The Flying Circus (39 page)
Authors: Susan Crandall
As a historical fiction writer, you have inhabited many different time periods in your novels. If you could live in any time period, which would you choose?
I think I’d like to live in a time when there were frontiers to be conquered, and they could still be conquered by ordinary people whose most valuable asset was their own resourcefulness. To forge into new arenas of knowledge and untouched land would be incredible.
Luckily, as a writer, I get the opportunity to “live” in many different time periods.
Who are your biggest literary influences? What inspires you to write?
I’m a very eclectic reader. I love character-driven narratives. Of course Jane Austen comes to mind for her clear insight into people’s hearts. I adored Larry McMurtry’s
Lonesome Dove
and Stephen King’s
The Stand,
as well as his short story, “The Body” (which was turned into the movie
Stand By Me
). Recently I’ve been quite enamored by the quirky and interesting characters of Matthew Quick (
Silver Linings Playbook
and
The Good Luck of Right Now
).
Who would you cast in the movie version of
The Flying Circus?
Oooh, I think Jennifer Lawrence would make a great Cora, perfect combination of toughness, adventuress and femininity. (You can see I’m aiming high here!) For Gil . . . maybe Scott Eastwood or Henry Cavill. And dear Henry, I honestly don’t have a clue—someone young, fair, tall, and amazingly talented.
What are you working on next?
I’m just now in the dithering and exploring stages of my next novel. I always start with creating my characters. I have a great family dynamic all figured out. At this moment, I think they’ll embark upon their adventures in two different time frames, 1965 through 1975 and 1983-ish. But that could all change tomorrow.
About the Author
SUSAN CRANDALL is the author of ten previous novels, including the national bestseller
Whistling Past the Graveyard
and
Back Roads
, winner of the RITA Award and two National Readers’ Choice Awards. She lives in Indiana and can be found on Facebook and Twitter or through her website,
www.SusanCrandall.net
.
FOR MORE ON THIS AUTHOR:
authors.simonandschuster.com/Susan-Crandall
MEET THE AUTHORS, WATCH VIDEOS AND MORE AT
ALSO BY SUSAN CRANDALL
Whistling Past the Graveyard
Back Roads
The Road Home
Magnolia Sky
Promises to Keep
On Blue Falls Pond
A Kiss in Winter
Pitch Black
Seeing Red
Sleep No More
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Gallery Books
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 by Susan Crandall
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Gallery Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
First Gallery Books hardcover edition July 2015
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Interior design by Jaime Putorti
Jacket design by Laywan Kwan
Jacket background photograph © Shutterstock; airplanes by Martin Kotek, Pawel Sielecki, and Roman Nawrocki
Author photograph by Melissa A. Crandall
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The flying circus / Susan Crandall. — First Gallery Books hardcover edition.
pages ; cm
1. Stunt flying—Fiction. 2. Nineteen twenties—Fiction. 3. United States—Social life and customs—20th century—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3603.R375F59 2015
813'.6—dc23
2014043826
ISBN 978-1-4767-7214-1
ISBN 978-1-4767-7217-2 (ebook)