Ruby Peru
Author Interview - Ruby Peru
Author of Bits of String Too Small to Save
The long-awaited release of the audio format for the book won the 2022 Deanna Tulley Multimedia Prize. Narrated by the author herself and voiced by a wide cast, this full-cast recording brings the novel’s colorful, imaginative characters to life in fresh new ways –sure to delight dark fantasy readers of all ages.
Ruby Peru’s, Bits of String Too Small to Save is a witty, classically illustrated fantasy for adults that asks: What’s the difference between animals and people? Magic and technology? A true home and a place to live? In 2021, Bits of String Too Small to Save was a New York City Big Book Award distinguished favorite. In the novel (now a dramatized, full-cast audiobook) innocent ElizabethAnn, her criminal genius Grandma, and their loyal sheepdog Jackson dive out of the postmodern police state of No Oaks, through a hidden portal, into the forested dystopia of Bumblegreen. There, ElizabethAnn must rescue this world from a terrible blight—or be executed as the cause of it. In the process, she investigates the disappearance of an ancient genderless magician, befriends a reluctant teenage queen, and rides a scheming talking monkey … all in order to restore Grandma’s scientific reputation and make this troubled land their new, true home.
Author Interview - Ruby Peru
Author I draw inspiration from:
Tom Robins, Even cowgirls get the blues.
Author Interview - Ruby Peru | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book:
In bed out loud to my partner.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
I mean it’s obvious, really. Bilbo Baggins from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. First of all, I’d have to explain what an elevator is, but once that was done, I’m sure he’d have “pocketses" full of delicious food. Hobbits never travel without it, after all. And, I mean, there would be grog. Wherever there are hobbits, there’s grog. And songs! We’d pass the time eating, getting drunk, and singing bawdy bar songs. He’d tell me tales of his travels with the dwarves and I’d explain how I’ve renovated my home, Hobbiton, to look like a place where he’d feel at home. If you have to be stuck in an elevator, anyone else would be a bore.
Author Interview - Ruby Peru | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
I used to read choose-your-own-adventure books as a kid. One year I wrote my own and gave it to my parents as a Xmas present but it was in the form of hundreds of scrolls I hung off the boughs of the tree. They told me I was a writer (and a weird kid), and the rest is history.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
Hardback if I’m in public trying to look intellectual at an upscale bar, preferably with scotch.
Paperback if I’m reading out loud to my partner. He’s into asmr and loves the sound of the turning pages.
Ebook if I’m not sure I’ll like the book and want to get it cheap.
Audiobooks are great for when I’m in my woodshop building things.
The last book I read:
The adventures of Amina Al Sirafi by Shanon Chakraborty . I loved it so much I dressed up as lady pirate and smuggler Amina Al Sirafi for Halloween. An incredible adventure book!
Author Interview - Ruby Peru | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer:
When I wrote bits of string too small to save I did it on paper in a library across the street from my job. I’d go there for an hour every day after work and write with one rule: I had to be having fun every minute.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
Amelia Bedelia (from many books by Peggy and Herman Parish) Amelia is always getting in trouble for taking things literally, which has always been a problem of mine, too. I remember as a kid, I asked another kid some innocuous question, like “when’s lunch time?". And the girl responded “don’t worry about it.” This is a way of telling the other person to buzz off. and saying that what I want to know doesn’t matter. It’s not exactly an insult but more like a brush off. But I had no idea, so I just took it at face value and said, “I’m not WORRIED about it. Who worries about when lunch is? I just want to KNOW.” I thought she was an idiot and she also thought I was one. The kid rolled her eyes at me, and I had no idea what was going on. I was always doing that kind of thing. In fact, when my mom told me about “the birds and the bees” she used the euphemism “when a man and woman sleep together… etc. etc.” so I thought men and women had to be asleep to make a baby, which kept me confused for many many years. Yeah, Amelia Bedelia and I would have gotten along like peas and carrots.
Author Interview - Ruby Peru | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
I’d be an architect for weirdos. I had so much fun remaking my little bungalow of a house into a hobbit hole, I’d love to do it again and again, adding secret places, hidden doors, fun nooks for children, windy staircases, handmade doors, stained-glass windows, multi-level rooms, and all sorts of fun stuff.
Favorite decade in fashion history:
Dust-bowl depression era clothing—pants held up with suspenders made from twine. Dresses that used to be nice that have been patched so much they’re something completely different now. Worn-at-the-knees trousers. Basically, it’s all post-apocalyptic. Society is destroyed. You make your own thing from whatever’s left.
Place I’d most like to travel:
No thanks! I’ve been all over the world and it’s for the birds. I’m a newly-wed and all I want to do is be at home, where I’m perfectly happy. If I never pack another suitcase, I won’t shed a single tear.
My signature drink:
Glenmorangie Scotch. Preferably with a hardback book, in a fancy hotel bar.
Favorite artist:
Bernie Wrightson. He illustrated the original Frankenstein in addition to a million other things. I love pen and ink illustration. Oh, also N.C. Wyeth, who illustrated and drew the book cover for the original Treasure Island. I love old-fashioned book illustration and great hand-painted book covers. It’s really a lost art form in many ways. I should also say Philip Harris, who illustrated my novel. In hiring him, I tried to recreate the old tradition of novels with just a few beautiful pen and ink illustrations in there—just enough to spark the imagination without taking anything away from your own creation of the setting you’re always building in your own mind.
Number one on my bucket list:
I want to build a series of tree houses that connect to one another with rope bridges, which is a scene in my novel Bits of String too Small to Save. The perfect post-apocalyptic set-up, in case the earth is full of sink holes or something.
Anything else you'd like to add:
The reason I made a full-cast dramatized audiobook of my novel Bits of String to Small to Save is because it faces an interesting dilemma. It’s hard to market as a written book because it falls between genres. The vocabulary, the complexity of sentence structure, the length of the book, and the complexity of the plot are way too complicated for traditional children’s books. But two of the main characters are children and their unique coming-of-age stories are a big part of the book’s progression. At the same time, there are a lot of plot themes (like seduction versus manipulation, and technology versus magic, and peoples’ neurotic tortured minds ) that will go right over the heads of children but appeal to adults. There are a lot of wacky characters and talking animals, which appeals to children, but due to the writing, it would appeal most to your more gifted high-level child-readers, which is a basically non-existent subgenre in book marketing. But as an audiobook, the novel has universal appeal. Kids can enjoy it by just listening and following the characters they like the most. Adults will enjoy it and laugh at completely different things than the kids. Families can enjoy it together, especially with all the fun voices and strange accents. I had some incredibly creative actors on the project and they gave the novel a whole new layer of things to enjoy.
Find more from the author:
https://www.facebook.com/rubyperuauthor
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https://www.instagram.com/ruby.peru/
About Ruby Peru:
Author Interview with Ruby Peru
A sloppy workaholic and independent operator, Ruby Peru drives a beat-up pickup truck and restores old houses. Named a 2021 “Indie Author to Watch” by Kirkus Reviews, Peru previously won the 1999 Bronx New Writer’s Award for fiction. She has also coauthored Untamed Justice, Business Cards and Shoe Leather, and Money Isn’t Everything–Everything is Money. In addition to her novels, she ghostwrites memoirs and thought leadership books for clients from all walks of life.
