Bitchin' Blog Posts
One Was a Soldier: An Interview and Giveaway
by SB Sarah | April 02, 2011 | Saturday at 3:51 pm | 106 Comments
Are you breathlessly anticipating the next book in Julia Spencer-Fleming’s series? Curious to see how Clare and Russ survive her deployment? Well, over the past few months, Julia and I have been working on an interview (really, this email has been going back and forth for AWHILE) and she’s got
5
8 ARCs to give away this weekend. She’ll ship them out anywhere so you’ll get a copy zippy fast.
Just leave a comment below to enter - and add to the Julia Spencer-Fleming Series Drinking Game (or, if you’re not so inclined, just leave a comment and tell us what you’d do for a copy of the book). Drinking Games make a little fun of things that appear frequently in a series or movie. Here’s some sample items for the JSFS Drinking Game:
Any mention of Clare’s haircolor: 2 sips
Any mention of Clare’s haircolor by Russ: 1 sip
Any mention of Clare’s haircolor in terms of alcoholic beverages: CHUG.
Russ cleans his glasses: 1 sip
Russ pinches the bridge of his nose: 1 sip
Russ asks where the facilities are: 2 sips
Someone tells Russ to see a doctor because the poor man might have a prostate problem, what with using the bathroom all the freaking time: CHUG!
Regardless of how you enter, I’ll pick 5 winners and announce them Sunday night. Comments close ~9PM Eastern time Sunday night.
Standard disclaimers apply: I’m not being compensated. Void where prohibited. Make love not war. Rock your casbah. Please drive responsibly.
So, ready for the interview?
Let’s start with the big one: OMG happy ending I can hasplz? kthxbye. Seriously, can you at least tell me (I promise not to tell if you don’t want me to) if there’s a HEA in store for the dynamic duo?
Julia: I guess what I would say to this is: Trust me. I could see myself writing a bittersweet, heartbreaking ending if I were doing a stand-alone—obviously, I have a deep appreciation for angst and self-sacrifice—but I’m not going to cheat readers who have been following this story through six books (and counting.) One of the things I find interesting is that because I’m not writing in the romance genre, readers can experience a kind of tension and suspense about Russ and Clare’s outcome that is almost impossible to get in a straight romance.
It’s true I like to play around with readers’ expectations when it comes to characters—I spoke about this a bit in my interview with AAR Rachel. And I’ve killed off nice people, characters who were kind and innocent and absolutely didn’t deserve to die. In real life, bad things happen to good people, and I’m trying to portray real life here—dramatic, event-filled, and with an unusually high homicide rate, but real. That being said, I’m not going to dick around with core reader expectations. I write mystery, so you’re always going to get a solution to the crime. And I’m writing close enough to the bones of romance, so you’re going to get—well, probably more like a Messily Ever After.
When you started pondering the original story, and the series, what was your point of access? Was there something specific that inspired you, like the gravestones that led to “Out of the Deep I Cry?” With book 1, did you start with the puzzle or did you start with the characters? Both? One?
Julia: These two questions are interrelated. First off, I didn’t start to write a series. I wanted to write one book, and if Russ and Clare’s story hadn’t gone any further than In the Bleak Midwinter, I think it would have had a lovely, elegiac feel to the ending, q.v. my comment on a bittersweet stand-alone. If I had planned a series in advance, I wouldn’t have made so many continuity mistakes: for instance, in the first mystery, Russ mentions he’s been married 16 years, but later, I realized he had gotten married at a much younger age, so in the other books, he talks about being married for 25 years. A couple characters’ names shift around, ages get tweaked, highways proliferate like kudzu because when I wrote In the Bleak Midwinter, I wasn’t thinking I was going to be stuck with anything for a whole bunch of books.
My point of access, my start for the first novel, were the characters of Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne, and the town of Millers Kill. I didn’t have a plot, I didn’t know how things would turn out, but I had several single-spaced pages of a legal pad filled with her biography, his, and the town’s history and current economy (which is a central and ongoing issue in my stories.) And I had the title, from the hymn.
Most of my crime plots start from one or more seed ideas—in Out of the Deep, as you mention, I was sparked by seeing the real-life gravestones I later fictionalized in that novel. In In the Bleak Midwinter, I was inspired by two late-90’s news stories; one about the military academy couple in Texas that killed a high-school classmate to “restore the purity of their love” (the victim had slept with the guy) and another about a college girl who successfully hid her pregnancy and then gave birth secretly in the ladies room at Logan Airport (the baby was saved by an alert cleaning lady.) If you read my book, you’ll see there’s not a lot of one-to-one correspondence with these two events. Instead, I treated them like comic strips on Silly Putty, stretching them this way and that by asking, “What if..?” and “What then..?”
You have set up a tough task for yourself: inviting the reader to root for a couple whose relationship, though based on genuine regard, slips over moral and ethical lines. Who do you think struggles more: Russ, Clare or, perhaps, the reader?
Julia: From the start, I wanted to show a very complicated, very adult (in the grown-up sense of the term) relationship, where there were no good guys or bad guys. I wanted to set the wild flowering of the heart against the walls of commitment and duty, and see what happened. I honestly didn’t know won things would turn out for them until, I think, the third novel, which is why the fourth, fifth and sixth are almost like a continuous narrative, broken up into book-sized bites.
As a reader, I love experiencing big emotions, and that’s what we get with Russ and Clare; they take great joy in one another, experience guilt and sorrow and change and self-knowledge through this relationship which can’t be, but is. If a writer’s job is to write his or her small piece of The Truth, I’m putting down the truth about people who are broken by love. And they will be broken. As Leonard Cohen writes, “There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”
I know there are readers who take a look at the back of the book, see Russ is married, and put it back on the shelf. And that’s okay. Your kink is not my kink, as the old saying goes. But I have also had readers who stop me, as I’m leaving the bookstore or library where I’ve been speaking, and if nobody else is around, they say real quiet, “That was me. That happened to me.” That is a very moving thing to hear.
