I grew up in La Porte, Indiana, and my childhood there informs my stories, especially those set in the mid-twentieth century. La Porte is a short drive from where Lake Michigan last kisses the Hoosier State. It’s a modest county seat tucked into verdant farmland, with cracked sidewalks and solid people. A controversy recurs occasionally: whether to put a space between the little “a” and big “P.” Other controversies and eccentricities have glimmered below the surface, the kind I like to write about. Characters are my fascination.