How High We Go In The Dark • 50%

Hello Inkmongers!

I've hit the 50% mark on How High We Go In The Dark, and I'm excited to discuss! Thanks for reading along with me :)

Through The Garden of Memory

This story felt like a reward for making it through "City of Laughter." Here, we see a psychological experience of adults who have contracted the Arctic Plague. We don't know exactly what is happening to them, or why-- but its the only plague experience we've seen that is hopeful. Maybe the plague victims experience pleasant things alongside their suffering.

The main theme here seemed to be human cooperation and community. In a strange situation, people of all walks of life can band together to achieve a common goal-- in this case, sending a baby floating upwards. The characters are unclear on whether they've died, but they arrive at the consensus that getting the infant as high as possible will save its life. This story was originally published in 2019 under the title "How High We Go In The Dark," and I think that is a more fitting title.

To what lengths will we go to help others? When all other factors are removed, what can we achieve by working together? How high can we go in the dark?

Sea creatures are a recurring motif. I'm not sure what this means yet, but it's notable. There's also been plenty of talk about outer space-- these two things occupy similar territory in our collective imagination. Something outlandish, unfamiliar, and wholly different from ourselves.

Knowing that this story's name was appropriated for the novel's title, I feel like I've gotten a more direct clue to the overarching theme of the book. It was heading there already (the pandemic as a main event lends itself to this theming), but Nagamatsu really could have taken any tack he wanted. I'm excited to see the story progress with the knowledge that this story sits thematically near the center.

Pig Son

Of all the things I expected from this book, a meaningful contribution to the canon of heartwarming/tear jerking sentient pig stories was not one of them. I am crying over Snortorious P.I.G.

I found this story to be the least thematically dense so far, but it's still a rich text. I'm glad we got to see Fitch's father's point of view.

It asks a lot of the same questions about personhood that the fantasy genre has been asking for decades-- what makes someone a person, and must personhood be exclusive to humans? I don't think this story added anything new to the conversation, but its almost always a conversation worth having (especially as it pertains to animals, animal testing, medicine, and consent).

The absurdity of the situation is what gives it the levity that I experienced. Here we are, seriously worrying after the wellbeing of a talking pig who a mourning father accepts as his own son. The seriousness with which Nagamatsu delivers this premise is what gives it resonance-- the stakes are very real for these characters.

Snortorious P.I.G. is a martyr, and I'll be thinking of him with every saved plague patient going forward. R.I.P to a legend, a hero, a son.

Elegy Hotel

My friend Hikaru once asked me whether every author has just one story to tell-- there are many authors who write and write for their whole lives and unwittingly retread the same ground over and over in slight variations. My answer was at once balanced and noncommittal. I said that this can be the case for some authors, but probably not all.

I'm starting to feel this way with Nagamatsu. So far every story, despite their vastly different particulars, has centered the relationships of parents with their children, and vice versa. This is incredibly fertile ground for stories, and I doubt it can ever be exhausted (by any author, or every author in total)-- but I'm hungry for something different in this book.

That said, I appreciated how this story tackled regret. The crushing weight of a past you can't change, mistakes you can't undo, and people who see you in ways you'd like to leave behind.

Companionship is also a theme here. It's been recurring in many of the stories, but it's been quieter-- more understated than the familial dynamics. Here, we see companionship brought to the forefront. I liked Val as a character, more-so than Dennis. Her perspective is one we hadn't seen yet. Where Dennis is mostly passive, Val is always acting in some way. Dennis' passivity is a sieve through which we see the conditions of life in San Francisco-- the homeless population is gone, and no one has answered for their deaths. The poorer residents can't afford even the most affordable dignified cremation services.

I appreciated the ending. The way that Bryan has another version of Dennis' same regrets. No one is immune to regret, regardless of how it seems. There's a futility that this evokes, and also a comfort. All we can do is what we feel is right-- and when it comes to death, there's no guarantee that this will feel like enough in the end. All we have are our choices.

I've begun "Speak, Fetch, Say I Love You," which pushed me past the 50% mark-- I'll check in again at 75%. Thanks for reading with me!

I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments section, and please join us on Discord for many more book discussions :)

Hello, everyone! James Patterson is once again supporting independent booksellers with a revival of his Holiday Bookstore Bonus Program. Patterson has pledged a personal contribution of $300,000, to be distributed in amounts of $500, to 600 booksellers from ABA member bookstores. Additionally, he will award 10 independent bookstores a $5000 bonus.

Booksellers can self-nominate to be considered for a bonus, or they can be nominated by:

Bookstore customers, Owners, Employees, Managers, Fellow booksellers, Publishing professionals, Authors

Booksellers must be employed by ABA bookstore members within the United States at the time of nomination and award, and those bookstores must be ABA Bookstore members (not Provisional or Adjacent members) prior to September 30, 2026. Past recipients of James Patterson bonuses and grants are eligible for another bonus. Owners, employees, and managers who are nominating booksellers in their store can also enter their store for chance to win a $5,000 bookstore bonus as well! Submit your nomination now! The deadline to nominate a bookstore employee for a holiday bonus is October 29, 2026, at 11:59 pm ET. https://submit.jotform.com/262385106292154

Please nominate us! Bones & Brooms Bookshop in Chicago IL, name is Parker Wernsman, I've been a bookseller for 1 year, and the email address is bonesnbroomsbookshop@gmail.com. You will need to provide your own name and email address, but no other personal information.

I’m writing this during a typhoon in Taipei— it sounds worse than it is, but work is officially off and I have all the time and leisure to be cozy with my books 🥰

I’ve been reading a lot of ARCs (advanced reading copies) this year, and needed to take a break to read what was trending this year but also to read without thinking how I’m going to review it.

• Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke: Definitely a page turner, it’s so mysterious and also dark to get into the mind of the protagonist. But I genuinely wish there was a more human and nuanced approach to discussing trad wives in our society. Not all of them are sociopaths, not all of them are inherently cruel; there must be something more human or spiritual that draws women to this type of life, right? And I was reading recently about a once-famous Instagram trad wife who recently revoked everything and called out the inherent misogyny of it. Maybe this just wasn’t the right book for my expectations.

• Fruit Fly by Josh Silver: I wasn’t expecting to love this so much! At first I was following the motions because it felt so similar to Yellowface and Boring Asian Female. But as the narrative and the perspectives started shifting it got sooo interesting and unexpected and I was hooked. The ending was dark yet gorgeous, and if there’s ever a sequel, I’m reading it.

And now for my advanced copies… I actually had some LOVELY ones that I genuinely felt so lucky to read.

• The Trial of Magdalena Overmorrow by Caitríona Moran: THIS BOOK !! Just gorgeously written, an excellent fantasy with extraordinary women shining a light on the politics of women’s bodies. Not only that, but the heroine is a badass, and the yearning is just… *chef’s kiss* Out 11/10!

• Tiger’s Mouth by Lucy Tan: I loved every single page about this book. Tan writes with so much emotion and power; the characters feel so real as they navigate privilege, friendship, race, and the idea of success. Jack Chen and Jack Owens couldn’t be more different (the very idea of juxtaposition) but find themselves drawn into a deep friendship one summer but ultimately real life sets in and challenges their friendship. Out 11/17!

Okieeee these are just some of my recent thoughts, but I’ll be back for more!

I LOL'ed on the subway because of this book. It is that good.

If you are someone who likes How to lose a guy in 10 days AND Bridgerton, this is the book for you.

Lord Ashford and Lady Lydia are engaged, but Lydia doesn't want it. So now she has to get Ashford to deny and that too in 10 days! It is chaos in best possible way😂

Usually I read quietly, but this one I just couldn't. The book is hilarious. The torture that Lydia puts Ashford through is mind blowing. Ashford is no less.
It has a very good plot and intriguing subplot too. I love that Irwin has given significant characterization to the side characters too. The medley is awesome!

10/10

Not exaggerating, but I actually said "Ashford! you dum dum" loudly while reading. Thank heavens I was home this time and not in the subway 😂

Read it for the fun and giggles. You won't regret it. I did not

Thank you so much @harpercollins360 and Sophie Irwin for this gifted copy in exchange of an honest review!

I LOVED IT 💕 Lydia and Ashford are my babies!!

#bookreccommendations

Hi all,

I was so looking forward to chatting with Cleyvis Natera about The Grand Paloma Resort Hotel tonight, but I have to postpone due to a family emergency.I will reschedule with Cleyvis and give you a new date for our chat soon.

Thank you for understanding and, again, my sincere apologies on the short notice.

Sincerely,

Carmen

Happy Thursday, mis internet amigxs!

Tuesday's poll was a unanimous YES that you wanted my recommendations for the LibroFM BOGO sale that's going on now through October 29th. I have divided my recommendations into categories for you. While they're MOSTLY Latinx books, I also included some books by indigenous authors for you because National Indigenous Heritage Month and Nonfiction November are right around the corner. I've starred the ones I picked up (mind you, I already own/have read MANY of their selections). My selections are not ALL Latinx books, but my favorites or ones on my TBR.

Please let me know in the comments if you plan to pick any of these up! I'm a chismosa!

All of these audiobooks can be found in the two page list here on LibroFM's BOGO Sale page. You have to pick the 2 books and then checkout for BOGO savings.

And, of course, for those that want to pick up physical books, I also have them linked below as well.

REMINDER: CLEYVIS NATERA AUTHOR INTERVIEW IS TONIGHT!

Find the Zoom link to join here!

And without further ado, my recommendations for the LibroFM sale...

Latinx Fiction

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas (and then you can follow-up with ESPIRITU)

Ander and Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa

The Great Divide by Cristina Henriquez

The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera

Anita DeMonte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez

Lakelore by Anna-Marie McLemore

Blood and Brujas by Mikayla D. Hornedo

If We Were A Movie by Zakiya N. Jamal

Lemon and Lies by Alexis Castellanos

Latinx Nonfiction

We Will Be Jaguars: A Memoir of My People by Nemonte Nenquimo

Cry For Me, Argentina: Stories From My Messed-Up Life by Tamara Yajia

Other nonfiction

Braiding Sweetgrass + Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses both by Robin Wall Kimmerer (this would be the PERFECT BOGO duo for both nonfiction November AND Indigenous Heritage Month)

*The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber & David Wengrow

*Perfect Victims: And The Politics of Appeal by Mohammed El-Kurd (It's been on my TBR for a while, but my recent read of Don't Say Palestine skyrocketed it to the top of my November TBR)

Freedom Is A Constant Struggle by Angela Davis

The Rediscovery of America by Ned Blackhawk (an evergreen recommendation of mine since I read it last year)

We Do This 'Til We Free Us: Abolitionists Organizing and Transforming Justice by Mariame Kaba

Happy shopping!

xo,

Carmen

Life has been life-ing lately. For any of those elf you have struggled with high functioning depression I’m sure you get it. I am always one to be honest with you guys, and I had to take a step back for a bit for mental health reasons. I am easing back into things now, and prepping things for November. Which seems insane to say right? But here we are, creeping up on the last two months of the year. Seems as fitting a time as any to start one of my favorite books with you guys, during my favorite time of the year. So here’s the sneak peak for you, so you guys have time to snag your copy in whatever format you like best before we start on November 1st.

Hello rebels! Next week I'm interviewing Betty Corrello, the author of Back For Seconds, 32 Days in May, and Summertime Punchline. She has also published My Italian Vampire and Wild Ruin under the pen name B.C. Dolce.

