I want to welcome Eleanor Bluestein to Hey Lady! I asked Eleanor if I could interview her after reading her collection of short stories entitled Tea & Other Ayama Na Tales  and she accepted!

(I should tell you that having worked with Eleanor on her virtual book tour (which didn’t influence me at all about liking her book, as anyone who’s read a few reviews here will know that I’m a pretty tough critic), she’s a total kick in the pants. And if I lived where she lived, I’d totally have put on the puppy dog eyes and asked if we could be friends. Alas, I live too far away so email will have to suffice.)

First, Eleanor, I want to welcome you to Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’? My first question for you is: When did you know that you loved writing?

My first thought was, “Who says I love writing?” I find the early and middle stages of a new work difficult, frustrating, and agonizingly slow. I rewrite endlessly waiting for the magic to show up. I’d abandon the whole enterprise except that when I’m not writing, I feel kind of lost and undefined. So maybe it’s more need than love that keeps me at it. I knew I needed writing in my mid-thirties–I’d been writing seriously at that point for a year or two. I do enjoy, maybe even love, the later stages of the process, when the hardest part is behind me and I’m polishing, tweaking, and deepening. 

Do you still have some of the first things you wrote once you knew you wanted to be a writer?

I’ve been at this long enough that earlier backup systems have come and gone. An early novel is on a floppy disk buried in boxes in a Fibber McGee garage. A few of the oldest things that saw print are still on the shelves (poetry, short stories, an essay), and there’s more recent unpublished stuff on the hard drive.   

Do you look back at old things you’ve written and cringe at how poorly they’re written? Or do you think they’re pretty good?

OK, so this relates to your first question about loving writing. I produce many drafts before what I’ve written is fit for taste-testing let alone serious human consumption.  So if I look back at older stuff, which I don’t do too much, I sometimes wonder how I pulled it off.  It looks better than the early stages of a work in progress. I do sometimes cringe though.    

You mentioned in a guest post that you completely invented the country of Ayama Na, all the way down to the national anthem. How long did it take you to invent this fictional country?

I did invent Ayama Na, but not from scratch.  I used aspects of landscape, local color and the politics and history of the places in South East Asia that I’d visited. All in all, it took about two and a half years to complete the ten stories in the book. And during that time, names of streets and places changed and details became more focused, so the country continued to evolve until the book went to print.

What do you do when you’re not exactly inspired to write? How do you push through writers’ block?

Mostly, I revise and edit the previous chapter until I feel in the swing of the work again. Sometimes reading jumpstarts the process. If I’m stumped by plot, I might talk it out with a writer friend.

When you write, do you control the characters and their outcomes, or do you find that the characters drive the story? Are you sometimes surprised at how a story ends?

When I’m lucky, the characters come to life early and help drive the plot. (That happened in “Pineapple Wars,” for example). It’s rare though. More often, it’s a lopsided collaborative effort with me doing the heavy lifting, trying this, trying that, seeing what works. The characters usually contribute dialog. They tend to speak for themselves, which helps a lot. Hmmm. Perhaps I should write plays. 

As for how a story ends, a few weeks ago, I wrote a guest post on story endings for Gautami Tripathy’s blog “Everything Distils Into Reading.”  I gave specifics there but the gist is that I rework and rewrite endings, changing them even months or a year after I thought I had them right. I add, subtract, and weigh alternatives searching for a satisfying conclusion—at least one that satisfies me. And yes, sometimes I’m surprised by what that conclusion ultimately ends up being.      

The story “Hamburger School” has a very profound lesson about time. Did you make that up or was that something you picked up from someone else, such as your own father?

Everyone has probably experienced time speeding up or slowing down depending on what’s going on at the moment. The lesson Mahala’s father delivers at the end of the story (that time can move so slowly in someone’s mind that even a young person might feel quite old) seems a logical extension of this phenomenon, but I did make it up. The thought was probably influenced by the volunteer work I do as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for kids in Child Protective Services. Most of the kids I’ve worked with live in group homes, not even with foster families. As they approach and move through their teenage years, their pain is palpable and it’s impossible not to recognize how much  forbearance is required of them just to get through a day. Because of what they’ve been through (including the reasons they needed to be removed from their parents in the first place), they are often significantly immature in certain ways, but in other ways they are old, wary, and sad beyond their years. My impression is that time can pass very slowly for these kids.      

In the story “Tea”, there’s an interesting cafe where the owners decide what drinks the patrons need. Did you make this up or did you visit a similar cafe?

Pure invention again, but one I thought had so much potential that after Tea and Other Ayama Na Tales was published, I had an “Ayama Na Tea Ceremony” at  my home for some friends who’d encouraged my writing efforts.  After dinner, my husband and I dressed as the elderly proprietors of the cafe and ceremoniously prepared and served each of our guests a special drink chosen to meet their needs—for example, a jasmine tea described as assisting in the healing of scars for a friend going through a difficult time, or more playfully, a tea called “Get Regular” to help a friend with writer’s block. Everybody, of course, got chocolate. Who doesn’t need that?  

