How do you pronounce your last name?
Tredge-ee-arr-ee (It’s Italian.)
Tell me 3 things about yourself.
I’m almost 6 feet tall. I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 11 and vegan the last three years. I’m pretty good in a street fight.
If you could invite 7 people to dinner (dead, alive, fact or fiction), who
would you invite?
Malcolm X, Ursula K. LeGuin, Ada Lovelace, 2Pac, Leonardo da Vinci, bell hooks and Sacagawea.
Are you queer? Yes I am.
You own a bookstore? You must be living the dream!!
LOL. Absolutely! Arranging my life so it’s almost all about books and writing is the best way to live, I think. It’s always been a dream of mine but I’d filed it in a ‘someday maybe’ file until a series of life events (divorce, single parenthood, loss of online work, money troubles) fast tracked it. I’d worked at the fabulous The Golden Notebook for a few years when the kids were little so I knew that an indie bookstore could thrive in a small town. There were a few hiccups at the beginning (not everyone understands that a partnership means being a team player) but we’ve made it through a change of ownership and the brunt of the PANDEMIC and our business has just increased and prospered every year. 2023 is our 8th year of selling books we love and I am so proud of us. You can check out our website here.
You also worked in the music industry? That must have been cool!
It was fun. I started off packing orders for an independent record store/distributor/record label (Rough Trade Records) in San Francisco and eventually ending up doing sales and buying. Remind to tell you about the time Morrissey of The Smiths stepped on my hand. Also, the time the Beastie Boys were opening up for Madonna and spent the day sitting on and graffitiing my desk. And that other time that I had dinner with LL Cool J. After that I worked in sales, marketing and A&R (meaning I brought artists to the record label) for a music distributor (The Music People, In-A-Minute Records). That was 1988 in Oakland, California and this punk rock girl fell in love with rap. Eventually in the 90’s I had my own record label and put out hip hop, rock, punk, DJ and electronic music.
Did you ever meet 2Pac?
Yes, many times. He was living in Oakland which is also where I was living and working. He was a highly intelligent, charismatic person, and I was devastated when he was murdered. I turned him onto the *Bad Brains (an awesome hardcore all-Black punk group from D.C.) and Crazy Color hair dye but mostly we talked about politics and social activism. He really encapsulated something very special. I’ve been lucky enough to know and meet many of the greats including E-40, Chuck D, Wu-Tang, Dr. Dre and N.W.A., Snoop, Tribe, The Fugees, Outkast, Queen Latifah…the list goes on and on. One of the greatest joys in my life was releasing The Coup’s masterpiece Steal This Album on my label Dogday Records. Check out rapper Boots Riley’s mind and genre-bending film Sorry To Bother You and his wonderful series I’m A Virgo!!!! (*side note: later on I moved to tiny Woodstock, NY where 2 out of 4 of the Bad Brains were living (Doctor Know and Darryl Jennifer). Woodstock had it going on! David Bowie, an avid reader, also lived there. I was working in an indie bookstore and had the pleasure of meeting him multiple times.)
You trained as a boxer?
It was serendipitous. I was grieving the sudden death of my dearest love and I knew Eric from working in the music biz. He was a former middle-weight champion. On a whim I asked him if he’d train me and he said yes. It was pretty crazy. I’d go to the warehouse where my record label was located in West Oakland at 3 in the morning and train with him for a couple of hours and then start work at around 6 a.m. Did that for about 5 years. He died shortly after I moved to New York. Eric ‘The Prince” Martin was a huge influence on my life and a truly great human being.
You used to be a punk rocker? Like with a shaved head and everything?
I know. It’s hard to imagine now that I am a single mom to two awesome young adults but yes, I was heavily involved in the punk scene in the Oakland/San Francisco Bay Area from the mid-1980’s on. The On Broadway, Tool and Die, The Mabuhay Gardens. New Method, Gilman Street, The Farm were my happy places. And yes, I shaved my head, decorated my clothing, dumpster-dived, squatted, and dyed my hair many colours. Punk’s not just about the music though. It’s also about breaking down the celebrity walls between artists and audience and inspiring people to d.i.y. Do it yourself, as in record labels, art collectives, clubs, community activism, how you live, what impact you make on the earth, global consciousness. It’s making small, thoughtful changes in your life that translate into bigger changes- like choosing to be vegetarian/vegan for instance. So many good things came out of that ethic. In 2013, my past and present came together when Aaron Cometbus printed a limited edition of my novella Love You Like Suicide- a fictional narrative of my life during the years I lived at New Method Warehouse (Cometbus 55.5). To make it even more special to me, it was edited by Larry Livermore of Lookout Records fame.
