Q&A with Brendan Slocumb

 

 

Brendan Slocumb is the author of the new novel The Dark Maestro. His other books include the novel The Violin Conspiracy. Also a violinist and music educator, he lives in Washington, D.C.

 

Q: How much did your lifelong love of comic books inspire your new novel, The Dark Maestro?

 

A: My love of comic books was an enormous inspiration for the new novel. I've been collecting comics and action figures since I was 15 and they've always reminded me of happy memories.

 

We’ve all heard the expression, “write what you know.” I know comics, and this added a layer of fun to the process. I’m also hoping that some readers who might not normally read a novel may be drawn to the comic book angle and give Dark Maestro a try.

 

Q: How did you create your characters Curtis, Zippy, and Larissa?

 

A: Curtis is every beginner I've ever taught. Seeing that light switch on when the instrument hits their hands is a joy in itself. Curtis is a very innocent, sweet kid. It was important to me to capture this on the page. Fortunately, I've had years of teaching kids just like him.

 

I drew my inspiration of Larissa from knowing many strong Hispanic women. I’ve met many who spent time in “the street life” who end up taking care of other young women in need of guidance and support. Despite a gruff exterior at times, these women care deeply for their girls and want nothing but the best for them.

 

When I was growing up, a friend of my dad’s was named Zippy, and I had him in mind as I was writing. His name only, not his occupation. I’ve also lived in several urban centers across the country – most recently Washington, D.C. – and that experience, too, I tried to fold into the novel.

 

Q: The writer Alex Segura said of the book, “The Dark Maestro is my favorite kind of book—one that keeps you riveted in the moment, turning pages feverishly. But then, long after you’re done, the book creeps into your mind and lingers.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: Coming from a writer like Alex, that’s easily one of the best compliments anyone could receive. I always loved his work because I can relate to it. We are both comic lovers, and love well-crafted stories with sympathetic, believable characters. He's one of the best in the business.

 

Q: Did you need to do much research to write the novel, and if so, did you learn anything that especially surprised you?

 

A: This book had so much research in it – from the Witness Protection Program (Witsec) to the process of creating video comic books to reading about various aspects of the black market (I don’t want to give any spoilers so I’ll keep that last point vague!).

 

I interviewed F.B.I. agents, U.S. Marshals, people who work in the Witsec program, and many others.

So much surprised me! It’s incredible the amount of care and thought that goes into protecting people and creating new identities for them – I was particularly stunned by the grueling mental and emotional evaluations involved in preparing applicants for placements across the USA. It was both what I expected from seeing this in the movies, and somehow completely different.

 

One of the most shocking things I read about was how a woman was making dinner when the Witness Protection people knocked on her door and spirited her away – leaving her dishes on the table and the spaghetti in the pan. That image haunted me for months – the cooling meal in that empty house, while the inhabitants suddenly dove into different lives and prepared different meals.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: Currently, I'm outlining my next book, which explores the ideas of trust, identity, and grief … all in a classical music world, of course.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I’m excited for people to pick up The Dark Maestro, and can’t wait to hear what you think!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Brendan Slocumb.

Q&A with James Romm

 

 

 

James Romm is the author of the new book Plato and the Tyrant: The Fall of Greece's Greatest Dynasty and the Making of a Philosophic Masterpiece. His many other books include The Sacred Band. He is the James H. Ottaway Jr. Professor of Classics at Bard College.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Plato and the Tyrant?

 

A: When I first delved into Plato's intrigues with the despotic ruler of Syracuse, Dionysius the Younger, and realized how much it revealed about Plato, I was so gripped that I tried to include it as a subplot in the book I was then writing, The Sacred Band, simply because it took place at the same time as my main plot. 

 

My editor rightly asked “What is this doing here?” and had me strip it out, which was painful because I'd grown so attached to it. I knew then that I would come back to Plato and Dionysius, the strangest of political bedfellows, and tell their stories in full.    

 

Q: What would you say are some of the most common perceptions and misconceptions about Plato?

