"Libby Lost and Found"

Stephanie Booth has an M.A. in English from the University of New Mexico and an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College. Her work has appeared in Cosmopolitan, Real Simple, O, Marie Claire, The Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times. Booth has been a contributing editor at Teen People and an advice columnist for Teen, and she has helped with casting for MTV’s award-winning documentary series, True Life.

Booth applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Libby Lost and Found, and reported the following:

From page 69:

Once she's able to detach herself from the cold fat neck of the toilet, Libby hurls Dr. Whatsit's pills into the trash. But the insomnia and nausea don't immediately disappear. And the following night, when she finds herself tossing and turning in bed so vehemently that Rolf actually growls at her to stop, Libby gives up. Wrapping herself in one of Vernice's blankets, she goes into her office and sits at her desk.

On her computer, the Falling Children website, with its state-of-the-art animation, lights up like a carnival. There is a lush, interactive rendering of Pompou's four-story Toy Emporium, with its funny thatched roof and arched windows that serve as its eyes. Children around the world click in and out of the cozy rooms that evoke Santa's workshop if the Mad Hatter had been in charge. Visitors can design a stuffed animal that best houses their soul, help Benjamin make a pan of magical fudge (hoozleberry or buttered licorice?), learn to curse in Teddy Bear, or take a quiz that declares which Falling Child they're most like.

Libby has taken this quiz four times, three times intentionally lying, and each time she has been dubbed a Huperzine.

I'd never heard of the Page 69 Test before, but will now be curiously flipping open to the 69th page of every book I pick up at the bookstore. The 69th page of Libby Lost and Found gives a pretty good glimpse into what this book is about: Libby is obviously struggling with an illness that doesn't have a straightforward cure. There's also a magical element to her life: the Falling Children books that she writes under a pseudonym, and which have captured not only her imagination, but that of readers around the world.

But what feels most important to me about this page is the sentence about Libby taking a quiz (four times) and lying to try to get a better result. If I were picking up this book for the first time, I think that's what would move me closer to the cash register. Not just because it raises questions about Libby (What result is she hoping to get?) but because I cherish the use of humor in dire situations. It's like switching on a tiny flashlight in an underground tunnel. I hope that potential readers will feel the same way and want to follow that little light a bit further.

Visit Stephanie Booth's website.

Q&A with Stephanie Booth.

My Book, The Movie: Libby Lost and Found.

--Marshal Zeringue

"This Motherless Land"

Born in Bristol and raised in Lagos, Nikki May is Anglo-Nigerian. Her critically acclaimed debut novel Wahala won the Comedy Women In Print New Voice Prize, was longlisted for the Goldsboro Glass Bell Award and the Diverse Books Award, and is being turned into a major BBC TV drama series. May lives in Dorset with her husband, two standard Schnauzers and way too many books. She should be working on her next book but is probably reading.

May applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, This Motherless Land, and reported the following:

From page 69:

‘Come to the pool,’ he said. ‘It’s way too nice to be stuck indoors. What do you say, Kate?’

She liked the way he said Kate. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad name. It was better than Katherine, at any rate. Funke made sense in Lagos but maybe it didn’t work here? Maybe Grandpa was right. Maybe becoming Kate was the way to fit in.

I confess I was slightly nervous about this. What if my page 69 was rubbish? What if I’d filled that page with adverbs and filler words? I opened my book apprehensively. But whoop! I love page 69. It takes readers directly to the heart of my book: belonging, twisting yourself out of shape to fit in, to be accepted.

When Funke’s mother dies in a tragic accident, she’s forced to leave Lagos, move to England, and live with her maternal family in Somerset. It’s not the most welcoming of places – she finds the estate dilapidated, the weather gray, the food tasteless. And worse, her mother’s family are cold and distant. Faced with condescension and neglect, she strives to fit in, determined to be one of them. But that, according to her new family, means changing her name. Because Funke just won’t do – this is England, we have proper names here.

