Dashka Slater already had a novel, several children’s books and a long career as a journalist in her pocket when, inspired by an incident in her hometown of Oakland, she decided to invent something new: a genre-bending true crime narrative for young adults. This week, Slater joins the GrottoPod to talk about how her career as a “punch-the-clock” working writer led her to examine what, exactly, happened on The 57 Bus one day in 2013. She also talks about her childhood dreams of cats who ride on horses and why she didn’t wear orange to the GrottoPod. The 57 Bus is the San Francisco Public Library’s citywide read for May and June.