. You know,
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it just depends.
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Yeah. Yeah, but it's an interesting stile to have in
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your brain.
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Yeah you know, what do you imagine? Yeah, poison's in there.
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I've got all kinds of stuff.
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Authors' brains in general, I think, are very fascinating and
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they store a lot of different ideas and different potential
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plot points, but crime fiction authors particularly, and I've talked
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with other authors about this and had these thoughts before,
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just walking around thinking, hmm, I could put a body there?
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Oh what if there was a body there? I mean,
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I just think sometimes I wonder if those thoughts come
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out when they're not realizing that it would make for
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some interesting conversations. Most likely, most of the time people
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would know what you did, But for me, I would
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just like say something and not realize that I was
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talking to a person who had absolutely no idea why
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these thoughts were coming out of my head. That's just
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the way my life works most of the time. But
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we are going to take a break and when we
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come back, we'll be talking a little bit about what
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I was speaking of earlier, with that story that goes
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that's arcing throughout the first three books and the fourth
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book that is coming up. So you are tuned into
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the g s MC Book Review podcast and I will
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be right back.
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I feel like I'm losing my ma.
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Everybody in the wild, bye, Please Lord give me Usige
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a sign. I feel like I'm losing by everybody in
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the wild. Bye, Please Lord give me us shine Shine.
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I want to be the greatest everybody on the face
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I look around, I feel like everybody is the facs
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I'd case every day and.
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I'm in patient, hoping one day, I've blowed up in
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the basement.
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Stay made.
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The top is so baking. I don't even ship that
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I think is amazing, waiting for my day when I
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playing sold own sold for a thousand faces.
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Hey give me that crown. Keating my way to be
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put down. It ain't your placed.
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All this my town.
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If I want that shit that, I'll get it right now.
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I'm losing it. The noose and fits the mosy shit
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a stupid myth.
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You choose to live, a.
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Choose to diep you choose to fight a.
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Loser, grip and lose a gift dog.
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I feel like mosing everybody oiled tie. Please Lord give
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me us. I feel like moss everybody oil.
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Welcome back to the GSMC book review podcast and my
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conversation with author Tracy Clark. As we get into this
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second segment, just your second and final reminder that you
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can support the podcast in a monetary fashion by going
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to GSMC podcast dot info again not only helps this podcast,
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but helps the entire network.
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Again.
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All of the support that you give me this podcast
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the network is greatly appreciated. Thank you very very much.
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If you do want to leave a question or a
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comment when you are at that website, you can do
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you can do that. I'd be happy to engage with
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that the beginning of the next episode after receiving said
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question or comment again. The website is GSMC podcast dot info.
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Before the break, Tracy was talking about things that spark ideas, inspirations,
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jumping off points, et cetera. In this case, it was
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a field, and that'd be an interesting place to put
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a body there. Why is there a body there? Et cetera.
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So the interesting way that crime fiction author's brains work.
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Let's go ahead and return to the conversation with Tracy.
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As a pnswer and who writes series, You've got two
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different series. There's things that happen throughout this series that
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are evolving. You know, there's there's the case that that
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Harriet's working on in that particular book, but there's also
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things that are going on through through across the books.
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So as a pnswer, is that do you just kind
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of let that overarching story kind of evolve as you
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write or do you have more of an endpoint in
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mind for that part of the series.
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I sort of follow the characters. Harry's sort of got
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a complicated backstory, so it's kind of interesting to sort
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of pull that thread through the books because she has
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to sort of go on a journey. She has to
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sort of go from step to step to step, and
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I don't always know what those steps are ahead of time.
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I just put her in a room, I give her
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as much complication as I can possibly give her, and
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then I see which way she goes. In the first book,
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we find her she's really at a low point. But
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characters have to move, they have to do something. So
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in book two she sort of learned how to rely
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on her team a little bit. I've given her a
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different partner and who sort of sees her through the
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door and sort of knows what she sort of needs.
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And so now she's got Vera on the other side
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of her, sort of pushing her towards wellness. But that partnership,
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that combination of those two continues. In book three, we
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find Harriet in a little different space. You know, she's
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not great, but she's better than she was in book one,
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and the book that I'm writing now book four in
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the series, and then we'll sort of pivot to something else.
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She's a little bit different than she is in book three,
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so's there's got to be that through line, that thread,
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that progress, even if it's two steps forward one back,
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she's got to move. And so I'm putting her in
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a position where she's got to make those decisions, she's
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got to make those choices, that she's got to do
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something different than she did last time, or else, you know,
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she stagnates. So I'm always thinking about what's going to
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move her, what's going to get her to the next spot.
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And then of course the murder case is there and
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she has to deal with that, But that's a different
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side of what the character is about. She's brilliant on
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the job, great, wonderful investigator, wonderful detective. But then she's
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got all this personal mess that she hasn't got a
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handle on, and she needs to get a handle on it.
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So little by little little inches, in a little progress,
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she sort of figures out what she's got to do,
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00:16:16.919 --> 00:16:19.360
and then she has to do it. But I kind
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00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:21.399
of like that part more than I like the other part.
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00:16:21.440 --> 00:16:23.320
I mean, I like the fact that I've got to
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dig for her and find where she sort of sits
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00:16:26.919 --> 00:16:29.159
and sort of get her out of the hole she's in. Yeah,
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and then figure out what's gonna do that? So I
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spend I get probably ninety percent of my time doing
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that and then ten percent, you know, tossing bodies around.
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So it's mostly the personal, the character. It's always starts
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there with me and ends there with me. And so
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my job as a writer, I think for this series
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is to put Harriet in a better place than we
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found her. So I'm always working on that.
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Yeah, And one thing I noticed when I started reading
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this one, because you were here last time we talked
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00:16:58.600 --> 00:17:02.440
about the first book. I actually I have them both
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00:17:02.600 --> 00:17:04.759
on my phone. I was reading them reading on my phone,
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00:17:04.799 --> 00:17:06.799
and I thought, I need to double check this because
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00:17:06.839 --> 00:17:09.319
in the first book, she's consistantly referred to as Foster
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throughout the book, and now she's hairy.
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00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:16.000
So how did that was that? I assume that was
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a deliberate choice on your part.
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Well, because they're getting to know her when she first
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00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:25.599
walks into there, she's a really prickly pair. I mean,
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she doesn't want anybody close to her. She is not
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interested in their personal business, she's not interested in making friends.
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00:17:32.839 --> 00:17:35.519
She is there to work. She's picked a new station,
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she wanted to transfer, she wanted to get out of
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the old place, and she just wants to do her job.
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So she is Foster, okay, because that's what she's sort
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of giving off. As they sort of come to know
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00:17:46.559 --> 00:17:49.680
her and know how she works and see her as
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Gara does, and the others sort of learn how to
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00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:55.200
do that too, she becomes more of a personal thing
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to them and her to them. So yeah, it's deliberate,
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00:18:00.039 --> 00:18:03.079
but it takes it's not immediate. It's deliberate, but not immediate.
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00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:06.559
So Foster first, as they get to know her, get
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to rely on her, and she them, Harry, Harriet whatever, okay.
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00:18:11.960 --> 00:18:19.799
So yeah, absolutely there are there's a cast of secondary
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characters around her, mainly other homicide detectives.
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I would imagine that some of them are a lot
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of fun to write. Maybe some of them are challenging
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to write. Is there one that you particularly enjoy?
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00:18:33.160 --> 00:18:35.559
I like the old timers. I like Semanski. I like
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the fact that he's been there forever. He knows how
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00:18:38.960 --> 00:18:42.000
the operation works, he knows how the department works, he
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00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:44.400
knows how the city works, he knows how city halled.
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She knows it's all bureaucracy and red tape and bullshit.
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I mean, basically, I mean, he'd been there forever. He's
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got maybe five years before he retires. And then we
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00:18:53.079 --> 00:18:56.359
have this big, big wave of new detectives coming in,
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and she's got Harriet and Vera and all the new
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00:18:58.799 --> 00:19:01.039
ones with all the progressive eye is and he doesn't
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know how to handle it. Okay. I mean so I
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00:19:02.519 --> 00:19:05.640
like the fact that there's this constant tension and sort
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of conflict old ways new ways, old cops, new cops,
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and so I like that balance. I like the fact
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that he sort of needles Harry all the time and
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she him. I kind of like that irritation. So he
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00:19:19.079 --> 00:19:21.799
would probably be my favorite. And then there two and
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I think they all sort of compliment each other.
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00:19:24.480 --> 00:19:28.559
Yeah, Samansky and Harriet are evolving a little bit as well,
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because they were really prickly in the first book, but
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they're you know, it seems like it's more friendly, Yeah,
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more maybe almost more like siblings.
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00:19:38.599 --> 00:19:40.240
You know how you pick it your sibling, because you
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know you can.
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I think once you sort of once she sort of
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proved herself that she was a good cop, and that's
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probably the benchmark that you're in it to sort of
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be dedicated to it. Then they sort of give you
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a pass and you're inside the loop and sort of
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they treat you like that so quickly at first get
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to I know her. She's a good cop. He's a
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good cop. Okay, now we can sort of work together.
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This is a little bit random, but I want to
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ask how in your brain you picture Griffin's office, because
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when you describe it, for me kind of feel I
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00:20:16.920 --> 00:20:19.279
kind of picture it as like the Saint Patrick's day
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00:20:19.319 --> 00:20:21.839
Isle in Party City sort of threw up at her office.
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00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:25.839
And that's exactly exactly. That's exactly it. I mean, everything
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00:20:26.039 --> 00:20:28.960
is Kelly Green. She's got Fedoras and chale Ley's and
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00:20:29.279 --> 00:20:31.440
I love this. I love that office and it sort
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of evolves every time I write about it, it gets
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more obnoxious. I mean, it just gets more. I just
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00:20:37.400 --> 00:20:39.720
love it. It's like a Christmas Dore blown up. I
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00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:44.119
mean it's wonderful. And then you sort of balance that
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that sort of festive atmosphere with this really crimudginy, straight laced.
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00:20:53.200 --> 00:20:56.559
She's got zero humor most of the time. I mean,
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just a wonderful conflict.
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00:20:58.720 --> 00:20:59.079
I like that.
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00:21:00.119 --> 00:21:04.440
Yeah, And very very quickly in the book they meet.
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I think it's the first couple of pages and she's
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got bagpipes playing, and the way you describe it, you
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00:21:11.519 --> 00:21:13.240
don't actually use the word bagpipe, but the way you
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00:21:13.319 --> 00:21:15.160
describe it, I was like, Oh, okay, I know what
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00:21:15.279 --> 00:21:16.039
she's listening to.
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00:21:17.559 --> 00:21:19.240
Yeah, it's fun to write that. It's fun to write
398
00:21:19.920 --> 00:21:22.240
Griffin's I like her. I think I'm gonna probably do
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00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:24.240
more with her as the series goes on. She's really
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00:21:24.400 --> 00:21:26.240
an interested in character and that sort of popped up
401
00:21:26.240 --> 00:21:26.799
out of nowhere.
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00:21:27.559 --> 00:21:29.960
Yeah. Does that happen a lot for you? Characters just
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00:21:30.079 --> 00:21:32.160
kind of there they are, I.
404
00:21:32.200 --> 00:21:34.160
Need a boss? What kind of boss is she going
405
00:21:34.200 --> 00:21:37.200
to be? And there she was, Kelly Green and all
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00:21:38.400 --> 00:21:41.039
sticks and fedoras and all the rest of that stuff.
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00:21:41.160 --> 00:21:43.960
It just came. So I guess she wanted to be there.
408
00:21:44.759 --> 00:21:46.440
Yeah, yeah, I would think so.
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00:21:48.839 --> 00:21:53.119
I am definitely looking forward to more of Griffin's character
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00:21:53.319 --> 00:21:57.920
being in the next books, because A I want to
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00:21:57.960 --> 00:22:04.440
see how her arc goes and grows and continues. But really,
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00:22:05.039 --> 00:22:09.279
let's be honest, I want to continue seeing how her office.
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00:22:09.559 --> 00:22:12.359
Her office just sounds completely insane to me, and I
414
00:22:12.519 --> 00:22:14.400
love the descriptions of it, and it's such a minor
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00:22:14.480 --> 00:22:16.960
part of the book, but it makes me smile. Every time,
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00:22:17.519 --> 00:22:20.720
so selfishly I am looking forward to that being a
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00:22:20.839 --> 00:22:25.799
continued element of the series. Yeah, but let's go ahead
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00:22:25.839 --> 00:22:28.559
and take another break. When we come back, we will
419
00:22:28.599 --> 00:22:32.680
be talking about the writing from multiple points of view
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00:22:32.920 --> 00:22:35.759
throughout the book and the series. You're tuned into the
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00:22:35.839 --> 00:22:39.039
GSMC Book Review Podcast and I will be right back.
