Author Interview with Timothy Ashby by Jerelyn  (I-F-Letty)

I first became aware of Timothy Ashby when he spoke about his book to a Facebook group.   As with many first time authors they find that they get precious little help from publishers. What PR departments once did, authors have to do.  Also another phenomenon of today’s publishing is the free e-book.  As anyone can tell you a many of these e-books are amateur productions in which much is missing.   Well Timothy Ashby’s The Devil’s Den is far from that, it is a gem.

I am excited that there will be a second book in the series which features Seth Armitage, and he is a wholly likable protagonist.  The time period in which this is set is a fascinating one 1920’s Washington DC. 

I would like to thank Mr. Ashby for agreeing to participate in our author interview series here at PBS.

Jerelyn: I have read your bio and you have lived a very interesting life, will you tell us a bit about yourself?

Timothy: I grew up with a keen interest in history and adventure.  As a child my elderly relatives related stories about our family’s experiences in the Revolution and Civil War (one kinsman was a famous Confederate cavalry general).  At the age of 13, I moved to the little Caribbean island of Grenada – at that time a British colony steeped in a past of battles, ghosts and lost treasure.

Jerelyn: Was becoming a novelist something that you had intended to do, or was it one of those lovely zigzags life often takes?

Timothy: I wrote short stories and poems as a teenager, but stubbornly let the “practical” side of my personality dominate so got a PhD, MBA and law degrees and worked as a senior government official, international businessman and lawyer.  During those years I had several successful non-fiction books published, as well as a prize-winning ghost story submitted on a whim.  But becoming a novelist at this stage of my life – starting with DEVIL’S Den – was indeed one of those unexpected “lovely zigzags” of life.

Jerelyn: Will you tell us about Devil’s Den and Seth Armitage?  I’ll admit I got much more than I expected with this book.

Timothy: I’ve always been fascinated by “history’s mysteries” – genuine events with unresolved questions.  I knew that several attempts were made to assassinate Abraham Lincoln before the sad event of April 14, 1865, but the identity of the earlier plotters is unknown.  I used such an assassination attempt as the genesis of a plot, but wanted to link it to a 1920s political conspiracy to show the profound corruption of Washington DC during the Harding Administration (which included murder and high-level cover-ups).  I also wanted to show how the 1920s were a pivotal era in US history, when modern technology (radio, airplanes, telephones, moving pictures, phonographs) was encroaching on a country that was still largely rural and little changed from the 19^th century.  Also, many Civil War veterans were alive in the 1920s and some were active in politics.

As for Seth Armitage, he is a Virginian from a family that suffered terribly in the Civil War, and he has been affected despite the passage of three generations.  Armitage is a decorated World War I veteran and lawyer who joined to Bureau of Investigation as much for a belief in public service as for a hunger for adventure.  But his cynicism about the Federal government and “justice for all” is now threatening to engulf his innate idealism.

Jerelyn: When you wrote this did you see this as a murder mystery or political thriller?

Timothy: I saw DEVIL’S DEN as a “historical mystery thriller.”  The corrupt, labyrinthine politics of the 1860s and 1920s provide a personally fascinating historical backdrop.

Jerelyn: I always wonder what draws a writer to the time period they set their books in.  What drew you to this particular period?

Timothy: As mentioned earlier, the 1920s were a pivotal time in American history.  I also love the music, cars and fashions (I must say that I absolutely love BOARDWALK EMPIRE, which features some of the same real-life characters that I use).  Finally, I was influenced by knowing three of my four grandparents who would have been contemporaries in the age of Seth Armitage.  One of my grandmothers played the background for silent films when she was just a teenager, and she taught me many of the old songs, and even how to dance the TURKEY TROT and the “CHARLESTON!”

Jerelyn: The other thing that astounded me was the research that went into this book; did you run across anything that surprised you?

Timothy: One thing that surprised me was how rapidly technology was advancing in the 1920s.  We may think we live in a time of rapid change, but the rate of technological adoption by Americans – as well as the creation of new inventions (e.g. the first public demonstration of a television broadcast was in 1925) – was astonishing.  For example, in 1923 there were 600 radio stations broadcasting to 3 million American households.  Just five years earlier, there were no public radio stations and not a single private American family owned a radio.

Jerelyn: I think I loved this character so much because Seth was a WWI vet, as was my Grandfather, I grew up on stories of him; he passed a few years before I was born.  Do you have a family connection to the Civil or WWI?

Timothy: A number of my paternal relatives served in the Confederate army during the Civil War.  Two relatives – brothers – were at Pickett’s Charge during the Battle of Gettysburg in the same regiment – the 8^th Virginia – that Seth’s fictional grandfathers served in.  Also, like one of Seth’s grandfather’s, one of my relatives, 19-year-old Private James Ashby, was killed in action and his body was never found.

I was fortunate to have known many WWI veterans while growing up and I am so glad that I paid careful attention to their first-hand stories before they passed on.  My grandfather’s first cousin was a Marine officer like Seth Armitage who fought at Belleau Wood, and he told me how the Southern boys in his unit gave the “Rebel Yell” before charging the Germans – the Marines had learned the “Yell” from their Confederate veteran grandfathers. Wonderful piece of history that will be included in my next Seth Armitage adventure, IN SHADOWLAND.

Jerelyn: The other thing I’ve noticed proves the old adage: The more that things change the more they stay the same.  This could have easily been a contemporary novel.  I am referring to the shenanigans on Wall Street, the every man for themselves attitude in politics. Was that a conscious thought on your part while writing The Devil’s Den?

Timothy: I lived and worked in Washington DC (including for the Federal Government), and like Seth became thoroughly disillusioned with the corruption, cronyism and waste.  So my continuing ire and disgust definitely influences my writing.

Jerelyn: I love mysteries and I love more romantic relationship driven novels too.  I was pleasantly surprised to find a love story in the story.  Did you set out to have Seth find love?

Timothy: Yes, I wanted Seth to find love (he’s searching for expiation as well as solace), but as my readers will note, Peggy has her own agenda.

Jerelyn: Will Peggy be in the next book as well?

Timothy: All I can reveal is that Seth continues his quest for love!

Jerelyn: I always ask authors what they read as a child.  What were your favorite books?

Timothy: Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn and the wonderful series of historical novels by Rosemary Sutcliffe.

Jerelyn: What do you read for pleasure now?

Timothy: I’ve lately discovered some terrific mystery/thriller writers: Alex Berenson, P.J. Alderman, and Barry Eisler.  My perennial favorites are Nelson DeMille, Wilbur Smith and Frederick Forsyth – true masters of the thriller genre.

Jerelyn: Will you tell us a bit about your next book In Shadowlands, and when will it be released?

Timothy: The plot of IN SHADOWLANDS, second in the “Seth Armitage” series, is derived from the mystery surrounding the “death” of Lt. Quentin Roosevelt, son of former President Teddy Roosevelt, who was shot down behind German lines in 1918 during a dogfight over the Western Front.  The book is still a work in progress!

Jerelyn: Thank-you Tim and I hope to be reading In Shadowlands soon.  If you would like to read more about Tim; please visit his website www.timashby.com  or you follow him on face book at http://www.facebook.com/TimAshbyBooks  and Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/TFAshby

To read my review of  Timothy Ashby’s book, Devil’s Den on PBS, click this LINK

Interview with Abigail Roux by Mary (kilchurn)

Abigail Roux is a gay fiction author with Dreamspinner Press and Riptide Publishing.  She has nine novels and four ebooks available.  Her tenth novel, Armed and Dangerous (Cut & Run, Book 5) will be released tomorrow, May 18^th.  She was born and raised in North Carolina. A past volleyball star who specializes in pratfalls and sarcasm, she currently spends her time coaching middle school volleyball and softball and dreading the day when her little girl hits that age. Abigail has a baby girl she calls Boomer, four rescued cats, one dog, a crazyass extended family, and a cast of thousands in her head.

