Are You Brave?

 RHYS BOWEN:  Yesterday we had a chat about danger. We write about it so easily. We put our heroines in awful situations, life or death situations. But that’s fiction. 

So now I wonder if we have ever been brave like our characters? Have I ever run toward danger, not flinched in the face of danger? I’ve certainly never wheeled my bicycle through occupied France. I’ve never smuggled food to a downed airman in Tuscany. And I’ve never been as brave as Lady Georgie or Molly Murphy who have faced knives, guns, being locked in dungeons or about to be thrown down an elevator shaft.

I suppose in our world we are not often called upon to be brave… except now when we decide whether to join a protest march!  I have asked myself whether I would intervene if I saw ICE grabbing a person on the street.  I have a lovely cleaning lady from El Salvador and a gardener from Mexico. Both are legal but that doesn’t seem to matter. So yes, I would fight for them. There is a number to call to alert the right people to a wrongful arrest. 

I'm sure I could have been brave to protect my kids, and now my grandkids. If I was hiding from Nazis and a soldier with a gun came in, I could probably have killed him to protect my family.  I say probably because I haven't been put to that test, thank God. But apart from small acts that required some guts: traveling alone across Europe when I was fourteen, leaving everything to move to Australia alone, I can’t think of an occasion when I swung on a rope to rescue a puppy from a river.

I was going to say that I'm not a risk taker. I'd never do rock climbing or deep see diving. But thinking it over I have taken risks: moving to a new life in Australia, coming with John to California. And I've taken risks with my writing. Just not the reckless sort of risks. No sky diving, thank you.

The only occasion I do remember with some pride that took guts was when I was fifteen. I was attending drama school in London. I rode the train up after school twice a week. It was dark and very foggy when I arrived back at Charing Cross around 7pm station only to find it shut. No explanation. Just barriers across the entrance. I went down and caught the Tube to London Bridge, station, which was also shut.  That’s when I learned there had been a horrible train crash on the line I would have taken. One train ran into the back of another in the fog, knocking down a bridge with a third train on it. Awful loss of life.

This was before cell phones but I did find a pay phone and managed to get through to my parents. The fog was far too thick for them to come and get me. I’ll try and take a bus, I said. Of course today I’d have checked into a hotel and told them my parents would pay in the morning, but I was fifteen. My brain didn’t work that way. So I waited at a bus stop with a growing crowd of people.  It became quite clear that the fog was too thick. No bus would come. So a group of us set off, walking in the right direction.  The fog was so thick that every time we came to a cross roads someone had to peer a few inches from a street sign to try and read it.

We walked on. People left when we reached their area. We came close to the site of the rail disaster. All we could hear through the fog was non-stop wail of ambulance sirens, fire engine bells. It was very frightening. One by one more people left.  I should point out that I lived fourteen miles outside London and none of this route was familiar to me.  Then finally I was on my own. I kept walking. The fog was still so thick that there were no vehicles on the road. No lighted stores. Nothing. And the area I was walking through now had fields on either side. The occasional street lights only gave a faint glow through the fog.

I finally got home at three in the morning.  My parents were frantic but had no way to contact me. So I guess if I survived that I can survive most things. But was I brave? I suppose the answer is I had no alternative, and this must be true for a lot of things we call bravery. A soldier finds himself behind enemy lines. He has to kill or be killed. It's not bravery, it's self preservation.

So I don't know if I'd ever be really brave. But I would try to rescue a puppy from a river!

How about you Reds and Reddies?

Stories of bravery to tell?

Danger!!

RHYS BOWEN:  Every one of the Jungle Reds writes books that have a certain element of danger at their core. The central character is a sleuth and therefore puts him or herself knowingly into danger at times. Or in suspense novels the heroine finds herself in danger through no fault of her own and has to discover who wants to harm her. And how to escape. 

I’ve also written several books about WWII in which there is understood background danger apart from the personal story I am telling. My hero has crashed his plane and is hiding out in a bombed monastery. My heroine is stuck as an enemy alien in Venice, or, in the case of the latest book, in the south of France.

I think it’s true to say that all our characters face danger with great bravery. They do not run from it. They do the role they are called to do. But this is fiction. So I’d like to know:  have any of you been in real danger in your lives? 

When  this idea came to me I had to think for a long time. Have I ever been in danger–apart from lying in my pram in a war with no idea what was going on. One occasion did come to mind:

I was a student at the university of Freiburg in south Germany and every weekend a friend and I hitchhiked down to Switzerland. We’d made a bet to swim in every major lake during the summer.  Usually we were picky about rides. We’d take a single occupant, often a truck, preferably a woman driver.  

But on this occasion it was pouring with rain and we were cold and miserable in the middle of nowhere. We were relieved when a  big, black car came to a halt and we piled into the back seat.  It was only as it drove off that we noticed the front seat had two men in it, both wearing the sort of hats that gangsters wear. They were sort of slouched down in the front seat and we couldn’t see their faces. We thanked them, told them how we were students… they didn’t reply.

Then without warning they turned off the road onto a track through a thick pine forest. Now we were really scared.

        “Is this the way to Luzern?” I asked in a trembling voice, “Because that’s where we need to go.” ( I should point out that both of us spoke perfect German)

        “It’s a short cut,” one of them said and they both laughed.. The sort of laugh they laugh in movies before they get out the chain saw in the dungeon.

        Ruth grabbed me. “Get out the fruit knife,” she whispered.  I had been carrying a tiny pearl handled knife to peel fruit. It was totally blunt, rounded blade and would not have defended us against a hamster, but I rummaged for it. My brain was trying to come up with something sensible to do when the car stopped. Could I grab the guy in front of me by the throat? Could we run? The trees grew close together and were thin enough that you couldn’t hide behind one.

After about twenty minutes of holding my breath while Ruth grabbed my wrist so hard that I had a bruise afterward we emerged from the trees onto another road.

        “Short cut,” one of the men said and they laughed again. And it was a short cut. It took about twenty minutes off the trip.

So that is my one brush with danger and I have to confess that I was not cool or brave as my characters have been.

So Reds have you ever been in danger? (We know you have, Hank, but please give us some examples).

JENN McKINLAY: That short story gave me the chills, Rhys. Eeek! After a quick mental review, I realize the only danger I’ve ever been in has been of my own foolish making. Being six feet tall and raised with a brother who taught me how to fight (and win) I’ve never been in physical peril from another person. I have, however, fallen into a frozen river because I was being careless and when I went under the ice the same brother fished me out and saved my life. And, no, I was not brave. I cried like a big baby but in my defense I was only six years old. 

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Gosh, Rhys, I agree on the chills! Your story could have ended very badly–or maybe we just read too many crime novels!

I've had to really think about your question. I was in a car accident when I was fourteen that very easily could have been fatal, but the good thing about that (other than not dying!) was that I didn't have any time to experience fear, and I had no memory of the impact afterwards. Later on in my teens, I was swimming in Acapulco Bay and got caught in an undertow. That was absolutely terrifying!! Another, stronger swimmer, a man, saw that I was in trouble and pulled me out, but I have ever since been afraid of deep water.

RHYS: I was in a horrible car accident also, Debs, but there was nothing I could do about it. I was hit from behind and knocked into oncoming traffic. I was actually a horrified spectator and luckily not badly injured although my car (a one-week old Mercedes) was totalled.

LUCY BURDETTE: I’m thinking and thinking about danger because in every book Hayley and some of her pals end up in a dangerous situation. Yet I am terrified of danger and not the least bit brave. Most of the things I can think of are situations where I was young and too dumb to think through the consequences. One example, going to a gigantic fiddle festival with thousands of drug crazed music people. Many many things could have gone wrong, but fortunately for us they did not. Or how about driving on a sheet of black ice in an old station wagon with wheel drive?? I think this is partly why having children is so scary, because we know what we did ourselves as young people and how lucky we were!

HALLIE EPHRON: Recently I had an Uber driver who ran a nonstop monologue regaling me with how he once had a rider who stuck his arm out the window and … a very bad thing happened… as we’re flying along 93N to the airport. It was unnerving and I think, in retrospect, entirely made up. 

Most scary were the nights when  I waited up for one of my girls to come home from a date as the clock ticked past midnight. One. Two… I do think the ANTICIPATION of something bad happening is its own kind of scariness. Which is, after all, what we call “suspense.”

RHYS: Oh Hallie, this struck a nerve. Yes. Sitting by the window, listening for the sound of a car coming up our steep hill. Huge sigh of relief when the headlights arrived outside.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, gosh, yes, as a reporter I’ve been threatened, chased, stalked, sued, yelled at, pushed down, and followed home. And caught in a cult church with a hidden camera. But that’s TV.  But in regular life, I always think about how close we come, all the time, and we don’t  even know it. Or when the bus whooshes by, and you realize it missed by inches.

Where Do You Keep It?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: You know I absolutely cannot resist a good clickbait headline, especially I read the ones about kitchen things.

A headline came up in my email saying: "food items you’re probably storing incorrectly."

Okay, I thought, I’ll bite! 

What food items am I storing incorrectly?

And I have to say, some of the answers were surprising.

I keep apples in the refrigerator. I keep cucumbers in the refrigerator. I keep avocados in the refrigerator. According to this article,  two of those are  wrong. Do you know which two?

I keep bread in the refrigerator. Or freezer.  Yes, I know, it makes it weird, but if I leave it on the counter it gets moldy.  The article says to keep in on the kitchen counter. I say no.

Tomatoes--I know enough to leave in a colander on the counter.

Parsley is like a bouquet, in water. Until it gets slimy.

Somebody told me once never to wash raspberries in advance. Or blueberries. And this article said never to wash anything in advance, but wait till right before you use it, because you’re washing off the protection from spoilage. Is that true?

Potatoes I keep in a drawer, or sometimes in a paper bag in the mudroom. I don’t store them with onions. Or apples. Apparently that’s a thing.

Corn on the cob, still with the husks on, that’s a pain. I usually leave it in the paper bag it came in.

Mayonnaise and peanut butter are in the refrigerator. Jelly is in the refrigerator. Soy sauce is in the refrigerator. Ketchup, too.

And there’s just nothing to do about bananas. You just have to eat them. Once you open a banana, you’re doomed, and there’s nowhere to put it. And instantly it will get fruit flies.

And what do you do with mushrooms? It seems like you have to wash them, they have dirt on them! But then they get all slimy.

Can we talk about this? 

(Oh, and hurrray-- the winner of Wanda Morris's book is Karen in Ohio! 

And Lev Rosen's winner is Flora!

Email me your addresses at hank@hankphillippiryan.com!)

Welcome to Mirage City!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  Lev AC Rosen is such a rock star! And he has a new book coming out October 7--MIRAGE CITY.  And truly, you will love it.

Lev is hilarious, brilliant, and a terrific writer.  He's written award-winning YA novels, clever and witty and wise, but he also writes historical detective stories. Think The Big Sleep and Laura--moody, noir and with layers of story under the surface. And that shining a light on reality can change people's lives.

His Andy Mills series stars a queer detective in  San Francisco in the 1950's--a time and place where being queer is enough to get you killed.  He's said: "The sort of vibe I want people to feel at the end...is that we, as a community, can stand together against the darkness. Which is a message that’s more relevant than ever these days, as library protestors, school boards and politicians try to force queer people to hide themselves and their stories again. So I hope people see that and come away more willing than ever to stand together against the darkness."

Well, yes indeed. And the books are gorgeous, twisty, riveting and--hurray--you can read the series in any order.

