Katia Noyes‘s debut novel, Crashing America, was a Book Sense Notable book, received nominations for three fiction awards (Northern California Book Award, Lambda Literary Award, Publishing Triangle Award), and was chosen as one of the Ten Best Gay/Lesbian Books of the Year by Amazon, the UK’s Rainbow Triangle and Libertas.

1. What are you reading right now?

For the hell of it, I’ll list everything I have around the house and have read from in the last week:
Happy Baby, Stephen Elliot
Guerilla Radio: Rock ‘N’ Roll Radio and Serbia’s Underground Resistance
Love and Garbage, Ivan Klima
Good Family, Terry Gamble
Ulysses, James Joyce
The Turtle Warrior, Mary Melinda Ellis
Madness Made Visible: A Memoir of War, Janine Di Giovanni
Child of God, Cormac McCarthy
AND
Desperately Seeking Snoozing: The Insomnia Cure

2. Do you write to music? If so, what was the soundtrack for Crashing America?

Well, I don’t listen much when writing. I can’t stand having music interfere with the music/sounds/rhythms playing in my own head; for Crashing America, it included anthems, headbanging dyke punk, Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, folk lullabies, tractor sounds, prairie wind, solo harp, Aaron Copland, Leadbelly, red-winged blackbirds, and trucker ballads.

3. How has publishing your first book changed your writing process?

I know I can finish something. I’ve done it so I have no excuses. I am much less afraid. I write and don’t stop. I get blocked and don’t stop. I hate what I write and don’t stop. I have no idea what I’m doing and don’t stop. I like knowing it’s a process that ends in communication. I like knowing I am not alone howling in the wind anymore.

I came home from a date last night at midnight and wrote till 4am about my character’s brother, a Serbian soldier involved in genocide, and felt happier than I’ve ever been. I’ve lost my mind.

4. Your brother is a winemaker. Can you recommend a wine to go with Crashing America?

A Ridge Vineyards York Creek Zinfandel.

It would be a 1997 vintage, the year Girl, Crashing America’s narrator, ran away from home. A great old zin has lots of punch and stamina. I would love for someone to drink a whole bottle, say at lake or outside somewhere and read my book and wail…then dive in the water naked and shake themselves in the warm sun like a big dog and be happy.

5. What’s your favorite book from childhood?

The Story of Opal —a book written in crayon on paper bag scraps by an orphan in a logging camp. She names every animal she sees and prays all the time. My mother read it as a child and gave it to me.

And Camilla, by Madeleine L’Engle. It’s a book about a fifteen-year-old growing up on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. She has an architect father and a beautiful, narcissistic mother who wears velvet robes, has affairs, and tries to commit suicide. I will never forget the last paragraph. When Camilla finds herself alone after her first boyfriend moves away, she looks up at the constellations and finds strength as she starts to name them.

6. What’s your favorite San Francisco/elsewhere eatery?

I’m trying to pick a place to go for my birthday next week, and I can’t decide! Maybe Firecracker on Valencia Street.
I also like Joe’s Cable Car Burgers
Zuni’s for oysters and conversation
Luna Park for the Nicoise salad
Taqueria Cancun for late night tacos al Pastor
Mi Lindo Peru for seafood soup
Jardinière and Absinthe for everything
And some of the best food I’ve had recently was at a tiny Moroccan place called Tajine on Jones Street, a chowhound friend took me there…

Out-of-Town:
The glamour and color at Monkey Bar and Grill in New York
The outdoor garden at the Calistoga Inn & Brewery Restaurant

The take-out at Corky’s Barbecue in Memphis

7. What other titles were in the running for your book before you decided on Crashing America?

That was it. The only one. But I’m having a helluva time with my new book. Titles are like compost; they help things grow. Thaisa Frank has two of the best ever: Sleeping in Velvet and A Brief History of Camouflage.

8. You’ve been doing a lot of readings of late. What’s the most awkward question/comment you’ve received from a reader? What question would you least want someone to ask?

I believe there was once a question about fist fucking. It made me feel kind of weird to try to answer; I was doing a book group via speaker phone and I hoped they thought I didn’t hear the question, which I didn’t really—because everybody was squealing with laughter.

I least like the “How much of your book is autobiographical” question. The best answer, according to Lynn Freed, is twenty percent. It is true in my case. Really. But a woman got very indignant recently. She refused to believe me.

9. Let’s say someone fell in love with your book and wanted to show his or her appreciation by bringing a gift of a food item to one of the readings. What item would be most likely to inspire your everlasting gratitude?

Pie. Blackberry (or cherry or peach) pie! My character and I share a passion for warm summer fruit.

10. What’s in your attic? If you don’t have one, what’s in your hall closet?

Since I have neither, I will forage for you in my basement:

old albums compiled from when I was a choreographer
a sewing machine
some good wine but not enough
a tool belt and leather pouch from when I was a roofer
notebooks starting from 1979 (at 21 I burned everything I had ever written)
a wardrobe a friend brought over today for me to store
a huge rolled painting that was a former stage set
an antique bureau inherited from my Quaker grandmother