 

A: Plato's dialogues gave rise to so many of our idealized images of their author: We picture him as an ethereal being, living apart in a realm of pure ideas.  I call that image “the Platonic Plato,” and it's a lovely phantom, but the reality is far more complex. 

 

The Syracuse misadventure and the letters that describe it show Plato engaging in practical politics, making dreadful mistakes, trying to rescue his reputation, and (in the case of the controversial 13th letter) playing a dangerous game by cozying up to a despot. 

 

This is an image of Plato “in a state of undress,” as a Cambridge professor wrote a century ago. Yet it's a more appealing image than the cold, expressionless marble bust we might otherwise picture. I do not intend my book as a takedown of Plato, but rather as a way of making him human.

 

Q: The writer Adam Kirsch said of the book, “With this learned yet accessible account of the philosopher’s misadventures in politics, James Romm asks a question that remains all too relevant today: Is it possible for thought to prevail over tyranny?” What do you think of that description, and do you see any parallels with today's political situation?

 

A: Plato and the Tyrant documents how the lure of authoritarianism can seduce the best minds (i.e. Plato's) in an era when democracy isn't functioning well. In that way, as Adam Kirsch notes, it's a very relevant story. 

 

Plato gave up on all the forms of government he saw around him and tried to propose a new model, in which an absolute ruler would be guided by absolute justice. The dream he bequeathed to us, of the philosopher-king, has, over millennia, served the cause of dictators and despots, yet it continues to exert its dangerous spell.  

 

Q: How did you research the book, and did you learn anything that especially surprised you?

 

A: My research as always is centered on close readings of ancient texts, in this case, the letters of Plato. There are many scholars who dismiss these letters as fakes but, for reasons I discuss in the book, I'm convinced that many are genuine. 

 

The content of these letters was my greatest surprise, since they show us the inner Plato in a way the dialogues never do. It's amazing to me that so few people know they exist.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I'm translating a collection of fragments from otherwise lost Greek plays, due to appear next year from Norton. These fragments are mostly quotes selected by an ancient Greek father, John of Stobi, as a way of teaching his son the ways of the world. 

 

They're pithy and memorable, little gems that speak to some of life's central mysteries. One of my favorites is a rather dark one:  “The truly happy man ought to never leave home.”

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with James Romm.

Q&A with Marcella Pixley

 

 

Marcella Pixley is the author of the new middle grade novel Neshama. Her other books include Trowbridge Road. Also an educator, she lives in Massachusetts.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Neshama, and how did you create your character Anna?

 

A: I have always believed in ghosts. My Grandma Anne died when I was a very little girl, and the night before her funeral I had a strange dream that she came to visit me. I had been crying all day. In the dream she was trying to comfort and assure me that she was okay but she had to leave. I asked her if I could come with her, but she told me it wasn’t my time.

 

Since then, I have had many other dreams where deceased loved ones have come to visit. Most of the time they give me messages and reassure me that they are okay. I have never been certain if these dreams are real or not, but just in case, I always pass on the message.

 

When I began writing Neshama, I imagined what it would like for a quiet, imaginative, 11-year-old girl like Anna to discover that she could write poetry with the spirits of her ancestors. What would they say to her about who they were and what they left behind? 

 

Q: How would you describe the dynamic between Anna and Ruthie?

 

A: The dynamic between Anna and Ruthie changes over the course of the book.

 

At first, Ruthie’s ghost gives Anna a new, fierce, wild kind of bravery that she has never experienced before. While Anna is watchful and quiet, Ruthie is independent, unapologetic and completely fearless.

 

Ruthie’s spirit helps Anna connect deeply with her Jewish identity for the first time. She introduces Anna to ancient songs and prayers that make her spirit sing.

 

In return, Anna gives Ruthie the chance to experience the joys she has missed since passing away: chicken soup, Shabbos candles, a beating heart, a voice that can sing, feet that can dance, the ability to touch the ones she loved again.