His newest--like I said, out October 7!--is Mirage City. Private Investigator Evander “Andy” Mills’ newest takes him out of his comfort zone in San Francisco—and much to his dismay, back home to Los Angeles. After a secretive queer rights organization called the Mattachine Society enlists Andy to find some missing members, he must dodge not only motorcycle gangs and mysterious forces, but his own mother, too.

Ooh. And there's more. First, here's more about Lev and Mirage City. And at the end, there's a question for you--and one lucky commenter will win a copy of this terrific book!

What’s the title of your book—and was that always the title?
Mirage City, and no! Originally it was called The Long Ride, because Andy drives down from SF to LA, and because it's about the ways relationships can change over time. But we decided that didn't have quite enough punch, so I went back and there was this passage I'd written about LA not being quite the city of Andy's youth, and how the whole city itself was like a mirage, and decided that could be a cool title. My team agreed! But, hilariously, we had a cover without a city on it! So we asked the amazing cover artist, Colin Verdi to go back and add in a city in the corner to pull it together. He did that corner section of the Los Angeles Theater in one day!


Who’s the main character of your book—and was that always their name?
Evander "Andy" Mills - yes, it was always his name, even in the first book, Lavender House. I found it by calculating the year of Andy's birth (1917) and looking at the most popular baby names that year. Evander leapt out because it felt both vintage and it had a more modern nickname. Mills was because I wanted a fairly common surname that felt like it had to do with physical labor. I almost went with Miller, but shortened it because I didn't like how Evander Miller sounded, rhythmically, and with the double ending R.


Again, you can read the Andy Mills books in any order, but at the start of this book, what’s the character’s goal?

This one opens with Andy getting a case from the mysterious Mattachine Society - a real historical gay rights organization that operated in secret, using pass phrases and fake names to keep anonymous. They had a split in 53, and the founders were ousted. Myrtle, the woman who comes to hire Andy, is worried that a few members who have since stopped showing up to meetings have actually been taken by the founders in some kind of revenge - even though she has no proof of that. But how do you find missing people when you don't even know their real names? Andy's case puts him on the trail of a gay biker gang (inspired by the real life Satyrs) and down to LA.


What was the core idea for this novel—a plot point? a theme?—and where did it come from? Why is it important to you?

A song kept running through my head as I thought about this book: Lady's Gaga's Bad Romance. I wanted the book to touch on a lot of queer history but also at it's heart to be about relationships, and how they change over time - as I said, the title was The Long Ride, originally - and relationships are often that; two folks on a motorcycle together going over the same bumps in the road - how do they work together or respond? And that's not just romantic relationships; thats friendships, and in this book, also the mother-son relationship.


At what point did you come up with the final version of the first line?  Why does it work?

I always try to open by comparing the bar to church. For Andy and the queer community of the 50s, these gay bars were their homes, their gathering places, the center of their lives. So making them churches always feels like a great way to center us. But I knew Myrtle was going to stomp in, a representative of the "new" Mattachine, which felt queer community wasn't really a thing. So the opening paragraph is all about that.


Did you know the ending of the book when you started?


No! There was even a version where Andy died at the end, but my agent and editor talked me out of it and I'm really glad they did because I do want to tell more stories for Andy. I think I just was trying to threaten my editor - "if this is the last one, I'm killing him!" Maybe I'll put it up online at some point. But I really do hope it's not the last one.


What’s something in this book that you’ve never done before?  Your research is always so incredible and careful.

I wrote something really distressing in this book. It's period accurate and real, but writing it was pretty awful.


Oh, you are such a tease--but we are grateful you aren't giving anything away.  Happy pub day coming up! What part of your launch week are you most excited about?

I always love my launches in NYC - it's where I live and grew up, so my launches tend to be a way for a lot of friends I haven't seen in a while to come and see me.

Who in your #writingcommunity deserves a special shout-out for supporting you in writing this story? Why?


Um, Hank, obviously. For everything.

