Stephen Rowley

I try to read books by writers more talented than I am so that I can reach for their level of skill.

So it does become harder.

I remember somebody coming through a signing line with one of my first two books and saying, you know how people love to pitch you ideas and you always try to cut them off?

I said, no, no, no.

But he said, maybe you could do this for your 10th book.

And I remember my thought was like, I have to write 10 of these?

Yeah.

It just seems so impossible.

It seems so impossible.

And so, yeah, I do think it gets harder and harder.

And that's why this is, you know, maybe a bit of a departure for me, the people who know me from the Gunkel books or from the celebrants, per se.

But it is a return to form, hopefully, you know, in the sort of magical realism that existed in my debut.

No, I approached it, you know, it's based on an argument that my husband and I have, although we should say argument, conversation that we have.

My husband, Byron Lane, who's also a novelist.

But, you know, we love to put these sort of questions to each other, and one that was sort of recurring was, if a UFO showed up over our backyard and the beam of light shone down, and you had the opportunity to go, you couldn't pack, you couldn't say goodbye, you couldn't think about it, just go or stay.

And he was always, he would always go.

It was without hesitation, he would go.

And I'm like, well, wait a minute.

What about me?

Our life, our dogs, am I not enough to stay for?