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Something I’ll Never Forget
The Prodigal Daughter follows a husband and wife who navigate the labyrinth of a society that doesn’t tolerate dissent in order to escape. What were some ideas that you wanted to explore in this book that were different from book one?
The Governor’s Daughter mainly focused on Emma and Declan’s relationship, and how two people from very different walks of life can fall in love despite potential grave consequences. I wanted to expand on that theme, and The Prodigal Daughter gave me a great opportunity to delve into how the fall of American Democracy affected more than those in the Premier City. We already saw in the first novel how women became the property of men, and minorities were forced to live outside the city walls in a constant state of semi-starvation and extreme poverty. Now we get to see how a city that refused to kowtow to the Committee was punished, and how the deadly rebel group, known as the BSB, came to be.
In this novel, I was able to get into the minds of characters of different races, sexual orientation, and beliefs. I also delve deep into the ideology of morality, especially when it involves doing one’s duty in their specific careers. Ranging from soldiers to a minister, we see how they balance their moral conscience during a time of war. I wanted to explore the idea of what is morally right or wrong during times of war and oppression.
What scene in the book was the most emotionally impactful for you to write?
I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone, but we lose some major characters in this novel. One scene in particular, when Declan euthanizes a dear friend who is beyond his ability to save, really got to me. The passage where he remembers a discussion about euthanasia with a veterinarian friend was a conversation I actually had when I was a veterinary technician with my boss. It was a major eye-opening moment when he called euthanasia “the final treatment option” because it’s the last medical treatment in their arsenol to treat pain and suffering. It’s something I’ll never forget.
What were some challenges you set for yourself as a writer with this book?
Overall, it was a tough novel to write, as there were a lot of questions that needed answering, and of course, I had to raise a bunch more for you to ponder over before book three comes out! I wanted this novel to be inclusive, to show how people can band together and fight for what’s right, and that all the things people let divide us really don’t matter. I wanted every reader to be able to see themselves in at least one of our heroes, and to hopefully get involved in a way that can hopefully prevent this saga from coming true. As bleak as much of the tale is, I wanted this part of the tale to end on a more hopeful note while still holding on to the gravity of the topics. I want people to understand there’s still time to get involved, and most importantly, to vote.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
My Mother’s Daughter will be the third book in the Daughters of the New American Revolution series, and if the stars align, will be released next summer. This one is a particularly difficult novel to write, and I will give a lot of backstory about how women were a major part of the creation of this new government. We get to know Emma’s mother, the pitiable Louise, and of course her grandmother, the formidable Mother Barbara. The story continues with Emma and Declan and the BSB on the run, and by the end of the novel, I promise you will finally get to meet the infamous Trinity. It’s going to be a true whirlwind, so hang onto your hats!
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a grief-stricken “girl” incapable of concocting a plan.
Oh, how wrong they were.
Years of enduring their abuse have made Emma stronger, smarter, and more sure of herself. With a sharp mind and quick wit, she managed to get herself out of situations in the past that seemed impossible.
With the eyes of the nation on her and the consequences for her actions greater than ever, can Emma find a way to save herself again?
After sacrificing herself to save her brother and husband, Emma finds herself surrounded by bloodthirsty bounty hunters eager to claim their reward. Knowing her crimes are more than enough to get her executed, she has but one chance at freedom before being returned to the Premier City and her furious father, the newly-promoted Interim Supreme Archon.
While Emma fights for her life, her husband, Declan, is dying. Knowing Declan doesn’t have long to live, his loyal friend, Adam, takes him to the one place with people who can save him, but doing so is practically suicide. The ruined city “that no longer has a name” may have been walled in and destroyed, but an active patrol, ready to kill on sight, combs the rubble for the remaining elusive members of the resistance group known only as the BSB.The members of the resistance are not the only ones whose lives hang precariously, as those in the Premier City are also on edge. Edward James Bellamy has no intention of giving back the throne should Ryan Gregory recover from injuries incurred the night the National theater collapsed.
At first, everyone in the nation believes Bellamy to be a safer, saner choice, but then, he sets into motion a series of events that will make him the most feared leader yet. With the threat of an upcoming rebellion knocking on his door, Bellamy’s determination to stay on the throne will leave everyone in the nation in grave danger, but none so much as his prodigal daughter.
