Authors Answer: Troy Ford
Interview #547 In the Authors Answer series
Author interviews almost always focus on questions regarding an author’s latest publication (and that’s great because it’s how readers discover new books!) but sometimes it’s fun to ask authors to talk about their lives beyond the book they’ve just written. Authors Answer (started as a blog in 2020, moved onto Substack in 2025), is an attempt to give authors space to wax eloquent about the other influences on their writing. The questions posed here move beyond the formulaic classics like, “What books are on your nightstand?” or “What book inspired you to be a writer?” and even “You’re having a dinner party….which three authors (dead or alive) do you invite?” There are 20 standing questions. Authors pick FIVE that they want to answer.
Are you an author? Visit the Questions page to learn more about participating.
Today’s post features Mr. Troy Ford
Troy Ford is an author and editor, and the publisher of two newsletters: the writing-focused Ford Knows Books, and Qstack, an LGBTQIA+ Directory, Platform, and Community of newsletter writers and readers. A native Californian, he grew up overseas in the Middle East and eventually settled in the San Francisco/Bay Area where he earned a B.A. in Rhetoric from UC Berkeley. Since 2019, he has lived in Sitges, Spain with his husband and AmStaff Terrier.
His debut is: Lamb: A novel in snapshots
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Is your go to comfort food sweet or savory? Is it something you make yourself? Does food inspire your writing?
Cookies are everything to me, the perfect marriage of sweet and savory, sugar and butter. I once remarked to my husband while eating a cookie, "I could eat a million of these, non-stop - I could eat these until I burst. Death by cookie, yes." ("I know," he replied.) Peanut butter cookies are one of my favorites, that salty nutty buttery sweetness; snickerdoodles with their tanginess, or jam thumbprints with their jammy goodness are close seconds. Madeleines straight out of the oven but cooled just long enough for the outside to develop a slight crispy shell? Move over, Proust. (Actually, Proust got it wrong - soaking madeleines in tea should be illegal.)
Generally speaking I find chocolate interferes with the flavors a bit - don't get me wrong, I'll eat any cookie put in front of me - but chocolate chips tend to get the ratio of chips to cookie off (less is more). I've talked extensively about an apricot tart my husband makes, basically a cookie crust with a lattice top filled with jam - if you popped it out of the pie tin whole, it would be a single, beautiful, delicious cookie, and I would probably eat the whole thing and die of diabetes on the spot. (Worth it.) For this reason, I can't make batches of cookies because I have no self control and would eat all of them immediately.
I do find myself very drawn to scenes involving food. The contents of Ratty and Mole's picnic basket in The Wind in the Willows and the meal served to Frodo and friends at Tom Bombadil and Goldberry's house were early favorites. Any scene taking place in a kitchen or at a table, especially when the food is described, gets my attention. I suppose good food is one of the things I associate with a happy home; most of my favorite books are centered on homes, whether happy or haunted.
Not all books are for all readers… when you start a book and you just don’t like it, how long do you read until you bail?
I'll DNF a book on the first page, IDGAF. Usually there's a moment when the word "NOPE" explodes in my brain, and that's that - I'm done, no qualms about tossing it out the window and reaching for the next one. And it happens quite frequently: I tend to read a lot of oddballs, anything eccentric or strange is right up my alley, but the more a writer risks, the more likely it will be a miss. And that's totally OK - I'd rather they took the swing than play it safe.
Is there a work of art that you love. Why? Have you ever visited it in person?
The Sower (1888) by Van Gogh has always been one of my favorites. All of his paintings, really, but this one in particular captures so many different elements that I enjoy: high contrast between the dark blue fields, figure, and tree with the spectacularly stylized chartreuse sky and gigantic yellow sun; the inspiration in Japanese art; the idea of cultivation, germination, and bounty; and sown fields as a demarcation between city and nature. I did visit the Van Gogh Museum once in Amsterdam where it's displayed, and that's one of my favorite museums - I like easily digestible exhibitions, single artists or targeted movements. The De Young Museum in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park is another favorite, they've done some wonderful exhibitions like Post-Impressionists, selections from the Leo and Gertrude Stein Collection, the Arts & Crafts Movement, Dale Chihuly's glass, and Vivienne Westwood's fashion. I'd love to visit the Cone Collection at the Baltimore Museum of Art - sisters Claribel and Etta Cone were friends of the Steins and amassed an even larger collection of early Modern paintings which they donated to the BMA.
Vacation druthers… City or Rural destination? Why?
If I had to pick one or the other for the rest of my life, I'd go with Rural. I've seen a lot of cities, especially since moving to Spain in 2019, and they do start to run together after a while - cathedral, museum, main square, rinse, repeat. When we do go to cities we often enjoy the parks more than anything else. One of my favorite vacations was to the South Downs of Sussex in England a couple years ago - I walked from Virginia Woolf's Monk's House to her sister Vanessa Bell's Charleston Farmhouse - and it was so idyllic and peaceful. I'm a huge Bloomsbury fan. I picked wild blackberries on the trail, and sat down for a picnic by myself, not a soul in sight - little bit heaven. I'd love to go on some walking tours - the Highlands of Scotland, for example - and I remember very fondly a tour of Stonehenge, Avebury Henge, and Glastonbury Abbey. LOVE a good ruin - I'm very post-apocalyptic.
What do you worry about?
Everything, constantly. Wars, famines, the environment, my health, my husband and dog's, forgetting things, not doing enough, doing too much, money, strange foods, saying the wrong thing, sharks, planes crashing, blood, rack and ruin. The one thing I'm not so worried about is death - I mean, I'm not over-eager for it, but it's everything leading up to it which seems of genuine concern.
Endnotes!
This newsletter is a passion project started by me, Elizabeth Rynecki, to try to help shine a light on new-to-me authors. I am also an author (and a documentary filmmaker and podcaster) and if you want to learn more about me, you can visit my website or read my personal newsletter, Ink Trails: A Chronicle in Creativity.
I’ve never made Authors Answer specific social media accounts, but you can find me on Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Fantastic Q&A with Troy, and overall really like this wonderful series — very impressive that it is 500+ interviews and growing.