Month: August 2021

How about a little murder mystery to kickstart the weekend? Please help me welcome as my guest author Janyce Stefan-Cole! Let’s take a look at her bio and then find out whodunit…

JANYCE STEFAN-COLE is the author of the novels, HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD (Unbridled Books) and THE DETECTIVE’S GARDEN (Unbridled Books) and is included in: Rattapallax Magazine issue 36, The Broadkill Review, The Laurel Review, and The Open Space. “Conversation with a Tree” won Knock Literary Magazine’s Eco-lit prize and was republished in the anthology, BEING HUMAN; Editions Bibliotekos. Also: Fiction Writers Review, Pank, The Healing Muse, Main Street Rag, American Book Review, WG News + Arts, and the anthology, DICK FOR A DAY; Villard Books. Visiting novelist, Texas University of the Permian Basin.

Author Social Links: Website * Facebook

Betty: What inspired you to write the story you’re sharing with us today?

Janyce: The Detective came to me first, as does happen but not always. I knew Emil was an atheist, and that atheists are “the most religious in the world”. My husband is an inherited atheist, so perhaps some of him features in protagonist, retired homicide detective, Emil Milosec. Also, I wanted to write in the male voice, and do so convincingly. A mystery presents itself in the form a severed female finger. The garden is Emil’s refuge; his deceased wife Elena, very much alive in Emil’s heart, created the garden in what had been a dump of a backyard at their Brooklyn brownstone. Emil has dug a hole with intentions of planting the apple tree his wife had long wanted in the garden. He discovers the severed finger there and, in an instant, his refuge is spoiled. He must discover who “planted” the finger and why. This takes him, first in memory, then actually to his boyhood home of Slovenia. There is revealed what his mind had refused to accept, and can no longer avoid: Emil Milosec, the law-defending, self-certain detective faces himself and finds a murderer.

Betty: Which character arrived fully or mostly developed?

Janyce: Emil Milosec, and his neighbor, Franco Montoya.

Betty: Which story element sparked the idea for this story: setting, situation, character, or something else?

Janyce: I would say both character and setting. The garden is of course a metaphor for Eden. The irony being an atheist is its inhabitant.

Betty: Which character(s) were the hardest to get to know? Why do you think?

Janyce: Emil is very complex, and he is a male, while I am female. I had to grasp a consistent male voice, and I had to break through a very reticent character. Elena is, of course, deceased from the story’s beginning. I had to bring her alive just enough to let the reader know how deeply she affected, still affects Emil.

Betty: What kind of research did you need to do to write this story?

Janyce: Happily, I have been to Slovenia, so was able to project that city believably. I had to research weapons, and certain police procedures. And I had to find certain words in Slovenian—that was tricky. I read the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament because Emil the atheist is at the same time very Old Testament. He argues with The Bible; the deity found in it.

Betty: How many drafts of the story did you write before you felt the story was complete?

Janyce: I wrote a story in 1999, “The Pepper Patch”. There is a pepper patch in Emil’s garden. His neighbor, Franco Montoya gave the seeds to Emil’s wife Elena, who planted them knowing Emil hated peppers. The story introduced me to Emil and my other main characters. I began to write a novel, Outside Eden, which evolved after perhaps three drafts to, THE DETECTIVE’S GARDEN.

Betty: How long did it take for you to write the story you’re sharing with us? Is that a typical length of time for you? Why or why not?

Janyce: If you exclude the short story that led to the novel, I’d say three years, a bit more. Yes, the length is pretty typical. I average between three and four hundred manuscript pages. I don’t plan the number of pages.

Betty: What rituals or habits do you have while writing?

Janyce: Solitude! I must pretend I am utterly alone in the world of my book. That means no phone calls or emails. I try to be at the desk by nine AM where I stay, no matter what, until lunch. Afternoons the world usually steps in, though I try for an afternoon session at the desk.

Betty: Every author has a tendency to overuse certain words or phrases in drafts, such as just, once, smile, nod, etc. What are yours?

Janyce: Nod (he/she nodded) might be one. And then, is another I have to watch out for. Also, starting a sentence with and. For some reason I like to start sentences with and. I carefully rein that in.

Betty: Do you have any role models? If so, why do you look up to them?

