Author interview: Sally Koslow

Sally Koslow is the author of The Late Lamented Molly Marx, which I reviewed earlier. She was kind enough to agree to a few questions from me on Molly Marx and her other projects. She's written two books so far, Little Pink Slips was her first book. She also has another book due out later this year.

- On your website, you state that you got the idea for the story at a funeral of a neighbor. What made you decide to use Molly as part of the story, both after she's gone and in telling her story? I was struck by surprises revealed in the eulogies spoken that day. This led me to wonder what the deceased, a troubled woman, might have thought of what loved ones’ assessments of her. From here I developed the premise of The Late, Lamented Molly Marx, having a woman look back on her life from the beyond. I don’t know if readers notice, but when Molly is in The Duration, her afterlife world, looking down on events unfolding, she speaks in the first-person/present-tense, because her sensitivity and insights have become sharp and clear. When I tell the earlier part of her story, however, I do it in the third-person/past tense, to convey that Molly was less aware of how her actions affected her life. If readers take anything away from this book, I hope it’s the sense that we should wake up and take note and responsibly of what’s going on around us and how our actions affect others.

- As a non-writer, I am fascinated with the process of writing. There are quite a few unique characters in the story - did you start out with all of them or did some 'show up' as the story unfolded? A lot of the characters did “show up.” Sometimes I start with a small detail and let that seed germinate until it flowers. The idea of the detective, for example, came to me while I was visiting our country’s national monument in Washington D.C. for soldiers fallen during the Vietnam War. The name “Hiawatha Hicks” leaped off that wall and my mind took the name and ran. I wanted the detective to be a good guy, full of integrity, a romantic, but a little insecure because he’s new in his job. In the case of Claire, I wanted to portray a more-or-less perfect mother. Visually, I kept imagining Blythe Danner, the beautiful, blonde actress who happens to be the mother of Gwyneth Paltrow. Once a character takes shape, they start talking to one another, like hand puppets, and that’s what propels the action in a story. Characters start to feel real to me. I’m a lot older and more brunette than Molly, but there’s a lot of her in me.

- Molly is a mom, as are you and I. Did you find it difficult to write about a mom being gone when her child was so young? Of course! It was challenging to try to recreate tender feelings that a mother has toward her child, but the attempt at authenticity makes writing interesting. You attempt to put down in words the whirl of feelings that you—and other women like you—might feel. You try to make it real.

- Who are your favorite authors? So many! Whenever someone asks me that question, I tend to respond with the name of the last few really good books I’ve read, overlooking the hundreds of that came before. I gravitate toward novels and memoirs written by American and British female writers. Just a few of my favorite are Elizabeth Strout, Mary Karr, Charlotte Mendelson, Binnie Kirschenbaum, Lucette Lagnado and—like every writer, Edith Wharton and Jane Austen.

- What is your other book, Little Pink Slips, about? My first novel is inspired by my own personal experience. For many years, I was the editor-in-chief of various women’s magazines. One of them, McCall’s, was taken over by a major celebrity. Hijinks and heartache—including a “pink slip--ensued, and I tried to include both in the fictitious story of a magazine editor from North Dakota, which is where I grew up, who wound up in New York City. For anyone who likes magazines, I can assure you that my behind-the-scenes takes in Little Pink Slips are accurate, although the plot line and characters are imaginary. Sort of.

- What are you currently working on? My next novel, With Friends like These, comes out in late August. It’s a story about the complications of sustaining long, deep friendships, and I think that anyone who’s ever had a difficult time with a friend—and who hasn’t?--would find it authentic.

Thank you Sally for letting us get to know you a bit better.

Author interview: Emily (E.A.) Benedek

Emily Benedek is the author of The Red Sea, a book I just read and reviewed here. I enjoyed the book and wanted to know a bit more about the author. So I asked her!

About the author (from her website):
Emily Benedek is a journalist and author. Her articles and essays have appeared in Newsweek, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Glamour, and on NPR, among others. She is the author of The Wind Won't Know Me: A History of the Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute (Knopf, 1992); Beyond the Four Corners of the World: A Navajo Woman's Journey (Knopf, 1996); and Through the Unknown, Remembered Gate: A Spiritual Journey (Shocken, 2001).

Benedek spent a year following an FBI special agent working counter terrorism and wrote about an F-15C fighter pilot who flew in Operation Shock and Awe. Red Sea is her first novel.

The interview:
I asked Emily the following questions:
- What was your inspiration for writing The Red Sea?
- The Preface states you started with a book about terrorism and airplanes.
- How did you then transition to including other potential areas such as sea ports?
- Do you think this book gives an accurate portrayal of the different intelligence agencies, their abilities and interactions?
- Will Julian, Marie and others be back in another book?
- What are you currently working on?
- Who are your favorite authors?