What are you dying to know about Betty's career and her bitingly funny romances?

Submit your questions in the comments by Wednesday 10/28 and I might ask her during an upcoming episode of Rebel Ever After.

You can purchase Betty's books in the Rebel Ever After affiliate bookstore here.

What happens when grief, folklore, identity, and friendship intertwine in a mystery that reaches far beyond the game itself? 📚✨

Welcome back to Book Club Conversations with The Page Ladies Book Club, where we invite readers behind the pages to discover the inspiration, ideas, and stories that shape the books we love.

This time, we're delighted to feature Suanne Laqueur, author of The Great Dane, a novel that explores grief, identity, belonging, friendship, and the mysteries that connect us across time and cultures.

In our conversation, Suanne shares how an ancient symbol sparked her imagination, how a video game became the doorway into a deeply personal mystery, and why kindness and friendship sit at the heart of this story.

🐇 From an Ancient Symbol to an Unexpected Story

Sometimes a story begins with a character. Sometimes it starts with a question that refuses to let go.

For Suanne, the spark behind The Great Dane was the fascinating Three Hares motif, an image found in art and architecture along the Old Silk Road. Its unusual design features three rotating hares whose ears create an optical illusion: each appears to have two ears, even though they share them.

That captivating image led Suanne to wonder why hares appear in so many cultures and religions and what makes the number three so compelling.

Around the same time, she encountered an article about tetragametic chimerism, a rare condition involving two distinct sets of DNA. This discovery helped shape Dane, a non-binary character whose identity also has a physical manifestation.

What began as curiosity about a centuries-old symbol grew into a story exploring identity, connection, and the meanings we find in the things that bring us together.

🎮 A Video Game with a Mystery at Its Heart

In The Great Dane, a grieving father becomes absorbed in a mystery hidden inside his late son's favorite video game.

Suanne describes herself as more of a casual puzzle-game enthusiast than a serious gamer. She enjoys journeys, exploration, and discovering things along the way. That appreciation inspired her to imagine a game built around the Three Hares motif, with a mystery embedded within it.

But as Suanne explains in our conversation, solving the puzzles isn't enough. Without understanding the story behind them, even the solution can feel empty.

The mystery ultimately carries a deeply personal meaning for Dane, a love letter to three people, two of whom are gone.

💔 Grief, Friendship, and Finding a Gentle Place to Land

One of the most moving parts of our conversation explores the connection between Liko and Dane.

Both men have experienced profound loss. Liko is grieving his son, while Dane is navigating the deaths and abandonment that have reshaped his own life. When they meet, neither needs someone to offer easy answers or pretend everything will be okay.

Instead, they find someone who understands.

Suanne wanted to explore how compassion and kindness can exist alongside grief and how humor can still find its way into even the darkest moments.

Their friendship becomes a place where they can talk, sit quietly, commiserate, and sometimes laugh. As Suanne beautifully describes it, each becomes a gentle place for the other to lay his head.

That idea captures something deeply human: sometimes the greatest comfort comes not from someone fixing our pain, but from someone willing to sit beside us in it.

🌈 Identity, Belonging, and Life Beyond Labels

The novel also explores the experiences of the three partners living at Schoenfeld's farm: Ethan, Dane, and Nomi.

Each navigates a world that may try to define them through labels, assumptions, and prejudice. Suanne discusses the humility and care required when researching and writing diverse characters, acknowledging both the challenges and the responsibility involved in bringing their experiences to the page.

Their stories invite readers to consider how identity, acceptance, and belonging shape our relationships and how much richer our understanding of others becomes when we look beyond conventional expectations.

❤️ The Theme Suanne Hopes Readers Will Remember

When asked which theme she hopes readers pay particular attention to, Suanne's answer is friendship.

For her, The Great Dane is fundamentally a story about people being kind to one another. Friendship grows from love, acceptance, and compassion, offering connection when life feels fractured.

And honestly, isn't that a message we could all use a little more of?

📖 Want to Read the Full Interview?

This is only a glimpse into our conversation with Suanne Laqueur! We've explored the inspiration behind The Great Dane, but there's so much more to discover about the Three Hares mystery, the characters, the creative process, and the meaning behind the novel's emotional journey.

Join The First Editions on Bindery to read our full, extended Book Club Conversation with Suanne Laqueur. Your membership unlocks the complete interview and the deeper discussion behind the story.

Come join The First Editions, settle in with your favorite reading drink, and let's keep turning pages together. 💕📚

Connect with Suanne Laqueur

• Official website: https://suannelaqueurwrites.com/

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suannelaqueur/

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/swainblqr

• Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8317803.Suanne_Laqueur

• Find The Great Dane on Amazon: https://link.amazon/B0iVn38NN

Let's Talk Books!

What makes a friendship in fiction unforgettable for you the ability to understand each other's pain, the freedom to laugh together, or the feeling of being accepted exactly as you are?

Share your thoughts with The Page Ladies. We can't wait to hear what you think!

What if the greatest mystery isn't simply about finding the answers, but understanding the stories, relationships, and love that give those answers meaning?

Welcome to another edition of Book Club Conversations with The Page Ladies Book Club! 💕📚

We're delighted to welcome author Suanne Laqueur for an in-depth conversation about The Great Dane, a thought-provoking novel that weaves together folklore, an intricate mystery, identity, grief, friendship, and the extraordinary ways people can love one another.

From the ancient Three Hares motif that sparked the novel to the complicated relationships that make its characters feel so human, Suanne takes us behind the scenes of her creative process. She shares the research that inspired the story, the emotional realities of writing grief, the influence of her professional dance background, and the unexpected ways characters sometimes take control of their own stories.

And because we're The Page Ladies, we couldn't leave out the bookish questions, writing confessions, reading habits, and quick-fire round that every book lover wants to know!