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00:22:45.640 --> 00:22:49.160
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423
00:22:49.279 --> 00:22:52.119
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425
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426
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Welcome back to the GSMC Book Review podcast and my
429
00:23:21.880 --> 00:23:25.519
conversation with Tracy Clark. We were talking about her Harriet
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00:23:25.559 --> 00:23:29.119
Foster series, and before the break, I was saying how
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00:23:29.200 --> 00:23:33.119
much I enjoy the descriptions of Griffin's office and just
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picturing it in my head. I'm really glad that I
433
00:23:36.279 --> 00:23:39.920
wasn't over projecting how it was being described, because I
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00:23:40.039 --> 00:23:44.440
think it's hilarious, especially in juxtaposition to the rest of
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the area where the other detectives work, and just stark,
436
00:23:49.400 --> 00:23:53.440
the starkness and dreariness of the way that Tracy describes
437
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some of the other areas, their desks, the locker room,
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00:23:57.000 --> 00:24:01.799
the restrooms, those sorts of things. It's just I picture gray, gray,
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00:24:01.960 --> 00:24:07.000
dull blah and then blaah green. So anyway, that's just me.
440
00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:10.279
Let's return to the conversation with Tracy.
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Obviously, Harry is our main character, but we get chapters
442
00:24:16.039 --> 00:24:19.000
from some different points of view throughout the book. When
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you're writing, how do you a how do you keep
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00:24:22.400 --> 00:24:25.400
track of, you know, the continuity so that everything meshes,
445
00:24:25.400 --> 00:24:27.160
and then how do you decide when you're going to
446
00:24:27.279 --> 00:24:28.440
insert a different point of view?
447
00:24:29.799 --> 00:24:32.720
I don't decide. I just sort of let things go.
448
00:24:33.960 --> 00:24:36.000
I sort of feel it. It's kind of a weird
449
00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:37.720
way to try to explain it, but I sort of
450
00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:41.119
feel how the rhythm of the story goes, and I
451
00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:43.400
can sort of tell where something has to be. I
452
00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:46.039
don't I can't explain what that is or how I
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00:24:46.160 --> 00:24:48.839
do it. I don't have an outline. I don't know
454
00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:51.119
what's going to happen. But when I write a scene,
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00:24:51.720 --> 00:24:53.440
when I sort of flow into the next one, it
456
00:24:53.559 --> 00:24:56.160
sort of presents itself so it goes where it needs
457
00:24:56.200 --> 00:24:59.039
to go. Now, if I have to go back five
458
00:24:59.119 --> 00:25:01.720
or six times after I've done that first draft to
459
00:25:01.759 --> 00:25:04.839
sort of make it all work, I do that. That's
460
00:25:04.880 --> 00:25:06.559
what I do on the tail end of it. But once,
461
00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:09.720
when I'm writing this thing, I go where the story goes.
462
00:25:09.799 --> 00:25:13.160
I go where the characters take me, and voices come
463
00:25:13.200 --> 00:25:15.559
in where they need to come in, and I take
464
00:25:15.599 --> 00:25:18.640
them out later or move them to another spot later.
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00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:21.440
Then that's work that I have to do. But as
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00:25:21.480 --> 00:25:23.839
I'm writing it, it sort of goes together. I put
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00:25:23.839 --> 00:25:25.480
it where it needs to. I can sort of feel
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00:25:25.480 --> 00:25:27.960
where it lags, where the pating has to sort of
469
00:25:27.960 --> 00:25:30.680
pick up or slow down, and so that sort of
470
00:25:30.759 --> 00:25:33.839
determines what voice has to be there. But these are
471
00:25:33.880 --> 00:25:35.759
all things that I just do and don't make a
472
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decision about. I just go where the story goes, go
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00:25:38.880 --> 00:25:40.799
where the characters take me. And then when I go
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00:25:40.920 --> 00:25:44.279
back and have to revise it, I revise it, you know.
475
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But that's my process. It's weird. It's probably the wrong
476
00:25:47.880 --> 00:25:49.920
way to do it. I mean, writers smarter than me
477
00:25:50.440 --> 00:25:52.880
have figured this thing out. I have not yet. So
478
00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:55.000
this is how I have to do it. This is
479
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how my brain works, and so that's my thing, so
480
00:25:58.599 --> 00:26:03.720
you know, kind of it just I have to sort
481
00:26:03.759 --> 00:26:06.039
of feel it, just like I have to feel the sentences.
482
00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:09.880
The sentences have to have a rhythm for me, the
483
00:26:10.039 --> 00:26:12.759
sound right, They have to flow off the tongue in
484
00:26:12.839 --> 00:26:15.519
the right way. I'm thinking about that for me, and
485
00:26:15.559 --> 00:26:18.119
I'm also thinking about that for the reader. When I
486
00:26:18.240 --> 00:26:19.880
want the reader to read it, I don't want them
487
00:26:19.880 --> 00:26:23.200
stumbling over things awkwardly. I want things to sort of
488
00:26:23.240 --> 00:26:26.400
flow together. And so that goes for the language, it
489
00:26:26.480 --> 00:26:29.279
goes for the dialogue, it goes for the character development,
490
00:26:29.519 --> 00:26:31.480
it goes for the scenes. How the scenes sort of
491
00:26:31.480 --> 00:26:33.599
stack up on each other. I want them to be
492
00:26:33.720 --> 00:26:35.559
sort of like dominoes. They sort of fall bum bom,
493
00:26:35.599 --> 00:26:39.079
boom boom. And I have to keep writing until I
494
00:26:39.119 --> 00:26:41.799
accomplish that. So if I can do that in three
495
00:26:41.880 --> 00:26:44.599
drafts or four, or if it takes me six or seven,
496
00:26:45.200 --> 00:26:47.680
that's what I have to do. So that's what I'm
497
00:26:47.680 --> 00:26:51.359
always thinking about. I'm thinking about smoothness, I'm thinking about rhythm,
498
00:26:51.759 --> 00:26:54.599
I'm thinking about pacing, and I'm thinking about where these
499
00:26:54.680 --> 00:26:57.279
characters are going to go. So all of those little
500
00:26:57.319 --> 00:26:58.559
plates are spinning in my head.
501
00:26:59.200 --> 00:27:03.160
Yeah, than like an editor or beta readers or both
502
00:27:03.400 --> 00:27:04.680
that help you with with that.
503
00:27:04.799 --> 00:27:07.440
Some of that. I don't have a beta reader, just
504
00:27:07.480 --> 00:27:10.880
because I'm sort of clutchy with my things. So the
505
00:27:10.960 --> 00:27:13.400
only person besides me who sees the book is my
506
00:27:13.519 --> 00:27:16.839
editor at the publishing house, and they will take whatever
507
00:27:17.319 --> 00:27:20.440
fledgeling thing that I give them on deadline day and
508
00:27:20.519 --> 00:27:22.400
they will see where I sort of missed the mark
509
00:27:22.480 --> 00:27:25.240
somewhere or could have developed something a little bit more
510
00:27:25.359 --> 00:27:27.759
there or so, so I rely on them to sort
511
00:27:27.759 --> 00:27:30.039
of fill up the holes that I sort of missed.
512
00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:32.400
So I do the best that I can it with
513
00:27:32.480 --> 00:27:34.640
the draft that I give them, and then they will
514
00:27:34.720 --> 00:27:36.640
tell me what I missed or what was great or
515
00:27:36.799 --> 00:27:39.319
wasn't so great, or what could be more developed. And
516
00:27:39.359 --> 00:27:41.880
then I go back again and I make those shifts
517
00:27:42.119 --> 00:27:44.279
those changes, and then we do that a couple of
518
00:27:44.480 --> 00:27:46.640
two or three times, and then the book is sort
519
00:27:46.680 --> 00:27:48.640
of in where it needs to be, and you know,
520
00:27:48.839 --> 00:27:51.880
so that's how it's done. I can probably use a
521
00:27:51.920 --> 00:27:54.279
beta reader at some point, it's just that I'm really
522
00:27:54.400 --> 00:27:57.440
sort of selfish and I don't know, I don't know
523
00:27:57.519 --> 00:27:57.799
what it is.
524
00:27:59.759 --> 00:28:05.799
Yeah, I guess, yeah, any particular research for this book.
525
00:28:07.519 --> 00:28:10.359
No, not really. I talk to cops all the time
526
00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:12.759
because I want to sort of not so much the
527
00:28:12.880 --> 00:28:14.759
procedure part of it, but I don't care what form
528
00:28:14.839 --> 00:28:18.880
they fill out or whatever. I'm interested in motivation and
529
00:28:19.319 --> 00:28:21.880
what keeps them doing the job and how they feel
530
00:28:21.880 --> 00:28:24.880
about the job that they do. So my research is
531
00:28:24.960 --> 00:28:29.240
more internal in terms of character development. I'm much more
532
00:28:29.319 --> 00:28:33.039
interested in how Carrie sort of goes through her day,
533
00:28:33.839 --> 00:28:36.640
not so much what she does and what procedure she follows,
534
00:28:36.680 --> 00:28:39.119
but what she thinks about the cases that she's working
535
00:28:39.480 --> 00:28:41.519
and how those cases sort of fit in with the
536
00:28:41.640 --> 00:28:45.680
drama that she's going through. So there's not that much
537
00:28:45.759 --> 00:28:48.000
research that I do not forget. Write a scene where
538
00:28:48.039 --> 00:28:51.000
I need some sort of detailed police information, I will
539
00:28:51.039 --> 00:28:53.559
ask somebody what will happen in the situation like this,
540
00:28:54.240 --> 00:28:56.319
what would a cop do? Blah blah blah, and then
541
00:28:56.359 --> 00:28:59.160
I will put that in just for the veracity of it.
542
00:28:59.240 --> 00:29:03.079
But other than that, it's mostly character for me, and
543
00:29:03.160 --> 00:29:06.839
I think that's where my interest is. And then whatever
544
00:29:07.079 --> 00:29:08.920
happens with the police part of it, I try to
545
00:29:08.960 --> 00:29:11.240
make it sound right or look right or feel right.
546
00:29:11.519 --> 00:29:13.480
As much as I can do that, and then we
547
00:29:13.599 --> 00:29:16.200
go from there. I don't want to really get detail oriented,
548
00:29:16.279 --> 00:29:18.480
and just in terms of you know, who reports to
549
00:29:18.519 --> 00:29:21.200
who I don't. I don't care. I don't think readers
550
00:29:21.319 --> 00:29:26.039
much care either. But you know, character first, character always.
551
00:29:27.559 --> 00:29:31.000
We were talking before we started recording that this book
552
00:29:31.200 --> 00:29:33.200
takes place in February in Chicago.
553
00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:35.599
And I was just cold. I think I might have
554
00:29:35.640 --> 00:29:37.440
made the same comment when we talked about the first book.
555
00:29:37.480 --> 00:29:41.400
It just felt cold. Weather almost is a secondary character.
556
00:29:43.200 --> 00:29:43.599
It's hard.
557
00:29:43.680 --> 00:29:46.519
It's almost hard to imagine Harry solving a case in
558
00:29:46.599 --> 00:29:47.240
the sunshine.
559
00:29:48.440 --> 00:29:51.640
Well, the morning I'm writing now takes place in early spring.
560
00:29:52.880 --> 00:29:55.359
It would be a sort of a nice area, I mean,
561
00:29:55.519 --> 00:29:58.240
nice time of year to do it. It's still cold
562
00:29:58.480 --> 00:30:03.079
and so there's no snow in this one, but it
563
00:30:03.240 --> 00:30:07.160
is cold. The wind off that lake when it hits
564
00:30:07.200 --> 00:30:10.480
you takes your breath away. I mean it literally takes
565
00:30:10.559 --> 00:30:12.519
your breath away. And to be able to sort of
566
00:30:12.559 --> 00:30:14.599
write that and put that on the pages of a
567
00:30:14.680 --> 00:30:17.960
book to let people experience that. And when you're walking
568
00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:21.440
across the Michigan Avenue Bridge and you literally almost get
569
00:30:21.480 --> 00:30:23.799
blown into the lake because the wind is so great.
570
00:30:23.960 --> 00:30:26.799
I mean, that's an experience and I kind of like writing.
571
00:30:27.359 --> 00:30:28.839
I kind of like letting people know about it.
572
00:30:29.279 --> 00:30:29.480
Yeah.
573
00:30:29.759 --> 00:30:35.599
Absolutely, So Spring for the fourth book. What can you
574
00:30:35.759 --> 00:30:38.920
say about the fourth book? You know, again without a
575
00:30:39.039 --> 00:30:39.799
lot of spoilers.
