RHYS BOWEN: It's interesting how often in our life we become an accidental expert in a sphere we'd never have expected to. My husband John's airline career saw him as a manager of Air India.This role required that he knew all about India. We toured every part of India, including Kashmir. We cooked Indian food and entertained. When we lived in Houston there was no Indian Consul so John, as regional manager for Air India, had to step up, entertain dignitaries, go to cricket matches and find himself on the board on the Indian dance school. As such we had to attend all their performances. We became knowledgable on South Indian dance. Who ever expected that?
One of the side products of being an author is having to do research. Unless every book is set in St Mary Mead, or a bake shop, new research will be required for the setting of a new story. For the Molly Murphy series in particular I have been in constant research mode. When Molly stepped ashore in Manhattan in Murphy's Law and I realized I knew nothing about New York in 1901 I accepted I was doomed to research on every page for the rest of my writing life. This has proved to be true to an extent although I do now know my way very well about Molly's New York City. For those first books I actually walked anywhere that Molly walked around Greenwich Village and Lower Manhattan. I chose a real house for her on Patchin Place. I once said that I could now easily conduct a tour of Molly's New York and watched my publicist's eyes light up. "No, I'm not really volunteering to,' I said hastily.
But since the series began I have taken Molly into the sweat shops of the garment industry, and read the senate depositions after the Triangle Fire, the drawing rooms of the Four Hundred, to the dockyards, to the Catskills and across to Ireland. Since Clare joined me as my co-writer she has been the research whiz. She reads the New York Times for every day we are going to write about and unearths fascinating little tidbits as well as plot-driving stories.
Our new book, SILENT AS THE GRAVE, takes Molly inside the fledgling motion picture industry. In 1909 movies were made in New York with two rival companies-- Edison and Biograph. These two were fierce rivals and were not above sabotage or spying on each other. We did lots of reading and unearthed so many fascinating tidbits about early movies (and great motives for murder). Here are some of them:
1. When movies started to employ actors they refused to put actors' names in the credits, because then they'd have to pay them more. So movies paid a pittance compared with theater.
2. All stunts were done by the actors themselves at considerable risk. They clung onto moving vehicles, they shot scenes on real train tracks with real trains approaching (not knowing a movie was being shot). There were accidents and deaths.
3. Our book features many real figures from the time: Edison (who wasn't a very nice man), DW Griffith, Mary Pickford, the Marvin brothers, slightly fictionalized, and a fabulous woman called Alice Guy, whom we have fictionalized as Alice Mann. She appears on credits as a secretary but she was responsible for many innovations and inventions in movies. She invented the fade in and fade out by placing a cigar box over the lense of the camera and opening or closing it slowly.
4. Edison's new studio in the Bronx was like a giant greenhouse, thus letting in all available natural light. It also had a swimming pool on the roof so they could shoot water scenes.
All of these fascinating facts appear in SILENT AS THE GRAVE. It comes out today! Clare and I are hosting a launch party at the Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale. A fun tea party. It will also be streamed and here is the Facebook link if you'd like to watch: https://www.facebook.com/thepoisonedpenbookstore/videos
Now it's your turn: what is the most surprising subject on which you've become an expert? I'll send a copy of the new book to my favorite comment!
Happy Book Birthday, Rhys and Clare! The early movie industry certainly is fascinating . . . I'm looking forward to seeing how Molly interacts with these folks.
ReplyDeleteThe most surprising subject on which I've become an expert of sorts? Dinosaurs. My youngest grandson loves dinosaurs [and thinks Nana should know the answers to all his questions about them] . . . .
Reading Silent as a Grave now. I just started and met Alice, who is wearing a divider skirt!
ReplyDeleteAccidental expert? Not sure if my expertise applies here.
When I’m watching someone sign in American Sign Language 🤟 my brain automatically translates the visual language into the spoken English language. I grew up reading many books and had a good idea of how to write ✍🏻 in the English language despite 🤟. It is like a foreign language.
Rhys and Clare, happy book birthday and congratulations!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteCongratulations, Rhys, on the launch of your new book! As to being an "accidental expert"... when our son was diagnosed at age 6 with severe dyslexia, scoring in the 9th percentile, we were told he was likely to be, at best, a reluctant reader all his life. His father and I are devoted readers. Our dates were often in bookstores! I could not imagine our child growing up shut out of our reading culture. I therefore read every single book available at that time on dyslexia and the teaching of reading. Dozens of books. And we pinched and scraped to get him tutored in the Orton-Gillingham method (I knew better than to try to teach him something so difficult myself) and to buy audiobooks (then much harder to find) to supplement our reading aloud.
