Following the death of her father, acclaimed novelist Peter Straub, author Emma Straub was navigating deep grief when she spotted an advertisement that would change everything: a New Kids on the Block fan cruise.
Straub had just completed her 2022 book “This Time Tomorrow” while watching her father’s health deteriorate. The novel tells the story of a woman who travels back to her 16th birthday to reconnect with her father when he was young and healthy, serving as Straub’s tribute to their relationship. Peter Straub passed away shortly after the book’s completion.
While mourning, Straub decided to join thousands of devoted fans aboard a four-day voyage featuring the iconic boy band. The ship hosted exclusive performances and special events allowing supporters to interact with the group members. Almost immediately, Straub recognized this unique environment as the perfect backdrop for her next literary work.
“For the first time, I had the whole idea,” explained Straub, whose previous works include “Modern Lovers,” “All Adults Here” and “The Vacationers.” “I knew it was a book. I could write it and I would have the time of my life doing it.”
That inspiration became “American Fantasy,” which hit bookstores Tuesday. The story follows Annie, a recently divorced woman whose children have left home, as she joins a cruise celebrating a 1990s boy band and develops an unexpected relationship with one of the performers.
During a recent interview with The Associated Press, Straub reflected on her creative process and what drew her to this unusual setting.
“My everyday life is quite small. I walk the same loop, from my bookstore to my kid’s school and home. When I leave that, I’m reminded there’s a great big world out there,” Straub explained. “The cruise in particular struck me as novelistic from the get-go. You have a certain number of people trapped together in a small space for a certain number of days. That’s a novel right there.”
Initially, Straub approached the cruise experience as an outsider looking in. However, she quickly discovered she fit right in with the passionate fanbase.
“I went in feeling like an observer. A fan, but really an observer, because it all felt so foreign. Pretty quickly, I realized I wasn’t any better than anyone else there,” she shared. “I eavesdropped on everything and knew 100% of the New Kids references they were talking about. What impressed me was how much these women had spent so much time and energy planning their experience. They wore costumes, decorated the doors of their cabins and made gifts for each other. These were middle-aged women who had given themselves the gift of doing something purely for their own pleasure. I had never seen anything quite like it.”
The experience reinforced Straub’s belief that midlife represents a period of possibility rather than decline.
“I have so many women friends who have made enormous changes between 40 and 55. They have changed careers, gone back to school, moved across the country, gotten divorced and gotten remarried,” she noted. “I grew up thinking of middle age as a downward slope. That’s just not true. We are all still making choices and doing things for the first time. I wanted to spend time with a character who was in that struggle of realizing that and ultimately able to embrace it.”
Straub’s research extended beyond observation to actual conversations with band member Joe McIntyre, who provided insights into the unique challenges of longtime fame.
“I got to know Joe McIntyre from the New Kids. He is smart and funny, and introspective. I wanted to know what it’s like to be a middle-aged man who has had this life, and a relationship with these other men who you’ve known for 40 years, whether you love them or hate them, you’re like truly stuck in this work environment,” Straub said. “You are yoked to these other men for your entire life. What does that feel like? How does it feel to have these kinds of fans? How it feels to grow up in the public eye? And I was able to ask him all these questions. He was so generous with me.”
Despite market trends favoring certain genres, Straub remains committed to authentic storytelling over commercial considerations.
“In an alternate world, I would be able to say, the things that are selling the most right now are murdery thrillers with this kind of protagonist or, you know, romantasy with dragons or whatever, so I’m going to do that. But, that’s not how writing works, you know?” she concluded. “If I’ve learned anything, it is that the best book you can write is always the one that is most personal and most authentic to you. And so, alas, I’ve yet to have a dragon in one of my books.”
