Tag Archives: Author Interviews

Q and A with Author Cassie Stocks of Dance, Gladys, Dance

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Photo Credit: Terry Gasior

I want to welcome Cassie to the blog, and hope you enjoy her answers to the questions I posed to her recently via email, I enjoyed her answers immensely!

What was it that made you want to become a writer after having so many adventures yourself?

When I was about seven, I wrote a couple of sentences on a scrap of paper about two people I was having trouble with. I folded up the piece of paper, put it in my pocket, and carried it around all day.  Somehow, I knew I’d done something both powerful and comforting.  As preteen I wrote poetry illustrated by feminine hygiene advertisements from Reader’s Digests (you know – women in billowy gowns walking on beaches). I wrote a gang novel on the back of my worksheets in elementary school and I kept journals for years.  I wrote throughout my adventures in later life as well but it wasn’t until I settled down a little that I had both the time and the brain space to tackle a larger project.

How much of yourself or have you added parts of yourself  into your book?

I think there is something of myself in all the characters in Dance, Gladys, Dance. The details in the novel are a mixture of pure fantasy and real life. I did have a deaf cat called Beethoven that walked across the piano. I didn’t ever sleep with any of my professors or instructors. Like the main character Frieda, I did have a feeling of displacement in the ‘real world’ from trying to live as and have a career as an artist. I have both painted and made papier-mache projects but I’ve never crocheted. I did travel in a bus with a bar band (for a very short while).  I’ve never been a Goth or a ghost.

You are a fellow Canadian. What would be your most favorite “Canadian” thing to do?

I’m not sure, I’ve never skied, climbed a mountain, or played hockey. I was in a canoe once. I’ve drank a lot of Tim Horton’s coffee and spent my share of Canadian Tire money.

What gave you the idea for this novel?

About fifteen years ago, I saw an ad for a stereo. The ad actually said “Gladys doesn’t dance anymore, she needs the room to bake.” I clipped the ad and kept it for years. It might have been a joke, but I wondered who Gladys was and why she would ever give up dancing for baking. In the novel, I changed the stereo in the ad to a phonograph, but it ultimately led to Gladys’ story.

The stories of Frieda and the other women are a combination of my own sentiments, research I’ve done on women and creativity, composites of people I’ve met, and the results of a caffeine saturated imagination.

Besides writing, what other talents would you like to have?

I’d like to be able to do psychic grocery shopping and cleaning by telekinesis (when I’m in the middle of a project, I buy paper plates and plastic cups and cutlery. Bad for the environment, but if anyone wants to start a Save the World – Get Cassie a Cleaning Woman Fund, I’m up for it).

If you died and were able to come back as anything you wanted, what would it be and why?

If I could come back in the past, I’d come back in the roaring twenties. I want to be at a literary salon, as the woman writer wearing tweed pants, paisley silk scarves, and leather ballet slippers (no matter the weather), sitting cross-legged in an over stuffed armchair with a martini, making bitter pronouncements about poodles and the world economy.

Do you have any favorite writers? Who are they and why?

Off the top of my head, I love Kurt Vonnegut (Bluebeard), Nick Hornby (A Long Way Down), Roddy Doyle (Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha), George Orwell (Keep The Aspidistra Flying), Charles Dicken’s (Oliver Twist), Miriam Toews (A Complicated Kindness), Paul Quarrington (Whale Music), F. Scott Fitzgerald (Cannery Row), Stephen Leacock (Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town), Douglas Adams (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe), John Irving (A Prayer for Owen Meany) and Mark Childress (Crazy in Alabama).  I enjoy a good story simply told, both intelligent and accessible. I like the sense of a story being about itself, but also about something bigger, with a sense of political or social awareness.

Are you working on anything new?  When can we expect it to come out?

I’m working on my second novel called The Amazing Adventures of Mattress Boy. I’m not sure when it might be out. Stay tuned.

Do you have any heroes in real life? Who are they? Why?

My English Spaniel Frieda (named after the main character in Dance, Gladys, Dance to remind myself to write every time I called the dog — sad I know). I got Frieda from the humane society. She was terrified of the world and literally crawled everywhere. With time she overcame her nervousness and decided to befriend the entire world. Two years later she jumped off a second story porch, got tangled in a wrought iron railing on the way down and had to have one of her back legs amputated. Within a week, she was up and around and still runs around now like mad and approaches the world with endless enthusiasm.

What is the one trait that you most deplore in others? Yourself?

Judging others seems to be a recreational sport for some people. I think we need to choose not to evaluate people based on their skin colour, gender, social standing, monetary worth, religious beliefs, shoe size, or whatever the heck people choose to judge others by. Compassion, not criticism should be our beginning point. I work on this myself; it’s easy to get caught up in gossip and nit-picking.

