"A killer + a giant, and it's right there beside you, and it has the face of your childhood toy"

Bestselling author Julia Phillips on leaning into the bizarre, shelving a manuscript meant for an imagined audience, and her wave-making new novel, BEAR

Check out the collection of past Words With (Author) Friends, wherein I g-chat with an author and you get to read over my shoulder, and order Julia’s powerful new novel, out now!

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Julia: Is this working?

Me: Is this thing on?!

hahah ok perfect! we're on!

We ARE! How's it going? How are you feeling post-launch??

It's going well! I feel good! (As good as can be on this emotional roller coaster ride that is the first week of pub, I guess, ha!)

Yeah, it's a weird time for sure.

You've been through this so many times – do you have expectations now for how the feelings part of it will go, or are you hit in a new way every time?

I'm hit in a new way every time, unfortunately! It's very, very hard to hold onto the good things, and then I start to feel guilty for not feeling grateful and happy every single second. But the truth is, every publication week is a rollercoaster. All you can do is try to appreciate the highs and let the lows roll on by...

wheww I hear you. thanks to the magic of gchat, we can express our feelings here through emoji, too: 🎢🥴🎢🥴🎢🥴🎢🥴

that is perhaps the best visual representation of pub week I've ever seen!

HA

Congratulations on all the exciting things, though—cover of P&W! Reviewed in the NYTBR! Stellar trade reviews all around!

A meme with both Jeremy Allen White and Justin Timberlake!!!!

Hahahah, that last one is the pinnacle! No, really, there have been a million highs this week. It could not have been more wonderful. It's been the most incredible few days.

It's just been five years since my debut came out, and I forgot how vulnerable it all feels! Having flashbacks to being on the stage for my elementary school plays

Yup, it's a wild feeling, letting it all hang out. For anyone who's been living under a rock, can you share what the book's about?

Heck yes!! This book is a novel called BEAR, and it's about two sisters living on San Juan Island, off the coast of Washington state. Their island is beautiful but they're struggling there—they're having a tough time making ends meet, and they dream of the day their lives will change. And then one day their lives do, when an enormous bear shows up at their front door. Meeting this animal sends them both off in wild ways they never imagined they'd go...

When I first started the project, I would describe it as "Alice Munro meets Grizzly Man," and I still think that captures the vibes, ha!

I LOVE that comp! I also really love how it's kind of a twisted, adult take on a fairy tale...like, the Brothers Grimm would approve. What was the inspiration for this book?