Would you say you wrote in a certain genre?
Not really, no. I love writing for young adults but I haven’t consistently written in the same genre (ever). I like to think of my books as thrilling adventure stories with a focus on real, unique female relationships and queer representation.
Can I send you my book idea/screenplay/manuscript to be critiqued?
I’m sorry, but I don’t respond to individual requests. I already have several beta readers and critique partners with whom I exchange work.
How did you find your agent?
I queried a lot, I researched agents on the web where you can pretty much find answers to any questions you have, and in resource books. Here’s a great online source for literary agent info: manuscript wish list and also check out SCBWI (The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) for general information on how to query and submit material, as well as network with other writers.
Can I get a signed book sent to me? Sure! Signed copies of Heartbreak Homes, The Grey Sisters, Blood Will Out and Ashes, Ashes can be ordered from my bookstore Block Shop Books. We’re based in Canada so there will be a postage charge. You can email: blockshopbooks@gmail.com for further details.
About HEARTBREAK HOMES (A conversation I had with my amazing editor):
I’m a huge fan of mysteries but it was far more complicated to plot than I expected it to be. I wanted to play fair so that meant that my narrators had to figure it all out on their own, each one providing another piece of the puzzle until the bigger picture appeared. I wanted to emulate the classic format- the murder, the investigation, another murder or two, the confrontation, the confession, with clues sprinkled throughout and various plot lines interweaving.
It’s always important to me that I include LGBTQ+ rep in my books but that my characters’ queerness is not the main part of the story. It is just who they are. It is also important to me to write about marginalized kids without getting preachy with it. I lived in a punk squat in my young adult years and I wanted to write about the kids I knew then, those who were living so far on the periphery that they were almost invisible. So Cara and her girls are really a piece of my heart. My aim with every book is to entertain but also to encourage dialogue. To ask readers to look below the surface before judging a person and maybe ask themselves ‘I wonder what their story is? Maybe they’re not so different from me?’.
About THE GREY SISTERS:
How would you pitch The Grey Sisters using only pop culture references?
Little Women meets Deliverance 🙂
What gave you the inspiration to write this book?
I got the idea for The Grey Sisters while on a road trip through Nova Scotia with two girlfriends. We were in the middle of nowhere; nothing for miles but thick woods; no houses or stores, but I got that feeling on the back of my neck. “I feel eyes on me” one of the characters says. I was partially inspired by the true story of the Goler Family who lived on South Mountain in Nova Scotia, in particular the circumstances that led to such isolation, generational deprivation, and poverty. Warning: the wikipedia link to further info is disturbing (child abuse, incest, sexual abuse, violence).
Where did you set the book? Is Avalon a made-up place?
Avalon is definitely imagined. But the rural and woodland settings are inspired by my home province of Nova Scotia in particular the Annapolis Valley and the area around Wolfville. I just made the mountains bigger -borrowing the range from the west coast- and I changed some of the place names to protect the innocent 😉 All of my books other than my first three take place in figments of my imagination although I utilize characteristics from the places I’ve lived or visited. I have tried to link my settings in my last few books. In my mind, the towns of Dempsey Hollow (Blood Will Out), Campbellton (The Grey Sisters) and Lincoln (Heartbreak Homes) are all clustered close together.
Who is your favorite character in the book?
I love all my characters of course but probably my favourite is the one who arrived in my mind last: Ariel. She is a girl soldier in Avalon, a close-knit community deep in the Grey Sisters mountain range. She’s just everything- strong, conflicted, fierce, loyal and her voice was this shout- demanding attention and so clear to me.
Which was the most difficult or emotional scene to narrate?
There’s a death scene near the end of the book that was very hard to write. These two characters had such a complex relationship– sisters in that way that encompasses everything. I cried when I wrote it.
The Grey Sisters is definitely a page-turning thriller- I had to know what was going to happen next!- what thriller/mystery novels have you loved that have inspired your own stories?
I grew up reading all my mum’s mysteries. She had the classics: Josephine Tey, Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, Colin Dexter, P.D. James. Currently I’m a huge fan of Tana French, Jane Harper, C.J. Tudor and Kate Atkinson. And I was a huge horror fan, Clive Barker and Stephen King in particular. I guess the combination of the two makes for a love of rising dread, terrifying scenarios, and perplexing questions.
Do you have any upcoming books? If so, what can you tell us about them?
I’m almost done with an initial draft of a punk rock psych thriller ala Blood Will Out. Working title: Die Die My Darling (Points to you if you know whose song that is!) It’s set in 1984 in West Oakland and is my first foray into (new) adult fiction. I’m also working on a supernaturally-tinged horror YA called Inkers which will include my love of boxing and (maybe) math.
