What inspired the story of Gingham Blindfold?
It was 2001, and I had just moved out to California with my then-girlfriend (and now lovely wife) Lara. I was jobless for the first few weeks, so I spent a lot of my time driving my beloved Honda del Sol to the beach or consuming excessive amounts of freshly blended margaritas while listening to The Breeders. Both of these activities were excellent ways to contemplate life, love and the notion that I should write a novel. The story went through a few iterations as I figured out how to do the work of writing a novel while confronting the many diversions and distractions of post-college life. (I think I labored over the first 80 pages for five years). Originally, Indira was a German model who had died in a fiery car crash two years before Ethan learned of her identity and … well, that was just all very complicated and melodramatic. So I was stalled. But in 2003, I read P.J. Huffstutter’s excellent article about California’s unregulated pornography industry in the Los Angeles Times, and
