"Medusa Uploaded"

Emily Devenport has written several novels under various pseudonyms including one which was a finalist for the Philip K. Dick award. She currently studies Geology and works as a volunteer at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix.

Devenport applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Medusa Uploaded, and reported the following:

Midway down page 69 in Medusa Uploaded I read:

Unhappy plans were beginning to manifest in the halls of my mind. They were bloody-handed creatures...

And that is, absolutely, representative of the rest of the book. In fact, it makes a pretty good summary. Oichi is a ruthless person, but she's got good reason. She was forged by harsh circumstances, and has spent the majority of her life pretending to obey. The consequences of being exposed as a dissident are brutal, but it's not just the loss of her life that frightens Oichi. She has a master plan. It's the core of her existence. And if she's discovered, that plan will fail. So she's willing to kill to prevent that from happening.

Yet Oichi has also been raised with an appreciation of beauty, of intelligence and integrity. On page 69, she is confronted with the need to kill someone she admires. He has seen through her disguise, and he could expose her. The fact that he has children to protect makes him more dangerous. She's going to have to decide what to do about him. And Oichi has the fortitude to do what needs to be done.

But things aren't going to go as expected, and how she improvises is what drives this story. If you haven't read my book yet, and this post leads you to check out page 69, I hope you'll want to flip back to the beginning, because Oichi's unhappy plans lead to some unexpected places.

Visit Emily Devenport's blog.

--Marshal Zeringue

"All the Ever Afters"

Danielle Teller (formerly Morse, nee Dyck) grew up in Canada, where she and her two brothers were raised by the best parents in the world. As a child, she was a bookworm who dreamed of being a writer, but she chickened out and went to medical school instead. In 1994, she moved temporarily to America, and she has been living temporarily in America ever since. Teller attended Queen's University during her undergraduate years, and she received her medical training at McGill University, Brown University and Yale University. She has held faculty positions at the University of Pittsburgh and Harvard University, where she investigated the origins of chronic lung disease and taught in the medical intensive care unit. In 2013, Teller quit her job to pursue her childhood dream of being a writer. She lives with her husband, Astro Teller, and their four children in Palo Alto, California.

Teller applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, All the Ever Afters: The Untold Story of Cinderella’s Stepmother, and reported the following:

This is the most interesting question anyone has asked about my book! Page 69 comes at the end of a chapter, so it is half blank, which may be a good metaphor for my writing. I write very slowly and revise constantly, so my word counts are always lower than they are supposed to be, never higher. I struggle to fill blank spaces!

This chapter closes with Agnes, who eventually becomes the “evil” stepmother, escaping a cruel mistress for what she hopes will be a better position as a servant:

As we left the kitchen, I cast a glance at the bulky form of the laundress, who lay sprawled in her scant underclothes, glistening with sweat in the weak light of dawn that filtered through the skylights. I prayed that I might not meet her again.

This is the first of Agnes’s “ever after” moments, where she finds her way out of unhappy circumstances to seek a better life for herself, and later for her daughters. As such, page 69 is emblematic of the novel as a whole, which chronicles the successes and setbacks of the stepmother’s rags-to-riches life.

Visit Danielle Teller's website.

Writers Read: Danielle Teller.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Man on Ice"

Humphrey Hawksley is a British journalist and thriller writer whose books focus on the world’s trouble spots and the characters caught up within them. His most recent, Man on Ice, set on the US-Russian border exposes the vulnerability of a tiny Alaskan village barely two miles across the winter sea ice from a Russian military island. This is where the sovereignty of America and Russia meet face-to-face. As most of us know, hostility between the two in real life has reached dangerous levels. Trouble flares up on the eve of a presidential inauguration when foreign powers often view the US as being weaker and in flux.

Hawksley applied the Page 69 Test to Man on Ice and reported the following:

By chance Page 69 of Man on Ice is a pivotal scene. The protagonist Rake Ozenna, a soldier skilled at working with ice and snow, is hiding out from Russian troops who have moved onto the tiny Alaskan island of Little Diomede. He awaits orders from Washington. In the White House, they are working out what possible motive Russia could have for occupying the island.

“They’re doing it now because they think they can,” suggested Prusak (White House Chief-of-Staff). “They took Crimea and eastern Ukraine, and Europe did nothing. They’re outpacing us many times over with bases and ports in the Arctic.”

Then, down the page to Ozenna:

“Captain, how best can we use you?”

“I need to cross to Big Diomede and cut off the snake’s head.”

The snake goes all the way to the Kremlin, thought Stephanie (British ambassador to Washington).

“What can you achieve there?”

“I can tell you who is where and how to hit them.”

The chapter ends with Rake Ozenna instructions to cross treacherous frozen sea water unseen and get to the Russian military base on the other side.

Visit Humphrey Hawksley's website.

My Book, The Movie: Man on Ice.

Writers Read: Humphrey Hawksley.

--Marshal Zeringue

"It Started in June"

Susan Kietzman is the author of Every Other Wednesday, The Summer Cottage, A Changing Marriage, and The Good Life.

She applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, It Started in June, and reported the following:

From page 69:

He had just started picturing his life without Grace when she called. He got up from his couch and walked to the fridge for a beer. He took a sip and called her back, resolved to tell her he couldn’t make the commitment. As soon as she answered the phone, as soon as her heard her voice, his resolve crumbed.

Thirty-year-old Bradley Hanover finds himself in the unexpected and unwelcome position of assessing his allegiance to a co-worker he has impregnated but hardly knows. Leery of office romance and sworn off hooking up on a first date, Bradley breaks both rules one night when post-business-meeting drinks with Grace Trumbull, his project manager, lead to sex in the back of her car. Before she announces her pregnancy, Bradley and Grace go out several times, each date more adhesive than the last. But Grace’s decision to keep the baby is as surprising to Bradley as their initial unplanned intimacy. Not ready for parenthood yet not able to shake his infatuation with Grace, Bradley straddles freedom and commitment.

