Q&A with Lilli Sutton

From my Q&A with Lilli Sutton, author of Running Out of Air: A Novel:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

There’s something about evoking the air (or lack of air) and books about mountaineering—Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer and Breathless by Amy McCulloch, among others. The world’s tallest mountains call to mind a lack of oxygen, and I think that’s a large part of our fascination with them, and the people who chose to climb to heights where there literally isn’t enough oxygen to maintain physical functioning. They don’t call it the death zone for nothing.

Running Out of Air wasn’t the original title, though—it alluded to the John Muir quote “The mountains are calling and I must go.” My publisher pushed for a title change to highlight the thriller elements of the novel, and I’m happy with where we landed. It nestles the book among the other stories, fiction and nonfiction, of the high mountains. And of course, literally running out of air is an unpleasant and dangerous experience—which hints at...[read on]

Visit Lilli Sutton's website.

Q&A with Lilli Sutton.

--Marshal Zeringue