ReplyDeletePause for commercial: I was in a library in Northern Virginia, checking out a cassette audiobook for him and mentioning the high cost of purchasing so many, when a wonderful librarian said to me, "Are you aware of Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic?" That librarian changed our lives. RFB&D has recorded thousands of books at all reading levels and at that time supplied them, FREE AND RETURN POSTAGE PAID, to anyone in the country who has a medical diagnosis. (Now I assume the books are supplied digitally online.) In his first six months our son listened to 86 children's books on tape. Listening to books builds a child's vocabulary far beyond their halting progress in reading and whets their appetite for more. Our son listened to hundreds of children's novels over the next five years. With lots of tutoring and a great deal of support at home, he was at the top of his class in reading by 3rd grade. He will always be dyslexic, which affects him in various ways, but he is a devoted reader and writer.
Anyway, this "accidental expertise" allowed me to easily pass exams with no further study to work in a school's learning lab. (Selden)
What a wonderful story, that you were able to find resources for your son and were successful in shaping him into a book lover. Fabulous!
DeleteSelden, I love what you were able to accomplish with your son. It stands as a cautionary tale to any parent who simply accepts a diagnosis and doesn't try to overcome whatever the difficulty is especially in young children where brain development is part of the issue. We are still learning about brains. I have witnessed two other parents who, through their determination, brought their children past early, initial dyslexia to be good readers.
DeleteWhat a wonderful story of hope, Selden. Being any kind of advocate sure makes one an expert on the subject.
DeleteMy older sister (who I often mention) is dyslexic and came up through school before the disorder was widely known. She took terrible verbal abuse from some ill-educated teachers and peers and didn't really learn how to work through her dyslexia until adulthood. Fast forward to today, and she is an avid reader, mostly of cozy mysteries. She often jokes about how our mother must laugh in Heaven seeing her finally sharing the reading bug that the rest of the family always had.
DeleteOh, Susan, I know that heartbreak from my brother. He was five years younger than I, so born in 1956, and had undiagnosed dyslexia. The nuns held him back in both first and second grades because he could not read, which meant that he started as a high school freshman at 17. No one knew then what was wrong, they just thought he was "dumb" or "fooling around". It was a tragedy that screwed up the rest of his short life.
DeleteParents are so important and are the best teachers! I know! I am a retired special education and general ed teacher. Our school district didn't use the term dyslexic or dyslexia when I was practicing as it was just to vague and general. Children with reading problems were tested using a series of tests that indicated academic learning and cognitive abilities. Many kids had what we called auditory processing. They didn't have hearing problems (hearing was normal) but had trouble with the sounds and letters that went with the sounds. It would take a lot of repetition and training. Most children with "dyslexia" or auditory processing go on to be very successful if they have good interventions. And parents (again) are the best teachers.
DeleteOur first boy – born 1980 – was able to instantly understand Dos at age 5, by watching the installer put in our first computer. We always read to the kids at night, but we never read the story the same way twice. The real words were read the first time, and then the book always went sideways. One teacher said that was the worst thing we could do, as ‘they need to memorize the story, and then they can read the words’. Fiddlesticks, we were developing their imaginations, and preparing them to watch for inconsistencies in books as in life. That same year he started school, and as we discovered was unable to do reading. Fast forward to grade 4, where a great teacher let him read Calvin and Hobbes at ‘reading time’. She felt that any reading was good reading. He still could not read the ‘reader’. They were being taught in a sort-of phonics which meant by the time he struggled to the end of the word, he had forgotten the first, and so there was no comprehension. When he was in Grade 7, and still could not read, we went to see ‘Robin Hood Prince of Thieves’. He loved the movie. No dvd’s of the movie at this time to play and replay it, so what happens next is based on the seeing the movie once. We went to a book store soon after, and while walking around he saw the book and wanted it. It was big, thick, and small print. I asked, ”are you sure?” “Yes”. We bought it. He read it – quickly. He only asked for a few words explained. Curiosity made me ask how he could read that book, when previously he had trouble reading ‘Look. Look, Look and See.’ He replied, “I knew what was going to happen, so then I could read the words.”
DeleteHe went on to become a reader – not necessarily a great reader, but he does enjoy books. Attempts were made in school to give him options for other ways of learning, but we stuck to “let him do as the others, unless he asks for help.” He still cannot spell his way out of a paper bag.
The second boy was the same way, but by the time they told us that in Grade 2, we laughed, and said ok. No problem.
Thanks, Karen. I'm so sorry about your brother!
DeleteMy sister was born in 1947, so probably even less was known. Ultimately breast cancer was the blessing that turned her life around. She had it at age 34 and got therapy as she dealt with. She not only beat the cancer, but a lot of other demons at the same time.
That's a great story of success, Susan. How wonderful for your sister.
DeleteWhen I was in high school in the mid 1980s, there was an Afterschool Special movie about a boy who had undiagnosed dyslexia. I asked my Mom, who taught high school English if any of her students had dyslexia. Even though her school was NOT in a wealthy school district, I remember the teachers made sure there were things like audiobooks available for dyslexic students.
DeleteSeldom, good for you not giving up on dyslexia and finding a way to help your child who was diagnosed with dyslexia.
Karen in Ohio, I am so sorry about your brother.
Susan, I am so sorry that your sister had to deal with ill educated teachers and unfortunately that happened to some Deaf children who are made to feel like failures if they cannot lipread and cannot speak the words clearly. These ill educated teachers simply did NOT know how to teach speech, period!
Margo, I am so glad your child had a wonderful teacher whose belief was “any reading was good reading”.
When I learned to read as a child, my teacher used the sandpaper alphabet letters. We traced the letters with our fingers, learned to read and write.
Question for everyone: Did any of the children were misdiagnosed as “needing glasses” when it was dyslexia ?
I have become quite knowledgeable in the base ball (two words back then) rules of 1860 after becoming the scorekeeper for my husband’s team by default.And because he makes the baseballs to the specifications of the different years, I know quite a bit about that too. For example the ball has stayed the same size and weight since 1872.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! I can't wait to read it. See you both in Denver!
ReplyDeleteI never expected to become an expert in antique New England house construction - but I kind of have. Ask me anything about summer beams, gunstock posts, King's lumber, sheathing, daub and wattle walls, and chamfered corners! Per yesterday's topic (by the way, is Julia okay? She never popped in to join the conversation...), I live with an antique home restorer. I have loved touring historical houses in our area and learning all about it, as well as seeing the evidence in our own homes, especially during the gutting phase.
Thanks for asking about Julia, Edith. I was wondering, too.
DeleteI am too wondering about Julia. I assumed this is her week. But also glad Rhys is here to tell us about her new book coming out.
DeleteRhys, you and John have done such interesting things in your lives. I love today's post!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to you and Clare on your new Molly Murphy book. I am a big fan of that series and was really happy when you teamed up with Clare to continue writing it. The fact that you knew little about the time and place and had to start from scratch to learn about New York in the early 1900's and the amount of research you had to do for each story is mind boggling. I spent lots of time in NY in the 1950's and everything you write feels very authentic to me.
I guess that most things that I became good at or knowledgeable of were deliberate and planned. The one thing that stands out would have to be my advocacy on women's issues for a national women's organization that I had joined simply to make friends here. I began by delivering meals-on-wheels once a week. Then I chaired a committee welcoming newcomers to the area. Then I accepted a vice-president position ( there were 4 vp's.) Then I accepted the nomination to become president of the local section.
A year or so after finishing my term as section president, the state public affairs chair for Connecticut called and asked me to become her vice chair, to advocate on behalf of women, children and families representing our organization. It meant going to the state capital and sitting on committees with other organizations. It meant meeting our legislators and our governor, our US Senators and US Representatives and speaking in front of hundreds of people in Hartford and in Washington, DC. It meant meeting dignitaries from all over the world.
With many others from that organization, I was trained to write and make speeches, how to stand, where to look. I had to know the organization's position on every topic. When I served on their national board, I represented our organization to an umbrella organization with members from all over the US, frequently with very different values and goals. Sometimes standing up to men who had little concern for women's opinions or needs. Heady stuff.
You are amazing Judy! What an interesting career position you had and the people you must have met!
DeleteThank you, Judy, I am very appreciative of your work on behalf of women, and for children and families. (Barbara)
DeleteJudy, wow! What amazing things you learned to do (and, I am assuming, you learned about yourself, too). And, as Barbara said, thank you on behalf of all the people for whom you’ve advocated. — Pat S
DeleteThank you very much, Pat, Barbara and Anon. I loved what I did while I was doing it. I never pictured myself doing that before I was asked to do it. I worked with some brilliant advocates! There are bills that were passed both in Connecticut and in Washington while I had a seat at the table. As I said before, heady stuff!
Deletehurray for you Judy! You had an amazing and important career!
DeleteOh, that sounds wonderful! I absolutely cannot wait to read it! Congratulations, you two! Xxx
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Rhys and Clare!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to you and Clare! It's amazing how much you learned just by researching Molly's world. I have so much respect for authors who take the time to really learn the facts underlying their fictional work.
ReplyDeleteOne accidental area of expertise--during the pandemic I became the resident Zoom expert for several of the church groups I'm involved with. I hadn't really intended to do that, but I remembered how often I had had to learn different and new technologies at my job at 9-1-1 and realized I might have an easier time with it than my friends would. So I read up on breakout rooms and screen sharing and started practicing. We put together a series of workshops on Welcoming the Stranger and a bilingual book group and I did all the Zoom hosting. It went well, with only a couple of hiccups.
What a great service, Gillian! It has not been easy to learn my way around some new technologies. People like you, who make it easier for others, really shine in my book.
DeleteRhys, I don’t know how you can ever come out of those rabbit holes to have time to write! It must be so fascinating especially reading all those papers on the time in question! Do you ever put any of those little tidbits hidden in the books?
ReplyDeleteI read a series of books by Kate Thompson about wartime London. It sent me off to find out more about the involvement of the Toronto library and the Canada’s children’s collection of books to send to London for their library. I have read about it, but I cannot find the original source. As well I think my father told me about the Scouts involvement in it, but unfortunately only a seance will generate that conversation. Still, I look…
As for something that I know a lot about – Monarch Butterflies, but there is so much more to learn and discover. We got a microscope for Christmas, so we can examine them for lice and pests – on their little wings, without harming them. That will be this summer’s project. One thing leads to another – we are always open to learn something new.
Rhys, I laughed at your horrified denial of wanting to do tours! By the way, Patchin Place is almost exactly as I picture it from your descriptions, except that it's narrower. Easy to see why a carriage can't turn around!
ReplyDeleteBecoming a Master Gardener was a total accident. I'd always loved growing things, indoors and out, and at the time had been in the process of making our garden at the farm as organic as possible. A friend invited me and her friend Rob to take the MG class starting in a few weeks. It had a cost, but if you complete the 15-week course and a year of service hours, the tuition is refunded. Add in spending time with Marita, and it was a no-brainer.
What I didn't realize is that taking the course in Kentucky (just four miles from our house, since we live so close to the Ohio River) meant I would have to do all my service hours in Kentucky, and not at the two Ohio institutions I'd planned, the Cincinnati Zoo and the Cincinnati Nature Center. I also didn't realize that MGs are supposed to perform service hours every year (until they die, I guess), and making my own big garden meant a lot less time and energy available for that. So technically, I am a Master Gardener, but I don't keep up with the formal service of either educating others (except on my own) or helping maintain public gardens. However, I do keep up with the continuing education that is offered by several of the Extension Service offices around here. There are five within a 25-minute drive; two in Ohio, and three in Kentucky. One of the Kentucky offices, in particular, offers great classes year-round.
Isn’t it amazing how so many of us have become experts in and advocates of different things! From gardening to cooking, from making tea, to places with eels, from the legislature, to the farm, and to woman’s rights, from birth to death and comforting for loss, and even to sarcasm, we all have so much to offer. I also love how so many of us fell into such interests and expertise, by good luck, more than good management!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Rhys and Clare. When I was young my grandmother was living with our family for many years. She was the best ever cook and baker and I realized that I should take advantage of her talent and creativity. I had a mentor who was willing to lead me into an area that would prove to be a wonderful and worthwhile endeavor. Together we baked, cooked and I learned the tricks of the trade. I watched and enjoyed this chance to bond too. My grandmother spoke only Yiddish so I became fluent in Yiddish as I was a linguist and this was important to me as well. Many years later I can cook, bake and speak fluent Yiddish.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations and happy book birthday! I'm a cyclical expert - delve deep into things I absolutely have to know for one reason or another and then move on to the next thing. I guess that makes me a work in process!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on Silent as the Grave, Rhys and Clare !
ReplyDeleteI can’t say that I’m an expert on something in particular. What I can say for sure is that reading brought me the knowledge of lots and lots of things, thanks to the authors who share the fruits of their work.
Happy Book Birthday, Rhys and Clare! I'm not really an expert on anything, just a magpie collecting all kinds of bits of knowledge. My sister and I have become rather good at nagging our little brother to get things done. He is autistic and needs lots of nudges and encouragement to accomplish things. He would ignore Mom back in the day and she would call me and say "Brian listens to you. Tell him to do such and such." So now he tries to ignore my sister and me but we are relentless!
ReplyDeleteI’m a magpie (good analogy, Pat D!), too, I guess. When my son was little and very interested in trains, I watched the videos with him - and not just the Thomas stories - and learned more about parts of trains than I ever cared to know. And I know a decent amount about genealogy, but am no expert. Congratulations, Rhys and Claire, on your book birthday! — Pat S
ReplyDeleteRhys, you and John certainly had an exciting, adventurous life traveling all over India and learning all about its people and traditions. Then, continuing in Houston with adding to that knowledge sounds so interesting and I might add, busy. I remember at the Raleigh Bouchercon when I got together a bunch of authors and readers for a dinner one night (we had our own room, if you recall), you sat at one end of the table, the end I at which I sat, and John sat at the other end. At his end were a couple of new authors I was a bit worried about as to their joining in. I shouldn't have had any worries at all, as John took care of that end of the table, engaging all in conversations. And, he wasn't a conversation hog at all. He just gracefully seemed to get people to open up.
ReplyDeleteNow, congratulations to you and Clare on your new Molly book. I think of all you have learned for each of these books (really, all your books), and I'm so in awe. What a clever practice Clare has brought to the table by reading the newspapers. I remember the Molly Murphy that included the Triangle Fire, and that took me down rabbit holes, too. I know Silent as the Grave will be as thrilling as all the other Molly Murphy books.
Well, I hate to say it, but the subject I've unexpectedly become or am becoming on is grief. In particular, the loss of an adult child. When Kevin was murdered, I was dealing with a grief that really did make me a stranger in a strange land. I was floundering, needing guidance or validation, but unless you've experienced this nightmare, you can't help someone who has. Yes, I started counseling, first with the person from the funeral home who was a counselor, and I quickly learned what I didn't need. Being the book person that I have always been, I started getting books to read, and also being fairly adept at choosing appropriate reading, the first book I read was It's OK That You're Not OK by Megan Devine. The first sentence didn't sugar-coat it and told me I'd chosen the right book. Megan validates that "this really is as bad as you think." She also says the following:
"“The reality of grief is far different from what others see from the outside. There is pain in this world that you can't be cheered out of. You don't need solutions. You don't need to move on from your grief. You need someone to see your grief, to acknowledge it. You need someone to hold your hands while you stand there in blinking horror, staring at the hole that was your life. Some things cannot be fixed. They can only be carried.”
I then started reading books specifically about and written by mothers who have lost adult children, and most specifically adult sons. I now have quite a library of books I'd recommend, books that validate my feelings of being lost, forever changed, and trying to learn how to leave in a world you never expected or wanted. Of course, the overriding lesson, if you're looking for a lesson, is that there is no one right way to grieve. And, you must be your own advocate for your right to grieve as you need to. I also read a lot on signs from our loved ones, and Kevin has definitely sent me those. The Alabama musical group has a song entitled, "Angels Among Us," and I know that Kevin has sent me such angels at least a handful of times, the last one being a boy who is a middle school student who came over to where I was sitting at Kevin's grave on one of those particularly hard days, and he asked me if I was ok. I said, not really, and he asked if he could give me a hug. I talk to Kevin all the time about missing his hugs. Anyway, I didn't mean to get off on my grief journey in so much detail, and please, if you disagree with me about any of what I've said, that's fine, but please it's not open for discussion. Here's a link to the Alabama song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_4Xfj2LRSA
Kathy, I read this nodding and weeping.
DeleteHallie, you lost your person, your best friend. Many of the books I have are not just mother and son relationships. The way you’ve described Jerry and shared his great artwork, I think he must have been a very special man.
DeleteI’m so sorry what you’ve been through, Kathy! No parent should have to suffer as you have
DeleteCongratulations on Silent as the Grave. I'm a
ReplyDeleteMolly Murphy fan and always look forward to her next adventure. For my part, I have done a lot of research for my various books, but I really can't say my research has made me an expert in any of the areas I researched. But I am so glad for series writers like you. You really have widened my horizons.
I'm fascinated by all aspects of the film business. Early Hollywood and early pre-Hollywood included. Rhys, Silent as the Grave is absolutely fascinating - on so many levels. I got immersed all kinds of psychology (memory loss, delusional thinking, addictive behavior...) when I wrote a series of mysteries featuring neuropsychologist Dr. Peter Zak. Fortunately my coauthor was a neuropsychology so that was a shortcut to doing what would have been a ton of research to get expert enough to write those books. And it was what made it so much fun to write them.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing you and Clare tonight, Rhys!
ReplyDeleteI’m sorry I didn’t answer questions and chat today. I’ve just got home. All morning at the orthopedist with Clare then at the bookstore at 2. Ready for a nap. But thank you for all the good wishes and nice words. Much appreciated
ReplyDeleteI have become my family's go to expert baker through the years.
ReplyDeleteFrench hardware stores and septic systems! Although to be honest, less an expert than a constantly asking "Pardon? Plus lentement, s'il vous plait."
ReplyDelete