In 2017, novelist Joshua Mohr released the memoir Sirens, about his years of substance abuse, getting clean, fatherhood, and the congenital heart defect which led to a series of strokes that almost killed him. It was textbook Josh: gripping, thoughtful, and funny as hell. I took a particular interest in the development of the project. The first time he told me about it was after his heart surgery. We were standing outside a bar in Brooklyn where he'd just done a reading. My daughter had recently been born with a congenital heart defect, and I felt a kinship with him over that.