 

But when Ruthie asks Anna to help her seek revenge, Anna needs to decide if being connected to a restless ghost is really what she wants. Anna needs to learn how to heal from generational trauma and also forge her own path. She needs to learn how to express her own shayna neshama, her own complex, brave and beautiful identity. 

 

Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

 

A: The word neshama means soul or spirit in Hebrew. In Judaism the neshama is the part of a human spirit that lasts forever. It is our divine spark. The word neshama can also be used as a term of endearment, like when Anna’s bubbe calls her a shayna neshama, a beautiful soul. 

 

Neshama felt like the right title for a ghost story in verse about a girl finding her own identity.  As Anna and her ancestors write poetry back and forth to each other, the reader is led to wonder what parts of our spirit linger when we leave this world.

 

Anna must learn to express her own identity that is different from her parents or Bubbe or even Ruthie. Over the course of the story, she will learn that forgiveness can heal old wounds and that the only way to be whole is to learn how to be brave enough to express all of who you are. We must never allow anyone else to define us. 

 

Q: Much of the novel is set in Gloucester, Massachusetts--how important is setting to you in your writing?

 

A: I wrote the first draft of Neshama sitting on the dock at our house in Gloucester, watching the tides rise and fall with a journal in my lap. I imagined that there were ghosts stepping out from the shadows, emerging from the surface of the water.

 

Our old, wooden cabin in Gloucester has always been one of my favorite places on earth. At sunset, the light slants in from the old dusty windows, making shadows on the reddish wood. If you stand on the dock, you can watch the sun sink into the river.

 

I have always imagined I could feel the other souls who have stood on the ancient dock watching the same sun and the same river generations and generations before. High tide. Low tide. Infinite sunsets. I wanted to capture that timeless quality of a place that had not changed in centuries.

 

In this novel, the setting of Gloucester, Massachusetts is one of the most important souls of all.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am in the very first stages of a new novel right now. Like many of my books, this is also a story about a girl with a very unusual and troubling imagination.

 

I am not sure whether this book will eventually be considered magical realism or if I have finally allowed myself to embark upon my very first fantasy book.

 

I do know that this story is about magical beasts. There is a unicorn and a wolf and a ravenous creature called the Kress that is much too powerful for its own good.

 

The main character is an 11-year-old girl with a traumatic past who is slipping farther and farther away from reality and into the terrifying world of her nightmares. She will need to go on a dangerous journey to find her way back to reality.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I hope the novel Neshama gives permission for readers to imagine talking to the ghosts of their own ancestors.

 

Create your own ghost journal. Sit on a dock, or on a mountain, or in your bed, and start writing to the ones who came before you. Ask them their stories. Ask them what they would do if they had hands and heartbeats again.

 

If you are very lucky, and you listen very hard, maybe they will share their stories with you. 

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Marcella Pixley.

Q&A with Frieda Wishinsky

 

 

 

 

Frieda Wishinsky is the author of the new children's book Keep Our World Green: Why Humans Need Gardens, Parks and Public Green Spaces. Her many other books include A Flower Is a Friend.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Keep Our World Green?

 

A: As a kid in New York City I played, walked, shared stories and enjoyed the beauty of parks, especially Central Park.

 

When I grew up I married, moved to Toronto and eventually bought a house with a yard. That’s where I grew a lovely, no grass garden. The garden had a giant silver maple tree that felt like a friend and anchored the garden.

 

Throughout my life green spaces, like my garden and parks, have given me joy and helped me through tough times. Green spaces do that for many of us. They are also essential to sustaining life and have been throughout history.

 

In Keep Our World Green I want to share the importance of greenspace throughout history, for today and for the future. The book is a combination of fascinating information and touching personal stories.

 

Q: What do you think Sara Theuerkauf’s illustrations add to the book?

 

A: I love how Sara’s pastel illustrations weave seamlessly into the narrative and work well with the photos (I took one third of the photos). The colorful art and images help bring the text alive. 

 

Q: What do you hope kids (and adults) take from the book?