On page 69, Funke reluctantly decides that becoming Kate is the way to fit in. But, unfortunately, it’s not enough. Nothing ever would be.

I think the Page 69 Test is genius and from now on, I’ll make sure all my page 69’s are good pages. I can’t vouch for all the other pages though!

Visit Nikki May's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Nikki May & Fela and Lola.

--Marshal Zeringue

"An Age of Winters"

Gemma Liviero is the author of the historical novels Broken Angels and Pastel Orphans, which was a finalist in the 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. In addition to novel writing, her professional career includes copywriting, corporate writing, writing feature articles and editorials, and editing. She holds an advanced diploma of arts (writing) and has continued her studies in arts and other humanities. Liviero lives with her family in Queensland, Australia.

She applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, An Age of Winters, and reported the following:

From page 69:

distracted by the arrival of the executioner carrying a torch. Master bent his head to speak to the accused with what I assumed were words of absolution. Though Kleist had been imprisoned before Zacharias’s arrival, it was clear now that the decisions about the execution were connected to the latecomer. He would be remembered as the one who changed the execution from hanging to fire.

Not since our first discussion had he returned to the kitchen to sit and speak with me, but sometimes when I passed the doorway to the sitting room, he would call me in with queries that seemed harmless enough. Where first I’d been reluctant, stories ran off my tongue, told in part out of fear but more to impress him. I had told him about the drunk men down by the river, and the fight between two wives over a piece of gristly meat at the market, the pulling and twisting of hair. I had commented on those people who gossiped about anyone who kept to themselves, and those who were unruly. Standing in the crowd, I wondered then about the motive behind the questioning and watched him view Kleist with detachment. Zacharias stood still, not a tremor about him. He appeared not to notice the cold, unlike many who blew on their woollen-less fingers.

There was some difficulty lighting the fire. The crowd moved forward, thirsty for death, before they were ushered back by guards. Kleist was aware now of impending death, his expression all at once changing as he looked fearfully at the doings of the man who held the torch. He clenched his jaw and eyed the crowd. He hated everyone. Next, he turned to Zacharias Engel. It seemed he hated him the most.

The fire took to wood as thunder rumbled once again and ice crystals peppered the condemned man’s head. There were murmurs, not joyous this time. The fire whooshed upward, caught his rags for clothes that fused with his skin, then spread like crawling ants towards his head. Kleist screamed words as he burned, but I could make no sense of them. Smoke from burnt flesh spread above the crowd and dusted us with ash.

I squeezed and released the folds of my skirt several times to stop my tremors.

I was curious enough about the Page 69 Test to give it a go. It did not work for all my books, however, for this one it does set the dark tone that underlies much of the novel. An Age of Winters explores a brutal period in history that was driven by fear of diabolism and resulted in many executions. Perhaps page 69 will also help readers determine whether they might enjoy such a story and the themes written.

Katarin, a maidservant and one of two narrators, details the fate of a nobleman. This scene reveals a change in executions from hanging to burning, in order to destroy a ‘witch’. As well, this event is expected to ward off further heinous crimes and cure the village of famine and disease. The villagers, who up till then had speculated about strange climatic events and the accused’s crimes of murder, now dread that ‘witchcraft’ is in their midst and that authorities will stop at nothing to be rid of it. This execution makes it known that anyone from any background is a potential suspect, and from this point the villagers callously guard their own survival.

It is a significant moment for Katarin also as she recognises that she may have been an unwitting accomplice to the enigmatic Reverend Engel, and that his presence is more than just investigative or soul-saving. With both infatuation and fear, she yearns to know more.

Visit Gemma Liviero's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"A Very Bad Thing"

J.T. Ellison is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than thirty novels and the Emmy Award–winning cohost of the literary TV show A Word on Words. She also writes urban fantasy under the pen name Joss Walker.

With millions of books in print, her work has won critical acclaim and prestigious awards. Her titles have been optioned for television and published in twenty-eight countries.