Judgement Is Inevitable
The Nephilim Project follows a demon who exposes a demonic plan to impregnate the daughters of men to spawn the Nephilim. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
Jesus Christ said he would return when the days on earth will be like those Noah experienced. The giant Nephilim ruled the earth when Noah was building the ark. Could demons once again produce the Nephilim, and would it be a precursor for Jesus’ second coming? If I answered my own question, I would say probable not, but we need to take notice of another marker of the days of Noah. God said he destroyed mankind with a flood because the hearts of men were continually evil. Today we see the rise of evil in our lands and we should be watching for Jesus’ imminent return.
Utoneious is an intriguing character. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
Utoneious is a fallen angel, a demon if you will and he tells of his exploits in Heaven and on earth. He is perplexed and troubled over this gnawing question: Why does God give men multiple chances to change their evil ways and angels suffered God’s wrath for just one evil choice? Should Utonious be pitied, should the unrepentant human be pitied? Upon realizing both men and demons share the same fate, Utoneious begins to regret the choices he made and wants to make amends not knowing salvation is based on faith rather than works.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
My first book was criticized for being too “preachy”. In this book I set out thinking; If I presented the Gospel through the voice of a demonic, no one could say it was too preachy and for years I thought that showing the Gospel in this way was the purpose of my book. Just recently, I realized the major theme of the book is not the Gospel, but rather, God’s judgement is inevitable, and it will be tragic for those who refuse to repent and believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
At this time, I don’t have any plans. I wrote my first book after being shunned from a Christian Church and that took a year. Writing “The Nephilim Project” took me two years. If a third book followed suit, such an endeavor would take three years to accomplish. I guess I should get started on the Nephilims’ sequel before I get any older.
P.S. I have an idea on how Utonious could escape the demon prison Tartarus.
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of shadows encompassing the earth. In this darkness evil seeks obscurity. With effort it can be perceived by the human mind and those groping in the dark can be enlightened by a demon’s tale. Deep in the bowels of earth, wasting away in a prison called Tatarus, a demon named Utoneious remembers the days of Heaven and gives testimony of what it’s like to be Satan’s slave. He exposes a demonic plan to, once again, impregnate the daughters of men and from this union the Nephilim, as in the days of Noah, will be spawned. The devil plans to use these giants in a most insidious way, and as the overseer of the Nephilim Project, Utoneious is well aware of what lust for flesh can bring.
This fallen angel’s evil knew no bounds. Legends of old were targeted and Utoneious played his role to perfection. He brought the ruin of Nimrod at the tower of Babble and Pharaohs of Egypt knew his curses before they were buried in their pyramid tombs. All of mankind suffered Utoneious’ lies until one day something tempered his ways. Perhaps he tired of his deeds when he watched the Church put men, from the order of the Knights Templar, to the torch or he may have changed because of his love for a woman. Did this fallen angel try to redeem himself or was his rebellion against Satan a ruse. Whatever the case may be, his story begins before death was ever known and leads down a doomed path where his destiny is intricately interwoven with a relic of Satan’s design.
Life and death, Heaven or Hell—what is the truth? If an answer could be found in a story, there would be no beginning to such a tale as there could be no end. Nevertheless, many have tried to tell it. Know this and be forewarned: chronicles from the damned are a tragedy, telling lies meant to deceive the race of men to join an unholy alliance, sharing with Satan an antipathy toward God.