The Beggar’s Opera – Peggy Blair – Q and A

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I would like to welcome Peggy to my blog,  and thank her for taking the time out of her very busy schedule to answer some questions about The Beggar’s Opera.

SR – In The Beggar’s Opera, the book is situated in Havana, Cuba.  What is about Havana that mesmerized you so much to write a book based on this location?

PB -  I’ve traveled to quite a few countries that were once communist dictatorships. I was an election observer during the “Orange Revolution” elections in Ukraine; I monitored elections in Kiev and also in towns very close to the Russian border.  I did human rights work in Serbia with the UN Development Program, training judges and mediators in dealing with human rights violations, and I have visited the Czech Republic several times as well.

Cuba is different from anywhere I’ve ever been. It has a dictatorship with a charismatic leader who is larger than life, and the subject of over six hundred assassination attempts by the American CIA, who even poisoned his cigars. It’s a country that is desperately poor, thanks to the American trade embargo, but has one of the most educated, literate, and healthy populations in the world.

I watched the police in Havana closely when I was there – I was a criminal defense lawyer and Crown prosecutor for decades – and I wondered how on earth they could investigate crimes with such limited resources. You can’t even find pencils or batteries, and there are constant fuel and food shortages. Meanwhile, thousands of tourists wander around, completely oblivious to the harsh reality of the daily lives of most Cubans. I thought that was something worth writing about.

I also visited the Callejón de Hamel  (the inspiration for my fictional Blind Alley) with a pair of hustlers, or jineteros, as they’re called, who were quite happy to rip me off. It was incredible– the centre of Havana’s Afro-Cuban community, bursting with music, art, and Santería, the religion brought by slaves from Africa. (As in the book, there really was a plastic bucket with these poor turtles trapped in it so that people could collect and drink their urine in the hope of living a long life.)

Put all of that together with gorgeous, crumbling architecture; feral dogs and cats, crazy anti-American billboards, and music everywhere, and setting a story in Havana was irresistible.

SR – On the back of the galley I received as part of the Blog Tour for your book; it states that you have been a lawyer for many years, as well as selling houses in the Ottawa area.  I have noticed in the few years that many lawyers who have made the transition to writing books.  What was it for you that you wanted to hang up your robes for more of a literary pursuit?  What is it about selling houses that you like about it?

I was a lawyer for thirty years. For the first ten or fifteen of those, I was in criminal law, and then after winning an important case that involved a treaty rights defense,  I kind of fell into the highly specialized area of Aboriginal and human rights law. ( I actually have a PhD, or LLD, as they call a doctorate in law in this area. Most of these are awarded honorarily to retired politicians at university convocations: I’m one of the twits who actually earned one.)

I ended up involved in long-term negotiations over fisheries and when we finally resolved those issues,  I moved into the Indian residential school claims process. I heard claims of serious sexual and physical assault involving children  as a senior adjudicator, and then as a Deputy Chief Adjudicator. I finally hit a point where I knew I had to stop – I was starting to feel the effects that they warned us about going into it.

After that, I got back into land claims business and quickly realized I could end up sitting around the same negotiating table for the next twenty years, discussing the same files with the same government negotiators,  and not have anything resolved. At that point, I realized the time had come to do something else.

The Beggar’s Opera was actually written while I was working on my realtor exams.

I’ve always loved renovating houses, and I knew  my background in law and negotiations would be  an asset to me as a realtor. It’s one of those things that, looking back, I wish I had done ten years earlier. I love my office and my colleagues and I really like  working with clients. Unlike law, or writing, which can be quite isolating, the real estate community is surprisingly supportive. I’ve enjoyed every file I’ve worked on.

SR - Do you think Cuba in the future would be better off staying as it is, or becoming a democratic community like Russia and other countries have?

I don’t think the current status quo is sustainable, frankly. I think most Cubans are willing to wait to see what happens when Fidel Castro dies. But they are a highly educated, bilingual population (English second-language training is required in the schools) watching economic development take off in South America while they struggle to get enough to eat and live in atrocious conditions.

I think they are apprehensive about what the future will look like without Castro, particularly given their proximity to the U.S., but they are ready for change. That said, there is a real fear that American money will flood into the country and turn it back into the kind of place it was under Fulgencio Batista – a sort of Las Vegas of the south — with a government even more corrupt than the current dictatorship

SR – Who is your favorite character in the book and why?  Mine would have to be Ramirez – the detective who is suffering from dementia, who still believes that the truth is out there and strives to find the truth before time runs out.

