August 17, 2011

• An Interview with Author Smoky Trudeau Zeidel

  Today I welcome author Smoky Trudeau Zeidel,
   
  whose new eBook,
  On the Choptank Shores
  was published by Vanilla Heart Publishing in early July.
  Smoky is offering a free download of her book to one reader
  who leaves a comment on this post, so read her interview,
  leave a comment, and you could be the lucky winner!

   

  Tell us a little bit about your new eBook.

   

  On the Choptank Shores is a love story.The love between a young wife (Grace) and her decidedly middle-aged husband(Otto), and the love of a big sister for her abused baby sister (Miriam). It is the story of the love for an aging, grief-stricken father (Luther) who is spiraling into a dark world of insanity, and the love of a kind and benevolent God whom Grace knows must exist, despite the crazed ravings of her father, who paints a picture of a vengeful, angry God as he spouts biblical verse to defend his abuse of both Grace and little Miriam.
  It is a story of the land on which they live, and the power of Mother Nature.
  Most of all, it is a story of love conquering all.

   

  What genre is On the Choptank Shores? Is this the only genre you write in?

   

  On the Choptank Shores is a romantic suspense novel. Grace and Otto’s love story is shaken by his inability to share a dark secret with Grace. And poor Grace has enough trouble to handle with her father’s spiraling insanity and trying to raise little Miriam. And no, it isn’t the only genre I write in. My novel The Cabin is historical fantasy. I’ve also written three nonfiction books: two books geared specifically for writers, Front-Word,Back-Word, Insight Out and Left Brained, Write Brained: 366 Writing Prompts and Exercises; and a photo/essay collection about nature, Observations of an Earth Mage.
  All my books are published by Vanilla Heart Publishing.

   

  Can you tell us a little about the plot?

   

  The tragic deaths of her mother and two younger siblings have left Grace Harmon responsible for raising her sister Miriam and protecting her from their abusive father, Luther,
  a zealot preacher with a penchant for speaking in Biblical verse who is on a down ward spiral toward insanity. Otto Singer charms Grace with his gentle courtship and devotion to his brother, Henry, but is unable to share with Grace the terrible secret he has kept more than twenty years.

  
  Luther's insane ravings and increasingly violent behavior force Grace to question everything she ever knew. Then, tragedy strikes just when Otto's secret is uncovered, unleashing demons that threaten to destroy the entire family.
  Can Grace find the strength to save her sister,save her marriage—save them all?

   

  Why an eBook?

   

  Because that’s just about all that is selling these days. All my books up until this point have come out in print first, then as eBooks. But in 2009, for the first time,eBooks outsold print books, and that trend not only continued, but grew in2010. Now, my publisher publishes eBooks first and then decides down the road whether to release a print book.
  On the Choptank Shores will be released in print in September.

   

  But I personally have become a fan of eBooks. No paper means no trees are cut down. As someone whose job description includes the term Earth Mage as well as author,
  that’s important to me.

   

  What made you choose to become a writer?

   

  I was struck by lightning 22 years ago, and that made it impossible for me to work a regular full-time job. My body was pretty torn up, but my brain wasn’t, so when I saw an ad in my local hometown paper saying they were looking for freelance feature writers, I applied and was hired. I wrote features for several years, gradually adding more newspapers and magazines to the list of places I wrote for.

   

  But fiction writing was my first love, and what I always wanted to do. When my first book was published, I knew I was on the right track. I’ve been writing books (both fiction and nonfiction) and short stories ever since. I’ve never looked back.

   

  If you couldn’t write, what would you be doing to express your creative self?

   

  I actually do other things beside writing to express myself creatively. I create visual art:sculpture and photography, mostly, but other things as well. I think it’s important for writers and other artists to step outside their comfort zone and create art that differs from their usual. It keeps their creative spirit healthy.

   

  What inspires you?

   

  I’m inspired by the places I visit, or have visited. On the Choptank Shore was inspired by my aunt and uncle and their beautiful peach orchard on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Windy Hill. My book’s characters are based loosely on my aunt and uncle’s personalities, and the setting is Windy Hill as I remember it from my childhood. 
  My novel, The Cabin, is set in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia,
  another of my childhood haunts.

   

  I’m also tremendously inspired by Mother Nature.
  In both novels, nature plays an important role,
  and I am particularly good at descriptions of nature—or so I’m told.

   

   

  Other than your own books, what is your favorite work of fiction, and why?

   

  Death With Interruptions, by the Portuguese author, Jose Saramago. He was a brilliant author, and this is his best book.Death is actually a character in this short novel, and by the time the story ends, you actually fall in love with her!
  Saramago is a bit hard to read, but extremely rewarding in the end.

   

  But there are other books I’ve loved nearly as much: The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver for her wonderful characterization and use of point of view;
  The Life of Pi by Yann Martel for his fabulous open-ended conclusion, which has led to many vigorous debates among my literary friends.
  There are so many favorites,
  I could keep you busily blogging for days just talking about my favorites.

   

   

  Think about allthe characters in your book(s). Which character is your favorite, and why?

   

  In On the Choptank Shores, that would be Grace. She’s one tough cookie, questioning her religious upbringing at a time most young women did not do so, and struggling to keep her family intact when their world seems to be crumbling. Grace had guts. Grace had, well, grace. But I’m also partial to the character of Cora Spellmacher in The Cabin. Cora has lost most of her family, and been thrown into a life totally foreign to her, but she adapts quickly. She, too, is tough. I guess I like portraying my women characters the way I am myself: strong, adaptable.

   

   

  What do you think is the most important thing for your books to accomplish: to entertain, to educate, to instill moral values, or to enlighten? Why?