She answered:
Hi Michele,

Glad you liked Red Sea!

My inspiration for writing RED SEA was meeting a source for a Newsweek story I'd written soon after 9/11. The man was an expert in airline security, and we met several times in New York after my story had come out. Why did he want to meet me? This was a man who liked developing sources. That was his job and his habit. Also, he had some measure of trust for me because he'd made a request of me during our interview for the Newsweek story, a request I had honored.

He was a fascinating person who told amazing stories. After a few meetings, he asked me if I would consider writing a book about airline security--he was convinced at the time that Washington would not do the right thing by its air passengers. I had already written three non-fiction books and I knew what was involved. I was intrigued. So in our next meeting, I put down a tape recorder and switched it on. For the first time, he was much less open in his conversation, and I immediately snapped off the recorder. I realized right away that the kind of insider information he had would very hard to triple-verify -- what I would have to do for a non-fiction book. So I asked him if he thought it might be easier to tell his story as fiction instead. "Maybe" he said. "Maybe."

We continued to meet and I found out more about him--he had been a commando and then a commander in Israel's most elite special forces unit and an operator for Israel's security service in Europe. He was a very senior operator and a very intelligent person.

I began to create characters in my mind--of a retired Israeli commando with a heavy past, an American female journalist with something to prove, and a maverick (excuse the term) FBI agent. I had spent a year following an FBI agent for a story, so I knew something about how that agency was run. All the threats in the plot, all the operational details are correct and based on as much detailed and intensive reporting as if the book had indeed been non-fiction.

The safety of seaports has been a huge concern of American security officials--and for good reason. Millions of sea containers enter our ports every year, almost none of which get inspected. I decided to put an attempt to attack one of our seaports in the book, and then I had to find experts who could tell me what took place on ships--how they were laid out, what the threats were and how much bribery and criminality was involved in the sea trade.

I felt when I wrote RED SEA that Americans were being very naive about the threat of terrorism. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration, by using the threat for political ends, by launching a senseless war in the name of counter-terror, and by trying to abridge Americans rights, has made it much harder now to talk about terrorism. Because now Americans are frustrated, angered, and confused about it. Unfortunately, the threat remains. I tried to show how a very smart and experienced person thinks about and fights terror. And how two principled, brave people try to learn fast and help out. I also tried to show the weaknesses in the American system, which I'm afraid are accurately drawn.

I am now working on the next book--Marie, Morgan and Julian are back together again, this time trying to interfere with Iran's development of the bomb.

My favorite authors include Leo Tolstoy and John Le Carre.

All Best, Emily


Thanks for a great book and interview, Emily! I look forward to the next one.

Author interview: Jean Page Reynolds

I read The Space Between Before and After and thoroughly enjoyed it. My review is posted and I highly recommend you read the book. Luckily for me (and you) I was able to interview via email author Jean Page Reynolds. I am excited to share her comments with you.

About the author - Jean Page Reynolds (the official bio from her website - check out her website for her version):
Jean Reynolds Page is the author of A Blessed Event, Accidental Happiness, and The Space Between Before and After. She grew up in North Carolina and graduated with a degree in journalism from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She worked as an arts publicist in New York City and for over a decade and reviewed dance performances for numerous publications before turning full time to fiction in 2001. In addition to North Carolina and New York, she has lived in Boston and Dallas. She moved with her husband and three children to the Seattle area in 2002.

The interview:
Dear Michele,
I was a dance writer for fifteen years and I have to say, I’m still more used to being on the question end of things than the answer. But here goes…

Michele: What was your inspiration for writing this book?
Jeannie: I actually wrote much of Hollyanne’s story (up to the crash on the night of the moon landing) years ago. I was always looking for an adult character who could do justice to little Hollyanne. I tried several times with plots/characters that didn’t work. Each time, I would put her away again with the idea that I would try again later. As I reached a certain point in life, it seemed as if everyone I talked with had challenges involving aging parents or their kids – and often it was both at the same time. My husband and I were no exception. This stage of life that fell “in between” the generations became a theme I wanted to tackle, and so I went back to little Hollyanne and everything seem to happen in the right way as the story evolved.