What was some of the more poignant or painful information about returning servicemen and -women you learned in the process of writing this book?
Julia: One single enlisted woman who’s done several tours of duty told me her homecoming consisted of locking herself in her apartment for four or five days and drinking. Get drunk, pass out, wake up and do it again. This is a grown-up, responsible woman - the responsible part shows because she kept herself home, unlike the young men she knew who would do the same thing but out in bars, picking fights, wrecking cars and motorcycles, etc. She said she couldn’t face the normal, everyday American world until she had decompressed.
Another woman, an officer in the guard, talked to me right after she learned her unit was being called up again. Due to her specialty, she had the option to stay at home. “I don’t want to go,” she said. “God, I don’t want to go.” But she would, because the rest of her people were going.
Then there was the army guy who hated being thanked for his service. “What does that mean?” he said. “Nobody has any idea of what my service was.”
There’s a lot of heartbreaking stuff out there. And ultimately, we, the American people, are responsible for it.
You mentioned in the AAR interview that folks get cranky about Clare’s impetuous decisions to go with her gut and think later, which she exhibits time and again. Do readers get cranky about Russ? I confess, I have a greater ability to empathize with Clare, and get frustrated with Russ for wanting his bread buttered on both sides and not stepping too far away from his own emotional inertia.
Julia: Oh, yes. First, of course, are the readers (or people who refuse to read) who are up in arms over his emotional adultery. He’s married, he assumes he’s happily married, and he still falls in love with another woman. Worse, instead of coming clean to his wife about it, or avoiding Clare like the plague, he risks everything by keeping the relationship going. Then, when bad things happen (I’m trying not to spoil for those who haven’t read the series) he can’t move past his guilt and grief to step into the next phase of his life. Russ is in many ways Clare’s opposite; her on-going problem is impetuousness and a tendency to rush in like a fool, therefore his is conservatism, and a deep reluctance to change his circumstances. Emotional inertia is an excellent description of it.
In book two, Clare ruminates on the divine aspects of chance in couples meeting, and the miracle that is inherent in circumstances bringing two like-minded well-matched people together. That devotion to fate seems to be played out in the fact that despite their best intentions, Clare and Russ can’t stay away from one another, and are drawn to their mutual happiness. So despite knowing better, fate evolves into a sort of selfishness. Do you think it is or ever was possible for them to deny fate, or reject their attraction? Would they have been so attracted if they’d met, say, 10 years prior?
Julia: I don’t think they would have felt that soul-deep connection 10 years before we meet them in In the Bleak Midwinter. Russ would have been a 38-year-old hard-drinking workaholic and Clare was a 24 year old lieutenant. He was in a very different place in his marriage at that point - I suspect he still needed the escape from reality that Linda brought to their relationship. And Clare, for her part, would have thought him way too old for her, not to mention their career-killing difference in rank. They come from different classes, and I doubt Clare in her early 20s would have been mature enough to overlook that.
In other words, this is fate as we meet it in real life, not OMG we are irrevocably DESTINED to be MATES as in paranormal romance.
And because their story is meant to be a part of the real world, yes, they could have denied fate. For the first three books, I wasn’t sure where they would wind up. It could have ended in heartbreak and loneliness (and of course, each of them did wind up heartbroken and alone, at least for a season.)
Who is stronger in your opinion? Clare? Russ? Margy Van Alstyne? I bet it’s Margy. Girlfriend could probably bench press a tractor through sheer force of will.
Julia: Margy Van Alstyne is awesome, isn’t she? She’s kind of my reaction against all the grandmotherly types you see in fiction puttering around with their garden clubs and bridge groups. Margy is spending her golden years travelling around New York, getting arrested at protests. Which is really an extension of the kind of stuff I see in my own community: older women in the post-work, post-childrearing phase of their lives are the ones who make the community run. They’re the one’s volunteering at schools and hospitals and running the Friends-of-the-library groups and raising money for recycling centers.
I’m thinking of getting her a gentleman friend in the book-after-next. I’d love to see how she (and her family) handles that.
You wrote, “My point of access, my start for the first novel, were the characters of Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne, and the town of Millers Kill. I didn’t have a plot, I didn’t know how things would turn out, but I had several single-spaced pages of a legal pad filled with her biography, his, and the town’s history and current economy (which is a central and ongoing issue in my stories.) And I had the title, from the hymn.”
Question,then: what led you to those characters? If your method, if I’m reading correctly, is to start “what if” and “what then,” where did you start with creating Russ and Clare? The conflict, the attraction, the collar and the handcuffs (KINKY! RWOR!)?
Julia: Sadly, once I had Russ and Clare, they wouldn’t play collar-and-handcuffs, because part of their attraction to one another is the fact that they see straight through the stereotypes. You can’t do roleplaying if you don’t see the role.
Gosh, where did I start? Clare came first. She was a priest because I wanted to look at crime from the perspective of someone whose life is about healing divisions and creating wholeness. Then she became an Army vet because I wanted her to have the skill and training to be able to rescue herself - I hate books where the heroine is saved time and again by the hero. (TWILIGHT, I’m looking at you with a gimlet eye.) She was a southerner because I wanted her to be a fish out of water in the first book, and she was at odds with her mother’s and grandmother’s expectations of what a proper southern lady is like because… I can’t really remember why. Because it was who she was. Eventually, the choices I consciously made as an author creating a character were overtaken by the character herself.
I hate to phrase it like that, because I don’t want to come across as one of those people who says, “I just do what my characters tell me.” There’s a name for people who are bossed around by their imaginary friends. But the fact is, I can assemble facts and characteristics, but the spark that makes a character seem like a real, live human being comes from a deep creative well that no one, I think, can consciously describe.
Aren’t you glad you asked that question?