Settle in, grab your favorite reading drink, and join us for this conversation about stories, connection, and why three might just be love's most magical number. 🐇✨

🐇 Getting to Know The Great Dane

1. If you had to describe The Great Dane in three words, what would they be?

Suanne Laqueur: Emotional, inclusive and chimeric.

2. What was the very first spark for The Great Dane? Did Liko, Dane, the Three Hares mystery, or the themes of identity and belonging come to you first?

Suanne Laqueur:

I discovered the Three Hares motif and just became weirdly captivated with it. I wondered how I could write a story about it and started kicking around a bunch of ideas and playing with some characters. At the same time, I saw an article about someone with tetragametic chimerism possessing two different sets of DNA, XX and XY and presenting outward signs like heterochromia and Blaschko’s lines. This became the inspiration for Dane, who had always been a non-binary character in my mind, but now that identity also had a physical manifestation.

3. A grieving father becomes obsessed with a mystery hidden inside his late son's favorite video game. What made you want to use a video game as the doorway into this story?

Suanne Laqueur:

As my characters were falling into place, I still didn’t know how I could work in the motif of the Three Hares and the Green Man. I wouldn’t consider myself a serious gamer, I’m more of a casual app enjoyer of puzzle games, or single-player adventures with an interesting backstory but nobody jumping out to kill me. I like a journey, finding things along the way. So finally it occurred to me to make the Three Hares into that sort of game, but embed a mystery within it.

4. The Three Hares motif appears throughout art and architecture along the Old Silk Road. What first caught your attention about this fascinating symbol?

Suanne Laqueur:

It was that threefold rotating symmetry and the optical illusion of each hare looking like it has two ears when really they share one. Why hares? What’s their significance? And why did so many cultures and religions latch onto this motif, using it in art and architecture? What is it about the number three that we find so compelling?

5. Without giving away spoilers, what can you tease readers about the mystery surrounding Three Hares?

Suanne Laqueur:

As Dane says to Liko,

“Unless you have the context of the mystery, the solution isn’t going to be very satisfying or even interesting. I can give you the solution on a plate in five minutes. You can find all the missing objects, solve all the anagrams, make this do that and that do this… But without the story behind it all, you’ll be disappointed. The end game is beautiful to me, because it’s my story. It’s a love letter to three people, two of whom are gone…”

6. Liko and Dane are both dealing with profound loss when they meet. What interested you about bringing these two people together at that particular point in their lives?

Suanne Laqueur:

I wanted to write about not only compassion and kindness within the depths of grief, but the ability to find humor in the darkest times. Liko is understandably destroyed by his son’s death and the loss changes everything. His entire priority system is revised. His existence divides into The Precious Little I Give a F*ck About and The Meaningless Scrapheap of Everything Else. I wanted to give him a friend who understands, truly understands the bottomless depths of that kind of grief. Dane is that friend. He’s destroyed by his wife’s death and his partner’s abandonment. He has no time for BS anymore. The two men can commiserate, bond, pass time in silence, or even laugh about their situation. Each becomes a gentle place for the other to lay their head.

7. Dane has one blue eye, one brown eye, an extraordinary history, and a life that doesn't fit neatly into conventional expectations. What can you tell us about what makes Dane such a compelling character to write?

Suanne Laqueur:

I always approach diverse characters with a lot of humility and trepidation because I know there’s more I can get wrong than right. All three partners living at Schoenfeld’s farm struggle with labels and prejudices put on their identities: Ethan for being gay and asexual; Dane for being intersex and non-binary; Nomi for being a masc-presenting woman who opts not to reconstruct her breasts after a mastectomy. All this made them really interesting and challenging characters to research and develop.

8. The novel explores love, identity, power, friendship, belonging, folklore, and hope. If you could choose one of those themes for readers to pay especially close attention to, what would it be?

Suanne Laqueur:

Definitely friendship, which is rooted in love and acceptance and compassion. The Great Dane is essentially about people being kind to each other. I think we need that right now.

💔 Writing Grief, Time, and the Relationships That Remain

9. Liko begins the story trying to “pass, waste or kill time” after the death of his son, but his obsession with Three Hares ultimately gives him somewhere to go. How did you approach writing grief as something that can affect the way a person experiences time itself?

Suanne Laqueur:

This was brought home to me by a close friend who experienced the loss of a child. She told me, quite bluntly, how so much of grief is putting as many minutes as possible between you and THAT DAY, and hopefully enough minutes accumulate where killing yourself is a less attractive option. Grief isn’t linear you don’t go from point A to point B and you’re suddenly over it. You’re overwhelmed by the infinite minutes you have to get through and your consciousness starts to do funny things with time. You’re either achingly aware of every second, or you blink and two months have passed.

10. Was Liko’s grief something you knew would be central to his character from the beginning, or did that emotional journey deepen as you wrote him?

Suanne Laqueur:

Absolutely it was there from the beginning. One aspect that unexpectedly deepened was Liko’s relationship with his ex-wife. I could have made Janelle a convenient villain letting the comic relief of hating your ex take the edge off some of the heavier themes. But I'm so glad I took the time to get to know her, let her character develop, and let a bond continue between her and Liko as parents. Though they weren't married anymore, they found a way to be good to each other, to let the “us” that made Kyle continue to live and love.

11. The Three Hares mystery gives Liko a literal quest while he is also navigating a much more personal journey. Did you intentionally structure the mystery as a reflection of his emotional journey?

Suanne Laqueur:

Dane issues a caveat about the mystery right from the get-go: the solution might not be satisfying. It makes more sense when you have the story behind it but still, the ending might be anti-climactic. Understanding the need to pass, waste and kill time, he counsels Liko to take the journey slowly. It’s a paint-by-number kit, not a finished work of art. This slow pace spills into the attraction between the two men. They acknowledge they are growing closer, but neither is in a rush to act upon it. I think this is their way of taking back control of time, of precipitating a situation instead of being steamrolled by it, the way a loved one’s death clobbered them.

