Author Interview with Barbara Ardinger

Today we're talking with Barbara Ardinger, author of Secret Lives


FQ: The characters are so funny, at times, among the beauty of what they’re saying and doing. Are any of the characters specifically based on you and/or your friends?


Before anything else—many thanks for your lovely review. As an author yourself, you know how gratifying it is when a reader gets your work.


There are tiny bits of me and nearly everyone I know in the characters of Secret Lives. I suspect that I am most like the Goddesses two “thoughty” devotees, Cairo and Brooke, but I think there must be some of me in Bertha, too. I’ve been a bit of a rebel all my life. Brooke grew up in St. Louis, so did I, she and some other characters went to college at Southeast Missouri State in Cape Girardeau, where I earned my B.S. and M.A. Though the university changed the name of the team and mascot some years ago, I renamed the school Sagamore State after the old mascot, “Chief Sagamore.” Brooke’s avoidance behavior in Chapter 19 echoes things I did in a similar circumstance. The story about the trip to the Ozarks in the VW bug is true—we stopped in a small town and they didn’t know where to put the gas in the car. Other characters contain hints of people I know, and some of the people mentioned (especially in the chapters about Jacoba’s breast cancer) are real people, some with their names changed. Frances J. Swift thinks and talks like every corporate memo I ever read (and I’ve read a lot of corporate-speak). I think it’s this verisimilitude that makes the characters seem so real.


FQ: There are many who see the hideous treatment that our beloved family members are receiving in retirement homes. Is this a subject you would really like people to ‘get’ when they read this novel?


It certainly is. I have known people—most of them elderly women like Sarah—who were sold out of their houses and parked in shabby places like the Towers. For a few months while I was writing Secret Lives, I was a companion to an 82-year-old woman with Alzheimer’s. She and I made a good team: she was talking to invisible people and I was watching and listening to invisible people. After my grandfather’s death, my grandmother lived with her two living daughters—a month here, a month there, a month back again. Sophie echoes my grandmother when she says she never knew where to call home. (Gramma finally found a place in a senior citizens’ village near St. Louis.) Hannah’s nightmares about the floors falling out of her mother’s house are taken directly from nightmares I had after my grandfather died. I have also seen physicians give very poor care to old women, though that is—thank Goddess!—changing today.


Twenty years ago, elderly women were still at the bottom of the social totem pole. The metaphysical Great Chain of Life, which was a popular paradigm during the 18th and 19th centuries went sort of like this—mud (earth), women, noble animals (the lion), men, angels, God. Well, we neopagans and witches are very grounded. Our religion is an earth-based religion. It’s said we worship the ground we walk on. I was also present several times when we constructed a labyrinth on the beach at Laguna Beach; Cairo’s story is a true one.


FQ: You speak about various areas of study such as, numerology, astrology, and even the Theosophical Society. Are you a researcher on these particular subjects? Or, studied them in college?


I read a lot. I’ve studied these topics and more. My numerology teacher at the time I started writing Secret Lives (1990) was a French woman born in Egypt whose accent made Maurice Chevalier sound like Walter Cronkite. (Does anyone recognize these two men’s names?) I spent several years as a member of Edgar Cayce’s association and even got a sweet kiss on the cheek from one of Cayce’s sons, who was an elderly man. I’ve tried to learn astrology, but I just don’t speak the language. Thankfully, I have a dozen friends who are experts and explain things to me. I have read much of the early New Thought literature (written around the turn of the 20th century and earlier) and much of the literature of the late 19th-century Occult Revival of Europe. Bits and pieces of all these things are given in the novel. Rev. Donnathea is an entirely admirable mainstream metaphysical teacher. I’m sure we’ve all met teachers like Rev. Debbee and students like Gwennie.


And I’ve known some very thoughtful Theosophists who would read my version of the transmigration of souls and laugh out loud. Theosophy posits the theory that life—a soul—arises in the mineral kingdom, moves to the vegetable, then to the animal, next to the human, then ascends to the angelic realm. I write in the FREE READER’S GUIDE on my website that Madame Blavatsky, the circle’s familiar, was born in the fluorite mine and moved to a mugwort bush. (These are both associated with mental power.) Next she was a Russian bear (the real-life occultist was born in Russia,) then she was the famous occultist and author. Next she became the cat in my novel. People might think she’s going backwards, but we need to remember that catus felis, the domestic cat, is the highest form of life on the planet. After her nine lives as a cat, Madame Blavatsky will start climbing up the nine levels of the angelic hierarchy. Yes—this is nonsense. But that’s the point of parody!


FQ: Being allowed to “make the choice you want to make for yourself” where death is concerned presents a scenes which are truly beautiful. Do you believe that this should be an option for all?

I believe that a person facing death should not be kept “heroically” alive with tubes and drugs and machines. If it’s time to go, then a person should be allowed to have a dignified death. I learned this as an AIDS volunteer and when some close friends died. This is why our women celebrate Sarah’s life and create sacred space for her to make her choice. They don’t do anything to encourage her or discourage her.


I also think I accept the fact of reincarnation, though I’m not totally sure. I’ve had spontaneous views of a couple of my earlier lives and believe them; at the same time, I do NOT believe that I was Cleopatra in an earlier life, which I was told because I wrote my doctoral dissertation about her. And two of my boyfriends were Caesar and Antony?? I think not! I’m very curious to know what happens when someone who dies “wakes up” in another realm, but even though I love the movie Ghost, nobody really trustworthy has come back to tell us.


FQ: The debates that arise from your novel such as God versus Goddess and The Church versus other religions are extremely strong. Can you offer readers a bit of information about these tough subjects, and how you feel about these debates that still go on?

As I—and many other neopagans—see it, the Goddess is the grandmother of God. The basic situation shown in the prologue is accurate and true. People were living in an egalitarian civilization in Old Europe when Indo-European horsemen arrived from the Caucasus Mountains and the Russian steppes bringing their sky, solar, storm gods with them. This is documented in the work of Marija Gimbutas and others. Lucia Birnbaum, another respected scholar, writes that the earliest people walked out of eastern Africa before 50,000 BCE taking their “black mothers” (black ancestral goddesses) with them. They turned left to populate Asia and went north and turned left to populate Europe.


We neopagans are not out to do battle with other religions. We do not proselytize, we do not seek converts, we do not preach to the masses. There are, of course, a few fundamentalist pagans who will have nothing to do with the standard-brand religions, but I’ve never heard of any neopagan jihadists or evangelists. I keep hoping we’re working up to a critical mass and that we’ll bring more lovingkindness to the planet. That’s why I write about pagan festivals and gods and goddesses in my last nonfiction book, Pagan Every Day, where I also write about Christian saints, Jewish holidays, Muslim prophets and events, Mormon history, Black Islam, and holidays from the Eastern religions.


FQ: I was very proud to see that all characters are given their voice in this novel. From witches to horrific doctors to the subject of lesbianism - this really feels like a novel promoting choice in everything. Is this a correct statement?


Yes. Choice based on intelligent observation and clear thought is a good thing. We have free will and e can make life choices. But we always need to consider the unintended consequences of any choices we make.


FQ: When your shaman is resting on her staff, the picture of many women and men resting on their canes in their elder years pops into mind - reminding me that this is the generation with the power, intelligence, and history that we should be honoring and not tossing into homes. Are you an advocate for senior citizens?


A formal advocate? No. But I’ve met many elderly people and listened to their stories. I’ve spent time in “old folks’ homes” and modeled the Towers on several of them. I also believe Santayana when he says that if we don’t remember history we’ll be condemned to repeat it. I read the newspaper in the morning and watch the news on TV, and I keep thinking the U.S. is heading in the same direction as some earlier fallen empires. We need to listen to our wise elders. Of course, some of our elderly people are not wise, so it’s a matter of distinguishing between those who know history and those who don’t, those who are wise and those who are demented. It would be good if we could keep the latter out of government.