One part I’m very curious about that I haven’t seen to many people address is Clare’s mentions of her decision to remain celibate. She talks about it, and mentions it to various people as not a vow but a choice and commitment to herself. Clare is very passionate yet doesn’t much talk about sex except sparingly. Wherefore comes the adherence to celibacy and the allusion to virginity? Aside from father issues (oy vey does she) does she have sexual hangups as well?
Julia: In a strictly legalistic sense, as a priest, she’s expected to remain celibate outside of marriage. In a practical sense, women clergy tend to have much higher expectations heaped on their shoulders than even their male counterparts. Or in other words, BE GOOD WE’RE ALL WATCHING YOU.
In Clare’s case, celibacy was an easy choice because no one was knocking at her door, so to speak. She arrives in Millers Kill pretty much straight from the seminary, and by the accounts of every priest I’ve ever talked to, seminary is death to dating, unless you’re already in a relationship. Before that, she was in the Army, in a field where she would have spent most of her time working with warrant officers and other enlisted men. She couldn’t date there, and she had too much invested in her career as a pilot to risk appearing either girly or slutty to her peers. (The double standard is very much alive and well in the military.)
Plus, Lt. Fergusson was always the sort of gal-buddy the other guys could go to for a listening ear and some sympathetic advice. An early sign of her calling. At one point Clare says, “I figured my spectacular lack of a love life just dovetailed with my vocation.” And she’s okay with that, especially when we first meet her, all wet behind the ears and eager for the challenges of her first parish. She’s sublimated her sexual passion into her passion for ministry. No wonder she’s oblivious to what’s actually going on in her own heart when she falls into a relationship with Russ.
Now that we’ve seen her, as it were, post-celibacy, I can say she doesn’t seem to have any hang-ups. Far from it. At one point in One Was A Soldier Russ says, “I had no idea you were such a sex fiend.”
Now her father issues…boy, that’s a whole ‘nother essay.
Certainly your books were clearly inspired by Harlequin Presents. I mean, come on! There’s a secret baby in book 1! When comes the sheihk!?
Julia: No, no, no, you’ve miscued. I’m transitioning to paranormal next. Russ becomes a vamp, changes his name to Rhuss, and starts wearing tight-fitting leather pants around town. Can Clare save him by the judicious application of communion wafers? And will anyone in upstate New York be able to understand him when he starts talking “homey?”
Julia Spencer-Fleming is the Agatha and Anthony-award-winning author of the upcoming One Was A Soldier, the seventh Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne mystery. You can find her on Facebook and on Twitter. One Was A Soldier is available for preorder at:Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Borders. Powell’s Books and your locally owned independent bookstore.
Start at the beginning of the story withIn the Bleak Midwinter, now only $2.99 as an ebook. And don’t miss Letters to a Soldier, a free ebooklet with exclusive content and an excerpt from One Was A Soldier.
Filed: General Bitching, Go Ahead, Win Some Shit, Interviews & Smart Responses
Tagged: romance, mystery, julia spencer-fleming, heroine, harlequin, bookstore, awesomesauce, arc, amazon
vp said on 04.02.11 at 05:38 PM • [comment link]
Well, Julia, evidently your kink is my kink:) I love this series. It is just the kind of deep, messy, grey area type writing that makes me crazy happy when I read it. My only problem with it is how to describe it. When I’ve tried to blog about it or recommend to friends, it is so difficult to pin down the tone. It has elements of mystery, dark romance, cozy (mainly the setting) and great humor. Very difficult to categorize, but very easy to love! Great interview! And ladies, please exclude me from the ARC giveaway, I was lucky enough to grab one at a conference, it was amazing.
Suzanne said on 04.02.11 at 05:42 PM • [comment link]
I’ve been waiting “sort of” patiently for this book. It’s been pre-ordered for a while! Very interesting to see the lead-up to Julia’s writing. Loved this interview!
Deirdre said on 04.02.11 at 05:49 PM • [comment link]
I really enjoyed the first few of this series, I really have to get back into reading them. I was trying to explain to someone why I really enjoyed them and it sounded so lame when I was saying it, I ended up just saying, just read it. It’s such a pity some of them are out of print in the UK/Ireland market.
Karen S. said on 04.02.11 at 05:51 PM • [comment link]
EEEEE I CANNOT WAIT FOR THIS BOOK. I found the series a few years ago just browsing the paperback shelves at my library and I’ve been pimping it to patrons ever since. :D
As for my suggestions for the drinking game:
—One of Clare’s parishioners needs to mind their own freaking business - 1 drink
—Clare does something impulsive and nearly gets dead - 1 drink
—Russ tears a strip off Clare for doing something impulsive and nearly getting dead - 2 drinks.
—Russ and Clare do some bootknockin’ - 3 drinks and a cold shower
Teri C said on 04.02.11 at 05:58 PM • [comment link]
Ohh I would totally have a drinking game to read and do it when I reread the book later. I would fold my pile of 6 loads of laundry to have the time to read the book. The first book I read and it was amazing. I have bee waiting to read One was a Soldier.
Laura (in PA) said on 04.02.11 at 06:05 PM • [comment link]
I’m so freaking excited about this book I can’t stand it. It seems like it took forever. I love this series so much.
Ok, enough with the gushing. One of the many things I appreciate is how the climate of Central NY is almost another character in the books. I’m from Syracuse, and the descriptions are spot on. It’s gorgeous in that area, but man, it can be harsh. Well done.
Secondly, the scene where Clare and friends are in the car after the barn full of pot catches on fire is one of my all-time favorite scenes, ever.
Third, I’ll personally kiss Julia’s feet if she gives Margy a “gentleman friend”. Watching Russ deal with that would be well worth the price of admission.