Despite All Odds
Laddie Roy DFC follows an intrepid youth from a British colony who flies a combat aircraft for the Royal Air Force in the Great War. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
Having read a few brief mentions of Lt. Indra Lal Roy or ‘Laddie Roy’ on Memorial Day, I was quite in awe of his achievements. Here was a young Indian boy from colonial India flying expensive war planes to take down the German aircrafts at a time when the Red Baron spread terror in the skies with his deathly ‘Flying Circus’. It seemed too good to be true: we have read amazing accounts of Indian infantry battalions storming German trenches on the ground but the aerial fight of the flying aces was a tactical and expensive war and if not for Colonel Sefton Brancker, no one from the British colonies could ever fly these magnificent machines, let alone get near them. However there were brave men from all corners of the Empire and America whose characters have been woven into Laddie Roy’s journey to greatness because they worked as one squadron, one team. It didn’t matter where they were from but what they did to fulfil their mission duties. Mike Mannock (Victoria Cross), George McElroy (Distinguished Flying Cross) and James McCudden(Victoria Cross) and many others were Indra Lal Roy’s contemporaries and colleagues who figure prominently in his story. When a plan and a few good men come together only greatness can follow, this was the inspiration for the setup of my story.
Indra Lal Roy is an intriguing and well developed character. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
Indra Lal Roy’s journey to become a pilot of the Royal Flying Commission (as the RAF was named at the time) was not without incredibly challenging odds and yet he overcame them. It was his struggle about getting past his first failed qualification test for the RFC, his first crash which nearly killed him, his remarkable recovery thereafter to become a flying ace in a matter of days gives us hope that we can achieve what we set out as our goals. Indra Lal Roy was as determined, as forthright and sincere as anyone could be but I see this brilliant brightness in his persona that just made destiny put the pieces together for him to fulfil his dreams until it didn’t in his final flight mission over Carvin, France. Roy never let up his determination to keep going despite all odds and yet he never lost that touch of humanity between missions despite fighting the moral dilemma of destroying an enemy aircraft.
My book touches upon this aspect of what we now call PTSD but back then soldiers were afraid to admit this and yet one could find evidence of their stress in the mails they sent back home as I have mentioned in the story. My driving ideals were to present as accurate a picture as I could, a snapshot of the time when flying was still an experimental science forcefully brought into urgent improvement during the First World war.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
I wanted to delve into the psyche of the victor and the vanquished airmen in an aerial dogfight, clearly this is a different war than those fought in the trenches and that is where the heart of the book lies. One is transported into one of these biplanes, high above the sky, cold and alone except for possibly a few more colleagues in their own planes on a flight mission waiting to take on enemy aircraft. It is a situation where a thousand checks can fail save for one rash maneuver, one bracing wire to snap or have enemy aircraft shoot at you from below. Flying these aircrafts required incredible skill if one were to stay alive after the mission was over and this is the reason why some of the challenges faced by the pilots especially technical faults are mentioned. One has to remember these men were not given parachutes as it was a ‘do or die’ mission which made sure the pilot applied himself the best he could while flying these airplanes.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
My third book would be a conclusion of my first one, The Incidental Jihadi because I couldn’t quite give the story a conclusion at that point in time. Given the geopolitical situation in Syria is difficult, it felt almost impossible to conclude the story but the wheels are in motion as some ideas are shaping into chapters. I always want the best for my characters which is why closure from the first book is quite important to me as it needs to be realistic to what could be achieved now that the US has retreated completely from Syria, leaving the nation completely open to Russian influence. I am hoping to complete the conclusion to my first book The Incidental Jihadi by the end of 2023.
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Valuable Lessons
Billy Be Kind helps young readers find the courage they need to tell the truth. What was the inspiration for the idea behind this children’s book?
This book, like all my books, is inspired by authentic situations and real conversations that I’ve had with my three children. Like most parents, the importance of honesty is something that I emphasize regularly to my children. In particular, this book was inspired by a discussion I had with my son who admitted to telling a lie to avoid getting into trouble. I realized that all kids lie, but it’s up to us as parents to create an environment that encourages honesty.
The art in this picture book is vivid and cute. What was the art collaboration process like with illustrator Ayesha W?
Since I have collaborated with my illustrator Ayesha Warusavitharana on other projects, she has a clear understanding of my vision. I begin by sending her my storyboard and stick figure drawings. She then sends me her interpretation of my ideas. We often go back and forth until we are both satisfied that the artwork matches my vision. Her humility, patience, attention to detail, and her desire to excel in her field make it easy to work with her.
What is one piece of advice you would give to parents that are trying to teach their kids about honesty?
The best way to teach honesty is to be honest. We are our children’s first teachers. Have the “honesty conversation” early and look for ways to acknowledge and appreciate their choice to tell the truth, especially when it may have been easier to tell a lie.
What can readers expect in the second book in the Billy Be Kind series?
In the second book, Billy Be Kind: Making A New Friend, the readers are introduced to a new character, Lucy-Lou. She is a shy little girl who has a hard time making new friends. Billy Be Kind, the kind little mouse, encourages her to be brave and take the first step in meeting someone new. The readers can expect rhyming stories, colorful illustrations, and themes that teach valuable lessons simplified for young children.
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This wonderful, rhyming story is part of the Billy Be Kind Children’s Series.
The Billy Be Kind Children Series is a collection of short stories with important lessons simplified for young readers. The series offer eye-catching illustrations, diverse characters and relatable themes that help children thrive to reach their full potential. Ages 2-5
Life of Poetry
Near Scattered Praise Lies Our Substantial Endeavor is a fascinating collection of poetry comprised of poems written from the mid-60s to current day and covers a wide range of life experiences. What inspires you to write poetry?
From an early age of perhaps 12 or 13, I began to be genuinely fascinated by the ways in which words “worked together” (or failed to work together) to make sense — or, in fact, did not make sense. These actions were most evident to me in the reading and writing of poetry, so that phenomenon is likely what drew me to poetry as a means of experimenting and taking pleasurable chances with language that were somehow “legal” or acceptable. Usually the world also made a different kind of sense inside the wondrous confines of poetry, so that had an appeal to me.
What are some emotions or themes you find your poetry often exploring?
I find that I am frequently drawn toward making meaningful distinctions between the seemingly esoteric and the seemingly everyday — both in actual substance in real life (IRL) and also in words and discussions and thoughts and considerations (in abstractions). More frequently, however, I find that I am considering and challenging my relationship with God. I’m often startled by the frequency with which I am considering this relationship. For instance, a minor poem invoking the Spanish Inquisition can suddenly become a larger questioning of a larger universe than the one I had in mind. A poem such as “Rules of Engagement,” in which I was trying to play with the placement of words to achieve different meanings, becomes a poem rich in the dust of pervasive and insistent mortality… These are wonderful “morphs,” by the way! These wonderful surprises and twists and turns are the great things we live for, and we don’t even know it!
My favorite poem from this collection is ‘Mr. Oppenheimer’s Revenge’. Do you have a favorite poem from this book?
I am extremely glad and grateful that your favorite poem is “Mr. Oppenheimer’s Revenge.” I am struck — struck! — by my own lines, “How does our own resemblance/stagger into the divine?”
One of my favorite poems in the collection is “Countdown” simply because it launched (pun?) me into a quiet, “undercover” life of poetry. It was my first published poem, it encouraged some notice in the publishing world, and it confirmed for me that I could do whatever I wanted in the world of poetry.
Do you have plans to write and publish more works of poetry?
Yes, I have plans to write and publish more works of poetry. But I am in a hospice program that may have other plans for me. It’s that simple… lol… However, should I have more time left on the clock than I think possible, I would be tempted to conduct more work on the truly difficult item on the agenda, which are the “petites essais” I’ve brought forth in the final section of this book. I say very little about them, but to be taken seriously — or taken at all! — I need to say far more about what they mean to me.
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His ambitious collection, Near Scattered Praise Lies Our Substantial Endeavor, is subtle in its exploration of contrasts, balancing between the light and dark of our natures and confronting the mystery of our destiny. His collection includes a unique, deeply felt love poem about the simple act of driving across a covered bridge, while it also embraces a poem that observes contemporary society as a “Diet of Worms.”
For thoughtful readers of poetry, Penoyer builds landscapes and vistas in which meaningful destinations may be discovered. Within the collection itself, he precedes his poem about a 1960’s launch of a Saturn V rocket with a poem describing the ancient lure of Stonehenge, while he completes the vista with an exploration of the shocking but weighty evanescence of fireflies.
Adventurous poetry readers will likely recognize Penoyer’s picaresque. He has been suspected of coaxing the Winged Victory of Samothrace into somehow taking flight in the Louvre, and he has been known to linger as an amateur sleuth on Hampstead Heath on a certain afternoon in 1819, suspicious of a bird.
21st Century Knight
Waiting ‘Round to Die follows a man who is facing an existential crisis and embarks on a journey to find meaning. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
Life. My life. Other people’s lives. All the people in the Target by my house buying things they probably don’t need. I was living this life, surrounded by the trappings of ‘success,’ and I just kept asking myself—what’s the point? Was the point to fill my 2,000-square foot suburban home with Restoration Hardware furniture? Because I did! Do I win now? Do I get an award? Is this the legacy I am going to leave for my child? And, honestly, I wanted to flee the life I’d built for myself, but my familial obligations kept me anchored in place. So I fled in my head. And when I fled, I took my dead uncle with me, because I knew deep down inside that things would be better if he was there.
Glen Grant was a fairly famous writer in his own right. You should look him and his Obake tales up. Once I had Glen and the narrator on the road, I sent them off to find the meaning of something. I guess it’s at least alluded to that the narrator wants to find the meaning of life, but I feel like he really just wants to find meaning in life. He got no meaning from being a husband. No meaning from being a suburbanite. No meaning from his money. He had some meaning from being a father, but his child no longer needed him. So, he’s out there looking for that meaning in the kind of life he dreamed of living, not the one he just sort of fell into.
The protagonist is an interesting character with unique dimensions to him. What were some driving ideals behind his character’s development?
When I was a kid, I watched the movie version of the musical Camelot a lot. Like, basically any time I possibly could, I would watch Camelot. And when I watched Camelot, I dreamed of being Lancelot—I think a lot of kids could identify with that. Lancelot was the best. He had the shiniest armor. He was played by Franco Nero, who was a very handsome man. Arthur was great, but Arthur was flawed. Arthur lost his woman. Yes, Lancelot took his woman, and in doing so Lancelot quit being perfect, but he was still the most badass knight in all of Camelot. Just watch the scene where he flees the castle after Mordred catches him with Guinevere—he basically takes out the entire castle guard by himself!
Why do I mention this? It’s because Lancelot had purpose. The narrator in my book has no purpose until he takes to the road, and I guess that’s the driving ideal, if you will. That search for purpose. The guy wants to find something to hold onto. A reason to keep on going. So he goes out looking for it. And I think that’s what makes him relatable. If you just take a cursory look at the narrator then maybe you won’t like him. After all, this is a guy who leaves what seems to be a perfectly fine life to go out and essentially ‘party’ his way across the country. But if you take a deeper look, that’s not really the case. The guy is basically a 21st-century knight errant on a quest. While he doesn’t necessarily have to physically fight—I mean, there are a couple fights, but they’re basically things he tries to flee—he is still roaming, searching for something else. Something more. That longing is what the character was built on and it is the foundation for everything that comes after.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
The major themes were purpose and meaning, but there was another one that was very important and that was love. For all intents and purposes the narrator is in a loveless marriage. He’s not getting anything from his wife, so that’s not the love story. Somewhere deep down inside he does still love Claire, even though he hasn’t seen her in two decades. But that’s not the love story either. The love story is the love between the narrator and his dead uncle.
Obviously this is not a romantic love, but I don’t think that renders it any less important. Glen was this guy’s mentor, his confidant. In a lot of ways Glen was his best friend. The narrator can only assume that, had Glen still been alive, he would not find himself in the place he ended up. But, as is usually the case, life had other ideas and it took Glen away from him. But it gave him back! And the story culminates with the two men standing on the beach at the end of their trip and the narrator finally telling his uncle he loves him. Soon after, he disappears. My actual Uncle Glen, the notable writer, died in a hospital bed in Honolulu in 2003 and I don’t know that I ever really got the chance to tell him just how important he was to me. I was thankful to sort of have the chance to say it in this book.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I actually have a collection of short stories I am hoping to have published before the end of the year. One of them is kind of an outtake from when I was writing Waiting ‘Round to Die. It was just something I started writing while I was writing the novel, and it didn’t really fit into the story I told with the book, but it definitely has the same tone and feel to it. The other stories are a little older, and perhaps a little less longing, but they tie in nicely with the new story, so I would love to get those out there as soon as possible.