 

A: I hope my book helps kids and adults cherish and preserve the beauty of greenspace and realize that without plants, life on earth would not be sustainable. That’s true today and has been throughout history. We  need to care for our green spaces, which are being challenged every day with climate change.

 

Q: What do you see looking ahead when it comes to people's enjoyment of green spaces?

 

A: I think everyone can enjoy the green spaces near them—grow a garden in their yard, on a windowsill, a balcony, or in community gardens. I hope we will all speak up when green spaces are being destroyed. It matters to everyone.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m currently working on a book inspired by my childhood, some biographies, and picture books about friendship.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

A: I want readers to know that nonfiction books, like this one, tell good stories about real people, places and events. 

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Frieda Wishinsky.

Q&A with Leslie Kimmelman

 

 

 

Leslie Kimmelman is the author of the new children's picture book Eve and Adam Discover the World. Her many other books include Eve and Adam and Their Very First Day. A former editor and writer for Sesame Workshop, she lives north of New York City.

 

Q: What inspired you to write this second book about Eve and Adam?

 

A: I knew I hadn't finished the story. Eve and Adam had to eat the apple. (Or in my book, the pomegranate, which most Biblical scholars agree would have been the more likely species.)

 

The first book was all about the wonder and newness  and beauty of the garden, and about Eve and Adam's faith. This book includes that, too, but also tries to make sense of the decision to eat from the forbidden tree of knowledge.

 

I've always had problems making sense of this particular part of the narrative. As I say in the book, how do we reconcile the ideas that first, God gave humans these fantastic brains, and second, didn't want them used to seek knowledge? Eve and Adam are punished for their appetite (literally!) to learn, a trait that we usually admire.

 

Now I want to say right up front that this book is not for people who hold to a literal interpretation of the Bible. But it is very much in line with the time-honored Jewish midrashic tradition--examining stories from the Torah from different vantage points to draw deeper meaning from them. 

 

In my telling, God is still disappointed, and Eve and Adam still face the consequences of their disobedience. Even so, God promises to always remain just "a whisper away." Eve and Adam will face a more difficult life away from Eden, but also one in which they will carve their own path. It's kind of the first coming-of-age story.

 

Q: What do you think Irina Avgustinovich’s illustrations add to the book?

 

A: I didn't think Irina could top the art she did for the first title, but has she ever! There are no words to wholly describe the gorgeous, vivid brilliance of her art. And so many nuanced touches: for example, when they have to leave the Garden of Eden, on one side of the spread Eve is comforting Adam, and on the facing page, Adam is comforting Eve.

 

It's a glorious piece of work. I can't thank the team at Apples & Honey enough for pairing us up.

 

Q: Why did you decide to tell the story from Eve’s perspective?

 

A: This continues the narration of the earlier book. Because why does Eve always come second? In this part of the Eden story especially, the action revolves around her, so why shouldn't it be told from her point of view?

 

Which is in no way to diminish Adam, who is an equal partner and whose role is equally important. He just has a different personality. Eve is the one who is always asking questions; Adam is the one who is quietly content. Both have personalities that young readers will recognize in themselves, I believe.

 

Q: What do you hope kids (and adults) take away from the story?

 

A: That growing up comes with hard decisions and may sometimes involve loss. It also comes with the promise of your world opening up to new possibilities and new adventures.

 

When we're young, most of our decisions are made by others; at some point, though, we have to make decisions for ourselves, weighing and accepting the consequences. Asking questions is essential, a necessary way of gaining knowledge. Faith is also an important ingredient, one that helps us manage the challenges we inevitably face. 

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: Lots of things! I have another title in my Sam and Charlie (and Sam Too) series just out: Sam and Charlie (and Sam Too) Shake Up Shabbat. And a bunch of other projects in various stages. It's both a challenge and a necessity, I think, to help bring joy into the world at what seems in many ways to be a rather dark time.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Train yourself to appreciate the beauty of every new day. There are a lot of things out of our control, but that one, we can all do. As well as owning our decisions. We won't always make the right ones (and sometimes there is no "right"), but then we use our brains to learn from them, and we carry on. 

