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Emma Straub only had one requirement for her latest novel, American Fantasy.
Writing 2022’s This Time Tomorrow—about a woman grappling with the impending death of her father who wakes up on her 16th birthday in 1996 and sets out to save him from his fate—had her hangin’ tough.
“I loved writing that book, and it was such an important part of me sort of pre-grieving and processing these huge things,” Straub, who lost dad Peter Straub four months after the novel’s release, detailed in an exclusive interview with E! News. "But I also cried every day while I was writing.”
So when it came for crafting the novel that would eventually become the newly released American Fantasy, “I knew that I wanted to give myself a present,” she explained, “and that present was joy. I wanted to give myself joy on a daily basis, and I did.”
The journey was, quite literally, step by step.
“I saw an advertisement for the New Kids on the Block cruise on Facebook or Instagram,” she revealed. “And I was like, oh, ding, ding, ding, ding. It was like a little light bulb appeared over my head—and I didn't have any of the specifics. I didn't have any characters in mind or anything, but I just knew that could make me happy. Then I spent basically a year working on that idea.”
Scott Gries/Getty Images; Charles Sykes/Bravo via Getty Images
And, yes, “I did go on one of their cruises as research.”
It was work trip that proved consequential as the novel is set on a boy band themed cruise with reluctant cruise-goer Annie reconnecting with the band that shaped her teen years.
Crucially, though, the fictional band Boy Talk isn’t necessarily meant to be a stand-in for any one group.
“New Kids on the Block was my boy band, but I was not interested in writing a book that was actually about them,” Straub noted. “So, I watched every documentary about boy bands. I read everything. I really dove deep into boy band lore. And it can get pretty bleak, let me tell you, but I just wanted to make sure that my boy band’s horizons were wide enough that that I wasn't just writing like a thinly veiled New Kids on the Block fanfiction. I wanted them to be real, rich characters.”
In fact, while centered around recent divorcée Annie, American Fantasy—also the name of the cruise ship—takes a three-pronged approach with points of view also belonging to band member Keith and cruise head of production Sarah.
Barry King/WireImage
“I knew that I wanted to present the cruise like as fully as possible,” she explained. It's such a weird world—and this is not unique to boy band cruises. I think any kind of fan cruise is like its own strange little world, and I wanted to make sure that I had all the perspectives I needed to really show how kind of gross and weird it can be, but also how beautiful and transcendent it can be. Depending on your point of view, these cruises are heaven or hell or somewhere in between.”
Straub—who owns the beloved Brooklyn bookstore Books Are Magic—also spoke to NKOTB member Joey McIntyre and The Bangles lead singer Susanna Hoffs to explore what it was like rise to fame in the ‘80s.
With Hoffs, whom she befriended through the bookstore, “I talked to her for a really long time about like, ‘What does it feel like to sing the songs that everyone knows the words to?’” Straub recalled. “‘What does it feel like to be, you know, decades removed from this work that people still really want to hear?’”
Penguin Random House
For McIntyre, she was able hear an experience that may be more familiar to that of Boy Talk, a five-piece group who came of age during their rise to fame. The central question for him was, as Straub told E!, “What does it grow mean to grow up like in this sort of sort of pseudo family environment—like, what is your relationship like with these people?”
“I had a lot of conversations with people who really had experience with extreme fame and aging,” she continued. “That's the other part of it, that I felt like I already had access to was—it's really a book about aging. I'm aging too. I'm 45. I published my first book when I was 30, and it feels really different. My body feels different. My ambition is different. My relationship with my work is different. So, I really wanted to explore that kind of stuff too, which is not unique to people who are super famous.”
A key component to tying the whole experience together was the fans. And though the there are no shortage of Boy Talk Stans in the book—including Annie’s roommate and Boy Band cruise regular Maira who serves as her guide through the experience—Straub took an intentional approach in her depiction of the band’s loyal followers a.k.a. the Talkers.
“What I really wanted to make sure of with the book was that it didn't feel judgmental of that sort of fan experience,” she emphasized. “And really, what I discovered, much like Annie, is that all that stuff is still there. It's not just boy bands, it's the things that you love as a child, you love forever.”
American Fantasy: A Novel
In her latest book, New York Times bestselling author Emma Straub explores what happens when teenage fantasies come to fruition in adulthood.
