An Interview with Holly Searcy, author of The Shiver Tree

Posted on October 2, 2024 by Ed Battistella
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Holly Searcy is a writer, editor, and self-avowed wordinista. A graduate of Southern Oregon University, she has worked in both the publishing industry and advertising industry and now pursues her passion for stories.

She lives in Ashland, with her husband Ben, two wonderful black cats and a devilish orange tabby.

Her debut novel, The Shiver Tree, published by Blackstone Publishing, and is available November 12, 2024.

Ed Battistella: Congratulations on The Shiver Tree, which I really enjoyed. Tell us a bit about the book.

Holly Searcy: Thank you! I’d been trying to write a novel for almost a decade before I realized this was the story I wanted to tell, so I’m thrilled I get to share it with a wider audience. The book actually came about while enjoying a bit of lockdown with the rest of the world in 2020. I’d been playing in a Dungeons & Dragons homebrew campaign with my husband, my brother, and a few of our closest friends for five years, and one day I started thinking about a piece of backstory for my character, an elf druid, that I discovered had potential connections to a quest we had done in the game. I had never properly written a backstory for my character, so I decided to just start writing using that quest as inspiration, and the adventure simply tumbled out of me. Thus, The Shiver Tree was born.

EB: How long has the story been percolating in your head and at your desk?

HS: Really the story had been building in my mind for five years while playing D&D, which is essentially a collaborative storytelling game, but I’d only been thinking on the specific idea for a couple weeks before I started writing. I completed the novel in about a year, and then came the many rounds of edits, beta reads, more edits, etc. Then I found a publishing home with Blackstone, and my amazing editor had me diving back in and actually creating new lore, so the whole journey ended up being about three years.

EB: How would you describe the culture of your fictional land of Amarra?

HS: Depends on where you go! The continent is large and filled with a number of peoples, from elves to humans to gnomes. Most of the main characters in the story are elves, who tend to have a more traditional culture of close family ties and a collectivist mindset, while humans are, well, more chaotic and self-centered. Though there is a general peace among races on the surface, threads of disquiet have been building for a long time and are now starting to have ripple effects.

EB: Who are some of your influences as a writer and as a world-builder?

HS: Terry Brooks is phenomenal at creating magical worlds that you want to dive deeper into, so while I in no way claim to have his gift for world-building, he’s certainly an influence and inspiration. I also love infusing humor into characters and situations, and Jim Butcher has been a great influence in that aspect of my writing.

EB: What was the most challenging aspect of writing The Shiver Tree?

HS: Self-doubt was an issue, for sure, but also overcoming the problem of being so familiar with the world and characters that I had a hard time stepping back and figuring out how much information the reader needed at any given time. I wanted to avoid lore dumps that would overwhelm readers, but I also didn’t want to have them wondering what was going on for too long. I tended to get conflicting feedback from beta readers in that regard, so navigating that terrain became difficult.

EB: What was the most fun?

HS: The characters. I loved sitting down to write with an idea in my mind for the day and then watching my characters take a left turn and do something entirely different for the next thirty pages. I only had a few concrete plot points in my mind that I needed to hit, and I let the characters guide me in getting there.

EB: You hint at the end that there will be more stories of Amarra and the high druid Kiana Paletine? What’s next? Will we see more of her sister Ravaini?

HS: As a matter of fact, I’ve already finished the first draft of book two—and Ravaini is along for the adventure this time, as are a handful of new quirky friends. Book three is also in the works. They have more Trees to find!

EB: Thanks for talking with us. Where can people get The Shiver Tree?

HS: The Shiver Tree is available for pre-order from Blackstone Publishing, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble. On November 12 it will be hitting physical bookshelves at Barnes & Noble, Bestow in Ashland, and a few other locations that are TBD.

 

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Dogwhistles and Figleaves

Posted on September 19, 2024 by Ed Battistella
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A while ago, I reviewed Jennifer Mather Saul’s Dogwhistles and Figleaves (Oxford UP, 2024) for Choice. It occurred to me that the timeliness of the book warranted a longer discussion and this it.

Saul is a philosopher at the University of Waterloo who has written extensively on lying and here she addresses the way in which racist expressions and blatant lies change, and have changed, the fabric of public discourse. The thesis of her book is summarized in its subtitle: How Manipulative Language Spreads Racism and Falsehood. More specifically, Saul connects to two increasingly pervasive aspects of recent public/political discourse: the spread of explicit racism and the normalization of blatant falsehoods. She argues, convincingly I think, that two phenomena reinforce one another.

