Children's Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Small Spaces Quartet about?

The Small Spaces Quartet is a four-book series set in Vermont in the present day. The main
character is a smart, stubborn girl named Olivia Adler who, with her two friends, Brian and
Coco, survive the terrifying games and schemes of an ancient evil called the Smiling Man. The
four books in the series represent four seasons. Small Spaces is autumn, Dead Voices is winter,
Dark Waters is spring, and Empty Smiles is summer.

Where did you get the idea for the Small Spaces Quartet?

I got the idea for the Small Spaces Quarter on a bus trip to Boston. I was riding along alone in this bus, when this extremely heavy fog came down on the road. Being a writer, I started to wonder what would happen if our bus broke down and we were stuck by the side of the road. What if something jumped out of the woods to get us, I wondered. I wrote my idea down and when I got home, I started to play with this idea. It was autumn at the time, and my town at the time decorated the town green with scarecrows. I decided that walking scarecrows would be the creatures that jumped out of the mist in my book. I was also inspired by portal fantasies like The Chronicles of Narnia, Alice in Wonderland, and The Wizard of Oz.

Which is your favorite character in the Small Spaces Quartet?

I love all my characters, but my favorite would have to be Coco Zintner.

When did you write the first book in the Small Spaces Quartet?

I started the novel Small Spaces in late 2017 and it was finished and published in 2018. The last
book in the series, Empty Smiles, came out in 2022

Are you going to write more Small Spaces books?

No, I don’t have plans for any more Small Spaces books. I wanted to do four books, set in four seasons, and I did that. The series is completely finished.

Are you going to write other books? Are you ever going to write a not-scary book?

Yes, I’d love to write more scary books. I have lots of ideas and I am eager to write them. Plenty of my book ideas aren’t scary, and I hope to write both scary and not-scary books for kids in the future.

How many books have you written?

I have written seven books in total. Four books for children and three for adults.