FQ: Do you hope that the next generation comes to realize that they are being handed down the power to fight the evil that seems to be becoming more and more rampant every day?

I don’t like to use a word like “evil.” There’s a lot that’s lousy in the world—all we have to do is watch Eyewitless News to see big and little wars and gangs and crime. There are gangs in Long Beach. The scene that opens Chapter 1 echoes threats that women get all the time. My hope for the younger generation is that they learn to kind to other people and learn to make choices that are useful and helpful to themselves and other people. But our kids have a lot of awful history to overcome.


FQ: Who do you believe are some of the strongest women from history? I know that you mention Hypatia - THE librarian (my favorite) - is she among the toughest? And, do you believe that strong women will continue to be ‘taken-down’ even after all this time?

The list given in Chapter 25 names a lot of my heras. (“Hera” is the feminine form of “hero.”) The women are identified in the FREE READER’S GUIDE on my website. Cleopatra of Egypt was the subject of my doctoral dissertation. Zenobia was a Syrian queen who led a failed revolt against the Roman Empire. Hypatia really died as described. Pope Joan may have been real. Eleanor of Aquitaine was married to and imprisoned by Henry II. Tamara was the “king” of Georgia in the Caucasus at the end of the 12th century. Everyone knows about Joan of Arc. Queen Jinga Mbandi was an Angolan queen who tried to drive the Portuguese out of her land. Harriet Tubman was an African American humanitarian who used the Underground Railroad to take slaves out of the South and worked for women’s rights after the end of the Civil War. Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz was a Mexican nun and poet. Clara Schumann was the sister of Robert Schumann and is believed to have written much of the music he took credit for. Isadora Duncan is said to be the creator of modern dance. Hildegard of Bingen and Dame Julian of Norwich were medieval Christian nuns and mystics. St. Theresa was a Spanish nun, mystic, saint, and reformer of the Carmelite Order. Mother Theresa was an Albanian Catholic nun and founder of the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India. Simone Weil was a French philosopher and social activist who is said to have starved herself to death in sympathy with the inmates of the Nazi concentration camps. Susan Griffin is the author of Woman and Nature (1979), a beautiful and important early feminist work. My intention with this list was to name women who have been overlooked in most of the history books.


FQ: I have to know… I love Madame Blavatsky - who is the cat based on?

The cat is sui generis, one in herself. For purposes of the plot, I wanted a powerful, smart-alecky character, but why did this character have to be human? A talking cat, along with the magic, is part of the magical realism of the novel. I also thought about the familiars that witches have traditionally lived with. She looks like one of my earlier cats, but none of my cats have ever spoken English. She’s a realistic feline because I live with two Maine coon cats (Schroedinger and Heisenberg) and observed their behavior as I wrote. But my cats don’t dance the lambada or sing songs from Marx Brothers movies, either.


FQ: On a personal note: I read in your Author’s Note that acquisitions departments over time have said to you that no one will want to read about crones, goddesses, and magic - I truly believe that you will prove them all wrong in 2011. 



Many thanks. Twenty years ago, no one was the least bit interested in senior citizens, especially not in old women. As the boomers begin to retire, however, “old age” is increasingly important. Just look at the ads on TV—“cures” for menopause, Viagra ads, ads for retirement villages. We can also look at some recent history. Jessica Tandy won her Oscar at the age of 89. The Golden Girls was a popular TV show. Older actors like Chloris Leachman and others are still working. In the U.S. Congress, many of our female senators and representatives, like Nancy Pelosi, might be of retirement age, but they’re not nearly ready to retire. Two of our three female Supreme Court justices are nearly old enough to be crones (Sotomayor is 57, Kagan is 51, Ginsburg is 78), but they’re smart and active. The door of respect of older women is open a tiny crack now. I’m hoping to give it a shove and open it wider.