   

  Depends on the books. For my fiction, entertainment is the main goal. When I sit down with a novel, I want to be entertained. I don’t want to be lectured. So that’s my goal in writing fiction. But with my nonfiction books—both those on writing and my nature photo/essay collection, education is the main goal.

   

   

  What’s the best compliment you’ve received as a writer?

   

  You mean other than from my mother? She, of course, thinks everything I write is Pulitzer Prize worthy. But then, that’s what moms are for—to boost our egos!  Seriously, I think there have been two best compliments: the first was from my first publisher—they’re out of business now—who nominated my short story, Leap, fora Pushcart Prize in 2003.
  The second was from author and book reviewer Malcolm R. Campbell,
  who called The Cabin “pure wonder” in his review.
  I thought that was a pretty wonderful compliment.

   

  Where can peoplefind you on the Web? And where can they find your books?

   

  You can find meat my Website, http://www.smokyzeidel.wordpress.com.My “Smoky Talks …” blog is there, and you can connect to my blogs: “Smoky Talks Books” (book reviews), “Smoky Talks Authors” (interviews), and “Observations of an Earth Mage.” There are widgets at the bottom of each page on my Website that connect you to fReado, where you can read the first four chapters of each of my books for free.

   

  My books are available at:

   

  Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/On-the-Choptank-Shores-ebook/dp/B005BREQK2/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_12

   

  and in multiple eBook formats at Smash words: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/72185

   

  Print editions of my books are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online retailers.

   

  Finally, would you share an excerpt from your book?

   

  Otto Singer pulled his weary old pick-up truck in front of the Harmon house and glanced at his pocket watch. Seven minutes early. He decided to wait a few minutes before knocking on the door. He was due at six o’clock, and he wanted to be precisely on time.

   

  Hopping out of the cab, Otto gave the truck a sad look. Once as black as newly polished boots, it was now the drab gray everything on the eastern shore eventually turned after years of exposure to salt, sand, and sun. The hood was pockmarked, wounds sustained during a spring hailstorm three years earlier.Inside, age lines threatened to crack the leather seat.

   

  Heart pounding wildly and with beads of sweat trickling down his temples,Otto grabbed a rag from the back of the truck and set about cleaning the splattered remains of sand flies and gull droppings off the windshield.

   

  Why on earth am I so nervous? He knew the answer before he’d even asked himself the question. He was nearly forty; Grace was nineteen. He had courted women before; brother Luther told him Grace had not yet been allowed to receive suitors.

   

  He tossed the rag back into the truck. The age difference wasn’t something he could change. And Luther invited him here this evening, didn’t he?Surely that meant he approved of Otto as a suitor for his daughter.

   

  Reaching through the open window, he pushed back a spring that kept popping through the backrest, grateful the troublesome spring was on the driver’s side, not the passenger’s.

   

  “Are you going to standout in the lane all evening, Mr. Singer, or would you like to come inside?”Otto banged his head on the window frame at the sound of Grace’s voice.

   

  “Ouch! Er, good evening, Miss Harmon.” Otto extricated himself from the window of the cab, knocking his hat from his head in the process. He knelt down and groped blindly beneath the truck for the troublesome fedora, finally retrieving it from behind the front tire. He brushed the sand and dust off its brim as he rose, then clutched it to his chest.
  “Let me try that again,” he grinned. “Good evening.”

   

  I’m a nervous wreck because this young lady is the woman I am going to marry. That sudden realization took Otto by surprise, and his grin widened. One look at her standing on the porch, her hair pulled back in a tight bun, a dusting of flour blanketing her left cheek, and Otto was certain. A few stubborn strands of hair refused to cooperate with the rest, and fell across her face, framing the laugh lines that, despite her young age, creased the corners of her fawn colored eyes. No doubt she had found his clumsy antics with the pesky hat amusing, he thought dryly.

   

  “Would you like to come inside?” Grace repeated. “Dinner is about ready.”

   

  Relieved to find his long legs carrying him with no further clumsy mishap through the front gate, Otto sprinted down the path to the house, his thoughts racing as quickly as his feet. He had been waiting for this since the first time he laid eyes on Grace.

   

  “Luther Harmon is the finest preacher on the eastern shore,” Bessie had promised him. “Come hear for yourself—you’ll not attend another church after you hear brother Luther preach.”

   

  Whether Luther was the finest preacher or not was lost on Otto the first time he attended services at the Easton church. He couldn’t take his eyes off the girl seated at the piano. She played with total abandon, as though she and God were the only ones listening.

   

  “Who is she?” he whispered to Bessie, unable to mask the awe in his voice.

   

  “Grace Harmon, brother Luther’s daughter,” Bessie whispered back. “I’ll introduce you after the service.”

   

  Otto did not consider himself a particularly religious man, although he had spent considerable time searching the Bible for answers he never found. Yet the promise of seeing Grace lured him back to church week after week. Shy at their first introduction, she now sought him out with eyes that laughed silently when she caught him staring at her instead of focusing on her father thundering from the pulpit.

   

  He had struggled to find the words to ask Luther’s permission to call on her. When Luther showed up at Bessie’s house not ten minutes after Otto himself arrived to solicit his sister’s advice on how to approach the pastor, he considered it an unexpected show of divine providence. To his surprise, Luther agreed to allow him to see his daughter, and now here he was, not only calling on her but also staying for supper and escorting her to choir practice.

   

  Feeling half his age, he took the stairs two at a time. “May I?”
  he asked, offering Grace his arm.

   

  Without a word, she wrapped her hand around Otto’s arm, and led him into the house.

  • 9:31 am
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