 Ha ha.  But hey, you know I think you are incredible, and astonishingly talented.  But the book-- how do you want readers to feel at the end?

Oh this is a tough one, especially for this book. It ends - not on a real cliffhanger, like there's no sudden twist, no one is in peril at the end - but it ends with a question, let's say. And I want readers to think about the answer to it and what they think the answer is, and maybe put that in the context of today. Not the answer they want it to be, but the real answer, and how it someone today might be in a similar place. That's very vague but I'm trying not to spoil it. So yeah I want them to feel that, and I want them to feel empowered to really change things. To make the answer the one that they want.


Again, no spoilers for us! But what about you--what did you learn from this book? About writing, or life, or the writing life?
Hmmm. I think I learned how to take a character over four books and really evolve him, make him someone new. When I think of who Andy was in Lavender House compared to who he is here, it's such growth, and I hope I've done that naturally. I think I have.

HANK: And yay, we are celebrating with you--happy pub-day-to-come! So let's talk about the 1950's, Reds and Readers--we know Lev loves Laura and The Big Sleep--what are your favorite fifties movies?

And one lucky commenter will win a copy of MIRAGE CITY!

 LEV AC ROSEN writes books for people of all ages, including the Evander Mills series, which began with the Macavity Award-winning Lavender House and continues with The Bell in the Fog and Rough Pages. His most recent young adult novels are Emmett, Lion’s Legacy, and Camp. Rosen’s books have been nominated for Anthony and Lambda Awards and have been selected for best-of lists from the Today show, Amazon, Library Journal, Buzzfeed, Autostraddle, Forbes, and many others. He lives in NYC with his husband and a very small cat.

Preorder here! 

Photo credit Rachael Shane

On Tour with ALL THIS COULD BE YOURS

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:   It was just about as meta as you can get, right? For the past three weeks, I have been an author on book tour, talking about a book called ALL THIS COULD BE YOURS which is about an author on book tour talking about her book, which is called ALL THIS COULD BE YOURS . I must have said this sentence a million times on the road, and I absolutely laughed every time. This particular book tour was eye opening, inspirational, hilarious, exhausting, and absolutely wonderful in every single way.

 

I'm trying to even decide where it began!  The week before publication, I flew to New Orleans to interview the fabulous Lisa Jewell, who was guest of honor. She is absolutely one of my writing idols. Every book she writes is brilliant and thought provoking and gorgeously written and perfectly plotted. And in real life she's an absolute dream--charming and funny and authentic. And we had a great time in front of a massive audience!

 

I was in New Orleans essentially for 24 hours, then flew back to Boston, and on the Saturday, hopped around to various local bookstores to sign books in preparation for their on-sale date on Tuesday. Sunday I had three online events, including two with my partner at First Chapter Fun, the fabulous Hannah Mary McKinnon, whose book A KILLER MOTIVE coincidentally and hilariously, had the same pub date as mine! How's that for synchronicity?

 

 

Monday was the pre-launch party at An Unlikely Story bookstore. I was interviewed by Jeff Kinney, yes, that Jeff Kinney, the owner of the bookstore, and the author of The Wimpy Kid books.   It was absolutely hilarious, and he is a genius. Publishers Weekly picked up the photo of that event, and that's very very cool.

 

 

On the on the actual launch day, I had a joint event with the wonderful BOOK LOVE Bookstore in conjunction with the Plymouth Public Library. It's so perfect, because ALL THIS COULD BE YOURS is a such a love letter to bookstores and librarians, and this truly fun event was an homage to those forces of nature.

 

 

Then, Wednesday, the glorious launch party at the historic West Newton cinema, where I was joined by the brilliant Lisa Gardner, and her new book KISS HER GOODBYE. We had a marvelous time in the old theater, and what an incredible occasion it was. Hurray, Hallie was there! And here are the guys--WIlliam Martin, William Landay, Daniel Palmer, James Ziskin and Edwin Hill. SO sweet of them to come. (I don't think I've ever seen my name on a movie theater marquee before!)