12. What did your research process for the Three Hares motif look like? Did one discovery lead to another until you found yourself completely down the rabbit hole? 🐇

Suanne Laqueur:

A ton of reading articles and books about the three hares in particular, but hares and rabbits in art, culture, literature. Books about the Green Man. Books about gender identity in myth and legend. It’s just a ton of intake but somehow, in some magical process I still can’t fathom, it starts to coalesce into the thread that weaves everything together.

13. Was there a particular piece of Three Hares history, folklore, art, or architecture that fascinated you more than you expected?

Suanne Laqueur:

Wherever the Three Hares motif appears in church architecture, the motif of the Green Man is always close by. This discovery grabbed me from the start. I wanted to write about three characters that somehow revolve around someone named Greenman. It didn’t quite turn out that way, but it’s where the premise started. Also fascinating was learning that in the Buddhist caves at Magao, the Three Hares motif appears in 16 caves, always with the hares running clockwise. Except for cave 407, in which they run counter-clockwise. This idea of running against the tide, or getting out of your comfort zone, or the wrong way being the most compassionate way, shaped a lot of the story.

14. Dane spent 22 years building a life with Ethan and Nomi. How did you approach giving that relationship its own history and emotional weight, even though readers encounter Dane after that life has already changed?

Suanne Laqueur:

Given my way, the book would be 1,000 pages and tell every detail of those 22 years. But to keep it a reasonable length, I had to condense the decades down to stories, either told in dialogue or in flashback. While I had a structure to follow most of the stories Dane tells are to explain the clues in the video game mystery it was really challenging to keep Dane’s past concise and relevant, and not let the book take it off in a totally different direction.

15. The novel challenges the idea that the deepest human connections must exist between two people. What drew you to explore the idea that “three is often love's most magical number”?

Suanne Laqueur:

I won’t lie a lot of it was the Schoolhouse Rock song “Three is a magic number.” I just love that lyric somewhere in the ancient mystic trinity, you get three as a magic number. In nearly every fairytale and legend, things happen in threes. Three objects, three wishes, three visits, three beans, three chances to solve a riddle. I wanted to write about three people in love.

Another influence was a book about the creator of Wonder Woman, William Moulton Marston and how he and his wife were a “throuple” with another woman Olive Byrne.

And last, when I was telling a friend about my new idea for a book, she told me that growing up, there was a family friend “Uncle Sean” who was always around. Like ALWAYS around. He was fun and wild and crazy and she loved him and took him for granted as her dad’s best friend. But only now was she realizing that Sean was very likely intimately involved with both her parents. She was sure of it. But they’d all passed and she’d never know.

16. Was there a particular character who surprised you during the writing process and became more complicated or more important than you originally expected?

Suanne Laqueur:

Every one of my books has a secondary or even tertiary character who steals the show.

24. Do your characters usually follow the plan you create for them, or do they have a habit of grabbing the steering wheel and taking the story somewhere you didn't expect?

💫 The Author and the Art of Storytelling

25. Your background is in professional dance and teaching. You’ve described your transition from choreographing music to “choreographing words.” How does your dance background influence the way you write?

Suanne Laqueur:

I was really surprised to learn how similar the two art forms were. Coming up with a story is very much like coming up with the concept for a dance piece. Writing the emotional beats of a story is like coming up with steps to convey feeling. I always had a knack for choreographing for large numbers of people, and I tend to think I write group dialogue scenes well managing who is speaking when, and why.

26. Does a character’s physical movement ever help you understand who they are before you fully understand them through words?

Suanne Laqueur:

Not in this particular novel, but I can think of examples from some of my other books. Daisy Bianco in The Fish Tales is a dancer so obviously the way she moves through the world is shaped by that training and spatial-awareness. Jude Tholet from A Scarcity of Condors, was the victim of a hate crime and his leg was broken by a school bully. Although the injury fully heals, it seems the trauma is embedded in the bone and he limps a little when he’s in extreme emotional situations. Or Javier Landes in An Exaltation of Larks, who was thrown out of his house at age 17 and became a male escort to survive. His physical stature is imbued with confidence, poise, grace, fine-tuned attentiveness. When he’s working, he’s a portrait of self-control. But when his heart is making decisions, he’s a bit of a klutz.

27. You've written stories that cross gender, age, and genre. What keeps you interested in writing characters and relationships that don't fit neatly into one category?

Suanne Laqueur:

I’m essentially a contemporary fiction author by my two forays into historical fiction and fantasy happened because previous books dictated it. I wrote The Fish Tales as a contemporary romance, but the lead character Erik Fiskare is informed, in a sort of offhand way, that his experience with surviving a school shooting is very much like his grandfather Kennet’s experience fighting in World War 2. And both grandfather and grandson experienced very similar arcs in their own love stories. So I wanted to write Kennet’s story which involved doing a ton of research but I love how it came out. As for The Voyages of Trueblood Cay, that was the novel that the character Javier Landes is writing during the Venery series. The idea and inspiration for it are so much a part of his character, my readers kept asking “You are going to write this, correct?” And I thought gulp, I guess I am.

28. What usually comes first for you when you're developing a novel: the character, the central question, the setting, the mystery, or something completely unexpected?

Suanne Laqueur:

It’s either the general premise first or the characters first.

29. Are you a plotter, a pantser, or somewhere in the wonderfully unpredictable middle?

Suanne Laqueur:

Total pantser although with The Great Dane I had to plot out the progression of the video game with all its clues and solutions. And there was a very complicated timetable with postcards being sent and needing to arrive at certain times.

