{"href":"https://api.simplecast.com/oembed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpage-one.simplecast.com%2Fepisodes%2Fep-64-freyja-margret-ann-thors-Id5cUufv","width":444,"version":"1.0","type":"rich","title":"EP 64: FREYJA_Margret Ann Thors","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/8583da00-42e9-4897-ab16-2a2d61be8a44/ccc56a6e-78ff-4d82-a5c7-1c382d64add0/ep_64margret_ann_thors_2.jpg","thumbnail_height":300,"provider_url":"https://simplecast.com","provider_name":"Simplecast","html":"","height":200,"description":"In EP. 64, I interview Icelandic author Margaret Ann Thors about her gripping debut thriller, FREYJA, set in Reykjavik and steeped in Icelandic folklore. Thors explains how the novel evolved through multiple iterations—from an early draft centered on a male protagonist shaped by her near-death experience (a 2010 stroke caused by a hole in her heart from birth) to a version unlocked by motherhood and a willingness to blend literary prose with suspense. We dig deep into using skepticism within the protagonist to integrate folklore without turning the story into fantasy, employing structure to sustain an 80,000-word arc, and how her willingness to embrace genre provided the “architecture” that enabled her creative freedom. I love how Thors discusses revision, describing it as essential discovery and she credits her agent Erin Harris for her patience in the years-long development of this stunning debut. This might be one of my favorite interviews of 2026 as we discovered so many parallels—suriving near death experiences at the age of 22 and choosing to write as single mothers of young children. Thors told me, “I feel I met a kindred spirit.” I could not agree more. I am so excited to introduce this debut novelist, and am so grateful she had the courage to leap from her background in non-fiction and into the wild, precarious and more daunting discipline—and art of fiction. "}