Janyce: Not really living role models but many authors. Lewis Nordan was a wonderful Southern writer I got to know at an art colony. He was the real deal, and I looked up to him but was, happily, too bashful to make a complete annoyance of myself. We became friends. I don’t know that he actually took my writing seriously at the time.

Betty: Do you have a special place to write? Revise? Read?

Janyce: I have a wonderful studio in Brooklyn. Not quite quiet enough but I make it work. It is my lair. My sister gave me an apple green chaise that I read on. My husband, also a writer, works downstairs at the opposite end of the house. So I feel safe and physically isolated when I write.

Betty: Many authors have a day job. Do you? If so, what is it and do you enjoy it?

Janyce: Thankfully, I haven’t had a day job in years. Last job was as a clerk for Time, Inc. I live modestly.

Betty: As an author, what do you feel is your greatest achievement?

Janyce: Greatest achievement is having written three novels, so far. I was told in workshop, at one of the art colonies I attended, that I was writing a novel. Before that I’d not had the nerve or confidence to think I could write a novel. Others convinced me I could.

Betty: What other author would you like to sit down over dinner and talk to? Why?

Janyce: I’d take tea with Charlotte Bronte because she was such a supreme storyteller. Likewise, Louise Erdrich. I’d like to have sat at a Paris café with Mavis Gallant. I’d gladly sit at the knee of Dostoyevsky. James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man had a profound effect on me in my late teens; I’d like to thank him. Alice Munro, Michael Ondaatje, Jean Ryhs of Good Morning Midnight, any Orhan Pamuk book. The list goes on…

Betty: Success looks different to different people. It could be wealth, or fame, or an inner joy at reaching a certain level. How do you define success in terms of your writing career?

Janyce: Success that I have been able to write well, to find a voice that turned out to be mine.

THE DETECTIVE’S GARDEN: A Love Story and Meditation on Murder

Brooklyn, 1995: hipsters are moving in, developers smell blood, and a housing bubble begins that will turn a sleepy semi-industrial waterfront into towers of glass and steel. Ex-homicide Detective Emil Milosec figures he’s safe in his garden, until a grim discovery in the pepper patch one hot June morning raises the possibility of real estate terrorists. He’d thought he was done detecting iniquity but now he’s back on a case. Originally from Slovenia, he’s the perennial outsider. So was his wife, the beauty from Trieste, Elena Morandi, who has died too young, taking her secrets with her. A cast of locals flavors the story, but it’s the ex-cop’s journey into his own darkness that makes the tale. A heat wave, a gun, a smattering of science: A bit of Shakespeare, tablespoons of the Old Testament, and hints of Sophocles yield a contemplative, noirish brew.

Buy Links: Indibound * Barnes & Noble * Amazon *Apple

Thanks for sharing your story premise and a bit about your writing process, Janyce!

Happy reading!

Betty

P.S. If you haven’t already, please consider signing up for my newsletter, which I send out most every month, including news like new covers, new releases, and upcoming appearances where I love to meet my readers, along with recipes and writing progress. Thanks and happy reading!

My guest today has quite a background to share with us, one that informed his debut novel. But first let’s look at author Michael J. Coffino’s bio and then talk to him about what inspired him to write his first novel.

Before becoming a full-time author, ghostwriter, and freelance editor, Michael Coffino had two parallel careers in the San Francisco Bay Area: one in the courtroom, the other in the gymnasium. He was a business litigation and trial attorney and legal writing instructor for four decades and concurrently devoted twenty-five years as a basketball coach, primarily at the high school level.

He has authored or co-authored nine books, including Truth Is in the House, his debut novel (Köehler Books, July 2021).

Michael grew up in the Mott Haven and Highbridge neighborhoods of the Bronx. He earned a BS in Education from the City University of New York, and in 1976 moved to California, where he earned a JD degree from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law.

Michael plays guitar, holds a black belt in karate, is a workout junkie, hikes regularly in the hills and mountains of California and Colorado, and plays pickleball. He lives in Marin County, California, and has two adult sons, both teachers and basketball coaches.

Author Social Links: Website * Instagram * Facebook

Betty: What inspired you to write the story you’re sharing with us today?

Michael: I set out to write a work of fiction to honor and celebrate my Bronx upbringing. I thrived growing up in the Bronx and remained proud of how we kids built a subculture removed from the clutches of traditional institutions like school, church, and family. My plan was to collect anecdotes from childhood friends and build a narrative from there.

But the first interviews I did propelled me down a different path after learning about a twin-homicide that resulted from a racial confrontation in a local neighborhood bar. I was in the military when it happened, and by the time I got discharged, my family had moved to another part of the Bronx. It took fifty years for me to learn of the tragedy, which took the lives of two boys I knew. I fixated on the event and began to explore a narrative about race.

Betty: Which character arrived fully or mostly developed?

Michael: Both main characters—Jaylen Jackson and Jimmy O’Farrell—are composites of different people in my life and each undertakes a journey to try to identify their core values and who they can be. Whether either can develop fully or mostly, and live enough to do so, is a subtext of the narrative.

Betty: Which story element sparked the idea for this story: setting, situation, character, or something else?

Michael: Once I learned about the explosive tragedy at the local neighborhood bar, I dug deeper and came across a gang attack in a nearby neighborhood, also the product of racial tensions. I decided then to connect the two disparate events using two main characters—one white, the other black—as vehicles to explore the racial themes. From there, the book grew, more organically than by design.

Betty: Which character(s) were the hardest to get to know? Why do you think?

Michael: It might seem counterintuitive but as between Jimmy and Jaylen, I found myself understanding Jaylen better and connecting with him easier. Some might find that odd, a white man connecting more with the black character than the white. But during my most conscientious years growing up in the Bronx, when my neighborhood had become integrated, I hung out with many guys reflected in the Jaylen character. I also think I instinctively conjured up more empathy for Jaylen Jackson; down deep I wanted to know him better. That is not to say I didn’t know or relate to Jimmy O’Farrell. I knew lots of “Jimmy O’Farrells” growing up. But the emotional engagement I had between the two was different.

Betty: What kind of research did you need to do to write this story?

Michael: I interviewed thirty people for anecdotes, inspiration, and factual authenticity—among them, former Bronx residents, educators, journalists, attorneys, firemen, law enforcement, medical personnel, and US military war veterans. Most I didn’t know; they were either referred to me or found via an internet search.

I also read countless books and watched countless videos and documentaries to pinpoint historical details and provide additional support for story authenticity. I didn’t want readers to suspend belief. I wanted them to identify with the time, place, and the emotive power of the narrative and its historical context.

Betty: How many drafts of the story did you write before you felt the story was complete?

Michael: Well, if my computer draft file is any guide, about twenty in varying degrees, although in terms of full-length rewrites, I’d guess about five to seven.

Betty: How long did it take for you to write the story you’re sharing with us? Is that a typical length of time for you? Why or why not?

Michael: It took less than a year, probably about 8-10 months, which includes working on other projects and servicing a few law clients. I tend to finish manuscripts in that time frame, especially memoir, which I co-author and ghostwrite for clients. I typically have three full manuscript projects going on at once. I like the balance of different projects. It keeps me fresh and mentally engaged.

Betty: What rituals or habits do you have while writing?

Michael: I do have a ritual. I rise typically between 5 and 6 am (and sometimes earlier), make coffee, massage my hands with Melt therapy balls, and read for thirty minutes or so to awaken my mind. After reading, I start writing, typically until about 8:30 when I turn to my exercise of the day, whether a hike, playing pickleball, weights, or doing core work on a mat. After exercise, I return to the keyboard and write until late afternoon, in the range of 5 pm. Throughout the writing sessions, I take breaks whenever I feel the onset of diminished concentration.

Betty: Every author has a tendency to overuse certain words or phrases in drafts, such as just, once, smile, nod, etc. What are yours?

Michael: I plead guilty. Some of my knee-jerk usages include: “indeed,” “embrace,” “what’s more,” “to be sure,” and “albeit,” mostly stubborn hangovers from law practice.

Betty: Do you have any role models? If so, why do you look up to them?

Michael: My children, two adult young men. They are wise beyond their years and have an unabashed tendency to pepper me with reality checks. Beyond them, I have always had deep admiration for George Carlin and Muhammed Ali, Carlin for his unapologetic irreverence and incisive wit, and Ali for his courage and understated brilliance.

Betty: Do you have a special place to write? Revise? Read?

Michael: I primarily write on a PC at a desk in a home office. When traveling, or needing a change of pace at a café, I write on my laptop. When not revising on the screen, with pen on paper, I relocate to my dining room table. I reserve my reading for two large comfortable chairs in my home, one in the living room and the other in the bedroom.