M: How did you choose for Holli and Connor to be the narrators of the story? Did you start with just Holli or someone else?
J: I began with just Holli and Hollyanne. I knew that I needed both perspectives to fully tell the story. But then, in order for the narrative to move forward, I needed for the reader to know things that Holli had not discovered. Conner was the best person to enlist for this. I have to say I was nervous about writing from the point of view of a twenty-year-old male character. I went to my son (now twenty-two, but at the time twenty – and with none of Conner’s problems!!) and ask him to read for dialogue and internal thought credibility. He offered advice and was very helpful in working with me to get it right.

M: Why did you decide to relate the tragedies in Holli’s life to tragedies in the space program? Have you always been interested in the space program?
J: As I mentioned, the early section of Hollyanne’s story was written years ago. I built that story around the night of the moon landing because the memory of staying up late and watching the event on television had always been one of my most vivid. When Challenger exploded, I had just found out that I was pregnant with my oldest. It was such an emotional day. Later, with Columbia’s tragedy, our family had just left Texas and moved to Seattle. I talked with friends from my old neighborhood near Dallas who said they thought that a bookcase had come crashing down upstairs or that a car had been driven through the garage door. Again, the emotions that I associated with all of these events seemed like something that would be useful in a fictional narrative. So I made the stories of the space program a thread that ran throughout the book.

M: How does The Space Between Before and After compare to your other two books, A Blessed Event and Accidental Happiness?
J: While all three books are very different in my mind, I know there are common themes that run through them. Dysfunctional families, motherhood, secrets and redemption… I also hope that they convey a resilience that I believe exists in most of us. Getting knocked down by circumstance is something that everyone goes through at one time or another. I’m always amazed at the way we, as human beings, get back up and find hope again. So all of the books, while they don’t tie up into neat bows in the final chapters, end with characters who have reached a point of seeing hope for the future. THE SPACE BETWEEN BEFORE AND AFTER has the distinction of a main character that friends and family tell me is more like me than any other I have created. For what it’s worth, maybe I’m inching closer to myself in fiction with each book. I suppose it’s cheaper than therapy.

M: Who are your favorite authors?
J: Oh, how much space do you have? I tend to have favorite books rather than favorite authors. My recent favorite is THE HISTORY OF LOVE by Nicole Krauss. She has these amazing alternating viewpoints -- one is from an old man who escaped the Holocaust, and the other a young girl named Alma -- both living in New York (Brooklyn, I think). Krauss weaves the stories of these two characters together in a lovely balance and with voices have perfect pitch. The author is young and I couldn’t believe she had such old soul perspective. I also love HANNAH’S DREAM a new book by my friend and fellow HarperCollins author Diane Hammond. It’s about an aging zookeeper and the elephant (Hannah) he is trying to save. If I had to pick a favorite author of all time, it would be Elizabeth Spencer. She studied under Eudora Welty and began publishing in the late 1940s. Her novella, THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA was adapted first as a movie and more recently as a Broadway musical. She has the most authentic Southern voice I’ve ever encountered in fiction. She tackles race, class and region with such compelling characters that, when I’m reading, I lose track of which world is real, my own or the book. My favorites of hers are THE VOICE AT THE BACK DOOR and FIRE IN THE MORNING. My biggest regret with these books is that I can never read them again for the first time.

M: What are you currently working on?
J: I just sent the first draft of my next book to my editor. The title we’re working with now is THE LAST SUMMER OF HER OTHER LIFE, but that could change between now and publication. At the moment, they have it scheduled for Summer ’09, but I don’t have a specific month yet. It is the story of Jules Fuller, a thirty-eight-year-old woman who has been caring for her sick mother in her North Carolina hometown. While on this extended visit, she is falsely accused of having inappropriate contact with a local teenager. The story revolves around her efforts that begin with trying to clear her own name and end with her trying to save the boy from whatever has driven him to make the accusation in the first place. Having just sent the draft to New York, I’m at that blissful state of enjoying a few free moments to myself before the editing begins. I should face that closet that’s gotten out of control, but I think I’ll read a few books and maybe rent a movie or two instead.

Interview: Eva Etzioni-Halevy

I got the opportunity to interview author Eva Etzioni-Halevy after reading her latest book, The Triumph of Deborah. You can read my review of the book here but know that I thoroughly enjoyed it! She has also written two other books - The Song of Hannah and The Garden of Ruth.

After reading the interview below, be sure to check out her website and all of her books.


About the author - Eva Etzioni-Halevy (from her website):
I was born in Vienna, Austria, but was fortunate to escape as a small child with my parents in 1939. We spent the war years in Italy, partly in an Italian concentration camp, and after the Germans conquered the northern part of Italy, in hiding.

Having survived the holocaust in this manner, we reached what was then Palestine after the war. I grew up in a religious boarding school, after which I studied Sociology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and later at Tel-Aviv University, where I was awarded my Ph.D.

I lived most of my life in Israel, but spent two lengthy stretches of time in other countries, one in the U.S. and one in Australia. Eventually, some fifteen years ago, I decided to return to Israel to seek my roots there.

I wrote many books and articles in political Sociology, both in English and in Hebrew. Following a lengthy academic career in various universities, I was appointed Professor of Sociology at Bar-Ilan University, where I am now Professor emeritus.

As part of searching for my roots, I returned to the religious orientation I had previously abandoned. It is this roots-seeking process that also led me to the discovery of the rich world of the Bible, and to the intention of bringing it to life for contemporary readers through the writing of biblical novels.

I have three grown up children: two sons and a daughter. I live with my husband in Tel-Aviv.

Michele: Why did you choose to write the story of Deborah?

Eva: The story is about the adored leader, judge and prophetess Deborah, arguably the most eminent woman in the Old Testament of the Bible. She was sort of a president or prime minister, chief justice and chief rabbi, all wrapped in one. This in itself, of course, is enough of a reason to write about her.

In addition, I found leader Deborah, and warrior Barak and their personal tale, as described in the Bible, particularly intriguing. The scripture tells us that when Deborah sent Barak to go out to war against the Canaanites, he did something rather unusual: he demanded that she accompany him to the battlefield. Three thousand years ago--a woman in the battlefield?

Very strange. I asked myself: why did he want her there?

Moreover, the scripture further recounts that she ended up going with him to his hometown as well. Yet she was a married woman, and there is nothing to indicate that husband Lapidoth accompanied her.

Long before deciding to write my novel THE TRIUMPH OF DEBORAH, as I read the story, I began asking myself: what did her husband have to say to that excursion?

What would ANY husband say if his wife suddenly went off to distant parts with another man, leaving him to do the babysitting? It makes good sense that this created marital problems between them. Would they be able to overcome those problems?

Further, I asked myself, what transpired between Deborah and Barak when they were together with no husband in sight?

These were the aspects of Deborah and Barak and their story that I found most compelling, and they prompted me to write the novel, in which I used my imagination to answer these questions.

Why did you choose to have Asherah and Nogah both be daughters of the king?

The Scripture also says: "Barak bring in your captives." This, too, started the wheels of my mind turning. At that time there were many wars and many captives, yet the Bible does not mention them. So I said to myself that there must have been something very special about Barak's captives, and in my novel I made them princesses.

Also, through them I wanted to show the meeting of cultures and religions, and that right was not purely on one side or the other.

How much of the story is based on the information in the Bible or historical documents and how much is pure fiction?

It is a story for light entertainment, written first and foremost for reading pleasure, and not merely for people who have an affinity of one type or another to the Bible.

Still, the novel is totally faithful to the Bible. Nothing that is in the biblical text has been changed. At the same time, the biblical account is brief and leaves many gaps. My novel fills them, and in this way fleshes out the story.

In addition, I did much research, and being so fortunate as to live in the country (Israel) where the plot of the story took place, I visited those locations twice and derived much inspiration from them, especially from Mount Tabor and the king's castle in Hazor, which is now in ruins, but still most inspiring!

How does The Triumph of Deborah compare to your two other books, The Song of Hannah and The Garden of Ruth?

All three are stories with twisting plots and suspense, "page turners" as they have often been referred to. All three are about strong biblical women, who lived in a male dominated society, where women were downtrodden: they had few legal rights and their position in the family was deplorable. Yet they managed to shape their lives in their own way.

What is special about THE TRIUMPH OF DEBORAH is, that, based both on the account in the Bible and on my novel, the heroine Deborah may serve as a splendid role model for women of all times and also for modern women.

Despite the difficult conditions under which she lived, she succeeded in "breaking the glass ceiling" and attaining an outstanding position as an exalted leader, who was highly revered by both men and women.

Much has changed since then, but the circumstances for women are still difficult, although in a different way. Legally, the situation of women has improved out of all recognition since then. Also, women have more options and possibilities open to them today, than they had then.

At the same time, today's women face great difficulties in their lives, which are not negligible. One of them is that of combining partnership with a man and motherhood with a career.

If Deborah could assert herself then, there is no reason why modern women should not be able to do it now.

The lesson that women today can learn from Deborah is: I can do it. No matter how difficult and limiting the circumstances, I can overcome them.

That does not mean that all women must become political leaders, or judges. Rather, the message in the Bible and in my novel, which is based on it, is that the limiting circumstances did not deter her from asserting herself and doing what SHE wanted to do.

