An Interview with Susan Brink O’Flaherty

Susan Brink O’Flaherty is a writer, former sommelier, and stage-four cancer survivor. Taste, A Novel is her debut. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two terrier scruffs.

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

The dark, absurd, and embarrassing experiences in my life have made me want to write. It’s never about the easy, fun stuff.

What inspired you to start writing this book?

I witnessed first-hand the boys’ club that existed in the bar, restaurant, and wine worlds from the nineties onward. I began to write my novel after what I would consider unsavory (pardon the pun) interactions that, today, would simply not be allowed. I originally wanted to ‘take down the man,’ punish him, make him suffer, and show no mercy, and, in turn, exorcise those instances, turn them into something transformative. But then, I sort of fell in love with my main character. He showed me the broken parts of his childhood, places where he was soft and empathetic, and I decided to give him a little love. Literally. The genre went from thriller/suspense to dark contemporary romance/family drama.

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

Taste was easy to title. The moment I wrote the first line of the book (which is still the first line after a bazillion edits), I knew that was what I would call the book. There is double meaning with regards to my MC’s upbringing and personal style.

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

Nils Frahm, Dust Brothers, Stormzy’s Vossi Bop, Vampire Weekend, and pretty much any track from Radiohead’s OK Computer.

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

I cocktail waitressed (yes, we were still called that back then) in the early nineties in NYC at a prominent hotel bar where my uniform was a Betsy Johnson gray catsuit that left nothing to the imagination and Doc Martins, and about once a week, my boss would pay me extra to get on the bar and dance to You Shook Me All Night Long by AC/DC, except the ceiling was super low and I had to gyrate and bop around completely bent over.

What advice would you give your past self at the start of your writing journey?

Use everything. Nothing is off the table.

What’s one thing you hope sticks with readers after they finish your book?

Sometimes, one has to lose control to find the correct order of things.

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