Author Archives: Joan

mothers

Mothers in My Books

Happy Mother’s Day to moms everywhere. I could say the same to the many mothers who are characters in my books. Certainly, mothers and those mother-like people are important figures in our lives. The same goes for my fictional mothers who have to deal with the situations I cook up for them. Here is a rundown.

ISABEL LONG MYSTERY SERIES

Isabel is a mother of three grown children — one of whom doesn’t approve of her sleuthing — but the major mother in this series is Maria Ferreira, who advises her daughter on her cases. Maria, who came to live with Isabel, turns 93 in the series. But despite her advanced age, Maria often accompanies her daughter to interviews. She could be called her ‘Watson’, a role she so enjoys. She says it’s boring without a case. Maria is a big reader of mysteries and smutty romances. She also has a great sense of humor, especially dealing with living in the sticks and Isabel’s choices in life. Maria is such a popular character, so many readers have begged me not to ever let her die. I promise.

Also in the series, two mothers are victims in the cases Isabel is hired to solve, including Finding the Source, the eighth book, coming out June 4. More soon on that book. Another mother had her infant daughter kidnapped from her front yard in Following the Lead.

THE SWANSON SHUFFLE

In my latest release, Bia Fernandes comes to work at Swanson House, a psychiatric halfway house. Among the former mental hospital patients are two mothers who suffered the tragic loss of their babies. The impact on their mental health was severe.

NORTHERN COMFORT

Willi Miller is a single mother living with her son in a small rural town. She does her best by Cody, who was brain-damaged at birth. Their home is a cabin left by the grandfather who took them in after Willi’s husband deserted them. The book begins with a tragedy: Cody dies when his sled sends him into the path of a pickup truck as Willi chases it down a steep hill. How Willi overcomes this tragedy and confronts a dark piece of her past is the focus of this story.

There is another mother in this book, Willi’s, who unfortunately is cold, selfish, and not a help at all during this difficult time for her daughter.

THE SWEET SPOT

Edie St. Clare is a woman constantly on the go in her small town, pretty and direct. You’ll find her on weekend nights at the Do-Si-Do Bar or behind the counter of her in-law’s general store. But Edie can’t let go of an old sadness — the death of her husband in Vietnam. She and her seven-year-old daughter Amber live next to her father, a crusty guy who runs the town dump, and her wisecracking aunt. Edie’s life changes dramatically when she is caught up in the town’s biggest scandal.

THE SACRED DOG

Verona Hooker is the ex-wife of Frank Hooker, owner of the bar he named The Sacred Dog. Actually, the bar used to be named for her, but he changed it in honor of his dog, Louise, after she left him. Verona is the mother of Crystal, who Frank considers as his own daughter although the actual father is a secret she keeps. Verona fled the town of Holden to get a fresh start but returns in this book. She realizes Crystal would be better off being closer to her father. Too bad things don’t turn out that way. By the way, Verona is a character in the book I am currently writing, The Unforgiving Town, a sequel of sorts.

PEACE, LOVE AND YOU KNOW WHAT

This is the second adult novel I wrote that is not set in the fictional hilltowns of Western Massachusetts. It is inspired, sort of, by my college experience. On her last weekend in college, Lenora and her hippie friends have a three-day bash where she has a great deal of “fun” with three guys. She’s on her way to Europe after graduation. Fast forward many months to the funeral of a popular professor, and everyone is surprised when Lenora shows up with a baby. She lives in a commune in the country.

THE TWIN JINN SERIES

Mira, like the other members of her family, is a magical being in this series written for middle grade readers. A jinn or genie, she is the mother of twins who are as gifted as she is with magical powers. Elegant and wise, she and Elwin helped the family escape from their evil master. But there are challenges to remaining safe as her children are mischievous and naïve.

MY BOOKS

That gives you a quick summary of mothers in my books . Here’s the link to my books on Amazon. By the way, the flowering bushes in the photo above grow in our yard.

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The Swanson Shuffle

The Swanson Shuffle Set in 1974

My new novel, The Swanson Shuffle, is set in 1974, a tumultuous year for many of the characters — and the U.S. Think Watergate for starters.

First, a quick summary of the book for those just tuning in: Two years out of college, Bia Fernandes gets hired as a live-in staff member in a psychiatric halfway house and learns a lot more than she expects about the residents plus herself.

It was during the 1970s that Massachusetts, where this book takes place, was closing its state-run institutions for people with intellectual disabilities and mental illness. The state was criticized for the conditions in these facilities, prompting court rulings and a drive for community-based care aka deinstitutionalization.

Swanson House, where Bia lands a job, would qualify for community-based care as it was supposed to help patients from mental hospitals make the transition to being on their own again. Residents were expected to have jobs and take their meds. They interacted at meals, meetings, and various activities. Unfortunately, the staff members like Bia got zero training. Basically, they were expected to be nice role models.

News that happened in 1974 is woven into the book.

Among it was the kidnapping of newspaper heiress Patty Hearst by the Symbionese Liberation Army, a story of interest to Bia. Later, Hearst became a fugitive wanted for serious crimes by the group.

Of course, Watergate was a big deal that year. The residents are devoted TV watchers and their main source of info is Walter Cronkite, who they fondly call Uncle Walter. Yes, there is a chapter when Uncle Walter speaks after Nixon resigns from the presidency on August 9, 1974. It coincides with a pivotal night for one of the staff members.

That winter, Massachusetts implemented gas rationing in response to the oil embargo by OPEC the previous year. Here’s how Bia explains it. (Paul is a fellow staff member.) “We and everybody else can only fill up on certain days depending on whether the last number of the license plate is odd or even. The house station wagon is odd, which is fitting. Paul claims the gas crisis is bona fide bullshit. The big oil companies are only doing this to scare people into thinking we’ll run out, so they can do whatever they want, like start a war in the Middle East.”

In one scene, the house station wagon runs out of gas after Bia picks up residents at the end of their shift at a local factory. She’s ticked off because a staff member, actually Paul, didn’t gas up after the morning run, but she needs to get everybody home. So, with Carole at the wheel, Bia and two residents, Lane and Kevin, push the car through a neighborhood to a gas station.

I peer over the car’s hood toward the garage. Two men are in the office playing cards. They don’t bother coming out, and then I see the cardboard sign in the window: NO GAS. They gotta be shitting me. How could they be outta gas?

“What’s the matter, Bia?”

“Nothing, Lane. Why don’t you go inside the car? I have to get somebody.”

I march toward the office. One man nods to the other when I knock on the glass. He waves me away.

“Outta gas,” the man mouths as he tilts a beer toward the sign.

I don’t believe him. I knock again until the same man comes to the door.

“Hey, girlie, can’t you read the sign? We’re outta gas.”

I gesture toward the station wagon. Carole still sits in the driver’s seat, but she’s rolled up the window.

“I did. I just need a couple of gallons.”

The man steps outside the office door. A jagged scar runs up the right side of his face. He smells like beer and cigarette smoke.

“Nah, we don’t have anything. Not a drop.” The scar twitches when he squeezes the corners of his mouth. “Sorry.”

“But we’re outta gas.”

He snorts. I bet he got that scar in a knife fight in a bar. Maybe it happened because he didn’t give somebody gas.

“I guess, hon, that makes the two of us.”

I don’t believe a damn word he’s saying.

Read how Bia figures a way out of this situation. Here’s the link to The Swanson Shuffle.

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Writing

A Writer’s Dedication: Commitment and gratitude

Dedication. As an author I deal with two. First, there is the commitment I make to transform an idea that popped inside my head into a book. This is a process that typically takes months of sitting at my computer, letting the words come together, typically 500 a day. Then there is the self-editing that often comes midway and certainly a few times after I reach the end. You could also factor in the business end of writing, that is, getting the word out about my books.

As part of that process, there is another form — choosing who I will honor with an official dedication. What person or persons have made an impact in my life, especially my writing, in some way? It’s my official and public form of thank you.

At this point I have sixteen books published, including the most recent The Swanson Shuffle. The next, Finding the Source, the next Isabel Long Mystery, set in the fictional hilltowns of Western Massachusetts, will be released June 4.

Several books have been dedicated to family, including my husband Hank, our six children, and two grandchildren. My late mother, Algerina Medeiros, is on that list since she was a big reader and it turns out, the inspiration for Isabel Long’s mother.

Then there are friends who deserve mention. 

Teresa Dovalpage inspired me to write mysteries after I read hers — A Havana Mystery Series among others. We met in Taos, New Mexico, and I fondly remember talking and drinking Cuban coffee at her home. Teresa has encouraged me as I negotiate the publishing world.

I met Frederick Fullerton in college, and our friendship has continued these oh-so-many years with nearly daily emails, often about writing and the books we’ve read. He published two books this year, a novel, The Writer of Unwritten Books, and a collection of short stories, The Prisoner & Other Stories.

Karen Westergaard and Victor Morrill are hilltown friends who deserved to have a hilltown book dedicated to them, Northern Comfort. I have so enjoyed our conversations in their welcoming home and gardens.

John McCann and Helen James are two medical professionals who have given me wonderful healthcare. Talk about dedication.

Steve and Diane Magargal are the former owners of Liston’s Bar in Worthington, where we used to live. Nearly every Friday night, Hank and I went there for music, dancing, and comradery — a fun night out. Liston’s is the inspiration for the Rooster Bar in my Isabel Long Mystery Series, but the characters are all made up. Honest. By the way, after Steve and Diane sold the bar, it was bought by a group of locals, who tore it down and had it rebuilt. 

The Swanson Shuffle is dedicated to two teachers from my childhood — Irma Darwin and Donald Graves. 

Irma was my fourth-grade teacher who was the first to encourage me to write on my own, making up short stories and one-act plays. I assigned parts to my classmates, and we practiced at recess. Later, we performed in front of the class. I don’t remember what I wrote, but I do the feeling of using words to tell a story.

I met Donald in fifth grade when I was among the students selected from our town’s elementary schools to attend an enrichment program in science and creative writing held Wednesdays. I bet you can guess which class I preferred. Donald’s approach to creative writing was a deeper way for me to express myself. Frankly, I had to wait until I was in college to get anything similar.

So who earned a dedication for Finding the Source? It’s my secret until June 4.

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The Swanson Shuffle

Author Review: The Swanson Shuffle

Note: I was delighted when Helen Matthews, a psychological suspense author from the UK, offered this full review of The Swanson Shuffle, which was released April 30. Due to our association with two publishers, I had asked for a blurb and she gave this as well. Please check out Helen’s books, Girl Out of Sight, The Sisters, The Girl in the Van, and Lies Behind the Ruin. I have so enjoyed reading them all.

In recent years my reading diet has been skewed towards dark and twisty page-turners but I’ve always been a fan of literary fiction. The Swanson Shuffle was a pleasure to read as I rediscovered the delights of beautifully-written prose and a slower but satisfying character-driven narrative with emotional depth.

The story is set in the 1970s and has an unusual and fascinating setting. Dilapidated Swanson House, a former mansion that now operates as a halfway house for psychiatric patients released from a nearby mental hospital, Alden, but not yet well enough to live independently. The central character, Bia, graduated from college two years earlier and has left an unsatisfying job and an even more unsatisfying relationship, to take on a role at Swanson House. She believes she can make a difference to the lives of the residents.

Along with three other staff members, none of whom are medically qualified or experienced in mental health social work, Bia gets to know the residents and shares her observations with the reader. Those most vivid in my mind are Lane, who finds it hard to express himself so writes everything down as stories; Jerry, who seems superficially well-balanced but has some dark incidents in his past, and outrageous Angie, who can’t hold down a job and seems compelled to throw herself at every man around.

Swanson House rules are that residents must hold down a job and pay their rent in order to stay in the house. As the back stories of this intriguing mix of damaged people gradually unfold, we see how they cope, or not, with their daily routines. Working, eating, smoking, doing the grocery shop, playing volleyball and dozing off are the norm. A cinema trip or a visit to explore a staff ember’s new apartment downtown count as highlights. Some succeed, others aren’t ready for this step towards freedom and fail. Insights into the residents’ traumas are depicted with great sensitivity.

In this intense and challenging workplace, I questioned whether certain staff might be more unstable than the residents. Sometimes boundaries become very blurred.

I loved the references to contemporary music and events unfolding in the outside world – the Watergate scandal, Nixon’s resignation, Patty Hearst. The films the residents went on a group trip to see included The Exorcist though not One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (perhaps this was released later).

The Swanson Shuffle has authentic characters and the story is told with insight and clearly based on personal experience and research. Bia is an impressive character who develops and grows in her time at the halfway house. While the main action of the novel is compressed into around a year, there is a satisfying ending set some years into the future. We discover what she’s learned and how her time at Swanson has shaped her future. A book full of compassion and hope — a highly recommended read.

Here’s the link to The Swanson Shuffle.

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The Swanson Shuffle

Reading The Swanson Shuffle at Open Mic

Most Thursdays are open mic nights at my son’s brewery, Floodwater Brewing in Shelburne Falls. I go to listen to the talented musicians who perform there. Sometimes I read, which I did last night, in honor of the release the day before of my new book, The Swanson Shuffle.

Besides serving great beer brewed on the premises, Zack has provided a community space and a place for the area’s musical talent. Open mic is an anything-goes-night, with musicians playing singly or in a group for three songs. A few recite poetry they’ve written, one remarkably from memory. Recently, I read from my latest book for middle grade readers, The Twin Jinn and the Alchemy Machine — advising listeners “to channel their 11-year-old selves.”

Last night’s list was long, so it was a two-song night. I sat at the bar, drinking The Last Waltz Vienna Lager while waiting my turn, which was near the bottom of the list. Before I walked from home, I got a call to bring more copies of The Swanson Shuffle. Floodwater is the only place to buy my books other than on Amazon. I give readers a Floodwater discount. Last night, I sold six books, including from my mystery series.

Finally, it was my turn. Yes, that’s me above at Floodwater. I specifically chose a chapter that would give listeners an idea of what this book’s about — a young woman’s experience as a live-in staff member at a psychiatric halfway house in 1974. I had already read the chapter aloud at home, so I knew it would take five minutes, a reasonable amount of time. The challenge here would be the lighting, designed for musicians and not readers, but I made it work.

I started with a little humor, noting Zack thoughtfully named a beer for me, an IPA, called Cyborg Joan — naturally, there is a story that goes with that. I do get a kick out of it when I hear someone say, “give me a Joan.”

Anyway, here is the chapter I read last night called “Dented Cans.” Bia is with Debbie, the disgruntled woman who she will replace at Swanson House.

I follow Debbie to her room, which is at the head of the stairs on the second floor. She explains the large rooms on this floor were broken up when this mansion got turned into an inn after the rich folks lost their money during the Great Depression. A few are large enough to be doubles. More are on the third floor, where the servants used to sleep, but Swanson House stopped letting residents use the rooms there after a recent problem. I’m sleeping in Debbie’s room tonight, and if I get this job, it will be mine. Debbie is off this weekend. So is Paul, the other single staff member, but Ben and Nina are staying.

“The sheets are clean,” Debbie says.

I drop my bag on the bed. Not much else is here, a dresser, an upholstered chair, and a door that likely leads to a closet. The windows don’t have curtains. Paper, an old-style print with stripes and roses, peels from the walls.

“You’ve already packed?” I ask.

“Yeah, I’m outta here in another week. I’m not sure what I’m gonna do next. I’ll be crashing with my folks for now.” She gives me a squinty stare. “Can I give you some advice?” she asks but from her tone of voice I can tell she’s not seeking my permission.

“Sure.”

She shuts the door, then points toward the chair. I sit down. She stays standing.

“You’ll probably get the job. You’re the best one to apply, and I bet you’ll take it if they offer.” She raises a hand before I reply. “If that all happens, my advice is not to get too close to the residents.”

“Too close.”

“You’ll burn out fast if you do. Believe me. It’s okay to care. Just don’t care so much like I did.” Her voice trails off. “You come here thinking they’re the same as us, but they aren’t. They’re dented cans.” She sees me wince. “You know those cans in the supermarket they put on sale ’cause somebody dropped them, and now they have a big dent? The insides are supposed to be good, but no matter what anybody does, that dent’s never coming out. You understand what I’m saying?”

“Maybe.”

“You met Jerry. He seems normal enough. Ask him about his lousy childhood. No one should have to grow up like he did. I sure didn’t. I bet you didn’t either. He dropped out of high school and worked a lot of shitty jobs. Miracle he didn’t get drafted and end up in Vietnam. I guess he moved around too much for anyone to find him. Last job he worked was running rides in a traveling carnival. He got into drugs, and all the old stuff started coming up. He began hearing what people were thinking, and you know nothing good’s gonna come from that. Jerry was yelling at people, and one time he wouldn’t stop the Ferris wheel ’cause he didn’t like what the people riding in it were thinking about him. The wheel was going round and round. People were getting sick and screaming for real. He was fighting off the other carnies trying to stop it. It’s what got him into Alden.”

“Shit.”

“You’re right. Shit. You meet Brian yet? No? Did they tell you he didn’t even go into a hospital? His pushy mother is a friend of one of the doctors at Alden, and she talked him into letting him come here. Brian is a little nervous and unsure of himself. I’d be, too, if I had a bitch of a mother like his. It’s a new one on me.” She waves her hand. “Stanley’s another one with mother problems. He checked himself into Alden after a snake on the TV said he should kill the old lady.” Debbie sits on her bed. She’s a skinny girl with a square jaw so sharp it could cut paper. Her stick legs hang from beneath her flowered mini skirt. “Stanley’s totally harmless. So’s Jim. Lane’s a smart goofball. His folks have bucks. I don’t understand why they let him stay in a dump like this. Then there’s Kevin. You haven’t met him. He’s only a kid. Quiet. You won’t get much out of him.”

“Carole told me about her baby.”

She shrugs.

“We think she had a baby, but we don’t think the doctors are hiding her somewhere. Maybe the baby died. Maybe the state took her away. We really don’t know.” She shakes her head again. “It gets to you after a while. It’s going to happen to Paul if he’s not careful. He’s getting too buddy-buddy with a few of the guys. I see it coming.”

“Thanks for the advice.”

She shakes her head.

“I guess you’ll have to find out the hard way like I did. Somebody got this big idea to set up places like Swanson. They hire untrained people. They claim they’ll do just as good a job as the pros, like we’re supposed to be role models. Some great experiment.” She snorts. “It comes down to this. They’re shutting down the state hospitals and want a place to dump these people. They pump them up with meds and make sure they can work. You met Peg. At least she’s going home to her kids. I’m really happy for her. The rest? God’s honest truth? If they don’t take their meds, they’ll be back in a ward somewhere, except for Brian who’s never been in one. If they do take their meds, they’ll work some shitty job like packing boxes at Delta Millworks and live here at Swanson because it’s a cheap, safe place. Outside of Peg, I’ve seen only two people leave for good in the nine months I’ve been here.”

“Only two?”

“I’m not trying to scare you. Just take it as friendly advice. Don’t expect too much and keep your boundaries. And don’t stay here on your days off. You have a boyfriend? Yeah? Maybe it’ll work out for you here.” She reaches under her bed for a suitcase. “Dinner should be on the table soon. I won’t be staying. And another thing. Don’t believe a damn word that comes out of Angie’s mouth. She’ll brag about being a groupie. She was probably a stripper or maybe a hooker. She’s just found a good place to hide out for a while.” She opens the top drawer of her dresser. “And whatever you do, don’t lend her or anybody money because you’ll never get it back.”

Okay, here’s the link to buy The Swanson Shuffle in Kindle or paperback. And thank you if you do.

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