{"id":17587,"date":"2025-06-17T17:44:07","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T21:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=17587"},"modified":"2025-06-17T17:45:04","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T21:45:04","slug":"episode-643-kate-maruyama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-643-kate-maruyama","title":{"rendered":"Episode 643 – Kate Maruyama"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virtual Memories Show 643:
\nKate Maruyama<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/virtualmemories\/Episode_643_-_Kate_Maruyama.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

Podcast: Play in new window<\/a> | Download<\/a><\/p>

Subscribe: Spotify<\/a> | TuneIn<\/a> | RSS<\/a> | More<\/a><\/p>\n

“When I sent Alterations<\/strong> out to market for the first time, I really went into mourning for the characters.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>One of my fave guest\/friends, Kate Maruyama<\/a>, rejoins the show to celebrate her wonderful new novel, ALTERATIONS<\/a> (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<\/em>, 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<\/a> 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<\/a> on Alterations<\/em>, the essay<\/a> (PDF) she wrote around the decline & death of her mother, Kit Reed<\/a>, and more. Give it a listen!<\/a> And go read ALTERATIONS<\/a>!<\/p>\n

(And go listen to our 2019<\/a>, 2020<\/a> and 2021<\/a> conversations!)<\/em><\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n