Interview

Quick facts about Kate Racculia

Where are you from?
Syracuse, New York

Who are your favorite writers?
I love Kate Atkinson, Michael Chabon, Margaret Atwood, Jane Smiley, Richard Russo—I could go on.  And there's nothing in the world like a vintage Stephen King and a glass of iced tea on a lazy summer day.

Which book/books have had the biggest influence on your writing?
Ellen Raskin's The Westing Game blew my 10-year-old mind with its multiple characters, multiple plots, multiple red herring, try-to-solve-it-yourself mystery.  And years later, John Irving's The World According to Garp was an object lesson in absolutely stuffing a book to bursting—with characters, with ideas, with absurdity—and yet making it all ring true.

What are your hobbies and outside interests?
I watch movies all the time: the good, the bad, the unspeakably awful (the better to mock; thank you, Mystery Science Theater 3000).    

I'm also a collector of everything from old records to antique post cards.  I've never met an antique mall I didn't like.

What is the single best piece of advice anyone ever gave you?
My father once told me to never forget that TUMS spelled backward is SMUT.  I'm not sure how to quantify...