Book Stop Corner

Good Afternoon Folks,
Today in a brand new author interview session, we have with us Emily Ross, the debut author of a YA Thriller, Half in Love with Death. Emily is here to talk about her new book and about her life as an author and many more things.

So stay tuned and keep reading.

Read the review of Half in Love with Death






Me: Hello and welcome to my blog, Emily. Congratulations on your new book, Half in Love with Death. How will you express your feelings about this book that has already won the hearts of so many readers?

Emily: This book broke my heart a little when I was writing it and it still does. I feel so much for all of the characters, especially Caroline. I was actually disappointed when I finished writing it because I didn’t want to leave the world of the novel behind.


Me: What inspired you to write this young adult story?

Emily: This story was inspired by the case of Charles Schmid, “The Pied Piper of Tucson.” Many things drew me to this true crime: the haunting desert setting, the sixties time frame, the bored teens who kept secrets, and most of all Schmid, the charming sociopath at the heart of it. Schmid killed 3 teenage girls and buried them in the Arizona desert. Two of them were sisters. He was popular with his friends and adored by teen girls. I was moved by the tragic story of the two sisters, and fascinated by this strange young man who hid such a dark nature behind a handsome, likeable façade.


Me: How did you research for this book that is set in the era of
1960s? I mean, how did you capture the time frame so vividly into this story?

Emily: I was a teen in the sixties and vividly remember the fashions, my friends, our giddy idealism, and the darkness that slowly seeped into things. While the sixties have been portrayed as a time of peace and love, they were a difficult time for many teens. I had friends whose lives were ruined, friends who died. I used my memories to help capture this aspect of that era. I’m hugely fond of the fashions of sixties, and found some fantastic books about them such as David Baily / The Birth of the Cool. I also did research to zero in on exactly what was happening in 1965, the year when my novel takes place. Many of the things we associate with the sixties like the hippies and the anti-war protests, were not part of the mainstream culture then. One of my biggest challenges was evoking the sixties through a 15 year old’s eyes. Caroline isn’t political and only vaguely aware of the big issues of the time. So I had to focus on things she would notice like clothes, music, and the emerging drug culture, to bring this era to life.


Me: Tell us one trait of Caroline that intrigues you the most.

Emily: I’m intrigued by her persistence. She never gives up on finding Jess, even when her search leads her into situations far outside her comfort zone. When the evidence is discouraging she doesn’t lose hope. Her friends might think that she is naive or foolish, but her unflinching determination to find her sister makes her stronger than all of them.


Me: How will you describe your journey so far as an author?

Emily: It’s been a roller coaster. I worked on this novel for years without finishing it. But then I got into Grub Street’s Novel Incubator program and was able to complete a near final draft. I was excited to start querying agents, but when I tried I was told you couldn’t market a YA novel set in the sixties. I was so disappointed I felt like giving up, but I did some more revisions and a year later tried again. This time around no one complained about the sixties and I found an agent right away. As often happens it took a while for my agent to sell my book. At one point an editor asked me to cut 100 pages from the first 150, and then turned the book down. I was disappointed but I didn’t lose hope.  The waiting wasn’t easy but I was over the moon when my book sold to Merit Press. Now that my book is out in the world I have no idea what will happen next. Stay tuned.


Me: Was it always your one true dream to be an author?

Emily: When I was in third grade I got swept away by something I was writing. It was like a magical door had opened. Nothing else I did was as satisfying but it took a while to admit to myself that I wanted to be an author. I started out writing poetry and then moved on to short stories. I still love short stories but my stories tended to be too long so I tried my hand at novel writing and have been hooked ever since.


Me: What other passions do you have apart from writing?

Emily: My parents were artists and I grew up in house full of paintings, and endless conversations about art. I’m not much of painter myself but I have a passion for looking at art. I also have a passion for some of the fantastic shows on television now like Mad Men, True Detective, and Breaking Bad.


Me: What do you do to get away from the stress of writing?

Emily: I enjoy cooking and going out with my friends for a drink or two. 


Me: What's next up on your writing sleeves? Please tell us briefly about it.

Emily: I’m writing a novel about an aspiring ballerina who must prove that her Russian immigrant boyfriend and dance partner is not the mythical butterfly killer who murdered the captain of the high school dance team. I’m having fun writing about dance, murder, and creepy butterflies!


Me: Thanks Emily for joining me today on this interview session. I wish you luck for all your future endeavors.

Emily: Thank you
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Emily's Bio:



Emily Ross is the author of the YA thriller HALF IN LOVE WITH DEATH (Merit Press 12/2015). She received a 2014 MCC Artist Fellowship finalist award for fiction, and is a graduate of Grub Street's Novel Incubator program. When not writing she works as a web developer and is the mother of two millennials.








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