How I Discovered The Lost Novels Of Nellie Bly
It was the first day of December, 2019, and like Alice, I was down a rabbit hole. I was working on a short-story follow-up to my 2018 novel What Girls Are Good For, recounting the early career of Nellie Bly, the pioneering American journalist known for her fearless...
Why I Won’t Publish Nellie Bly’s Racist Novel
When I found the treasure trove of novels by Nellie Bly hidden in the pages of the London Story Paper, I did not start transcribing them in their chronological order. Instead I farmed out the most legible ones to friends while reserving the hardest to discern to myself, postponing the transcribing of the middle-ground ones, neither illegible or perfectly clear.
This was fortunate, because it left her seventh novel, for the end of the queue.
I had finished nine of her novels when I started transcribing and editing Dolly. Instantly, I knew I had a problem on my hands.
Nellie Bly – The Research
For me, inspiration always comes from reading. Be it history, fiction, essays, or comics, I find my best ideas are sparked from gaps I discover in narratives. What was the cause of the famous Capulet-Montague feud? What was Shakespeare doing during his...
Why Nellie Bly?
Late one April evening in 2016, sitting at my desk not writing, this article in The Atlantic caught my eye. The premise was that there were more female action stars 100 years ago than today. Most were in the mold of the Perils of Pauline, with an intrepid young woman...
New Novel Announcement: NELLIE BLY
I’ve been wanting to talk about her since April of 2016. That’s when I toppled into some accidental research and fell desperately in love with the character who would dominate my life for the next two years. Like you, I knew the name. Everyone’s...