Caryn Karmatz Rudy is drawn to character-driven books, and Joshilyn Jackson's protagonists certainly are characters... as in wacky, risk-taking folks whose stories unfold with humor, suspense and drama coming at the reader with lightning speed.
"These are characters that people love," Karmatz Rudy says of Jackson's creations. "Strong and unusual people who you might not want to be, but you definitely want to know."
Karmatz Rudy is an executive editor at Grand Central, a division of Hachette, but she's been editing Jackson in hardcover since she acquired the author's first novel for Warner Books in 2003. Karmatz Rudy, who commutes to her Manhattan office from Philadelphia, where she lives with her attorney husband and their two children, kept her place at Warner when it was acquired by Hachette/Lagardère, and has edited all three of Jackson's subsequent novels.
"I loved gods in Alabama right away," Karmatz Rudy says. "Joshilyn has a special talent, a strong woman's voice that defies ordinary description: laugh-out-loud funny in some places and quite poignant in others."
While Backseat Saints features a heroine who appears as a minor character in Jackson's debut novel, the book is a stand-alone. You need not read one to appreciate the other, nor must they be read in a specific order.
"I was a little nervous about attempting a followup to such a beloved book, but then Joshilyn pitched it to me as, 'It's Rose Mae Lolley from gods in Alabama, and every single thing she told us in that book is a lie,'" says the editor. "How can you resist a book that comes to you that way?"
Listening to Karmatz Rudy extol Jackson and her work, one gets the feeling she thinks the novelist is somewhat of a "character" herself.
"There's always a bit of Joshilyn in her characters and she's horrified when I tell her 'that's you,' " Karmatz Rudy says with a laugh. 
Misplaced motherhood, family violence and conflicting dualities--dual natures, double families and polar-opposite siblings--are some of the complex themes that run through Jackson's books. It's precisely these dark subjects paired with funny protagonists that keep readers and booksellers returning for more.
Jackson's first two novels were No. 1 Book Sense selections, and her third, The Girl Who Stopped Swimming, was a New York Times bestseller. Jackson has been championed by independent and chain booksellers alike, and Backseat Saints is garnering fantastic early feedback.
"There's a lot of talk that this is her breakout book," Karmatz Rudy says, pointing to a strong cover image featuring a photo by Cig Harvey that telegraphs the power and sharp originality of the storyteller and the story.
In addition to a large readership in the South, where she was born and lives, Jackson has strong pockets of support in other parts of the country, including "rabid fans" at Seattle Mystery Bookshop, Seattle, Wash.
Jackson's fans are many and "kind of cult-like," Karmatz Rudy says, and they flock to her blog Faster Than Kudzu faster than... well, kudzu. For those who didn't grow up in the South and aren't familiar with this fast-growing vine, it's a Southern phenomenon. Kind of like Jackson herself.
"What she's writing is so universal and her stories are so captivating, she appeals to people who are fans of good writers and good writing, not just Southern readers," Karmatz Rudy says. "You could pluck these characters from this book and put them in another part of the country and just change their names. There's some ferocious writing in here. Her scenes burn through the page with their intensity."
One of Karmatz Rudy's favorite scenes involves a young, pretty waitress who's caught spitting into a cup of cocoa she's about to serve.
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That's exactly what Karmatz Rudy is counting on.
