My interview with Joan Schweighardt about ‘River Aria’ on LitPub.com
I’m so pleased to do this in-depth interview with the lovely and talented Joan Schweighardt, author of the Rivers Trilogy, for litpub.com. Her latest book, River Aria, is the third in the trilogy. It began with a freelance assignment about a little-known historical event, which became a decade-long fascination that led to three novels. Schweighardt came across the annotated diary of a man who tapped rubber trees in the Amazon rainforest during the rubber boom of the early 1900s. She found herself riveted, and soon there was Book One, Before We Died. The characters kept speaking to her, and soon there was Book Two, Gifts for the Dead. My path has had similarities—my second novel, As They Are, is forthcoming from Black Rose Writing in June 2022, and it is a...
I Miss Cooking Classes at the Raindrop Turkish House
EDITOR’S NOTE: Phyllis M Skoy’s newest novel, As They Are, takes place in Turkey and is a prequel to her award-winning novel, What Survives. In April 2022, What Survives will be re-released from Black Rose Writing, and As They Are will publish June 16, 2022. Sign up here to be the first to know when they are available for pre-order. Although I love making Turkish dishes at home, and I have the cookbooks and ingredients all here, I do miss the camaraderie of cooking together at the Turkish House in Albuquerque since the pandemic. Women are amazingly able to cook together, when they aren’t too possessive of the kitchen or they aren’t obsessed with making sure things are done exactly as they would do them. Chopping the tomatoes while someone else is chopping the...
Looking Back and Looking Forward
My novel As They Are will take you back to Turkey. Look for it April 12, 2022, or get on the pre-order list now. I miss Turkey. My plans to go back, like the plans of so many others, have been interrupted by politics and the advent of the coronavirus. I miss the sights, the sounds, the people, the smells, the music. I envy those I know who have made the trip despite it all, but my immune system will not allow me to travel under the present circumstances. Now that my second novel in A Turkish Trilogy, As They Are, will be coming out April 2022, published by Black Rose Writing, I yearn for Turkey every day. I especially yearn for Turkish food that I do not have to cook myself. As They Are – Coming April 12, 2022FIND OUT MORE HERE Generous and ingenious, Fatma...
Danse Macabre
The past several years, just before my novel What Survives came out, I became friendly with some Turkish folks who left their homeland for asylum in the United States. Shortly after their arrival, Trump was elected President of the United States. When I asked my new friends if they were concerned about being deported or what might come of this administration, they told me not to worry. There are checks and balances here, they said. They also said: And I am seeking asylum. So, I am fine. Don’t worry about me. As our checks and balances began to be wiped away, I wondered if they realized what was happening. Most of them were too busy trying to establish themselves in a new country, struggling with learning English, dealing with family members and friends in Turkey...
It is Time: Thoughts on My New Relationship with Time
All of my adult life, I have wished for more time. I dreamed of a life where I only did what I wanted when I wanted. I would read and write as many hours as I wished. I would prepare only healthy food, go for nice, long walks in the country, time being a smorgasbord laid out in front of me, just as it might seem for this fellow, ready to rest all day after a successful kill. But I never really believed I would have this kind of time in my life. Two weeks ago Thursday was my last day as a practicing psychoanalyst. I feel good about the 36 years I have spent doing this work. I have been fortunate to have had wonderful training and excellent consultation. I have also been lucky enough to have had some patients who have blossomed in ways I could not have imagined. I...
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