576
00:30:40.480 --> 00:30:43.839
Well, let's see what's it about. It's called Edge tentatively
577
00:30:43.920 --> 00:30:46.720
at this point, and it's about a drug that is
578
00:30:46.799 --> 00:30:51.359
sort of permeating the city with very ill effects. It's
579
00:30:51.799 --> 00:30:54.359
something sort of laced with it, and people are dying,
580
00:30:54.960 --> 00:30:57.519
and so Harry and her team are back and they
581
00:30:57.599 --> 00:30:59.720
have to sort of figure out what the connection is,
582
00:31:00.039 --> 00:31:03.680
who's selling it, who's inundating the streets with this, and
583
00:31:03.839 --> 00:31:06.440
get it to stop before anybody else dies. So that's
584
00:31:06.480 --> 00:31:10.000
what Edges about. Takes place in early spring and moving
585
00:31:10.039 --> 00:31:12.559
the seasons around. I'll probably eventually get to a summer
586
00:31:12.599 --> 00:31:17.119
where equally inhospitable, but we'll get to that later. I mean,
587
00:31:17.240 --> 00:31:20.160
so it's spring, early spring, little buds on the trees,
588
00:31:20.599 --> 00:31:24.359
it's a little nippy in the air, rain, so it's
589
00:31:24.440 --> 00:31:26.799
not snow this time. But you know, Harry's really not
590
00:31:26.920 --> 00:31:29.279
having a good time with the weather either. So I
591
00:31:29.480 --> 00:31:32.000
like sort of putting that character in there, the character
592
00:31:32.079 --> 00:31:34.599
of the city. It adds just a little element of
593
00:31:34.960 --> 00:31:39.079
authenticity to it. It's unique enough so that it's sort
594
00:31:39.119 --> 00:31:42.440
of pings on Chicago and nowhere else and nowhere else
595
00:31:42.480 --> 00:31:44.799
are you gonna get this whipping wind? Nowhere else? Are
596
00:31:44.799 --> 00:31:46.599
you gonna get this lake that sort of sits there
597
00:31:46.720 --> 00:31:50.000
like an ominous monster. I mean, this is Chicago, and
598
00:31:50.079 --> 00:31:52.319
I kind of like putting that as an extra character
599
00:31:52.400 --> 00:31:54.559
in there, just to sort of ramp up the tension
600
00:31:54.640 --> 00:31:58.319
and the conflict and the inhospitableness of this whole crime thing,
601
00:31:59.240 --> 00:32:00.359
just and added element.
602
00:32:01.519 --> 00:32:02.000
Absolutely.
603
00:32:04.200 --> 00:32:07.440
I talked about the weather at the beginning before the interview,
604
00:32:07.599 --> 00:32:11.119
and I feel like Harry never gets good weather. Like
605
00:32:11.519 --> 00:32:13.759
I realize it's Chicago, but it always feels like it's
606
00:32:13.799 --> 00:32:16.279
the depths of winter. And even this book that's coming
607
00:32:16.319 --> 00:32:19.799
up in the spring sounds cold. You know that phrase,
608
00:32:20.079 --> 00:32:22.319
this is why we can't have nice things. I feel
609
00:32:22.359 --> 00:32:25.319
like Harry, if she's talking to Tracy, is saying something
610
00:32:25.359 --> 00:32:28.000
along the lines of why can't I just have nice weather?
611
00:32:28.559 --> 00:32:33.000
Maybe not, but that's what I think she's saying. Or
612
00:32:33.039 --> 00:32:35.079
maybe that's just me saying it because I want to
613
00:32:35.119 --> 00:32:37.319
be warm while I read the book. We're going to
614
00:32:37.359 --> 00:32:40.480
take our final break of this episode. When we come back,
615
00:32:40.519 --> 00:32:42.680
we're talking a little bit about the titles of the
616
00:32:42.720 --> 00:32:44.720
books in the series. You are tuned in to the
617
00:32:44.799 --> 00:32:47.960
GSMC Book Review Podcast and I will be right back.
618
00:34:04.759 --> 00:34:08.199
Welcome back to the GSMC Book Review Podcast. Before the break,
619
00:34:08.320 --> 00:34:12.199
Tracy was talking about book four and the fact that
620
00:34:12.320 --> 00:34:16.159
it's still cold even in spring, which poor Harry. I
621
00:34:16.280 --> 00:34:19.440
know she's fictional, but still poor Harry. Let's return out
622
00:34:19.440 --> 00:34:22.599
to the conclusion of this conversation with Tracy Clark.
623
00:34:26.280 --> 00:34:29.199
All the titles in this series are one word, so
624
00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:33.960
very short titles. Reasoning behind that.
625
00:34:35.599 --> 00:34:39.800
That's the publisher Apparently words are my thing now, not
626
00:34:39.960 --> 00:34:42.280
only one word, but four letters in the words. So
627
00:34:42.920 --> 00:34:45.079
I don't know how they figure out the algorithm or
628
00:34:45.679 --> 00:34:47.960
how they it sort of works for marketing or whatever
629
00:34:48.039 --> 00:34:50.360
like that, but I'll leave that to them. They're experts
630
00:34:50.400 --> 00:34:53.639
in that area. So the titles are them. I'm fine
631
00:34:53.679 --> 00:34:56.280
with them, and my job is to sort of fill
632
00:34:56.480 --> 00:34:59.960
what's between the title and the last page. So that's
633
00:35:00.119 --> 00:35:02.360
my job right there, and I'll leave the title and
634
00:35:02.480 --> 00:35:05.599
the covers to them, you know, because they're the expert data.
635
00:35:06.039 --> 00:35:08.840
Yeah, yep, you're writing the story, they can kind of
636
00:35:08.880 --> 00:35:11.480
figure out the particulars, right yep.
637
00:35:12.800 --> 00:35:14.559
So you said working a book for it and then
638
00:35:14.679 --> 00:35:17.320
maybe pivoting to something else. What are you going to
639
00:35:17.400 --> 00:35:17.920
work on next?
640
00:35:17.960 --> 00:35:20.920
Do you think it's going to be my first standalone
641
00:35:20.960 --> 00:35:24.039
I'm not sure what it is yet because they sort
642
00:35:24.039 --> 00:35:26.440
of start thinking about the next book halfway through the
643
00:35:26.480 --> 00:35:30.639
one I'm writing, so I'm sort of percolating ideas about
644
00:35:30.679 --> 00:35:33.599
what that one will be, but it will definitely not
645
00:35:33.719 --> 00:35:37.000
be a series. So it'll be my first foray into
646
00:35:37.320 --> 00:35:40.239
standalone and we'll see how that goes. But I'm looking
647
00:35:40.280 --> 00:35:43.880
for characters now, I'm looking for situations, so what the
648
00:35:43.960 --> 00:35:46.119
story might be about. And so it's in the back
649
00:35:46.159 --> 00:35:48.360
of my head while I'm writing this one, and when
650
00:35:48.400 --> 00:35:50.559
I get closer to that point when i'll actually have
651
00:35:50.679 --> 00:35:54.360
to start writing it, something, hopefully Notckwood, will come to me.
652
00:35:54.519 --> 00:35:58.800
So a smarter writer would have a plan or work
653
00:35:58.800 --> 00:36:00.880
an out line out, but you know that's not me.
654
00:36:01.360 --> 00:36:03.920
My brain doesn't work that way. So when I can
655
00:36:04.000 --> 00:36:07.440
need it, it will be there, hopefully knock Wood, and
656
00:36:07.719 --> 00:36:10.360
until then I'll concentrate on what I'm doing now.
657
00:36:11.440 --> 00:36:13.719
Sorry, backing up to book four. Do you have an
658
00:36:13.960 --> 00:36:15.320
estimate for when that might be out?
659
00:36:16.440 --> 00:36:18.719
Well, I'm due to them on the fifteenth of March.
660
00:36:19.079 --> 00:36:22.400
I'm in a state, so I think probably December is
661
00:36:22.480 --> 00:36:24.760
my sort of month, my release month, so I would
662
00:36:24.760 --> 00:36:29.199
think December of two thousand and twenty five or whatever.
663
00:36:30.039 --> 00:36:30.199
You know.
664
00:36:31.119 --> 00:36:33.960
Yeah, seems like forever a way it's gonna be here.
665
00:36:34.000 --> 00:36:35.800
We're gonna blink and it'll be December.
666
00:36:36.400 --> 00:36:36.960
Absolutely.
667
00:36:37.639 --> 00:36:37.880
Yeah.
668
00:36:39.480 --> 00:36:43.440
So when you have time to just read for you,
669
00:36:43.719 --> 00:36:44.960
what have you been reading?
670
00:36:46.199 --> 00:36:50.119
Well, I'm reading actually, I had it here Rachel's House
671
00:36:50.119 --> 00:36:55.079
at Hall's New Books. I like the cover into Romanticy.
672
00:36:55.079 --> 00:36:57.400
I've never read anything in that genre before, but it's
673
00:36:57.480 --> 00:36:59.639
amazing and she's such a great writer that she sort
674
00:36:59.679 --> 00:37:01.920
of suck you in. So that's what I'm reading now
675
00:37:02.000 --> 00:37:04.800
in between what i'm other stuff that I'm doing. And
676
00:37:04.880 --> 00:37:07.800
I'm really enjoying it. So I would recommend it for anybody. Yeah.
677
00:37:08.000 --> 00:37:09.880
Hold up, it's got the it's got the decorated the
678
00:37:10.159 --> 00:37:11.679
there's a word for that, but I'm blanking on the
679
00:37:11.880 --> 00:37:12.559
when they paint the.
680
00:37:12.599 --> 00:37:14.480
Side, isn't it beautiful?
681
00:37:14.880 --> 00:37:15.119
Yeah?
682
00:37:15.880 --> 00:37:16.920
Inside and out?
683
00:37:18.760 --> 00:37:21.440
The things they do with books anymore, it's amazing. Yeah,
684
00:37:21.480 --> 00:37:24.599
it is. Yeah, you have a website, so.
685
00:37:24.599 --> 00:37:26.840
If you can share your website and any place people
686
00:37:26.880 --> 00:37:29.079
can find you on social media, well.
687
00:37:28.960 --> 00:37:31.800
It's Tracy Clark Books. Just check it out. I'm also
688
00:37:31.880 --> 00:37:35.400
on blue Sky and Instagram and let's say Facebook, so
689
00:37:35.639 --> 00:37:37.559
you know, just type my name in name my picture
690
00:37:37.719 --> 00:37:39.159
is and drop me a line.
691
00:37:41.159 --> 00:37:42.880
Tracey, is there anything that we haven't covered that you
692
00:37:42.920 --> 00:37:45.400
want to make sure that you brought up about Echo
693
00:37:45.679 --> 00:37:46.880
or the series itself.
694
00:37:48.280 --> 00:37:50.280
No, I think we're I think we're good. I mean,
695
00:37:51.079 --> 00:37:53.000
if you're in for a good read and we could
696
00:37:53.039 --> 00:37:55.760
crime novel, check me out and hope you enjoy it.
697
00:37:56.880 --> 00:37:59.079
Well, thank you so much. I know we're right up
698
00:37:59.079 --> 00:38:01.360
close to Christmas. Thank you so much for taking time
699
00:38:01.480 --> 00:38:03.159
to talk to me today. I really appreciate it.
700
00:38:03.679 --> 00:38:04.400
Thank you so much.
701
00:38:05.079 --> 00:38:07.719
Thank you so much to Tracy for joining me to
702
00:38:07.920 --> 00:38:11.280
talk about Echo and the rest of the Harry Harriet
703
00:38:11.320 --> 00:38:15.880
Foster series. I enjoy very much. When Tracy comes to
704
00:38:16.159 --> 00:38:19.559
the podcast, definitely check out her first interview if you're
705
00:38:19.599 --> 00:38:22.880
interested in hearing us talk about the first book in
706
00:38:22.920 --> 00:38:25.519
the series, which is called Hide. And if you are
707
00:38:25.559 --> 00:38:28.719
a fan of crime fiction, maybe you like being really
708
00:38:28.800 --> 00:38:32.639
cold while you read I'm kidding no, But if you
709
00:38:33.039 --> 00:38:35.159
are a fan of crime fiction, if you like books
710
00:38:35.159 --> 00:38:39.039
set in Chicago, if you like series that involve very
711
00:38:40.079 --> 00:38:42.480
you know, Harry is a strong female character, but she's
712
00:38:42.480 --> 00:38:45.119
also a broken female character. She's strong in a lot
713
00:38:45.159 --> 00:38:48.760
of ways, but she's very, very broken in other ways.
714
00:38:48.800 --> 00:38:51.079
And she's got a lot of growing that she is doing,
715
00:38:51.159 --> 00:38:56.119
and she's working through a lot of difficult emotional situations
716
00:38:56.880 --> 00:38:59.599
on a bunch of different levels. So if you are
717
00:38:59.639 --> 00:39:04.079
a fan of character development in that form, then this
718
00:39:04.280 --> 00:39:06.559
is a series that you should definitely check out. There
719
00:39:06.639 --> 00:39:09.440
are currently three books, with a fourth one coming out
720
00:39:11.199 --> 00:39:13.559
to continue the story, and you've got the other series
721
00:39:13.599 --> 00:39:16.360
as well that Tracy writes. So if you maybe you're
722
00:39:16.360 --> 00:39:19.599
already a fan of Tracy and you haven't, you should
723
00:39:19.679 --> 00:39:21.880
definitely check out this newest book. But maybe you're looking
724
00:39:21.920 --> 00:39:26.000
for a new crime fiction author and Tracy is a
725
00:39:26.079 --> 00:39:29.039
good place to start, so go check out her books.
