1–What is the title of your latest release?
2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
It’s a collection of short stories about women and girls navigating relationships, love, desire, sex, motherhood, work, marriage, female friendship—all the things.
3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
Most of the stories happen in my home state of North Carolina. Place is so important to me—not just the various people and cultures of a place, but the trees and flowers, the topography, the light in the sky. It all affects how I, and my characters, see and feel the world.
4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
I’d hang out with any of my protagonists except the one who kills somebody. I’d keep my distance from her.
5–What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Funny. Wanting. Messy.
6–What’s something you learned while writing this book?
What an elegant, rich, variable form the short story is! And how difficult it is to write a good one.
7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
Both. I edit as I draft. I can’t help myself. I just love to play with words and sentences. But I also write a lot of drafts.
8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Fresh pasta. Cake. Fancy crackers. Cheese. I can’t pick just one.
9–Describe your writing space/office!
Stacks of books and piles of paper everywhere. Family photos, weird mementos, artwork by friends of mine. Jars of colored pencils. I recently got myself a standing desk that goes up and down at the touch of a button. It makes me feel very fancy.
10–Who is an author you admire?
Deborah Levy, especially The Cost of Living. That book talks about a lot of things I’m thinking about since I turned 50. It’s exciting to be in a new phase of life that’s more focused on my work and what I want.
11–Is there a book that changed your life?
Jane Eyre. Every time I read it, I’m blown away by how Jane stands up for herself against people with more power than she has.
12–Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
It’s pretty difficult to sell a short story collection, so when it happened, I was over the moon. Blair is a woman-owned publisher, which I love. When we were on “the call,” the folks there were so enthusiastic about the stories. They just really got what I was doing, and I instantly felt like they were the perfect people to bring out this book.
13–What’s your favorite genre to read?
Literary fiction
14–What’s your favorite movie?
It’s hard for me to pick just one. My taste ranges from the sublime (Portrait of a Lady on Fire) to the ridiculous (The Big Lebowski).
15–What is your favorite season?
Spring. I love the flowers and the longer days and not having to bundle up anymore.
16–How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Dinner with a few friends – lots of laughs and great food.
17–What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
“Sex Education”
18–What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Whatever my husband is cooking for dinner!
19–What do you do when you have free time?
Take walks with my friends.
20–What can readers expect from you next?
A novel? Fingers crossed.
SEX ROMP GONE WRONG by Julia Ridley Smith
In her debut story collection, Julia Ridley Smith navigates the currents and eddies of desire, sex, love, and relationships.
These twelve highly accomplished stories are witty and accessible, intelligent and thought-provoking. A girls’ week at the beach prompts hot tub drinking, awkward confessions, and a poignant reconsideration of friendship. A caregiver extracts a small repayment from her elderly patient for his long-forgotten role in the demise of her family. A young woman, new to New York City, finds herself in a complex but tacky love affair and reckons with the unfolding plot of her life. In the title story, a woman plots to conceive a second child while at a convention hotel with her husband and teenage daughter, both of whom have other plans. Smith’s stories will beguile and delight readers while at the same time exploring the deep and often difficult ties of family, marriage, and romantic love in modern life.
Women’s Fiction Friendship | Humor [Blair, On Sale: February 6, 2024, Mass Market Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781958888117 / eISBN: 9781958888131]
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About Julia Ridley Smith
Sex Romp Gone Wrong is Julia Ridley Smith’s first story collection. Her first book, The Sum of Trifles, is a memoir published by the University of Georgia Press (2021) as a title in their Crux literary nonfiction series. Julia’s short stories and essays have appeared in the Alaska Quarterly Review, American Literary Review, Arts and Letters, the Carolina Quarterly, Chelsea, Ecotone, Electric Literature, the Greensboro Review, the New England Review, Southern Cultures, and The Southern Review, among other places. Julia teaches creative writing at UNC Chapel Hill.
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