Interview with Diana Forbes, Author of Mistress Suffragette

Diana Forbes is a 9th generation American, with ancestors on both sides of the Civil War. Diana Forbes lives and writes in Manhattan. When she is not cribbing chapters, Diana Forbes loves to explore the buildings where her 19th Century American ancestors lived, loved, survived and thrived. Prior to publication, Diana Forbes’s debut won 1st place in the Missouri Romance Writers of America (RWA) Gateway to the Best Contest for Women’s Fiction. A selection from the novel was a finalist in the Wisconsin RWA “Fab Five” Contest for Women’s Fiction. Mistress Suffragette won 1st place in the Chanticleer Chatelaine Award’s Romance and Sensual category, and was shortlisted for the Somerset Award in Literary Fiction. Mistress Suffragette won Silver in the North American Book Awards and was a Winner of the Book Excellence Awards for Romance. Mistress Suffragette was also a Kirkus Best Indies Book of 2017. The author is passionate about vintage clothing, antique furniture, ancestry, and vows to master the quadrille in her lifetime. Diana Forbes is the author of New York Gilded Age historical fiction.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK

Can you tell us a bit about yourself? 

My name is Diana Forbes. I am passionate about the Gilded Age, untold stories, and Old New York. Mistress Suffragette is my debut novel, and I am writing the sequel now. 

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Manhattan. So did my many of my ancestors. When I walk down the streets of Manhattan, I picture how it used to look during the late 1800’s—the sights, the sounds, the chocolate-dipped brownstones. Then, I try to capture that on the page.

What is your fondest childhood memory?

Probably when I asked by an English teacher to start the school newspaper. I was always a writer.

When did you begin writing?

I began writing when I was six years old. I wrote poems, diary entries (just like Harriet the Spy), restaurant reviews, and articles. When I was in high school, I wrote my first novella. I always knew that I would be a writer when I grew up. I was lucky because my parents encouraged me to do it.

Do you write during the day, at night or whenever you can sneak a few moments?

No. I believe that writing is a habit. The habit needs to be enforced. I write from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. or so every weekday. On Saturdays I take a break and write for only two hours. On Sunday, I frequently write for eight hours. In the afternoons, after I have written, I work on marketing my debut novel, Mistress Suffragette. I also like to read for about an hour every night.

What is this book about?

Mistress Suffragette is about a young woman who believes that she will get married and live a traditional life. Her young life is supremely comfortable. She’s not rich, but she has a great lifestyle. Due to an unforeseen circumstance, her lifestyle is whisked out from under her. Now she is distressed and searching for sanctuary. She ends up taking a paid job in the early women’s suffrage movement as a paid public speaker. Unfortunately elements from her past catch up to her, and her love life threatens to undo everything she’s fighting for.

What inspired you to write it?

I studied history and politics in college, and I thought the women’s suffrage movement wasn’t really taught correctly. I also felt that the way it was portrayed in movies was one-dimensional. I wanted to change that. I also am fortunate to possess a box of letters and photographs, passed down to me by my ancestors who were living in the U.S. dating back to before the Civil War. I had ancestors on both sides of the Civil War. Part of writing the novel was a journey for me as an author. I combed through their stories and tried to capture a tiny bit of what they went through.                                                                

Who is your biggest supporter?

I have had some wonderful writing teachers and mentors. I take two writing classes a week, every week.

Are you a member of a critique group? If no, who provides feedback on your work?

I was a member of two writing groups, but I had to take a break from it when my debut novel, Mistress Suffragette, got published.

Who is your favorite author?

Edith Wharton is my favorite. I love Jane Austen as well.

Do you have an agent or are you looking for one?

I am agented.

Was the road to publication smooth sailing or a bumpy ride?

It is hard to get published today, no question. That said, each time I rewrote my story, I got to know my characters a little better. 

If you knew then, what you know now, is there anything you would have done differently?

No. All you can do as a writer is keep at it. One page at a time, one day at a time.

Where can readers purchase a copy of your book?

Amazon (paperback and Kindle); Barnes and Noble, Apple iTunes, Kobo Books, Smashwords.

Do you have a video trailer to promote your book?  If yes, where can readers find it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGCdm3yh_f8

What is one piece of advice you would like to share with aspiring authors everywhere?

Keep at it. Keep writing. And above all, believe in your project.

What is up next for you?

I am writing the sequel now.

Author Spotlight: Boyd Taylor, Author of The Hero of San Jacinto and The Antelope Play

Set in present-day Austin, Texas, budding historian Donnie Ray Quinn stumbles upon an old letter in the musty bowels of the Texas State archives. Donnie has discovered Sam Payne’s not so valiant capture of Mexican leader Santa Anna during the Battle of San Jacinto. His findings are published in the local monthly magazine, Texas Today.

