DEBUT SPOTLIGHT: David R. Roth
Today, I’m pleased to feature David Roth, the debut author of THE FEMME FATALE HYPOTHESIS, releasing on November 19th from Regal House Publishing. David describes his book as, “a contemporary suburban-Gothic tale about a woman with a ferocious desire to defy death, her husband’s increasingly futile attempt to deny death, and their reluctant caretaker’s dueling crises of flagging faith and the loss of a sense of place in the world.” It sounds like such an intriguing premise for a novel, doesn’t it? The title and the cover image alone grasped my attention right away, and so I was delighted to interview David to learn more about his debut.
The Full Synopsis
More accurately a love triptych than triangle, The Femme Fatale Hypothesis is the story of one spring in 2015 when three people form intimate bonds forged in the fires of their respective tribulations. As Rose Geddes's lung cancer progresses toward its inexorable end and her husband's ability to care for her diminishes, their widowed neighbor, June Danhill, stumbles into the middle of their intersecting crises. June's only son, daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren have recently moved to the West Coast. She embraces the opportunity to distract herself from her loneliness by helping to care for the Geddeses. But it isn't long before June realizes that Rose wants more from her than she is willing to give. Love and loss, family secrets, visiting vultures, the Memorial Park boys, a long-forgotten keepsake, morphine versus fentanyl, and the sexual cannibalism of the false garden mantid all fuel this psychological thriller that tests the thin line between mercy and murder.
"Roth's radiant debut novel explores love and loss in this thoughtful meditation on what it means to be alive—and to die." —Alison Wellford, author of Indolence
And now for our interview:
Paulette: Hi David, thanks so much for joining me for this interview! I’m curious about what inspired you to write THE FEMME FATALE HYPOTHESIS. Can you tell us about the novel’s inception?
David: Being a middle Boomer (1954), about 10 years ago I reached the age when one is repeatedly reminded of the finitude of life. Over a period of 8 years, I lost a sister, my mother, a close friend, and my mother- and father-in-law. The immediacy of those experiences taught me a lot about the various ways people think about and approach their death; that is, those people who are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to think about when and how they will die. Toward the tail end of this death-dealing octad I quit my regular work in business communications to focus on my own fiction, a dream I had deferred for 35 years. I had several stories and a novel in the works. When I workshopped a scene from a developing story about an elderly man who is caring for his terminally ill wife when he takes a sudden, almost anthropological interest in his widowed neighbor's life, my instructor, the wonderful writer and generous mentor, Nomi Eve said, "Dave, I think you've found your voice." Her encouragement inspired me to set to work imagining the rest of the story that would become The Femme Fatale Hypothesis.
Paulette: That’s so fascinating, and I can relate, having endured great loss myself. Grief and the larger questions surrounding death and dying are certainly a rich source of inspiration, especially in the gothic genre. They can be some heavy themes to tackle, but important ones. Did you have a favorite character in the book? Why were they your favorite?
David: I am particularly fond of the terminally afflicted Rose Geddes. I like her saltiness and clarity of mind in the face of death. I admire how she is able to commandeer the plot while spending 95% of the book either in bed or in a chair on the deck off her bedroom.
Paulette: Characters in possession of a strong voice despite their circumstances and surroundings often make for the most compelling characters, I think. I can’t wait to meet Rose.
Can you tell us a little about your writing process? Favorite and least favorite aspects?
David: I am of the Toni Morrison school of writing: I write when I feel like it. I have toyed with trying to impose a writerly discipline on my day, such as being at my desk by 10AM ready to work. But it never lasts. A lifetime of procrastination has made me quite adept at distracting myself whenever I try to force discipline. But I do very much like to write. And a variety of things can inspire the desire to sit down and immerse myself in language. More often than not it is the need to work something out, whether it be the next scene, or why a character has taken a sudden turn, or how to make what is staring back from the page more interesting.
I tend not to think of writing as a process, at least not in the dictionary's sense of a series of steps taken to achieve a particular end. Writing is more like a relationship with all it stages, from romancing an idea, to discovering people, places and things together, to struggling to sustain the excitement, to needing a break, to rediscovering what you loved about the idea in the first place...and on and on to whatever end I eventually reach. And I enjoy the whole messy relationship thing. My least favorite part is publishing. Now that is a process and it can suck all the fun out of the writing relationship.
Paulette: I enjoy hearing about writers’ processes because everyone is so different in their approach. I am very much a “creature of habit” in that if I don’t get my words down for the day—even if they’re sparse and awful—my work hangs over my head and colors everything else with dread! But, I respect that this isn’t the case for everyone. My writing is admittedly better when I’m feeling truly inspired.
I agree that the business aspects of publishing can seem daunting and overwhelming. What have been the biggest challenges of your debut year?
David: Giving over so much of my writing time to dealing with self-promotion. Of course, one wants to do all one can to give one's book a fighting chance in the marketplace, but it does seem a bit futile given what one is up against. Not merely the millions of new titles released every year, but also readers' attention spans reduced to seconds by antisocial media. Overcoming the perception of futility is a daily challenge.
Paulette: It can all seem a little like spinning your wheels, and shouting about your book twenty times a day on social media seems to do little to move the needle. I’ve found the best way to “market” myself is to build genuine relationships with other authors and readers. We’re all trying to be seen and heard, but if you focus on fostering connections within the writing community and boosting others, organic growth and relationships will come. The rest is up to your publisher.
Do you have any advice for authors?
David: The one thing I have learned with certainty in my 67 years is that one cannot generalize one's own experience to that of anyone else. Therefore, I am reluctant to suggest that anything I might share should be considered advice. I will offer the observation that the business of writing and writing are two very different things. I've found it helpful to compartmentalize the two so as to avoid allowing business effluvium to taint my relationship to writing.
Paulette: Thanks again for joining me, David! I wish you all the success with your debut.
You can purchase THE FEMME FATALE HYPOTHESIS from the following retailers:
David Roth spent over thirty years primarily engaged in corporate communications, writing, directing, and/or producing multimedia educational, training or marketing programs. He quit his job in 2014 to focus on his lifelong dream of becoming a writer of fiction.
He received his undergraduate degree from Stanford University. He began his MA studies at New York University but put his aspirations on hold to focus on making a living. That pause lasted thirty-five years. After finally leaving the business world, he reignited his dream by spending a summer month in a writing workshop at The American University of Paris. Back home he intensified his training in a series of workshops at Drexel University’s Storylab under the tutelage of novelist Nomi Eve. In 2015 he gained admission to Cedar Crest College’s Pan-European MFA program, which included residencies in Vienna, Dublin and Barcelona.
Three months after completing his degree he placed second in the inaugural Bucks County Short Fiction Contest judged by Janet Benton (Lilli de Jong). Of the awarding winning story, Benton noted "the precision of the observations throughout” and called it "elegantly written with a touch of humor." Shortly thereafter, Passager Journal became the first to publish one of his short stories. The Northwest literary journal Moss. was soon the second. Driftwood Press has twice made him a quarter-finalist in their Adrift Short Story Contest.
In 2019, David backed away from short fiction to concentrate on completing his first novel. He spent the year revising and expanding his MFA thesis before submitting it for publication. In early 2020, Regal House Publishing picked up The Femme Fatale Hypothesis for publication in November of 2021.
David lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania with his partner of over 40 years, Beth McConnell. His stories are set in or shaped by life in the small Delaware River town in which they have lived for over three decades.
To paraphrase George Saunders from Thank you, Esther Forbes, David believes immersion in language will enrich and bring purpose to his life. When he returns to stardust, his hope is that he will leave something behind that a stranger will read and theywill laugh, or maybe weep, or simply nod with knowing, and if he is extraordinarily lucky, they will feel that their life was enriched for having read it. You can connect with him on his website and Facebook
The Femme Fatale Hypothesis was recently featured in Foreward Reviews. Read more here