Ellison applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, A Very Bad Thing, and reported the following:

From page 69:

They leave Riley alone in a bland room with a table bolted to the wall and four metal chairs that have seen better days. She is still cuffed; the officer who escorted her has her buckled into a chain that’s attached to the front of the table, as if she’s a dangerous criminal. There are no windows, which is a shame, because she enjoyed the brief views of the mountains on the walk from the car to the station. Last night on the way to the theater, the sun fell pink behind the snow-capped peaks, and she thought Denver was lovely, someplace she’d like to visit again, under better circumstances. Now, she wants to leave this place and never return. The initial meeting she had with Columbia seems years away right now; the excitement of this gig has turned to horror. She should have said no. She shouldn’t have gotten so greedy. Look where it got her.

The door finally opens, and a wiry bald man enters the room. He’s carrying a file folder, a cup of coffee, and a sweating Diet Coke, the latter of which he sets in front of Riley. He glances at the file.

“Riley Carrington?” As if she could be anyone else.

“That’s me.”

“I’m Detective Sutcliffe.”

I love applying the Page 69 Test to my novels, especially when page 69 is something integral to the story; this one is. It’s the beginning of a chapter. My main character, the world-renowned novelist Columbia Jones, has just been found dead the last night of her book tour in a Denver hotel, and the lone reporter in the entourage, the woman who’s been hired to write a long-form article on Columbia, and maybe even ghost write her memoir, has been arrested for the crime. Her name is Riley Carrington, and she has more ties to Columbia than she knows. But at the moment, she is terrified, having been arrested, hauled to the station, and handcuffed to the table for questioning. She knows she’s innocent, as does the reader. But innocence isn’t always important to the police trying to solve a crime.

Visit J.T. Ellison's website and follow her on Twitter or Facebook.

The Page 69 Test: Edge of Black.

The Page 69 Test: When Shadows Fall.

My Book, The Movie: When Shadows Fall.

My Book, The Movie: What Lies Behind.

The Page 69 Test: What Lies Behind.

The Page 69 Test: No One Knows.

My Book, The Movie: No One Knows.

The Page 69 Test: Lie to Me.

My Book, The Movie: Good Girls Lie.

The Page 69 Test: Good Girls Lie.

Writers Read: J. T. Ellison (January 2020).

Q&A with J.T. Ellison.

--Marshal Zeringue

"What Goes Around"

Michael Wendroff is an author and marketing consultant, and has an MBA from NYU. His background is running marketing and advertising for Fortune 500 companies, and he now runs a global consulting practice (one of his clients is a $4 billion firm headquartered in India). He has homes in New York City and Sarasota.

Michael Wendroff applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, What Goes Around, and reported the following:

Page 69 of What Goes Around is dialogue between two women, a cop and a detective, discussing over tacos and red wine the protagonist's relationship with another detective she's just been paired up with. The protagonist, Jill, had had a stormy relationship with her new partner, Jack, when they were together at the police academy. "I couldn't stand the sight of him," Jill said. Jack is in the mold of Jack Reacher, while Jill has a very different style. In the last sentence of the page, she remembers her father, who had been a patrolman that died in the line of duty.

I feel this is partly representative of the book.

It does represent the character development, which I believe is key in a thriller--your readers must get to know and empathize with the characters, otherwise the thrilling parts will be much less thrilling.

It is also representative of the book given the last line about Jill's father who had died. Part of that is because his death was a key motivating factor her entire life, but part of that is also because of what he represents in terms of the major twist ending. Spoiler alert-I can't spoil it and tell you why!

Page 69 is also interesting in that it references the two protagonists, Jack and Jill (yes, Jack and Jill!) and it leaves the reader wondering what will happen with that relationship. Will they continue to be enemies? Will they evolve into an excellent working relationship? Will the relationship become even something more? Read What Goes Around to find out!

By the way, the inspiration for this book was what my mother said to me the moment I was born. I was put on her chest, she looked deeply into my eyes, and said, "Oh! So nice to see you, again."