Special thanks to our members, Issa S. (Issa-345), Denise L. (fangrrl) and Kim M. (RomanceLuvr) for their interview questions.

How has it been writing books without Madeline?

It’s been an easier transition than I would have imagined.  I knew I could write a solo book because I had done it before plenty of times, and I’ve found that all the tasks that are difficult with a co-writer – deciding on plot points, naming a character, finding the right time of the day to write – are much easier when it’s just me making the decisions. The biggest difference so far has been the time it takes to produce a fully formed novel; where before it would take nearly a year for us together, I’m now able to finish a project in about 2 months.

You set up playlists for all of your books. How do you come up with the lists?

I like music, and I love the way music can make you feel at certain times of your life. I also like to listen to music when I write because it works as a dampener for my brain, it cuts off all the daily distraction and lets me focus on the story. So at first I would put together playlists for myself to write to, full of songs that either helped with the mood of a story or reminded me of a certain scene or feeling or character. When the book was done and published, I would look at this playlist and think, ‘What do I do with it now?’ We decided that readers might like them too, and I finally realized that it was another way to torture readers who are impatiently waiting for the next releases!

What books are in your “To Be Read” pile?

I always cringe when I admit this to readers, but I have a very small TBR pile. I know the advice to most writers is to be a voracious reader, but let’s be real here. I’m a single mother with a 3-year old who appears to be smarter than I am, so my free time is pretty rare. When I do get a few hours, I’m usually plotting, writing, or trying to watch a ballgame. But when I do find that I can sit and enjoy a book, I go for the summer blockbuster types, anything that combines action with history, knowledge with gunfire, I love it! Steve Berry, James Rollins, Preston and Child. I love Elizabeth Peters and could read her Amelia Peabody series a thousand times over.

What would be the name of your unauthorized biography?

Drugged & Amused. I’ve been injured and hurt so often since I was 14 years old, I feel like I’ve spent my entire life on painkillers or recovering from an injury.

Aside from the Cut and Run series, what other new projects do you have on the horizon?

I’ve got a number of projects that are in various stages of disaster. I’ve got a ghost story that comes out in October. As for stuff that hasn’t been submitted, I have a baseball story that I’m still tweaking, a treasure hunt that needs some more research, a detective story that needs a crime, and a few others that are basically just a scene or an idea in my Cryogenic Suspension folder.

With the upcoming release of Armed and Dangerous, your readers have some questions specific to Ty and Zane.

Ty has always been your character. Do you feel you know Zane well enough to make him your own as well?

I had my doubts when I first started working Armed & Dangerous alone, but it only took a few days for me to get into the character and feel comfortable with him. Readers might detect subtle changes, but they’re supposed to. The characters are growing and changing, and I think I’ve got a handle on them both.

You’ve said there are at least 9 books planned. Has the whole series been mapped out in your head all along or have the characters taken you in some different directions.

The bare bones of the series have been mapped out in my head for a while. With each book subtle things change, both to the plot of that book and to the series, but in the end I’ll get us to the same place. Mostly.

What do you enjoy most about writing this series?

I love these characters. I enjoy everything about it, from the creation of the stories to the fan reactions to the momentary panic when I can’t get my laptop to turn on. But in the end, my favorite thing about it is the characters themselves. I see a lot of myself in Ty and Zane, and I think readers do as well. They’re real and relatable, but still over-the-top action heroes that most people will never be. The dichotomy is what makes them so much fun.

What are the challenges in writing this series?

I don’t think it comes with any unusual challenges. Keeping the characters consistent, making sure the quality of the storytelling and the writing stays high, walking a tightrope between tension and romance, making sure the plots stay relevant and provide an interesting backdrop for the romance aspect of the story. I like to think I do all of the above for everything I write. The massive following Ty and Zane have accumulated can get a little overwhelming at times, and in the past few months I’ve seen a lot of people questioning whether I can handle the series solo. I hope I can answer that question May 18^th when Armed & Dangerous releases, but the doubt in people’s minds has weighed on me at times.

Some of Ty and Zane’s fans have written fanfic and some of them have even set them up on tumblr! How do you feel about this? Do you read or follow any of it?

I think it’s kind of awesome! People love the characters, and fanfiction is a way to stay close to a character or story you love. I’m flattered and I hope RPers and fanficcers are having fun.

There has been some criticism about some of the side characters in the Cut and Run series. How do you handle fan criticism?

I try to handle it with grace and understanding (read that as silence), but sometimes I just have to shut the laptop and step away. I’ve seen a lot of criticism about the characters’ actions, especially in Divide & Conquer. The characters do what I tell them. Once I put that character in ink, it’s out of my hands how a reader interprets him or her, and I don’t really mind if readers love or hate a character. The one time it got nasty for me was when I was accused of introducing a character as a lazy plot device. I take pride in the way I weave a story, so when someone with no knowledge of my overall plan tells me that Character A served no purpose, it’s insulting, to say the least.

Without giving anything away, can you give us some generalities of where you are going to take Ty and Zane in this series? We assume there are still relationship issues to work through.

I’m going to take them to Hell and back!  Mwuahahahaha!  No, really. I hope to take them to a place where both men are fulfilled, and that readers will love seeing.

If Ty and Zane each had their own “song”? What would it be?

This is a harder question to answer than I thought it would be. I see songs in two ways: the lyrics speaking a message to you, and then the overall feeling of the song. So since the lyrics change as the stories do, I’ll go with the songs that FEEL like Ty and Zane. Ty: Rockin’ Pneumonia & the Boogie Woogie Flu by Johnny Rivers. It’s a loose, happy song that makes your feet bounce and the world feel like a party, and I think of Ty every time it comes up on my iPod. Zane: Like Red on a Rose by Alan Jackson. It’s smooth and calm with an edge of dark sadness, but it’s still beautiful and sexy.

The covers for the Cut and Run Series were the inspiration for this interview.  I was standing in the elevator at the hospital heading for a mammogram, when a lady in the elevator saw carrying “Fish and Chips.”  She asked me if I was reading a cookbook.  I was extremely thankful for the life preserver on the cover.  That being said, the covers for this series are very non-typical for the genre.  How did you decide on them versus a cover with people on it?

Ever since I first got published, I’ve requested of my publishers that I don’t want naked manchest, and I don’t want faces on my covers. The former is for obvious reasons, and the latter is because I want the readers to form their own picture of the characters, not what me or a cover artist imagine. I don’t like people on my covers. When we were looking for an idea for the Cut & Run title, we came across a lot of different images. When I saw the knife, I fell in love with the idea. Simple. Elegant. Easily turned into a series if we wished to write more. And it was most certainly different from anything else being done at that time, or even still being done. I fought for that style of cover and for that knife. My co-author hated it and nixed it right away. But the cover artist loved it for the same reasons I did, and after months of trying to convince everyone that sometimes less is more when you’re trying to grab attention on a bookshelf, the books got the covers they now have. I still stand by my style of covers, both for this series, and for most of my solo works. I think they’re striking, and I think just because it’s fiction, M/M, or erotica, doesn’t mean it can’t have a beautiful, nude-free cover.

I’ve been wondering about Zane’s family and if we’ll read more about them? Ty’s family has been seen, and given readers insight into Ty’s personality development. But other than the deceased wife and a couple passing comments, we do not have much info on Zane.