Their twelve-year age difference is a factor. Grace has already been married (and divorced) and is professionally several steps ahead of Bradley, who still has to prove himself at the office – and in life. He drinks too much beer with his college buddies, and he relies heavily on his psychiatrist mother for advice. His trouble-free existence has delayed his maturation. And yet he has an innate inclination to do the right thing. Plus, he knows his rejection of fatherhood will immediately end his opportunity to see if Grace can work her way into his heart as she has with his head. Selfishly, he wonders if a long-term relationship with Grace and the baby will punch his ticket to manhood.

Grace, too, has her doubts, not only about Bradley but also about being a mother. But, as the damaged product of a loveless childhood, she is determined to be a better parent than her teenaged mother and righteous grandparents were to her, to give this baby growing inside her a loving and nurturing upbringing. Realizing her decision to keep the baby may be misguided, she nonetheless convinces herself that correcting the errors of the past will heal her troubled soul. The few people she is close to, however, question her logic – Bradley amongst them.

Does it make sense – Grace, Bradley, and the reader wonder – for a couple to stay together when the one thing keeping them together is also pushing them apart? The questioning of commitment continually surfaces, for Grace as well as Bradley, making this passage on page 69 representative of the book from beginning to end.

Visit Susan Kietzman's website.

The Page 69 Test: Every Other Wednesday.

--Marshal Zeringue

"I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain"

Will Walton is an indie bookseller in Athens, Georgia. Anything Could Happen was his first novel.

Walton applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain, and reported the following:

Page 69 actually works sort of okay! It's sort of a split-screen page: We have the beginning of one of Avery's poems on the bottom half, and the scene that precedes its composition right above it. That pretty well indicates what the reader's in for; the book itself is split similarly, divided between prose and verse.

Follow Will Walton on Facebook.

The Page 69 Test: Anything Could Happen.

My Book, The Movie: Anything Could Happen.

Writers Read: Will Walton.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Cactus"

Sarah Haywood was born in Birmingham. She studied Law at Kent University and Chester College of Law, then worked as a trainee solicitor in London.

After qualification, she moved to Liverpool, working first as a solicitor, then as an advice worker with Citizens Advice. She subsequently joined the Office of the Legal Services Ombudsman, where she investigated complaints about lawyers.

Haywood completed an Open University Creative Writing Course, followed by an MA in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University. She lives in Liverpool with her husband and two sons.

Haywood applied the Page 69 Test to her debut novel, The Cactus, and reported the following:

At the age of forty-five, Susan Green finds that her carefully-constructed world is turned upside down; one of the catalysts is her unexpected pregnancy. The soon-to-be father is Richard, a man with whom she’s had a ‘relationship’ of mutual convenience based on the strict understanding that there’s no emotional involvement from either party. The Cactus is written from Susan’s perspective, so we’re in her head the whole time. Page 69 begins with her explaining to the reader why she’s ended the arrangement with Richard, who, annoyingly, is standing on her doorstep:

I could imagine the scene being played out: I tell Richard I’m pregnant; he assumes I’ve done it deliberately because I want a baby or some kind of permanence to our relationship; I try to convince him that it’s the last thing on earth I’d want to happen; he offers gallantly to pay for the termination and accompany me to the clinic; I seethe with anger at his condescension and pity. No, much better to end it cleanly and swiftly.

It’s clear from this paragraph that Susan is a strong-minded, independent woman. All well and good, but she’s taken it to extremes. She refuses to be swayed by emotion and is determined to rely on logic alone when making her life choices. She never lets down her guard, so she can never be hurt.

Later on page 69, Richard, who has no idea that Susan’s carrying his child, endeavours to persuade her to resume their personal arrangement. In the course of his appeal, he says:

“I understand why you sent (the message ending the relationship). You want something beyond what we currently have, some guarantee that you won’t be alone as you enter middle age. I didn’t think I’d be able to make such a commitment, but if not doing so means I’m going to forfeit our time together, then I’m prepared to give you what you want.”

Richard genuinely believes he’s offering Susan what she desires: more regular contact and a greater commitment from him. We know better. With his self-conscious magnanimity, Richard’s not only being as tactless as Susan can be herself (“alone”, “middle age”), he’s also completely misinterpreting her motives.

So, is page 69 representative of the rest of The Cactus? Not entirely. There’s an element of humour, as there is throughout the book. Here, it’s in Richard’s pomposity and obliviousness; in the rest of the novel, it’s in Susan’s rigid but misguided opinions, and in the eccentric people she encounters. Page 69 gives both a snapshot of Susan’s character early on in the novel, and the background to her decision to proceed with the pregnancy alone. What’s missing, though, are the other main plot threads: Susan’s efforts to overturn her mother’s will favouring her brother, Edward; her exploration of her family history; and her developing relationships with Edward’s best friend, Rob, and her neighbour, Kate. It’s these experiences, as much as the prospect of becoming a mother, which cause Susan to bloom.

Visit Sarah Haywood's website.

Writers Read: Sarah Haywood.

My Book, The Movie: The Cactus.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Onyx & Ivory"

Mindee Arnett is the author of the critically acclaimed sci-fi thriller Avalon as well as the Arkwell Academy series and the newly released Onyx and Ivory. An avid eventer, she lives on a farm near Dayton, Ohio with her husband, two kids, and assorted animals. When not telling tales of magic, the supernatural, or outer space, she can be found on a horse, trying to jump anything that will stand still.

Arnett applied the Page 69 Test to Onyx and Ivory and reported the following:

From page 69:

…but the threat of the wilders wasn’t new, just the notion of them banding together. Even still, he couldn’t see their threat being the reason a magist would invent a spell that could kill so quickly. Wilders weren’t to be executed on the spot but taken prisoner for the Purging, a ritual designed to rid the world or their magic once and for all.

The above quote from page 69 of my latest book, Onyx & Ivory, is surprisingly indicative of the rest of the story. It deals specifically with the heart of the external conflict and plot—the ongoing political struggle between the two groups of magic users in this world, magists and wilders. Without giving away too many spoilers, readers will eventually discover that the main difference between these groups is more political than physiological (magicological?). In other words, one group of these magic users, the magists, have been recognized as being useful and safe by the powers that be. They’ve been embraced by society at large and even enjoy a privileged status among the people—hence their ability to invent new spells and use them. The other group however, the wilders, have been deemed dangerous and are forced to live in hiding.

The point of view character in this passage is Corwin Tormane, the second born prince of the high king, and a person who just so happens to be in a position of power. This conversation, taking place with one of the magists, is the start of Corwin’s journey in realizing the politics involved in singling out one group of people or another, and what he might or might not need to do to correct the situation.

Visit Mindee Arnett's website.

The Page 69 Test: Avalon.

Writers Read: Mindee Arnett.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Blues Walked In"

Kathleen George is the author of The Johnstown Girls, a novel about the famous Johnstown flood. She has also written seven mysteries set in Pittsburgh: A Measure of Blood, Simple, The Odds, which was nominated for the Edgar® Award from the Mystery Writers of America, Hideout, Afterimage, Fallen, and Taken. George is also the author of the short story collection The Man in the Buick and editor of another collection, Pittsburgh Noir. She is a professor of theater arts and creative writing at the University of Pittsburgh.

George applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Blues Walked In, and reported the following:

On Page 69 of The Blues Walked, Marie David, who has worn nothing but stitched and mended hand-me-downs all her life buys a new coat. It’s not exactly new in that it has been returned to Gimbels after too long a time by a customer who changed her mind. This purchase is representative of a couple of things (I am thrilled to learn.) It’s the coat that will make her look much more sophisticated than she is and will cause her to be mistaken for Lena Horne. It is also like a coat Lena remembers from her childhood, something her father bought her, in a rich royal blue. The coat links these two women who are of different races and economic backgrounds. The things they share are emotionally bare childhoods and a love of movies, a love that has both of them dreaming about being discovered and put on the screen.

They also share a fascination with a charismatic young man Josiah (a Negro in the language of the day) who wants to be a movie director. They know there is something special about him. Both of them respond to his kindness and his emotional intelligence. When he’s jailed and accused of murder, both women go to the jail protesting. The officers only see a blue coat in one case and coifed hair and dark skin in both cases. They are not looking. They already have opinions about race and those opinions toss everybody—and unfortunately Josiah—onto the expendable pile.

I’m thrilled to learn that page 69 “talks” the language of the book. This test is always a terror. What if there’s nothing there? I always ask before I look. Whew.

Learn more about the book and author at Kathleen George's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The French Girl"

Lexie Elliott grew up in Scotland, at the foot of the Highlands. She graduated from Oxford University, where she obtained a doctorate in theoretical physics. A keen sportswoman, she works in fund management in London, where she lives with her husband and two sons. The rest of her time is spent writing, or thinking about writing, and juggling family life and sport.

Elliott applied the Page 69 Test to her debut novel, The French Girl, and reported the following:

In The French Girl, page 69 spans the end of one scene and the start of another. Nevertheless, the combination rather neatly captures not only the essence of the novel but also that of the main protagonist, Kate. By page 69, Kate is both struggling with the re-surfacing of painful decade-old memories, stirred up by the discovery of the corpse of the eponymous French girl, and grimly aware that it would take something of a miracle to save her fledgling business. Both are taking a toll on her sense of self, as we see in the first section when she catches a glimpse of her own reflection in a shop window:

I disconnect then look up to see my ghostly self hovering in front of a swimwear montage, a smile still in place from the phone call that fades as I watch. The promise of a new life, a different life, still lies tantalizingly in reach.

In the next scene, we see two inherent characteristics of Kate’s personality: her commitment to facing her difficulties head-on, and her dark humour. We also see Kate’s warmth for Tom. It becomes clear to the reader that his presence back in England, after a long period living in Boston, is an emotional crutch for Kate; we begin to worry that she might be blinded by their shared affection:

I’ve been expecting a call from him, to tell me he’s awarding the contract to a rival firm. I could do without the final nail in the coffin…but why delay the inevitable? “Put him through, please.”

The phone in front of me buzzes after a moment. I find a smile to drape on my lips. “Good afternoon, Gordon. How are you?”

“Very well, thank you. Is this a good time?”

“Absolutely. Fire away.” Fire away. Not that he can really fire me since he’s never actually hired me, but still, the inadvertent gallows humor amuses me. I will tell Tom that later, I think. I can already see his eyes crinkling above that unmistakeable nose.

So: memories and ghosts and for Kate, a shifting sense of her own place in both her past and her present. I think it’s a fairly representative page. But perhaps you should buy the book and judge for yourself.

Visit Lexie Elliott's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Sign of the Cross"

Glenn Cooper graduated with a degree in archaeology from Harvard and was formerly the Chairman and CEO of a biotechnology company in Massachusetts. His previous thrillers, including the bestselling Library of the Dead trilogy, have sold six million copies in more than thirty languages worldwide.

Cooper applied the Page 69 Test to his new religious conspiracy thriller, Sign of the Cross, and reported the following:

My favorite page in the book! Well, maybe not, but an interesting page to illustrate an important point about Sign of the Cross in particular, and thrillers in general. In the book which is the first in a new series, Cal Donovan, professor of history of religion and archaeology at the Harvard Divinity School, is asked by the Vatican to investigate the case of a young Italian priest who develops the stigmata of the wounds of the crucified Christ. Is the priest a faker or might this be a real miracle?

The page involves the book’s antagonist, Schneider, and his nefarious organization, and here I use the device of a new recruit to illuminate some of the group’s backstory. Thrillers, by nature, cannot work without the duality of a protagonist and an antagonist. I’m not the only thriller writer who’s found that coming up with strong, believable, multidimensional bad guys is really the name of the game. Good guys are easy to invent, bad guys are hard. Early on in my writing career, a mentor who earned his bones in the thriller game told me to study Ken Follett’s The Man From St. Petersburg, where equal page count is devoted to the protagonist and the antagonist. That lesson stuck with me and I take a measure of pride in crafting good bad guys.

Visit Glenn Cooper's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"A Lite Too Bright"

Samuel Miller was born and raised in Vermillion, South Dakota, and now resides in Los Angeles, where, in addition to writing, he directs music videos and coaches Little League Baseball. He began writing his first novel while on tour in a fifteen-passenger van with the rock band Paradise Fears. A Lite Too Bright is his debut novel. Currently he attends graduate school at the University of Southern California. He credits his existence entirely to two spectacular parents, three brothers, one sister, and the best and sweetest puppy dog on the whole planet, Addison.

Miller applied the Page 69 Test to A Lite Too Bright and reported the following:

Page 69 of A Lite Too Bright is entirely dedicated to a public address announcement made by the conductor of the Zeyphr train (his second of six such announcements in the novel), alerting the train passengers their next stop is Elko, Nevada. While this may not contain much literal information about the plot, I think it captures the essence of the book in a couple of subtle ways:

The conductor is about as modern, middle America as you can get; he sounds like someone straight out of my youth, false enthusiasm & all, & to me, a lot of this book is about trying to create that world for the reader. He's expressing his frustration with people getting off to smoke at stops when they're not supposed to; but truly, as he reveals, his frustration is with the organization & bureaucracy of his superiors. Truthfully, he doesn't care about what people do, he just hates that he's made to care, because he has to, because of the way systems of power & money are structured in the world-- also an over-arching theme & common attitude amongst characters.

Mostly though, it just tells the readers where we are....

Visit Samuel Miller's website.

Writers Read: Samuel Miller.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Accidental Bad Girl"

Maxine Kaplan was born in Washington, DC. She and her twin sister spent their early childhoods trotting behind their journalist parents as they traveled around the world, eventually settling in Brooklyn, NY. Maxine graduated from Oberlin College in 2007. Following a long stint in the world of publishing, she has worked as a private investigator since 2009. She lives in her adopted hometown of Brooklyn, NY, with her lovely husband and complex cat.

Kaplan applied the Page 69 Test to The Accidental Bad Girl, her debut novel, and reported the following:

Page 69 of The Accidental Bad Girl is both representative of the book as a whole and not representative. I don’t think this page out of context will give away the central conflicts of the book; it doesn’t tell you anything about the plot or even the genre. But what I think it does convey is the underlying conflicts of the book—the themes that undergird all the action. Specifically, this page concerns the contrast between reputation and lived experience; between trust your interpretation of your actions over the wider world’s impression of them. It also highlights the focus on sexual double standards and the slut-shaming that we still haven’t gotten over as a society, and which teenage girls deal with on a daily basis.

“Kendall, talk to me,” she said earnestly, grabbing my wrist. “I’m your friend.”

“Get away from me,” I hissed at her, trying to extricate my arm.

Audrey suddenly let go and buried her face in her hands. When she looked up there were tears in her eyes. I would have been impressed if I hadn't been there the first time Audrey cried on demand, to get out of trouble when she snuck into the hotel pool on the eighth grade field trip to DC. But I had been the only one there, so when she did it now, a hush fell over the hallway as Audrey hunched over and her shoulders shook.

“When you did what you did with Grant, I was angry, but I hoped our friendship would eventually get past it,” she said. “Don’t get me wrong, it was a real betrayal, but I told myself to remember how frustrating it must have been for you, to watch your friend with the guy you secretly wanted. I felt bad for you. But it’s because I assumed you liked him, not that it was about sex!”

She drew a raggedy gasp and continued, with narrowed, clear eyes staring straight at me. “Now I’m just worried about you, Kendall. Despite everything, I still care about you and I don’t want you to put yourself in dangerous situations. Grant is one thing, but strangers? Where are you meeting these guys? How old are they? Are you being safe?”

At each question, her voice went an octave higher, painting pictures in my head—and everyone else's heads.

I’m actually pretty pleased with page 69 as representative of Bad Girl. Gives nothing away while telling you what it’s worried about. Not a bad test...

Visit Maxine Kaplan's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Nightblade's Honor"

Ryan Kirk is an author and entrepreneur based out of Minnesota. He is the author of the Nightblade series of fantasy novels and the founder of Waterstone Media.

Kirk applied the Page 69 Test to his latest novel, Nightblade's Honor, and reported the following:

From page 69:

“I have, of course, heard the stories of the skill blades possess, but I have never seen anything like that in my life. How good are you?”

“Better than many, but far from the best,” she replied. Telling the truth also felt good. She was tired of hiding and lying just to stay safe.

Unlike my last attempt at this experiment, in this case, page 69 is a wonderful microcosm of the book as a whole. In the scene, Asa, one of the protagonists, has just been discovered as a nightblade. Nightblades have protected the Kingdom for many years now, but at this time in the story, they are being hunted for their perceived crimes, and Asa has been on the run since the beginning of the book.

As I was writing this book, I was fascinated by the question: "What happens when society turns its back on its protectors?" Within this scene, one possibility begins to play out as a retired soldier realizes the person he invited into his house is much more than she seems. This is the beginning of a series of scenes I greatly enjoyed writing, and so I'm excited it popped up on the Page 69 Test!

Visit Ryan Kirk's website.

The Page 69 Test: Nightblade's Vengeance.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Bad Cops"

Nick Oldham was born in April 1956 in a house in the tiny village of Belthorn on the moors high above Blackburn, Lancashire.