I’m also working on a longer piece of fiction called Summer of ’85. I like to call it my ‘80s movie because I feel like the plot would work really well in a John Hughes movie. It’s about a kid growing up in a small lumber town in Oregon who somehow discovers rap music, before it really became mainstream. I’m about 2/3 done with the first draft. Hopefully it will be available sometime towards the end of next year.
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A nameless man, existing perilously close to the edge, flees his suburban home for the open road in a last-ditch effort to connect with the life he once lived. On the road he finds his long-lost uncle who takes him on a continent-spanning adventure where they meet Civil War generals, a legendary Navajo, and a rotating cast of characters who may, or may not, have the answers to the questions the man is asking. Over the course of thousands of miles and through countless towns and bars, they hastily push toward the western horizon and the promise it may hold.
What Lies Beneath
The Language of Dreams explores the relationship between a psychologist and her patient and the ethical quandaries they face. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
The relationship between a psychologist and patient is unique and intentionally focused on the client; the psychologist reveals very little, if anything, about her personal life. There are good reasons for this; the sessions are all about the patient and only the patient, unlike any other relationship in the client’s life. The client need not worry about overburdening the therapist, a feeling she might have when leaning too heavily on a friend, for example. The client also doesn’t have to be careful about offending the psychologist.
For example, in a friendship, a person might refrain from expressing her fears about getting the COVID vaccine because she knows that her friend is pro-vaccine and feels said friend appears harsh and judgmental in her attitude. We might not say things in a friendship for fear of conflict, out of worry about losing that friendship, or concern that it will just make one’s problems worse. My experience is that most patients find it a great relief to be able to speak freely to their therapist.
The psychologist as a “blank slate” is essential for the all-important “transference” process; with time, the patient projects her feelings and attitudes rooted in other relationship experiences—often the family of origin—onto the psychologist. The psychologist knows this and can gently and skillfully work with the patient to shed light on the family-of-origin dynamics that tend to be unconsciously repeated and don’t serve the client.
For example, an adult abandoned as a child may—very understandably—mistrust everyone and, therefore, miss out on trustworthy relationships that would help them heal and thrive. Or they might err in the opposite direction, trusting everyone too quickly and being hurt again. The psychologist, who is not known personally to the patient and is certainly not going to abandon them, is armed with therapeutic skills and is in a perfect position to help the client. In the comfort of a safe relationship, the client can grieve losses experienced in early relationships, recognize realistic signs of who should and shouldn’t be trusted, and learn that reliable connections can exist.
So that’s the theory. But things are messier in real life. It’s normal for the client to be curious about the psychologist. At times, the patient may find it quite unfair, even threatening, that the psychologist knows so much about her and they know nothing about the psychologist. Young Clare, in The Language of Dreams, feels this way. The psychologist is human, too; I try to make that point in my story. The therapist may be preoccupied with her issues and may make mistakes that blur the boundaries between the psychologist and the patient, like the psychologist Avery did in my story.
Many years of experience in psychotherapy practice and training young psychologists are the inspiration for the boundary problems that arise immediately between Avery and Clare. I tried to take things to an extreme to make a point about how boundaries can become blurred between psychologist and patient; after all, just two human beings in the same room. I imagined the worst thing that could happen in a highly charged first session between a seasoned but personally preoccupied psychologist and an angry young client mandated into treatment. And so, in the first chapter, Clare barges into the psychologist’s private bathroom (which the psychologist forgot to lock) and snoops around to find Avery’s two negative pregnancy tests in the trash can (that the psychologist should never have done at her place of work and then discarded there). Suddenly, Clare has usurped the unfair power dynamic she perceives in her relationship with this shrink. She has discovered the middle-aged psychologist’s Achilles heel; Clare is clever and intuits that Avery wants a baby, and it’s not going well. We aren’t surprised that the therapeutic relationship is a rollercoaster ride from the beginning. Now, what???
Avery and Clare are intriguing characters. What were some driving ideals behind their character’s development?
