Monthly Archives: June 2021

An Interview with Author Elaine Soto

Posted on by

Author Elaine Soto is a retired psychologist and an artist originally from New York who now makes her home in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her debut release, My Journey to the Black Madonna: A Memoir (November 2020), is an exploration of her search for healing — a journey that “helped her to become whole and to integrate and transform her feelings of pain, grief, and anger into strength and compassion.” You’ll find Elaine on her website at ElaineSoto.com and on LinkedIn.

What is your elevator pitch for My Journey to the Black Madonna?
This memoir weaves pantoum poems, paintings of the Divine Feminine, and vignettes about my search for the Black Madonna in Puerto Rico, Spain, China, Italy and France with stories about growing up Puerto Rican in the United States. I became aware of the Black Madonna as a child and it became a metaphor for my search for my father and for a positive identity as a Puerto Rican woman. As I accomplished my goals to become a psychologist and an artist, my unconscious memories of separation and betrayal became more and more conscious. I had visions and dreams of the Black Madonna. According to Jungian Psychologists, one becomes aware of the Black Madonna when dealing with the dark experiences of one’s life. Meditation, poetry and art were some of the tools I used to help myself and others to heal.

When readers turn the last page in the book, what do you hope they’ll take away from it?
I want the reader to be placed for a time in my life (the good and not so wonderful events in it) and to learn from my experience that one can heal from the past. And also to learn about the Black Madonna and early Christianity.

What unique challenges did this work pose for you?
My life story and my search for the Black Madonna evolved as I wrote. It took 30 years to write.

How did the book come together?
I started writing from an inner desire to tell my life story from my point of view. It started as como fue — how it was. The stories I heard about my father did not match my inner experiences, and I searched for the truth about him. I was also curious about the Black Madonna who I saw as a positive symbol of my Puerto Rican culture. When researching the Black Madonna, I took notes and kept them in a folder. I also painted the Black Madonnas I found while I was an artist in residence at the Puerto Rican workshop in New York. I took several workshops with Natalie Goldberg in New York and in Taos, and I kept daily journals for many years. Art and writing were healing for me and I shared these tools with clients and counseling students.

While you were writing your memoir, did you ever feel afraid you were revealing too much about yourself or your life? If so, how did you move past your fear?
I was painting and writing to express myself. I did not plan to publish this work. In my writer’s group, I shared my writings and they listened. It was healing for me. I was concerned about sharing trauma and abuse stories. In Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy I was able to clear some of the trauma so I didn’t need to share it anymore. When I finally integrated my searches for my father and the Black Madonna, I was able to share stories that were truthful and relevant to my journey.

What was your favorite part of putting this project together?
Being able to look at my life experiences and what I learned and to share those that might be helpful to others on their life journey.

How did your art and your writing help you work through your life issues?
Writing my memoir helped me to bring together unconscious and conscious memories of my childhood and life. Art helped me to express myself and to share images of what I learned about the Black Madonna and early Christianity.

What is the best encouragement or advice you’ve received in your writing journey?
The best advice I received as a writer was “just sit down and write anything on the page” and “let it rip.” The first was by my college English teacher and the second by Natalie Goldberg.

KLWagoner150_2KL Wagoner (writing as Cate Macabe) is the author of This New Mountain: a memoir of AJ Jackson, private investigator, repossessor, and grandmother. Kathy posts to a speculative fiction blog at klwagoner.com and writes about memoir at ThisNewMountain.com.



Author Update: BR Kingsolver

Posted on by

BR Kingsolver is a prolific author of 19 novels published in the speculative fiction genre since 2012. Readers find Kingsolver’s books to be “engrossing with great world building, believable characters who enlist your emotions, and masterful storylines.” BR’s latest release is Soul Harvest (June 2021), the third and final installment in The Rift Chronicles. Find all the author’s books on BRKingsolver.com and Amazon, connect on Facebook and Twitter, and read SWW’s 2020 interview.

What would you like readers to know about The Rift Chronicles?
It’s a science fiction fantasy cross, set about two hundred years in the future. The premise of the book was having technology that can be manipulated by magic.

Between the three books in the series, which was the most challenging to write?
The last one—Soul Harvest. The first book in a series is always the easiest. The premise, the characters, are all new and exciting. By the time I get to the last book, there are a lot of things that have to be dealt with. Plot lines, characters, things that have happened in previous books, and making sure I tie up all the loose ends.

What was the inspiration for the first book, Magitek?
The idea of magic manipulating technology. In most fantasy, you either have technology or magic. Very rarely do the two things interact.

Tell us a little about your main characters.
Danica James is a cop, a detective, who deals with the Magi—the magicians who rule the world—and the Rifters, the monsters who crossed a rift in space-time from other dimensions. She’s from one of the wealthy ruling families, but feels like an outsider because she’s a magitek. Her best friend is her roommate, Kirsten, a witch who owns a shop that sells magical potions, charms, and that sort of thing. Kirsten thinks Dani is too serious, works too much, and has too little love life.

What is the main setting, and why is this the perfect place for your story to unfold?
The primary setting is Baltimore, which is a place I know well after living there for a dozen years. The books take place after a series of nuclear wars and pandemics. Washington was bombed, but Baltimore and Wilmington, Delaware, survived as two of the only major port cities on the East Coast. Since the ruling magical families are all about business, trade, and wealth, seaports are central to control of trade and wealth.

How did the books come together?
I started Magitek in the spring of 2020 and published it the end of August. The second book, War Song, was published in December, and Soul Harvest was released in June 2021. So, three books in a year. That’s a little slow for me. I prefer to publish four to five times a year. The editing cycle usually takes about a month. I send a manuscript to my editor, she returns it with corrections and comments, and after I work through that, she takes another swing at it. I’ve worked with the same editor for twenty-three books, so we know each other pretty well.

What did you do to make your world, with its social structure and magic system, believable and logical?
The big thing with world building in science fiction and fantasy is consistency. Reality has rules, and so should a fantasy world. An author can’t violate the rules or just use handwavium to get around problems unless that handwavium fits within the rules. The social structure I used in these books is an oligarchy with a magical class system. As in most social systems, the powerful rule and reap the riches. Everyone else serves them.

You have five complete series so far. What key issues do you focus on to keep readers coming back for more?
Relatable characters and an interesting story. Good writing is third. There are lots of poorly written best sellers, but they tell a story that interests people.

What are the hardest kinds of scenes for you to write?
Sex scenes, so I stopped trying to write them.

Any advice for beginning or discouraged writers?
Some of the best advice I received when I started was BICHOK—Butt In Chair, Hands on Keyboard. There is no substitute for writing. You have to do it to get better at it.

What writing projects are you working on now?
My new project is an urban fantasy novel in a cozy mystery setting. I know there’s a market for that kind of book, but I have to pull it off. I’ve read lots of mysteries, and I think they’re difficult. Cozies are very hard because the tropes are so specific. I’m hoping to catch people who read both urban fantasy and also like cozy mysteries.

Is there anything else you’d like readers to know?
I didn’t start writing fiction until I was sixty years old. I always wanted to, but didn’t think I had any talent. Whether I do or don’t, people seem to like my stories. You’ll never know if you can do something until you try.

KLWagoner150_2KL Wagoner (writing as Cate Macabe) is the author of This New Mountain: a memoir of AJ Jackson, private investigator, repossessor, and grandmother. Kathy posts to a speculative fiction blog at klwagoner.com and writes about memoir at ThisNewMountain.com.



An Interview with Author Holly Harrison

Posted on by

Retired university research scientist Holly Harrison devotes her time to writing mystery novels set in New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment. Her debut novel, Rites & Wrongs (Golden Word Books, January 2021), has been called “a thrilling mystery” that keeps “readers riveted with a great story, fascinating characters, and exceptional writing.” You’ll find Holly on her website at HollyHarrisonWriter.com and on her Amazon author page.

What is your elevator pitch for Rites & Wrongs?
Pascal Ruiz, a Santa Fe detective, becomes disenchanted with his job after solving a high-profile case that involved a stolen Stradivarius violin. That is, until the captain asks him, off the record, to look into the disappearance of his niece’s boyfriend, Bobby Pilot. Ruiz finds Pilot alive but unconscious in an abandoned pueblo, clothed in a Jesus costume and tied to a cross. It’s Holy Week and Ruiz suspects the Penitentes. He also believes the costume is the one recently stolen from the Santa Fe Opera Storage Building. In desperation to link the two cases, Ruiz crosses the line and puts his career in jeopardy.

Who are your main characters, and what do they have to overcome in this story?
The main characters are Pascal Ruiz, a Santa Fe police detective, and his friend Gillian Jasper. Ruiz needs to solve two crimes that are linked, by discovering who broke into the Opera Storage building and took the Jesus costume and who dressed Pilot in the costume and tied him to the cross. Jasper needs to decide whether to stay in New Mexico with Ruiz or return to her life in Washington, DC.

Why did you choose New Mexico as the setting for the book?
I wanted to write a mystery rooted in New Mexico’s history, land, and people. I placed most of the action south of Santa Fe between the town of Golden on Route 14 and San Felipe’s Black Mesa Casino off of I-25. I set the story during Holy Week, between Palm Sunday and Easter, so I could write about the Penitente reenactments and the Good Friday procession to Chimayo.

What sparked the story idea?
The story idea came to me one day as I worked in my garden. I uncovered an old brick from the Tonque Tile and Brick Company. Part of it was broken off but the name Tonque was etched on the front. The brick factory had been built in the early 1900s and remained active for thirty years. In the 1980s I had picked up the brick near Tonque Pueblo, a fourteenth century pre-Columbian abandoned pueblo. I decided that Ruiz’s next case would take him to that area south of Santa Fe.

Tell us how the book came together.
I spent three years writing the book. Then another year editing, getting feedback, and rewriting. When I started looking for a publisher, the pandemic hit. The world of publishing came to a halt, book conferences were cancelled, bookstores closed, book releases were pushed back. Pitching the book to editors and agents unsolicited became a daunting process. I decided to go with a hybrid publisher. The publisher does the edits, layout and design, publishing and distribution. The author shares some of the costs but reaps more profit from sales.

Was there anything surprising you discovered while doing research for Rites & Wrongs?
Growing up on the East coast, before coming to New Mexico, I had never heard of the Penitentes or their practices. I was intrigued with the group’s devotion to God as well as their community. There is an abundance of lore surrounding the Brotherhood’s beliefs and practices. My research on the lay Catholic group revealed how and why they came about and dispelled many of the myths and negative stereotypes.

What was your favorite part of putting this project together?
Writing. I love the writing process, creating characters and turning them loose in different situations, letting them get themselves in and out of trouble.

Why do you write in the particular genre you’ve chosen?
I find mystery the perfect genre to unfold crimes and misdemeanors in New Mexico’s multicultural landscape.

Who are some of your favorite authors?
Ann Patchett, Louise Penny, Tana French, Lily King, Susan Orlean, Patti Smith. I guess I have been reading a lot of women.

What are the hardest kinds of scenes for you to write?
Sex scenes. I find them tedious to write and easy to leave out. When writing mysteries, sex often takes a backseat to murder and mayhem.

What writing projects are you working on now?
I am trying to balance the promotion of Rites & Wrongs with work on New Territory, the third book in the series. Ghost Notes (about a stolen Stradivarius violin) is the first book in the series but it hasn’t been published. I have finished a draft of New Territory and am in the process of editing and rewriting. Next task will be to find a publisher.

KLWagoner150_2KL Wagoner (writing as Cate Macabe) is the author of This New Mountain: a memoir of AJ Jackson, private investigator, repossessor, and grandmother. Kathy posts to a speculative fiction blog at klwagoner.com and writes about memoir at ThisNewMountain.com.



In Archive