She begins with racism and racism dogwhistles—coded appeals to racism or other hate speech. Saul develops her position in classic philosopher-style, advancing and refining various definitions and illustrating them with real life examples. She gives a good (though perhaps too long) typology of dogwhistles including covert ones (states’ rights, ghetto, bad hombres) and overt (88, triple-parentheses) ones as well as unintentional ones (terms like urban.

Figleaves, in turn, are rhetorical strategies for attenuating—covering over—the racism of the dogwhistles. These include expressions like “That’s not what I meant,” “You’re reading too much into my words,” “You are being too sensitive,” “I didn’t mean it that way” or “I was joking” or phrasing like “until we can figure out what’s going on.” They cover up the appeal to racism even though many people know what’s underneath.

As you may have guessed from the examples, Donald Trump plays a big role in the discussion. Though he is not the only figure to employ the dogwhistle plus figleaf method of gaslighting, he is the source of many of her examples.

Central to Saul’s book is a typology of racism, which includes institutional racisms, individual racism based in beliefs of superiority/inferiority, and racism based on attitudes and stereotypes. Also important is the way that social norms concerning racism segment a population: there are groups of norm opposers (overt racists), strong norm supporters, and a group who might be characterized as “doubters.” The norm opposers like neo-Nazis embrace the racisms of the dogwhistles; norm supporters see it for what it is and call it out. Potential doubters are those who might be persuaded that a dogwhistle is not racist based on the use of figleaves. To the extent that figleaves change the perception of racist expressions for potential doubters, more racist discourse occurs and the norms will shift, allowing racist speech to be normalized.

Jennifer Mather Saul

The second part book concerns falsehood, noting that today’s deceptions are more pernicious than much previous political lying by politicians like Johnson or Nixon. The idea of a “credibility gap” is no longer newsworthy, but expected. Saul explores how it has become acceptable for politicians to say things that are totally at odds with the truth and how figleaves like “I’m just asking questions” or “A lot of people are saying” or “I saw a report on television” have allowed lies and conspiracist claims to become part of mainstream discourse and to drown out other less sensational topics. She touches on lies ranging from birtherism to QANON to Covid to the Great Replacement to crowd sizes and the nature of the January 6th insurrection. To these we could now add the lie that immigrants in Ohio are “eating the cats.” Saul argues that while it may not be that conspiracy theories are on the rise (they’ve always been with us), extreme conspiracy theories are playing a greater role in public discourse, especially of national political figures and even parties. The result suggests an eroding of the belief in previously credible institutions and in truth itself.

Saul sees the potential solution in what she calls “inoculation,” public education about the ways in which dogwhistles and figleaves infect the body politic. So far, there is no widespread plan for such an inoculation and the institutions that might do such work (the media, academe, professional in government and law) are being undermined and attacked.

Everyone should read Dogwhistles and Figleaves. Saul’s style is generally accessible but one error needs to be pointed out: in the discussion of conspiracism, RFK, Jr., is referred to as JFK, Jr. (p. 153). And stylistically, I believe the leaves in figleaves should really be leafs, because they are non-literal.

 

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What I’m Reading

Posted on September 3, 2024 by Ed Battistella
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Clete by James Lee Burke

I’m a big James Lee Burke fan—he’s one of the few writers that I buy in hardcover and this book, the 24th in the Dave Robicheaux-New Iberia series cemented his spot at the top of my list.  The focus is not on Robicheaux, but on his former partner, Clete Purcel, who usually plays the id to Robicheaux’s superego.

There’s plenty of action—starting with a group of drug thugs ransacking Clete’s car and the plot careens onward from there – with antisemitic drug killers, corrupt cops, wealthy schemers, and more.   The key to the story though is the fleshing out and reversal of the Robicheaux-Purcel relationship.   Clete is no longer the boozy knight errant—the id to Robicheaux’s superego, but an equally damaged and complex character.  We see a new Clete, who had always been there.

Burke’s mysticism is present in the book. It’s an aspect of his writing that can be puzzling or frustrating at times, at least to me, but here we see the visions through Clete’s eyes (or his mind’s eye) and they are no longer a feature of Robicheaux’s psyche and religiosity, but a reflection of the eternal nature of good and evil.

Clete is not for everyone, but I think it’s one of Burke’s best.

Honey by Victor Lodato

Everyone should read this book. For my money, Victor Lodato is right up there with Burke, but with a focus on empathy and understanding rather than violence and evil.   He manages to put himself in the minds of the unlikeliest characters–here an octogenarian returning to her New Jersey roots.  You’ll come away looking a people in a different light.

You can check out my interview with Victor here.

Devils Island by Midge Raymond and John Yunker

You can find my review here in Ashland. News

In “Devils Island,” Midge Raymond and John Yunker bring together exotic locales, environmentalism, and murder in a whodunit with a sharp psychological edge.

The “devils” on Devils Island ostensibly refer to Tasmanian devils, large carnivorous marsupials who are in danger of extinction due to a facial tumor disease. Could they kill a human? Would they? [More]

 

The Ministry of Time: A Novel by Kaliane Bradley

I was attracted by the buzz around this book and wasn’t disappointed.  It’s part science fantasy, part dystopian thriller, and part romance, all of which come together nicely.  The key concept: that people close to death in another time can be traveled to the present – through a mysterious door.  It’s an interesting idea that that the author doesn’t try to over explain either or that she never quite explains enough (depending on your perspective).   The thriller aspect has to do with the bureaucracy and   infighting surrounds the time door (some of which is cross-temporal). The romance and relationships evolved naturally and there was an interesting theme of travelers out of place learning to fit on, or not.

The ending felt a bit rushed, but it had a nice twist which I didn’t see coming.

2034 and 2054 by Elliot Ackerman and James G. Stavridis

I saw my wife breezing through these and gave them a try.  Both were good propulsive stories, 2034, about the start of a cyber-cum-nuclear war between the US and China was compelling and through provoking (with an octogenarian Vladimir Putin just offstage).   We see the role that leadership and individual history plays in creating and avoiding war and the potential role of nations like India and Iran in bringing too proud nations to the table.   2054 brings back some of the same characters and adds some new ones as nations and corporations search for the Singularity and remote genetic editing becomes a weapon of assassination.  It’s less compelling—more of a politic thriller (insurrection, impeachment, etc.) than the tenser 2034 and the characters are less compelling.  But both are worth reading.

 

The KGB Plays Chess: The Soviet Secret Police and the Fight for the World Chess Crown

Chess is a rough game—recently a player tried to poison her rival by spreading mercury on the chess board; she was caught.

There’s the Magnus Carlsen-Han Neimann imbroglio too.  But for sheer chicanery it’s hard to beat the Soviet secret police.  The KGB Plays Chess:The Soviet Secret Police and the Fight for the World Chess Crown by a quartet of authors: Boris Gulko, Victor Korchnoi,  Yuri Felshtinsky, and Vladimir Popov tells the story of the KGB’s role picking favorites in the chess world and trying to ensure their success.  Gulko and Korchnoi are well-known players – Gulko and his wife the Women’s Grandmaster Anna Akhsharumova, were prominent refuseniks during the 1970s and 1980s, persecuted and final allowed to emigrate after Glasnost.  Korchnoi played two world championship matches against Anatoly Karpov with the KGB arrayed against him and even planning his possible assassination.  Yuri Felshtinsky is a Russian-American journalist and historian, who contributed a (fairly academic) discussion of KGB influence on sport in general.… , And Vladimir Popov was a Colonel in the KGB from 1972-1991, whose personal archives include copies of KGB case files.

Much of the book focuses on Gulko’s tragic story.  Kornchoi’s story, told in depth elsewhere, gets less ink. And there is plenty about the KGBs role in sports more generally and inside information on KGB favorites and informers and those who resisted the KGB.

According to the book, Anatoly Karpov was a agent (code name “Raul”) who was continually aided by the KGB. And the book names various others said to be informers or agents, including Tigran Petrosian, Lev Polugaevsky, Rafael Vaganian, and Eduard Gufeld, as well as former FIDE President Florencio Campomanes.

The book suffers a bit from having four different authors and styles and would benefit from better documentations rather than mere recollection. But it is a good roadmap to some future historian’s study of state-sanctioned fixing in chess for political and ideological reasons.

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An Interview with Midge Raymond and John Yunker, authors of Devils Island

Posted on August 28, 2024 by Ed Battistella
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John Yunker & Midge Raymond

Midge Raymond is the author of My Last Continent and the short-story collection Forgetting English. Her writing has appeared in TriQuarterly, Bellevue Literary Review, the Los Angeles Times magazine, Chicago Tribune, Poets & Writers, and other publications. Midge has taught at Boston University, Boston’s Grub Street Writers, Seattle’s Hugo House, and San Diego Writers, Ink. Her novel Floreana, a murder mystery set in the 1930s in the Galápagos Islands, is coming in 2025.

John Yunker is the author of three full-length plays (Paleo, Meat the Parents, and Species of Least Concern), and the novels The Tourist Trail and Where Oceans Hide Their Dead. He is the editor of the Among Animals fiction series as well as the essay collection Writing for Animals and the marketing books Beyond Borders and Think Outside the Country. His plays have been produced by theaters in Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oregon, and Washington DC.

Midge and John are the co-founders of Ashland Creek Press. Devils Island is their first coauthored novel.

EB: How did you come up with the idea for Devils Island?

MR & JY: Several years ago, we traveled to Australia, where we embarked on a four-day, once-in-a-lifetime “glamping” trip on a remote island off the coast of Tasmania. We traveled with two guides and three other couples, most of us strangers to one another. At one point, upon learning John and I were both writers, our companions joked about whether we would one day write about them—and of course, we joked back that we probably would.

And then, not long after we returned, the joke turned into an idea. Although our trip was in all ways just about perfect, John began thinking that the setting (middle of nowhere), the animals (endemic and endangered species), and the island’s history (a former convict settlement that now plays a major role in preserving the endangered Tasmanian devils) provided a dramatic backdrop for a mystery. And so we set out to write one.

EB: I was intrigued by the actors Jane and Brooke and the structure of the story into acts. I know John has written plays, but have either of you acted on stage?

MR & JY: John acted on stage in high school productions, and Midge appeared in a filmed version of one of John’s short plays. Otherwise, our acting has been limited to our book trailer and a PSA about saving typewriters. But of course, by living in Ashland, the theater has naturally found its way into our work.

EB: Brooke and Jane had an odd relationship. How would you characterize it?

MR & JY: At one point Brooke considers that their friendship might be a folie à deux, a type of “shared madness.” Despite being competitive and keeping secrets from each other, they also see the world and understand each other in ways that no one else does. One might characterize their relationship as codependent, and—because they bring out the best, and often the worst, in each other—it’s also quite dramatic.

EB: The characters were quite real to me. Who was your favorite?

Devils IslandMR & JY: We have a fondness for the naturalist-turned-guide Kerry, who is a firsthand witness to the suffering and possible extinction of the Tasmanian devil. She feels powerless to stop it, no matter how hard she works—and then, when she takes a “break” to lead hikers on this trip, things go terribly awry. So you can’t help but sympathize with her. But then, despite her history and this disastrous camping trip, she discovers the depth of her own strength along the way, and by the end of the journey, things are really looking up for her.

EB: You’ve been to Maria Island, the model for fictional Marbury Island. What was your experience like?

MR & JY: The trip was our first guided, multi-day hike, and we didn’t know what to expect. We chose Maria Island for the wildlife—though we didn’t see the elusive Tasmanian devils, we knew they were around—and we did see wombats, Cape Barren geese, echidnas, wallabies, pademelons, kangaroos, kookaburras, yellow-tailed black cockatoos…and so much more. The hiking and camping itself was smooth sailing, with great companions, guides, and weather. But, being writers, it wasn’t hard to imagine things going terribly wrong—especially in such a remote location.

EB: I have to ask about the writing process. How did that work? Who did what? And were they any places where you couldn’t agree?

MR & JY: John had the idea to set a mystery on a faraway island, and together we brainstormed the story until we had a direction to get us going. Much like the fictional travelers, at first we weren’t quite sure how it would end! John would write a skeletal first draft and pass it along to Midge, who would flesh it out and send it back—and so on, chapter by chapter, until we figured out the ending and finished the first full draft of the book. So in the end, we each wrote and/or revised just about every word.

Regarding disagreements, we certainly had some vivid discussions! But in the end, we always managed to come up with what made sense for the characters and the story. It helps that we were on the same page, so to speak, about the overall story—the themes and characters and tensions. This made it easier to get through some of the details we got stuck on or disagreed on.

EB: Do you have a further fiction collaboration in mind?

MR & JY: We’ve finished another mystery, FIRE SEASON, set in Southern California, about a couple who moves across the country for a fresh start, only to encounter a dead body on a nearby trail who turns out to be someone with connections to long-buried secrets of the past. And we’re also working on another, set in the San Juan Islands in north Washington State, near the Canadian border.

EB: Thanks for talking with us. I really enjoyed Devils Island.

MR & JY: Thank you!

 

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