PB – It’s funny how many readers have that take on Ramirez. I always think of him as balancing on the knife-edge of corruption, not quite sure which way to go.  I’m glad you like him. I’m quite small and therefore   I probably identify the most with Apiro, who may be short but is much larger than he appears.

SR - Can you give us a hint of what to expect in book two, or am I being a bit too anxious?

The King’s Indian is the name of the second book and it picks up the story right where The Beggar’s Opera leaves off. Inspector Ramirez goes to Canada and while he’s away, women start dying in Havana, prompting the Canadian government to consider issuing a travel advisory warning tourists against going to Cuba. Needless to say, there are ghosts.  I  have a big crush on Charlie Pike, a new character. He’s the Aboriginal detective who escorts Ramirez around Ottawa. (Charlie Pike appears in Book Three, Hungry Ghosts, as well.)

So thank you Peggy so much for doing this.  Below, is a list of the other blogs that are on the blog tour for Peggy’s book, so make sure that you check out what they had to say, what they asked Peggy, or if she just wrote something.  It is bound to be interesting regardless the topic!

Blog Tour Hosts and Dates

The Placebo Effect – David Rotenberg – Q and A

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Please welcome David to the blog, read on what he had to say about what I had asked and a special peek inside something he is writing this moment…..

SR:  If you had to choose would you rather write books for the rest of your life or continue to teach, direct actors? Why?

 DR:  I actually need both. The writing makes me a better teacher, the actors I work with make me a better writer. My initial profession was as a professional stage director. I ran an American Regional Theatre for years an actually directed a few times on Broadway. When I came back home, to Canada, I couldn’t manage to get into that line of work up here, don’t really know why

SR:  In your novel, synesthesia is prominent in the main characters attributes, have you or someone you know come across a person with these abilities? If so, was that one of the main reasons you had used it in your novel The Placebo Effect?

DR:  No one I know has such abilities. I’ve always written about people with special abilities, the five Zhong Fong novels are about a man with exceptional talent in a world where special talents are not honored. When I directed the first Canadian play in the People’s Republic of China the first thing the Artistic Director of that theatre said to me was, “You must remember that you can always be replace”-a fine hello, how was your flight!

Synesthesia simply gives and access to the ‘other.’ There is a lot of material on synesthesia; some of the most interesting is actually the documentary on Mr. Tammet and his extraordinary abilities. There is also a gentleman called the human camera, you can find YouTube stuff on both, and BBC documentaries. As well Mr. Tammet has an interesting book.  Rainman was based loosely on the man who Mr. Tammet thought of as his spiritual father-he passed away a few years back.

SR:  Do you think the world as a whole could make use of Decker’s talent of knowing when people are telling the truth given the state of the world today?

DR:  Sure would simplify a he said/she said situation, don’t you think?

SR:   Is there a special place that you read? Write? If so, where and why?

DR:  I’ve had a private locked room for over 40 years. I usually write there. When I’m stuck I go to the store and buy a nice pad of paper and a new pen and write in long hand for a while. I tend to read in bed, quite late into the night, although often when I’m writing I’m not able to read.

SR:  When can we expect book 2 and three of the Junction Chronicles? 

DR:  Book two of The Junction Chronicles is with the publisher, it’s entitled A Murder of Crows. You’ll have to ask them when it’s going to come out! As well, I have a subseries that I’m working on called Seth’s Dream. At this point it’s two volumes long, very much speculative fiction, don’t know when/if it will get published.

Here’s the opening of A Murder of Crows

Ch. Prologue – An Idyll of Thoughts at T – Plus 4 Days and 16 Seconds

THOUGHTS: This is a foolish country. And this town with its obsessively symmetrical old church is ridiculous.
These people believe they will live forever. They hide death behind walls and bury it in places with names like Pleasant Valley and Peaceful Rest. We in the East know that death is neither pleasant nor restful.

Perhaps we spend too much time thinking about our deaths – but death is real. It is the only certainty. And to refuse to confront a certainty is foolishness. A foolishness that all these Americans will be forced to abandon when we force them to understand that Judgement awaits everyone – everyone.

Look at all these kids and their parents. Look at them. So self-satisfied. So convinced they are special – the chosen ones. And they all love America. Well why not? America has made the parents wealthy and is going to make most of these privileged kids rich too. While backed by their military might this horror of a country makes the rest of the world its slaves. And these science profs up there on the stage invented much of the military prowess of this country while these students all around me are preparing to take their places.

All are soldiers of the oppressor.

