You can find out more about Tiffany McDaniel as well as links to purchase her novel on her website: Tiffany McDaniel
Sal seems to appear out of nowhere - a bruised and tattered thirteen-year-old boy claiming to be the devil himself answering an invitation. Fielding Bliss, the son of a local prosecutor, brings him home where he's welcomed into the Bliss family, assuming he's a runaway from a nearby farm town.
When word spreads that the devil has come to Breathed, not everyone is happy to welcome this self-proclaimed fallen angel. Murmurs follow him and tensions rise, along with the temperatures as an unbearable heat wave rolls into town right along with him. As strange accidents start to occur, riled by the feverish heat, some in the town start to believe that Sal is exactly who he claims to be. While the Bliss family wrestles with their own personal demons, a fanatic drives the town to the brink of a catastrophe that will change this sleepy Ohio backwater forever.
Interview
Could you tell us a little bit about The Summer that Melted Everything?
The
story is narrated by eighty-four-old year old Fielding Bliss looking back on
his life and the summer of 1984 when he was thirteen-years-old and his father
had put an invitation in the newspaper inviting the devil to their town of
Breathed, Ohio. The one come to answer
the invitation is a boy in overalls and with bruises. The summer unfolds in the flames of a
hell-hot heat wave. It’s a story about
the things that melt in our lives and how that very melting can haunt us
without an end to the ghosts.
Who/what first inspired you to write?
I’ve
been writing since I was a kid. When I
first could hold a crayon and scribble what was in my head. Story has always been what I’ve loved to be
around. Reading it, creating it, living
with it. So nothing really inspired me
to write. It was much more an innate
desire to do so. I’m lost without
writing in my life. It’s my
compass. My lighthouse, safely guiding
my ship to shore.
What is the hardest part of the writing process
for you?
Writing
is the easy part. I have eight completed
novels, and am currently working on my ninth.
The hard part is getting published.
I wrote my first novel when I was eighteen-years-old and didn’t get a
publishing contract until I was twenty-nine.
So it was eleven years of rejection and fear I’d never be
published. I really did not believe I
would be published. I know I’m very
fortunate to be in the position I am, about to see my book on the shelf for the
first time when there are so many writers out there still struggling on their
own journey to publication. To them I
say never give up. It will happen for
you. Believe it.
What are your thoughts on film adaptations of
books? Would you ever like to see your work as a film?
I
love film. And I write screenplays, so
I’d definitely love to see my novels turned into screen adaptations. It adds that extra layer to the characters
and their stories. Brings them to life
in a way that adds additional essence to them.
But I will say I always read the book before I watch the
adaptation. I don’t like the visuals of
the film competing with the imagery in my head as I’m reading a book. And sometimes film adaptations don’t get it right. Sometimes they do. To Kill
a Mockingbird film with Gregory Peck comes to mind. It was a beautiful book and a beautiful
film. That’s what I hope for. That readers can read one of my novels, go
see the film, and find beauty in both those art forms.
What is one piece of advice you would give to
aspiring authors?
Again,
to never give up. The road to
publication is difficult. Especially
when you write the genre I write, which is literary fiction. Publishers are not jumping at the chance to
take a risk on literary fiction because it’s harder to sell than genre or
commercial fiction and it generally doesn’t have that big financial
return. Getting a book published is
definitely the hardest thing I’ve done.
So to all writers still struggling to get that foot in the door, I say
you owe it to yourself to not turn your back on your dreams. Never lose that hope that you too will be
published one day.
Do you have a favorite book? If so, what is it?
I
love Dandelion Wine by Ray
Bradbury. Bradbury’s verse is beautiful,
first of all. And the story he’s telling
has that balance between joy and a melancholy so subtle, you’re being rippled as
you read, with the ultimate wave coming at the end of the novel. I’ve read it several times. I want to be buried with the book so I have
it by my side in the afterlife, or you know, in case I get lonely in the coffin.
Do you prefer to write in silence or with noise
(music, other people around, etc)?
I
prefer to write alone. Mostly in
silence. Just go into the cave and
listen to the bats squeak. I sometimes
listen to music. But nothing with lyrics
unless they’re lyrics that would make me want to paint my walls black.
What do you enjoy doing when you are not
writing?
I
love gardening. I hope to have my own
greenhouse one day containing its own special jungle I can stalk like a
jaguar. I find baking relaxing. The mixing of flour and sugar and butter. The simplicity of creating something for
others to enjoy. I love reading. Taking that story inside me and allowing
myself to slip into the reader role. And
watching movies. Sometimes there’s
nothing better than to lean back and just watch something unfold in its own
good time.
Without spoiling the novel, is there any one
thing you hope readers take away from your story?
That
we are only as godly as the love we spread.
We are only as devilish as the hate we spew. And that the things which melt are oftentimes
done so by our own infinite flame.
What is one question you’ve always wanted to be
ask (writing/book related or not)? Answer that question.
What
would I do if I ever met Ray Bradbury (his ghost at this point)? I’d share a glass of Dandelion Wine and share
a ride on a rocket ship to Mars where hopefully Shirley Jackson is waiting for
us both in a house on a hill.
Here is the book trailer, for anyone interested.
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