Visit Michael Wendroff's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Pike Island"

Tony Wirt was born in Lake Mills, IA, and got his first taste of publication in first grade, when his essay on Airplane II: The Sequel appeared in the Lake Mills Elementary School’s Creative Courier.

He's a graduate of the University of Iowa and spent nine years doing media relations in the Hawkeye Athletic Department. He's also been a sportswriter, movie ticket taker and Dairy Queen ice cream slinger who can still do the little curly thing on top of a soft serve cone.

He currently lives in Rochester, MN, with his wife and two daughters.

Wirt applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, Pike Island, and reported the following:

Page 69 of Pike Island takes us out to the island for the first time. After a few days of hearing rumors and half-forgotten stories, they convince Jake to head out to the island and find the abandoned house. The guys have been poking around the past few chapters, and by this spot they’re starting to see enough to know something isn’t right out there. The jokes start drying up as their surroundings get creepier. Then, on page 69, they find evidence that they aren’t the only visitors out there.

The Page 69 Test could not have worked out better had I picked the page myself. Starting there is kind of like hopping on a roller coaster at the top of the first hill. From that page on, the guys know they’re in for something more than just a normal weekend at the lake. The bad decisions start piling up, and it becomes obvious that is a weekend none of them will ever be able to shake.

I feel like a lot of the crumbs scattered around the first few chapters really start paying off in the scene that kicks off with page 69. Hopefully it’s been a good build up in the pages leading to it, because that’s the spot where it really kicks off.

Visit Tony Wirt's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Who Loves You Best"

Marilyn Simon Rothstein is the author of four novels: Who Loves You Best, Crazy To Leave You, Husbands And Other Sharp Objects, and Lift And Separate. She grew up in New York City, earned a degree in journalism from NYU, began her writing career at Seventeen magazine, married a man she met in an elevator and owned an award-winning advertising agency for more than twenty-five years.

Rothstein applied the Page 69 Test to Who Loves You Best and reported the following:

I'm happy to report that page 69 of my new novel, Who Loves You Best, passes the rigorous Page 69 Test, providing an accurate idea of the whole work. Here’s why: On page 69 the reader finds a scene between the protagonist, Jodi Wexler, a Florida podiatrist who is visiting family in the Berkshires, and Macallan, her eight-year-old granddaughter—named after the Scotch her parents were drinking the evening she was conceived. The first point on page 69 is that Jodi is a totally different kind of grandmother than she was a mother. As a mother she wanted to be in charge. As a nana, she wants to be popular. Also, in speaking to Macallan, Jodi learns a lot about her daughter, Lisa, she does not know. This is important, because everything changes when Lisa returns from a trip to Boston and lets Jodi in on her long-held secret.

Visit Marilyn Simon Rothstein's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Lines"

Sung J. Woo's short stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, PEN/Guernica, and Vox. He has written five novels, Lines (2024), Deep Roots (2023), Skin Deep (2020), Love Love (2015), and Everything Asian (2009), which won the 2010 Asian Pacific American Librarians Association Literature Award. In 2022, his Modern Love essay from The New York Times was adapted by Amazon Studios for episodic television. A graduate of Cornell University with an MFA from New York University, he lives in Washington, New Jersey.

Woo applied the Page 69 Test to Lines and reported the following:

From page 69:

TOGETHER

Citi DoubleCash Mastercard: Pay Minimum Balance

ABBY RESTS HER brush on her palette. Baby Cecilia, one hand covered in soap bubbles and the other clutching a yellow rubber ducky, is done. At last. No more baby.

Except now she’s got a real one brewing in her own belly, an idea which is equal parts exhilarating and terrifying. She’s going to be a mother.

It’s half past noon, but no knock on her door from Ted. She quietly, stealthily walks up to her own door — which makes no sense, so she stomps her feet for the last three steps. Which makes her feel even stupider. She swings it open and sees and hears nothing but the deserted hallway.

