NG: Hey, friends, Happy New Year! We start off 2022 with another chat with my husband, David Gardner, about his recently released novel, The Last Speaker of Skalwegian. Knowing how much David loves language—he got his PhD in French—I knew he’d write a fun book—or what he likes to call “a whimsical thriller!” Welcome, David!

DG: Hi everyone. I thought you might not let me return after our last interview. 😊 I’m honored to be here again.

NG: One reviewer described your book this way: “The Last Speaker of Skalwegian is part caper, somewhat bildungsroman, and all fun.” Tell us about the central quest of your protagonist, Dr. Lenny Thorson.

DG: Lenny is thirty, obsessed with word derivations, and an assistant professor who desperately needs to save his job. So, in the world of publish-or-perish, he hooks up with a dodgy character who claims to be the last speaker of Skalwegian in order to write a book documenting the language.

NG: Tell us about more about your protagonist’s world.

DG: Lenny teaches linguistics at fourth-rate Ghurkin College, lives in an abandoned rotating restaurant, and needs to publish soon or lose his job. He wasn’t always an academic. He boxed in his youth, lost his temper in the ring, and killed his opponent. No wonder he’s vowed to never again lose his temper—that is, until his quiet world explodes, and he’s pursued by a series of comically inept assassins.

NG: You’ve been a college professor. One of your reviewers mentioned coming from academia and the conflict and competition on college campuses. Is there any relationship between your experiences in academia and Lenny’s?

DG: The conflict and competition among the faculty is genuine, but certainly not to the extent found in “The Last Speaker of Skalwegian.” But novelists have to exaggerate. Thankfully, most college professors never have to deal with the assemblage of wayward hitmen chasing Lenny.

NG: How did you come up with the premise of your book?

DG: My inspiration was an article about how, of the six-to-seven-thousand world languages, the last speaker of one of them dies every couple of weeks and takes with them a people’s culture, music and traditional stories. It must sadden someone to be the very last speaker of a language. I certainly would be.

NG: Your writing is vivid and visual. Who would you cast to play Lenny in the movie version?

DG: Lenny would be played by Adam Driver, but only if he smiled. Daniela would by played by Emma Stone. My publisher has, in fact, been approached by a movie/TV agency wanting to see the manuscript.

NG: What are you working on next?

DG: My publisher liked Lenny so much that I’m halfway through the second “The Last Speaker” novel. More hijinks and danger in academia. I’m having fun. Someone once said that if you’re not having fun writing, your reader won’t either.

NG: Surprise bonus question. What kind of cows did you raise on the Wisconsin dairy farm where you grew up?

DG: We had Holsteins. For you city folks, those are large black-and-white critters that are as dumb as a sack of hammers and have dreadful hygiene. But they give lots of milk. After taking care of those cows, all my following jobs seemed easy.

NG: Where can readers buy your book?

DG: Ask for it at your local bookstore or library, or you can find it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B09CDYRK6C

A SPECIAL NOTE FROM NG: Please tell your friends to subscribe to my email newsletters for more fun blog posts and interviews. Those who sign up this month, January, 2022, will be entered in a RafflePress contest to win an autographed copy of Nancy Gardner’s Dream Stalker, plus a box of teatime goodies! Check out the contest here: https://nancygardnerauthor.com/january-2022-dream-stalker-contest