But there will be justice – even here, on this pampered campus in Upper New York State there will be justice. It will come – as surely as putting NAME OF CHEMICAL together with NAME OF CHEMICAL will cause a massive explosion – it will come.

Be sure to be on the lookout for this first installment into the Junction Chronicles.   Thank You to David and the Publicity Team at Simon and Schuster Canada for allowing me to be a part of this blog tour. I’m really looking forward to A Murder with Crows.

Now, get reading !!

Q and A with Geraldine Brooks

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How much of yourself exists in your characters ?   Occasionally I hear my own voice a little…Marmee’s thoughts on war, Hanna Heath’s description of working to glimpse the past before the genie fogs it over again, Bethia’s love of the landscape and avidity for learning…When Anna describes her boys in year of Wonders, most of it was about my own young son…

With so many differences in terms of the books you have written, what is it about the subject matter that appeals to you to write a novel about it/ on the subject matter ?  – The books are set in different times and different places, but the themes are fairly constant, I think:  how are people changed by catastrophe/  What does faith do for people, what does it do to people?

What was it that made you or persuaded you to write novels after being a journalist for so long ? -  I wanted to have a baby, and the kind of mother I wanted to be wasn’t all that compatible with the kind of journalist I wanted to be…so I took a chance on a career change, and, happily, it has worked out… so far.

Who are your favorite authors? What have they instilled in you? –   Too long of a list to enumerate.  But I would say Mary Renault’s fiction set in the ancient world is a model for what I try to do.  Marilynne Robinson’s books, Home and Gilead also have been inspirational.  And Jane Austen, of course…

If you were to die, what would you like to come back as, and why? –   An osprey–they have it all–the gift of flight, waterfront real estate, an endless summer and a nice family life.

I am wondering how Caleb would see this world now, do you think he would like it? -  I think he would love the access to information and lament our irresponsible treatment of our environment.

Is there a historical figure you most identify with? Why? –   No, but I would like to be Rachel Carson or Harriet Beecher Stowe, and write a book that changed the world for the better.

Are there and phrases you use/overuse? -   Dessicated. Gnarled.

Besides you talent for writing, what other talent(s) do you have/ wish you had?   I wish I could sing, and I wish I could speak at least six languages.

What is your idea of perfect happiness ? -  In nature, with family (including the dog of course) by water, with something scrumptious to eat and someone telling a hilarious story.

What in your mind is considered the most over-rated virtue? – If it is a virtue, then it can’t be overrated. We need all the virtue we can have in this rather un-virtuous world.

Thank you so much Geraldine for such great answers to the questions I asked ! I hope everyone enjoys them as well.

For my review of People of The Book or  Caleb’s Crossing just click on the titles.

 

Q and A with Author Margaret Peot of Inkblot

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Please welcome Margaret to Serendipitous Readings. Thank you Margaret for allowing me to ask a few questions.  She has also sent along a few of her designs to compliment the Q and A!

What is it about ink blotting that has made you such a fan for over 30 years? I think inkblots are magical—an inkblot is composed only of dried ink on a piece of paper, applied in various ways, and yet the swirls and washes, the positive and negative space, gives our brains a little jolt.
When I teach inkblot making, it is always amazing to me, despite the seemingly random mark making process—drip, fold, unfold—that the blotters’ blots all look so different, and yet so akin to the makers. The oncology nurse’s blots look like MRIs, the quiet, contemplative writer’s blots look like serene calligraphic forests, the artist who likes creatures (me) makes blots that all seem to be creatures, the child who loves robots makes one robot blot after the other.

Are there one or two favourites among all of the ones that you have done? This one is one of my all time favorites, unaltered:

And this is one of my favorites, altered (meaning drawn in to with colored pencils):

I am curious, have you ever tried to ink blot on a piece of fabric for one of your other projects? Would it even be possible to do? I haven’t quite worked out how to do it. I know Andy Warhol made inkblots on canvas, which he then stretched. It would depend on the stiffness of the fabric, I think. If you were able not only to stiffen the fabric, say by backing it with paper, but also affix it within the fold line to ensure that the print at the fold was crisp, I think it would be possible. I will have to experiment with this more.

With the amount of different images, thoughts, variations, will there be an ink blot album next to be published as a work of art?

That would be a wonderfully fun book to make! I could include blots that people sent me as well—an extended version of the Gallery section in the back of Inkblot. But, I am always on a mission to help non artists—and artists, too—make interesting marks, loosen up, generate new ideas. I am currently working on two books with North Light, one on Alternative Sketchbooks and another on making a living as an artist: The Successful Artist’s Career Guide: Finding Your Way in the Business of Art.