Betty: Many authors have a day job. Do you? If so, what is it and do you enjoy it?

Michael: Writing and editing constitute my day job, although I still practice law here and there. I enjoy the legal work—it is intellectually challenging and helps pay the bills. But it doesn’t compare to the thrill of writing professionally.

Betty: As an author, what do you feel is your greatest achievement?

Michael: I didn’t become a fulltime writer until five years ago. Since then, I have written nine books, some co-authored or ghostwritten. While I am immensely proud of Truth Is in the House, my early collective body of work—spread across several genres—is my greatest achievement (so far).

Betty: What other author would you like to sit down over dinner and talk to? Why?

Michael: Of the writers I admire, Oscar Wilde is at the top of the leader board. But, alas, he is long gone. To have sat with him, and engaged his intellect and sardonic edge, would have been a thrill. Today, it would have to be Richard Russo. Of all the fiction writers I’ve read, Russo has the most developed ability to capture the nuances of human imperfection and frailty in storytelling. I would cherish discussing character development, dialogue, and scene creation with him.

Betty: Success looks different to different people. It could be wealth, or fame, or an inner joy at reaching a certain level. How do you define success in terms of your writing career?

Michael: As it is for many authors, monetizing a writing career is no small feat. Long-term traditional success from a financial standpoint would of course be nice. But more than that, success to me as a writer means turning out stories on a consistent basis that provoke and entertain a wide berth of audience. Storytelling is a delightful activity, and to do it in a way that pleases others, that makes them cry, laugh, or otherwise emotionally engages them, would be the pinnacle of writing success.

As a young boy in the late 1950s, Jimmy O’Farrell emigrates with his family from Ireland to Manhattan to bask in the dawn of a new life. Thousands of miles away, the family of Jaylen Jackson seeks to build a life amid Jim Crow culture in Mississippi. Struggling to come of age in a racially divisive world, both boys as teenagers suffer separate horrific tragedies that shape their characters and life missions. Jimmy seeks to define what it means to stand for someone when the chips are down, while Jaylen embarks on a journey to gain respect beyond the color of his skin.

Fleeing the past, both families land in neighboring Bronx communities in the 1960s, where Jimmy and Jaylen’s lives first intersect on the basketball court and then in the Vietnam jungle. Repeatedly tested as men of different races, their friendship later faces its toughest challenge outside a Bronx bar—with fatal consequences.

Truth Is in the House is an epic and provocative tale that plumbs historical and modern racial themes and explores redemption, forgiveness, and the power of connection through the human spirit.

Buy Links: Amazon * B&N

Sounds like a very powerful story, Michael. Thanks so much for bringing the story and its themes to our attention today.

Happy reading!

Betty

P.S. If you haven’t already, please consider signing up for my newsletter, which I send out most every month, including news like new covers, new releases, and upcoming appearances where I love to meet my readers, along with recipes and writing progress. Thanks and happy reading!

Please help me welcome a self-proclaimed storyteller, Michael Meyer, who found the courage to write a book and then another. Welcome, Michael! Let’s listen to what he has to say about his background and then we’ll find out more about his book.

I was a sales and marketing professional in the hospitality industry for more than forty years, working primarily with upscale properties/companies. I dabbled with writing in college; however, I had neither the money nor the patience to pursue a college education. I left school and moved to Key Largo to help support our family (more on that later). It was there I realized what a wild, funky, and fantastic world was available to provide education, entertainment, and enrichment in all of its splendor, pain, and madness.

I am not an author as much as a storyteller. Throughout my life, I have met many veterans of many wars. I have worked with them and had the pleasure of supporting them and their families through Serving Our Troops – a local group of Saint Paul people who serve the troops and their families a meal when they deploy and midway through their tour, 100% free.

As a result, I have heard their stories, opinions, and learned for good or bad war changes everyone. Exit Strategy offers a glimpse into two divergent psyches and interweaves today’s most challenging issues. It is the first of three, with Brian Kelly serving as the protagonist. I hope people enjoy it.

Author Social Links: Twitter

Betty: What inspired you to write the story you’re sharing with us today?

Michael: It was something I had rolling around in my head, and eventually, I had to put it on paper.

Betty: Which character arrived fully or mostly developed?

Michael: Brian Kelly, he is parts (good and bad) of me and others who have played a role in my life thus far.

Betty: Which story element sparked the idea for this story: setting, situation, character, or something else?

Michael: I was terminated from a former employer after leaving a previous employer where I had worked for twelve years. The previous employer was a friend and mentor, but I felt my contributions were being taken for granted and spinning my wheels. He died not long after I left.

Betty: Which character(s) were the hardest to get to know? Why do you think?

Michael: The Olsens, because they were pure fiction. They were created from several people’s personality characteristics, both good and bad, yet no one I actually knew. I wanted Jenny to be complex. Part girl next door, part vamp, part loving wife, and one hundred percent a bad-assed combat vet. Born of the significant personal trauma experienced during her tour in Iraq.

I also enjoyed creating Carmen, who was also one hundred percent pure fiction. I enjoyed giving her a fascinating backstory, which I further developed in the sequel.

General Knapp was based on several people. I wanted him to be crass, yet, you could see him being a good guy. Then he says or does something so despicable, you want to see him meet his end.

Betty: What kind of research did you need to do to write this story?

Michael: I needed to research a lot of geography, weaponry, and psychology as well as the military because I have never served. I spoke with many friends who had served, not as an interview, but as they retold stories. You can see the pain, horror, comradery as they retell their memories.

Betty: How many drafts of the story did you write before you felt the story was complete?

Michael: It’s my first book, and my first and worst mistake was once I started writing, the story came to me pretty quickly, so I felt compelled to get it on paper. As if it would disappear. Converting it to something that resembled English was tough because I had so many errors. I hired an editor, a total waste of money. I gave it to my two daughters, both graduates of mass com and journalism from Big Ten universities, who eventually began editing each other’s edits. At one point,  I had ten drafts; finally, I started on page one and rewrote the entire manuscript using an outline or storyboard and the character list.

In my second book, I took my time,  created an outline for each chapter, developed the characters in advance, and bought Grammarly Pro!!!!!

Betty: How long did it take for you to write the story you’re sharing with us? Is that a typical length of time for you?

Michael: Seven years! My god, I hope not. Actually, my second came together in three years, but I was still working full-time and editing the first one.

Betty: What rituals or habits do you have while writing?

Michael: None, that I’m aware of.

Betty: Every author has a tendency to overuse certain words or phrases in drafts, such as just, once, smile, nod, etc. What are yours?

Michael: He/she “sat forward, leaned back,” also “as a result/resulting”

Betty: Do you have any role models? If so, why do you look up to them?

Michael: My mother, she raised nineteen of us and also wrote. She was published in magazines and the Cincinnati Enquirer but never attempted a novel. It was her dream; I dedicated Exit Strategy to her.

Betty: Do you have a special place to write? Revise? Read?

Michael: We have a three-season porch with an adjoining deck; I use those until the winter gets too cold.

Betty: Many authors have a day job. Do you? If so, what is it and do you enjoy it?

Michael: I am winding down my hospitality industry career. Currently consulting for the company I mentioned earlier. I have loved every minute of it. The hotel/resort sales business is one of the few where you live like a millionaire on someone else’s budget. I worked for a five-star resort in the Keys, moved to Minnesota (after hurricane Andrew), and worked for the top upscale hospitality company I could find. Traveled the country, the Caribbean, and Central America and had an absolute blast.

Betty: As an author, what do you feel is your greatest achievement?

Michael: Book 1 – I have always been a good storyteller, but to actually decide to write a manuscript and sit down and do it. Going through all of the edits, making countless mistakes, going through numerous rejections (more than 500), and finally, having the gall, courage, the chutzpah to self-publis has been a monumental achievement.

Betty: What other author would you like to sit down over dinner and talk to? Why?

Michael: Ernst Hemmingway, he was just a cool guy. He went to bull fights, fished the Keys, hung out in Key West, and wrote like a poet warrior. We have so many things in common, as I have done many of those same things. I would love to hang-out for one day. Grisham would be another. Clancey is a good storyteller but an absolute jackass. Flynn was a good guy, lived near-by, and told me to go for it! May he rest in peace.

Betty: Success looks different to different people. It could be wealth, or fame, or an inner joy at reaching a certain level. How do you define success in terms of your writing career?