The article eventually becomes fodder in the gubernatorial race between Democratic upstart Bob Braeswood and Republican favorite Sam Eben Payne V, the great-great-grandson of the not so valiant Texas hero. Braeswood is intent on exploiting the past, while Payne will do anything to suppress it. In the ensuing battle, Donnie finds his beliefs, not to mention his relationships, stretched to the limit. Will he side with money and power or truth and integrity?

Taylor takes us on a scenic tour of Austin events and sights through the eyes of our 28-year old drunken playboy protagonist without asking his reader to deal with the atrocious Austin traffic.

Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: Katherine Brown Press (September 14, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0615662471
ISBN-13: 978-0615662473

NEW RELEASE!

When Austin native Donnie Cuinn accepts a job as an associate in a Texas Panhandle law firm, his boredom and disdain for Velda, a sleepy Texas town, is forgotten when he gets caught up in a struggle over water rights, possible radioactive contamination of the nation’s largest underground fresh water supply, and the violence of an invading Mexican drug cartel. Along the way, Donnie learns to respect the local rancher, whose brother is at the center of the troubles, and to come to terms with the violent death of his young Mexican wife.

Paperback: 260 pages
Publisher: Katherine Brown Press (July 31, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0989470709
ISBN-13: 978-0989470704

Read an excerpt:

The full moon cast shadows from the bare trees that lined the gravel road on the other side of the cattle guard. The winter wind had died down into its midnight quiet, and the cold air was settling over the arroyos, covering the low indentions in the ranch land with a light frost. A black Cadillac SUV pulled up by the cattle guard. Two men jumped out of the back of the SUV. They wore heavy coats and their hats were pulled down low on their heads. Without speaking, they pulled the motionless man out of the back seat, bumping his head on the hard dirt. “Ten cuidado!” one said. “Lo queremos vivo.”

The man moaned. They took him, one by the shoulders, the other by the feet, and tossed him onto the road in front of the cattle guard. They stripped off his boots and socks and threw them in the back of the Cadillac.

“Vamos!” one of them said. They jumped in the SUV and drove away quickly; its black outline disappeared down the country road.

The sun was barely visible over the eastern plateau when the man awoke, shivering from the cold. He struggled to his feet. He hopped across the cattle guard in his bare feet and cried out in pain. When he was finally across, he rested a minute. Then, breathing heavily, he began his walk up the gravel road. He wiped blood from his nose and mouth, held his broken left arm with his right hand, and slowly walked home.

***

The address read, “Don R. Cuinn, Attorney at Law,” so it had to be for him. Don looked at the legal-size envelope and sighed. He recognized the scrawled Las Vegas return address. What now? He tossed the unopened envelope on the pile of documents that Faye had stacked neatly before leaving the office the night before. When the envelope hit the stack, the papers scattered.

He ignored the mess and swiveled in his worn leather chair, passed on to him when Jake got new stuff, and stared through the dusty window at the brown Texas Panhandle landscape. From his aerie on the top floor, the fifth floor of Velda’s tallest building, he could see the end of town to the north where it gave way to the flat land and canyons and dry creeks that stretched to Canada. He couldn’t see his apartment, back to the east, toward the Country Club, and it bothered him. Why do I care?

He couldn’t admit it bothered him because Jake, the Rosen of “Rosen & Associates” had the prime corner office, with windows to the east as well as the north, from which he could keep an eye on all of Velda that mattered: the business district, the city hall, the courthouse, the old residential district, the winding parks and dry creek, and the leafless trees. Not to mention the new developments, both of them, where wealthy Veldanians had built McMansions too big for the lots, like overweight teenagers with their exposed bellies overflowing their jeans at the Arcadia Theater or the mall in Amarillo.

But Don R. Cuinn, the associate in “Rosen & Associates,” could only see to the north, and like everything else today, it grated on his nerves.

Don could not see to the south, thank God, so he didn’t have to look every day at the old warehouse district and railroad tracks, the recently repainted depot reclaimed as a half-assed museum, where the early days of Velda were trumpeted to the five visitors a week. In a good week, he thought. The days when Velda was an important stop on the railroad; when early settlers came to try their luck raising cotton or wheat on the unforgiving Panhandle plains; when most of the farmers were ruined by flooding rains followed by unbelievable drought, forced to sell their land, in which they had invested their life savings, sell it for pennies on the dollar to cattle ranchers. The ranchers, over a decade or two, ended up with most of the land in Velda County, and with the land, the oil money when the boom came.

South of the tracks were the Flats, with its shanty towns and trailer parks, where Velda’s Hispanics and its few blacks and its oil field trash lived uneasily next to each other, huddled against the north wind all winter. And, during the rest of the year, were unable to escape the ceaseless southwest wind or the acetic acid fumes blown over them from the Crackstone Industries’ chemical plant.

Lovely, Don thought.

He shivered. The cold wind leaked into his office, even with the windows painted shut. There was no way to open them in the summer and fall, when the weather was mild and dry and the wind was light enough to be enjoyable. Almost. He selected an old wool sweater from the various pieces of outdoor clothing he kept on the hook behind his door. He put it on, and his corduroy jacket over it, but he was still cold. He had never been this cold growing up in Austin.

He thought of the warm days in Beaumont, where he got his diploma mill law license. Why did I leave? Oh yes, no job. Not even an offer. Law firms knew the worth of a J.D. degree from the Jefferson Davis School of Law. . . warm weather... an image of Mexico City flashed through his mind. Not that. Don’t think about that. Not for an instant.

In a former life, Boyd Taylor was a lawyer and an officer of a large chemical company. A native of Temple, Texas, he graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a B.A. in government and an LL.B. from the law school. He currently lives in Austin, Texas with his wife, Kitty.

Boyd welcomes inquiries and comments from his readers, who may contact him through:

Katherine Brown Press at kbtpress@ymail.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheHeroofSanJacinto

Visit the author's blog at http://boydtaylorblog.wordpress.com/

Interview with Carol Alethia, Author of Plant Teacher

Caroline Alethia is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in newspapers, magazines, on radio and in web outlets. Her words have reached audiences on six continents. She lived in Bolivia and was a witness to many of the events described in PlantTeacher. You can visit her website at www.plantteacherthebook.net.

What is your fondest childhood memory?

My father worked for an international organization, and so I spent five years of my childhood overseas. I was in Europe for three years and in the Middle East for two years. My parents were also very enthusiastic travelers, and by the time I was in high school I had visited 47 states and approximately 40 countries.

In the United States, home was in the country, in the South, and I was raised on Girls Scouts and 4-H, hiking and camping, and tending to large gardens and many small farm animals.

I have many childhood memories, but one of the most wonderful is of searching for sea turtle hatchlings. My grandparents lived on the beach in Florida, and one night we combed the beach looking for hatchlings that had become stuck in their nests. We dug one nest free and watched the baby turtles paddle across the sand to the waiting waters of the Atlantic.

When did you begin writing?

I remember I wrote and illustrated a short story in grammar school. In high school, I became interested in poetry and scribbled many pieces that were deeply adolescent. I continued to write poetry as an adult, but the pieces were intended for myself and friends, not for the general public. In my twenties, I also became interested in writing short stories.

What is this book about?

Plant Teacher explores the lives of American expatriates in Bolivia during the time when president Evo Morales was consolidating his power with a very heavy hand. The expatriates do the things that expatriates do: they travel, they write, they debate, and they experiment. One character, Martin Banzer, experiments with indigenous South American hallucinogenic drugs, also known as “plant teachers,” and the results are stunningly disturbing for him. Strangely, Martin and his North American friends try to reap all of the enjoyment they can out of their Bolivian experience during a time when the country is crippled with protests and hunger strikes and riots.

What inspired you to write it?   
   

I have spent 13 years of my life as an expatriate, living in seven different countries, and I know the mentality well. Expatriates are experimental, they are curious, they are creative. Living in a different country has the same sort of life-changing effects as going away to college; you are free to try to be someone new.

At the same time, I personally lived in Bolivia when President Evo Morales illegally amended the Constitution within an armed encampment in order to extend his term limit. There were widespread protests throughout the country, and this unrest barely made it into the North American media. Morales is portrayed as a populist here—which he is, to some extent, but he is also authoritarian.

I wanted to tell a story of people at a place in their lives when they want to explore and have fun, but who are confronted with this constant omnipresent threat of revolution and violence. I wanted to see how these characters would negotiate these two worlds

Are you a member of a critique group? If no, who provides feedback on your work?

I belonged to a critique group during my time in Europe. At that time, I was working at an international agency as a writer. Our group was filled with journalists, PR people, and creative writers. Every few months I would bring in a short story for critiquing. It was a hard audience to please, but it definitely honed my creative writing skills.

I would add that the short stories, like my poems, were all pieces too personal for me to want to share publicly. When I wrote Plant Teacher, I was careful not to make it autobiographical in any way. None of the characters are surrogates for me. None of the characters represent friends or family members or other people in my life.

Where can readers purchase a copy of your book?

Plant Teacher is available on Amazon both in paperback and in a Kindle edition.

Do you have a website and/or blog where readers can find out more?


People can read my blog entries, enjoy excerpts of the book, watch a promotional trailer set to a poem from the book, and listen to a podcast of me reading Plant Teacher’s first chapter on the book website. That site is www.PlantTeacherTheBook.net.


What is up next for you?


I paved the way in Plant Teacher to write about Austrian psychiatrist Alfred Adler, one of Freud’s greatest rivals and one of the three founders of modern depth psychiatry. In Plant Teacher, the character, Cheryl, analyzes Martin’s earliest memories using the Adlerian method. Few people know this method, and I would like to publish a self-help book explaining how it works.

Is there anything you would like to add?

Thank you so much for this opportunity. I hope your readers enjoy Plant Teacher!