30. What's the hardest part of writing a novel for you?

Suanne Laqueur:

Putting my butt in the chair and starting.

31. What's the part of the process you could happily do forever?

Suanne Laqueur:

Once it’s written, I could tinker with it forever. At some point you have to put the pencil down and just stop. Let it go and let it belong to the world.

📚 Questions Book Lovers Always Want to Know

32. What kind of reader were you growing up?

Suanne Laqueur:

VORACIOUS. Always with my nose in a book.

35. Was there a book or author that made you fall in love with stories that explore complicated relationships and the messiness of being human?

Suanne Laqueur:

Laurie Colwin, no doubt. Her book Family Happiness was life-changing in that way.

36. Is there a book you wish you could erase from your memory just so you could experience reading it for the first time again?

Suanne Laqueur:

Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series.

37. What's a book that made you think, “I wish I'd written this”?

Suanne Laqueur:

Alice Archer’s Everyday History.

38. What book do you find yourself recommending over and over again?

Suanne Laqueur:

Alice Archer’s Everyday History.

39. What's a trope that will make you immediately pick up a book?

Suanne Laqueur:

I don’t know about trope but if a book has Hotel in the title, I’m in.

41. When you're reading for pleasure, can you completely turn off your author brain, or do you find yourself analyzing the writing?

Suanne Laqueur:

If it’s way outside my trope, yes. If not, I’m kind of the worst.

42. Are you a one-book-at-a-time reader, or do you have several books going at once?

Suanne Laqueur:

I can do two books at once if one is non-fiction. Typically I eye-read fiction, and listen to non-fiction or to fiction I’ve read before.

43. What's currently sitting on your TBR that you're especially excited about?

Suanne Laqueur:

Natasha Pulley’s The Salt King and K Ancrum’s Adam, Mine.

44. If you could invite three fictional characters from any books to dinner, who would you choose and which character would you absolutely not trust to behave themselves? 😂

Suanne Laqueur:

Javier Landes, Steffen Finch, and Tej Khoury. Tej would NOT behave himself.

✍️ The Author Life

45. You've been writing for many years. What keeps you coming back to storytelling?

Suanne Laqueur:

I swear every time I publish a book, I say it’s the last book. I am never doing this again! But yet I do. Sometimes it’s because the series requires it. Other times it’s just…I suppose I have to. This is what I do.

46. What's something about the publishing process that surprised you once you became an author?

Suanne Laqueur:

The amount of time marketing and promo.

47. How has your writing changed since your first published novel?

Suanne Laqueur:

Exponentially. I don’t worry when people read Venery and Dane after they’ve read the Fish Tales but I do worry a little when they read in the reverse order. I always feel like saying, “Be kind… I was very young… I had a lot to learn…”

48. What's something you wish you could go back and tell yourself when you were writing your first book?

Suanne Laqueur:

Pace yourself. Slow is the new fast.

49. Do you have any writing rituals, favorite snacks, playlists, lucky objects, or unusual habits that have become part of your creative process?

Suanne Laqueur:

Every 10K words completed, I book a massage.

50. What do you do when you're stuck on a scene or struggling to figure out where the story needs to go?

Suanne Laqueur:

I pivot to my artwork. Creativity has a jealous side, and nothing makes it stop sulking and cooperate like your attention being focused on some other project.

51. What's the best piece of writing advice you've ever received?

Suanne Laqueur:

Don’t be clever, just trust the reader and say what you mean.

52. What's one piece of advice you'd give someone who dreams of writing a novel but hasn't taken the first step yet?

Suanne Laqueur:

Butt in chair and write.

🐇 Quick-Fire Bookish Round

We couldn't let Suanne leave without a rapid-fire round of bookish choices! From preferred formats to favorite fictional worlds, here's where her reading personality really shines.

53. Hardcover or paperback?

Suanne Laqueur: Paperback.

54. Physical books or ebooks?

Suanne Laqueur: eBook.

55. Library or bookstore?

Suanne Laqueur: Library.

56. Annotate everything or keep the pages pristine?

Suanne Laqueur: Annotate.

57. Mystery or romance?

Suanne Laqueur: Romance.

58. Folklore or mythology?

Suanne Laqueur: Folklore.

59. Dual timeline or single timeline?

Suanne Laqueur: Single.

60. Slow burn or instant chemistry?

Suanne Laqueur: Slow burn.

61. Found family or forbidden romance?

Suanne Laqueur: Found family.

62. Plot twist or emotional gut punch?

Suanne Laqueur: Plot twist.

63. One enormous book or an entire series?

Suanne Laqueur: Series.

64. Read late into the night or wake up early to read?

Suanne Laqueur: Late at night.

65. Bookmark or dog-ear?

Suanne Laqueur: Dog ear.

66. Favorite reading snack?

Suanne Laqueur: Wine and dark chocolate.

67. If you could spend one week inside any fictional book world, which would you choose?

Suanne Laqueur: Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials.

🖤 One Last Question

68. The Great Dane asks readers to think about identity, labels, grief, love, belonging, and what it means to truly see another person. When readers reach the final page, what is the one question you hope they continue carrying with them?

Suanne Laqueur:

Be the trampoline, not the staircase.

69. And finally, what is something you’re excited for readers to discover about The Great Dane whether it's a character, a piece of the mystery, a theme, or something they might not expect?

Suanne Laqueur:

That three truly is a magic number.

💕 A Huge Thank You to Suanne Laqueur!

Suanne, thank you for sitting down with The Page Ladies Book Club and sharing so much of your creative process, research, reading life, and heart with our community.

From the symbolism of the Three Hares to the way grief changes our experience of time, your answers offer so much to think about. We especially loved hearing about the importance of friendship, the careful development of diverse characters, and the idea that meaningful connections don't always fit into the boxes society expects.