Clare is an angry young woman who steals stuff, taking what she pleases because she feels entitled. On the surface, she isn’t likable and seems a bit like a spoiled brat. Stealing gets her into trouble with the law, which lands her in Avery’s office, much to Clare’s chagrin. But what lies beneath Clare’s defensive façade? As the story unfolds, Avery discovers glimpses of Clare’s pain, her talents, and her potential for change. Even as a seasoned and skilled psychologist, Clare is Avery’s toughest customer. Maybe the reader will like this young woman a little or a lot. It might depend on the extent to which the reader identifies with Clare. Perhaps, we shouldn’t accept the outer crust of a person as their whole story.
The poised and caring Avery is an experienced professional who always follows the rules. On the surface, her life looks pretty good. But she is missing the one thing she wants the most; a baby and the fullness of family she lacked growing up. Like Clare, Avery is haunted by her past. At first, the reader might be disappointed by Avery’s acceptance of her fate that a baby is not in the cards. Can Avery rise up? Can she conquer the fear that holds her back?
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
A key theme in The Language of Dreams is that the story lets the reader into the private world of psychotherapy. Beyond an engaging story, the reader experiences some of the remarkable things that can happen between a skilled therapist and her client. Readers of earlier drafts of The Language of Dreams consistently felt a sense of hope when they read some psychotherapy scenes; I felt good about this, and it made me realize that encouragement can be felt in authentic yet fictionalized accounts of psychotherapy.
The second theme in my story is this; the client and the therapist are both vulnerable human beings. Therapists need therapists, too. Ideally, what the psychologist learns from processing their historical hurts—and we all have them—can make them better therapists. However, I don’t want to overstate this because the psychologist must also be well-adjusted, have insight into themselves, and seek consultation immediately if they feel things are not going well with one of their clients.
A third theme reflects my absolute fascination with the potential of human transformation. Yes, people can change; they can become calmer, more insightful, and more resolute. Growth and transformation can occur in psychotherapy, but that’s only one avenue for human change. The non-verbal agents of change are as important as the verbal exchanges in The Language of Dreams. My book explores how dreams can help us to connect with our unconscious. Clare is an artist and a lucid dreamer who paints her dreamscapes in search of clues about her lost parents. Avery found refuge in ballet during a difficult childhood, and her return to the creative outlet of dance and movement as an adult becomes essential to finding herself again.
What was one thing that excited you the most about writing this book?
I have spent most of my professional career writing non-fiction, such as published papers about research studies or how-to chapters for clinicians. I do not downplay the importance of research studies and practice papers. Yet it was so refreshing to write a story with a plot! It was exhilarating to return to my love of literature and roots in creative writing, to throw myself into coursework and learning experiences, and to write my first novel. I am passionate about creative writing that has the potential to raise awareness about mental health and offers authentic accounts of what happens in psychotherapy; all of this is embedded in an entertaining story rather than a textbook. #MentalHealthFiction #TherapistsAreHuman #WitnessTheExcitingArcsOfHumanTransformation
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No Limitations
Gender explores gender roles through two compelling stories that are told in an engaging mix of free verse, form, and rhyme. What inspired you to write these stories?
Who knows where ideas come from when there are no limitations to what you can do with them? A poem, or a plot, seeps into my consciousness unbidden. But there it is. For “Martin/Martina” I pictured a woman of the 11th century dressed in finery and lying in a glass coffin, remembering her past and acutely aware of 21st-century life surrounding her in the chapel where she lies. I place her resting place somewhere in a Mediterranean area, perhaps something like Orta San Giulio, a beautiful lakeside town in the north of Italy. When my husband and I were there, we visited the island out in the lake where in the basilica the remains of San Giulio lie in a glass casket. I extrapolated from that and invented Mother Martina’s glass coffin, gave her a voice, and let her speak, as her past played itself out.
I used to live in Athens, Greece, where I heard about St. Marina, who gave me the idea of Martin/Martina. Marina dressed as a young man and entered a monastery. S/he was accused of fathering a child. That was the inspiration for me to create a story about Martina’s life as a man and father. Near the church of St. Marina in Athens, there is a cliff where pregnant women or women who wanted to be pregnant or did not want to be pregnant or wished for a safe delivery, used to slide down in hopes their prayers would be answered. As Martina lies in her coffin, women pray in a similar manner to her.
