100: Peng Shepherd Interview

May 10, 2022

Travis interviews author Peng Shepherd about The Cartographers, her latest standalone novel from William Morrow. From the critically acclaimed author of The Book of M, the Cartographers is a highly imaginative thriller about a young woman who discovers that a strange map in her deceased father’s belongings holds an incredible, deadly secret—one that will lead her on an extraordinary adventure and to the truth about her family’s dark history.

This episode is spoiler free!

Peng and Travis discuss the interconnection of plot and character, throwing out half of a first draft, and of course… so many fascinating facts about maps.

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About Peng Shepherd:

Peng Shepherd is the nationally bestselling author of The Cartographers, The Book of M, and The Future Library.

Her second novel, The Cartographers, was a USA TodayLA Times, and a national Independent Bookstores bestseller. It was named a Best Book of March by The Washington Post, as well as a Pick of the Month by Good Morning America, Amazon, Apple, Real Simple, Buzzfeed, Bustle, and Goodreads, and was featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition.

Her first novel, The Book of M, won the 2019 Neukom Institute for Literary Arts Award for Debut Speculative Fiction, and was chosen as a Best Book of the Year by Amazon, Elle, Refinery29, and The Verge, a Best Book of the Summer by the Today Show and NPR On Point, and has been optioned for television.

A graduate of New York University’s MFA program, Peng is the recipient of a 2020 fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

She was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, where she rode horses and trained in classical ballet, and has lived in Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, London, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., New York, and Mexico City.

When not writing, she can be found planning her next trip or haunting local bookstores.

Find Peng Shepherd on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.

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This episode of The Fantasy Inn podcast was recorded in the unceded territory of the S’atsoyaha (Yuchi) and ᏣᎳᎫᏪᏘᏱ Tsalaguwetiyi (Eastern Cherokee Band) peoples.

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The blog post accompanying this episode can be found at https://thefantasyinn.com, along with fantasy book reviews, author interviews, and more fantasy content.

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