Your reminder to “Be the trampoline, not the staircase” is one we'll be carrying with us. Sometimes the most important thing we can do for another person isn't to dictate their path, but to give them the support and space to find their own way.

Thank you for reminding us that stories can challenge assumptions, make room for complicated relationships, and show us the power of kindness.

📖 Want More? Join The First Editions!

You've reached the end of our featured Book Club Conversation, but there's always more to explore with The Page Ladies!

Join The First Editions on Bindery for our full, extended author interviews and exclusive book club content. It's where our readers can dive deeper into conversations with authors, discover the stories behind their stories, and enjoy the complete experience of our Book Club Conversations.

Come join The First Editions, connect with fellow book lovers, and keep the conversation going!

🔗 Connect with Suanne Laqueur

Want to learn more about Suanne, discover her other books, or follow her writing journey? Find her around the bookish internet below.

• Official website: https://suannelaqueurwrites.com/

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suannelaqueur/

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/swainblqr

• Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8317803.Suanne_Laqueur

• Find The Great Dane on Amazon: https://link.amazon/B0iVn38NN

📚 Let's Talk Books, Page Ladies!

Now we want to hear from you!

Which part of Suanne's conversation resonated most with you? Was it the inspiration behind the Three Hares mystery, her thoughtful approach to grief and friendship, the idea that three can be a magical number in love, or her advice to aspiring writers?

And if you've read The Great Dane, we'd love to know what stayed with you after the final page.

Share your thoughts in the comments, and let's keep celebrating the authors, stories, and connections that make our bookish community special.

Because at The Page Ladies Book Club, there's always room for one more story and one more friend at the table. 💕📚

#ThePageLadiesBookClub #BookClubConversations #SuanneLaqueur #TheGreatDane #AuthorInterview #BookLovers #BookishCommunity

Hello Inkmongers!

At long last, here is my review of The Poppy War.

This was a wild ride from start to finish. I have purposely avoided other reviews of The Poppy War and RF Kuang’s own thoughts on it so that I can evaluate it on my own terms, with minimal influence from others— let’s see how this goes!

Please chime in using the comments section, and join us over on Discord for many more book discussions :)

Spoiler Free

Years ago, around 2021 when I first heard about this book, I almost exclusively saw it  brought upon in conversations about YA fantasy— alongside Six of Crows, Shadow and Bone, and the Cruel Prince. In my mind, I categorized it along with those. I avoid spoilers for books I haven’t read, so I had no information to inform that conjecture besides the context.

Later on, I started seeing The Poppy War appear in videos about grimdark fantasy— being compared to The First Law Trilogy, ASOIAF, and more— at this point, I thought I’d fallen into the age-old blunder of assuming a fantasy book is YA because it was written by a woman. I swiftly amended my categorization of The Poppy War, and placed it firmly alongside adult fantasy and grimdark books. Again, since I was avoiding spoilers, I had no information to inform this conjecture besides the context.

So I went into this book with two main questions:

• How would I categorize this book?

• Why is the readership so polarized in their love/hate of it?

To answer the first question: I can confidently say that The Poppy War combines both YA fantasy conventions and grimdark fantasy conventions— resulting in a completely new kind of abomination (respectfully)— a YA fantasy book that is genuinely grimdark.

What do I mean when I say YA? 

There are competing definitions, but I’m going with a fairly broad definition, with some specificity. My Definition of YA is as follows:

YA fiction is fiction often written to explore themes that are developmentally appropriate for young adults, is often intended for an audience in that age group, and often features protagonists who are themselves young adults. 

Notice my use of “often”— I don’t think it has to be marketed towards your adults in order to be YA. I also don’t think that it has to explore developmentally appropriate topics to be YA. I also don’t think it has to have YA protagonists to be YA— It think it has to have some combinations of these, preferably multiple, but not always. I'm sure you can think of examples of YA books that do/don’t fit all of these criteria. The reasons why I think the Poppy War is YA are VERY complex— I’ll get into that later.

While YA is an age group, not a genre, I think that there are absolutely established conventions for this category, as if it were its own genre. It has tropes that come up time and time again— as all genres do. Its readers have expectations for its content and tone that can be fulfilled or subverted— as all genres do. With all that in mind, Im going to treat YA fantasy as its own subgenre. 

What do I mean when I say grimdark? 

When I say grimdark fantasy, I mean fantasy that has as fundamentally negative view of the world. A kind of “no good deed goes unpunished” attitude. There are no safety nets, no plot armor— nothing and no one is safe. Conventions of this subgenre include things like descriptive violence, betrayals, themes of vengeance, morally grey characters (including protagonists)— among many other things. No subject matter is off the table, and every line can/will be crossed.

I think it’s pretty indisputable that the Poppy War is grimdark.

Things I liked

• the fusion of subgenres

• the setting and historical references (easter eggs everywhere)

• The main character dynamics

• character motivations

• incorporation and subversion of fantasy tropes

• references to Chinese mythology and the monomyth

Things I disliked:

• side-character dynamics-- felt stilted at times, especially in act 2

• pacing of act 2

I’m rating The Poppy War 4.5 stars.

To justify a star rating, I need to get clear on why I couldn’t have rated it at 4.75 stars, and why I also couldn’t have rated it at 4.25 stars.

It rises above 4.25 stars because of the ways it contributes to the fantasy canon as a whole. It’s not only a well-written book that was satisfying to read. It made me question my assumptions of the genre as a whole, and consider dimensions to it that never crossed my mind before.

The thing that held this back from being 4.75 stars was act 2. I found that the middle sags in comparison to the incredibly tight, well-realized beginning and end. This is a famously difficult part of a book to keep an audience engaged during, and I definitely experienced that here. The events of act 2 felt less real to me than the rest of the book in some crucial way. 