To learn more about Secret Lives please read the review at: Feathered Quill Book Reviews.

Is Facebook Tracking YOU?

There's been a lot of articles recently about how Facebook is using its data to track you/your interests/your, well, your "everything."  If you promote books or other things on Facebook, you should be aware of their data retrieval efforts.  There was an article in Time last week about how this data gathering is changing what FB is.  Here's another article on just what the folks at FB are doing.  Take a minute to read and if nothing else, be aware, next time you post to FB.  Facebook Can Track Web Browsing Without Cookies

iSquare Update

Several weeks ago I posted a blurb about the iSquare, a new app that allows users to take credit cards via their phones, ipads, etc.  I had used it a few times and found it to be quite good.  Well, I recently had a multiple-day book signing and had LOTS of chances to use the iSquare.  Here is what I found:

• Overall, it still rocks!
• The app does take a bit of getting used to.  Perhaps partially due to nerves, the first few transactions were a little clunky.
• If at all possible, use an ipad rather than an iphone.  Using the phone requires a bit more squinting of the eyes, and doesn't offer all of the features available for the ipad.  For example, with the ipad, you have the option of entering the total sale amount (which is what you do on the phone) or of entering each product, along with an image of said product, and then the price, which you entered when you set up your account, comes up automatically.  Also, the screen where the customer has to sign is MUCH larger.
• Customers, for the most part, LOVED this app and thought it was very cool.  Some were genuinely excited.
• Most decided not to have a receipt sent to their email/cell phone which I thought was odd.  Perhaps they thought I'd then track them, add them to my mailing list, etc.  I don't know.
• While the app worked quite well, there were several times when it locked up.  I actually had a couple sales I couldn't get to go through.  It wasn't that the credit cards were bad, but rather, "can't get an internet connection."  Perhaps, since it was a large/busy venue, too many vendors were trying to use the wi-fi?
• There was one time where the reader stopped working on my ipad.  It worked on my iphone, but not my ipad.  No idea what was wrong.  I thought the reader had gone bad but the next day it worked fine (and yes, it was pushed in all the way!).
• Money was transferred into my account very quickly.  In addition, I received an email confirmation of each transaction, with a link for further information.  Clicking on the link sent me to a page with detailed info. included a google map pinpointing where the transaction too place.  Too cool.
• Overall, the isquare still rocks!

Monday Morning Introductions

Here's a sample of the books that came in for review

during the last several days:

Mr. Darcy, Vampyre

Mosquito A pesky mosquito gets his due. Mosquito is a nuisance to all the animals as he buzzes about the forest. With fun word play, including rhyme, alliteration, and onomatopoeia, each critter expresses its annoyance with him. Finally, Mosquito bothers the wrong neighbor, who ends the insect's career as resident pest. A list of mosquito facts appears at the end of this humorous children's story.

Blue Frog: The Legend of Chocolate A long, long time ago, the Sun God spent his days enjoying a very special secret treat: rich, dark cacao. Unlike the Wind God, the Sun God did not want to share this heavenly food with the creatures of the Earth. One day, the Wind God transformed himself into the Rana Azul, or Blue Frog, and he taught the children of the Earth where to find the secret cacao beans through song. A recipe for hot chocolate and a sprinkling of Spanish words and phrases enhance this intricately illustrated foodie fable.