Ahlison said on 04.02.11 at 06:11 PM • [comment link]
Great interview - can’t wait for the turning of Rhuss! My addition to the drinking game as follows:
Clare’s car gets stuck in the snow: 1 sip
Russ complains about the inappropriateness of Clare’s car: 2 sips
Clare and Russ fog the windows of Clare’s car: CHUG
megalith said on 04.02.11 at 06:21 PM • [comment link]
I’m a huge fan of this series. I’ve been on my library’s hold list for this book for months now. Not sure I can come up with anything different than Sarah’s and Karen’s entries for a drinking game.
How about:
Clare goes to drink something warm and contemplate things in her house. Description of Clare’s kitchen - 1 drink.
Clare goes to her office and gets ambushed by church business when she’s busy with detecting - 1 drink.
Clare sees Russ and we need something cold to drink - 1 drink.
CLM said on 04.02.11 at 06:24 PM • [comment link]
Clare twitches her collar nervously: 1 sip
Clare’s congregants frown at her disapprovingly: 1 sip
Russ glares at any man who praises/admires Clare: 2 sips
Becky said on 04.02.11 at 06:29 PM • [comment link]
I had problems in theory with the relationship between Clare and Russ, but once I started reading I couldn’t stop any more than they could. I’ve been dying to read this book forEVAH. Also, every time I think of this series I end up with the hymn In the Bleak Midwinter stuck in my head for days.
My contribution to the drinking game:
Clare flies off the handle because Russ isn’t investigating something the way she wants him to- Oh hell, tap a new keg.
lambchop said on 04.02.11 at 06:34 PM • [comment link]
boy, oh boy, I love me some Claire and Russ! Am waiting sorta patiently for the next installment.
Liz M said on 04.02.11 at 06:39 PM • [comment link]
What a fascinating interview; I love Julia even more for using my favorite Leonard Cohen quote! Thank you both for such a thoughtful discussion.
I won an ARC elsewhere, and this book is VERY GOOD.
darlynne said on 04.02.11 at 06:46 PM • [comment link]
I am so looking forward to this book. Thank you, Ms. Spencer-Fleming, for creating believable characters and breaking my heart into tiny pieces at the same time. Seriously. I wouldn’t miss this for anything.
I wish I were clever enough to contribute to the drinking game, but I’m coming off the, for me, reading disappointment of the year. When I saw today’s SB topic, my spirits lifted for the first time and I knew there was hope.
Rhuss? Bwahahaha!
Jeanne said on 04.02.11 at 06:49 PM • [comment link]
A drinkning game????? What a great idea! Where the heck have I been? My sister is starting a book club. I"m going to recommend In the Bleak Midwinter(even though I’ve read it) and lots of wine!
Can’t wait for the new book!
Renee Payan Wong said on 04.02.11 at 06:51 PM • [comment link]
Absolutely wonderful interview! I’ve been really anticipating One Was a Soldier.
For the drinking game:
Clare does something that scandalizes her congregation-1 sip
Russ is having lunch with Clare at the diner and they are joined by townsfolk-1 sup.
infinitieh said on 04.02.11 at 07:01 PM • [comment link]
Ooh, a new to me author to check out! Thank you!
Beth Dunn said on 04.02.11 at 07:03 PM • [comment link]
I am so excited to catch up with Claire and Russ I can hardly stand it. Not much of a drinking game gal, but I am highly suggestible when reading books. So any time a sandwich is eaten, off I go to make a sandwich. Any time Claire needs a tall glass of cool water, up I go to the tap.
All that having been said, I plan to sit near my husband whilst reading this installment, and I devoutly hope that there is snogging a-plenty in the book.
A girl can dream.
Trippinoutmysoul said on 04.02.11 at 07:10 PM • [comment link]
This series has been in my TBR pile- so here’s me entering to get a copy of the newest one. Thanks for the opportunity!
Allison said on 04.02.11 at 07:14 PM • [comment link]
Oooooooh! Also: 1 sip for any mention of Claire’s chignon and 2 sips for any hair falling out of said chignon.
I love, love, love these books and JS-F! I have been waiting very impatiently since finishing the last one. I think I just might die of anticipation.
Cathy A. said on 04.02.11 at 07:19 PM • [comment link]
Yay, it’s almost here! And thank you Julia for “Letters to a Soldier”. After that teaser, I can’t wait for this book.
For the drinking game:
Claire and Russ avoid touching each other - 1 drink
ev said on 04.02.11 at 07:22 PM • [comment link]
And we both escaped, you just got farther than I did!!
Trippinoutmysoul said on 04.02.11 at 07:23 PM • [comment link]
Ok, I commented for the free book and THEN read the interview, so now I must comment again so I can say thanks to both Sarah and Julia- awesome questions and awesome answers. Rhuss. Bahahahaha.
StarOpal said on 04.02.11 at 07:23 PM • [comment link]
I have the first 2 books in my TBR, so here’s entering.
I’d eat a Klondike bar for a copy. No, wait, I think I got mixed up somewhere…
Merry said on 04.02.11 at 07:26 PM • [comment link]
Different and fun—and that’s just the interview. Now I’m going to have to go investigate the books :)
ev said on 04.02.11 at 07:33 PM • [comment link]
I haven’t read the series- I have no idea why not, but it’s been in the background of one I do want to read, and I am going to now. The entire story line intrigues me. Hubby is retired Army, me Guard. At one point he was my boss and far outranked me. When we met he was married still and never even considered dating until his wife died unexpectedly almost seventeen years ago. We’ve been married almost 14 years. And I am an escapee of Syracuse, NY where I grew up.
However, Warrant Officers ARE NOT “other enlisted people”. We are Officers. And we’re not. If it wears stripes, it salutes us. Unless its Air Force. They never know what to do with them, but at least we get to eat in their mess’ for free, and not charged as an officer. (they did away with all Warrant Slots and upgraded their Sr NCO ranks) We can walk into any Officer’s Club OR Enlisted/NCO Club without an invite. Not so with ours, if there are any around. As a W4 I made almost what a Major did base pay, but with years in service, usually more. We are neither beast nor fowl. Unlike officers, who can be shoved into almost any job where they are needed, Warrants are an expert in their field- Pilots, Medics, Personnel. You wouldn’t take a Chopper Pilot and stick them in an Engineering Battalion. That’s what LTs are for.