Alpa Smoot
And that in itself is a gift that keeps on giving. “For me it's not even nostalgia, it's just continued appreciation and respect for the person that you were,” Straub shared. "What drives me crazy is that people in marketing understand how important teenage girls are, but young girls get no respect.”
Ultimately, working on American Fantasy gave a newfound appreciation for the pop culture that shaped her.
“The things that young girls and teenage girls connect with are important and they should be valued and respected,” Straub noted. “This stuff matters, whether it's a YA romance or some sort of soapy television drama.”
She added, “That was really what I reconnected with—just full respect for the things that I loved and how lucky that I still get to enjoy them.”
American Fantasy is on sale now. For more new books releasing this spring, keep reading…
Mariner Books
Whidbey by T Kira Madden
Release: March 10
T Kira Madden's book starts with Birdie setting out for the remote island of Whidbey, off the coast of Seattle, running away from her past. Namely, one man in particular: Calvin Boyer, who abused her as a child. However, news soon surfaces that Calvin has been murdered. As the murder mystery unfolds, the story follows three perspectives: Birdie, Linzie—another survivor of Calvin’s abuse who detailed her experience in a best-seller—and his still-devoted mom Mary-Beth.
The debut novel from the author of memoir Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls, Whidbey is purposefully an, at times, difficult read. However, she handles this difficulty with such care, making it an insightful, commanding read.
G.P. Putnam's Sons
Judy Blume: A Life by Mark Oppenheimer
Release: March 10
For most readers, Judy Blume has been there every step of the journey—from children’s classics like Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret and Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing to her more mature reads like Wifey and Summer Sisters. But now, the iconic writer’s life itself is making way to TBR lists thanks to Mark Oppenheimer—and adding to the intrigue? An apparent falling out between the biographer and his subject over the course of the writing.
Viking
The Keeper by Tana French
Release: March 31
The Irish novelist has been a fan-favorite among thriller enthusiasts since In the Woods, and with good reason: they’re addictive and unpredictable. And years after ditching her Dublin-area settlings for the West of Ireland and the tales of Cal Hooper, Tana French is back with what purports to be her final outing for the retired American cop as he investigates the death of a young woman in his small town—and gets tangled in the long-simmering tensions that come to a boil as a result of this local tragedy.
Knopf
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
Release: April 7
To her millions of followers, influencer Natalie Heller Mills projects a life of traditional family perfection: a doting husband, a brood of perfect homeschooled children and a farm that doubles as a chic Instagram backdrop. However, her pioneer life masquerade is no match for the real thing as she awakens in the early 19th century with no idea how she got there—or how to get back to her reality. The dual timeline novel, tracking her rise to social media notoriety and navigating life in 1805, is a wild, twisty ride through the world of tradwife influencing.
Doubleday
London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe
Release: April 7
When Patrick Radden Keefe published his 2024 New Yorker article about the death of British teen Zac Brettler—whose secret life posing as the son of a Russian oligarch ultimately ended in tragedy—it could have been easy to question what more there is to say. However, this is the author of Say Nothing and Empire of Pain we’re talking about. So, unsurprisingly, Keefe more than delivers with gripping, unflinching examination at the seedy world of money and power Zac became enmeshed in—and his family’s quest for the truth in the years following his 2019 death.
Berkley
The Name Game by Beth O’Leary
Release: April 7
Charlie Jones arrives at her new job managing in farm shop in a remote island only to meet Charlie Jones, who has turned up for his new job at the farm shop. Beyond their shared name, they’re each desperate for a fresh start far away from home. However, unable to work out which of the Charlie Joneses is actually meant to be running the shop, the owners have a proposition: they both take on the job for a few months and at the end, whoever is the best fit gets the job. But as they set out to prove they’re the one meant to last, they may find they have more in common than a name.
Ballantine Books
The Book Witch by Meg Shaffer
Release: April 7
Prepare to dive into your favorite books—quite literally. Rainy March is, as the title suggests, a book witch with the ability to journey into the worlds of beloved books to fix malicious changes. There’s just one rule: Book Witches can visit but never linger too long in a book. But after her grandfather—and a precious book—go missing, must risk it all by travelling through countless classic novels with the fictional detective Duke of Chicago to help find him. And in the process, she not only has to confront the unearthed family secrets but confront her feelings for the Duke.
Penguin Random House
American Fantasy by Emma Straub
Release: April 7
Prepare to set sail on a thoughtful examination of fandom in Emma Straub’s latest, which follows 50-year-old divorcée Annie on a cruise centered around the boy band of her youth, Boy Talk. Without ever looking down on upon Stan culture, the book is an honest portrayal of aging, celebrity and the culture that shaped our youth.