You talk about inspiration being a huge factor in doing ink blots, what is so inspiring about them to you? I think that inkblots sidestep our inner critic in a wonderful way. You can’t really control the outcome—it is a tiny act of faith to blob the ink and water on the paper and then mash the other half of the paper down on it. And what you see is made by you and yet not made by you—so part of you, the kid part, is purely delighted at the making of something, and the critical part—the part that sometimes doesn’t let you make anything at all because it might not be “good enough,” sort of fades away—because it wasn’t really responsible for the mark, right?
When I am stuck—sad or tired, a little overdrawn at the creativity bank, or at the start of a project when blank paper makes me feel jumpy—I make inkblots. They never fail to delight and inspire me, and take me to the next surprising step.
I made this one yesterday:

What amazing talent !! What do you think everyone ?

Thank you to Margaret once again for being able to share her insights and creativity, the book gives you endless possibilities when doing these.  My son actually said right after coming home from Camp in the United States that he wanted to start on them right away!

Margaret’s Website

Inkblot Book on YouTube ( where she has created many videos for you to get started on your own projects!

These are just so incredibly easy to do, with some india ink and water, paper, you are on your way !

Q and A with Author Aviva Goldfarb

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Well yesterday, you got to take a peek inside the cookbook, now it is time to welcome Aviva to Serendipitous Readings and have a chat, so, sit down with your coffee and enjoy the questions I got to ask her recently, and thank you so much Aviva for asking them and welcome !

While not making up new and healthy recipes for upcoming books, what is it that you read for pleasure? Are you reading anything now that is just intoxicating, one that has you so intrigued that you cannot put it down?
Thanks for asking! I’m a huge and passionate fiction reader when I’m not cooking and I am always reading something new and interesting. Right now I’m engrossed in “Cutting for Stone” by Abraham Verghese and it’s mesmerizing and so incredibly impressive and beautiful. It’s also the first book I’ve read that takes place primarily in Ethiopia, so I’m also learning about a new place, and I think it’s also the first novel written by a surgeon that I’ve ever read, and many of the characters are doctors working in a missionary hospital in Addis Ababa.

With a busy family, what is it like around your kitchen around dinner time? Is there a consensus of what everyone wants? Do you plan ahead?
I built my online menu planning system around planning ahead for a week of meals, and that’s what I almost always do for my family. I find that when I get off schedule and forget to plan ahead and shop for the week, than dinner time is much more chaotic and I remember why I started The Scramble in the first place! I plan a balanced menu for the week, usually with one or two meat dishes, one pasta, one fish, and one or two vegetarian meals. I’m usually testing new recipes so everyone gets to weigh in on whether they like the new dish, but if the kids get too sick of trying new things every night than I spend a week revisiting some of our old favorite dishes.

What was it that gave you the idea for this wonderful cookbook?
The short answer is that I had developed hundreds of new recipes since the last book came out and my publisher was willing to hire me to write a new one because the last one sold pretty well!  But here’s the slightly longer answer. Since the last book came out in 2006, I have become more and more enchanted with buying, growing and eating fresh, local and seasonal food because it tastes so much better and is so much better for our communities and the environment.

As I’ve thought and written more about food over the years since I started The Scramble, I’ve realized that we can’t really separate the food that we eat from the way it’s produced and I’ve learned about the impact our food choices have on the planet.  As I started letting myself really think about how food makes it from pasture or sea to our plates, I decided to start to implement some changes in my shopping habits and my family’s diet. As it turns out, these changes have made eating even more pleasurable, rather than forcing us to make many sacrifices.  What’s more, these little changes, such as eating seasonally and locally, eating less meat, composting, and bringing our own grocery bags to the store are simple to make and are the pillars of a more environmentally friendly diet!

I wanted to share some of those changes we’ve made in my family along with the easy, healthy and seasonal recipes that have made it so easy and delicious to eat in a more environmentally friendly manner, so I’ve put them all together in this cookbook.

Are there any other tips that you could pass along that aren’t already in the book?
I’m constantly trying to learn new things about easy and healthy family meals! Right now I’m trying to teach myself about grilling fruit and hope to share more about that soon on my online newsletter on Facebook or on Twitter.   I’m also trying to grow a lot more of my own produce this year and am battling pests that are trying to devour my chard and bok choy before we do! I made a natural spray by dissolving a little dishsoap and cayenne pepper in a spray bottle of water that seems to be doing the trick!