Linda said on 04.02.11 at 07:48 PM • [comment link]
I’ve been waiting for this book for what seems like ages, but that could partly be my intense anticipation lengthening the time. I keep entering ARC drawings in hopes I will end up with one. (But, definitely have the book on pre-order!)
Great intereview! Adore hearing from a favorite author this way.
Smoldering look between Claire and Russ: 1 sip
Shouting match between Clair and Russ: 1 gulp
Make up after argument in bed: Trip to the liquor store!
Linda said on 04.02.11 at 07:52 PM • [comment link]
And, drinks are on me for misspelling Clare’s name… I know too many “Claires” and not enough “Clares.”
Lyssa said on 04.02.11 at 07:57 PM • [comment link]
Not in the drawing! I was lucky enough to get the ARC a while back..and let me tell the rest of the people waiting for this book…IT ROCKS!!!! I love the series, but this book was very like every other book in the series, well written yet with surprises!
You can not out guess JSF, that is one element of what I love about her writing!
Chrissy said on 04.02.11 at 07:59 PM • [comment link]
Oh! I’ve been waiting for this ever since I tore through the series last year during Mardi Gras. My friends are still giving me grief over the fact that I sacrificed hours upon hours of drunken carousing in order to read about a priest and cop who spend most of their time emphatically not knocking boots.
As for my contribution to the drinking game, uhm, one sip every time Russ bemoans Claire’s knack for finding in trouble.
Jen H said on 04.02.11 at 08:01 PM • [comment link]
Hm, what would I do for a free ARC? Why, by the rest of the series, of course! Seriously, I’m a compulsive series-finisher looking for a new series, so pick MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
can43: Can 43 recommendations be wrong???
Jen H said on 04.02.11 at 08:03 PM • [comment link]
*ahem* BUY, I meant BUY
yeesh, offer me free stuff and the spelling is the first to go…
doubt25: I have 25+ doubts about my mental abilities this fine Saturday a.m….
mssarahb said on 04.02.11 at 08:23 PM • [comment link]
Unfortunately, I started reading this series when it first came out, so I have had to wait and wait for each book to come out. And when the REALLY BAD THING happened, I have never been as furious at an author for putting her characters through such a terrible experience. Needless to say, I got over it and continue to love, love, love these characters and their world. And now Clare is coming home…sigh.
jayhjay said on 04.02.11 at 08:27 PM • [comment link]
I haven’t read this series but it sounds great. Please count me in!
Elli said on 04.02.11 at 08:30 PM • [comment link]
Just found Julia’s books (thanks Jane!) and am now reading my through them like wildfire. Thank you so much for these great characters!
-Clare’s vestry complain about her outreach programs: 1 sip
-Clare’s vestry are up in arms about the teenage mothers program: chug!
Kit said on 04.02.11 at 08:57 PM • [comment link]
HOORAY for the great interview and the giveaway! I’ve been waiting and waiting for this book to come out!
Drinking game:
Clare brains someone with the processional cross: rent margarita machine.
(Have you ever lifted one of those? They are heavy.
Laura (in PA) said on 04.02.11 at 09:00 PM • [comment link]
Lol @ ev. Of my family members who have moved from Syracuse, I think I’m the closest. I do like going back… In the summer. :-)
Tili S. said on 04.02.11 at 09:01 PM • [comment link]
Oh, I love these books so much. What would I do for a copy? Well ... realistically? Pay list price! :)
Julie M. said on 04.02.11 at 09:10 PM • [comment link]
I would love an ARC of this book.
When I started reading this series Russ had a few years on me. Not so anymore - I’m catching up! For the drinking game I’d suggest a nip anytime there’s reference to Russ’ age. Seems like it’s in the books a lot - course I could just be sensitive to it!
My hubby reads them too. I insisted he had to - and he listened. I first heard about this books from this website. Thanks Sarah!
Shelley said on 04.02.11 at 09:20 PM • [comment link]
Oh man, when I read the first ARC of Shall Not Want, I was ready to expire waiting for the next one to come out. Oh please enter me in the drawing!
The Bookish Brunette said on 04.02.11 at 09:28 PM • [comment link]
I LOVE Claire & Russ! Julia Spencer-Fleming is definitely one of my FAVS! Great interview!
Anna the Piper said on 04.02.11 at 09:33 PM • [comment link]
Ooh ooh ooh shiny ARCs are shiny!
What would I do for an ARC of this? Do a mad marathon run through books 3-7, and then promptly post reviews of same to Goodreads AND Amazon and Barnes and Noble AND my blog. Because I am nothing if not thorough. ;)
TracyTracy said on 04.02.11 at 09:36 PM • [comment link]
Well, this series is new to me, but I must say, what a great interview!! If this all came from a series of email exchanges, how well it all came together to be an intelligent insight into the reading, writing and development of this series. So thanks to both of you.
Jo said on 04.02.11 at 09:38 PM • [comment link]
2 sips for mention of the impracticality of Clare’s car.
Looking forward to the new book.
Glenda Bard said on 04.02.11 at 10:02 PM • [comment link]
I would of course have to read it. And the keep on getting the rest of your books.
Diatryma said on 04.02.11 at 10:19 PM • [comment link]
I can’t read the interview. I love the books too much. I don’t want anything between me and them.
For an ARC, I will apologize to my mother for any face-falling that happened at Christmas, when I got the latest Julia Spencer-Fleming book in hardcover and thought, briefly, OH MY GOD IT IS OUT FINALLY AND I HAVE IT. And then I realized it was not One Was a Soldier.
orangehands said on 04.02.11 at 10:51 PM • [comment link]
I remember seeing the series and setting it aside but now I really want to read it. (Great interview!)