When I took over the series, I also took over Zane, his back story, and his development. Readers will get to meet his family and see where he comes from, and yes it will take an entire book to do it!

Is T-Shirt hell giving you a cut for pitching their products? Are you still getting Ty’s T-shirt sayings from there?

I don’t get all of the T-shirts from there, but I have gotten some ideas in the past. I’m an affiliate, and can link to them with their permission. I try to make sure that the shirts Ty wears are real shirts that readers can find and buy, but sometimes I just make them up.

Several readers have commented on Ty’s resemblance to Dean Winchester.  What do you think of that and are you incorporating some of Dean into writing Ty?

After I had my daughter, I spent many nights sitting up with her, holding her as she slept and nursing, and I ran through all the DVD series I owned and had never watched. Supernatural was one of those, and I fell in love with the show. But I remember sitting and watching and thanking my lucky stars that I had formed Ty’s character and already had two of the books published before I ever saw an episode of Supernatural. Dean and Ty were so very similar that it was uncanny. I love Dean Winchester, he’s obviously the type of character that I identify with and admire. But I’m glad that I can say with all honesty that Ty was not modeled on him. Sometimes I do see Jensen Ackles/Dean when I’m writing Ty, it’s the attitude that does it, and there might be some unconscious incorporating. I try to keep Ty his own man, though, and simply admire Dean from my couch.

I just finished reading Caught Running and the setting is one very familiar to me as a graduated from a High School in that county.  How is it you are so knowledgeable of that area?

Honestly, Caught Running was meant to be everyone’s high school. We tried to keep the details to a minimum, to give the town and school a name but nothing that your own memory of your own high school couldn’t overcome. We wanted the reader to identify with the setting as well as the men. I picked the high school because I’m an Atlanta Braves fan, and I knew it was a nice big school where athletes would have been scouted hard (and because the school colors, orange and blue, were my school colors too!)

And now for the silly stuff:

Onion Rings or French Fries? Onion rings. I love onion breath.

Coke or Pepsi? Pepsi, but only insofar as that’s the closest one to Dr Pepper.

M&Ms or Reese’s Pieces? Reese’s Pieces. Not a fan of chocolate at all.

Anchovies or No Anchovies? None, please. I don’t like the way they look at me.

Bugs Bunny or the Flintstones? Bugs Bunny, but only by a hare.

Early Bird or Night Owl? Most definitely a night owl. I like it when the world calms.

Steak or Chicken? Steak.

Red Wine or White Wine? I don’t like to judge my alcohol on color. I like my drinks fruity!

Folgers or Maxwell House ?  Neither. Just the smell of coffee makes me want to yark.

Beach or the Mountains? Beach, usually. But sometimes the mountains call my name.

Ms. Roux has generously offered a copy of her new book Armed and Dangerous to a member who comments on this Blog. A Winner will be chosen at Random. Good Luck!.

Interview with Author Imogen Robertson by Jerelyn H. (I-F-Letty)

As a lover of books, there is nothing better than finding an author whose writing you can become lost in, such is the case with Imogen Robertson.  My friend in the H/F forum sent me the first book in Ms. Robertson’s Westerman and Crowther series, Instruments of Darkness.  I saw these books described as Georgian CSI, it is partially true, this is when anatomists began to study more openly  the science of body and causes of death be it natural or not. 

One of the things that I have come to love most about PBS is the sharing of information, it seems we cannot help ourselves when we find an author we love; we have to tell people about it. Word of mouth still sells books.  This series has created quite a stir in our little corner of PBS.  They are beautifully written, interesting, and sometimes poignant.  I love them and can’t wait for the next release of Circle of Shadows on April 26^, 2012.

I want to thank Ms. Robertson for agreeing to this interview and would like to welcome her to the PBS blog.

Imogen: Thank you for that lovely introduction! Pleasure to be here.

Jerelyn: I read that you have always written stories.  But how did you make the leap from television into writing, or did you also write for television?

Imogen: It was a bit of a leap of faith. For several years after I began working in TV I wrote very little but did I learn a great deal about story and structure. At some point I realised the urge to write was still there and I needed to do something about it, so I started going to poetry workshops, writing short fiction and reading a lot about the craft of writing. The ideas for Instruments of Darkness started to take hold and I spent my spare time on research. Things really changed for me when I won a competition in the Daily Telegraph for the first thousand words of a novel. The judges were incredibly encouraging and I’d just had a very good year directing, so I actually had some money on hand. That’s where the leap came. I decided not to look for any more directing work and just wrote the novel instead. That became Instruments of Darkness and Headline in the UK offered me a two-book deal. I’ve been very lucky. There was a moment there when I thought I was going to have to sell my flat and start all over again.

Jerelyn:  I always am interested in where an author’s inspiration comes from, so where did Mrs. Westerman and Mr. Crowther come from?

Imogen:  Funny, difficult to reconstruct now. Characters emerge out of the fog of your imagination, observation and research. That said, Crowther felt like he arrived fully formed. I had an image of him working in his study by candlelight in his shirt sleeves, and there he was, utterly himself. Harriet was more difficult. In my first draft she was too good at everything, too reasonable, too wise. I spent a lot of time staring at the Thames in London and wondering what her life would really be like; imagining a woman who had had a glimpse of a wider world and was now feeling confined by the conventions of her day. Then her voice emerged and off she went. Mind you, I’m still finding out about them both; that’s one of the great pleasures of writing a series, watching your characters grow.

Jerelyn:  What drew you to the Georgian era?

Imogen:  Short answer – Amanda Vickery’s book, ‘A Gentleman’s Daughter’. Longer answer? I live in London so am surrounded by Georgian architecture, I’m a great fan of baroque and early classical music and for years I just kept picking up biographies and collections of letters from the period. The more I read, the more interested I became. This was a time of enormous change; the industrial revolution was gathering pace, a consumer society was developing, science flourished, literacy rates were climbing and the towns and cities were growing very quickly, but at the same time it was still a world where life could be brutal and short. There was no modern medicine, no police force worth the name, conditions for the poor in the cities were foul, very high child mortality rates and even the wealthy found their money often provided very little protection from tragedy. A world in flux. What writer can resist that?

Jerelyn:  I love that there are family and friends and social expectations upon Harriet, it doesn’t seem like much has changed, has it?  Was it your intention to show these parallels to a modern woman’s life?

Imogen:  Yes indeed. Any historical writer is inevitably writing about their own time as well as the one in which they have set their novel. The lot of women had improved drastically in the last two hundred years; we have rights and opportunities now that were undreamed of then, but society still knows how to exert pressure on those within it. The idea of the proper role of women is still with us; more subtle and insidious perhaps in some ways, more blatant in others. Whenever I hear a woman saying ‘I’m not a feminist,’ I hear echoes of women in the 18th century who sneered at the blue stockings or the Anti-suffrage leagues of the early 20th. All opinions are welcome, but we need to keep thinking about these issues and asking questions.

Jerelyn:  Did you always see yourself writing mysteries?

Imogen:  You have to write what you love, so yes, I did always want to write crime. I love seeing what characters do under pressure and there is a heritage of superlative writing and story-telling in the genre.

Jerelyn:  Do you see yourself branching out into other genres, i.e. straight historical fiction?

Imogen:  Perhaps. I think the genre that pulls me most at the moment is the ghost story. I obviously read too much M R James when I was a child. That would probably be historical too. I hope I’ve got many years of writing left, we’ll just have to see what stories I get snagged on.