Are you working on a new cookbook? When can we expect to see it?
Well, I’m constantly developing new recipes for my online subscribers, but I’m still busy promoting this cookbook. My cookbooks are a lot bigger than most authors’ cookbooks and I do all my own recipe development  (mine have several hundred recipes!) so they take me several years to develop and write. I don’t expect to have another one out for at least a few years! I hope your readers will find plenty of recipes to enjoy in this book and my earlier cookbook, The Six O’Clock Scramble, for quite a while.

What can fans of your book that haven’t already visited your website expect to find?
On my website I help busy people take the “scramble” out of the dinner hour each and every night! Each week I send subscribers an email with a week of easy and healthy dinner recipes and a grocery list, and they can either use the complete plan or go online and easily customize it for their families’ tastes and schedules, and it will automatically generate a new grocery list! Each seasonal recipe also includes the side dishes and all the nutritional information, so I try to make it as easy as possible for people to get healthy and delicious dinners on the table every night, and I do it all for people for about $1 a week.

Do you ever get so busy that even you have to order take-out? What is your favorite take-out?
Yes, of course, I’m a busy working mom just like many of your readers! Sometimes my family goes out to dinner, occasionally we even order pizza. I also keep a few healthy frozen meals in the freezer for those nights when things don’t go as planned, or we sometimes have scrambled eggs or cereal for dinner if it’s one of those nights.
But my feeling is that if I manage to cook for the family for 5 or 6 nights a week, I deserve to be taken out for a night, too!

Which people are influences when it comes to other chefs, creators of cookbooks past or present?
Oh, so many! I was very influenced by Barbara Kingsolver’s book  Animal, Vegetable, Miracle about the author’s quest to try to live off of food from her own land and community for a whole year. As far as cookbook authors I admire, there are tons, but a few that come to mind right away are Mollie Katzen, Mark Bittman, and Ina Garten,

If you had to pick one favorite recipe out of the book which one would it be and why is it your favorite?
Isn’t that like asking a parent to pick her favorite child? But if I had top pick a couple that I’m really proud of I might go with the Pollo a la Brasa (Peruvian Grilled Chicken), which was really fun to create and has the wonderful flavor of the Peruvian chicken restaurants that are becoming so popular, and the Spinach, Basil, and Red Pepper Wraps, which are really fun to make and are great for a light lunch or dinner and even fun to serve as an appetizer if you cut them in little pinwheels. But there are tons of recipes in this cookbook that I want you to try!  In fact, I’m getting hungry just talking about them…

Thanks so much for inviting me to do this Q & A with you today, and I hope your readers get a chance to check out one or both of my cookbooks!

Q and A with Catherine Gildiner

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Back in February, I had the pleasure to read and review Catherine’s 2nd part of her  memoirs After The Falls.  This is the Q and A I did with her around the same time.  My apologies for posting it so late on the blog.

I see in the author’s note that you have taken care to protect the privacy of the people you have written about though I expect many of them see themselves on the page. Are there incidents where people have objected to the way their loves have been portrayed? - I have changed the names of the people in the book and I have also changed some locations and dates. (BTW you made a Freudian slip in your question and said “loves” instead of “lives”– Freud says there are no accidents in Vienna!) I have no idea how people will react to reading about themselves. I guess I’ll know when the book comes out next fall in America through Penguin. It came out first in Canada.

Has there been any fallout from any of the people that Catherine wrote about? (Thinking of Skip, Jeff and Valerie) Did she have to get releases/permission from everyone? – I didn’t have to get any permission. I have tried to be true to the memory of my life and the people in it. Memory is not infallible. Just think of your own life and how your memory differs from your friends or relatives. I don’t expect everyone to remember things in the same way that I have. We all have a different perspective.

What was it that made you go and do the psychologist route and not follow in your mother’s footsteps and become a teacher? – My mother was only a teacher for a day. She said she had no idea she would “have to teach children.” Hardly a role model for teaching. If you have read my first memoir TOO CLOSE TO THE FALLS you will remember the chapter where I was sent to the psychiatrist, appropriately named Dr. Small. (I stabbed a bully at school with a compass) I liked the look of his job even at the age of seven. I also have always been interested in what makes people tick. When I worked in the drug store and delivered medicine I was fascinated by how we could all be from the same society and behave so differently.

Was what you experienced in the ’60′s moulded on how you feel and conduct your everyday life now, what has changed, what hasn’t? – That is an interesting question. I am pretty much the same person. I still participate in sports (rowing team) but I am no longer active in politics. Just like my mother, I never cook or sew or do much domestic activity. I still read a lot, and am very active. I am probably more ‘well adjusted’ now only because of the feminist movement. It actually ‘normalized’ my behaviour. I can work, not do housework, be assertive and I am much more acceptable to others. As a boy, or man, said to me at my high school reunion last year, “boy Cathy you are lucky that it is fifty years later and you are right in style now”.

