The Tamesis
From the title article of David Foster Wallace’s 1997 nonfiction collection A supposedly fun thing I will never do again Lauren Oyler recounts a Goop cruise somewhat against her will in 2023. The high seas have given birth to some incredibly profound and hilarious writing. Enter that space now. american fantasy, From author and Brooklyn bookstore owner Emma Straub – This book is filled with all the passion and humanity Straub fans have come to expect as it touches on topics like nostalgia and fandom.
Fashion Chatted with Straub about free croissants and matcha on bar day, balancing running a bookstore and writing a novel, and how her obsession with the new kid on the block fueled her writing for The New York Times. american fantasyand experience the Celebrity Cruise life personally.
Fashion: How do you celebrate the release of your latest novel?
Emma Straub: I mean, the best thing about this pub day is that I felt like I was living in the village from the start beauty and the Beast, I was just spinning on the sidewalk as strangers shouted, “Happy Pub Day!” I walked into the coffee shop across the street from the bookstore, and the barista said, “Happy bar day!” and then wouldn’t let me pay for my matcha tea and almond croissant. So, you know, I had a really great day.
What do you think of the Sea Boys story? american fantasy?
I mean, wouldn’t we all love to be stranded at sea with our favorite boy band? [Laughs.] I loved New Kid on the Block as a kid, and in 2022, my dad had just passed away and I had just written this very sad book. I cry every day and I want to write something really different and I saw something online about the new kid on the block cruise and I just thought, Well, that’s my next novel.
Have you ever been on a cruise? If not, will you go?
Well, sometimes people don’t believe me when I say I went on a “New Kids on the Block” cruise to do research. I mean, it’s also for deep, deep, personal joy, but… I go alone because I’m not interested in being noticed, and I don’t want to take care of anyone. I don’t have to worry about whether other people are having a great time or whether they think it’s a total nightmare; I want to fade into the wallpaper and observe as much as possible.
When you were on the cruise, did you already know who your main character, Annie, was?
I don’t get on the cruise until 2023, and I’ve basically been planning the book that year, so I already have all the characters. But it’s very helpful to watch how it all happens and imagine how the characters interact on the ship. I mean, I think I could have written this novel without going on the cruise, but it would have been a much worse version.
Why do you think so many people still feel nostalgia for boy bands?
Well, let me ask: what is your Boy band?
Definitely the Backstreet Boys, but I’d never seen them perform live. Have you witnessed the growth of NKOTB?
I’m glad you asked that question because I was saying something to my mother recently about how she never took me to see them, and she said seriously, “I don’t know if they ever come here.” And I was like, “For New York? I guarantee you, they came to New York City. “So, yeah, I never saw them as a kid, and maybe that’s part of it; maybe the big fan part of me is unhappy because I didn’t see them until adulthood. I think the things that we loved as children and teenagers have a profound impact on us; for some people it’s boy bands, for some people it’s Horses or Laura Ingalls Wilder or Harry Potter or whatever, you know?