E.D. Walker said on 04.02.11 at 10:52 PM • [comment link]
I want to read the new book SO bad!
Magdalen said on 04.02.11 at 11:05 PM • [comment link]
I’m cool with a drinking game (1 sip every time Hadley Knox turns Kevin Flynn down; chug - responsibly - when she doesn’t) but if you put Rhuss in “shitkicker” boots, I’m takin’ the pledge!
Susan Reader said on 04.02.11 at 11:15 PM • [comment link]
Great interview!
I’m looking forward to reading the latest…AS SOON AS POSSIBLE (hint, hint).
(so appropriate) soon98: I want to read it soon, in ninety-eight hours or less. Hmmm… that’s just a bit more than four days…
Patricia Campbell said on 04.02.11 at 11:17 PM • [comment link]
I’ve just finished re-reading the series to refresh my memory before One Was A Soldier. (I did the same thing last year!)
Any mention of Clare and her thermos of fancy coffee-1 drink
Any mention of Russ and Krispy Kreme donuts-1 drink
Any mention of Clare reminding Russ of a Krispy Kreme donut-CHUG!
Laura said on 04.02.11 at 11:19 PM • [comment link]
*gigglesnort* Hilarious! I’m going to have that image in my head for a while.
The CF/RVA Drinking Game:
* Someone calls Clare “Reverend” and OMG!ACK!NO! It’s.THE.Reverend.Thank.You.Muchly.And.Her.Grandma.Is.Spinning.In.Her.Grave - one sip.
* Russ feel old, Hadley feels old, Clare feels nosy - two sips.
* It’s cold outside and probably snowing - CHUG.
Can’t WAIT for the next installment! :) I was actually *just* checking the release date when this interview popped into my inbox.
Bri said on 04.02.11 at 11:41 PM • [comment link]
I have to go back and read everything in this thread when i have more time, but I started reading the first book a few weeks ago after Sarah’s suggestion and I cant get enough.
These characters jsut grabbed me and have not let go. And that surprised me a little bit because I am not ususally one to like stories that deal with adultery in any form, but something about how they are trying to do right struck a cord. I think part of it is because I liek myteries to begin with and some of the plot lines are so different than a lot of other i have read. I like books that deal with the real world and how people are effected by it. Add in that they all (well at least the first four) have had different set ups and I am hooked!
Thank you Julia for such a good series! Cna’t wait to get caught up so I can read the newest
Tinkerbon said on 04.02.11 at 11:55 PM • [comment link]
I love love LOVE this series! When this book was *supposed* to be released a year ago, in anticipation I had treated myself to a re-read of the whole backlist, and the ache in my heart experienced when I got notice that the book was being delayed ... there are no words. I’m so happy to hear that it’s finally, almost here.
— Bonz
Patty Andersen said on 04.03.11 at 12:02 AM • [comment link]
Love the arc of this couple and am really looking forward to this new book.
Drinking game? Nah, I don’t drink so won’t encourage others.
JaneDrew said on 04.03.11 at 12:31 AM • [comment link]
Wow, this sounds like a fantastic series! I think I picked up free e-copies of the first book (?) a couple of years ago, hopefully on a computer I still have…. Haven’t had a chance to read them, but for a chance at winning this book, I would take the time away from the many other things I have to do to read the rest of the series!
cin said on 04.03.11 at 12:47 AM • [comment link]
I love this series! It saw me through a pretty tough time two years ago when I was away from my family caring for my Mom after heart surgery. It was the perfect (for me at least!) break from the stresses of my daily life at that time.
Can’t think of any good addition to the drinking game. What would I do for an ARC? Make a point of recommending the books to every mystery-lover that I know! Of course, I will probably do that anyway….
Elizabeth84 said on 04.03.11 at 12:53 AM • [comment link]
Oh, my timing is perfect! I am one of those who hates to wait and wait to see how a series goes, so I have bought the ebooks since they started to come out, but only JUST started to read them. It’s a complete GLOM, I’m right in the middle, and I would love to have that last one as an ARC just waiting for me.
I am a Lutheran pastor, and I would definitely quote from Julia in a sermon. Or a monthly newsletter article. Her choice.
I really enjoy how developed Clare is as a person, and yet how easily she gets herself into fixes by jumping in. I am not quite so impetuous, but know what it is like to be in hot water with my congregation.
JaniceG said on 04.03.11 at 12:56 AM • [comment link]
It’s rare that I recommend books without reservation but from the very first book, I was urging all of my friends to read this powerful and adult series. I’m living in Australia now so I’m not sure when the new book will get here but I will be first in line to get it (unless, of course, I’m lucky enough to win one of these ARCs :-> )
As for the drinking game, how about a slug for every time the vestry board has a meeting to discuss Clare?
Charlie said on 04.03.11 at 01:07 AM • [comment link]
I’ve been addicted to this series for only a short while. By that I mean I read one book about a year ago and read the rest of the series in about a month. And let me tell you that I never expected to want to read a series about a female priest who is celibate. There is a reason I was attracted to this site after all. I can’t wait for the next one! And Julia, I’m more than happy to find a leather wearing vamp in other books but I love that these are real people who need glasses and don’t quite have it all together. And thank you too because I love that you made Claire so capable that she takes care of Russ when his fears kick in.
Tammy said on 04.03.11 at 01:21 AM • [comment link]
Loved the interview. Now my curiosity is peaked.
I’ll have to give them a read.lay87
17catherines said on 04.03.11 at 01:36 AM • [comment link]
Oh no, everyone has already said the things I would have said for the drinking game (the inappropriate car and the disapproving parishioners sticking out for me).
I’d still like an ARC, though! And I now need to go back and read the bit with the marajuana in the burning barn.
Ellie W said on 04.03.11 at 02:35 AM • [comment link]
I love this series and can’t wait to read this. Great interview, too.
