Episode 35: Salon editor Kim Brooks discusses her debut novel The Houseguest

Behind the Prose

If you’ve ever wondered how to write an alternating point-of-view historical novel with prose that wields similes like samurai swords, then Kim Brooks’ second appearance on Behind the Prose is for you. Brooks graces the virtual studio a second time to discuss her debut novel The Houseguest, out on April 12, 2016 on Counterpoint Press. (Her first time here featured a candid chat on her work at Salon as the personals essays editor.) I enjoyed The Houseguest because I was completely enchanted with the characters and their perspectives. I have no idea how she kept all those storylines together (“Good editing,” she says in the interview) but I’m amazed and inspired. She confirms the magic of fiction that I began to uncover over the last year, starting with my interview of Natalie Baszile’s and her book Queen Sugar and she unknowingly confirmed the method acting theory of writing that Scott Alexander Hess broke down.