She walks over to the bathroom, though she doesn’t have to go. But she can wash the paint off her hands with her squeeze bottle of turpentine, streaks and crusts of deep brown and mango down the drain, the last colors she’d worked with on the canvas. As the paint temporarily coats the sides of the sink, Abby feels a sadness. She might have resented painting Cecilia for the last month or so, but now that she’s finished, the work is no longer hers, and there’s an emptiness in that. Of course she’ll be paid for handing it over, two thousand dollars and 100% hers because no gallery was involved with this commission,

Page 69 of my fifth novel, Lines, is the beginning of a “together” chapter of the book, and it is perhaps the most crucial part – where Abby comes to grips with her pregnancy. The previous chapter ends with her revealing her baby news to her soon-to-be husband, Ted, while in this chapter, she has yet to tell Ted, who is not her future husband but an officemate – and is sort of in love with him. In these “together” chapters, Abby is married to Joshua, whom she detests.

I know this may sound confusing, but it’s actually straightforward once the story gets going. In the “apart” chapters, Abby and Josh, painter and writer, are just beginning to know each other, while in the “together” chapters, they are married and struggling mightily on many fronts (career, relationship, monetary). (Irony alert: when Abby and Josh are physically apart, they are spiritually together; when Abby and Joshua are physically together, they can’t stand each other!) The book spans nine months – yes, the time it takes for a baby to be born – and the two “lines” dovetail from one chapter to the next until the very end.

Abby’s baby figures hugely in this book. The child is a blessing and a curse, a source of wonder and a source of consternation for both Abby and Joshua. This is the fourth Page 69 Test I’ve run, and I remain astonished at its prescience.

Visit Sung J. Woo's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Sung J. Woo & Koda.

The Page 69 Test: Everything Asian.

My Book, The Movie: Skin Deep.

Q&A with Sung J. Woo.

The Page 69 Test: Skin Deep.

My Book, The Movie: Deep Roots.

The Page 69 Test: Deep Roots.

Writers Read: Sung J. Woo (September 2023).

--Marshal Zeringue

"Beyond Reasonable Doubt"

Robert Dugoni is a critically acclaimed New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and #1 Amazon bestselling author, reaching over 9 million readers worldwide. He is best known for his Tracy Crosswhite police series set in Seattle. He is also the author of the Charles Jenkins espionage series, the David Sloane legal thriller series, and several stand-alone novels including The 7th Canon, Damage Control, The World Played Chess, and Her Deadly Game. His novel The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell received Suspense Magazine’s 2018 Book of the Year, and Dugoni’s narration won an AudioFile Earphones Award. The Washington Post named his nonfiction exposé The Cyanide Canary a Best Book of the Year.

Dugoni applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, Beyond Reasonable Doubt, and reported the following:

If readers opened my book to page 69, they would get a great idea of the whole book. They would learn that Keera Duggan is a young attorney and the defendant she is asked to defend is Jenna Bernstein, accused of killing her CFO of an up and coming medical company. They would learn that Keera doesn’t trust Jenna because they grew up together and Keera believes Jenna is a sociopath at worst, a pathological liar at best. So as Jenna is giving Keera her alibi for the time of the murder, Keera is understandably skeptical.

Visit Robert Dugoni's website and Facebook page.

The Page 69 Test: Wrongful Death.

The Page 69 Test: Bodily Harm.

My Book, The Movie: Bodily Harm.

The Page 69 Test: Murder One.

My Book, The Movie: Murder One.

My Book, The Movie: The Eighth Sister.

The Page 69 Test: The Eighth Sister.

My Book, The Movie: A Cold Trail.

The Page 69 Test: A Cold Trail.

The Page 69 Test: The Last Agent.

My Book, The Movie: The Last Agent.

Q&A with Robert Dugoni.

The Page 69 Test: In Her Tracks.

The Page 69 Test: A Killing on the Hill.