Curious Critters Photographer David FitzSimmons turns his camera on a variety of animals common throughout North America. CURIOUS CRITTERS presents stunning images of everyday animals, including a red flat bark beetle, an Eastern spiny softshell turtle, a spotted salamander, and many other intriguing creatures. Each Curious Critter is photographed against a white backdrop, showcasing the animal's colors, textures, and shapes with precision and clarity. Along with each photo is an entertaining and educational vignette, told from the critter's perspective: a bush katydid explains her bubblegum-pink color, a poetic opossum opines upon her often-shortened name, and a far-from-modest black swallowtail butterfly lets readers in on her secret for avoiding predators. Young boys and girls will delight in these colorful critters and their tales

Amazon's Famous or Infamous Customer Service

Think you're having a bad day?  Try dealing with Amazon's customer service!  If you have ever tried to have a coherent phone conversation (or via email - with Amazon's frequent use of form letters, staff signing with first name/last initial only - do they really exist because you'll never email the same person twice), you know the true meaning of frustration.  Here's a blog post we found about a horrifying experience one woman had with Amazon's customer support.

Monday Morning Introductions

Here's a look at the books that came in for review this week.  Check them out and then stop by our site in a few weeks to read the reviews.



















The Importance of Being Ernie: From My Three Sons to Mad Men, a Hollywood Survivor Tells All 

Ghost Files In this hair-raising omnibus, Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, founders of The Atlantic Paranormal Society (T.A.P.S.), reveal the memorable and spine-tingling cases featured in their smash-hit collections, Ghost Hunting and Seeking Spirits. From their never-seen-on-television adventures as budding paranormal investigators to the behind-the-scenes accounts of heart-pounding supernatural encounters featured on their popular show, these fascinating and frightening real life tales will keep you up at night!

Curious Critters Photographer David FitzSimmons turns his camera on a variety of animals common throughout North America. CURIOUS CRITTERS presents stunning images of everyday animals, including a red flat bark beetle, an Eastern spiny softshell turtle, a spotted salamander, and many other intriguing creatures. Each Curious Critter is photographed against a white backdrop, showcasing the animal's colors, textures, and shapes with precision and clarity. Along with each photo is an entertaining and educational vignette, told from the critter's perspective: a bush katydid explains her bubblegum-pink color, a poetic opossum opines upon her often-shortened name, and a far-from-modest black swallowtail butterfly lets readers in on her secret for avoiding predators.

Froggy Boots Go With Everything Froggy Boots Go With Everything is a sturdy board book that celebrates a boy s inseparable love for his froggy boots. Simple phrases and colorful illustrations follow the boy through many activities in which his froggy boots become the prop that drives his imaginative play. The boy is accompanied throughout the book by a little frog friend who always finds his way into the scene. Adults will recognize activities from their own homes or get new ideas for playtime fun while reliving some favorite childhood memories with nostalgic appreciation. An easy Can you find... game at the end brings children back again and again while teaching important recognition skills.

The Space Between Daphne is the half-demon, half-fallen angel daughter of Lucifer and Lilith. Life for her is an endless expanse of time, until her brother Obie is kidnapped - and Daphne realizes she may be partially responsible. Determined to find him, Daphne travels from her home in Pandemonium to the vast streets of Earth, where everything is colder and more terrifying. With the help of the human boy she believes was the last person to see her brother alive, Daphne glimpses into his dreams, discovering clues to Obie's whereabouts. As she delves deeper into her demonic powers, she must navigate the jealousies and alliances of the violent archangels who stand in her way. But she also discovers, unexpectedly, what it means to love and be human in a world where human is the hardest thing to be.

Ghost Files In this hair-raising omnibus, Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, founders of The Atlantic Paranormal Society (T.A.P.S.), reveal the memorable and spine-tingling cases featured in their smash-hit collections, Ghost Hunting and Seeking Spirits. From their never-seen-on-television adventures as budding paranormal investigators to the behind-the-scenes accounts of heart-pounding supernatural encounters featured on their popular show, these fascinating and frightening real life tales will keep you up at night!