Thanks for the giveaway!
eswright18 at gmail dot com
Rachel B. said on 04.03.11 at 02:39 AM • [comment link]
Put me in the anxiously-awaiting-cannot-believe-how-long-it’s-been-knows-it-will-have-been-worth-the-wait-but-just-canNOT-wait corner, for certain. I have loved these, with (or in spite of?? not sure) all their grown-up moral ambiguity, for years. Also very happy to hear that our Esteemed Author is in with the implicit contract of some sort of HEA for the passionately faithful reader. Knowing the EA, it will certainly not be a simple one.
I absolutely loved hearing Ms. Spencer-Fleming’s voice. Excellent interview, SBs. Sorry, no brilliant novel drinking game suggestions here.
Jen B. said on 04.03.11 at 02:53 AM • [comment link]
Ok, not actually familiar with this series. However, after reading the interview I have gone to Amazon and purchased it! Just what I need is another book!! The series sounds really emotional and wonderful. I would love to win the ARC. It would encourage me to move both books up to the top of my TBR list! I have never actually participated in a drinking game. Honestly, I find the idea of having to remember all of the rules while also imbibing a bit overwhelming :)
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Sherry said on 04.03.11 at 02:56 AM • [comment link]
Great questions! Great answers! Great series! NOT great waiting time! I love these characters and am looking forward to this next book very much. As real as these characters may seem, I still hope for HEA. It is fiction after all.
Sheryl Nantus said on 04.03.11 at 03:27 AM • [comment link]
WANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANT
WANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANT
WANTWANTWANTWANT…
real badly.
thank you.
*thud*
robinjn said on 04.03.11 at 03:54 AM • [comment link]
Okay I rarely drink. But how about a sip every time someone mentions the clock in Clare’s office.
I love this series. I tried it directly as a result of SBTB and Sarah’s raving about it a couple of years ago. I then devoured every book. I love that these characters are real people, with real fallacies making choices that I see in the real world around me all the time. Yet they are fundamentally good people too. Or good in the way most of us are; trying their best and sometimes failing, but getting up, dusting themselves off, and getting on with it. Because that’s what you do.
I would adore an ARC. I have been waiting for this book for too damn long.
May said on 04.03.11 at 04:02 AM • [comment link]
Pleas enter me in the draw. I love this series and can’t wait to read the next instalment
Sycorax said on 04.03.11 at 06:18 AM • [comment link]
For a copy of this book I might even find religion.
Also, don’t Clare’s beautiful hazel green eyes get mentioned a lot by Russ too?
Octavia said on 04.03.11 at 07:20 AM • [comment link]
Not only did I get myself hooked on this awesome series, thanks to SBTB, but I also managed to get my mother hooked too. If I had a dollar for every time she’s asked me when the next book about “the lovely woman priest and the policeman” is due out I’d have paid off my freaking mortgage by now.
At least now I have an answer for her! Now I just have to find out when the Australian release date is or whether I’ll have to order it from overseas . . .
SonomaLass said on 04.03.11 at 07:20 AM • [comment link]
I’m trying to get my mom to read this series; she loves mysteries, but she heard the scarlet A word associated with these and has shied away. I think she will love them if she just tries, since JSF never goes easy on either character.
Just have to say, if I didn’t already want to read this book, the interview would have sold me. Really awesome answers, but I should expect that from someone with the classy and fabulous name of Julia.
Margaret Franson said on 04.03.11 at 08:07 AM • [comment link]
I have already read One Was a Soldier—a wonderful story—and have ordered a copy from the Mystery Guild. So, I don’t need to be put in the ARC contest. I just wanted to say that Julia mentioned the book after next, which means there will be at least books 8 and 9. Yea! I would also like to mention that I am 73. So, Julia, please don’t take as long getting books 8 and 9 out as book 7. I don’t know how long the proverbial “tunnel” is in my case, and I really want to see how Clare and Russ’s story unfolds. Hope I can hang on long enough to see Sue Grafton get to “Z” is for whatever, too. (the last one was “U is for Undertow.”) Sue takes 1 1/2 years per book, and she’s 71. So, I have my fingers crossed for her.
Kristi said on 04.03.11 at 08:47 AM • [comment link]
Great interview! I have not started this series but I wanted to drop a comment to enter before I head to the $2.99 first book, yea!
Jessica said on 04.03.11 at 09:38 AM • [comment link]
For this book, I would… go to church. :P
My word: “went52” !! Is that a sign from the future that I will win?!?
The Duchess said on 04.03.11 at 11:04 AM • [comment link]
Great interview! This series blew my socks off with every book, all of which I practically inhaled last year in a tearing rush. And I’ve been waiting for One Was a Soldier since then. =D
Kim in Hawaii said on 04.03.11 at 11:48 AM • [comment link]
Interesting feedback from the returing soldiers.
hechicera said on 04.03.11 at 03:02 PM • [comment link]
Damn it I slept in this morning and now everyone has already posted all the drinking-game suggestions I could come up with.
I was given In the Bleak Midwinter for Christmas, and promptly tore through the rest of the series.
My favorite thing about this interview: mention of a “book after next.” Hooray!
Patti in Tx said on 04.03.11 at 04:01 PM • [comment link]
I’ve been a fan for years ever since I came across In the Bleak Midwinter while browsing the shelves at B&N for a good mystery and I have been hooked ever since and I would love to win the arc.
I can’t think of anything to add to the drinking game that hasn’t all ready been mentioned.
Kim said on 04.03.11 at 04:15 PM • [comment link]
wantwantwantwantwant. Please pull my name out of the hat!
Gail said on 04.03.11 at 04:21 PM • [comment link]
Great interview! Loved it. Rhuss…lol.
I was a lucky to have already received an ARC early on. I’ve only read it about 6, 7… times. Fantastic as always. I’m just sorry that we can’t start nagging about when the next one comes out. That would just be plain tacky. Right????