My Book, The Movie: A Killing on the Hill.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Hill of Secrets"

Galina Vromen began writing fiction after more than twenty years as an international journalist in Israel, England, the Netherlands, France, and Mexico. After a career with Reuters News Agency, she moved to the nonprofit sector as a director at the Harold Grinspoon Foundation.

Vromen launched and directed two reading readiness programs in Israel, one in Hebrew (Sifriyat Pijama) and one in Arabic (Maktabat al-Fanoos). During her tenure, the two programs gifted twenty million books to young children and their families and were named US Library of Congress honorees for best practices in promoting literacy.

Vromen’s stories have been performed on NPR’s Selected Shorts program and appeared in magazines such as American Way, the Adirondack Review, Tikkun, and Reform Judaism. She has an MA in literature from Bar-Ilan University in Israel and a BA in media and anthropology from Hampshire College in Massachusetts.

Vromen and her husband divide their time between Israel and Massachusetts.

She applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Hill of Secrets, and reported the following:

The Page 69 Test works only partially for my book. On page 69, the main character, Christine, meets a native American potter, Maria Martinez. So, the page does mark the beginning of Christine's change of heart about being dragged to live at a desolate army base in Los Alamos, New Mexico, because her husband has been assigned to work on a secret project there during WW2. But her relationship with Martinez is only a small part of the transition she undergoes in the course of the book.

Page 69 does introduce the reader to Maria Martinez, a real figure whose signature black pottery, which I describe extensively, is widely acclaimed to this day. Martinez did have contact with the residents of Los Alamos and much of her backstory in the book is historically based.

Visit Galina Vromen's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Usual Silence"

Jenny Milchman is the Mary Higgins Clark award winning and USA Today bestselling author of five novels. Her work has been praised by the New York Times, New York Journal of Books, San Francisco Journal of Books and more; earned spots on Best Of lists including PureWow, POPSUGAR, the Strand, Suspense, and Big Thrill magazines; and received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Booklist, and Shelf Awareness. Four of her novels have been Indie Next Picks. Milchman's short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies as well as Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and a recent piece on touring appeared in the Agatha award winning collection Promophobia. Milchman's new series with Thomas & Mercer features psychologist Arles Shepherd, who has the power to save the most troubled and vulnerable children, but must battle demons of her own to do it. Milchman is a member of the Rogue Women Writers and lives in the Hudson Valley with her family.

She applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Usual Silence, and reported the following:

I love this test in part because sixty-nine is one of my lucky numbers, and also because it happens to work uncannily well for my new novel, The Usual Silence, getting one of the most important characters on the page, and putting the deepest theme of the novel on full display.

Let me back up.

The Usual Silence is about Arles Shepherd, a psychologist who treats a ten-year-old Autistic child named Geary who holds the key to her own troubled past. The story is told in three points of view, although before the twist is revealed at the end, it seems as if it might be four.

On page 69 Geary and his mother see a psychotherapist who is about to reject Geary as a patient. He refers Geary to Dr. Shepherd, but he has an ulterior motive for doing so. In order not to reveal his own complicity—and duplicity—in the matter, the psychotherapist tries to overpower Geary’s mom mentally, really gaslight her. But Geary’s mom sniffs him out. She knows something is wrong and takes her son far away before they can be sent.

As a writer, I have my own version of the Page 69 Test, which is to ask as my book goes through revision after revision and iterative drafts whether each element performs double, triple, even quadruple duty. Does each detail further plot, deepen character, add thematically, and contribute something surprising, perhaps a beautiful line of prose?

Once a book hits that benchmark, then every page should be a great exemplar of the story.

Yet somehow page 69 is a particularly good one, spotlighting the poignant, heartbreaking situation that is mental health care today, hinting at a triumphant reversal to come, keeping the reader in suspense—how will Geary find his way to Dr. Shepherd?—while illuminating the novel’s theme of women who take their power back to staggering results.

Learn more about the book and author at Jenny Milchman's website.

My Book, The Movie: Cover of Snow.

The Page 69 Test: Cover of Snow.

The Page 69 Test: Ruin Falls.

My Book, The Movie: Ruin Falls.

My Book, The Movie: The Second Mother.

The Page 69 Test: The Second Mother.

Q&A with Jenny Milchman.

My Book, The Movie: The Usual Silence.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Sound of a Thousand Stars"

Rachel Robbins received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is a tenured assistant professor at Malcolm X College, one of the City Colleges of Chicago. A visual artist and two-time Pushcart Prize–nominated writer, her paintings have materialized on public transit, children’s daycare centers, and Chicago’s Magnificent Mile. She lives in Chicago with her husband, children, and Portuguese Water Dog. Her new novel, The Sound of a Thousand Stars, is loosely based on her grandparents, who worked at Los Alamos but never spoke of their time there.

Robbins applied the Page 69 Test to The Sound of a Thousand Stars and reported the following:

From page 69:

Physics was not an appropriate hobby for a wife. If he ever learned what she’d been up to as he was facing rifles, flame- throwers, and grenades in the trenches, he would certainly call the marriage off. Even long after this was over, someday when everything was declassified, he wouldn’t want a woman who could analyze wavelengths or calculate kinetic energy. By contrast, Caleb seemed to be memorizing her every word. He was not planning what he would say next while she spoke; he was truly listening to her. Perhaps he was even afraid to speak.

Pavlov was waiting for them on the porch, contentedly gnawing on a stick that he sandwiched between his paws. They climbed the rickety steps up to her small home, approaching the dim lantern swaying from the overhang. She turned to see Caleb’s face in the light, but he avoided her eyes, investigating her ramshackle windows and lopsided roofing. He knocked on the wooden siding, feigning a knowledge in carpentry. He ran his hand along the hinge of the screen and the jutting windowpane. “These houses look like they were drawn by someone trying to remember their childhood home,” he said. His expression cracked as he studied the humble siding. What childhood home was he trying to remember? “Blueprints made from nostalgia.”

“I’m not married,” she said, unprompted, catching her breath. “Yet.” She watched his features rearrange. Her chest fluttered, beating with hundreds of frantic wings. She tried to hold steady. “My fiancé is somewhere in the northeast of France. 38th Infantry Regiment.”

Caleb still had his hand on the windowpane, and he seemed afraid to move it, to break the spell of whatever was happening between them. “I’m sorry,” he said.

“Don’t be. It’s easier for him to have a relationship with a pen and paper than a woman who talks back.”

“I never liked the phrase ‘talking back,’” he said carefully. “Maybe you were just talking forward.”

Alice felt something tighten in her chest at the suggestion that her words might mean something more. “I shouldn’t be so hard on him,” she said in a rehearsed voice. “He’s fighting to save us.” She tried to mean it.

I’ve always been intrigued by Marshall McLuhan and his theories about objects and media—so, it’s fascinating to see books as an extension of that. Yes, the Page 69 Test worked brilliantly with my book. This is a pivotal scene. It unfurls into the past through references to childhood, and simultaneously presupposes a shared future. There’s this sense of the transient nature of the whole town conveyed through the flimsy architecture and the two characters standing there on the deck, neither inside nor outside, waiting for the world to rearrange. They are longing for each other but unable to make contact, frozen outside of time. It’s the first moment of suspended time in the book, which is a major theme derived from my grandmother’s archival letters home during the war.

Los Alamos had many nicknames, but my grandmother referred to it as Shangri-La, an homage to the novel Lost Horizon by James Hilton. It’s a fitting reference since Hilton’s novel portrays a set of plane crash survivors who end up in the mountains of the Himalayas, far away, high up, and outside of time. Since Los Alamos was certainly isolated, first by its geography, and second due to necessary wartime security, I wanted my book to convey a sense of timelessness. This is why some chapters move in reverse while others explore the scientific underpinnings of the strange relationship between space and time, which to this day, we don’t fully understand.

Learn more about The Sound of a Thousand Stars at the publisher's website.

--Marshal Zeringue