When and where you the happiest? – Probably when I was a small child working in my father’s store at Christmas time with Roy the delivery car driver. We all worked together late every night delivering prescriptions and I felt like we were on a team. I didn’t have any of the complications of adult worries about romance and a career.

What is your greatest regret? – I regret being unkind to my father when I was a teenager. Before I had a chance to outgrow my adolescent rebellion he died and I had spent his last years shutting him out of my life.

What talent besides writing would you want to have and why? – I have lots of ‘talents’– more than I need. (Bright, athletic, witty–obviously not modesty) What I would like to have had is patience and more kindness. Those are probably not talents but virtues. Regardless of what they are called I could do with more of each.

Did you ever find out the reason why the FBI questioned you about the death of Splits? – I never found out directly why but I assume it was because he was involved in drugs and more importantly he and Laurie were involved in the Black Power movement– ultimately the black panthers and the FBI was committed to breaking it up. I had been seen with Splits and Laurie, both of whom had been under investigation for a long time.

In your private practice, do you have a specialty? Do you speak to whoever needs help, or are you specific in whom and what you treat? – I am no longer in private practice. I left it four years ago to write full time. I figured 25 years was long enough. I specialized in anxiety; however I saw all kinds of clients — ‘garden variety neurotic.’

Do you think that the ’60′s changed the world we now live in? What was the most prolific moment of your life living in the 60′s? – Yes I think the 60′s changed the world. Look at the civil rights legislation, and the human rights legislation, the pill, and the feminist movement. They all changed how we think about race, women and independence, marriage and role women play in society. I had many great moments in the 60′s. Most of them came from working with others for social change. I remember clapping when Johnson passed the civil Rights legislation in 1968.

Do you keep in touch with some or most of the friends you had made while living in Buffalo? – I keep in close touch with lots of people from high school. I am still friends with the ‘wild girls’ and the ‘goody-two-shoes-girls. Strangely enough I am in close contact with a bunch of boys in my class that I skied with and went to Brunner’s with. We have a reunion every year in some state of the union and some of them have been to Canada to visit. I am in constant contact with the friend Leora in the book. She is still one of my closest friends and we e mail almost daily and talk on the phone at least once a week. It is a rare opportunity to have friends for 50 years– especially when I have lived outside of the country.

Whatever happened to your one friend’s brother that brought that girl down into the basement in the middle of a meeting? Did anything come of that while you and your friend were hiding? – I am not following the question. The chapter describes what happened while we were in the closet. If you are asking did anyone ever find out we were in the closet the answer is no. If you are asking what happened to that boy that brought the girl downstairs — the answer is I have no idea.

I know that in your forward that you mention that you had this uncontrollable desire to write down your memoirs. What was one of the reasons you had it published? – I had it published because I am a writer and that is what writers do. We publish our work. I wrote the book because after I wrote TOO CLOSE TO THE FALLS I had hundreds of people write me and ask, ‘what happened next?’ I figured if people were interested in the story I should probably write it. I wrote another book in between my two volumes of memoirs called SEDUCTION which is a mystery novel about Darwin and Freud. Then I returned to the memoir. I am now writing a third memoir which takes me up to age 25 and it covers my life in England and Toronto.

Q and A with Danielle Trussoni

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As you know, Danielle’s book Angelology has been hitting just about every best-selling list when it published.  I had a chance to talk to her about the book, and herself.  So, a heartfelt thank you to Danielle for taking the time out of her busy schedule to answer my questions.  My review is here.

What was it that you wanted to convey in your latest book Angelology? – I WANTED TO WEAVE TOGETHER AN ENGROSSING STORY WITH A NUMBER OF HIGHLY RESEARCHED HISTORICAL SETTINGS. I WAS HOPING TO FIND A WAY TO MAKE A COMPLETELY NEW AND UNIQUE IMAGINARY WORLD THAT READERS COULD WHOLLY BELIEVE IN AND BECOME LOST IN.

Are you currently writing the sequel to Angelology?  Do you have an idea of when it will be published? – YES, I’M CURRENTLY WRITING ANGELOPOLIS, THE SEQUEL TO ANGELOLOGY THAT FOLLOWS EVANGELINE AND VERLAIN (THE HEROINE AND HERO FROM THE FIRST BOOK). I BELIEVE IT WILL BE OUT IN 2012.