 

Then on Thursday, off for a two-week tour of the country!  (Note the time.....)

(Actually, I didn’t see much of the country except for the aerial views…)  I met so many new friends, and was teary-eyed at seeing so many old friends who came out to help celebrate. And my conversation partners made a bestseller list of their own-- In Cedar Rapids I was joined by Heather Gudenkauf, in Austin by Meg Gardiner, in Houston by Ashley Winstead, in Darien by Liv Constantine, and in Atlanta by Wanda Morris.  So much fun, and we laughed and solved the world's problems.

 

 

In all, I think I was on the road for 12 days, and stayed in 11 different hotels. And although it was wonderful, truly, every minute, from the super glamorous event in Greensboro to the absolutely adorable event in Mount Airy -- otherwise known as Mayberry-- I met an incredible number of absolutely fabulous readers and librarians and booksellers.

I came home this Tuesday, beyond exhausted, tireder than I have ever been, and also happier than I have ever been!

 

All this could be yours became an instant USA TODAY bestseller, and I am so grateful! (And ONE WRONG WORD made the list too! Whoo.)

And no, the tour isn't over, there's much more to come, but and you can be sure I will tell you all about it when the time comes.

 

 

And what landed in my mailbox the day I arrived back home? The edits for my new as yet unnamed 2026 novel. (Thanks to all of you yesterday for your incredibly good ideas!)

It absolutely fills me with joy, I have to say. I am the luckiest person in the world. Plus—wait until you see what’s coming up in the next few weeks!

So shall we do a book tour contest, Reds and Readers? Here are three pictures from the road. Can you identify these places? One lucky commenter—all you have to do is guess!-- will win a signed copy of Wanda Morris’s WHAT SHE LEFT BEHIND.

 

PS. Do you know about The Back Room? It's a wonderful online program that highlights four authors a month. Karen Dionne and I are the moderators/ hosts. It's free, and interactive, and absolutely wonderful! This Sunday at a special time-- 5:00 PM ET -- we will host Lisa Gardner, Eliza Reid, Lynn Liao Butler, and Francesca Serritella! Sign up here to get a front row :) seat.  Register at https://The-Back-room.org

YOUR TITLE HERE

 HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  Here is the world’s most difficult task for all you Reds and Readers today!

I need a title for my new book. Can you help?

Here is a little bit about it.

A mysterious plane crash with two teenaged sisters as the sole survivors.  They are dear friends and pals, they are in it together, they bicker, but they adore each other. 

Many years pass, and one of the sisters, our heroine, becomes a newbie literary agent  and specializes in sooks with happy endings… Since she did not have one herself.  

The other sister, the older one, got married, and now has a precocious and adorable  pre-teen daughter.  The sister is divorced, however, and has become a famous fashion influencer. 

The agent-sister and the preteen daughter are very close, and as the story opens, she and her niece have just finished spending a wonderful fun week together while the mom is taking a little break, and they are waiting for the mom to come pick her up. 

But the Mom does not arrive. 

Thing is, it’s the 11th anniversary of the plane crash. The crash that ruined their family and took their parents from them.  And now the sister is missing.  Definitely missing.

And it seems like the two things must be connected – – plus, there’s a mysterious manuscript, an iffy ex-husband, a series of grisly murders in the Berkshires, and a literary agent who perhaps knows more than she’s saying.

I am being deliberately vague here, for obvious reasons, but:

It’s about mothers and daughters and sisters, it’s about family, it’s about the power of storytelling, about how a story is supposed to end, it’s about a serial killer, and justice, and flying, and it’s about vengeance from the past. 

Throw around some words for me, OK? Any ideas?

Some titles come easily, you know that--ALL THIS COULD BE YOURS had a title before it had a story.   (And now it is an instant USA Today best seller!)

Now this book, publishing in 2026  is essentially finished! But--it does not have the title :-) 

And now that’s up to you.