Laura Lascarso Author Interview³
1) Tell us 3 fun facts about your writing history
My first published work was Marty, the Macaw Who Couldn’t Sing. I was in third grade, and it travelled around the county in the mobile library for the rest of the 1989 school year.
2) Describe your writing style in 3 words
emotional, intuitive, visual
3) Name 3 of your literary influences
Kurt Vonnegut, Dean R. Koontz, Suzanne Collins
4) Share you 3 favourite books
Hunger Games, Cat’s Cradle, Carry On
5) What are your 3 essential writing tools?
laptop, coffee, Lana Del Rey
6) Where are your 3 favourite places to write?
on my couch, at a coffee shop, at my friend’s lake house
7) Name 3 items on your writing wish list
1000 indie book sales, a foreign translation, movie adaptation
8) What are your top 3 tips for aspiring writers?
Persevere, set your own markers of success, just keep writing
9) Tell us 3 of your writing plans for the year ahead
1. Releasing a best-friends-to-lovers novel about two high school boys set in South Florida
2. Finishing the first book (1 of 2) of a near-future dystopian, loosely based on The Count of Monte Cristo
3. Outlining the second half (2 of 2) of the above-mentioned project
10) Tell us about your latest release
As summarized by Linda on Goodreads, my new M/M romance, The Bravest Thing, is the “heartbreaking and intense story of two young men who have to work through dark manipulation and the unjust homophobia of a small Texas ranching community.” I like her description, so I’m going to borrow it!
Laura Lascarso
Dreamspinner Press
17 April 2017
MM/Contemporary
High school junior Berlin Webber is about to reap the fruits of his hard work and land a football scholarship—if he can keep his sexuality a secret from his best friend, Trent, and their homophobic coach. Then Hiroku Hayashi swerves into the high school parking lot on his tricked-out motorcycle like some sexy comic book villain, and Berlin knows he doesn’t stand a chance.
Hiroku is fleeing his sophisticated urban scene to recover from drug addiction and an abusive relationship when he arrives in Berlin’s small Texas ranch town. Initially sarcastic and aloof, Hiroku finds in Berlin a steady, supportive friend who soon becomes more. As Hiroku and Berlin’s romance blossoms, they take greater risks to be together. But when a horrific act of violence tears them apart, they both must look bigotry in the face. While Berlin has always turned to his faith for strength, Hiroku dives into increasingly dangerous ways of coping, pushing them in opposite directions just when they need each other most.
Two very different young men search for the bravery to be true to themselves, the courage to heal, and the strength to go on when things seem darkest. But is it enough to bring them back together?
Laura Lascarso aims to inspire more questions than answers in her fiction and believes in the power of stories to heal and transform a society. She lives in North Florida with her darling husband, two children, and a menagerie of animals. Her debut novel, Counting Backwards (Simon & Schuster 2012) won the Florida Book Award gold medal for young adult literature.
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