#Poser debut review full
#Poser debut review series

MCPHERSON: Transgressive fiction is that wherein characters find offbeat or even illicit ways to deal with society’s strictures and structures. For those of us not familiar with the style, care to shed some light?

#Poser debut review full

WHITEHURST: Your story, full of crime, romance, sex, and violence, has been described as transgressive in nature. I dislike awkward moments in real life, but love them in fiction, so this book is loaded with awkward moments and bad decisions, with occasional moments of serendipity. No sooner do the characters get one issue semi-resolved when another issue pops up that makes everything more difficult. I also sometimes describe it as a Silicon Valley soap opera, with crime fiction and romance elements. I sometimes describe it as a “Silicon Valley noir with Southern Gothic roots,” because several of the characters have southern backgrounds and they’ll be returning there to deal with family issues (that they’d rather not deal with) from time to time. MCPHERSON: Both I and my work have been described as “quirky” on several occasions, so these are quirky or eccentric characters who get themselves into bad situations. WHITEHURST: When you describe your work, and Poser, to someone on the street, what do you tell them? I’d been engaging with Outcast Press on social media and when I posted a logline for Pit-Mad on Twitter they reached out with interest in the book, and the book series. When I could tell there was more story beyond this novel, I decided to do it as a book series.

#Poser debut review series

It’s actually in a pivotal scene! I worked on the screenplay through several drafts and then decided to adapt it as a TV series script and it was through doing that, I discovered new characters and story lines and decided to adapt it as a novel. That stuck in my mind and a variation of that appears in the novel. In the evenings, I would walk around the campus and surrounding neighborhoods and certain evocative images would catch my attention or stay in my mind, leading me to believe “there’s a story there.” One image I came across while walking past a house was a person sitting under a patio umbrella in a back yard with a martini glass on the table in front of them.

My husband was teaching at a debate camp at the university, and I was helping students with research papers. It started as a screenplay that I was inspired to write after spending several summers in Palo Alto, beginning about twenty years ago! Each year when I went back things had changed through dot-com booms and busts, but that ever-electric vibe was always there and still is. MCPHERSON: Thank you! Yes, I’ve been working on this story for a long time. Can you talk about how long you worked on this book and what led to its publication? WHITEHURST: Let’s start with a big congratulations on Poser. Kissed with romance and taut with threat, Poser is a smartly-plotted debut novel in what is sure to be a memorable noir series. Little does Ambrose realize one promising idea may lead to a world of misfortune. With their help, Ambrose manages to hide out in Silicon Valley, where he poses as a graduate student until his troubles cool off. Thankfully, his good nature and innocently-sexy looks afford him a few trustworthy friends.

Ambrose may be up for anything to make a buck, including turning a trick or two, but he just can’t stay out of trouble. McPherson’s debut novel comes with a mess of problems for Ambrose, a small potatoes drug pusher and our lead character, who is a lot more charming than his ambitions tell.

“Poser” by Nevada McPherson from Outcast Press (February 14, 2022)Īuthor Nevada McPherson’s book, Poser, new this year from Outcast Press, throws readers to the ugly side of life, then delivers us into the even uglier suburbs of affluence and privilege.