Thomas Calder, 41, is the longtime editor of Asheville’s beloved alternative weekly, The Mountain Xpress. He is also the author of The Wind Under the Door and the forthcoming book The Crave, which will come out in Spring 2028. Calder will be visiting A-B Tech’s Locke Library on October 21 to share one of his short stories as part of the college’s Author Reading series, which is open to the local community. Calder recently took some time to share thoughts on his writing and where he finds his inspiration.

Q: Your first book, The Wind Under the Door, was set in Asheville, in part at the Grove Park Inn. Your new book, The Crave, is also set in Asheville and includes the Battery Park Hotel. Why do you choose to include local history in your books?

A: In 2017, I launched Xpress' “Asheville Archives.” This was a weekly history column. I spent a lot of time in various archives looking over historical documents, newspaper clippings, etc. I fell in love with our region's local history, which appears to have influenced some of my fiction writing.

Q: How do you balance personal writing with being editor at a newspaper? How do the two complement each other, if at all?

A: It's pretty much separated by time and location. During the daytime hours, I put on my newspaper hat and focus on the issues facing our community. At night, after my daughter is asleep, I drink some coffee and work on my fiction. I love that hour and a half I get to write, edit, or research for my creative work.

Q: In The Wind Under the Door and Flamingos, the short story you’ll be reading when you visit A-B Tech, there are many references to music. What role does music play in your writing?

A: In a former life, I played music, which probably factors into the prominence of music in my writing. But I also just love how music can add additional layers to a story or novel. Music can also tell you a lot about a character. With all that said, I don't listen to music while I write. I need complete silence.

Q: The Wind Under the Door and Flamingos are both about couples navigating the ups and downs of a relationship. What draws you to writing about relationships?

A: I'm interested in how people navigate complex situations. Often, some of the most complex episodes in our lives deal with those closest to us. Flamingos is actually part of a larger short story collection that is all about relationships: Romantic, platonic, and everything in between.

Q: The Crave is set in Asheville in 1936 and is about a jazz musician grappling with alcoholism. Could you speak a little about how you came up with this character and the idea for the story?

A: The Crave was initially inspired by the 1936 murder at the Battery Park Hotel. But early on in the first draft, I got sidetracked by a minor character and the story morphed into what it has become. The Wind Under the Door is a very small cast. For The Crave, I wanted to explore a larger set of characters and write it in a rotating close-third.

Q: What role does the Battery Park Hotel play in the story?

A: Battery Park is a major location within the novel. It's where a fair amount of the book takes place. But readers will also find their way to Montford, Riverside Cemetery, Stumptown, Beaver Lake, and the Grove Park Inn!

Q: Flamingos is in part about two flamingos that get stolen from a front yard and taken for ransom. What gave you the idea for that story?

A: As a teenager, I might have stolen a flamingo lawn ornament from my friend's yard. And this friend's mother might have gotten very stern with me about returning it, which I did. The story is in no way autobiographical, though. It was just the launching pad for a story about a woman who is grappling with middle age, a loveless marriage, and a difficult teenage daughter.

Q: Who are some of the writers who have inspired and influenced you?

A: So many. As a teenager, it was the classics: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Toni Morrison, Ernest Hemingway, Joseph Heller, Willa Cather, John Steinbeck. More recently, folks like James McBride, Taylor Brown, Halle Hill, Deesha Philyaw, Charles Frazier … the list goes on.

Q: How do you make time for writing in your life presently?

A: I used to worry that life would get in the way. But after writing for 20-plus years, it's just built in. That said, “writing” looks like a lot of things. Sometimes it's the writing itself. There's also editing. There's also writing cover letters to literary journals and literary contests. And there's reading. I consider reading just as much a part of writing as the writing itself.

Q: Anything else you’d like to share about what you’re working on these days, or about your work in general?

A: Flamingos is part of my unpublished collection, You & Me, which was a 2026 C. Michael Curtis Short Story Book Prize through Hub City Press. So I've been working to get these stories out to literary journals and additional contests. I'm also in the early stages of prepping The Crave for its April 2028 launch.

Thomas Calder’s reading is Wednesday, October 21, from 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m. in A-B Tech’s Locke Library, Room 121. The address is 340 Victoria Rd, Asheville, NC 28801. There is ample on-campus parking available at the parking garage beside the Mission Conference Center, or in any available parking lot space.