In a few of your stories, “Pineapple Wars” being one of them, a modern way of thinking is almost more animalistic than the traditional way of thinking. Can you comment on this?

I think you’re right. In Ayama Na, when family, cultural, or religious values break down, ethical and moral guidelines sometimes weaken as well. You can see that drift toward amorality in response to stress, confusion or desperation in the car salesman in “Pineapple Wars,” the  farmer in “AIBO or Love at First Sight,” the young playwright in “The Cut the Crap Machine,” and the women in the hill tribes in “A Ruined Life.” The theme wasn’t conscious as I wrote, but it makes sense since Ayama Na is recovering from war and modernizing at such a dizzying pace. In a way the entire country is suffering PTSD. On the other hand, you also meet strong characters in these stories who think hard about virtue and responsible citizenship—the tour guide in “The Blanks,” the beauty contestant in “Skin Deep,” the fortune teller in “North of the Faro,” the one-legged red-headed whore in “The Artist’s Story.” These characters are struggling to do the right thing.    

What’s the most recent book you read that made you go, “Wow!”?

Olive Kitteridge (by Elizabeth Strout), this year’s winner of the Pulitzer Prize. The writing is wonderful and the title character is completely original. I loved the book.

What are you currently working on?

I’m working on a novel set in San Diego—working title: Vinyl Repair.  It’s about a young man’s efforts be a good person. I’m interested in how you figure out what a moral and ethical life is, especially in the absence of a religious commitment.

Thanks, Trish, for the opportunity to answer these questions for you and your readers.

Thank you, Eleanor, for such a great interview! I will definitely be checking out your next book.

Do any of you think you could invent a whole country, even if it was an amalgamation of various countries? I couldn’t. Though I’d love to have Jill on my team so she could invent the national anthem. I think she’d be good at that.

Tea & Other Ayama Na Tales by Eleanor Bluestein is a collection of short stories that all take place in the fictional country of Ayama Na. The author took her knowledge and experience of traveling around Asia and created her own country in which to place these 10 stories.

Short stories are an interesting literary form, as each story stands on its own with its own characters and conflicts, yet grouped with the other stories in the collection, the reader should see a common thread, a common theme. I think Bluestein does an excellent job of showing how a country, particularly a poor country, and its people can have a hard time coming into the modern day.

I think in general the first story of a short story collection sets the tone of the stories. In Tea & Other Ayama Na Tales, the first story, “Pineapple Wars”, gives you a sense of the author’s dark sense of humor. Slimree is tired of even half-heartedly caring for his aging and dementia addled father, a duty that used to be an honor but has become a burden with the fast paced society that replaced the “old country”. Slimree gets his just reward for taking care of his father in an ironic twist of fate.

One of my favorite stories was “Hamburger School”, about Mahala and Rayhee, both sixteen years old and both working at a local McDonald’s. Mahala and Rayhee are the best of friends, but are completely opposite in their family lives and personality. Rayhee has grown up with a father who’s molested her, so when her supervisor sexually harasses her, she thinks she has no choice but to take it. Mahala has a happy family, a father who encourages her to always do better and who helps her expand her thinking. This could be any story, really, and I’m sure it’s been told a thousand times in a thousand settings. But what made this story stand out was Mahala’s father’s wisdom, particularly after one of Mahala’s friends commits suicide:

One day, while looking in her eyes, her father asked if she remembered what she’d learned about time, how she’d told him the tricks it played, how it could slow itself down or speed itself up. Certainly she remembered, she said, and to demonstrate to her father that his words had staying power, she recalled aloud that the way time passed in your mind wasn’t time playing tricks. It was the mind understanding time the way the clock didn’t.

“If you think about that,” her father said, “you’ll realize that under certain circumstances every day can be longer than twenty-four hours, much longer in fact. An outsider might think someone who died at sixteen died too young, but the person who died might have felt they’d lived a very long life, even longer than mine. One day, Mahala, you’ll understand this.”

“…the person who died might have felt they’d lived a very long life, even longer than mine.” I think this is such a good point to remember. I’m not saying that suicide is the answer to anything, just that this sentence might help explain why someone would feel old at such a young age.

My other favorite story was the title story, “Tea”. Pania is seventeen years old and her father is insisting she come to dinner with him to be examined by another family as a possible wife for their son. Pania is infuriated by this, by her father’s insistence on ruining her life. In frustration, she calls her older brother, Kol, who tells her to meet her at a particular cafe.

“The customers in this cafe don’t order,” Kol said….”When they have a moment to spare, they’ll observe us, and based on their observations and intuition they’ll choose the appropriate beverages for us….For example,” Kol said, “if it’s early morning and a patron stumbles in half asleep, they might serve an espresso with double shots of caffeine. For a cranky child, a mug of hot chocolate and a rice cake. For the agitated, a soothing green or jasmine tea. I imagine we’ll be served tea, but perhaps a surprise. Regardless, they’ll bring what we need.”

It’s at this cafe that Pania learns patience and starts becoming less self-centered.

I think one of the main themes in Tea & Other Ayama Na Tales is the old country clashing with the new country Ayama Na is trying to become. Though set in a fictional Asian country, these stories transcend the fictional country they are set in and come alive to be relevant in any real country.

Rating: 90 out of 100

Buy Tea and Other Ayama Na Tales at Amazon

Visit the Eleanor Bluestein’s website.

***Make sure you check back tomorrow because I’ll be posting my interview with the author!***

Other reviews:

My friend Amy from *gasp* My Friend Amy’s Blog (does that joke ever get old? I didn’t think so) is having a party for the release of Nothing But Ghosts by Beth Kephart. This past week she’s been encouraging people to buy Nothing But Ghosts and on June 30th, the actual party will happen with Beth Kephart doing a reading and then at 9 PM EST/6 PM PST, Beth will do a live chat at Amy’s blog. Check out Amy’s post, “A Nothing But Ghosts Party With Beth Kephart“, for more details.

Did you notice that Amy’s encouraging people to buy Beth’s book, Nothing But Ghosts? Now why would Amy want people to buy Beth’s book RIGHT NOW? One reason is because first week sales for a book are very important. Often, the buzz created in the first week of a book’s release will dictate the kind of momentum the book will have.

Another reason is because an author has to sell A LOT of books to make a living. Even if we assume all authors have the same deal and they get 15% of each book sold**, that’s A LOT of books to reach, oh, say $2,000 a month, in which case you could probably afford to live with your mom. (JOKING! I’ve made less than that and still lived on my own, but you get the idea. And the joke. Right?)

I know, you’re like, “Um, why should I buy this book?” GOOD QUESTION.

First of all, what’s the book about? Here’s the blurb from the publisher:

Ever since her mother passed away, Katie’s been alone in her too-big house with her genius dad, who restores old paintings for a living. Katie takes a summer job at a garden estate, where, with the help of two brothers and a glamorous librarian, she soon becomes embroiled in decoding a mystery. There are secrets and shadows at the heart of Nothing but Ghosts: symbols hidden in a time-darkened painting, and surprises behind a locked bedroom door. But most of all, this is a love story–the story of a girl who learns about love while also learning to live with her own ghosts.

Can I get a WOO HOO for a good love story? And yes, the book is a young adult book, but this genre is HOT right now, and by no means unrelatable to those of us of drinking age.

Is the book any good? I haven’t read the book yet, but I know a couple of people who have.

Lenore from Presenting Lenore said this in her review of Nothing But Ghosts: “Beth has done a beautiful thing here – she takes us to the truth of what it’s like to deal with loss (the too-big house that feels empty, the withdrawing from friends, the keeping busy to dull the pain) and then lets her characters (and her readers) find comfort and a renewed sense of purpose.”

Amy from My Friend Amy said this in her review of Nothing But Ghosts: “But what I loved most about this book is the simple truth that we are all a bunch of people who have loved and carry around aching loss in our hearts, and yet there is hope to be found somewhere, often in each other.”

Sounds good, no? Head on over to the Amy’s book drive to see about buying the book. And there’s even prizes for each tier she reaches up to 200. Prizes, people, prizes! Also, you need to buy the book by July 3rd to be qualified for the prizes.

I bought the book for my Kindle. Will anyone else go buy the book? Bueller? Bueller?

**I just pulled 15% out of thin air. I don’t know what Beth’s contract is, or what any author’s contract is. But I saw somewheres on the intarnets that some authors get 15% of each book sold. Dunno if that’s true, but hey, I saw it on the Internet, so it MUST be true! Right?

For the Nerds Heart YA Book Tournament, Vasilly and I judged The Screwed-Up Life of Charlie the Second by Drew Ferguson and Debbie Harry Sings in French by Meagan Brothers. These two books were great to judge together, as they both dealt with boys having a hard time in high school, starting their first serious relationship, having family problems at home, and ultimately being different in one way or another.

Here’s some excerpts from my review of Debbie Harry Sings in French:

It’s a sweet story; it’s a nice story….[T]he thread about Johnny being a transvestite was weak for me. I just didn’t see the character development to believe that Johnny really felt that way….I thought the writing of Meagan Brothers was really good. I think she’s taken a difficult and perhaps sensitive topic and put it in a story that would appeal to most people.

Here’s some excerpts from my review of The Screwed-Up Life of Charlie the Second:

I liked the writing, liked the character development, liked how it made me remember how horrible high school was, liked how realistic Charlie was for a teenager, and liked the issues brought up in the book. But there’s references to Charlie’s dick on every. single. page….And I was wondering why I was reading something that had a target audience that was CLEARLY NOT ME….I decided later that I didn’t think the author could be true to Charlie without putting all the sex in the story….It’s particularly important to have books like this for kids wondering if they’re gay, because they can read the book and see if they identify with the character….I realized a book like this could be more important than I thought.

Vasilly and I agreed that Charlie was a very real character, which Johnny from Debbie Harry Sings in French didn’t have the same character development. Also, everything Charlie did seemed to be true to his character, while Johnny deciding he’s a transvestite didn’t ring true. The issues in Charlie were deeper and dealt with on a deeper level, while Debbie Harry was more of a feel-good book with a fairly two-dimensional character.

Vasilly and I decided that for the above reasons, The Screwed-Up Life of Charlie the Second would be the winner!

How have the other brackets gone?

1. My Most Excellent Year wins over The Opposite of Invisible
2. The Last Exit to Normal wins over What They Always Tell Us
3. Feathered wins over I Know It’s Over
4. Stop Me if You’ve Heard This One Before wins over Alive and Well in Prague, New York
5. Cracked Up to Be wins over The Shape of Water
6. The Screwed-Up Life of Charlie the Second wins over Debbie Harry Sings in French
7. The Latent Powers of Dylan Fontaine wins over Leftovers
8. The City of the Lake wins over Pretty Monsters

That means the following books will compete:

1. My Most Excellent Year v. The Last Exit to Normal – to be judged by Heather
2. Feathered v. Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One Before – to be judged by Amy
3. Cracked Up to Be v. The Screwed-Up Life of Charlie the Second – to be judged by Laza
4. The Latent Powers of Dylan Fontaine v. The City of the Lake – to be judged by Stephanie

What greater recommendations do you have for books than these 8 books that are going on to the next round?

Debbie Harry Sings in French by Meagan Brothers is the other book I was judging for the Nerds Heart YA Book Tournament. This book was up against The Screwed-Up Life of Charlie the Second by Drew Ferguson, and the winner will go on to the next round.

Debbie Harry Sings in French is about Johnny, whose dad is killed when he’s 12 years old. Johnny’s mom can’t take care of the bills, cooking, cleaning, anything, so Johnny starts taking these things over so he won’t get put into foster care. Unfortunately, he starts drinking, too, so by age 16 he ends up in an in-patient rehab center where he first hears Debbie Harry sing in French.

And on those last few Parkwood Sunday mornings, instead of fantasizing about beer dregs, I slipped on my headphones and listened to Blondie. Listerning to Debbie Harry sing the French part of “Sunday Girl” was somehow more reassuring than anything the counselors had told me so far….But if they were right, and drinking eased the pain before, maybe Blondie could do it for me now.

After Johnny comes home from treatment, his mom sends him to live with his uncle, her brother-in-law. Johnny’s angry at first, but his uncle treats him like an adult, which Johnny likes. At the new school, Johnny’s teased as being gay, though he swears he’s not. He ends up dating a girl from school who doesn’t fit in either, and she’s the best thing that ever could have happened to him. She’s supportive, she doesn’t think it’s weird that he likes Blondie, and while she hopes he’s not gay, she’d be okay if he was.

This is where I must stop. Normally when I write a review, I give you enough background to get to the crux of the story. The weird part here is that the crux of the story is whether or not Johnny is a transvestite, someone who cross-dresses. But to lead up to that point, I have to practically tell you the whole story, and since I don’t want to do that, let what I’ve told you so far suffice, and we can now discuss the book itself.

Debbie Harry Sings in French isn’t in any way crass or over the top. In fact, I’d call it more gentle than anything. It’s a sweet story; it’s a nice story, though I’m not sure it dealt with anything particularly deep. It danced on the lines of getting deep, but just didn’t quite get there.

Also, the thread about Johnny being a transvestite was weak for me. I just didn’t see the character development to believe that Johnny really felt that way. I felt like his wanting to be a transvestite was pushed on him rather than a realization that that’s who he is.

I thought the writing of Meagan Brothers was really good. I think she’s taken a difficult and perhaps sensitive topic and put it in a story that would appeal to most people. This is her first book, so I’m really interested to see what she’ll come up with next.

With all that said, Debbie Harry Sings in French was a solidly good book. It wasn’t great, but it’s a book I can recommend almost without reservations.

Rating: 86 out of 100

Buy the book: Powell’s | Amazon

Other reviews:

Becky’s Book Reviews (she said everything I was trying to say, only better)

The Story Siren

Abby the Librarian

Oops…Wrong Cookie

Reading Rants

Worth the Trip

From the Corner of Megan’s Mind

Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast