IQ by Joe Ide comes out today!

It’s the debut novel by Joe Ide, a Japanese American who grew up in South Central LA reading Sherlock Holmes stories. His protagonist is a high-school dropout who solves cases the police won’t touch. This time, it’s a rap mogul whose life is in danger. IQ is witty, fresh, and profoundly entertaining.

We asked the author one question.

How are you celebrating the publication of IQ?

I spent a lot of years going from career to career, each time with the best of intentions and a sincere hope that I would at last discover my niche in life. Launch day will mean I’ve finally found what I wanted to be when I grew up. I’m not a believer in fate or destiny but looking back, I can see how each relationship, setback, illness, fight, financial woe, song I’ve heard, book I’ve read, person I’ve met and dog I’ve owned—every period of my life, has led to launch day. Even small things. Fourteen years old, listening to Moms Mabley and Redd Foxx records at three in the morning. Waiting for the bus to school and talking to the winos who sat on orange crates outside the pool hall. Hiding from members of the Clanton Street gang in the church baptismal pool. Doodling and daydreaming in every class I’ve ever taken. Doodling and daydreaming in every office job I’ve ever had. Writing screenplays for the studios that never got made. Being depressed and studying my navel for months on end—each was a thread that wound its way into the fabric of IQ. Launch day has taken a long time to get here but as my Dad liked to say, “You’re a late bloomer.”

Get the book here.