Michael: First, I laugh, as I don’t have a writing career YET! Even so, I have already enjoyed success. I started doing this because when I regaled people with stories, or they read my articles in industry pubs, they would say you need to write a book. So I did. Then people read it, and they told me grammar aside, it was terrific. When is the sequel? Not out of consideration, but they truly meant it. That they enjoyed and truly wanted to know what happens next is my definition of success – everything else is gravy.

Exit Strategy begins with one of today’s most vexing problems, mass shootings, this one taking place at an elementary school on the first day of the new school year. Immediately, law enforcement from throughout three counties descends upon the school, joined by local FBI Special Agent John Regal. Over the next several hours, they work to evacuate the students and reunite them with their families.

The perpetrators are introduced during a charity golf tournament that took place a week earlier. It is here where we learn that nothing is really as it seems. While the shooting is taking place, a local racetrack casino is robbed of $50M, setting up a hunt for suspects that encompasses the United States, Caribbean, and Australia, leading to a conclusion that will literally blow you away and set up the sequel.

Nearly all of the main characters are veterans of the last sixty years of war. The book delves into the travesties endured, and how it shapes the futures of each character. It’s told in the third person and is a quick read at 250 pages.

Buy Links: * Apple * B&N * Amazon

Thanks for stopping by and sharing the inspiration of your story and a glimpse at your writing process, Michael.

Happy reading!

Betty

P.S. If you haven’t already, please consider signing up for my newsletter, which I send out most every month, including news like new covers, new releases, and upcoming appearances where I love to meet my readers, along with recipes and writing progress. Thanks and happy reading!

I’m pleased to bring a fellow historical fiction author to the interview hotseat this morning. Join me in welcoming author Lisa Williams! Let’s look at her bio and then find out more about what inspired her to write her recent book.

L. Bordetsky-Williams (aka Lisa Williams) is the author of Forget Russia, published by Tailwinds Press, December 2020. Forget Russia is an Editors’ Choice Book of the Historical Novels Review.She has also publishedthe memoir, Letters to Virginia Woolf, The Artist as Outsider in the Novels of Toni Morrison and Virginia Woolf, and three poetry chapbooks. She is a Professor of Literature at Ramapo College of New Jersey and lives in New York City.

Author Social Links: Website * Twitter * Instagram * Facebook

Betty: What inspired you to write the story you’re sharing with us today?

Lisa: My novel, Forget Russia, is based on my own family history. I wanted to understand the lives of my ancestors and how their lives intersected and influenced my own. My great-grandmother was raped and murdered in a pogrom in a small Ukrainian shtetl by Cossacks shortly after the Civil War between the Red and White armies ended. When the Red army finally was able to take over the Ukraine from the White and Ukrainian Nationalists, the retreating and defeated armies went into the Jewish shtetls and killed many Jews, who they equated with the Bolsheviks. I wanted to understand how this initial trauma affected the subsequent generations of women in the family. My grandmother came to America in 1921 after losing her mother in such a tragic and violent way. She settled in Roxbury, where her father, who had deserted the family years ago now lived with a new wife and children. It is not surprising that shortly after arriving, at the age of seventeen, she married a man approximately eighteen years her senior.

Then, in 1931, she and my grandfather actually returned to the Soviet Union with my mother and aunt, ages five and three. My grandfather, a carpenter, had come to America before the Revolution and had radicalized here. Life became incredibly difficult here during the Depression. It had always been a dream of his to return to the Soviet Union, the land of his birth, and build the revolution. While much has been written about Jewish Eastern European immigrants coming to this country, the experience of those American Russian Jews who returned to the Soviet Union to build the revolution in the early 30’s has been relatively unexamined.

In 1980, I was a Russian language student in Moscow at the Pushkin Institute. When I was there, I had the opportunity to meet the Soviet Jewish grandchildren of the Bolsheviks. Many of their ancestors had been imprisoned, killed, or exiled to labor camps by Stalin. It was heartbreaking to see how their ancestors’ dreams for a better, more equal society had been betrayed during Stalin’s purges. I also, for the first time, saw first-hand, how anti-semitic Soviet society was. On Rosh Hashanah Eve, we went to the only functioning synagogue in Moscow, and a car dashed across the cobble-stoned streets in an effort to intimidate and frighten the Jews gathered there.