About BLOOD WILL OUT:
You seem like a nice person. How could you write such a horrible book?
Well, first of all, THANK YOU! And secondly, LOL! It was not an easy book to write at all but I had to be true to my characters and follow them into those dark places.
It was also important that the strongest thread through the book was the fierce friendship between my main character, Ari and her best friend, Lynn. I wanted to capture that love, that loyalty, the lightness that comes from sharing all the moments in your life with your closest companion. Through flashbacks I was able to show how solid and strong they were with each other and incorporate some humor and levity. Their bond was a good true thing and it directly counterbalanced the darkness in the rest of the book.
How hard was it to write something scary AND age appropriate?
Glad you asked!
What I tried to do was write suggestively. Meaning that although there are dark themes in the book (which there had to be since this is partially the story of a serial killer told in the first person!) I write around actual occurrences. The action skips from the beginning to the end of some of the more graphic scenes and the reader fills in the space in their own mind. The animal torture scenes in particular were very difficult for me as an animal lover and long-time vegetarian but I knew from my research that animal abuse is a commonality in the serial killers that have been studied. There is a trifecta of warning signs and that is one of them.
A serial killer who is just starting out was one of the scariest things I could think of. The book had to be terrifying—because no one wants to read about a cuddly, charming psychopath— and getting inside the killer’s mind helped me to achieve that. It was important to me that their character be well-developed so that even though they were becoming a monster (as society sees it) there were moments the reader could connect with. Instances where the reader could think to themselves: ‘Well I’ve felt that way.’ Or, ‘I would react that way too.’ Just a tiny hook that brought the reader on side. I needed to cultivate some kind of understanding of what could make a person behave like that.
About ASHES ASHES:
How did the idea of Ashes, Ashes come to you?
I wondered what it would be like to live in a world where all our technology counted for nothing. Where people faced devastating loss and terrifying climactic change, and had to struggle to survive on a daily basis. And I wondered if some people would try to build something better, and other people would cling to the way things used to be. And I thought a lot about different kinds of bravery, and the difficulty of making the right choices. And then I decided to make a 16-year old girl my hero and have her face her fears.
What was the best/hardest part of writing the book?
The best part was figuring out my main and secondary characters. I love writing out backgrounds and identifying personality traits so I can really imagine them as real people. I also wanted the Manhattan I re-imagined to ring true, so I studied lots of maps, and made sketches so that it made sense geographically. The hardest part was keeping the action and suspense high without it becoming too intense. I wanted the story to be a page-turner but I also wanted there to be moments of introspection and reflection. Short interludes where the reader could catch their breath, and places where I could develop my characters.
Who was your favorite character to write about?
It’s a toss-up between Grammalie Rose and Del. I mean, I love Lucy and Aidan too, and Sammy and Henry and Leo (obviously) but writing about an elderly woman was really fun. Grammalie has lived a long time. She’s fierce and sarcastic and she has an amazing spirit. And Del is interesting because she is strong-minded and loyal but conflicted too. I felt sorry for her having to make some really difficult choices when she knew they would not win her any friends.
Where does the word S’ans come from?
It’s actually a contraction of “Sitalans”, a word I adapted from the Hindu small pox Goddess Sitala Matan. People who were afflicted with small pox would pray to her.
I also thought it could be slang referring to sanatoriums which might have housed plague victims in the early days of the disease. And of course it makes you think of ‘insane’ as well which plays into people’s fears about the S’ans.
What was the most challenging part of writing Ashes, Ashes?
Writing is hard work. There’s no concealing that. It’s a grind to show up everyday and sit down and concentrate even when the words come slowly or not at all. When I am working on a book, I set myself minimum daily word count goals. It’s usually 1000 wpd but most of the time I exceed that. I’m telling you, some days I just want to type out the word ‘blah’ one thousand times and be done with it. But then–and they are rare enough to really feel magical- there are days when the words just flow and that makes it all worthwhile. The challenge is to keep going on those days when that doesn’t happen. I always find the middle section of the book difficult. And then even when you’re done, you’re not DONE. (One could say that you are never done but I won’t say that because it will bum out all the
aspiring writers). Because then comes revision, and again, and again, and again. I think that once you get over the hurdle of thinking that reaching the end of the first draft is the end, you can learn to enjoy revision. That’s where you really get to choose your words.
What are you working on right now? Please say there’s a sequel!
Sadly there are no plans for a sequel to Ashes, Ashes at this time. However, you can can read the first three chapters of a companion book Pocketful of Posies here. It gives you more backstory of Del and Aidan and Sammy and how they all met in the early days of the plague.
I am working on a new book. I am always working on a new book. A YA thriller, of course!