Uploaded June 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Conversation begins at 12:40
One of my fave guest/friends, Kate Maruyama (https://kate-maruyama.squarespace.com), rejoins the show to celebrate her wonderful new novel, ALTERATIONS (Running Wild Press, bookshop.org/a/4669/9781960018755)! We talk about the book's long gestation/publishing history, Kate's love of old Hollywood & costume design, closeted movie stars and how she told the story of a gay relationship in the '30s & '40s, and how it felt to write a non-horror horror story. We get into her own Hollywood experience in the '90s, how it informs Alterations, and how it felt to repeatedly smash into the glass ceiling, as well as how ghosts creep into everything she writes, how older people become invisible but have stories to tell, and how important it was to have a champion in Toni Ann Johnson (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toni_Ann_Johnson) for this novel. We also discuss present-moment Los Angeles, the craft book about novella-writing she's co-writing, the need to decolonize her writing students, the (maybe non-existent) influence of Jodie Foster's Home For The Holidays (imdb.com/title/tt0113321) on Alterations, the essay she wrote (PDF, static1.squarespace.com/static/66f8c1e1c42f3b5d987d8094/t/670c88659373427a164728db/1728874598851/storiesgalleyskmnotes.pdf) around the decline & death of her mother, Kit Reed (https://www.kitreed.net), and more. Follow Kate on Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/katemaru.bsky.social) and Instagram (instagram.com/katemaruyama) • More info at chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-643-kate-maruyama • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Stripe (buy.stripe.com/dR603B83MbhS4XS3ce), Patreon (patreon.com/vmspod), or Paypal, (paypal.me/vmspod) and subscribe to our e-newsletter, https://buttondown.email/vmspod
Past talks with Kate:
2019 chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-329-kate-maruyama
2020 chimeraobscura.com/vm/covid-check-in-with-kate-maruyama
2021 chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-421-kate-maruyama
Conversation begins at 12:40
One of my fave guest/friends, Kate Maruyama (https://kate-maruyama.squarespace.com), rejoins the show to celebrate her wonderful new novel, ALTERATIONS (Running Wild Press, bookshop.org/a/4669/9781960018755)! We talk about the book's long gestation/publishing history, Kate's love of old Hollywood & costume design, closeted movie stars and how she told the story of a gay relationship in the '30s & '40s, and how it felt to write a non-horror horror story. We get into her own Hollywood experience in the '90s, how it informs Alterations, and how it felt to repeatedly smash into the glass ceiling, as well as how ghosts creep into everything she writes, how older people become invisible but have stories to tell, and how important it was to have a champion in Toni Ann Johnson (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toni_Ann_Johnson) for this novel. We also discuss present-moment Los Angeles, the craft book about novella-writing she's co-writing, the need to decolonize her writing students, the (maybe non-existent) influence of Jodie Foster's Home For The Holidays (imdb.com/title/tt0113321) on Alterations, the essay she wrote (PDF, static1.squarespace.com/static/66f8c1e1c42f3b5d987d8094/t/670c88659373427a164728db/1728874598851/storiesgalleyskmnotes.pdf) around the decline & death of her mother, Kit Reed (https://www.kitreed.net), and more. Follow Kate on Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/katemaru.bsky.social) and Instagram (instagram.com/katemaruyama) • More info at chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-643-kate-maruyama • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Stripe (buy.stripe.com/dR603B83MbhS4XS3ce), Patreon (patreon.com/vmspod), or Paypal, (paypal.me/vmspod) and subscribe to our e-newsletter, https://buttondown.email/vmspod
Past talks with Kate:
2019 chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-329-kate-maruyama
2020 chimeraobscura.com/vm/covid-check-in-with-kate-maruyama
2021 chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-421-kate-maruyama