Jerelyn:  Really good books have to be well researched, is the research something you enjoy?

Imogen:  I love it. There is a great period when I am starting research for a new book when I read very widely and generally, just letting myself suck it all up and only thinking very vaguely about the plot. That’s incredible fun, browsing through the newspapers of the time and picking up nuggets for further investigation. It’s opening your mind up to all the different voices. Very exciting. Then finding the sources with all the small details that make your period come alive is very satisfying; the account books of opera houses, the advertisements for patent remedies…

Jerelyn:  What did you find most surprising while researching your novels?

Imogen:  Probably when I was looking at a guidebook to the Lake District from 1782 and found it used to belong to an H Crowther!

Jerelyn:  Which of the characters do you identify most strongly with?

Imogen:  I wish I were more like Harriet, she’s braver than I am, though I did give the poor women my vertigo in Island of Bones. I hope I have her curiosity about people. Secretly I’m probably more like Crowther in some ways, every writer needs to have a bit of the hermit in them, the observer.

Jerelyn:  I love Crowther and Harriet’s partnership, they kind of complete one another (In a nonromantic way) don’t they?

Imogen:  I hope so. They appreciate each other’s strengths and weaknesses, even if they clash from time to time. I think what they have been through together makes them quite accepting of each other and unusually honest.

Jerelyn:  Your write great children characters, are they drawn from the children in your life?

Imogen:  Thanks! I don’t have any children myself but I have six nephews and lots of friends with young children. I’ve always enjoyed their company, it’s fascinating to see how they learn about the world, watching them work it all out, the way they are unique personalities from the very beginning.

Jerelyn:  Did you read a great deal as a child? What were your favorite books?

Imogen:  I always had a book with me and read precociously. I was an awkward, rather lonely child and adolescent and spent a lot of time escaping into books. Georgette Heyer was a favourite, I fell madly in love with Natasha from War and Peace, sunk into Dickens and Austen and lots of Dorothy L. Sayers. My favourite children’s books were Ballet Shoes, Secret Garden, Tom’s Midnight Garden and The Phantom Tollbooth. Must have read all of those a dozen times.

Jerelyn:  Do you find that you have time for leisure reading?  If so what do you read now?

Imogen:  You have to keep reading. At the moment I’m reading Penelope Lively ‘How it all Began’, just finished ‘Capital’, by John Lanchester, ‘The Psychopath Test’ by Jon Ronson and yesterday when I’d done my words for the day I re-read ‘Off-loading Mrs. Shwartz’ by George Saunders from ‘Civilwarland in Bad Decline’ which is a masterpiece. So it’s an eclectic mix I hope. I read a lot of poetry too: Sarah Gidley, Laura Kasischke and I’m lucky enough to know some great British poets; Roddy Lumsden, Ahren Warner, Sarah Howe…

Jerelyn:  When I contacted you about doing this interview, you said that you were busy writing, is it something you can share with us?

Imogen:  Happily. I’m at work on my fifth book at the moment and it’s not part of the Crowther Westerman series, but is a mystery set both in Paris in 1909 / 1910 and in the present day. It’s exciting to be writing about a new period, especially one as rich as the Belle Époque. I’ll be returning to Harriet and Crowther next year though, which I am really looking forward to. I miss them.

Jerelyn:  I don’t know if they have a site similar to Paperback Swap in the UK.  What are your feelings about such sites?

Imogen: Anything that encourages reading and sharing recommendations has to be good. Hopefully sites like this are a way for writers to find new readers who might then buy our other books, so it would be short-sighted to worry we are loosing sales. I’ve always lent and borrowed books myself and it’s part of the pleasure of reading. The sites that bother me are the ones that offer illegal downloads of books. Those can really hurt! Though I’m sure no one on this site would dream of using them.

Jerelyn:  Are you comfortable with the amount of marketing an author is required to do now days?

Imogen:  This is where the Crowther part of my character becomes a problem! It is great to meet readers and doing interviews like this is fun. I also get a real kick from fan mail. Somebody writing to say they’ve got pleasure from your work can be a real boost at the end of the day. That said, it can be tough sometimes when you feel you have to be out selling yourself at events when you’d rather be in a library or at your desk, but my publishers put a lot of effort into producing and publishing my work. It would be churlish, having been lucky enough to get a deal, not to go out and support your work as much as you can. I am rubbish at the hard sell though.

Jerelyn:  How do you feel about e-readers?

Imogen:  I love mine. It’s great to throw a library into my handbag on the rare occasions I leave the house, and it’s lovely to go from ‘I’d like to read that book’ to having it in front of you in a minute. I never feel I really own a book until I have a hard copy on my shelves though, so for me ereaders are a way to spend a fortune because I end up buying things twice! It is tough for the industry to adjust, but publishing is full of smart people working hard so I’m sure they’ll figure it out. In the meantime I just write and read.

Jerelyn:  When I putter about the house or I am in the car I love to listen to audio books, I have Instruments of Darkness on audio as well.  Are there plans for the others to be released in this format also?

Imogen:  It’s one of the strange things about being the writer that I don’t really know what plans there are for audio books. I’m sure they’ll appear in time though.

Jerelyn:  I would like to thank-you for visiting with us here on the PBS blog, and wish you best of luck with Circle of Shadows which will be out in e-book format on April 26, 2012. Do you have a print release date?

Imogen:  It’s been a pleasure! Circle of Shadows comes out in the UK in hardback on 26th April (Headline Review). Anatomy of Murder is coming out in paperback in the US in September (Penguin), and Island of Bones comes out in hardback in the US in October (Pamela Dorman Books). I don’t have a print release date for the US version of Circle of Shadows yet, but I’ll certainly add it to my website as soon as I know.

To read more about Imogen Robertson you can go to her website at, http://imogenrobertson.wordpress.com/  or follow her on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Imogen-Robertson/108977532473638 , but I have yet to enter the world of twitter.  Also there is a wonderful video introduction to, Anatomy of Murder on You Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SLOXpqkt2o

Book list:

Instruments of Darkness

Anatomy of Murder

Island of Bones

Circle of Shadows

Author Interview with Anita Page by Diane G. (icesk8tr)

Diane: Thank you for allowing us to interview you for the PaperBackSwap Blog! I really enjoyed reading Damned If You Don’t, and once I started it, I did not want to put it down! You have the ability to draw the reader into the story from the first few pages!

Anita: Thanks so much for the kind words about the book, Diane. I’m delighted to be here.

Diane: I see that you have had success with writing short stories, and have received the Derringer Award from the Short Mystery Fiction Society in 2010 for “Twas the Night”, which appeared in The Gift of Murder. So, with this background in writing short stories, what inspired you to write a novel?

Anita: For one thing, the story I wanted to tell demanded the space a novel would allow. Also, I looked forward to the challenge of writing a novel. The best thing I can say about that first book, which preceded Damned If You Don’t, is it taught me a lot about how not to write a mystery —e.g., you don’t give away your red herrings in chapter three.

Diane: Was it hard to transition from writing short stories to writing a novel?

Anita: The short answer, yes. The long answer: Each form has its own challenges and rewards. I love writing, and reading, short stories. I love the fact that when I begin writing a story, I can see it as a whole. The challenge is that there’s not a lot of room to establish the setting, tell the story, and develop fully-realized characters. Also, to my mind, the shorter form demands greater attention to language. If you’re looking at a huge mural, you won’t notice that one brushstroke is a bit off. You will notice that, though, if you’re looking at a miniature painting.

