Garth Stein is happy to be right where he is, poised for a book tour to promote his new novel, The Art of Racing in the Rain (see review, p. 78). He has a new agent ("fantastic") and a new publisher ("very supportive"), not to mention a book that sells itself. The Golden Retriever on the cover will catch the eye of canine fanciers everywhere, although Enzo, the dog in the novel, is really a mutt—he thinks his mother was a lab and his father a terrier. Stein, of course, has a dog at home, a labrador-poodle mix, "but don't ever call her a labradoodle," he says, "because she just doesn't think of herself in that way." He also has three growing sons to tend to at home in the Seattle area, where the novel is set. Your novel is told in the voice of Enzo, aspiring race-car driver Denny Swift's loyal dog, who has a keen observer's detachment, as opposed to the human characters and their conflicting emotions. How did you develop the dog's voice? If Enzo had a choice, he would love to interact with the world around him much more than his limitations as a dog allow. It is his enforced muteness that drives him to hone his powers of opinion and observation. So his voice grew out of that—what would it be like to be trapped in a sound-proof booth in which you could hear everything but say nothing? Well, first, I think, you would become a very good listener. Enzo is one of those dogs that is "nearly human," but at one point in the story he feels the need to lose that complexity and just be an animal for a while. Why did that happen? We all suffer moments of self-doubt, and Enzo is no different. Midway through the novel, he has a crisis of faith—he believes that his attempts to live to human standards have not helped any of the people he loves so much, and so he goes wilding and embraces his true canine nature. It's funny, but in the context of the story, it's actually one of the most human things he could possibly do. It is interesting that the dog can sense Eve's illness before anyone else can. Where did that idea come from? I have read articles about dogs who can smell disease, especially cancer, so that's something that is out there and is not a new idea. But what I wanted to convey with Enzo is not so much his "smelling" of Eve's illness but his sensitivity to her condition on an energetic level. My wife is an energy intuitive, which means she can read illness in people or bacteria in foods and so on. It sounds a little crazy to hear about a person doing it; for some reason, it's somewhat less threatening to hear about a dog doing it. How did your own experiences in racing influence the character of Denny Swift and his experiences? I've done some racing on the club level, and I really enjoy it. My experience in racing definitely helped me write the car scenes. But, maybe more importantly, my racing experience led me to a great friendship with a semipro race-car driver, Kevin York, who kind of acted as the inspiration for Denny. Kevin is racing in the Koni Challenge series this year, and his #75 car sports a GoEnzo.com decal! How do you balance writing with three kids at home? I can answer that with a children's riddle: A man who weighs 150 pounds has three ten-pound bowling balls. He has to carry all three balls across a bridge over a deep abyss, but the bridge can only support 170 pounds, and he can't make more than one trip. How does he cross the bridge with all the bowling balls? (Answer: he juggles the balls as he crosses the bridge! Voila!) What's your next project? I have a few different ideas I'm playing with, and I know that soon they will all fall into place, and I'll have a great story. Until then, please enjoy Enzo!

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Susanne Wells, P.L. of Cincinnati and Hamilton Cty., OH