BooksChatter: ℚ♫ Body and Bone

A very warm welcome to L.S. Hawker; thank you for joining us on BooksChatter!

Here at BooksChatter we love music; do you have a music playlist that you used in Body and Bone, or which inspired you whilst you were writing it?

"You can read the playlist on my website (title, artist, year, and album), as well as play it directly from there. I use 8tracks.com for my playlists. View all my playlists at LSHawker.com/playlists. "

What was the inspiration for Body and Bone?

"I heard a story on the radio of a blogger who was harassed by a troll, who took the name of her dead father to torment her. I wondered what would happen if the blogger's troll crossed over and threatened her safety in real life."

How much of yourself is reflected in this book, and how?

"In addition to writing a music blog, my main character, Nessa, has a twice-weekly satellite radio show broadcast from a small-market station. I worked in small-market radio early in my career and have wanted to set a novel in a radio station ever since. A lot of interesting things happen in little radio stations."

The first thing that draws me to a book is its cover. Can you tell us about your cover for Body and Bone - why you chose that concept and who the artist is.

"I'm so lucky to be published by HarperCollins and have their marketing team behind me. The cover artist is Gail Dubov, and when I first saw it, I cried. Seeing the back of the woman on the cover, looking out over water, I thought, there she is. That's Nessa."

Why should we read Body and Bone and what sets it apart from the rest? What makes your book unique?

"BODY AND BONE's setting is unique—small town Kansas radio station. I'm pretty sure that hasn't been done a lot in commercial fiction!"

Can you tell us something quirky about Body and Bone, its story and characters?

"I love that you folks at BookChatter love music, because a lot of music is mentioned in this book since Nessa is a music fanatic (like me). A quirky thing related to this is that one of the first clues found by Nessa is a guitar pick with writing on it. So for promotional items, I've made earrings out of guitar picks with the BODY AND BONE logo on them."

I simply love that! :-D

Who would you recommend Body and Bone to and what should readers be aware of (any warnings or disclaimers)?

"I'd recommend this to anyone who loves thrillers, particularly female-powered thrillers. There's some rough language, drug use, and sexual situations. My 13-year-old niece read it and loved it."

If you could / wished to turn Body and Bone into a movie, who would be your dream team?

"I'd love David Fincher as a director, Maika Monroe as Nessa, Elle Fanning as Isabeau, Rory Culkin as Otto, and Emile Hirsch as Marlon. And naturally I'd want it shot on location in Kansas."

What do you like to write and read about? Do you stick to a particular genre or do you like to explore different ones?

"I've always been interested in how people relate to one another. I love raising conflict between close friends who have to work out deep-seated issues among themselves. Luckily, these scenarios often play out well in the thrillers I write.

I've written one YA novel that was a finalist in the Delacorte Press First Young Adult Novel contest called Mirror Mountain, but I usually write thrillers, which I also love to read. I'd love to try my hand at a scifi at some point. I read just about every genre out there. I was a book lover long before I was a book writer."

What is your writing process?

"My ideas usually start with a what-if. They often spring from situations I've found myself in and what would have happened had things gone very, very wrong. I used to be more of a "pantser"—in other words, no outline. But since getting my contract I've had to use outlines more to keep myself on track. A first draft usually takes me about three months, and then polishing takes another three or more months."

What is in store next?

"I'm working on my third thriller, the working title of which is UNDISTINGUISHED DESTRUCTION, and it will be released by HarperCollins Witness Impulse on January 31, 2017. My contract gives me the option for a fourth novel, and I plan to take advantage of that. In July, I'm headed to New York City and Thrillerfest, because my debut novel, THE DROWNING GAME, is a finalist in the International Thriller Writers Thriller Awards in the Best First Novel category."

And as a final quirky thing, to get to know you a little bit better... do you have a pet or something that is special to you that you could share with us?

"It isn't a pet, it's a collection, and unfortunately I can't take my photo with it because it's mostly digital. It's my music collection, which has more than 160,000 songs in it. Just about any song you can name, I probably have it."

Fantastic! Sounds a lot like my collection... which is not fully digitised yet...