Writing a novel feels to me pretty much as E.L. Doctorow described it: driving on a foggy night when you can only see as far as the headlights. Scary? Absolutely, especially when one of the headlights burns out. While the novel gave me and my characters room to breath, it also demanded a complex structure involving multiple story lines. Since I’m organizationally challenged, I set up a large poster board with sticky notes spelling out the main action in each chapter. I used different color notes for the various subplots. Low-tech, but it worked for me.

The great pleasure in writing a novel is getting to live in a world of your own creation. However, the people you live with may not enjoy those long, silent car rides when you disappear into book world.

Diane: How long did it take you to write the book?

Anita: I worked on Damned If You Don’t for two years, and took it through six or seven re-writes. This was after I retired from teaching and had the luxury of writing full time, which meant five or six hours a day, often seven days a week. I was lucky to have the help of a wonderful writers’ group, and a journalist husband with a keen editorial eye.

Diane: How do you come up with ideas for what you are going to write about?

Anita: Newspapers, the police blotter, conversations overheard in diners—I’m a world-class eavesdropper. The trick is to take snippets of real life, and then listen to your imagination. I recently read an article about a second-story burglar who fell out the window when he was trying to drop his haul to the ground. This man obviously needs a new career, but what great possibilities for a short story.

Diane: Hannah Fox, the protagonist in the story, is a very put together woman. She is complex, intelligent, and seemed so real to me. Is this character based on someone in your life?

Anita: I’m so glad you like Hannah. She’s not based on any one woman, but was inspired by a number of women who’ve been important in my life, especially a group of feminist friends very similar to Hannah’s Women of Action crew.

I’ve been asked whether I’m Hannah, which is flattering, but the answer is no. We have some things in common though, including our politics and our careers—Hannah’s a teacher, as I was. Also, we’re both indifferent cooks, have a high tolerance for clutter, cherish our friends, and love our dogs. Hannah’s more of a risk taker than I am, and our backgrounds are very different. She grew up on communes in the sixties, and her childhood took second place to her parents’ politics. While she resents that, she finds herself on a similar path because her social conscience doesn’t allow her to ignore injustice. Also, I’m happy to say that our marriages are very different.

Diane: Why did you pick the Catskill Mountains as the location for the story?

Anita: I’m originally from New York City and lived in the Catskills for nine years before moving to the mid-Hudson Valley. When we made that move, I promised myself I’d be back one day, and setting the book there was a way of doing that. Also, the Catskills are a perfect setting for a crime novel, given the gorgeous landscape, the endless winters, the isolation, and the fact that everyone seems to be related to everyone else.

I also chose that setting because I knew I was going to deal with the issue of eminent domain. In the book, Hannah organizes a campaign to prevent the town from forcing the sale of undeveloped land that’s been in a friend’s family for generations. The drama of that struggle is heightened, I think, with the mountains as a backdrop.

Diane: There is a lot of great information in the story relating to domestic violence. Is this something you would like readers to learn more about so they can recognize the signs of it in someone they may know?

Anita: I didn’t set out with that as an agenda, but domestic violence is certainly a central theme in the book. Hannah volunteers at a domestic violence hotline because she’s concerned about the issue. However, only when she hears victims talk about their lives, does she really understand what it means to be subject to brutality on a daily basis. If DIYD inspires readers to reach out to someone who needs help, or to ask for help themselves, that would be gratifying.

Diane: Do you plan on writing another novel, perhaps another story with Hannah Fox?

Anita: I’m working on the next book, same setting, new protagonist. Hannah and Jack Grundy, the police investigator with whom she may or may not be having a serious relationship, are still around, but this time Hannah’s an important secondary character. I made that choice because as a reader I’d be skeptical if an amateur like Hannah once again became involved in a murder investigation that put her in life-threatening situations. In the new book, my protagonist is a journalist on tryout at the local newspaper. She’s young, edgy and has a very dark past. I’m having fun writing her.

Diane: Do you enjoy reading yourself? If so, which author has influenced you?

Anita: I can’t imagine not reading. As for influences, I’ll mention a few writers whose work I re-read because I learn more each time I pick up one of their books: Denise Mina, Julia Spencer-Fleming, Ngaio Marsh, Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo, Elmore Leonard, Donald Westlake, John Harvey, Stewart O’Nan, and the list goes on. Right now, I’m reading Charlotte Bronte. If you haven’t read Jane Eyre since high school, go back and re-read it—wonderful characters and setting, great suspense. Bronte was a marvelous story teller.

Diane: Do you have a website or a blog?

Anita: I’ve been blogging for a few years at Women of Mystery with a group of friends from NY/Sisters in Crime.  A number of us have short stories in the anthology Murder New York Style: Fresh Slices that was published last year. It’s a tour of the city’s dark side, with stories set in neighborhoods visitors rarely see.

I’m also at anitapagewriter.blogspot.com, a hybrid web blog that I find more flexible than a website. A few of my short stories are available there for free download. Also, readers can find the first two chapters of Damned If You Don’t at Criminal Element.

Diane: Thanks again for an enlightening interview! I look forward to reading your next novels!

Anita: Diane, it’s been so much fun talking to you. Thank you for the great questions. Thanks also the PaperBackSwap Blog for this opportunity to talk about Damned If You Don’t.

Anita page has generously offered a copy of her book, Damned If You Don’t to a member who comments here on this Blog. A winner will be chosen at random. Good luck!

An Interview with Author Caro Peacock by Jerelyn (I-F-Letty)

I have been fortunate so far this year, for I have found several very interesting, new to me authors.   I go through reading phases, and right now I am in a mystery phase.  I love historical mysteries, of nearly every kind.  In the past two years I have been drawn into all things Victorian and Edwardian.  I have hit the Jack Pot with this author.  

As Caro Peacock, the author has created the Liberty Lane series.  Our Miss Lane is not a typical young woman at the dawn of the Victorian era.  Her parents weren’t your typical parents; they were intellectuals with an interest in music and the arts and tended to have republican leanings. 

With her parent both dead; Liberty must make her own way in life.  While most young women would marry this does not suit her independent nature. Here is the author’s interview with her character Liberty Lane.   (I love when authors do this.)  Caro Peacock:  “I’ve interviewed her in a question and answer session that I hope will tell the reader a little more about her.” Here is the link to the webpage: http://www.caropeacock.com/libertylane.htm

Writing as Gillian Linscott, the author has also created the character of Nell Bray; whom I believe is a front line Suffragette.   These are set in the Edwardian period, and I am sad to say I have yet to read these.   But they are on my list and I will be reading them soon.  So I will be concentrating in this Interview on the Liberty Lane series. 

Jerelyn: I would like to welcome Ms Peacock to the PBS blog and thank her for taking the time to participate in this interview.  Firstly would you tell us a bit about yourself?

Caro: Thank you, Jerelyn, and it’s good to be talking to PBS readers. I suppose I’ve been a history nut since childhood. I remember sitting on the floor beside the armchair of my great uncle, who used to be a horse cab driver in Berkshire, England. He’d actually been among the crowds in Windsor at the funeral of Queen Victoria in 1901. The town where he used to drive his cab was a fashionable place on the river Thames and he told me stories about glamorous showgirls from the Edwardian stage who’d come from London for an afternoon’s boating. He’d drive them in his cab to meet the beaux on their boats. I loved it all. My adult life took me away from history for a long time and into journalism. I now live in a 350-year-old cottage deep in the country. When not writing, I work as a gardener and guide at our local stately home, which goes back six hundred years.  So a lot of my life is involved with history. I am bossed around by two Burmese cats, Damson and Figaro, who have no sense of history but a keen sense of their own rights.