After leaving college and spending a depressing year in a bank, he joined Lancashire Constabulary at the age of nineteen in 1975 and served in many operational postings around the county. Most of his service was spent in uniform, but the final ten years were spent as a trainer and a manager in police training. He retired in 2005 at the rank of inspector.

He lives with his partner, Belinda, on the outskirts of Preston.

Oldham applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, Bad Cops, and reported the following:

I scoffed at this concept! Until I read page 69 and began to think that maybe it was representative of the rest of the book, and I suppose that one should be able to take any random page and apply that question ... But my page 69, much to my delight, said so much about the book. First of all, I think it's quite a funny page – Henry Christie is being tailed by two corrupt but inept detectives who do not like each other very much, one of whom has been eating too much fast food which plays havoc with his digestive system, and also discloses Henry's love of carrot cake – but it is also something more than this, and I think the book is summed up in a short sentence said by one of the bad guys to the other as they drive past Henry, who is sitting outside a café eating said cake, as this bad guy suddenly realizes something profound about Henry: 'This fucker is gonna haunt us.' And in that succinct phrase we readers learn something (which we may already know about Henry if we've read other books in the series): Once Henry Christie is on your tail, he is not gonna let go, whatever the cost.

Follow Nick Oldham on Facebook and Twitter.

Writers Read: Nick Oldham.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Perfect Mother"

Aimee Molloy is the author of the New York Times bestseller However Long the Night: Molly Melching’s Journey to Help Millions of African Women and Girls Triumph and the co-author of several non-fiction books, including Jantsen’s Gift, with Pam Cope.

Molloy applied the Page 69 Test to The Perfect Mother, her first novel, and reported the following:

Page 69:

“What’s your story?” Colette had asked Winnie. But she waved away the question.

“We’ll save that one for another time,” she said, rifling through her wallet. An older woman in front of them turned, a paper cup of roasted nuts in her hands. She smiled, noticing the rise of their bellies. The woman placed her free hand on Winnie’s arm. “You have no idea what you two are in for,” she said, her eyes moist. “The world’s most wonderful gift.”

“That was sweet,” Colette said, after the woman walked away.

“You think so?” Winnie wasn’t looking at her, though. She was staring past her, beyond the stone wall, into the park. “Why does everybody like to tell new mothers what we’re about to gain? Why does nobody want to talk about what we have to lose?”

As she climbs the steps of City Hall, Colette’s thoughts turn to the caption she’d read under Midas’ photo: The baby’s Sophie the Giraffe, a plastic squeak toy from France popular with American parents, and a blue baby’s blanket are also missing. The police are asking anyone with information to call 1-800-NYPDTIP.

Whoever took Midas: why would they take those things? It’s good news, Colette decides, stepping into the elevator. After all, only a person who loves him—or at least someone who doesn’t intend to hurt him—would think to also take his favorite blanket and toy.

How interesting! I think the page 69 test works quite well here, as it raises two questions central to the mystery of what happened to baby Midas, who was abducted from his crib while his sitter slept on the couch.

First, Colette is remembering back a few months to a conversation she had with Winnie (it is her son who was abducted). Winnie and she were still pregnant and Colette remembers an odd comment Winnie made that day--“Why does everybody like to tell new mothers what we’re about to gain? Why does nobody want to talk about what we have to lose?” This comment would come to haunt Colette, making her question what role, if any, Winnie had in what happened to her son that night.

And second, it sets out that whoever took Midas also took his favorite blanket or toy. Hmmmm…what could that mean?

Visit Aimee Molloy's website.

Writers Read: Aimee Molloy.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Positively Izzy"

Terri Libenson is the cartoonist of the internationally syndicated daily comic strip, The Pajama Diaries. She was also a long-time humorous card writer for American Greetings. She won numerous awards for her greeting cards and was the creator of a top-selling card line, “Skitch.” Terri has also written for AmericanGreetings.com, Egreetings.com, and BlueMountainArts.com.

Libenson applied the Page 69 Test to her new graphic novel, Positively Izzy, and reported the following:

Positively Izzy is told from the perspective of two girls, Brianna and Izzy. Page 69 falls during one of Izzy’s chapters. Here, we see Izzy’s mom walking in to their apartment with groceries, ready to chastise her daughter after finding something which turns out to be Izzy’s unfinished take-home test.

This page represents Izzy and her mother’s relationship, which is an important part of the story; Izzy constantly fails to be productive in school, and her mother always worries about her. It’s a tension that builds until an ultimate conflict occurs between mother and daughter. Page 69 is a big predictor of what’s to come.

Visit Terri Libenson's website.

Writers Read: Terri Libenson.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Orphan Monster Spy"

Matt Killeen was born in Birmingham, in the UK, back when trousers were wide and everything was brown. Early instruction in his craft included being told that a drawing of a Cylon exploding isn’t writing and copying-out your mother’s payslip isn’t an essay “about my family.” Several alternative careers beckoned, some involving laser guns and guitars, before he finally returned to words and attempted to make a living as an advertising copywriter and largely ignored music and sports journalist. He now writes for the world’s best loved toy company, as it wasn’t possible to be an X-wing pilot. Married to his Nuyorican soul mate, he is parent to both an unfeasibly clever teenager and a toddler who is challenging his father’s anti-establishment credentials by repeatedly writing on the walls. He accidentally moved to the countryside in 2016.

Killeen applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, Orphan Monster Spy, and reported the following:

I’m a bit sceptical of the concept behind this, mostly because text and layout vary between editions, however page 69 of the UK edition of Orphan Monster Spy is indeed a bit pivotal. It’s the moment that The Captain is confirmed as a spy as a result of Sarah’s investigations…

“Some things, I don’t know what they are. But you’re a spy.”

“That so?”

“If those things weren’t locked up I wouldn’t have been sure, but they were hidden, so they’re secret. That makes you a spy.”

It’s also the moment she is given her little monster identity, the start of her journey to become a spy herself.