Ghost Trackers For fifteen years, Amber, Drew, and Trevor have barely been able to recall—let alone explain—what happened the terrifying night they decided to explore the old, abandoned Lowry House. According to local legend, the house was cursed by a dark past and inhabited by evil. It burst into flames on the night of their visit, leaving the friends traumatized and nearly dead with only vague memories of the frightening events they had witnessed inside. Now, on the eve of their high school reunion, they have gathered to reopen their investigation and figure out, once and for all, what took place that fateful night . . . before the supernatural entity they escaped threatens to overtake them again.

Eclipse of the Jacguar The MacGregor family heads to the warm waters of Mexico and Central America in this latest installment in the series. When two of the kids are kidnapped by a thief, the family must come to the rescue.

Author Interview with Nikolai Grozni

Today we're talking with Nikolai Grozni, author of Wunderkind


FQ: Konstantin is fantastic - a truly mesmerizing literary character. I would assume that Konstantin and his life is loosely based on your own experiences?

Yes, the character of Konstantin is based to a large extent on my own experience at the Sofia Music School. Perhaps I’m a writer without any imagination: I always end up writing about myself!


FQ: Is this, in a way an autobiography - a way to work through the feelings and experiences you had to go through?

I knew that one day I’d have to write this book even while I was still at the music school. For many years I kept putting this project off, convincing myself that I wasn’t ready, that it’s too much to talk about these things. When I finally got down to writing it, I told myself that this was going to be a healing process and that I needed to address all the anger that’s been brewing in me for years. Unfortunately, the process of writing this book turned out to be incredibly traumatic.


FQ: I know you were a musical prodigy. Can you tell readers a little about your background - performances you played, and how piano playing came about in your own life?

I started playing when I was still in daycare. My mother had played the piano for many years before becoming a doctor and she owned a beautiful old German piano. I remember leaving daycare early to go to ear-training classes. At seven, I was accepted to the Music School. At nine I auditioned to travel to Italy and play at an international piano competition. I ended up winning the competition and continued to perform and take part in competitions until I was kicked out of the Music School at age seventeen.


FQ: Now, you are a native of Sofia, Bulgaria - the country focused upon in the book. Can you tell our readers what that situation was like? How you lived behind the Iron Curtain?

Bulgaria had one of the harshest—if not the harshest—authoritarian regimes among all the Eastern bloc countries. Dissidents were sent regularly to concentration camps or imprisoned. It was like being in a virtual reality nightmare where most people thought everything was real, while those who knew the truth were too afraid to say it. I remember going to school one morning when I was ten and seeing a huge red paint graffiti on the school wall which said, "Todor Zhivkov is a murderer!" Todor Zhivkov was the country's dictator whose name and image was so ubiquitous you couldn’t open a door or a window without meeting his sick stare. When I read the graffiti I felt as if a large chunk of the virtual reality dome had disintegrated and there had appeared an opening large enough for all of us to go through and escape into the real world. But no one wanted to escape. Students and teachers refused to read or even look at the sign—which was promptly washed off before the end of first period. When, sometime later, I learned through friends the name of the boy who had painted the graffiti, I thought of him as god. I couldn’t believe that someone would have the guts to do something like that.


FQ: Can you also tell our readers how you left Bulgaria, and what life was like once you were not ruled over by communism?


When I arrived in the United States, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, I had to grow up a second time so that I can function in a society where people had many choices and were free to think and be inspired. Just sitting in Boston Public Library on Boylston Street was enough for me: there were books on everything you could imagine. Nothing was off limits. Nothing was forbidden. In a sense Boston is my home town. It’s where I grew up emotionally and as a person.


FQ: I read in your bio that you lived in the Catacombs in Bulgaria. Can you explain what this location is?


The Catacombs were a vast network of underground tunnels and passageways where a lot of society’s outcasts lived year-round. I was first brought there by a friend and quickly found many kindred spirits.



FQ: And am I right in saying that you no longer play the piano? Is your focus now literary only?

I still play the piano, only now I play it for myself, to experience music.


To learn more about Wunderkind please read the review at: Feathered Quill Book Reviews.