 

And thanks so much, Deborah. You bring light into the world.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Leslie Kimmelman.

May 13

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
May 13, 1944: Armistead Maupin born.

Q&A with Eoghan Walls

 

 

 

 

Eoghan Walls is the author of the novel The Gospel of Orla. His other books include the poetry collection Pigeon Songs. Originally from Northern Ireland, he teaches creative writing at Lancaster University.

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Gospel of Orla, and how did you create your character Orla?

 

A: We had a bad spate of deaths in the family a few years ago: my mother, my brother’s wife, friends of the family, all in the space of a few years.

 

During it all my brother used to ask me if I believed in God – which is a very loaded question, when your mother and wife have just passed away. I couldn’t in good conscience give a resounding yes or no; it seemed to me that mourning was urgent and animal and necessary; that some aspects of sorrow, like anger, are somehow under-anticipated by the institutions of death.

 

And so – out of this – The Gospel of Orla was written. I wanted to conceive of an afterlife that could be adequate to an angry 14-year-old girl. Orla is my response to this.

 

Q: The writer Kia Corthron said of the novel, “As the troubled teenager ricochets between circus illusion and divine touch, she and the reader are beckoned to ponder where magic ends and miracles begin.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: It’s gorgeous – the reviewers have been so generous. I often feel sheepish with such responses. I try to write something gritty and dirty and tactile, and I am delighted if others find beauty in it. I think beauty starts in dirt, I guess. The miraculous too.

 

I guess from poetry I have learned that miracles need to start in the dirt: you need to mix mud with spittle and rub it in a blind man’s eye before he can see: you have to run out of wine at a wedding in Cana before you can open the wine of God.

 

Q: How would you describe the dynamic between Orla and your character Jesus?

 

A: Heh. Most readers might find it inappropriate. In her first interaction she threatens him with a knife and calls him an arse; throughout the work, she is cajoling and manipulative.

 

This is all disgraceful if we extend it to a human being – but if we extend it to a divine force of life, it is not unwarranted. We did not ask for death! We do not want our mothers to contract terminal illnesses. Death is not fair! And the demands that our responses are appropriate, or measured – that’s not fair! It isn’t!

 

So why should we not rage – should we not be angry? If you could meet the God who allowed brain cancer to take children, would you not be justified in pushing him into a river? Orla does not have the same qualms I might demand of myself.

 

Q: Did you know how the story would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?

 

A: I’m a planner: I plan everything meticulously. I mean – initially – I had an idea for five scenes that I wanted in the book: a kid burying Jesus; a resurrected cat; the scene with the Beatles tribute band.

 

So before I started writing, I tried to string these into a plot, that would answer my thoughts on mourning; I got a chapter plan written down, with the main plot points. The ideas had been circling my head for years, for so long that the actual planning took an afternoon, five sheets of paper and a will to wring them together.

 

It did take me a few goes to get into her voice – but once I found the voice, the book came pretty readily.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I have another novel set to come out this year – Field Notes from an Extinction – also with Seven Stories. It’s a tale of an English ornithologist during the Irish famine. While he’s taking notes on the final colony of Great Awk, the locals smuggle a dying child onto his outpost. It’s a way of thinking through empire, environmental collapse and immigration.

 

I also have a book of poems coming out this year too, about the father-daughter relationship – Elsa & the Wolfman – with Seren.

 

So a high-output year – but of course, these only come with years of dearth between them.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Really just that last bit. It sounds like I have loads going on. And things are working out at the minute. But I go through years of nervous angst where I publish little or nothing, and when I read of the success of others I get overwhelmed by bitterness and frustration.

 

Are these periods of dearth necessary for our times of plenty? Intellectually I believe it; yes; the thinking we do between books that makes our work visceral and cosmic. Emotionally, I get forlorn and berate myself when I’m at the trough of the sine wave. But I do think these are periods of gestation. I think we as writers should learn to be kind to ourselves.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb