Virtual Memories Show 643:
Kate Maruyama
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“When I sent Alterations out to market for the first time, I really went into mourning for the characters.”
One of my fave guest/friends, Kate Maruyama, rejoins the show to celebrate her wonderful new novel, ALTERATIONS (Running Wild Press)! We talk about the book’s long gestation/publishing history, Kate’s love of old Hollywood & costume design, closeted movie stars and how she told the story of a gay relationship in the ’30s & ’40s, and how it felt to write a non-horror horror story. We get into her own Hollywood experience in the ’90s, how it informs Alterations, and how it felt to repeatedly smash into the glass ceiling, as well as how ghosts creep into everything she writes, how older people become invisible but have stories to tell, and how important it was to have a champion in Toni Ann Johnson for this novel. We also discuss present-moment Los Angeles, the craft book about novella-writing she’s co-writing, the need to decolonize her writing students, the (maybe non-existent) influence of Jodie Foster’s Home For The Holidays on Alterations, the essay (PDF) she wrote around the decline & death of her mother, Kit Reed, and more. Give it a listen! And go read ALTERATIONS!
(And go listen to our 2019, 2020 and 2021 conversations!)
“I adore genre and the places it takes me, but it’s usually my asking a question that leads me into a book, and then the book tells me what it is.”
“We don’t realize that when we’re in an awesome time, it may not continue.”
Enjoy the conversation! Then check out the archives for more great episodes!
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About our Guest
Kate Maruyama is the author of Harrowgate, Bleak Houses, and The Collective. Her novella Family Solstice was named Best Fiction Book of 2021 by Rue Morgue Magazine. Her short work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies and she is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, and winner of the Uncharted Short Story Prize. She served on the working Board for Women Who Submit, and the Board for the Shirley Jackson Awards. She writes, teaches, cooks, and eats in Los Angeles. Her new novel is Alterations.
Follow Kate on Bluesky and Instagram, and listen to our 2019, 2020 and 2021 conversations.
Credits: This episode’s music is Fella by Hal Mayforth, used with permission from the artist. The conversation was recorded at the Hilton Stamford on a pair of Blue enCORE 200 microphones feeding into a Zoom PodTrak P4 digital recorder & interface. I recorded the intro and outro on a Heil PR-40 Dynamic Studio Recording Microphone feeding into a Zoom PodTrak P4. All processing and editing done in Adobe Audition CC. Photo of Kate by someone else. It’s on my instagram.