An Interview with PG Lengsfelder

As with any journey, life has offered me more strange twists and turns than I could have imagined. At seven, sure I was destined to be a fireman or a forest ranger, my parents gave me a toy printing press. I thought, I’ll put out a neighborhood newspaper. With a circulation of ten—at five cents a copy—I was hooked: I had readers. I’ve been writing ever since.

I began as a copywriter in a major New York advertising agency and co-authored the best-selling nonfiction book Filthy Rich (Ten Speed Press). My first two psychological suspense thrillers Beautiful To the Bone and Our Song, Memento Mori (Woodsmoke Publishing) met with critical acclaim, including the BestThrillers.com 2021 Finalist Award for Best Romantic Suspense Thriller, and the BestThrillers.com 2022 Finalist Award for Best Action Thriller. I also won the Frontier Tales Reader’s Choice Short Story Award for the eerie 1879 crime story “Amidst the Effervescing Hemlock.” I guess all those early years watching shadowy, supernatural movies has had its effect. Besides, there is so much we don’t understand about the human mind or the unseen forces around us.

Writing is my drug of choice. I’ve written songs, I’ve written for numerous publications, and my stories have been heard on National Public Radio and seen on CNN, Discovery Channel, and other national television. I’ve written and produced documentaries on AIDS, the environment, the NFL’s Oakland Raiders, and Bud Nathan’s bathroom remodel (no kidding). Like I said, strange twists.

Among my other writing awards are a regional TV Emmy and four Emmy nominations.

I’m a member of the Mystery Writers of America and Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. I believe that there are many things that can’t be seen, but that are real. When I can get away from my keyboard, there’s nothing better than being in nature. A Bounty of Bone is my latest work with the third in the Eunis Trilogy due out next year.

Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?

I’ve always loved to write and there is so much to write about, especially the odd workings of the human mind. I’ve explored those unaccountable places through many fine writings by Robertson Davies, Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Juan Gabriel Vásquez, Oliver Sacks, Paul Bowles, Poe, Sedaris, Arthur Miller, and many more.

What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?

I began in a New York advertising agency and spent most of my career in national TV and as a Trial Consultant on million and billion-dollar litigation—all with my writing as the substructure.

Tell us the story of your book’s title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?

A Bounty of Bone is the second book in the Eunis Trilogy, and as such I wanted the title to reflect the filters my protagonist (Eunis) has to go through in her life. The first book is titled Beautiful To the Bone. The final book is (currently) entitled Illusions of Bone. For those who read the first book in the trilogy, the title(s) will make perfect sense.

How did it feel when you first saw your book cover? Or when you first held your book in your hands?

A Bounty of Bone is my third novel. It follows the first book’s cover as will the third in the trilogy. Holding my first completed and published novel sent chills down my back. Novels (and nonfiction as well) are marathons, not sprints. Those who love writing, as I do, wonder at the journey held in our hands.

If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?

Many traditional Tanzanian folk songs, those with a mythic theme.

What is one thing you hope readers take away from reading your book? How do you envision your perfect reader?

A Bounty of Bone is based on real events. I hope it opens readers to a part of the world they seldom see or hear about. And perhaps it motivates them to do something about it.

What was the most rewarding/meaningful part of publishing your book?

That readers connected with it and have asked for more.

What new writing projects are you currently working on? Or, other projects that are not writing?

My next book in the Eunis Trilogy, Illusions of Bone, is on its way. Like the other two in the series, it is more than a continuation of a woman’s life and challenges, it is also approached from a slightly different genre—or in line with my other writing, different genres. Multiple.

Are you a writer, too? Submit your manuscript to Atmosphere Press.