Although, what truly makes Straub’s book work so well—aside from its 360-degree examination of the cruise through the lens of Annie, Boy bander Keith and cruise employee Sarah—is that it doesn’t matter what boy band stole hearts as the reader came of age, as she captures that magical feeling in a timeless way.
William Morrow
Cherry Baby by Rainbow Rowell
Release: April 14
Imagine your ex has turned your life together into fodder for his semi-autobiographical graphic novel—which has become a massive sensation and parlayed him into internet fame. At least, that’s what Cherry is going through as she picks up the pieces of the dream life they were supposed to share. As she takes steps forward, she runs into someone from her past, Russ, who may just be the key to moving on from the heartbreak.
Atria Books
The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer
Release: April 21
Sure fall is considered spooky season but there’s always room for a spring scare. And in The Caretaker, the We Used to Live Here author introduces readers to Macy, who desperate for a job agrees to a three-day stint as the caretaker of a property in the Pacific Northwest, despite the ominous signs that something is afoot. Indeed, it soon becomes clear that something is very, very wrong.
Flatiron Books
Last Night in Brooklyn by Xochitl Gonzalez
Release: April 21
Take a step back just a few years into 2007 Brooklyn, where Alicia Canales is back home in Fort Greene and looking ahead into the next chapter of her life. During this time, she becomes ensnared in the world of her mysterious artist neighbor, who throws legendary parties. Set amid a changing neighborhood landscape at a precarious time to be coming of age—after all, the financial crisis looms just ahead—Xochitl Gonzalez delivers yet another can’t-miss story.
Grove Press
John of John by Douglas Stuart
Release: May 5
After barely scraping by in Edinburgh, John-Calum returns home to his insular, deeply religious community in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, of which his father John is a revered member and his Glasgow-born grandmother Ella is forever an outsider. Beyond trying to avoid cracking under the scrutiny that comes with being home—especially as a still-closeted queer person—Cal’s relationship with John is a complicated web of love, resentment and frustration, which occasionally turns violent.
However, at the root of this fractus dynamic is the similarities neither is willing to acknowledge. It’s a really moving, unflinching story about fathers and sons, legacy and homophobia in ‘90s Scotland—continuing to cement Douglas Stuart as a must-read.
Berkley
Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune
Release: May 5
The day before her wedding, Frankie wakes up to a note from her fiancé calling off the wedding. With the honeymoon already paid for, she decides to decamp the lush rainforests of Tofino, a quiet inlet on the coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. She doesn’t go alone, however, as her childhood best friend George reluctantly tags along. And after years of distance growing between them, the week serves as an opportunity to rebuild their fading friendship—or let it blossom into something more.
Cardinal
Prestige Drama by Séamas O'Reilly
Release: May 5
American actress Monica Logue arrives in Derry to immerse herself in the community before filming on her new show about The Troubles commences—only to go missing. Naturally, the TV star’s disappearance is talk of the town, and everyone has an opinion or theory about where she is. And that’s where the heart of the story lies, as each chapter follows a different person untangling their relationship with the show and the events it is depicting, with the beleaguered screenwriter’s attempts to complete his scripts serving as a throughline.
It’s a heart-wrenching and at times deeply funny examination of The Troubles’ lasting imprint in the North of Ireland—and the complicated experience of seeing a painful moment in time become commodified for public consumption.
Forever
Score by Kennedy Ryan
Release: May 19
Five years after the first installment in her Hollywood Renaissance series, the beloved romance writer is back with a follow-up, this time centered around screenwriter Verity who must reunite with the composer behind her biggest heartbreak to collaborate on a Harlem Renaissance biopic that may make or break both of their careers. With stakes higher than ever, they set out to create a story and score that captures hearts—and possible Oscar glory. Although, in order to move forward Verity and Monk may just have to come to terms with their past.
Bold Type
My Bad by Hugh Ryan
Release: May 26
Years after breaking out with When Brooklyn Was Queer, the historian candidly details his own journey as a queer person in the ‘90s and early 2000. Weaving through his own experiences with AOL chatrooms and navigating the nightclub scene as a broke student, Hugh Ryan examines the Queer experience in run up to Y2K and the internet boom. It’s compelling, unfiltered and takes a thoughtful approach to detailing the complicated time in a person’s coming of age.
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