I was curious, what was the reason behind combining the 2 different time periods instead of doing one book about the time in the 1940’s and a separate book in the present?  Was it easier in a sense to plot it out? – I WANTED TO HAVE MANY DIFFERENT LOCATIONS AND TIME PERIODS WOVEN INTO ONE GREAT BIG NOVEL. I WAS GOING FOR A SWEEPING, EPIC EXPERIENCE, WHERE READERS WOULD FIND THEMSELVES TRAVELING ALL OVER THE WORLD AND MEETING CHARACTERS FROM DIFFERENT HISTORICAL PERIODS. ONE PART OF THE BOOK IS IN 1940′s FRANCE, ANOTHER IN 10TH CENTURY BULGARIA ANOTHER IN CONTEMPORARY NEW YORK CITY. THE BOOK ALLOWS READERS TO TAKE A JOURNEY.

Did you have any say about that absolutely gorgeous cover?  Was there any stipulations that you absolutely had to have, or did you leave it in the hands of the professionals? – I LOVE THE COVER! THE PHOTOGRAPHER/ARTIST JEFF BARK TOOK THE PHOTOGRAPH. IT IS AN ACTUAL MALE MODEL POSING WITH WINGS. THE ONLY THING I DID NOT WANT ON THE COVER WAS A SWEET GOLDEN CHERUB FLOATING IN A CERULEAN SKY.

You had previously published memoirs, what was the reason for the change? - I WANTED TO WRITE SOMETHING AS FAR AWAY FROM MY FIRST BOOK FALLING THROUGH THE EARTH AS POSSIBLE, AND SO I DECIDED TO ALLOW MY IMAGINATION TO SIMPLY TRANSPORT ME WHERE IT WOULD. ANGELOLOGY WAS THE RESULT.

Which Historical Figure do you most identify with? – I LOVE THE WRITER COLETTE. ALSO, COCO CHANEL.

What do you consider your greatest achievement? – MAINTAINING MY CAREER AS A WRITER WHILE RAISING TWO BEAUTIFUL KIDS–MY SON, ALEX, AND MY DAUGHTER NICO.

What is your idea of perfect happiness? – IF I COULD CAPTURE PURE HAPPINESS IN A SINGLE MOMENT IT WOULD BE OF SITTING IN A PURE WHITE ROOM, A VASE OF YELLOW TULIPS NEAR A WINDOW, JUST BEFORE SOMEONE I LOVE IS RINGING THE DOORBELL.

What would be the trait you most deplore in others? – IT USED TO BE LAZINESS, ALTHOUGH NOW I’M FINDING SOMETHING WORTHWHILE IN BEING LAZY. NOW I THINK IT IS POSSESSIVENESS.

Which talent besides writing would you most like to have and why? – I’D LIKE TO SING IN A BAND.

Who are your favourite writers? – I LOVE  NABOKOV AND WILKIE COLLINS AND COLETTE.

What do you regard and the lowest depth of misery? – I HAVE A GOOD ENOUGH IMAGINATION TO REALIZE THAT MISERY CAN ALWAYS GO A NOTCH LOWER. I KNOW THAT I HAVEN’T BEEN TO THAT POINT.

BookLounge.ca has a contest going right now where you can win a signed copy of Angelology – ENTER HERE GOOD LUCK!!

Q and A with Author Elizabeth Noble

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I would like to take this time to welcome Elizabeth to Serendipitous Readings! I hope you enjoy the Q and A I recently got to do with her.

What was it about the premise of the story that you wanted to get across in the book? I moved to New York in the summer of 2006, and was immediately captivated by the idea of all these interesting people from everywhere, living all on top of each other on this tiny island – the idea that behind every single door, there was a story…

With you living in New York, is there a eclectic vibe to the city? I can’t imagine anywhere more eclectic than New York.


What do you value most in your friends? Loyalty, humor, and the fact that they know me well and love me anyway.

What talent would you most want to have besides writing? I wish I could run.  I really can’t.  Not even for the bus.  Sing, play piano…I could be here a while.

What is your greatest extravagance? Shoes and handbags.  They always come in my size.

When and where you the most happiest? When my babies were born.  Happiest, tiredest, messiest.  But mostly happiest.

If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be? A faster metabolism.

Who are your favourite writers and why? Anita Shreve and Armistead Maupin.  For their craftmanship with words and plot, and for their endless ability to move me.

What would be the one quality you would like in either sex? I’d like for men to be less ‘fix it’ orientated.  Sometimes we just want to vent and have you listen.  And for women, to care less, sometimes, about what other women think.

What would be your greatest regret? I only regret the things I wasn’t brave enough to do when I was younger.  I intend to spend middle age doing them all – I just won’t look as good doing them…

You can visit Elizabeth’s Website here

My review of The Girl Next Door