Thursday Things: Jennifer Oko Interview Edition
10 July 2025. Vol 7 No 28. By Dan McGirt. #309
Thursday Things is here! This week we interview Jennifer Oko, author of the recently released novel Just Emilia, and other works of fiction.1
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Jennifer Oko, author of Just Emilia. Image: Author
Interview: Jennifer Oko, Author
We’re always up for trying new things here at Thursday Things (and by always, I mean on rare occasions). So this week we conduct our first ever interview, with author Jennifer Oko, whose recently released novel Just Emilia [Paperback | Kindle] we featured a few issues ago.
To refresh your memory, Just Emilia is a story in which “past, present, and future collide in a DC Metro elevator as three women get caught up in a gripping time-traveling tale of memory, emotion, and unspoken truths about their shared history.”
Jennifer has been busy promoting the book and we were fortunate to catch up with her online, although we’re going to pretend this is a live conversation, so just play along.
Thursday Things: Jennifer, welcome to our first ever Thursday Things Interview which is absolutely a thing that is happening live right now.
Jennifer Oko: Thank you! I’m honored. Maybe. We’ll see how it goes.
ThTh: Congratulations again on Just Emilia. Let’s get to it. You're about a month post-launch now — what has your experience been? What kind of response have you had from readers?
Jen: Why do you get to talk in italics?
ThTh: It’s my newsletter.
Jen: Fair enough. This is going to sound Pollyanna, but the launch itself felt like my bat mitzvah, the way so many people showed up for me. It was incredible. Honestly, as my people say, I was totally verklempt. And then it kept going!
ThTh: And is it still going?
Jen: It is! As you well know, putting a book out into the world takes an enormous leap of faith. Of course, close friends and family are legally obligated to say nice things, but when complete strangers started messaging me about how much the novel moved them, I thought, Okay, maybe this thing has legs.
One woman in India DM’d me to say she stayed up until 5 a.m. to finish the book and that it made her feel powerful and ready to take on the day, so that was cool.
ThTh: That is definitely cool. And how have the reviews been? (Also, don’t think I didn’t notice you slipping in those italics.)
Jen: There were a whole host of great reviews on sites like NetGalley and GoodReads (“I devoured it!” “propelling!” “a remarkable journey of self-discovery”) and then some odd ones, like the one that said it was “compulsively readable” and “a perfect read” and then gave it three stars. People! Please know that these stars MATTER!
ThTh: They do! And it is weird to get the glowing review and then one star, which I’ve also seen happen. So three isn’t bad. I think there is a certain percentage of people who don’t know how the stars work. They think it’s like golf scores maybe — lower is better.
Jen: Maybe. It’s a mystery.
ThTh: I see from your social media that you're doing the book club thing — tell us about that. Have readers found things in your book you didn't know were there?
Jen: Yes, yes, and yes. My friend Molly pointed out that there is a feminist storyline about the older, career-driven mother who couldn’t possibly be the mother she wanted to be and break glass ceilings. It is so true, but I wasn’t thinking about that when I was writing it.
ThTh: I can see that, yes. Now that you mention it.
Jen: My father, a psychiatrist, said you could interpret the entire story as a dissociative episode. In fact, a colleague of his has invited me to participate in a seminar of psychiatrists and psychoanalysts to discuss the novel!
ThTh: Okay, that interpretation works too, right? Because you do leave — not to spoil anything — but aspects of just how what happens in the elevator happens, and what exactly is happening, are left ambiguous. Open to interpretation.
Jen: Exactly.
ThTh: I’m sure a room full of psychiatrists and analysts will have fun chewing on that.
Jen: I hope so. I’m looking forward to it.
ThTh: Better you than me. Do go on.
Jen: I could go on, but honestly the best part has been when I’ve asked people at events to fill out index cards with something they would want to say to their younger and older selves. Some of the responses are funny (and many are about stock picks —go figure) and some have made me tear up, they are so poignant.
ThTh: I would tell my younger self to buy Bitcoin.
Jen: Really? How … original.
ThTh: If 2010 me would load up on Bitcoin, then all other traumas, misfortunes, disappointments, and mistakes in life I could get over by diving into my giant swimming pool full of nickels like Scrooge McDuck.
Jen: Speaking of dissociative episodes…
ThTh: In my defense, I’m constantly talking to my past and future selves. All the time. I don’t even need the elevator.
Jen: Uh-huh. Again, people have shared really poignant, moving stories with me about what they’d say to themselves.