726
00:39:30.800 --> 00:39:33.320
I hope you will join me for the next episode.
727
00:39:33.400 --> 00:39:37.400
We'll be switching gears to urban fantasy, which is exciting.
728
00:39:37.440 --> 00:39:40.119
I haven't done urban fantasy in a while. I will
729
00:39:40.159 --> 00:39:43.519
be speaking with author Evett Davis about the others this
730
00:39:43.760 --> 00:39:46.599
is the first book in a I believe it's going
731
00:39:46.679 --> 00:39:51.000
to be a trilogy, urban fantasy set in San Francisco.
732
00:39:51.199 --> 00:39:53.719
I am excited to talk to a Vet and learn
733
00:39:53.800 --> 00:39:56.679
more about this series and this first book in particular,
734
00:39:56.800 --> 00:40:00.480
so please do join me for that episode. In the meantime,
735
00:40:00.960 --> 00:40:04.079
if you're a fan of this podcast, please do me
736
00:40:04.320 --> 00:40:08.119
the Christmas favor of liking, following, subscribing, what have you
737
00:40:08.239 --> 00:40:10.920
on whatever platform you are either listening to or watching
738
00:40:11.119 --> 00:40:14.400
this podcast on. And if you're listening to this podcast
739
00:40:14.960 --> 00:40:17.800
and you hear me say it watching this podcast, you
740
00:40:17.880 --> 00:40:19.840
can also if you want to see the authors that
741
00:40:19.880 --> 00:40:23.239
I'm speaking with, you can watch on YouTube. You can
742
00:40:23.320 --> 00:40:26.320
watch the podcast on video now as well as listening
743
00:40:26.400 --> 00:40:29.519
to it. But either way, I'm grateful, So please do like, follow,
744
00:40:29.559 --> 00:40:32.480
and subscribe on whatever platform you are partaking of this
745
00:40:32.639 --> 00:40:36.920
episode on. Also, if you could leave a nice review excellent,
746
00:40:37.119 --> 00:40:39.639
thank you so much. Really does help the algorithm. It's
747
00:40:39.719 --> 00:40:42.800
greatly appreciated. And if you're on social media, you can
748
00:40:42.880 --> 00:40:49.000
follow this podcast on Facebook, x, Instagram, TikTok, and Blue Sky.
749
00:40:49.760 --> 00:40:53.079
Looking forward to seeing you on social media, engaging with you.
750
00:40:53.280 --> 00:40:55.559
Ask me your questions, tell me what's going on in
751
00:40:55.679 --> 00:40:59.840
your life in terms of books and reading. Merry Christmas,
752
00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.840
if you're celebrating, Happy Hanukah, if you're celebrating and marry, whatever,
753
00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:07.079
whatever you are celebrating this week, I hope that it
754
00:41:07.239 --> 00:41:10.199
is wonderful. I hope you're having a lovely, lovely week
755
00:41:10.320 --> 00:41:13.639
filled with whatever type of family is best for you
756
00:41:15.039 --> 00:41:17.039
and whatever type of books are best for you. I
757
00:41:17.079 --> 00:41:19.760
hope that you get a lot of book time this week,
758
00:41:20.039 --> 00:41:23.360
especially whatever this week throws at you. I really really
759
00:41:23.480 --> 00:41:25.800
do hope that it throws you plenty of time to
760
00:41:25.840 --> 00:41:29.239
get yourself lost in a good book. Thank you so much.
761
00:41:29.400 --> 00:41:30.559
I will talk to you next time.
762
00:41:40.960 --> 00:41:44.599
Let's go. I wake up a little bit of drool
763
00:41:44.639 --> 00:41:46.559
on a Pellow field, like it's gonna be a bad day.
764
00:41:47.559 --> 00:41:49.960
I'm tired of shit, and the coffee ain't hit yet.
765
00:41:50.079 --> 00:41:51.119
Damn ain't that great?
766
00:41:51.320 --> 00:41:52.679
I don't want to go
1
00:00:21.960 --> 00:00:25.839
Hello, and welcome to the GSMC Book Review podcast, brought
2
00:00:25.839 --> 00:00:29.760
to you by the GSMC Entertainment Network. I am your host, Sarah.
3
00:00:29.800 --> 00:00:33.560
I am delighted to be with you on this Christmas Eve.
4
00:00:33.640 --> 00:00:37.079
I have another author interview to share with you as
5
00:00:37.119 --> 00:00:39.799
we get started. I do want to remind you to like, follow,
6
00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:42.399
and subscribe on whatever platform you are listening to the
7
00:00:42.439 --> 00:00:45.799
podcast on. That really does help the algorithm. Also, if
8
00:00:45.799 --> 00:00:47.799
you would like to help out the podcast and the
9
00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:50.799
network as a whole, you can go to GSMC podcast
10
00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:53.320
dot info. There you can leave a tip or a
11
00:00:53.359 --> 00:00:58.000
donation that again really helps out the network as a whole,
12
00:00:58.039 --> 00:01:00.320
and this podcast and all of the support that give
13
00:01:00.439 --> 00:01:04.200
is always greatly appreciated, no matter what form that support takes.
14
00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:08.040
Once again, that link is GSMC podcast dot info. You
15
00:01:08.079 --> 00:01:10.079
see it next to me. You'll also see it scrolling
16
00:01:10.159 --> 00:01:15.640
along throughout the episode. Happy Christmas Eve. I hope that
17
00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:18.799
you are having a wonderful day so far. If you
18
00:01:18.959 --> 00:01:22.840
are someone who celebrates Christmas, maybe who does anything special
19
00:01:22.879 --> 00:01:26.439
on Christmas Eve, hope that your day is going well.
20
00:01:27.959 --> 00:01:32.200
We are getting ready to go to some friends for dinner.
21
00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:34.879
They invited us last year and it was a lot
22
00:01:34.879 --> 00:01:38.760
of fun, a lot of food. I don't know if
23
00:01:38.760 --> 00:01:42.000
it's it's a big family from what I'm used to,
24
00:01:42.079 --> 00:01:44.000
because I don't come from a very big family. It's
25
00:01:44.040 --> 00:01:46.519
not a big family for what my husband is used to,
26
00:01:46.680 --> 00:01:49.719
so somewhere in between. I don't know. If it's a
27
00:01:49.719 --> 00:01:52.840
big family by Portuguese standards, I don't know. But there's
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00:01:52.879 --> 00:01:56.400
a lot of food, and they're really really nice, and
29
00:01:56.439 --> 00:01:59.239
they're very kind, and they help us with our Portuguese.
30
00:01:59.239 --> 00:02:01.319
And they speak a lot of English, which is very
31
00:02:01.359 --> 00:02:05.519
very kind of them, and there was I would be lost.
32
00:02:06.359 --> 00:02:09.000
We do a lot of a lot of Google Translate,
33
00:02:09.080 --> 00:02:12.560
a lot of charades, a lot of my limited Portuguese.
34
00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:15.520
They're very good English, and we make it work. So
35
00:02:16.639 --> 00:02:19.560
I am very grateful that we got the invitation again
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00:02:19.759 --> 00:02:22.360
this year. It's a family that I like very very much,
37
00:02:22.439 --> 00:02:26.520
and we spend a lot of time. It's our neighbor
38
00:02:27.319 --> 00:02:30.960
our neighbors and then so we don't see their family
39
00:02:31.319 --> 00:02:34.960
as much, maybe just on holidays and here and there occasionally,
40
00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:37.280
so it's really nice when we get to see them
41
00:02:37.400 --> 00:02:40.520
and hang out with them. So whatever you're doing today,
42
00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:45.120
I hope that it is wonderful and enjoyable. If you
43
00:02:45.319 --> 00:02:49.960
are with family, soak that up. If you are without
44
00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:52.919
family and you're feeling homesick, then my heart goes out
45
00:02:52.919 --> 00:02:56.840
to you. If you're someone who doesn't do family, then
46
00:02:57.159 --> 00:02:58.840
whatever it is that you do, I hope that you
47
00:02:58.879 --> 00:03:02.080
have found family. But I hope that this day, this
48
00:03:02.120 --> 00:03:05.879
week is bringing you joy. And Honikah also starts this week,
49
00:03:05.960 --> 00:03:08.960
so it's always it's always interesting to me when Hankah
50
00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:11.560
and Christmas line up like that. They don't, you know,
51
00:03:11.960 --> 00:03:14.479
the dates move for Honkah, so this year they are
52
00:03:15.759 --> 00:03:18.960
coinciding a little bit. So happy Honkah for those of
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00:03:19.000 --> 00:03:21.800
you who celebrate that as well. Lots and lots of
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00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:24.800
holidays this time of year, so happy holidays, whatever you
55
00:03:24.879 --> 00:03:28.840
happen to be celebrating. Let's talk about a book. I
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00:03:28.919 --> 00:03:34.120
have returning guest Tracy Clark with me this episode. She
57
00:03:34.319 --> 00:03:37.719
was here to talk about her first book in this series.
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00:03:37.800 --> 00:03:40.560
This is the Harriet Foster series. The first book was
59
00:03:40.599 --> 00:03:43.159
called Hide, the second book is called Fall. This one
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00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:45.639
is called Echo. Let me go ahead and give you
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00:03:45.680 --> 00:03:50.520
the description of this third installment of the series. Hardwick House,
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00:03:50.759 --> 00:03:55.319
home to Belverton College's exclusive Minotaur society is no stranger
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00:03:55.360 --> 00:03:57.879
to tragedy, and when a body turns up in the
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00:03:57.879 --> 00:04:01.400
field next to the mansion, the scene folks chillingly familiar.
65
00:04:02.360 --> 00:04:07.159
Chicago Pead sends hard nosed Detective Harriet Harry Foster to investigate.
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00:04:07.479 --> 00:04:10.879
The victim is Bryce Collier, a wealthy Belverton student whose
67
00:04:10.919 --> 00:04:14.599
billionaire father Sebastian owns Hardwick and ranks as a major
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00:04:14.680 --> 00:04:19.319
school benefactor. Sebastian also has ties to the mansions notorious past,
69
00:04:19.560 --> 00:04:22.279
when thirty years ago, hazing led to a student's death
70
00:04:22.360 --> 00:04:25.759
in the very same field. Could the deaths be connected
71
00:04:26.319 --> 00:04:29.399
With no suspects or leads, Harry and her partner, Detective
72
00:04:29.480 --> 00:04:32.199
Via Lee, will have to dig deep to find answers.
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00:04:32.800 --> 00:04:35.160
No charges were ever filed in the first case, and
74
00:04:35.240 --> 00:04:38.800
this time Harry's determined the killer must pay, but still
75
00:04:38.839 --> 00:04:41.920
grieving her former partner's death, Harry must also contend with
76
00:04:41.959 --> 00:04:46.040
a shadowy figure called the Voice, and their dangerous game
77
00:04:46.120 --> 00:04:50.360
of cat and mouse could threaten everything. So again, that
78
00:04:50.519 --> 00:04:52.879
is the description of Echo. It is the third book
79
00:04:52.920 --> 00:04:56.920
in the Harriet Foster series, and it is crime fiction.
80
00:04:57.120 --> 00:05:00.279
As you can probably tell, We've got a murder, We've
81
00:05:00.319 --> 00:05:03.399
got winter in Chicago, which just you can see on
82
00:05:03.560 --> 00:05:10.639
the cover. It's cold and snowy and Chicago winter. I've
83
00:05:10.680 --> 00:05:13.959
spent weekends in Chicago in the winter, and that's enough.
84
00:05:14.480 --> 00:05:18.079
That is enough for me. I do not need that
85
00:05:18.199 --> 00:05:20.920
intense and I'm from Montana work it's really cold, but
86
00:05:21.040 --> 00:05:24.000
Chicago is a different kind of cold for me, And
87
00:05:24.079 --> 00:05:26.759
especially now that I live where we get three hundred
88
00:05:26.800 --> 00:05:29.600
days of sun a year, Chicago winter just does not
89
00:05:29.800 --> 00:05:31.959
sound like someplace that I want to spend. So I
90
00:05:32.040 --> 00:05:34.360
just felt cold the entire time I was reading this book,
91
00:05:34.399 --> 00:05:38.000
and everyone's always just bundled up and going out into
92
00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:42.600
the sleet and the slush and the snow. But there's
93
00:05:42.639 --> 00:05:45.319
also there's also a crime that needs to be solved.
