Author Interview-Robert Eggleton
Today I am very excited to be interviewing Robert Eggleton author of Rarity from the Hollow.
Before I proceed with the questions about the book, here is a little background about Robert:
Robert Eggleton has served as a children's advocate in an impoverished state for over forty years. He is best known for his investigative reports about children’s programs, most of which were published by the West Virginia Supreme Court where he worked from 1982 through 1997, and which also included publication of models of serving disadvantaged and homeless children in the community instead of in large institutions, research into foster care drift involving children bouncing from one home to the next -- never finding a permanent loving family, and statistical reports on the occurrence and correlates of child abuse and delinquency.
Today, he is a retired children's psychotherapist from the mental health center in Charleston, West Virginia, where he specialized in helping victims cope with and overcome physical and sexual abuse, and other mental health concerns. Rarity from the Hollow is his debut novel. Its release followed publication of three short Lacy Dawn Adventures in magazines: Wingspan Quarterly, Beyond Centauri, and Atomjack Science Fiction. The Advance Review Copy of Rarity from the Hollow received considerable praise through Robert learning about the world of books as a novice. The final edition was released to Amazon on December 5, 2016. Author proceeds have been donated to a child abuse prevention program operated by Children’s Home Society of West Virginia. http://www.childhswv.org/ Robert worked for this agency in the early ‘80s and stands by its good works. He continues to write fiction with new adventures based on a protagonist that is a composite character of children that he met when delivering group psychotherapy services. The overall theme of his stories remains victimization to empowerment.
Now let's get started with the questions!
1. How did you come up with your book’s title?
The final "Rarity from the Hollow" edition of was released to Amazon on December 5, 2016. It had a few working titles, but none of them fit well until after Lacy Dawn’s team returned from planet Shptiludrp (Shop Until You Drop) with a boatload of merchandise. My novel is satiric of almost everything that it touches upon, including its prediction that Donald Trump would rise to political power and a projection of a consumer obsessed society. Shptiludrp is a giant shopping mall and the center of governance for the universe. It had incorporated extreme measures to vet all visitors in order to control the entry of refugees and illegal immigrants. Approved visitors from other planets earned the right to shop on Shptiludrp by understanding somewhat complex rules for business transactions called “Playing the Game.” The winners of the game also protected their home planets from exploitation.
Lacy Dawn and her abusive father were required to play the game for her to qualify as the savior of the universe and in order to pursue mental health treatment for her parents. Afterward, the android’s spaceship was filled to the brim with merchandise that they had purchased as part of the game, but which had unknown identification or purpose to Earthlings. Upon arrival home, the stuff was stored in a barn. To get rid of it because farming season approached, Lacy decided to have a yard sale in the hollow. She knew that the locals wouldn’t buy it, so she advertised on the internet: Rare and Unusual Items for Sale, with pics and a map. The yard sale grew up into a Woodstock, the impoverished family got rich, and she closed her internet site with the lines: Rarity from the Hollow, sold out…thus, the title for the novel. Great question. Thanks!
2. Describe the book’s genre.
Rarity from the Hollow is adult literary science fiction.
3. Describe your book in 1-2 sentences.
An empowered victim saves the universe.
4. What made you want to write a book about child and spouse abuse?
I’m a retired children’s psychotherapist with over forty years experience as a children’s advocate. In 2002, I accepted a job at our local mental health center. Part of my job was to facilitate group sessions. One day, a skinny little girl sitting around the table from me, the one used for written therapeutic activities, began to disclose. Instead of just speaking about the horrors of her abuse at the hands of one of the meanest daddies on Earth, she also spoke of her hopes and dreams for the future: to find a loving family that would protect her. This girl was inspiring and became my protagonist: Lacy Dawn.
The mission of my project is to sensitize readers to the huge social problem of child maltreatment through a comical and satiric adventure. Half of author proceeds are donated in support of child welfare. Especially now under the Trump Administration which just announced big budget cuts to all state agencies except the military, it may take a lot of people with big hearts to help community-based children’s health, mental health, and welfare agencies survive. My prayer is that victims of child maltreatment are not further victimized by these policies.
5. Do you think discussing social issues like child abuse in fiction helps solve them?
Yes and no, but discussion and awareness of child maltreatment is not enough to solve the problems in our deficient child protection systems worldwide. As humans with lives that are incredibly short, I believe that children belong in the forefront of all of our serious considerations about how we appreciate life. However, I believe that some of the landmark masterpieces in fiction that have included themes similar to Rarity from the Hollow have been so depressing that audiences tended to push the issues out of their minds after exposures, such as watching a movie or finishing a novel. I’m hopeful that readers of my novel will let the tragedy sink in and affect their behaviors, such as when voting, volunteering, or donating to charities, because my novel was fun to read.
6. When you wrote “Rarity from the Hollow”, how did you think your readers will feel about it?
I felt that if readers stuck with the novel as the early tragedy and social commentary challenged their comfort zones, that they would conclude that it was overall a funny science fiction adventure for mature adults. My novel is not for the prudish, faint-of-heart or easily-offended. I knew that I would lose some readers because it is not a mainstream cookie-cutter novel that some readers have gotten accustomed to. The Advance Review Copy of Rarity from the Hollow was awarded Gold Medals by two prominent book review organizations, was named one of the best books of 2015 by a prominent Bulgarian book critic along with Revival by Stephen King, and received sixty-eight five and four star reviews by independent book reviewers on Amazon. As expected, it was outside of the comfort zones of some other book reviewers, also posted on Amazon.
7. If your book were to become a movie, who do you see playing Lacy Dawn’s character?
Given her background as a foster child raised by her grandmother, I believe that Simone Biles would make an excellent Lacy Dawn in a movie. After winning all of those Gold Medals in the 2016 Olympics, I watched her being interviewed on television. I loved the way that she spoke colloquially and I felt that her talents exceed the physical. I wouldn’t be surprised to see her entering the field of acting in the future.
8. Are you currently working on anything new?
My next novel, Ivy, is almost ready for editing, but has been on hold for a while. It’s the next Lacy Dawn Adventure and focuses, still using a science fiction backdrop, the social issue of substance abuse addiction. To be frank, however, Rarity from the Hollow is a traditional small press publication. What this means is that while I’ve not spent a penny to have this novel presented to the world as a final product, I am responsible for almost all of its promotions. This has been and will continue to be distracting and time consuming to finishing Ivy.
9. Do you have any writing rituals?
No, I do not really have rituals per se. I rough an outline, let the words flow as I consume coffee, and when exhausted I stop to cut and fit scenes back to the outline.
10. Who is your favourite author and why?
I have a lot of favourite authors and read in most every genre, so this is a tough question. Since you’ve forced me to pick one favourite author, I have to go with Kurt Vonnegut. But, this answer is just a mood at the moment reply to a tough question.
11. What’s more important: characters or plot?
That’s another tough question. I believe that a good story has both great characters and plot. I’m not particularly into escapist all-action stores, but they do make great movies sometimes, especially when special effects technology is used.On 2-17-17, Rarity form the Hollow received a high compliment. Dan'l Danehy-Oakes, a critic whose book reviews often appear in the New York Review of Science Fiction, published his review of the final edition, five stars: "…I know this all sounds pretty whack, and it is, but it's also quite moving. Lacy Dawn and her supporting cast - even Brownie, the dog - are some of the most engaging characters I've run across in a novel in some time…."
12. How do you interact with your readers?
I can be reached on social media or by email. There may be a delay in my reply, but I take notes and do respond.
13. Any advice to authors?
Rarity from the Hollow is my debut novel. I’m a novice in the fiction marketplace and don’t believe that I have any expertise to share with other others. I’m certainly receptive to listening to advice from others. My only advice would be to stay determined, but don’t “bet the farm” on your success, or fall for those marketing adverts that you likely also get by email daily. The release of the final edition of my novel was very time consuming, and it wasn’t until Donald Trump had become a household name that the political allegory in it was obvious. I didn’t give up and feel rewarded. On 1-6-17, the first review of the final edition was published, five stars. The closing lines were: "…Brilliant satires such as this are genius works of literature in the same class as Orwell’s 'Animal Farm.' I can picture American Lit professors sometime in the distant future placing this masterpiece on their reading list." https://marcha2014.wordpress.com/2017/01/06/5-stars-for-rarity-from-the-hollowby-robert-eggleton/
14. Any last thoughts?
If one of your readers concludes that Rarity from the Hollow falls outside of his/her interests, don’t buy the book but please still reflect on its mission of helping to prevent child maltreatment. Everybody can do something to help, especially during these most troubling times. Internationally, children remain at high risk and your behaviors can have an impact: vote with sensitivity, volunteer, donate, speak out….
I would like to thank Robert for his sincere answers. If you are interested in Rarity from the Hollow, here is where you can buy it:
Tell me in the comments if you think discussing social issues in fiction could help solve them? Why or Why not? I'm excited to hear your thoughts!