Jerelyn: In reading your bio it sounds as if writing has been, in your case almost a vocation, was this always what you wanted to do?

Caro: Yes, I always wanted to write but I was diffident about it. I came from a loving and stable but not particularly literary family. Becoming a published writer looked like a steep climb – which it was.

Jerelyn: You say that you have done other work besides writing; it seems most novelists now days have to work a “day job” to afford to write. But I get the feeling that your curiosity has lead you to try other professions is this true assumption?

Caro: Curiosity, yes, and the need to earn a living. I had a great time as a journalist, working for the Guardian newspaper and the BBC among others. I reported quite a lot from Northern Ireland during the troubles of the 1970s and also reported from parliament. I like working as a gardener too. Fiction involves living in your own head so much that it is a great pleasure to spend a day planting out rows of vegetables. No doubts, no wrong turnings, just lots of lettuces.

Jerelyn: What draws you to the Victorian period?

Caro: So much happened. It covered two generations, 64 years, from 1837 to 1901 and in that time almost everything changed. At the start of the period, travel was on foot or by horse, lighting by lamps and candles. By the end of it we had trains, motor cars, telephones, electricity. Aeroplanes were only a few years away. Politically, most men had gained the vote and most women were well on the way to it. The advances in medicine, science, psychology came so thick and fast that people must struggled to begin to understand all that was happening around them.

Jerelyn: You have also said that you feel the Victorian period is misunderstood.  How so?

Caro: For a long time people tended to think of Victorian society as a smug and settled for the middle and upper classes, with nothing but slums and pea-souper fogs for the rest. It was never very settled. At the start of the period, there was a lot of social unrest with many people fearing an English revolution, on the lines of the French one. By the end of it, with the rise of socialism and trade unionism and women’s struggle for the vote, it was also seen by many people as an almost revolutionary time. People were becoming more and more aware of injustices in society and trying to fight them. The world was starting to open out, for women and working people as well as for the empire-builders. I think the image of the Victorian period as self-satisfied and constricted came mainly from the intellectuals writing about it a generation later. Their parents had been Victorians and, like most children, they wanted to think of themselves as more interesting than their parents.

Jerelyn: Where did Liberty Lane come from?

Caro: I’d been writing about my suffragette character, Nell Bray, following her career from 1901 to when British women got the vote in 1918. Now I wanted to go back to the other end of the Victorian period. I set the opening of the first Liberty Lane (A Foreign Affair in the USA, Death at Dawn in the UK) in the first days of Queen Victoria’s reign. I knew I wanted to write about a young woman on her own and also to set her in the British radical tradition. Then – quite apart from any theories – I suddenly had this mental image of a young woman walking on her own on the Calais sands. That’s where she started.

Jerelyn: I have never been to London, but I have poured over maps of the city for as long as I can remember.  What I love is the sense of place you give London in your writing. It is almost like being on a walking tour.  Was this a conscious choice on your part?  I learned so much from these books.

Caro: That’s kind of you, because I’m not a Londoner by birth or upbringing, though I did live there for some time as a journalist. But I love maps too and I love walking. I got all the old maps I could and walked, looking for traces of how things had been around 170 years go. Once I was in Leicester Square, wondering where the Rotunda Panorama that I use in A Dangerous Affair (UK Death of a Dancer)  had stood. A kindly refuse cart driver asked if I was lost. He didn’t seem surprised when I said I was in the wrong century. They get all sorts in Leicester Square. One odd thing happened. I’d decided that Liberty should live just off Adam’s Mews in Mayfair, which exists, though now it’s called Adam’s Row. I created, I thought, a fictional little cul de sac off the mews called Abel Yard. Later, on another map, I found there really was such a cul de sac with no name given, just where I’d put Abel Yard.

Jerelyn: Was Disraeli as much as a puppet master as you make him out to be?

Caro: Oh yes. He was ambitious, charming, ruthless, manipulative and liked to have a hand in all that was going on. He had a keen sense of drama – usually his own drama. As a young man, he’d modeled himself on Byron. I love the way he took over the Conservative party, almost against its will. There he was, deeply in debt, Jewish by origin (although his father had converted the family to Christianity), flashily dressed, too clever by half and, to his regret, not an old Etonian – all very un-Conservative. But they couldn’t do without him.

Jerelyn: He was rather a provocative character, wasn’t he?

Caro: Totally. And he could never resist a witty phrase. In the Oxford Book of Quotations he has more entries than Oscar Wilde. He was the man who said: ‘When I want to read a book, I write one.’

Jerelyn: I can’t decide who my favorite secondary character is, I love them all.  But I think Amos is my favorite.  Do you have a favorite?

Caro: Yes, I think Amos is my favourite too. He is partly the product of my love affair with the county where I live now, Herefordshire, on the west side of England, near the border with Wales. It is mainly a farming area and people from cities sometimes see Hereford people as slow and easy going. But there is down-to-earth cleverness here, as well as gentleness and a sometimes anarchic sense of humour. I’ve tried to put some of that in Amos.

Jerelyn: Why did you make Liberty a young single female, as opposed to a well respect matron or widow?

Caro: I wanted to write about somebody who was vulnerable as well as spirited. Also, I fancied a bit of frivolity. Liberty is serious about many things, but likes fashionable clothes, interesting men, music and dancing.  Also, until well into the twentieth century, marriage did close off a lot of options for women. I’m struggling with what to do about that. Liberty is full of life and passion. She is pretty seriously in love with Robert  Carmichael  whom she meets in the third book. (A Family Affair in the USA, A Corpse in Shining Armour in UK) She has encouraged him to go on his travels because she thinks he doesn’t know what he really wants. In fact, I’ve sent him away because I need time to think. If she marries him, her life will change. But I can’t keep him on his travels and her single forever. Real dilemma this and I don’t know how to solve it.

Jerelyn: Did a woman of her class have more freedom than her upper class sisters?

Caro: Some upper class women managed to have quite a lot of social freedom, especially in the earlier part of the nineteenth century when the manners and morals of the Regency period still dominated. But the nineteenth century was a time when educated middle class women were beginning to claim more territory. If I had to choose to be one or the other, I think I’d go for educated middle class for a more interesting life. I’m thinking of women like the novelist George Eliot, Florence Nightingale, the mathematician and astronomer, Mary Somerville. (My old college at Oxford, founded in 1879, was named after Mary Somerville.)

Jerelyn: Liberty is well educated and can draw on any number of skills, to make a living; do you think that helps her in what is becoming her primary employment?

Caro: Yes. She’s good at languages and quick minded. But there’s a streak of wildness in her that made her choose to be an investigator. She could have done quite well by staying as a music teacher and marrying somebody suitable. She may pretend, even to herself, that events pushed her into it, but it was mostly her choice.

Jerelyn: I always wonder just how much like their characters authors are, what would you say you and Liberty have in common?

Caro: Well, let’s see: Liberty is clever, generous, brave, loyal to her friends, young, good looking, witty, a superb horsewoman, a good musician. In that list, I reckon I score, with luck, two and a half out of nine. I’m not saying what two and a half.  When it comes to defects, we’re both impatient and pretty stubborn.

 Jerelyn: How fully realized are your books when you begin to write?  I ask this because they have a very organic feel to them.

Caro: Organic is a kind word and, I think, an accurate description of the way I write. When I start a book, I have no very clear idea where it is going and I certainly have no notion whodunnit. Sometimes I start with no more than a scene or a setting in mind. I write much like I garden – get it started and hope it grows.

Jerelyn: Your love and knowledge of horses really comes across in the books.  Have you always been horse mad?