My trip as a student to the Soviet Union truly changed my life. I spent three and a half months there, and from the moment I returned, I struggled to find the right form to express the ways that journey changed me. Finally, I realized the novel form would give me the freedom to intertwine the three generations’ stories. I also wanted to weave in a love story with an epic, historical setting, so the novel was the best form for that as well.

Betty: Which character arrived fully or mostly developed?

Lisa: My character Iosif, a young Soviet Jew, has a photograph of Leo Tolstoy hanging in his room. He is a true intellectual within a distinctly Russian and Soviet context. While he hates the absence of freedoms in his own country, he sees America as a sick and decadent place and imagines Americans only talk about business. For him, America is soul-less in its materialism, and yet the Soviet Union is as he calls it a nightmare where nothing works, and everyone worries that life will get even worse after Brezhnev dies.

Betty: What kind of research did you need to do to write this story?

Lisa: I did a tremendous amount of research for my novel, Forget Russia, over a number of years. I read accounts of Americans, some of them originally Russian Jews, who went to the Soviet Union in the 1930’s. They were heartbreaking accounts of Americans who couldn’t leave the Soviet Union once the purges reached a peak in 1936. Many were imprisoned. I had the opportunity to interview a few Americans who went to the Soviet Union in the 1930’s and managed to return to this country. I researched the 1930’s and the living conditions in Leningrad. I also read a tremendous amount about the Ukraine during the Civil War following the Russian Revolution. It was a very unstable place then, and when the White army finally lost control of the Ukraine, as they retreated, they entered the shtetls and murdered many Jews in widescale pogroms.

Betty: How many drafts of the story did you write before you felt the story was complete?

Lisa: I wrote about 30 or more drafts of the novel over a period of 20 years.

Betty: What rituals or habits do you have while writing?   

Lisa: I drink a lot of English Breakfast Tea and like to take long walks in Central Park since I live in NYC.

Betty: Every author has a tendency to overuse certain words or phrases in drafts, such as just, once, smile, nod, etc. What are yours?

Lisa: I tend to over use the adverbs quickly and slowly.

Betty: Do you have any role models? If so, why do you look up to them?

Lisa: I look up to Toni Morrison, Virginia Woolf, Chekhov, Tolstoy, Marilynne Robinson.

Betty: Do you have a special place to write? Revise? Read?

Lisa: I tend to write at my desk that is part of my bedroom that also functions as a type of study.

Betty: Many authors have a day job. Do you? If so, what is it and do you enjoy it? 

Lisa: I work as Professor of Literature at Ramapo College of New Jersey, and I really love teaching!

Betty: As an author, what do you feel is your greatest achievement?

Lisa: In Forget Russia, I have woven together the stories of 3 generations of Russian Jews journeying back and forth from Russia to the United States over the course of the 20^th Century. Forget Russia is a tale of love, revolution, and betrayal. It is epic and historical in its scope. I am proud of that. In fact, the Historical Novel Society chose it as an Editors’ Choice Book.

Betty: What other author would you like to sit down over dinner and talk to? Why?

Lisa: When she was alive, I had a few opportunities to speak with Toni Morrison, and she deeply encouraged me to write. I’d love the opportunity to once more sit down to speak with her.

Betty: Success looks different to different people. It could be wealth, or fame, or an inner joy at reaching a certain level. How do you define success in terms of your writing career?

Lisa: For me, success means being able to make people understand the suffering and longing of others through my writing. I then hope to inspire my readers to unite and take an active stance against all hate crimes wherever and whenever they have taken place. I also want to highlight the courage, struggles, and importance of the immigrant experience.

Forget Russia is about three generations of Russian-American Jews journeying back and forth, throughout the twentieth century, between America and Russia, searching for some kind of home and, of course, finding something altogether different. It is a tale of love, murder, abandonment, and betrayal. In 1980, Anna, an American college student journeys to the Soviet Union to confront her family’s past. As Anna dodges date rapists, KGB agents, and smooth-talking marketeers while navigating an alien culture for the first time, she must come to terms with the aspects of the past that haunt her own life. With its insight into the everyday rhythms of an almost forgotten way of life behind Brezhnev’s Soviet Union, Forget Russia is a disquieting multi-generational epic about coming of age, forgotten history, and the loss of innocence in all of its forms.

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This sounds like a very powerful story and one worth reading to gain a better or deeper understanding of what was happening. Thanks for sharing, Lisa!

Happy reading!

Betty

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