94
00:05:46.040 --> 00:05:49.519
There is a murder there. Actually there are two murders,
95
00:05:49.519 --> 00:05:51.800
but they're thirty years apart. There's lots of different things
96
00:05:51.839 --> 00:05:56.279
to figure out. In addition to the current case being
97
00:05:56.319 --> 00:06:00.120
investigated by Harriet and her partner Vera, there's on an
98
00:06:00.160 --> 00:06:04.600
ongoing situation that has been developing throughout the course of
99
00:06:04.600 --> 00:06:07.120
the three books, and Harry is trying to figure out
100
00:06:07.160 --> 00:06:10.399
what's going on with that, who is involved, why they
101
00:06:10.519 --> 00:06:13.439
are doing what they are doing. I don't want to
102
00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:16.879
give too much away, but that is an arc that's
103
00:06:16.879 --> 00:06:20.160
been developing and continues to develop through this That adds
104
00:06:20.199 --> 00:06:23.920
another layer to this story. Let's go ahead and let
105
00:06:23.959 --> 00:06:26.360
Tracy talk about the book so you can hear more
106
00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:29.279
about the series and this book in particular. Again, it's
107
00:06:29.319 --> 00:06:32.519
the Harriet Foster series. This book is Echo, and the
108
00:06:32.560 --> 00:06:36.920
author is Tracy Brown. Tracy Brown, that would be a
109
00:06:36.920 --> 00:06:40.399
friend of mine, not the author of this series. The
110
00:06:40.439 --> 00:06:43.040
author is Tracy Clark. My apologies.
111
00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:45.839
Hi, Tracy, welcome back to the podcast.
112
00:06:46.399 --> 00:06:48.360
Hello, hik Sarah. Thanks for having me.
113
00:06:48.680 --> 00:06:49.639
It is nice to have you.
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00:06:49.680 --> 00:06:52.920
I'm excited to talk to you and talk about this
115
00:06:53.079 --> 00:06:56.079
newest book in the Harriet Foster series. Before we do,
116
00:06:56.120 --> 00:06:58.920
if you wouldn't mind giving a refresher, just reintroducing yourself
117
00:06:58.959 --> 00:07:00.639
so my listeners can either.
118
00:07:00.399 --> 00:07:03.480
Get to know you or refresh their memories on who
119
00:07:03.519 --> 00:07:03.839
you are.
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00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:07.079
Right well, I am Tracy Clark. I am the author
121
00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:10.800
of the Cash Rains series and also the detective Harriet
122
00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:15.319
Foster series, both set in Chicago, both featuring a strong
123
00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:20.399
female protagonists and their team of misfits. And so Echo
124
00:07:20.560 --> 00:07:24.959
is the latest installment in the Harriet Foster series, and
125
00:07:25.040 --> 00:07:29.240
it's about a murder case or cases. They're separated by decades,
126
00:07:29.519 --> 00:07:32.600
but they're somehow sort of linked, and so I'm my
127
00:07:32.680 --> 00:07:34.600
homicide team has to sort of figure it out all
128
00:07:34.600 --> 00:07:37.199
out and figure out what kind of killer waits thirty
129
00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:39.519
years to kill again. So it's kind of a weird
130
00:07:39.839 --> 00:07:41.720
sort of a thing to sort of write, and I
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00:07:41.720 --> 00:07:42.759
hope readers enjoy it.
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00:07:44.199 --> 00:07:47.600
And this is the third in the series.
133
00:07:47.680 --> 00:07:49.959
So the first time you were here, we talked about
134
00:07:49.959 --> 00:07:53.279
the first one. So it's always it's always a little
135
00:07:53.279 --> 00:07:57.560
bit tricky to talk about a series, especially if you've
136
00:07:57.560 --> 00:08:00.639
got people who've maybe read one or haven't read any.
137
00:08:01.000 --> 00:08:05.360
So we'll do our best to talk about things. What
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00:08:05.439 --> 00:08:08.560
was your inspiration for Let mean, obviously we have the
139
00:08:08.800 --> 00:08:11.759
murders thirty years apart, but what what what sparked the idea?
140
00:08:11.879 --> 00:08:13.519
Was your inspiration for this particular book?
141
00:08:14.199 --> 00:08:17.040
Well, this one started with the setting. I found a
142
00:08:17.079 --> 00:08:21.000
field next to a college campus that looked pretty interesting,
143
00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:23.680
interesting place to sort of put a body. I was
144
00:08:23.720 --> 00:08:26.720
looking for someplace to put it fictionally, and so this
145
00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:29.480
field I passed by, this field, is that's interesting? And
146
00:08:29.519 --> 00:08:31.600
then I said, well, what kind of case would sort
147
00:08:31.639 --> 00:08:33.840
of pop up from there, and then I sort of
148
00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:36.200
put a frat house where another house used to be,
149
00:08:36.320 --> 00:08:38.559
or is. It's not quite a frat house, but I
150
00:08:38.600 --> 00:08:41.799
made it that. So now the story starts to percolate.
151
00:08:41.960 --> 00:08:44.200
We've got a dead body, we've got a field there,
152
00:08:44.519 --> 00:08:47.120
we've got the college campus right in a near distance.
153
00:08:47.360 --> 00:08:49.600
And then now we've got a frat house that I've created.
154
00:08:49.879 --> 00:08:52.279
And now the you know, things come together. So what
155
00:08:52.360 --> 00:08:56.840
could possibly have put that body there? Or who? Why? Uh?
156
00:08:57.000 --> 00:08:59.600
And then I have a case for my homicide detective.
157
00:08:59.679 --> 00:09:02.799
So it starts with very little things. Sometimes sometimes it
158
00:09:02.840 --> 00:09:07.120
starts with location. Sometimes it starts with a season. Sometimes
159
00:09:07.159 --> 00:09:09.240
it starts with a character, and then it sort of
160
00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:12.879
blooms from there. Echo started with the field, and so
161
00:09:13.480 --> 00:09:17.000
the story grew from there, sort of encircles around this body,
162
00:09:17.039 --> 00:09:20.240
this field, this case. And so that's how I'm a panther.
163
00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:22.320
So I don't have an outline or a plan or anything.
164
00:09:22.399 --> 00:09:26.159
So that's it. The body's there, homicide detectives called in.
165
00:09:26.600 --> 00:09:29.080
Now we're off to the races. So that's how it
166
00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:31.039
starts for me. That's how every book starts for me.
167
00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:33.080
And I just sort of picked my way along until
168
00:09:33.080 --> 00:09:33.720
I get to the end.
169
00:09:34.559 --> 00:09:37.080
I like that you inserted that word fictionally, that you're
170
00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:41.039
not good place to put a body fectionally my door.
171
00:09:42.919 --> 00:09:46.200
I would imagine that's an interesting way that your brain
172
00:09:46.279 --> 00:09:48.440
probably kind of thinks like that, being as you know,
173
00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:51.080
since you write crime fiction that you are, you could
174
00:09:51.240 --> 00:09:54.440
just be walking along someday and literally think you know,
175
00:09:54.799 --> 00:09:55.519
that would.
176
00:09:55.240 --> 00:09:58.480
Be I mean, it happens all kinds of ways, which
177
00:09:58.559 --> 00:09:59.840
is kind of a cool thing about it. I mean,
178
00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:02.799
creativity sparks everywhere, So you could be in the cleaners
179
00:10:02.879 --> 00:10:05.919
or in the laundromat or doing anything and something will happen,
180
00:10:06.240 --> 00:10:08.559
and you know, you file it away and it might
181
00:10:08.639 --> 00:10:10.320
end up in a book somewhere or not. You know,
182
00:10:10.360 --> 00:10:11.000
it just depends.
183
00:10:11.600 --> 00:10:14.240
Yeah. Yeah, but it's an interesting stile to have in
184
00:10:14.279 --> 00:10:14.720
your brain.
185
00:10:15.039 --> 00:10:18.840
Yeah you know, what do you imagine? Yeah, poison's in there.
186
00:10:18.840 --> 00:10:19.879
I've got all kinds of stuff.
187
00:10:21.480 --> 00:10:25.039
Authors' brains in general, I think, are very fascinating and
188
00:10:25.080 --> 00:10:28.799
they store a lot of different ideas and different potential
189
00:10:28.840 --> 00:10:32.440
plot points, but crime fiction authors particularly, and I've talked
190
00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:34.679
with other authors about this and had these thoughts before,
191
00:10:35.879 --> 00:10:39.919
just walking around thinking, hmm, I could put a body there?
192
00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:41.720
Oh what if there was a body there? I mean,
193
00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:44.320
I just think sometimes I wonder if those thoughts come
194
00:10:44.360 --> 00:10:46.879
out when they're not realizing that it would make for
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some interesting conversations. Most likely, most of the time people
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would know what you did, But for me, I would
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just like say something and not realize that I was
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talking to a person who had absolutely no idea why
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these thoughts were coming out of my head. That's just
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the way my life works most of the time. But
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we are going to take a break and when we
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come back, we'll be talking a little bit about what
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I was speaking of earlier, with that story that goes
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that's arcing throughout the first three books and the fourth
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book that is coming up. So you are tuned into
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the g s MC Book Review podcast and I will
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be right back.
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I feel like I'm losing my ma.
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Everybody in the wild, bye, Please Lord give me Usige
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a sign. I feel like I'm losing by everybody in
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the wild. Bye, Please Lord give me us shine Shine.
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I want to be the greatest everybody on the face
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I look around, I feel like everybody is the facs
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I'd case every day and.
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I'm in patient, hoping one day, I've blowed up in
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the basement.
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Stay made.
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The top is so baking. I don't even ship that
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I think is amazing, waiting for my day when I
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playing sold own sold for a thousand faces.
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Hey give me that crown. Keating my way to be
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put down. It ain't your placed.
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All this my town.
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If I want that shit that, I'll get it right now.
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I'm losing it. The noose and fits the mosy shit
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a stupid myth.
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You choose to live, a.
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Choose to diep you choose to fight a.
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Loser, grip and lose a gift dog.
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I feel like mosing everybody oiled tie. Please Lord give
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me us. I feel like moss everybody oil.
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Welcome back to the GSMC book review podcast and my
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conversation with author Tracy Clark. As we get into this
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second segment, just your second and final reminder that you
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can support the podcast in a monetary fashion by going
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00:12:55.840 --> 00:13:00.360
to GSMC podcast dot info again not only helps this podcast,
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but helps the entire network.
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Again.
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All of the support that you give me this podcast
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the network is greatly appreciated. Thank you very very much.
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If you do want to leave a question or a
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00:13:11.480 --> 00:13:13.639
comment when you are at that website, you can do
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you can do that. I'd be happy to engage with
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that the beginning of the next episode after receiving said
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question or comment again. The website is GSMC podcast dot info.
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Before the break, Tracy was talking about things that spark ideas, inspirations,
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jumping off points, et cetera. In this case, it was
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a field, and that'd be an interesting place to put
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a body there. Why is there a body there? Et cetera.
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So the interesting way that crime fiction author's brains work.
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Let's go ahead and return to the conversation with Tracy.
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As a pnswer and who writes series, You've got two
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different series. There's things that happen throughout this series that
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are evolving. You know, there's there's the case that that
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Harriet's working on in that particular book, but there's also
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things that are going on through through across the books.
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So as a pnswer, is that do you just kind
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of let that overarching story kind of evolve as you
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write or do you have more of an endpoint in
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mind for that part of the series.
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I sort of follow the characters. Harry's sort of got
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a complicated backstory, so it's kind of interesting to sort
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of pull that thread through the books because she has
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to sort of go on a journey. She has to
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sort of go from step to step to step, and
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I don't always know what those steps are ahead of time.
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I just put her in a room, I give her
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as much complication as I can possibly give her, and
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then I see which way she goes. In the first book,
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we find her she's really at a low point. But
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characters have to move, they have to do something. So
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in book two she sort of learned how to rely
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on her team a little bit. I've given her a
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different partner and who sort of sees her through the
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door and sort of knows what she sort of needs.
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And so now she's got Vera on the other side
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of her, sort of pushing her towards wellness. But that partnership,
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that combination of those two continues. In book three, we
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find Harriet in a little different space. You know, she's
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not great, but she's better than she was in book one,
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and the book that I'm writing now book four in
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the series, and then we'll sort of pivot to something else.
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She's a little bit different than she is in book three,
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so's there's got to be that through line, that thread,
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that progress, even if it's two steps forward one back,
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she's got to move. And so I'm putting her in
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a position where she's got to make those decisions, she's
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got to make those choices, that she's got to do
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something different than she did last time, or else, you know,
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she stagnates. So I'm always thinking about what's going to
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move her, what's going to get her to the next spot.
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And then of course the murder case is there and
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she has to deal with that, But that's a different
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side of what the character is about. She's brilliant on
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the job, great, wonderful investigator, wonderful detective. But then she's
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got all this personal mess that she hasn't got a
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handle on, and she needs to get a handle on it.
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So little by little little inches, in a little progress,
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she sort of figures out what she's got to do,
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and then she has to do it. But I kind
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of like that part more than I like the other part.
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I mean, I like the fact that I've got to
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dig for her and find where she sort of sits
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and sort of get her out of the hole she's in. Yeah,
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and then figure out what's gonna do that? So I
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spend I get probably ninety percent of my time doing
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that and then ten percent, you know, tossing bodies around.
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So it's mostly the personal, the character. It's always starts
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there with me and ends there with me. And so
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my job as a writer, I think for this series
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is to put Harriet in a better place than we
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found her. So I'm always working on that.
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Yeah, And one thing I noticed when I started reading
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this one, because you were here last time we talked
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about the first book. I actually I have them both
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00:17:02.600 --> 00:17:04.759
on my phone. I was reading them reading on my phone,
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00:17:04.799 --> 00:17:06.799
and I thought, I need to double check this because
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in the first book, she's consistantly referred to as Foster
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throughout the book, and now she's hairy.
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00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:16.000
So how did that was that? I assume that was
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a deliberate choice on your part.
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Well, because they're getting to know her when she first
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walks into there, she's a really prickly pair. I mean,
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she doesn't want anybody close to her. She is not
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interested in their personal business, she's not interested in making friends.
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She is there to work. She's picked a new station,
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she wanted to transfer, she wanted to get out of
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the old place, and she just wants to do her job.
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So she is Foster, okay, because that's what she's sort
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of giving off. As they sort of come to know
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00:17:46.559 --> 00:17:49.680
her and know how she works and see her as
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Gara does, and the others sort of learn how to
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00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:55.200
do that too, she becomes more of a personal thing
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00:17:55.279 --> 00:17:59.319
to them and her to them. So yeah, it's deliberate,
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00:18:00.039 --> 00:18:03.079
but it takes it's not immediate. It's deliberate, but not immediate.
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00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:06.559
So Foster first, as they get to know her, get
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00:18:06.599 --> 00:18:11.839
to rely on her, and she them, Harry, Harriet whatever, okay.
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00:18:11.960 --> 00:18:19.799
So yeah, absolutely there are there's a cast of secondary
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characters around her, mainly other homicide detectives.
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I would imagine that some of them are a lot
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00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:28.519
of fun to write. Maybe some of them are challenging
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00:18:28.640 --> 00:18:31.319
to write. Is there one that you particularly enjoy?
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I like the old timers. I like Semanski. I like
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the fact that he's been there forever. He knows how
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00:18:38.960 --> 00:18:42.000
the operation works, he knows how the department works, he
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00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:44.400
knows how the city works, he knows how city halled.
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She knows it's all bureaucracy and red tape and bullshit.
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I mean, basically, I mean, he'd been there forever. He's
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00:18:50.440 --> 00:18:52.920
got maybe five years before he retires. And then we
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00:18:53.079 --> 00:18:56.359
have this big, big wave of new detectives coming in,
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and she's got Harriet and Vera and all the new
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00:18:58.799 --> 00:19:01.039
ones with all the progressive eye is and he doesn't
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00:19:01.039 --> 00:19:02.319
know how to handle it. Okay. I mean so I
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00:19:02.519 --> 00:19:05.640
like the fact that there's this constant tension and sort
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00:19:05.680 --> 00:19:09.759
of conflict old ways new ways, old cops, new cops,
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and so I like that balance. I like the fact
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00:19:12.319 --> 00:19:14.839
that he sort of needles Harry all the time and
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she him. I kind of like that irritation. So he
359
00:19:19.079 --> 00:19:21.799
would probably be my favorite. And then there two and
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00:19:21.920 --> 00:19:23.960
I think they all sort of compliment each other.
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00:19:24.480 --> 00:19:28.559
Yeah, Samansky and Harriet are evolving a little bit as well,
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00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:30.839
because they were really prickly in the first book, but
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00:19:30.920 --> 00:19:35.920
they're you know, it seems like it's more friendly, Yeah,
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00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:38.559
more maybe almost more like siblings.
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00:19:38.599 --> 00:19:40.240
You know how you pick it your sibling, because you
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00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:41.559
know you can.
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00:19:42.039 --> 00:19:43.519
I think once you sort of once she sort of
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00:19:43.559 --> 00:19:46.759
proved herself that she was a good cop, and that's
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probably the benchmark that you're in it to sort of
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00:19:51.000 --> 00:19:52.920
be dedicated to it. Then they sort of give you
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a pass and you're inside the loop and sort of
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they treat you like that so quickly at first get
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to I know her. She's a good cop. He's a
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good cop. Okay, now we can sort of work together.
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00:20:06.119 --> 00:20:08.279
This is a little bit random, but I want to
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00:20:08.319 --> 00:20:12.480
ask how in your brain you picture Griffin's office, because
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when you describe it, for me kind of feel I
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00:20:16.920 --> 00:20:19.279
kind of picture it as like the Saint Patrick's day
379
00:20:19.319 --> 00:20:21.839
Isle in Party City sort of threw up at her office.
380
00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:25.839
And that's exactly exactly. That's exactly it. I mean, everything
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00:20:26.039 --> 00:20:28.960
is Kelly Green. She's got Fedoras and chale Ley's and
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00:20:29.279 --> 00:20:31.440
I love this. I love that office and it sort
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00:20:31.480 --> 00:20:33.599
of evolves every time I write about it, it gets
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00:20:33.720 --> 00:20:37.279
more obnoxious. I mean, it just gets more. I just
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00:20:37.400 --> 00:20:39.720
love it. It's like a Christmas Dore blown up. I
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00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:44.119
mean it's wonderful. And then you sort of balance that
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00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:52.119
that sort of festive atmosphere with this really crimudginy, straight laced.
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00:20:53.200 --> 00:20:56.559
She's got zero humor most of the time. I mean,
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just a wonderful conflict.
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00:20:58.720 --> 00:20:59.079
I like that.
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00:21:00.119 --> 00:21:04.440
Yeah, And very very quickly in the book they meet.
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I think it's the first couple of pages and she's
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00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:11.519
got bagpipes playing, and the way you describe it, you
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00:21:11.519 --> 00:21:13.240
don't actually use the word bagpipe, but the way you
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00:21:13.319 --> 00:21:15.160
describe it, I was like, Oh, okay, I know what
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00:21:15.279 --> 00:21:16.039
she's listening to.
397
00:21:17.559 --> 00:21:19.240
Yeah, it's fun to write that. It's fun to write
398
00:21:19.920 --> 00:21:22.240
Griffin's I like her. I think I'm gonna probably do
399
00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:24.240
more with her as the series goes on. She's really
400
00:21:24.400 --> 00:21:26.240
an interested in character and that sort of popped up
401
00:21:26.240 --> 00:21:26.799
out of nowhere.
402
00:21:27.559 --> 00:21:29.960
Yeah. Does that happen a lot for you? Characters just
403
00:21:30.079 --> 00:21:32.160
kind of there they are, I.
404
00:21:32.200 --> 00:21:34.160
Need a boss? What kind of boss is she going
405
00:21:34.200 --> 00:21:37.200
to be? And there she was, Kelly Green and all
406
00:21:38.400 --> 00:21:41.039
sticks and fedoras and all the rest of that stuff.
407
00:21:41.160 --> 00:21:43.960
It just came. So I guess she wanted to be there.
408
00:21:44.759 --> 00:21:46.440
Yeah, yeah, I would think so.
409
00:21:48.839 --> 00:21:53.119
I am definitely looking forward to more of Griffin's character
410
00:21:53.319 --> 00:21:57.920
being in the next books, because A I want to
411
00:21:57.960 --> 00:22:04.440
see how her arc goes and grows and continues. But really,
412
00:22:05.039 --> 00:22:09.279
let's be honest, I want to continue seeing how her office.
413
00:22:09.559 --> 00:22:12.359
Her office just sounds completely insane to me, and I
414
00:22:12.519 --> 00:22:14.400
love the descriptions of it, and it's such a minor
415
00:22:14.480 --> 00:22:16.960
part of the book, but it makes me smile. Every time,
416
00:22:17.519 --> 00:22:20.720
so selfishly I am looking forward to that being a
417
00:22:20.839 --> 00:22:25.799
continued element of the series. Yeah, but let's go ahead
418
00:22:25.839 --> 00:22:28.559
and take another break. When we come back, we will
419
00:22:28.599 --> 00:22:32.680
be talking about the writing from multiple points of view
420
00:22:32.920 --> 00:22:35.759
throughout the book and the series. You're tuned into the
421
00:22:35.839 --> 00:22:39.039
GSMC Book Review Podcast and I will be right back.
422
00:22:45.640 --> 00:22:49.160
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428
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Welcome back to the GSMC Book Review podcast and my
429
00:23:21.880 --> 00:23:25.519
conversation with Tracy Clark. We were talking about her Harriet
430
00:23:25.559 --> 00:23:29.119
Foster series, and before the break, I was saying how
431
00:23:29.200 --> 00:23:33.119
much I enjoy the descriptions of Griffin's office and just
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00:23:33.599 --> 00:23:36.119
picturing it in my head. I'm really glad that I
433
00:23:36.279 --> 00:23:39.920
wasn't over projecting how it was being described, because I
434
00:23:40.039 --> 00:23:44.440
think it's hilarious, especially in juxtaposition to the rest of
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the area where the other detectives work, and just stark,
436
00:23:49.400 --> 00:23:53.440
the starkness and dreariness of the way that Tracy describes
437
00:23:53.599 --> 00:23:56.880
some of the other areas, their desks, the locker room,
438
00:23:57.000 --> 00:24:01.799
the restrooms, those sorts of things. It's just I picture gray, gray,
439
00:24:01.960 --> 00:24:07.000
dull blah and then blaah green. So anyway, that's just me.
440
00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:10.279
Let's return to the conversation with Tracy.
441
00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:15.880
Obviously, Harry is our main character, but we get chapters
442
00:24:16.039 --> 00:24:19.000
from some different points of view throughout the book. When
443
00:24:19.039 --> 00:24:22.319
you're writing, how do you a how do you keep
444
00:24:22.400 --> 00:24:25.400
track of, you know, the continuity so that everything meshes,
445
00:24:25.400 --> 00:24:27.160
and then how do you decide when you're going to
446
00:24:27.279 --> 00:24:28.440
insert a different point of view?
447
00:24:29.799 --> 00:24:32.720
I don't decide. I just sort of let things go.
448
00:24:33.960 --> 00:24:36.000
I sort of feel it. It's kind of a weird
449
00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:37.720
way to try to explain it, but I sort of
450
00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:41.119
feel how the rhythm of the story goes, and I
451
00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:43.400
can sort of tell where something has to be. I
452
00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:46.039
don't I can't explain what that is or how I
453
00:24:46.160 --> 00:24:48.839
do it. I don't have an outline. I don't know
454
00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:51.119
what's going to happen. But when I write a scene,
455
00:24:51.720 --> 00:24:53.440
when I sort of flow into the next one, it
456
00:24:53.559 --> 00:24:56.160
sort of presents itself so it goes where it needs
457
00:24:56.200 --> 00:24:59.039
to go. Now, if I have to go back five
458
00:24:59.119 --> 00:25:01.720
or six times after I've done that first draft to
459
00:25:01.759 --> 00:25:04.839
sort of make it all work, I do that. That's
460
00:25:04.880 --> 00:25:06.559
what I do on the tail end of it. But once,
461
00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:09.720
when I'm writing this thing, I go where the story goes.
462
00:25:09.799 --> 00:25:13.160
I go where the characters take me, and voices come
463
00:25:13.200 --> 00:25:15.559
in where they need to come in, and I take
464
00:25:15.599 --> 00:25:18.640
them out later or move them to another spot later.
465
00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:21.440
Then that's work that I have to do. But as
466
00:25:21.480 --> 00:25:23.839
I'm writing it, it sort of goes together. I put
467
00:25:23.839 --> 00:25:25.480
it where it needs to. I can sort of feel
468
00:25:25.480 --> 00:25:27.960
where it lags, where the pating has to sort of
469
00:25:27.960 --> 00:25:30.680
pick up or slow down, and so that sort of
470
00:25:30.759 --> 00:25:33.839
determines what voice has to be there. But these are
471
00:25:33.880 --> 00:25:35.759
all things that I just do and don't make a
472
00:25:35.839 --> 00:25:38.799
decision about. I just go where the story goes, go
473
00:25:38.880 --> 00:25:40.799
where the characters take me. And then when I go
474
00:25:40.920 --> 00:25:44.279
back and have to revise it, I revise it, you know.
475
00:25:44.440 --> 00:25:47.839
But that's my process. It's weird. It's probably the wrong
476
00:25:47.880 --> 00:25:49.920
way to do it. I mean, writers smarter than me
477
00:25:50.440 --> 00:25:52.880
have figured this thing out. I have not yet. So
478
00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:55.000
this is how I have to do it. This is
479
00:25:55.039 --> 00:25:57.559
how my brain works, and so that's my thing, so
480
00:25:58.599 --> 00:26:03.720
you know, kind of it just I have to sort
481
00:26:03.759 --> 00:26:06.039
of feel it, just like I have to feel the sentences.
482
00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:09.880
The sentences have to have a rhythm for me, the
483
00:26:10.039 --> 00:26:12.759
sound right, They have to flow off the tongue in
484
00:26:12.839 --> 00:26:15.519
the right way. I'm thinking about that for me, and
485
00:26:15.559 --> 00:26:18.119
I'm also thinking about that for the reader. When I
486
00:26:18.240 --> 00:26:19.880
want the reader to read it, I don't want them
487
00:26:19.880 --> 00:26:23.200
stumbling over things awkwardly. I want things to sort of
488
00:26:23.240 --> 00:26:26.400
flow together. And so that goes for the language, it
489
00:26:26.480 --> 00:26:29.279
goes for the dialogue, it goes for the character development,
490
00:26:29.519 --> 00:26:31.480
it goes for the scenes. How the scenes sort of
491
00:26:31.480 --> 00:26:33.599
stack up on each other. I want them to be
492
00:26:33.720 --> 00:26:35.559
sort of like dominoes. They sort of fall bum bom,
493
00:26:35.599 --> 00:26:39.079
boom boom. And I have to keep writing until I
494
00:26:39.119 --> 00:26:41.799
accomplish that. So if I can do that in three
495
00:26:41.880 --> 00:26:44.599
drafts or four, or if it takes me six or seven,
496
00:26:45.200 --> 00:26:47.680
that's what I have to do. So that's what I'm
497
00:26:47.680 --> 00:26:51.359
always thinking about. I'm thinking about smoothness, I'm thinking about rhythm,
498
00:26:51.759 --> 00:26:54.599
I'm thinking about pacing, and I'm thinking about where these
499
00:26:54.680 --> 00:26:57.279
characters are going to go. So all of those little
500
00:26:57.319 --> 00:26:58.559
plates are spinning in my head.
501
00:26:59.200 --> 00:27:03.160
Yeah, than like an editor or beta readers or both
502
00:27:03.400 --> 00:27:04.680
that help you with with that.
503
00:27:04.799 --> 00:27:07.440
Some of that. I don't have a beta reader, just
504
00:27:07.480 --> 00:27:10.880
because I'm sort of clutchy with my things. So the
505
00:27:10.960 --> 00:27:13.400
only person besides me who sees the book is my
506
00:27:13.519 --> 00:27:16.839
editor at the publishing house, and they will take whatever
507
00:27:17.319 --> 00:27:20.440
fledgeling thing that I give them on deadline day and
508
00:27:20.519 --> 00:27:22.400
they will see where I sort of missed the mark
509
00:27:22.480 --> 00:27:25.240
somewhere or could have developed something a little bit more
510
00:27:25.359 --> 00:27:27.759
there or so, so I rely on them to sort
511
00:27:27.759 --> 00:27:30.039
of fill up the holes that I sort of missed.
512
00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:32.400
So I do the best that I can it with
513
00:27:32.480 --> 00:27:34.640
the draft that I give them, and then they will
514
00:27:34.720 --> 00:27:36.640
tell me what I missed or what was great or
515
00:27:36.799 --> 00:27:39.319
wasn't so great, or what could be more developed. And
516
00:27:39.359 --> 00:27:41.880
then I go back again and I make those shifts
517
00:27:42.119 --> 00:27:44.279
those changes, and then we do that a couple of
518
00:27:44.480 --> 00:27:46.640
two or three times, and then the book is sort
519
00:27:46.680 --> 00:27:48.640
of in where it needs to be, and you know,
520
00:27:48.839 --> 00:27:51.880
so that's how it's done. I can probably use a
521
00:27:51.920 --> 00:27:54.279
beta reader at some point, it's just that I'm really
522
00:27:54.400 --> 00:27:57.440
sort of selfish and I don't know, I don't know
523
00:27:57.519 --> 00:27:57.799
what it is.
524
00:27:59.759 --> 00:28:05.799
Yeah, I guess, yeah, any particular research for this book.
525
00:28:07.519 --> 00:28:10.359
No, not really. I talk to cops all the time
526
00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:12.759
because I want to sort of not so much the
527
00:28:12.880 --> 00:28:14.759
procedure part of it, but I don't care what form
528
00:28:14.839 --> 00:28:18.880
they fill out or whatever. I'm interested in motivation and
529
00:28:19.319 --> 00:28:21.880
what keeps them doing the job and how they feel
530
00:28:21.880 --> 00:28:24.880
about the job that they do. So my research is
531
00:28:24.960 --> 00:28:29.240
more internal in terms of character development. I'm much more
532
00:28:29.319 --> 00:28:33.039
interested in how Carrie sort of goes through her day,
533
00:28:33.839 --> 00:28:36.640
not so much what she does and what procedure she follows,
534
00:28:36.680 --> 00:28:39.119
but what she thinks about the cases that she's working
535
00:28:39.480 --> 00:28:41.519
and how those cases sort of fit in with the
536
00:28:41.640 --> 00:28:45.680
drama that she's going through. So there's not that much
537
00:28:45.759 --> 00:28:48.000
research that I do not forget. Write a scene where
538
00:28:48.039 --> 00:28:51.000
I need some sort of detailed police information, I will
539
00:28:51.039 --> 00:28:53.559
ask somebody what will happen in the situation like this,
540
00:28:54.240 --> 00:28:56.319
what would a cop do? Blah blah blah, and then
541
00:28:56.359 --> 00:28:59.160
I will put that in just for the veracity of it.
542
00:28:59.240 --> 00:29:03.079
But other than that, it's mostly character for me, and
543
00:29:03.160 --> 00:29:06.839
I think that's where my interest is. And then whatever
544
00:29:07.079 --> 00:29:08.920
happens with the police part of it, I try to
545
00:29:08.960 --> 00:29:11.240
make it sound right or look right or feel right.
546
00:29:11.519 --> 00:29:13.480
As much as I can do that, and then we
547
00:29:13.599 --> 00:29:16.200
go from there. I don't want to really get detail oriented,
548
00:29:16.279 --> 00:29:18.480
and just in terms of you know, who reports to
549
00:29:18.519 --> 00:29:21.200
who I don't. I don't care. I don't think readers
550
00:29:21.319 --> 00:29:26.039
much care either. But you know, character first, character always.
551
00:29:27.559 --> 00:29:31.000
We were talking before we started recording that this book
552
00:29:31.200 --> 00:29:33.200
takes place in February in Chicago.
553
00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:35.599
And I was just cold. I think I might have
554
00:29:35.640 --> 00:29:37.440
made the same comment when we talked about the first book.
555
00:29:37.480 --> 00:29:41.400
It just felt cold. Weather almost is a secondary character.
556
00:29:43.200 --> 00:29:43.599
It's hard.
557
00:29:43.680 --> 00:29:46.519
It's almost hard to imagine Harry solving a case in
558
00:29:46.599 --> 00:29:47.240
the sunshine.
559
00:29:48.440 --> 00:29:51.640
Well, the morning I'm writing now takes place in early spring.
560
00:29:52.880 --> 00:29:55.359
It would be a sort of a nice area, I mean,
561
00:29:55.519 --> 00:29:58.240
nice time of year to do it. It's still cold
562
00:29:58.480 --> 00:30:03.079
and so there's no snow in this one, but it
563
00:30:03.240 --> 00:30:07.160
is cold. The wind off that lake when it hits
564
00:30:07.200 --> 00:30:10.480
you takes your breath away. I mean it literally takes
565
00:30:10.559 --> 00:30:12.519
your breath away. And to be able to sort of
566
00:30:12.559 --> 00:30:14.599
write that and put that on the pages of a
567
00:30:14.680 --> 00:30:17.960
book to let people experience that. And when you're walking
568
00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:21.440
across the Michigan Avenue Bridge and you literally almost get
569
00:30:21.480 --> 00:30:23.799
blown into the lake because the wind is so great.
570
00:30:23.960 --> 00:30:26.799
I mean, that's an experience and I kind of like writing.
571
00:30:27.359 --> 00:30:28.839
I kind of like letting people know about it.
572
00:30:29.279 --> 00:30:29.480
Yeah.
573
00:30:29.759 --> 00:30:35.599
Absolutely, So Spring for the fourth book. What can you
574
00:30:35.759 --> 00:30:38.920
say about the fourth book? You know, again without a
575
00:30:39.039 --> 00:30:39.799
lot of spoilers.
576
00:30:40.480 --> 00:30:43.839
Well, let's see what's it about. It's called Edge tentatively
577
00:30:43.920 --> 00:30:46.720
at this point, and it's about a drug that is
578
00:30:46.799 --> 00:30:51.359
sort of permeating the city with very ill effects. It's
579
00:30:51.799 --> 00:30:54.359
something sort of laced with it, and people are dying,
580
00:30:54.960 --> 00:30:57.519
and so Harry and her team are back and they
581
00:30:57.599 --> 00:30:59.720
have to sort of figure out what the connection is,
582
00:31:00.039 --> 00:31:03.680
who's selling it, who's inundating the streets with this, and
583
00:31:03.839 --> 00:31:06.440
get it to stop before anybody else dies. So that's
584
00:31:06.480 --> 00:31:10.000
what Edges about. Takes place in early spring and moving
585
00:31:10.039 --> 00:31:12.559
the seasons around. I'll probably eventually get to a summer
586
00:31:12.599 --> 00:31:17.119
where equally inhospitable, but we'll get to that later. I mean,
587
00:31:17.240 --> 00:31:20.160
so it's spring, early spring, little buds on the trees,
588
00:31:20.599 --> 00:31:24.359
it's a little nippy in the air, rain, so it's
589
00:31:24.440 --> 00:31:26.799
not snow this time. But you know, Harry's really not
590
00:31:26.920 --> 00:31:29.279
having a good time with the weather either. So I
591
00:31:29.480 --> 00:31:32.000
like sort of putting that character in there, the character
592
00:31:32.079 --> 00:31:34.599
of the city. It adds just a little element of
593
00:31:34.960 --> 00:31:39.079
authenticity to it. It's unique enough so that it's sort
594
00:31:39.119 --> 00:31:42.440
of pings on Chicago and nowhere else and nowhere else
595
00:31:42.480 --> 00:31:44.799
are you gonna get this whipping wind? Nowhere else? Are
596
00:31:44.799 --> 00:31:46.599
you gonna get this lake that sort of sits there
597
00:31:46.720 --> 00:31:50.000
like an ominous monster. I mean, this is Chicago, and
598
00:31:50.079 --> 00:31:52.319
I kind of like putting that as an extra character
599
00:31:52.400 --> 00:31:54.559
in there, just to sort of ramp up the tension
600
00:31:54.640 --> 00:31:58.319
and the conflict and the inhospitableness of this whole crime thing,
601
00:31:59.240 --> 00:32:00.359
just and added element.
602
00:32:01.519 --> 00:32:02.000
Absolutely.
603
00:32:04.200 --> 00:32:07.440
I talked about the weather at the beginning before the interview,
604
00:32:07.599 --> 00:32:11.119
and I feel like Harry never gets good weather. Like
605
00:32:11.519 --> 00:32:13.759
I realize it's Chicago, but it always feels like it's
606
00:32:13.799 --> 00:32:16.279
the depths of winter. And even this book that's coming
607
00:32:16.319 --> 00:32:19.799
up in the spring sounds cold. You know that phrase,
608
00:32:20.079 --> 00:32:22.319
this is why we can't have nice things. I feel
609
00:32:22.359 --> 00:32:25.319
like Harry, if she's talking to Tracy, is saying something
610
00:32:25.359 --> 00:32:28.000
along the lines of why can't I just have nice weather?
611
00:32:28.559 --> 00:32:33.000
Maybe not, but that's what I think she's saying. Or
612
00:32:33.039 --> 00:32:35.079
maybe that's just me saying it because I want to
613
00:32:35.119 --> 00:32:37.319
be warm while I read the book. We're going to
614
00:32:37.359 --> 00:32:40.480
take our final break of this episode. When we come back,
615
00:32:40.519 --> 00:32:42.680
we're talking a little bit about the titles of the
616
00:32:42.720 --> 00:32:44.720
books in the series. You are tuned in to the
617
00:32:44.799 --> 00:32:47.960
GSMC Book Review Podcast and I will be right back.
618
00:34:04.759 --> 00:34:08.199
Welcome back to the GSMC Book Review Podcast. Before the break,
619
00:34:08.320 --> 00:34:12.199
Tracy was talking about book four and the fact that
620
00:34:12.320 --> 00:34:16.159
it's still cold even in spring, which poor Harry. I
621
00:34:16.280 --> 00:34:19.440
know she's fictional, but still poor Harry. Let's return out
622
00:34:19.440 --> 00:34:22.599
to the conclusion of this conversation with Tracy Clark.
623
00:34:26.280 --> 00:34:29.199
All the titles in this series are one word, so
624
00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:33.960
very short titles. Reasoning behind that.
625
00:34:35.599 --> 00:34:39.800
That's the publisher Apparently words are my thing now, not
626
00:34:39.960 --> 00:34:42.280
only one word, but four letters in the words. So
627
00:34:42.920 --> 00:34:45.079
I don't know how they figure out the algorithm or
628
00:34:45.679 --> 00:34:47.960
how they it sort of works for marketing or whatever
629
00:34:48.039 --> 00:34:50.360
like that, but I'll leave that to them. They're experts
630
00:34:50.400 --> 00:34:53.639
in that area. So the titles are them. I'm fine
631
00:34:53.679 --> 00:34:56.280
with them, and my job is to sort of fill
632
00:34:56.480 --> 00:34:59.960
what's between the title and the last page. So that's
633
00:35:00.119 --> 00:35:02.360
my job right there, and I'll leave the title and
634
00:35:02.480 --> 00:35:05.599
the covers to them, you know, because they're the expert data.
635
00:35:06.039 --> 00:35:08.840
Yeah, yep, you're writing the story, they can kind of
636
00:35:08.880 --> 00:35:11.480
figure out the particulars, right yep.
637
00:35:12.800 --> 00:35:14.559
So you said working a book for it and then
638
00:35:14.679 --> 00:35:17.320
maybe pivoting to something else. What are you going to
639
00:35:17.400 --> 00:35:17.920
work on next?
640
00:35:17.960 --> 00:35:20.920
Do you think it's going to be my first standalone
641
00:35:20.960 --> 00:35:24.039
I'm not sure what it is yet because they sort
642
00:35:24.039 --> 00:35:26.440
of start thinking about the next book halfway through the
643
00:35:26.480 --> 00:35:30.639
one I'm writing, so I'm sort of percolating ideas about
644
00:35:30.679 --> 00:35:33.599
what that one will be, but it will definitely not
645
00:35:33.719 --> 00:35:37.000
be a series. So it'll be my first foray into
646
00:35:37.320 --> 00:35:40.239
standalone and we'll see how that goes. But I'm looking
647
00:35:40.280 --> 00:35:43.880
for characters now, I'm looking for situations, so what the
648
00:35:43.960 --> 00:35:46.119
story might be about. And so it's in the back
649
00:35:46.159 --> 00:35:48.360
of my head while I'm writing this one, and when
650
00:35:48.400 --> 00:35:50.559
I get closer to that point when i'll actually have
651
00:35:50.679 --> 00:35:54.360
to start writing it, something, hopefully Notckwood, will come to me.
652
00:35:54.519 --> 00:35:58.800
So a smarter writer would have a plan or work
653
00:35:58.800 --> 00:36:00.880
an out line out, but you know that's not me.
654
00:36:01.360 --> 00:36:03.920
My brain doesn't work that way. So when I can
655
00:36:04.000 --> 00:36:07.440
need it, it will be there, hopefully knock Wood, and
656
00:36:07.719 --> 00:36:10.360
until then I'll concentrate on what I'm doing now.
657
00:36:11.440 --> 00:36:13.719
Sorry, backing up to book four. Do you have an
658
00:36:13.960 --> 00:36:15.320
estimate for when that might be out?
659
00:36:16.440 --> 00:36:18.719
Well, I'm due to them on the fifteenth of March.
660
00:36:19.079 --> 00:36:22.400
I'm in a state, so I think probably December is
661
00:36:22.480 --> 00:36:24.760
my sort of month, my release month, so I would
662
00:36:24.760 --> 00:36:29.199
think December of two thousand and twenty five or whatever.
663
00:36:30.039 --> 00:36:30.199
You know.
664
00:36:31.119 --> 00:36:33.960
Yeah, seems like forever a way it's gonna be here.
665
00:36:34.000 --> 00:36:35.800
We're gonna blink and it'll be December.
666
00:36:36.400 --> 00:36:36.960
Absolutely.
667
00:36:37.639 --> 00:36:37.880
Yeah.
668
00:36:39.480 --> 00:36:43.440
So when you have time to just read for you,
669
00:36:43.719 --> 00:36:44.960
what have you been reading?
670
00:36:46.199 --> 00:36:50.119
Well, I'm reading actually, I had it here Rachel's House
671
00:36:50.119 --> 00:36:55.079
at Hall's New Books. I like the cover into Romanticy.
672
00:36:55.079 --> 00:36:57.400
I've never read anything in that genre before, but it's
673
00:36:57.480 --> 00:36:59.639
amazing and she's such a great writer that she sort
674
00:36:59.679 --> 00:37:01.920
of suck you in. So that's what I'm reading now
675
00:37:02.000 --> 00:37:04.800
in between what i'm other stuff that I'm doing. And
676
00:37:04.880 --> 00:37:07.800
I'm really enjoying it. So I would recommend it for anybody. Yeah.
677
00:37:08.000 --> 00:37:09.880
Hold up, it's got the it's got the decorated the
678
00:37:10.159 --> 00:37:11.679
there's a word for that, but I'm blanking on the
679
00:37:11.880 --> 00:37:12.559
when they paint the.
680
00:37:12.599 --> 00:37:14.480
Side, isn't it beautiful?
681
00:37:14.880 --> 00:37:15.119
Yeah?
682
00:37:15.880 --> 00:37:16.920
Inside and out?
683
00:37:18.760 --> 00:37:21.440
The things they do with books anymore, it's amazing. Yeah,
684
00:37:21.480 --> 00:37:24.599
it is. Yeah, you have a website, so.
685
00:37:24.599 --> 00:37:26.840
If you can share your website and any place people
686
00:37:26.880 --> 00:37:29.079
can find you on social media, well.
687
00:37:28.960 --> 00:37:31.800
It's Tracy Clark Books. Just check it out. I'm also
688
00:37:31.880 --> 00:37:35.400
on blue Sky and Instagram and let's say Facebook, so
689
00:37:35.639 --> 00:37:37.559
you know, just type my name in name my picture
690
00:37:37.719 --> 00:37:39.159
is and drop me a line.
691
00:37:41.159 --> 00:37:42.880
Tracey, is there anything that we haven't covered that you
692
00:37:42.920 --> 00:37:45.400
want to make sure that you brought up about Echo
693
00:37:45.679 --> 00:37:46.880
or the series itself.
694
00:37:48.280 --> 00:37:50.280
No, I think we're I think we're good. I mean,
695
00:37:51.079 --> 00:37:53.000
if you're in for a good read and we could
696
00:37:53.039 --> 00:37:55.760
crime novel, check me out and hope you enjoy it.
697
00:37:56.880 --> 00:37:59.079
Well, thank you so much. I know we're right up
698
00:37:59.079 --> 00:38:01.360
close to Christmas. Thank you so much for taking time
699
00:38:01.480 --> 00:38:03.159
to talk to me today. I really appreciate it.
700
00:38:03.679 --> 00:38:04.400
Thank you so much.
701
00:38:05.079 --> 00:38:07.719
Thank you so much to Tracy for joining me to
702
00:38:07.920 --> 00:38:11.280
talk about Echo and the rest of the Harry Harriet
703
00:38:11.320 --> 00:38:15.880
Foster series. I enjoy very much. When Tracy comes to
704
00:38:16.159 --> 00:38:19.559
the podcast, definitely check out her first interview if you're
705
00:38:19.599 --> 00:38:22.880
interested in hearing us talk about the first book in
706
00:38:22.920 --> 00:38:25.519
the series, which is called Hide. And if you are
707
00:38:25.559 --> 00:38:28.719
a fan of crime fiction, maybe you like being really
708
00:38:28.800 --> 00:38:32.639
cold while you read I'm kidding no, But if you
709
00:38:33.039 --> 00:38:35.159
are a fan of crime fiction, if you like books
710
00:38:35.159 --> 00:38:39.039
set in Chicago, if you like series that involve very
711
00:38:40.079 --> 00:38:42.480
you know, Harry is a strong female character, but she's
712
00:38:42.480 --> 00:38:45.119
also a broken female character. She's strong in a lot
713
00:38:45.159 --> 00:38:48.760
of ways, but she's very, very broken in other ways.
714
00:38:48.800 --> 00:38:51.079
And she's got a lot of growing that she is doing,
715
00:38:51.159 --> 00:38:56.119
and she's working through a lot of difficult emotional situations
716
00:38:56.880 --> 00:38:59.599
on a bunch of different levels. So if you are
717
00:38:59.639 --> 00:39:04.079
a fan of character development in that form, then this
718
00:39:04.280 --> 00:39:06.559
is a series that you should definitely check out. There
719
00:39:06.639 --> 00:39:09.440
are currently three books, with a fourth one coming out
720
00:39:11.199 --> 00:39:13.559
to continue the story, and you've got the other series
721
00:39:13.599 --> 00:39:16.360
as well that Tracy writes. So if you maybe you're
722
00:39:16.360 --> 00:39:19.599
already a fan of Tracy and you haven't, you should
723
00:39:19.679 --> 00:39:21.880
definitely check out this newest book. But maybe you're looking
724
00:39:21.920 --> 00:39:26.000
for a new crime fiction author and Tracy is a
725
00:39:26.079 --> 00:39:29.039
good place to start, so go check out her books.
726
00:39:30.800 --> 00:39:33.320
I hope you will join me for the next episode.
727
00:39:33.400 --> 00:39:37.400
We'll be switching gears to urban fantasy, which is exciting.
728
00:39:37.440 --> 00:39:40.119
I haven't done urban fantasy in a while. I will
729
00:39:40.159 --> 00:39:43.519
be speaking with author Evett Davis about the others this
730
00:39:43.760 --> 00:39:46.599
is the first book in a I believe it's going
731
00:39:46.679 --> 00:39:51.000
to be a trilogy, urban fantasy set in San Francisco.
732
00:39:51.199 --> 00:39:53.719
I am excited to talk to a Vet and learn
733
00:39:53.800 --> 00:39:56.679
more about this series and this first book in particular,
734
00:39:56.800 --> 00:40:00.480
so please do join me for that episode. In the meantime,
735
00:40:00.960 --> 00:40:04.079
if you're a fan of this podcast, please do me
736
00:40:04.320 --> 00:40:08.119
the Christmas favor of liking, following, subscribing, what have you
737
00:40:08.239 --> 00:40:10.920
on whatever platform you are either listening to or watching
738
00:40:11.119 --> 00:40:14.400
this podcast on. And if you're listening to this podcast
739
00:40:14.960 --> 00:40:17.800
and you hear me say it watching this podcast, you
740
00:40:17.880 --> 00:40:19.840
can also if you want to see the authors that
741
00:40:19.880 --> 00:40:23.239
I'm speaking with, you can watch on YouTube. You can
742
00:40:23.320 --> 00:40:26.320
watch the podcast on video now as well as listening
743
00:40:26.400 --> 00:40:29.519
to it. But either way, I'm grateful, So please do like, follow,
744
00:40:29.559 --> 00:40:32.480
and subscribe on whatever platform you are partaking of this
745
00:40:32.639 --> 00:40:36.920
episode on. Also, if you could leave a nice review excellent,
746
00:40:37.119 --> 00:40:39.639
thank you so much. Really does help the algorithm. It's
747
00:40:39.719 --> 00:40:42.800
greatly appreciated. And if you're on social media, you can
748
00:40:42.880 --> 00:40:49.000
follow this podcast on Facebook, x, Instagram, TikTok, and Blue Sky.
749
00:40:49.760 --> 00:40:53.079
Looking forward to seeing you on social media, engaging with you.
750
00:40:53.280 --> 00:40:55.559
Ask me your questions, tell me what's going on in
751
00:40:55.679 --> 00:40:59.840
your life in terms of books and reading. Merry Christmas,
752
00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.840
if you're celebrating, Happy Hanukah, if you're celebrating and marry, whatever,
753
00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:07.079
whatever you are celebrating this week, I hope that it
754
00:41:07.239 --> 00:41:10.199
is wonderful. I hope you're having a lovely, lovely week
755
00:41:10.320 --> 00:41:13.639
filled with whatever type of family is best for you
756
00:41:15.039 --> 00:41:17.039
and whatever type of books are best for you. I
757
00:41:17.079 --> 00:41:19.760
hope that you get a lot of book time this week,
758
00:41:20.039 --> 00:41:23.360
especially whatever this week throws at you. I really really
759
00:41:23.480 --> 00:41:25.800
do hope that it throws you plenty of time to
760
00:41:25.840 --> 00:41:29.239
get yourself lost in a good book. Thank you so much.
761
00:41:29.400 --> 00:41:30.559
I will talk to you next time.
762
00:41:40.960 --> 00:41:44.599
Let's go. I wake up a little bit of drool
763
00:41:44.639 --> 00:41:46.559
on a Pellow field, like it's gonna be a bad day.
764
00:41:47.559 --> 00:41:49.960
I'm tired of shit, and the coffee ain't hit yet.
765
00:41:50.079 --> 00:41:51.119
Damn ain't that great?
766
00:41:51.320 --> 00:41:52.679
I don't want to go