Caro: Oh yes. I think I wanted a horse even before I wanted to be a writer. It was a long time before a horse came along. The horse, Patrick, died last year. I have an empty paddock and a hope that it will be filled soon.

Jerelyn: I love to know what books writers read.  What books did you read as a child, and what do you read now?

Caro: As a child, I read a lot of the ‘wrong’ things like Enid Blyton. (Don’t know how popular she was in the States, but here she was the top children-have-unlikely–adventures writer.) I know we’re supposed to look down on her now, but I can’t quite manage to do that. Robert Louis Stevenson was a revelation. I still think Kidnapped is one of the great books. Crime books came quite early. Conan Doyle, of course. Raymond Chandler was another revelation. That man moves his plots so slickly and is such a brilliant stylist that I re-read him now and again to be reminded how a master works. Nearer the present, I much admire Walter Mosley. Easy Rawlins is one of the great characters in crime literature.

Jerelyn: I am chomping at the bit for book five, Keeping Bad Company, where we finally get to meet Liberty’s younger brother.  When will that be released?

Caro: It is out now in Hardcover.  By the by, I’d like to apologize to readers in the U.S. for the confusion over titles. With the first three books, the American publishers gave them different titles, so that some people thought I’d written six books when there were only three. Luckily, numbers four and five, When the Devil Drives and Keeping Bad Company are the same on both sides of the Atlantic.

Jerelyn: Again, thank-you and best of luck with Keeping Bad Company.

Caro: Thank you, Jerelyn. And best wishes to you and your readers.

You can read more about Caro Peacock/Gillian Linscott at http://www.caropeacock.com/ or follow her on Twitter @CaroPeacock

As Caro Peacock:

A Foreign Affair (US) Death at Dawn (UK)
A Dangerous Affair (US) Death of a Dancer (UK)
A Family Affair (US) A Corpse in Shining Armor (UK)
When the Devil Drives (US and UK)
Keeping Bad Company (US and UK)

As Gillian Linscott she is the author of the award winning series about the suffragette detective Nell Bray.
The Nell Bray Books:

Sister Beneath the Sheet
Hanging on the Wire
Stage Fright
Widow’s Peak
Crown Witness
Dead Man’s Music
Dance on Blood
Absent Friends
The Perfect Daughter
Dead Man Riding
Blood on the Wood

Also by Gillian Linscott: The Garden

Sophie Perinot interview by Jerelyn H. (I-F-Letty)

This is a first for me and I am flying blind, I am interviewing an author whose first book is yet to be released.  I first became aware of Sophie Perinot from Facebook she is friends with several authors I follow.  Her book The Sister Queens is one of the few I have seen about these remarkable women.  They were the daughters of Raymond or Ramon Berenguer V Count of Province; he had 4 daughters all would become Queens.  Ms. Perinot will be focusing on the elder two.   They were Marguerite Queen of France, and Eleanor of Provence, Queen of England.  Since I haven’t read it I don’t know how much we will learn of Sanchia Countess of Cornwall who was married to Richard Earl of Cornwall.  Who, was for a time styled as King of the Romans, so Sanchia was also a Queen of sorts.  The youngest was Beatrice of Provence, Queen of Sicily; to say they were at the center of western power would be an understatement.  As I have said I have not read this book, but it is one of the ones I am looking most forward to this year.

I would like to thank Sophie for agreeing to this interview.

Jerelyn: This must be an exciting time for you, what does launching a début novel entail?

Sophie: Exciting yes, but actually I think the last weeks before launch are a tough gig.

I was much more at ease when I was working with my editor to polish the book.  Words are something I can control.  How people will respond to those words . . . not so much.  Launching a debut is sort of like putting your child on stage at the school talent show.  You’ve done all you could to prepare (watched hours of practice, made the costume) but now your baby has to stand on her own.  If people clap wildly you will be thrilled.  If they don’t . . . you can’t even bear to think about that.  So you sit in your seat holding your breath.

Of course today authors – and perhaps especially newbies – are expected to do more than sit and wait.  This is the era of social media.  We are expected to promote.  I am an outgoing person, but when I connect with people I don’t like that conversation to be “me, me, me.”   So I spend a lot of mental energy trying to walk a line between communicating my own enthusiasm for The Sister Queens and turning into one of those spamming-authors I personal don’t enjoy running into on Twitter or Facebook.

Jerelyn: I know that you are a very active mom and wife; your posts on Facebook crack me up .  When do you find the time to write?

Sophie: “School is my friend.”  I bet every parent out there who works at home can identify with that, lol.  When I have a deadline, the hours between dropping off and picking up my children are devoted 100% to writing.  This can have some unfortunate side-effects—usually in the form of dinners cobbled together from a dwindling pantry or the plaintive cries of family members claiming they are, in fact, wearing their last pair of clean underwear.  When I am not facing a looming deadline my rating as a wife and mother goes way up.  I have to admit though that I ALWAYS give myself permission to surrender completely to special family moments (as opposed to laundry which is not special).  Don’t ask me what I got written in the month of December.  My oldest went away to college last year and in her sudden absence I realized that my memories of times I’d dropped what I was doing to run the school Halloween party, or hear about her day were golden.  So when I am doing a science fair project with my little-guy, or hanging with my high-schooler I try to be fully present and in that moment.  I try not to think “oh my god, you should be writing.”

Jerelyn: Will you tell us about The Sister Queens?

Sophie: The Sister Queens is a sister story first and foremost.  Yes, it is set in the 13^th century and the atmosphere, politics and history are richly detailed and appropriate to that time period but I wanted to focus my novel on that which is timeless—the way our sisters shape us whether by challenging us or by supporting us.

I’d like to share the back-cover blurb if I may because I really think my publisher did a brilliant job of summing up the novel:

“Raised together at the 13^th Century court of their father, Raymond Berenger, Count of Provence, Marguerite and Eleanor are separated by royal marriages—but never truly parted.

“Patient, perfect, reticent, and used to being first, Marguerite becomes Queen of France. Her husband, Louis IX, is considered the greatest monarch of his age. But he is also a religious zealot who denies himself all pleasure—including the love and companionship his wife so desperately craves. Can Marguerite find enough of her sister’s boldness to grasp her chance for happiness in the guise of forbidden love?

“Passionate, strong-willed, and stubborn, Eleanor becomes Queen of England. Her husband, Henry III, is neither as young nor as dashing as Marguerite’s. But she quickly discovers he is a very good man…and a very bad king. His failures are bitter disappointments for Eleanor, who has worked to best her elder sister since childhood. Can Eleanor stop competing with her sister and value what she has, or will she let it slip away?”

Jerelyn: Why did you choose to focus on only the elder sisters?

Sophie: The relationship between Marguerite and Eleanor moved me.  I am a “big-sister,” and my relationship with own sister defines me and has done so since childhood. Marguerite and Eleanor were the closest of the four sisters, despite being separated by the English Channel for long stretches of time, and their relationship of mutual support, tinged with rivalry, really spoke to me.

I wanted my book to examine the early reigns of these two important queens (both France and England were major powers at the time), while they were finding their feet in strange lands and establishing roles for themselves as queens, wives and mothers.  Therefore, my novel, which covers a twenty year period between 1234 and 1254, actually ends before either Sanchia or Beatrice had crowns of their own.  So that effectively limited the roles of the younger sisters to supporting players.

Does this mean we can look forward to a second book about Sanchia and Beatrice?

Never say never:  I would love to do a Sanchia and Beatrice book (which would be a very different sort of sister story then my current novel).  Alternately I’d enjoy writing a continuation of Marguerite and Eleanor’s story.  The Sister Queens leaves Marguerite and Eleanor in the prime of their lives with a lot of excitement and pivotal historical events yet to come.

