Q.   I noticed a line about Women's Issues on the website Home Page and a
reader's challenge to discover what your intent was. Why a subtle approach?

 

A.   As a debut, emerging author, I imagined during the whole writing process
of finding an identity, style and ways to make a reader think. Perhaps it's
true, every word or thought has a purpose. Often the reader encounters
women's perspectives, but there's no hammer of overt comprehension. You need
to think purpose as relates to characters, flow of the novel and if there's
a message or a new mirror for you. I like Ah Ha's!

 

Q. Heavy themes come to play in your book. How did you tackle issues of race, religion, economics, feminism, and political ideology while still entertaining the reader?

 

A. Feminism was my favorite tackle; I still wonder how civilization and then America kept women from voting and I'm really oversimplifying so forgive unless you want about 80 pages right now. Because development and social awareness is so important, I do the old "inculcating" main characters with special senses of fairness, equality, and priority; what's really important for our planet (another way to say survival or sustainability). Throughout the novel there are perhaps eighteen subtle yet strong examples of feminism weaved carefully into the plot. To the reader, I say, go find them.

For race, I closed my eyes and I was back in Newark, N.J. living in a pressure cooker of racism and intolerance but no different than anywhere else in America. So yes, I drifted back to the things which bothered me as a young boy and to which I'd always confront my mother and ask why and for which she'd say, "but they're a different color." I did things but not enough and it still bothers me today that I wasn't in Washington in August 1963 so I made sure characters acted and felt close to me now. There's a race message. Look at what's important. We are all brothers and sisters. Don't believe it? We are running out of time for this universe go around. Take all that hate energy and put a windmill or solar panel on your house which hopefully is fifty miles inland.

Religion is easy for me. With all this spirituality in my life, knowing there is 'something' out there, I made sure characters were diverse, believers and tolerant. I also recognized years before President Obama gave his speech in Egypt in June 2009, that it was important to treat Muslims and all religions with respect and understanding. We're all part of this world, seeking. One of my main characters is Muslim and an especially wonderful and gifted person.

If there is a political ideology, it's I've dealt with none. No donkeys, elephants, independent or tea people. I've never subscribed or declared. The closest I've ever come was running to see which party could personally keep me out of flooded rice fields in Southeast Asia. The reader is entertained by the reality and simplicity of the thinking of the characters; their conviction, innocence and almost physiological makeup, how it's so much a part of their everyday lives. One character punches a bedroom wall, putting a hole in it and covering the hole with a picture of Willie Mays, because Medgar Evers was assassinated.

Economics. Hmmm. Watch this little twist around. I like Spartan living; used to have a contest with an uncle. How many miles can you put on a car. He had enough to go to the moon and half way back. I emulated to an extent. Had I not invaded the ground space of an Asian import, I would've logged 375,000 miles. My characters are the same way, with careful avoidance of trappings of Western world living. Certain American companies abusing morality and the environment were a concern for a character. And I think enough said.