THE DREADED CLIFF by Terry Nichols

When I first saw that there was a middle grade book starring a packrat, I was immediately intrigued for multiple reasons. First, it has a great premise and a wonderful beginning. Also, it is published by Artemesia Publishing/Kinkajou Press. When I was considering publishers for my debut novel, The Etiquette of Voles, and I saw that THE DREADED CLIFF had found a home there, it gave me the courage to submit. Honestly,  it’s safe to say that Chains the vole is in print because of Flora the packrat.  I’m thrilled that I can feature Terry Nichols and her endearing book at last, especially when both The Etiquette of Voles and The Dreaded Cliff are available via ebook for 99 cents for the next two days until October 31, 2025!

Flora the packrat avoids strangers, especially opera-singing porcupines and rabbits that make prickly pear cactus pads talk. She’s never flown through the air, nor drooped herself before a kangaroo rat king. And she would never talk with a blood-thirsty owl, because everyone knows owls can’t talk. Besides, they eat packrats. Flora’s life is all about snuggling in her treasure-packed nest and ‘snibbling’ snacks with her packrat pal.

All this is about to change when Flora learns about the ancestral packrat home stuffed in a dark crack in the looming dreaded cliff. Ever since a killer took it over, packrats have stayed away. Flora tucks the story of the home deep in her heart…then tumbles into a faraway canyon. Can she survive dangers that seem to lurk around every tree stump? And will she ever get home and confront the invader of the ancestral packrat home?

According to your website bio, you had a thirty-year career as a National Park Service ranger. In what ways did this inform Flora the packrat’s story?

Thanks for inviting me to your blog, Karen!

My park ranger habit of meticulous research before presenting a topic to the public carried over to THE DREADED CLIFF. I researched articles, field guides, professional papers, video clips, anecdotal stories, and drew on my personal experiences to create the setting and animal characters in the story.

While my fantasy characters talk and sing and argue and have personal issues, their environment, characteristics, and behavior are based on and inspired by the real world. So packrat Gertrude’s drained appearance while nursing her pups is based on the real packrat world, where motherly duties can exhaust a packrat to death. And packrats actually chomp prickly pear cactus pads, even seeking pads that are extra spiny, benefitting from the higher protein content. Paco’s singing talent was inspired by videos of a real porcupine who gnashes corn with gusto and clucks, yelps, squeaks, and argues with a range of inflections and slobbery yum-yummy sounds. I figured if a real porcupine has that kind of voice, then surely Paco sings opera. A packrat’s penchant for treasure collecting lends itself to a story about searching for deeper connections to packrat ancestors and the collections they deposit in ancestral homes, some of which have been radiocarbon dated in the real world to 50,000 years.

Fascinating! THE DREADED CLIFF has one of the best beginnings I’ve ever read. What, in your opinion, is necessary for an effective book beginning?

Thanks for that! Revision is a writer’s genuine friend, to be used with abandon. Revise, let it settle, revise, let it settle. Revise again. After writing the entire manuscript, revise the beginning. Whether a good beginning is effective is subjective. At the least, an author will feel satisfied she’s launched her protagonist on a journey that most, but maybe not all, readers want to join. The author has dangled something shiny, intriguing, incomplete, a bit off, or something out of the ordinary that makes most readers feel a tug or an itch in their mind, heart, or body, compelling them to sink into a story that shapes and transforms that itch.

Very well said. What do you like most about writing in the middle grade space?

At first, I mistakenly thought writing for this age group would be easy. Not only is it an honor to write for these readers, but it is also a big challenge to write the voice, themes, story and characters to resonate with the readers and still be fun for me, the author. I like the challenge of writing for this group but also appealing to adult readers interested in these books.

And there’s definitely a lot for both kids and adults in this book! What are some of your current projects?

My contemporary middle grade story, THE TURQUOISE BEAD, is under contract with Kinkajou Press for release next year. It’s the story of twelve-year-old Pip, who has a choice: either keep the lucky turquoise bead she stole from an ancestral site or put it back. If she hangs on to it, she thinks she can fix her birthmark-cursed life. If she returns it, she can help heal the violation of a sacred site—but she believes her wretched existence will continue. She suspects there’s another way, and it involves the sad girl in her visions.

Other than preparing that story for publication, I enjoy writing essays, some of which have appeared in regional anthologies. I also conduct monthly writing workshops in the small town of Aztec, New Mexico, where beginning and experienced writers gather to write and share in a non-judgmental, supportive space. The interaction keeps me connected and inspired.

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