Jerelyn: Do you have a favorite?  Perhaps one you identified with more strongly?

Sophie: Oh, you’ve touched upon a bit of a family controversy here.  When I wrote The Sister Queens I really grew close to Marguerite.  I started to identify with her and started to “own” her voice.  Then my sister read the manuscript for the first time and said, “oh my gosh, you as SO Eleanor.”  I am SURE she is right but still, just once I’d like to get away with thinking of myself as the patient, forbearing type without getting called on it.

In all seriousness, I think I was moved by Marguerite’s story—her struggle to find love with her husband, her struggle to be recognized as a person of strength and political intelligence—but my own marriage (like my outspoken personality) is much closer to Eleanor’s.  I am not saying my husband is professionally inept (do you hear that, dear?) as Henry III clearly was, but he is a man who, like Henry, cares deeply for his wife and children and delights in their happiness.  I also have always felt like an equal partner in my marriage and I think Eleanor, like her mother Beatrice of Savoy before her, was valued as a political player by her husband.

Jerelyn: I realize that this is a work of fiction, but I am one of those readers that go a little bonkers when unsubstantiated rumors and enemy propaganda is presented as fact.  How do you deal with this?

First of all I think an author’s note is key.  As a writer you need to tell the reader why you’ve made the decisions that you have and where you may have deviated from the record.  But honestly, as someone with a degree in history, and a sister who writes academic history and is a history professor, I would argue that history is often far from agreed upon and far from static.  I think most historians would agree with that position.  New primary sources and facts are discovered all the time.  Sources themselves—whether primary or secondary—were written by humans with their own biases and agendas.  Interpretations of history change.  The more adamant any person becomes that they “know absolutely” that something is truth, the more suspicious of them I become.  Just this past year a significant archeological study brought into question something historians had accepted as fact for many years – that rats caused the London plague of 1348-49.

Jerelyn: I read in your bio that you have a law degree and worked on the editorial board for the Journal of Law and Criminology, and then you practiced law for a time, why do you think lawyers make such good writers?

Sophie: Precision of language is absolutely essential to the successful practice of law.  A lot of people do not realize that, but it is.  Also, law is a business of deadlines.  Miss a deadline while working at a big firm and you are out of a job.  So lawyers develop self-discipline or they fail.  Self-discipline and the ability to meet deadlines are skills that come in very handy in a writing career.

Jerelyn: What is your next project?

Sophie: I am currently working on a novel driven by the mother-daughter relationship.  It is set in the 16^th century and my main character is Marguerite de Valois, sister to three kings of France and wife of a fourth.  Here is the tagline I am using to drive my writing:  “The mother-daughter relationship is fraught with peril—particularly when your mother is Catherine de Médicis.”

Jerelyn: What books did you love as a child and as a teen?

Sophie: When I was a child I read like my life depended on it.  I fell in love with so many books.  My grandfather gave me all the Dr. Seuss books before I started school and I still have those copies.  Where the Wild Things Are reminded me that even if you sail off thorough night and day and in and out of weeks your mother will always love you and have your dinner ready when you get home.  Little Women and What Katie Did stick out from my elementary years.  As does Another Place, Another Spring by Adrienne Jones (to this day I can recall entire scenes and bits of dialogue from this novel).  In my teens I read a lot of classics (and never in these dreadful abridged “young readers” editions that some publishers produce now).  I was introduced to Austen and all the Brontes, devoured Anna Karenina for the first time, and got hooked on Alexandre Dumas.

Jerelyn: What books do you read to your own children?

Sophie: All my children are old enough to read on their own now.  When my first child was in elementary school I assembled a library of books that I felt shaped me with the hope that each of my children will browse through and read selections from it, but I never try to circumscribe their reading world.   When I do read aloud to my kids—even the most grown-up one—I tend to revert to picture books like Guess How Much I Love You, Love you Forever and Where the Wild Things Are.  These are all books that remind my children I love them as they are, where they are.

Jerelyn: Which authors have inspired you?

Sophie: That’s an impossible question, lol.  There are dozens of writers who inspire my life and inform my work on various levels.  In many cases these writers tackle topics or write in genres that are far removed from my own.  Beyond that, quite a number have “mad skills” I could never hope to equal (so, for example, while I find the work of grandfathers of historical fiction—Alexander Dumas and Sir Walter Scott—very inspiring I would feel pretentious to say they inspired me to write).

Jerelyn: For a new author does it surprise you the amount of marketing you have to be responsible for?

Sophie: It actually doesn’t.

When I decided I wanted to pursue my dream of writing for publication I took a business-woman’s approach.  That meant learning about the business side of publishing even as I was writing the first words of the first draft of my first novel.  I attended my first writers’ conference back in 2005.  I talked with established writers as well as others interested in breaking in.  I took copious notes during panel discussions.  I think approach to writing as a business led me to some important realizations early on, including these two:  1) writing a good book is enough, if you write a good book you will find an agent and a publisher; 2) a writer’s job is just to write and your publisher will take care of the rest.  As to number one, there is a lot of luck and timing in this business.   As to number two, I knew going in that the days of recluse writers were largely over.  Not all good writers are natural or good promoters but if you want to stay in this business you have to be willing to give promotion your best efforts.

Jerelyn: Do you feel comfortable doing this?

Sophie: Not entirely, but more than one established writer gave me the following excellent advice—focus on what you feel comfortable (or even enjoy) doing because if you hate doing something you won’t be good at it anyway.

Jerelyn: Are you a fan of e-readers?

Sophie: Fan is a strong word.  I have a Kindle (I’ve had it for a couple of years actually) but I don’t do a majority of my reading on it.  I tend to use it when I am not at home, particularly when I am traveling.  I love the convenience of being able to instantly download a book on a whim when I finish what I am reading.  At home, however, I am generally a paper book person.  Not only that, in cases of favorite works, I often have particular editions I prefer.  I own an absolutely marvelous complete set of Alexandre Dumas published in 1893.  They have wonderful engravings and there are times when no other edition will do. I like the smell of books.  I like to touch them.

On the other hand I accept that lots of people love e-readers.  More power to them.  As an author I am delighted with any technology that has the potential to boost reading as a leisure pastime.

Jerelyn: You have had a lot of support from many writers, are there any you’d like to give a shout out too?

Sophie: So many.  One of the things that just bowled me over when I started writing (and then again when I got my contract and was actively seeking advice from established writers) is what a supportive community writers have built for themselves.  Writers seem to instinctively understand that we all win when we collaborate to build readership for our genre.

I owe a huge debt to my long-time critique partner the very talented historical romance writer Miranda Neville.  Writing would be a lonely road without her.  And I’ve received marvelous support, both personally and for my book, from scads of historical fiction writers including Michelle Moran, Diane Haeger, Christy English, Elizabeth Loupas, Kate Quinn and Anne O’Brien (just to scratch the tip of the iceberg).  Finally I am an enthusiastic member of a small group of debut authors called “Book Pregnant” which cuts across all genres.  Book Pregnant is comprised entirely of writers with books coming out in 2012 and 2013 and offers a safe space for newbie authors to ask questions that might feel “dumb” in other settings.  I’ve made so many valued friends through the group.

Jerelyn: I would like to thank you for doing this interview, and congratulations on the upcoming release of The Sister Queens, on March 6, 2012. 

To learn more about Sophie you can follow her on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/#!/sophieperinot , and Twitter, and her blog at; http://www.sophieperinot.com/home/