Q. how did you come to write The Mercy of Thin Air?

A.
In the early 1990s, I worked for a management consulting firm with a team of 20 men. One day, a teammate pressured me to get a presentation ready for him early. I turned to him and said, “If you don’t stop bugging me, when I die, I’ll come back and poltergeist you.” He looked at me like I was crazy (but he did leave me alone), and I wondered what it would be like to be an entity that goes around wreaking havoc. What an interesting novel that would make…. I did nothing with the idea for years, until I decided to start writing again in my late 20s. I took a short story writing class and needed to come up with something for my first assignment. I returned to that idea. However, within a matter of days, Razi’s character came into being, and the story took shape in a way I didn’t intend or expect. I began my research on the south in the 1920s and Razi’s progressive interests. The other core characters--Andrew, Twolly, Amy, Scott, and Chloe--all made their appearances in the short story. And I knew all along it was supposed to be a novel. Although I never thought I’d write a book like The Mercy of Thin Air, I guess it was destined to get written. It always had a peculiar volition.