***SPOILERS***

It's YA, but it’s Grimdark

As I mentioned, I have no idea who this book was marketed to, and I don’t know what Kuang calls it herself— so I can’t speak to that aspect. Here’s why I think this book is YA, based on the definition I laid out before:

A) It has a cast of YA protagonists, and includes many YA fantasy genre conventions.

The first half of this book reads as a pretty standard, very well-written YA story. A girl from a small town gets an opportunity that changes her life entirely. She is cast into a new world full of new people, and new norms to learn. She is different from everyone around her, and they antagonize her for being different and/or special. There’s an old, wise mentor who takes our protagonist under his wing. I also picked up on hints of a love triangle, though love became an increasingly fraught word to use for it. We also see Rin choose between the safe, responsible course of action her mentor proposes, and the dangerous, exciting one that her commander proposes.

B) It tackles themes that are developmentally appropriate for young adults.

This is the trickier one. By making this novel grimdark RF Kuang challenges us to question what we, as adults, consider to be appropriate for young adults. Do young adults around the world not experience classism, colorism, and sexism at school? Are young adults not capable of deciding at 15 they never want children? Are young adults around the world not pushed into military service and exposed to the atrocities of war? Do young adults never see their friends die, or get abused by people in positions of power? These are all things that young adults deal with, regardless of what one’s picture of the ideal young adult experience looks like. Making this world grimdark doesn’t disqualify it from being YA— but why would I think that to begin with? 

If Kuang is right about what young adults can handle in their fiction (which I think she is), why did I need The Poppy War to convince me of that? Reflecting on this question, it turns out that I do expect YA to be more restrained in its depictions of violence, war, suffering, etc. I assume this expectation comes from what I know of other YA fantasy books. Six of Crows and The Hunger Games have violence, but not like this. This brings up my appreciation of grimdark as a subgenre. As a peace-loving person who hopes to never get punched in the face (or worse), I appreciate that grimdark fantasy refuses to glorify violence. There’s nothing nice about a battle. There’s nothing glorious about taking a life. Torture scenes should look and feel like torture scenes. It’s unfortunate and painful for everyone involved (hopefully), and ought to be depicted as such. And there’s certainly no reason to obscure that for young adults.

It’s Grimdark But It’s YA:

We see Rin make all of the wrong decisions, and are made to understand exactly why— this is excruciating at times, and also such a classic young adult experience. The fantasy genre elements supercharge the stakes and power behind every decision, and those decisions are being made by an incredibly passionate teenager; this is something MANY of us have been, and can relate to. More than anything, Rin craves agency in a world that is pitted against her.

Grimdark snaps The Poppy War's classic YA love triangle over it's knee. I think the dynamic Kuang sets up between Rin, Nezha and Altan purposely evokes the love triangle dynamic in order to subvert it. There's no Peeta and Gale to be found in Nezha and Altan-- primarily because Nezha dies in a poisonous gas attack, and Altan becomes physically and emotionally abusive. This may be the clearest example of the fusion of the two subgenres in The Poppy War. Kuang seems to say, "of course we'll explore this trope, but it's not going to be pretty." I'm not convinced that either of them are fully dead (I haven't seen the bodies), so who knows-- this could come back in book 2).

Rin and the other characters are frequently wrong. Disastrously so. They are smart, capable and powerful— and very inexperienced. When Golyn Niis is sacked, they are greatly deceived. When Rin and Altan seek an army in Chuluu Korikh, they are wrong about the nature of its inhabitants. Kuang frequently gives us a YA setup (powerful, emotional, capable decisions) followed by grimdark payoffs (Feylen is unsavable, genocide doesn’t repay genocide, doing a legendarily good job doesn’t mean you’ve won in the end).

When Rin and Altan go to Chuluu Korikh, it reminded me of Aragorn seeking the paths of the dead in The Lord of the Rings. A leader figure seeking a mythically powerful army entombed in a mountain— not living, yet not allowed to die. When Aragorn does this, he returns with the battle-deciding factor on his heels. The army fulfills its oath, and is released from their eternal torment. When Altan attempts the same thing, in hopes of routing the federation, he is met with dire consequences— a rogue shaman is unleashed on the world (with who-knows-what-consequences), no army is summoned, and he and Rin are both captured. Where Tolkien rewards, Kuang punishes— a hallmark of grimdark, and in this case it can’t be untangled from its YA thematics.

What makes this book so polarizing?

Based on my experience with the Poppy War, I think this book is polarizing primarily because of reader expectations. This claim will take more research to back up, and I am still writing from my isolated state, so these are purely my thoughts.

What do YA Fantasy fans expect from their books? Surely not a graphic fantasy-rehashing of the Rape of Nanking. Speaking for myself, I’ve never picked up a YA Fantasy book expecting to read this kind of scene. What do grimdark fans expect from their books? Surely not a teenage girl studying hard and navigating the social dynamics of her school. These statements are reductive, but you get my point.

I think this book would’ve been very upsetting or disappointing to anyone expecting it to be more like the books they already love— it contorts both subgenres into something that subverts the most beloved aspects of both. The result is something that I find to be incredibly beautiful for its complexity, and valuable for its contribution to the fantasy canon.

Thank you for reading all the way to the end! I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments section, and please join us on Discord for many more book discussions :)

Our contributors have been busy reading some great titles this week!

Niba is reading Alchemised by SenLinYu.

Marlena is reading Newbourne Park by Jennifer Thorne.

Jordy is reading The Witch by Freida McFadden.

Rah is reading White Magic by Elissa Washuta.

Mhairie is reading Hard Copy by Fien Veldman.

Casey is reading Howls from the Dark Ages by P.L. McMillan and Solomon Forse.

What book(s) have you been reading lately? Share below in the comments so we can discuss!