Sarah opened the card. There she was, standing against the hall wall, with the name Ursula Bettina Haller. Most miraculously of all, the papers were unstamped. There was no red J, no police station attendance stamps. Ursula was German and she wasn’t Jewish.

“Why are you doing this?” Sarah felt something – an itch in the corner of her eyes, and it left her breathless. It took her a few seconds to recognize the emotion, so long had it been since she’d been grateful. It made her feel vulnerable and she was immediately suspicious of it.

She ceases to be the orphan from this point on. It marks the end of the “origin story” and the start of the mission. I used to read this bit on my author visits…I’ve been advised to go for a more high-octane bit.

Orphan Monster Spy is on Jenny Kawecki's list of seven YA titles with undercover spies.

Follow Matt Killeen on Twitter.

Writers Read: Matt Killeen.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Love, Penelope"

Joanne Rocklin's children’s books have garnered starred reviews, as well as awards, including The SCBWI Golden Kite, Parents’ Choice Gold Medal, Sydney Taylor Notable, ALA Notable, California Library Association Beatty Award, and others. They are also on many state lists.

Rocklin applied the Page 69 Test to her new middle grade novel, Love, Penelope, and reported the following:

Page 69 gives us much insight into the foibles and joys of Penny’s life, crammed into just one and a half entries. Penny tells her unborn sibling about her jealousy of the new girl Hazel’s budding friendship with Penny’s best friend, Gabby. She brags about the amazing Warrior wins in games against the Houston Rockets and the Sacramento Kings. She worries about the snoring of Mama because of the pregnancy and the driest January on record.

And, as an extra bonus, glancing over at page 68, the reader can’t help but notice the talent of illustrator Lucy Knisley, whose brilliant drawings are scattered throughout the journal entries. Page 68 shows a wonderfully humorous line drawing of Penny imagining herself revealing a negative truth about herself to Martin Luther King, Jr., whom she reveres.

Watch the Love Penelope video trailer, and visit Joanne Rocklin's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Joanne Rocklin & Zoe.

My Book, The Movie: Love, Penelope.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Queen Underneath"

Stacey Filak was born in a small town in Michigan, where she dreamed of hero's quests, epic battles, and publishing a book. At least a couple of things have come true. She lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan, with her husband and four children, and a menagerie of pop-culture named pets. She manages a veterinary clinic as her day job and aspires to someday write something that means as much to someone else as her childhood favorites mean to her.

Filak applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Queen Underneath, and reported the following:

In The Queen Underneath, page 69 is a turning point, where the loose strings that have tied the main characters together begin to pull taut. The reader is introduced to Elam – a sex-priest and main protagonist Gemma’s best friend. Page 69 is the first glimpse that we get of the two of them together, and it introduces a softer side to Gemma than the reader has yet seen.

It is also on page 69 that the reader starts to understand the vast repercussions of what has been transpiring in Yigris, and the ways that they will echo throughout the city. Though the reader doesn’t know it, yet, page 69 is critical to another relationship, the spark of which is made in the paragraphs therein.

In the end, page 69 is truly representative of The Queen Underneath, because it is from that page that the webs of friendship, romance and partnership first begin to spread out. Soon after, the reader will come to understand the depth of the crisis facing Yigris, the bond between the group from Under and the brotherhood of the two men from Above will all be joined together by Elam, the link between their worlds.

Visit Stacey Filak's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"My Ex-Life"

Stephen McCauley is the author of The Object of My Affection, True Enough, and Alternatives to Sex. Many of his books have been national bestsellers, and three have been made into feature films. The New York Times Book Review dubbed McCauley “the secret love child of Edith Wharton and Woody Allen”, and he was named a Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Ministry of Culture. His fiction, reviews, and articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Harper’s, Vogue, and many other publications. He currently serves as Co-Director of Creative Writing at Brandeis University.

McCauley applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, My Ex-Life, and reported the following:

Page 69 in My Ex-Life is the end of a chapter. Thus, it’s really only half a page. But it’s a weirdly good place to drop in. The main characters, Julie and David, were married and divorced in their early 20’s. Since then, they’ve lived on opposite coasts and lost touch. David has come out and Julie has remarried. Thirty years later, when each is at a rough patch in life, they reconnect for the first time.

On page 69, David has flown east from San Francisco on a red-eye flight. He arrives to find Julie’s household more chaotic than she’d let on. Each is worried about how they look to the other after all these years.

Here’s how the page (and the chapter) ends:

…David draped his arm around Julie’s shoulder. He pulled the suitcase behind him as they made their way to the house, and Julie rested her head against him.

“You smell good,” she said.

“It’s the upholstery in the rental car. They spray it with something to make it smell new.”

“If only it were that easy,” Julie said.

Visit Stephen McCauley's website.

Writers Read: Stephen McCauley.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Captain Superlative"

Jessica Puller has an MS in elementary education from Northwestern University and earned a BS and departmental honors in theater from Northwestern's School of Communication. She is an award-winning member of the American Alliance for Theatre and Education, and a published playwright.

Puller applied the Page 69 Test to Captain Superlative, her debut novel, and reported the following:

From page 69:

But as I hid from view, I watched her give the atrium a quick glance; then she ducked out the door herself.

And I followed her.

I don’t know where the momentum came from. The part of me that was my dad, maybe? I don’t know. Anyone else would have left well enough alone, I think. I just knew that I suddenly had a whirlwind of desire to follow her, to see where she went and what she did and who she was while doing it. I thought that maybe, once we left the school, she’d start to be herself. You know, a normal girl. But as I darted from tree to tree—dark bare branches cutting into a cloudy gray sky—Captain Superlative continued to zoom down the sidewalk with her arms out, the synthetic curls of her wig bouncing against her back. She was flying.

Flaunting.

Fearless.

Free.

The act went on.

