Amber Kizer

Amber Kizer is the author of the popular Meridian trilogy.

Her newest YA novel is A Matter of Days.

Earlier this month I asked Kizer about what she was reading; her reply:

The Book of Leaves by Allen J. Combes, The Life and Love of Trees by Lewis Blackwell, Tom Brown’s Field Guide to Wild Edible and Medicinal Plants, by Tom Brown Jr. These books are just a few of the research I’m putting into a new series that focuses on trees and human interactions. I am intrigued by the newest science of plants and trees, in communication styles and adaptability—though I’m still in the early stages of stewing all this information into fiction. A lot of the idea came to me while working on the survival research for A Matter of Days—so at least in my brain it’s spinoff reading from that project. There’s always an element of fun in work research so I don’t separate out my reading piles.

For the love of word and story I am reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman—while only a hundred pages in I am utterly entranced by the characters. I’m drawn to characters—I think that’s why they play such a role in my own work. I haven’t read all of Gaiman’s work but I haven’t been disappointed yet. I’ve got Elizabeth Boyle’s historical romance Along Came a Duke going—it’s witty, dainty and enjoyable. Ray Bradybury’s Green Shadows, White Whale is a book that makes me think while laughing—hard to walk that line but he does it beautifully. And Joe Hutto’s Illumination in the Flatwoods about raising wild turkeys rounds out my current stack with nonfiction and the character of nature and wildlife. I have about fifteen more books started and going in various stages but these are the ones that have their hooks in me at the moment.

Visit Amber Kizer's website.

The Page 69 Test: A Matter of Days.

--Marshal Zeringue