Welcome to Part 2 of our interview with nonfiction author Stacy Horn!
RAO: As a nonfiction author, do you have an opinion on how nonfiction titles are fact-checked? Do nonfiction authors shoulder the whole responsibility for fact-checking, or do their publishers provide any support?
SH: I shoulder the entire responsibility and I live in fear of making a serious error. I check and re-check repeatedly and still I find mistakes. That’s why I’m so terrified. I know how careful I am. I know how many times I check. The fact that I can be that careful, check that many times, and still find mistakes, both understandable and stupid, terrifies me. I would love some help. I know it’s a money issue so I can’t complain. Times are tough.
RAO: What do you find most fulfilling about your career as an author? Most frustrating?
SH: The most fulfilling moments for me are getting letters from people connected to what I’ve written about, like the letter from the sister of a murder victim I had written about in The Restless Sleep. More generally, I love learning. The most frustrating? Negative letters from people connected to what I’ve written about, like the email I’ve gotten from relatives of some of the criminals I wrote about in The Restless Sleep. The most frustrating thing has to be the small number of people reading my books. I know the world doesn’t owe me anything, and lots of people work hard, but I do spend years putting out the best book I can and I’m only human. I wish more people were reading my books.
RAO: Do you think reading books is still an important part of our culture?
SH: I don’t read half as much as I used to, but most of the people I know read a lot. I still see a lot of people reading every time I take the subway (and I look in vain to see someone reading one of my books). So in my small world reading is still important, but that doesn’t seem to be so “out there.” I just don’t see it in the general conversation out there—not on tv, or YouTube, or tweets. I don’t see references to books or characters, or jokes based on books, etc. I remember one of the characters on the tv show Buffy the Vampire Slayer made a joke based on a book. I forget the book, but the joke was funny, and none of the other characters got it. She looks at them and says something like, “crack a book every once in a while, why don’t you.” Or maybe she said, “Am I the only one paying attention in English class?”
But I think reading will continue, something will replace books. Words and stories and narrative will continue. I don’t think this is the end of the world. Stories will be told in a different way.
RAO: What were your favorite books this past year? Least favorite books?
SH: This past year I discovered Willa Cather. I know! What is wrong with me?? But I read and loved My Antonia and O Pioneers! I also loved Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives. I can’t remember what I didn’t like. Really! Maybe because I don’t finish them. When I was younger I’d finish every book I started whether I liked it or not. I don’t do that anymore.
We would like to offer our most sincere thanks to Stacy Horn for taking the time for this interview!
Stacy Horn is the author of a new history book titled Unbelievable: Investigations into Ghosts, Poltergeists, Telepathy, and Other Unseen Phenomena from the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory. She is also the author of a memoir (Waiting for My Cats to Die) and a true crime narrative (The Restless Sleep). She can be found online at www.stacyhorn.com.