There wasn’t a lot of town, as far as Deerwood Park was concerned, of course. The school was set on a side street, surrounded by square little houses with white siding and gray rooftops. The end of the block turned into the downtown area. But downtown wasn’t much more than a few shops, a gas station, the post office, the ice rink, the movie theater, a burger place (without a drive-through), and the train station. The grown jewel of it all was the park.

Is this page representative of my debut novel, Captain Superlative? A little bit yes and a whole lot no.

The protagonist of the story, Janey Silverman, is on a journey to discover who she is and who she wants to be. A large part of her journey involves the pursuit of Captain Superlative, the mysterious superhero who’s been zooming through the halls of her middle school, performing random acts of kindness. The passage on page sixty-nine is the first time that Janey works up the nerve to follow Captain Superlative, to actively search for answers instead of just standing back and watching the world go by. Her first steps to discovering who she really is, deep down inside.

Sounds pretty representative, huh? Like I said, in a way it is. But it’s also missing one of the most critical elements of the entire novel.

To explain, I should mention something about my background. You see, I didn’t start out as a novelist. That came later in my career. In the beginning, I was a playwright.

In fact, Captain Superlative started its life as a play.

My dream is for one of the great Stephens (Sondheim or Schwartz) to help me turn it into a musical.

But I digress.

Theatre is built largely on dialogue, what people say; or, okay, sing. And that’s the very critical ingredient of the story missing from the sixty-ninth page of Captain Superlative. It’s also probably my favorite element of the story. I love the way that the characters interact, particularly Janey and her Father. It follows the old, middle school adage of “show, don’t tell” by demonstrating their closeness and their love.

But, of course, don’t take my word for it. Take a look for yourself!

Visit J.S. Puller's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Gale Force"

In addition to the McKenna Rhodes maritime adventure thriller Gale Force, Owen Laukkanen is the author of six critically-acclaimed Stevens and Windermere FBI thrillers, and as Owen Matthews, two wildly inappropriate novels for young adults. A former professional poker journalist and commercial fisherman, Laukkanen and his rescue pitbull Lucy divide their time between Vancouver, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island.

Laukkanen applied the Page 69 Test to Gale Force and reported the following:

Page 69 of Gale Force finds Captain McKenna Rhodes and the crew of the salvage tug she’s inherited, motoring up the Pacific coast of Canada on their way to Dutch Harbor, Alaska, where they hope they’ll arrive first at a shipwreck whose rescue could pay them an eight-figure reward. McKenna’s on the tug’s afterdeck, brushing her teeth, when a pod of Dall’s porpoises appear alongside, frolicking in the waves.

“Beautiful, aren’t they?” Stacey Jonas said. She’d come out of the wheelhouse with her own toothbrush and a mug of water. “So fast and sleek.”

“They sure look like they’re having fun out there,” McKenna said, making room at the rail so Stacey could join her.

“Sure do.” Stacey grinned. “I love watching them. Any sea creatures, really. Sometimes I think I like animals more than I like human beings—present company excluded, of course.”

“Of course. And Matt, too, I hope.”

“Matt, too,” Stacey said. “And he’s the same way. I never love him more than when we’re both underwater, guiding a bunch of folks around some coral reef. We can’t talk to each other, but I still feel him there with me, and that’s more than enough for both of us. I don’t know what I would do if he didn’t feel the same way.”

You’d get divorced, McKenna thought. Like my parents did. Randall Rhodes had tried to get his wife aboard the Gale Force, when he first bought the tug. Come along for an adventure, he’d told her. You won’t even have to cook. But Justine Rhodes loved the city, loved her home, the proximity of the grocery store and the coffee shop and the park. Try as her father might, McKenna’s mom had never budged. And there was surely no way Randall Rhodes was coming in from the sea, so the marriage had wilted, fallen apart, leaving bitterness, hurt feelings, and a lonely, landlocked daughter, passing time in Spokane and dreaming about the ocean. Some romantic idea of what being a salvage master looked like.

This is actually a pretty good representation of the book, thematically, and of the conflict that most mariners grapple with when they set out to sea. McKenna, like her father, has a love for the ocean and for being out on the water, but it’s hard to build a normal life or any kind of a relationship when your job keeps you out on a tugboat—hundreds of miles from land and within only negligible radio contact—for months at a time. Throughout the book (and sequels, I hope), my rookie skipper has to grapple not only with the long odds facing her team’s salvage operation, but also with the sacrifices that every sailor must make if he or she wants to pursue a life at sea.

Visit Owen Laukkanen's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Blackout"

Alex Segura is a novelist and comic book writer. He is the author of the Pete Fernandez Miami Mystery novels, all via Polis Books.

Segura applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, Blackout, and reported the following:

From page 69:

"What kind of trouble could he cause for you?" Pete asked, turning to look at Mr. McRyan. "What secrets does he have?"

Secrets. Revisiting the past. Trying to make up for past mistakes. That's the crux of Blackout, the fourth Pete Fernandez Mystery and a turning point moment for the series and its protagonist. On page 69, Pete Fernandez is interviewing a potential client - Trevor McRyan, a Florida politician looking to make a move for the governorship. The only problem? His son is AWOL, and McRyan wants him found before he can derail his father's political aspirations. Pete is hesitant at first. He lives in New York now and there's a huge bounty on his head in his hometown of Miami. But when he discovers that the hunt for Stephen McRyan is somehow tied to an older, cold case that Pete failed to solve due to his own demons and addictions, he throws caution to the wind and heads back to Miami to try and find the truth.

While the page itself is about moving the plot forward - the back and forth between Pete and McRyan and his wife to determine if Pete will take the case - it does touch on some of the themes readers will experience in the book, including Pete's quest to make right with his past, in an effort to preserve his future. It's an honorable mission, and you'll have to read the book to see if he succeeds.

Visit Alex Segura's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Vestigial Heart"

Carme Torras, a leading researcher in robotics and artificial intelligence, is Research Professor at the Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial (CSIC-UPC) in Barcelona and editor of IEEE Transactions on Robotics.