At the time we were in Orta, sainthood was being sought for Padre Pio, and his face appeared on the blank exterior wall of a building. That may easily have been considered a miracle. That gave me the idea to have Martin/Martina’s face appear on a wall.
As for the inspiration behind “Aftermath,” I started out with a poem that compared an apocalyptic band of survivors to a beehive. But things changed quickly in my mind, and I invented my own society. I didn’t want a “queen,” though the weavers, or females, as in a real beehive, seemed like the most important of the tripartite group. Builders were asexual beings, and the Fennel Men were the sexual ones, but where the fennel part of it came from, I really don’t know. It just seemed rightly erotic to have a fennel bulb dangling down from the waist of these men.
In today’s world many of us think about the destruction of our planet or at least our way of life. Climate change is going in that direction, as we witness tremendous flooding, wildfires, rising oceans, to name a few of the causes that might be behind a future apocalypse.
What were some challenges you set for yourself as a poet with these stories?
The challenges were the craft of poetry. I knew “Martin/Martina” would be free verse, with Father Ralph providing the occasional contrast with his rhymes. I wanted to make him likable, albeit eccentric.
In “Aftermath,” after writing the introductory poem in terza rima, I just couldn’t stop myself from wanting to rhyme. The story just kept begging me to rhyme. I used all kinds of rhyme schemes in order not to get tied down to anything predictable, and I hope it works.
As for challenges for both stories, I wanted to make them “almost” believable to readers. I want readers to believe that Mother Martina in her glass coffin really is a sentient being whose experience spans a thousand years. I want her story to be moving. I want Martin as father to Dino and friend to Bronwyn to be true. I want metaphor to occur to a reader. When Bronwyn says to Dino, “A father who has nothing of the mother in him is not a real father,” I hope the reader sees how gender should combine in all lives. One could easily say, “Gender Does Not Matter.”
What are some poets or poetry that you feel inspired this collection and you as a writer?
Well, in a small and in no way comparative sense, Dante inspires me a lot, which is why I began “Aftermath” with terza rima. I majored in Italian in college, took lots of Latin in high school and college, and have read quite a few stories in verse, not to mention the books we all grow up with as children.
Cormac McCarthy’s book The Road was not a favorite of mine, and I have to confess I enjoyed parodying it in a sort of book review I wrote some time ago, “The Book Reviewer’s Diary.” But the idea of apocalypse that McCarthy explored is of great interest to me.
Two fiction pieces of verse that drew my attention were Brad Leithauser’s Darlington’s Fall and Vikram Seth’s The Golden Gate. These books prompted me to write my first novella in verse in 2008, Spare Parts.
My favorite poets are, though this is not by any stretch a complete list, nor is it in any order, and who knows if their work has influenced me?: Emily Dickinson, T.S. Eliot, Walt Whitman, Lucille Clifton, Ilya Kaminsky, Hayden Carruth, Ada Limon, Langston Hughes, Carl Sandburg, Ellen Bass, Edward Hirsch, et al.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I am working on a New and Selected. After eight books of poetry and four chapbooks, I would very much like to bring a few poems from each together in the same volume and add some of those I’ve been working on lately.
I just finished a chapbook-length manuscript in verse, The Spare Parts Saga, which is based partly on the U.S. Postal Service, as we know it today. The main character of the chapbook, which is a novella in its own right, is my novella in verse from 2008, Spare Parts.
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Anne Harding Woodworth has brought together two novellas in verse that share a look at the role of male and female. In Martin/Martina a young woman dresses as a man, is accused of fathering a child, and as the boy’s father, raises him. In Aftermath, a member of an asexual group-among three survivor groups that have formed after cataclysm has destroyed most of civilization-becomes pregnant.
Two not dissimilar landscapes set the stage for these stories, somewhere in (perhaps) a Mediterranean place of the eleventh century, as well as one of today and of the future. Regardless of time frame, the atmosphere in both novellas lures us into lives of sex, parenting, labor, confusion, and friendship, all in a mixture of free verse, form, and rhyme.
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