Readers ask . . .

Why did you choose to write about these characters?

So much of my writing is intuitive. I seem to be a conduit for a greater source. Father Blu and Eunis were born this way. They came to me, as did their strengths, demons, their histories and locales, as mythic characters that I was compelled to bring forth. They became extended family—not because of their perfection but because of their imperfections and heroism, which we all share.

But why write about a woman?

Why not? We are all mixes of the feminine and the masculine. Women write male characters —Mary Shelley (Frankenstein), S.E. Hinton (The Outsiders), Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl), to name a few—and many men have written excellent female characters (recently Ian McEwan, John Green, Anthony Doerr). Even transgender (Leslie Feinberg, Gore Vidal and Shakespeare). We’re people first. And isn’t it about time we drop the gender stereotypes? I think we all can have insights about each other, male, female, LGBTQ.

Why write about rural Minnesota, Montana, New England and now Tanzania?

I’ve been lucky enough to live in or around major cities and rurally. The differences are profound and tantalizing. Both have so much to offer. My character Eunis in Beautiful to the Bone, came to me from her home in Bemidji (MN), and so I went to there. Anyone who has lived in a small-to-medium sized town can appreciate the spaciousness it provides, allowing people of often contradictory philosophies to live together in harmony. That’s been my experience living in rural Montana. Bemidji is a wonderful town—and it has its edges. Bringing Eunis from her rural life to New York City (with its edges) and to Tanzania (in A Bounty of Bone) was as much divination as the rest of the stories, and it provides an excellent opportunity for her growth.

So much in your fiction sounds outrageous but is factual. Is this by design?

Absolutely. What would have seemed fantasy only a few years ago, is very real today. Not only technology but what we understand about the cosmos and our own powers, is expanding daily. I purposely weave in actual places and their histories, current procedures and research, traditional wisdom, superstitions and folklore, as well as the next step in human development and psychic awareness. Why? Because we are learning and creating so rapidly that nothing should be considered unlikely.
 
What’s more, the connections to the past are manifesting in the present and will in the future. We may not fully acknowledge our deep, deep roots, but everything from the use of psychotropic plants; epigenetics and other natural and scientific revelations are coming at lightning speed. Eunis and Father Blu are very real to me, and they fit into the extraordinarily dynamic world we all inhabit where everything that is real cannot necessarily be seen or felt through our fingertips.