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

Page 69 touches on a key theme in the novel, namely the struggle of Silvana to recover emotions from the past that increasing interaction with robots has led to extinction at the beginning of the 22nd century.

When, in her search, she attends a Korean ceremony to worship the ancestors:

The strange mood, the scent of incense and the silence set off her imagination, and she shudders upon noticing an unknown spark inside her. [..] She knows that this indiscriminate respect for one’s ancestors is not what she’s looking for … but it’s similar. And, who knows, maybe with the right stimuli she will be able to uncover the underlying emotion, just as laughter brings happiness and not the other way around.

[..] the acolytes perform two complete bows and, amid a captivating quiet and stillness, they prostrate themselves at the old bearded man’s feet. Silvana feels a shiver down her spine, she’s moved by a bodily configuration she has never seen nor imagined, that is capable of making her hair stand on end without any form of physical contact.

In page 69 of the original Catalan version of the novel, Silvana appears also chasing the feeling of admiration for the achievements of great people, but in the Spanish translation the protagonist is Celia, a thirteen-year-old girl from the 21st century who wakes from a cryogenically induced sleep into this strange world. She talks to her mother through a ring she gave her as an amulet:

“Oh, Mom, this all seems like a play where I’m the only living person. The others are like cardboard, or stone … or mechanical, like ROBbie. What am I doing here, if no one cares about me and I’m having a bad time? There are moments when I feel so horribly alone that I’m dying of fear. Then I give up hope and I feel like I could kill myself. If I don’t, it’s for you and Dad. Maybe I haven’t understood where I am, I tell myself, and I try to calm myself down. Who knows, it might just be a bad dream and you could appear at any moment. Sometimes dreams are very real. Why have you chosen this for me, without asking?”

Obviously, Silvana becomes very interested in Celia, and she rivals Leo, a designer of companion robots who is very attracted by the unusual creativity shown by the girl.

Learn more about The Vestigial Heart at the MIT Press website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Marmalade Murders"

Elizabeth J. Duncan is the award-winning author of the well-established Penny Brannigan mystery series set in North Wales and a second series, Shakespeare in the Catskills.

The new Penny Brannigan mystery is The Marmalade Murders. Kirkus Reviews describes it as, “One of Duncan’s best mysteries, with plenty of suspects and motives but no easy answers to whodunit.”

Duncan applied the Page 69 Test to The Marmalade Murders and reported the following:

From page 69:

Penny looked more closely at him, as if she were seeing him for the first time in a long while. There was something different about him, but at first she couldn’t place it. And then she realized he was wearing new glasses and had a slightly different haircut. He exuded that same cared-for look that she’d recognized earlier in Carwyn Lewis. Gareth was spoken for, Penny realized. She knew he’d been seeing a woman from Edinburgh, but she hadn’t realized the relationship had reached the point where his new flame was sprucing him up.

How different our lives are now, she thought. A year ago, Gareth would have been the lead detective on the case, and I would have been eagerly offering suggestions and helping in any way I could, whether he wanted that help or not. And now he’s sitting here in a marquee at the end of the day, waiting for the police to arrive. She wondered how he felt about that.

Plot and sub plot collide on page 69, so the passage is representative of the book, and by extension, the series. Penny Brannigan, the amateur sleuth protagonist, has just discovered a body in the marquee at the annual agricultural show, and while she and her on-again, off-again flame, Gareth Davies wait for the police to arrive, Penny ponders their relationship. She realizes that it’s now officially off -- he’s moved on, and although she’s wobbled before, she accepts that this time their relationship has really run its course. Before his recent retirement, Gareth Davies was a detective chief inspector with the North Wales police, and Penny wonders how he feels about not being involved in this investigation. Does her concern indicate that she still has feelings for him? Or is that just her Canadian niceness coming out?

Visit Elizabeth J. Duncan's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Elizabeth J. Duncan and Dolly.

Writers Read: Elizabeth J. Duncan.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Poppy War"

Rebecca F. Kuang studies modern Chinese history. She has a BA from Georgetown University and is currently a graduate student in the United Kingdom on a Marshall Scholarship.

Kuang applied the Page 69 Test to The Poppy War, her debut novel, and reported the following:

From page 69:

Annoying as Venka was, Rin scarcely had the time or energy to pay much attention to her. They stopped snapping at each other after several days, but only because they were too exhausted to speak. When training sessions ended for the week, they straggled back to the dormitory, muscles aching so much they could barely walk. Without a word, they shed their uniforms and collapsed on their bunks.

They awoke almost immediately to a rapping at their door.

“Get up,” said Raban when Rin yanked the door open.

“What the—”
Raban peered over her shoulder at Venka and Niang, who were whining incoherently from their bunks. “You too. Hurry up.”

“What’s the matter?” Rin mumbled grumpily, rubbing at her eyes.

“We’ve got sweeping duty in six hours.”


“Just come.”


Still complaining, the girls wriggled into their tunics and met Raban outside, where the boys had already assembled.


“If this is some sort of first-year hazing thing, can I have permission to go back to bed?” asked Kitay. “Consider me bullied and intimidated, just let me sleep.”


“Shut up. Follow me.”

Without another word, Raban took off toward the forest.


Some context for this scene: Rin, our protagonist, is just getting settled into life at Sinegard Academy, and you can tell how awful and grueling the training is. But just when she thinks she has a handle on things, Raban comes along to introduce the trainees to something else: midnight martial arts grudge matches fought between the older students in the pits.

Though this scene is clearly a transition scene (if I could choose a different page number, I would!) I still like it because what follows immediately after is the first introduction to the darker side of Academy life, and of the book. It’s also where Kitay gets one of his many sassy lines in the novel, and because Kitay is by far my favorite, I’m always proud when he gets screen time.

Visit R. F. Kuang's website.

--Marshal Zeringue