ThTh: Sure. This would be awesome, though:
Jen: I’m starting to see why no one wants to do interviews with you.
ThTh: Okay, let’s move on.
Jen: Please.
ThTh: Just Emilia is your third novel if my math is correct. The others — which I also enjoyed! — were a while ago. I’ve lost track. First was Head Case, right? Which was released in — I know there were some twists and turns getting it out — well, why don’t you tell us?
Jen: Nope. First was my memoir Lying Together, which was a lifetime ago—
ThTh: I was just counting novels though.
Jen: — then Gloss, then Head Case.
ThTh: Aaaand I was still wrong.
Jen: I never felt like Head Case got a fair shake so when I was starting the process of promoting Just Emilia, it occurred to me that this could be a good time to dust it off in case someone stumbles across it when shopping for Just Emilia, even though genre-wise they couldn’t be more different.
ThTh: No one is going to accuse you of writing the same book over and over, that’s for sure.
Jen: Right. I love that novel and like I said, I have always felt it didn't have the day in the sun that it deserves, thanks to, well... the 2009 recession and some spectacularly bad timing. So when Just Emilia started getting some attention, I thought that maybe I should throw some fresh lipstick on the old book.
ThTh: Always push the backlist! The mark of a true pro.
Jen: Thanks. I wrote a new foreword and updated the cover (actually I did that a year ago), but otherwise Head Case is the same as it was when it first came out more than a decade ago. I suppose you could say that like Just Emilia, it is speculative fiction, but the similarities end there.
ThTh: As I recall, Head Case is about murder and medication, among other things. Give us your — ahem! — elevator pitch for that one.
Jen: Head Case is a darkly comic mystery about a young PhD neuroscience student-turned-pharmaceutical consultant—who also happens to have been shot in the head and stuffed into a trunk.
ThTh: It does start with a bang.
Jen: Actually, to be accurate, it starts a few seconds after the bang.
ThTh: Touché.
Jen: Anyway, as she investigates her own murder from beyond the grave, the story spirals through celebrity drug scandals, shady publicists, and a DIY antidepressant scheme gone wildly off the rails.
ThTh: Can you boil that down to the Hollywood pitch? Just in case Hollywood reads Thursday Things.
Jen: “Smart, satirical, and surprisingly emotional, it’s a post-mortem whodunit with a sharp sense of humor.”
ThTh: Nice. And how is this soft relaunch of Head Case going?
Jen: It hasn’t blown up in new sales yet, but I did get one new five star review on Amazon that tickles me pink. The subject line is: “Just read it so you can see for yourself, thank me later.”
ThTh: A most promising subject line!
Jen: I like it. Then the review starts by saying “Listen, this book was crazy!!”. And that makes me smile every time I see it.
ThTh: It’s free dopamine, really. Wait, you’re not—
Jen: Yes, like an idiot, I am obsessively checking to see if there are any new sales or reviews.
ThTh: That’s like standing in front of a mirror saying “Candyman!”. I’m sure 99% of the reviews are great, but there’s always that one reviewer who doesn’t know how the stars work, or who is mad that you didn’t write an entirely different book.
Jen: I know, I know.
ThTh: It’s understandable though. So you put fresh lipstick on Head Case, but it seems to me lipstick would be more appropriate for your other previous novel, Gloss. Is that one getting a refresh too?
Jen: Not exactly, but there may be some time-bending news there. Gloss first came out so long ago I can’t do the math, but it potentially may have a new lease on life even without a new cover.
ThTh: Okay, I’m in suspense. But first, you know the drill. Gloss is about…?
Jen: Gloss is the story of a rising TV producer whose big break—an exposé on a controversial teen beauty trend—turns into a media firestorm. As the story spins out of control, she has to navigate backstabbing colleagues, ethical gray zones, and the ugly side of the beauty industry.
ThTh: And the log line?
Jen: I can’t remember. For kicks, I just asked ChatGPT for one to see what it spits out.
ThTh: ChatGPT is the new Magic 8-Ball, really. What have we got?
Jen: This is long for a logline, but terrifyingly accurate. We writers may be out of work very soon!
ThTh: I hope not. But that’s a whole other conversation. Shall I do a drumroll?
Jen: "When a savvy but jaded morning show producer uncovers a high-stakes government scandal, she finds herself caught between ambition, ethics, and survival in a media world where spin is everything—and the truth might just get her killed."
ThTh: Again, if Hollywood is reading this—
Jen: Actually… Before the pandemic, Gloss was optioned to be developed as a TV series.
