Jeffrey D. Boldt
Author Interview - Jeffrey D. Boldt
Author of Blue Lake
From My blurbs: “Blue Lake is at once a legal thriller, a romance, a mystery, and a poignant defense of the waters, woods and wildlife of the Upper Midwest. Warm and generous, serious and comic, eloquent and thoughtful, the novel underscores the ongoing tension between humans and our environment and ultimately celebrates the natural beauty we continue to take for granted.” Lindsay Starck, author, Noah's Wife
"A smart legal thriller. Boldt does for the wilds of the Upper Midwest what Grisham did to the backwoods of the Deep South." Stephan Eirik Clark, author of Sweetness #9
Author Interview - Jeffrey D. Boldt
Author I draw inspiration from: Elizabeth Strout; Richard Powers; Anton Chekhov; Christina Clancy.
Author Interview - Jeffrey D. Boldt | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book: In my red den with a fire in the fireplace. Coffee in the morning and a glass of Santa Barbara Chardonnay in the evenings.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with: The narrator from Rachel Cusk's Outline series. She would ask me delicate but probing questions that would in turn make me a character in the series. What's it like to be a widower with two grown daughters, Jeffrey? I'd welcome the questions but probably regret the cuttingly witty way she portrayed me.
Author Interview - Jeffrey D. Boldt | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author: When I published my first poem as an undergraduate.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook: Trade paperbacks rule.
The last book I read: Intimacies, by the amazing Katie Kitamura. It has a depth and clarity that reminded me of The Fall by Albert Camus.
Author Interview - Jeffrey D. Boldt | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer: Like President Obama, I write by pen and then the typed version becomes a de facto second draft.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with: I think I would hit it off with Elizabeth Strout's Lucy Barton character. She's been wounded but still has so much hope and energy.
Author Interview - Jeffrey D. Boldt | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a: Lawyer.
Favorite decade in fashion history: Now, because there's so much freedom to be who you want to be.
Place I’d most like to travel: Portugal, one European country I haven't explored yet.
My signature drink: A glass of Santa Barbara County Chardonnay.
Favorite artist: Paul Cézanne, who has a cameo in my novel Blue Lake.
Number one on my bucket list: I try to live in the present and don't have a bucket list, just hopes for the future. But I'd like to live in Europe again even if for only months instead of years at a time this time.
Anything else you'd like to add: Why is your novel seem so timely?
A novel is an interesting story, first. But within what I hope is an entertaining dramatic narrative, several crucial questions for our moment arise. These include not just climate change and environmental degradation but also some perspective on individuals who are burdened with trying to preserve the rule of law. They’re regular people with their own passions and frailties. As we’ve discovered recently, a lot depends upon them. But, again, I didn’t set out writing with this in mind. It wasn’t until I added the last sentence of the very last draft that I understood some of this myself.
Find more from the author:
jeffreydboldt.net
https://www.facebook.com/jeffrey.boldt
Instagram: jeffreyboldt
@boldtdog
Author Bio: Jeffrey D. Boldt is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and its School of Law. After a career focusing on environmental law, he received his MFA in Fiction from Augsburg University in 2019. His short fiction, poetry and essays have appeared in literary journals including those affiliated with the University of California, Johns Hopkins, Duke, Rutgers, UNLV, Clarkson, Stephen F. Austin, Minnesota, SUNY and CUNY. Blue Lake is his first novel, published by River Grove Books.
