Editor’s Note: This exchange is part of a series of brief interviews with emerging writers of recent or forthcoming books. If you enjoyed it, please visit other interviews in the I’ve Got Questions feature.
- What’s the title of your book? Fiction? Nonfiction? Poetry? Who is the publisher and what’s the publication date?
Beware the Tall Grass; Fiction; Columbus State University Press; March 15, 2024
- In a couple of sentences, what’s the book about?
A mother struggling with her young son’s disturbing memories of war and a young man thrust into combat, who discovers what matters most, find themselves connected across time. With war as a backdrop and empathy at the heart of the novel, this dual narrative story takes on the power of love and courage to meet unforeseen circumstances.
- What’s the book’s genre (for fiction and nonfiction) or primary style (for poetry)?
This is literary fiction, a straight-ahead look at the mysteries of past lives.
- What’s the nicest thing anyone has said about the book so far?
The novel won The Donald L. Jordan Prize for Literary Excellence, and was selected by Sam Chang, who said this about the book:
“In this beautiful novel, two stories separated by half a century intertwine to create an indelible narrative of peace and war. In the throes of his first loss, young Thomas joins the Army and travels to Vietnam, where he is propelled toward his fate. Decades later, in another time and place, Eve and Daniel welcome their infant son and resolve to set aside their own family ghosts. But is it possible to release the past? Can powerful experiences of love and death ever be forgotten? Through surprising and suspenseful turns, Beware the Tall Grass explores the evocative mysteries of time and memory.”
- What book or books is yours comparable to or a cross between? [Is your book like Moby Dick or maybe it’s more like Frankenstein meets Peter Pan?]
I keep thinking of The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards, which is not a perfect match, but also deals with haunting echoes across time and the mystery of memory.
- Why this book? Why now?
For some reason there are lots of books coming out this year with Vietnam at the center, Kristin Hannah’s The Women, Alice McDermott’s Absolution. I think writers are picking up the threads of untold stories, in their case of the women affected by the war, in my case of the innocence of many of the men caught up in Vietnam war and their desire to act with integrity in the face of the horrors of war.
- Other than writing this book, what’s the best job you’ve ever had?
I love teaching, which I did as an adjunct for ten years, and do now virtually through writing centers across the U.S. Also, I have worked freelance for more than twenty years for the Kentucky Foundation for Women promoting the grants received by feminist artists in Kentucky. I’m honored to spread the word about the great work done by Kentucky artists dedicated to positive social change.
- What do you want readers to take away from the book?
I hope readers feel something that is cathartic or it helps them get in touch with their own struggles or place in the world. I hope they enjoy the journey.
- What food and/or music do you associate with the book?
There are so many songs from the sixties that connect with this book. I am thinking Credence Clearwater Revival’s Senator’s Son and Bad Moon Rising. Senator’s Son tells the story of so many of the young men who were fighting who were without means and were taken away from farms and factories and sent off to war. Bad Moon Rising reflects the constant sense of menace, even during periods of calm, while at war.
- What book(s) are you reading currently?
I just finished Colm Toibin’s Long Island, which is a perfectly mirrored narrative to his earlier work, Brooklyn, and Julia Phillips’s The Bear, which mesmerized me.
Learn more about Ellen on her website.
Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Buy the book from Bookshop.org, Amazon, University of Georgia Press, Carmichael’s Bookstore.