ThTh: Did I know that? That’s fantastic! I don’t watch much TV. Did I miss it?
Jen: Alas, after a couple of years of pitches, that didn’t come to fruition… BUT there’s now a new shopping agreement on it because the same amazing Hollywood team is going to try to give it another go.
ThTh: If there is one thing TV people love, it’s making shows about making TV, so I hope you have good hunting this go round.
Jen: Thank you.
ThTh: Let’s get back to Just Emilia. I am not a big audiobook listener — I prefer to read with my eyes, not my ears. But it occurred to me while reading the book that it would be great for audio. It would be fantastic adapted as a stage play too, which I’m sure you know—
Jen: Actually, my friend, the actress / singer Nicole Alifante, is trying to pull together a small adaptation of a couple of scenes to possibly perform in the fall. So, that would be fun.
ThTh: It would! Keep us posted on that. But with audiobooks being the fastest growing segment of publishing, I wonder if there is a Just Emilia audiobook in the works too?
Jen: My publisher doesn’t automatically produce audiobooks in conjunction with the print/eBook release. If the novel does well, they have a third party partner take it from there. So fingers crossed that Just Emilia does well and will someday exist in other formats.
ThTh: Basically, if people want Just Emilia in audiobook they need to go buy the print or ebook to make that happen.
Jen: You could say that.
ThTh: I did say that. Now here’s a question I’m sure you did not see coming: If the Jen who wrote Head Case, the Jen who wrote Gloss, and the Jen who wrote Just Emilia were stuck in an elevator together—
Jen: You’ve stunned me with the sheer originality of this question. Truly.
ThTh: Thanks! So what would Present Jen and your past authorial selves have to say to each other about writing, publishing, and your experience with each book?
Jen: Okay, that twist was actually not bad. Depends on the day. The Jen of yesterday who calculated the amount of time and money spent on all of these projects would say, are you crazy? (An inconvenient fact: publishers rarely offer much financial support for marketing and promotion unless you are a big name). Sometimes I worry that all the writing is really just a vanity project, because it sure isn’t paying the bills.
ThTh: Tell me about it.
Jen: But today, when I got a few more 5 star reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, Jen of all the books would say, See, your writing is good! People respond to it! It matters! Keep going! That’s been the same conversation Jen has had with the other Jens over the decades, on repeat.
ThTh: So you do that too. Interesting. And what would Future Jen, the author of your next book, add to the conversation?
Jen: I hate this question!!!!
ThTh: It’s required by law.
Jen: Right now I am not working on anything except trying to keep the momentum going here. It’s so hard!!!!
ThTh: But…?
Jen: That said, I do have two other half-finished manuscripts and I need to pick one. Both are more in line with Head Case and Gloss in genre/style, and there’s part of me that just wants to scrap both and start something fresh.
ThTh: I know the feeling. And we’ll leave it at that. I’m just happy to know there is a next book in the works, or at least in your head, because there always needs to be, right? At the same time, I don’t think it’s a great idea to talk too much about works in progress, because they’re always subject to change. And it’s kind of a jinx.
Jen: It’s like taking a cake out of the oven too soon.
ThTh: Exactly. And then a book ends up like some of mine — half-baked. Okay, my last question — is there any question you haven't been asked yet in an interview that you wish someone would ask? If so, pretend that I just asked it.
Jen: Nope. I can’t think of any, other than, “Hey, I am a big deal Hollywood producer, would you be interested in doing a television or film adaptation of Just Emilia?” I think you know what my answer would be.
ThTh: Hah! You are a pro — always be pitching! Again, Hollywood, if you’re reading this, just follow the links to Just Emilia and read that. Jennifer Oko, thank you for being the subject of — or subjected to — our first ever Thursday Things Interview.
Jen: Thank you!
Portions of this interview, which is definitely a thing that happened, may have been edited for comedic effect.
You can find Jennifer’s books at various retailers, but our links are all to Amazon:
You can learn more about Jennifer’s work and upcoming appearances at her website jenniferoko.com.
Novels by Jennifer Oko. Image: jenniferoko.com
This week’s edition is unofficially brought to you by Just Emilia by Jennifer Oko, available wherever fine books are sold, including Amazon: Just Emilia [Paperback | Kindle] Not a paid endorsement. I just like the book!
DC Metro elevator maintenance isn’t what it used to be. Image: Regal House Publishing
This week’s edition is also brought to you by Dan’s Advice: Take control of your digital life.
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