So that present day women seeking to build lives of their own, may derive inspiration from her in whatever THEY want to do, in whatever field they choose to do so.

What are you currently working on?

I am currently working on a novel about Tamar, the daughter of King David, she who was the victim of incestuous rape by her brother. But the novel is still far from completion, so there is no point in talking much about it.

Let's hope I will have the opportunity to tell you about it when it comes out.

Many blessings,

Eva

Author chat: Anthony Lawrence Gordon

As part of my review of Entropy, I also asked author Tony Gordon a few questions that I would like to share. I have such respect for folks who are out there sharing their passion with others through writing.

Michele: What was your inspiration for writing Entropy?
Tony: I've always been interested in how people struggle, not just to get by, but struggle with making themselves ok with their actions - the whole cognitive dissonance thing. Entropy the novel started coming together in my head after I had read about the idea that we tell the direction of time by the increase of entropy. That idea kind of clicked with the way people try to keep things as they are and resist change.

Michele: Who are your favorite authors?
Tony: Although it may sound trite, Hemingway (his good stuff anyway) is my favorite author. I also really enjoy Raymond Carver. I've currently been reading Christopher Moore, although I'm not generally a reader of his genre of books, I stumbled upon "Dirty Job" and loved it. He makes me laugh out loud.

Michele: Do you have any other fiction works in progress?
Tony: I've just started a new novel - just started putting it on paper and am barely into it, don't even have a working title.

Michele: What else have you been working on?
Tony: I've been working with a public relations firm on promoting my book, and that is starting to ramp up now - in the next few weeks I'll be doing signings and readings in the Stevens Point WI area. Also, I've been working on a putting together a collection of short stories. I also keep up a couple blogs, one for my writing (www.snovella.blogspot.com) and one that has to do with being a waiter (www.tonydine.blogspot.com).

Thanks Tony!

Author chat - The Bone Weaver by Victoria Zackheim

On Tuesday, I briefly mentioned that I had read The Bone Weaver by Victoria Zackheim years ago. But that I didn't really remember it - my book memory being so stellar! LOL

I was so excited later in the day to see an email from Victoria! She sent me a description of Bone Weaver and also answered a few questions that I am going to share here. After reading the description, I do remember the book and that I liked it. But that's as much of a "review" I'm going to be able to give, based on my lovely book memory.

Here's the description of The Bone Weaver:
Following the death of her lifelong friend, professor Mimi Zilber sets off on a journey to discover how she came to this lonely place in her life, and why she runs from the opportunity to love. The Bone Weaver is a blend of history and fiction created around three generations of women and their struggles to survive pogroms, illness and the violence of shtetl life in nineteenth-century eastern Europe. Taking apart the family tapestry thread by thread, studying these women and their daily lives of uncertainty, tragedy and joy, Mimi learns important lessons about courage and the will to survive. In her discovery of what makes these women remarkable, she also discovers herself.

Michele: What was your inspiration for writing The Bone Weaver?
Victoria: I was grappling with my own issues of isolation, having gone through a divorce, been a single mother, and then finding myself living abroad (in a country where I knew no one and didn't speak the language). Of course, I didn't realize at the time that anything about this novel related to me, so I gave the main character, Mimi, all my angst, and her grandmother, Fredl, all the courage I wanted to possess. As for Mimi's mother, Rivka...well, she's a composite of all the quietly loving, yet not-so-quietly neurotic people I've ever known. I loved her character and wept several times as I was writing her story.

Michele: Who is your favorite author?
Victoria: That's a tough one...asking a writer this question is like asking a mother to choose her favored child. Whose work do I read the week the book's published? Lynn Freed, Caroline Leavitt, Leon Whiteson (I loved his Garden Story), Jane Smiley. I've read Marie Chaix's biography about her father twice...The Laurels of Lake Constance...and loved it both times.

Michele: Do you have other fiction works in progress?
Victoria: Yes, I'm working on a Paris-based novel, but it's been difficult to find the time to write.

Michele: What else have you been working on?
Victoria: I've had two books published in the past year:
- The Other Woman: 21 Wives, Lovers, and Others Talk Openly About Sex, Deception, Love, and Betrayal (anthology, including personal essays of Jane Smiley, Lynn Freed, Connie May Fowler, Caroline Leavitt, Susan Cheever, and 16 other exceptional authors)
- For Keeps: Women Tell the Truth About Their Bodies, Growing Older, and Acceptance (also anthology of 27 funny, moving, important personal essays)
I'm also writing a documentary on Frances Kelsey, the FDA scientist who blocked the distribution of thalidomide in the U.S. in the early 60s.
Thanks Victoria!