Jan O'Hara said on 04.03.11 at 04:38 PM • [comment link]
Yes, please. I’d love to win a copy. I entered the series at the book immediately preceding this one and have waited in breathless anticipation since.
susan said on 04.03.11 at 04:55 PM • [comment link]
I have had this one on my wish list for months. I just can’t wait.
Jane said on 04.03.11 at 05:12 PM • [comment link]
Oh boy! Can’t believe it’s almost here. I first read In the Bleak Midwinter when a friend forced it on me against my protests over the priest / married man characters. Ms. Spencer-Fleming, you earned my trust that Russ and Clare’s relationship will end up where it should.
My personal drinking game would be -
every time I think “Clare - what are you doing - wait!” - 1 sip
every time I think “Russ, wake up!” - 1 sip
verification word reading63. If you write that many in this series I’ll be reading 63 books!
DeeAnnW said on 04.03.11 at 05:21 PM • [comment link]
I am looking forward to this book and I would love to be a winner!
Years ago when I was much younger my girlfriends and I had a drinking game. Here is how it went: We would go go one bar; have one drink each. We would move onto a second bar and have two drinks. We would go on to the third bar and have 3 drinks. Let’s see by that time we would have had a total of six drinks. If I recall correctly, we only made it to four bars—it was a challenge and a great time hanging out with the girls!
It was fun at the time . . .
D
tzippurah said on 04.03.11 at 06:12 PM • [comment link]
Is it rude to say I NEED this book? This series got me through some rough times stranded in a third world country, without electricity or running water. I actually was super nostalgic for the idea of a northeastern winter.
Maineacmeg said on 04.03.11 at 06:20 PM • [comment link]
Wonderful interview…I’ve just downloaded the first book to my reader. Thanks so much!!
anne said on 04.03.11 at 06:30 PM • [comment link]
Thanks for this wonderful giveaway. I have read this series and it is compelling and unique. Best wishes.
Shary said on 04.03.11 at 09:02 PM • [comment link]
I love this series. Been waiting (not very patiently) for the next installment. :)
Bski10 said on 04.03.11 at 09:28 PM • [comment link]
I’d love to win a copy - although I too have pre-ordered - while I read almost exclusively thru the library, I like to buy authors that delight me! They have to eat too (dont they?) :))
I’ve lived most of my adult life in the Adirondacks and JSF’s vivid storytelling eminently captures what its like in “God’s Country” - unique to say the least. I’ve done my best to convince every reader I know to read her books, specially anyone who knows and appreciates the difficulties of life in upstate NY. So many people I meet have no clue what happens north of Yonkers in the state and this series is a great way to enlighten them!!
Virginia Llorca said on 04.03.11 at 09:33 PM • [comment link]
Off topic: (as usual)
I cannot believe Sue Grafton is 71. The whole age spectrum just shifted for me.
hechicera said on 04.03.11 at 09:39 PM • [comment link]
Oh, and I’d just like to add: One of the first things I did after powering through my Christmas-gift In the Bleak Midwinter on my Kindle was to email the author and thank her prodigiously for leaving text-to-speech enabled on the e-version. I reiterate those thanks here, in case that email was lost in an avalanche of fan mail. Thank you, J S-F, thank you.
Army75: an army of 75 Clares in helicopters couldn’t stop me from reading this upcoming book.
cmg said on 04.03.11 at 10:08 PM • [comment link]
This series got me thru back surgery… have been waiting none too patiently to see where Clare and Russ are headed! Please, please, please pick me!!!!!
Carol Z said on 04.03.11 at 11:47 PM • [comment link]
I have loved and recommended this series to many people. The drinking game suggestions are hilarious. pick me.
Dani said on 04.03.11 at 11:49 PM • [comment link]
I heart this series! Once I discovered the first book I then read the remaining books as quickly as I could. I can’t wait for April 12th!!!
Nancy Hill said on 04.03.11 at 11:55 PM • [comment link]
I love this series so much that I’m making my very first ever comment on SBTB just to try to win a copy!! Best friend and I are both hooked and have been waiting with bated breath for the next installment!
And I convinced my book club that we need to start the series as a group, so, Yippee! I have reason to read them all again!
lost68=no, I’m not 68 and I haven’t lost yet!
Vicki said on 04.04.11 at 12:09 AM • [comment link]
I am fond of this series and have had high hopes for Russ and Claire. Would love to win.
Deryn said on 04.04.11 at 12:40 AM • [comment link]
great interview! great series! So looking forward to One was a Soldier. Maybe my wait will be a little shorter now?
Becky Preston said on 04.04.11 at 01:05 AM • [comment link]
I second the suggestions of the inappropriate car for the drinking game. I can arrange to open something decent.
Too bad there are people in my book group who are not comfortable with wine…
I started on the series with In the Bleak Midwinter, so it seems like this one has been forever coming out.
Barbara Chaple said on 04.04.11 at 01:35 AM • [comment link]
Love the series! And, would be over the moon if I won a copy.
How about a sip each time the “Death from the Skies” coffee mug makes an appearance.
Cait said on 04.04.11 at 01:43 AM • [comment link]
Clare and Russ are 2 of my fav HnHs. Her eggs aren’t getting any younger, so I wish they’d just do IT. I big gulp if they do. I’ve had this book on reserve for a Year?? I think. I was heart broken for the delay—- I sent Ms. JSF an email about 2 weeks ago about the auido edition. Any body know?
Thanks,
Cait
ps - If yu can put up with the Claire and Jamie delays, you can weather anything. Just don’t die before the series’ end.
Drucinda Woodman said on 04.04.11 at 01:57 AM • [comment link]
Because Amazon,after telling me I’d actually, finally receive my book…by April 6th,just sent an email stating due to delay,it won’t be shipped until April 22 !!! it’s been soooo looong a wait to hear the latest from Miller’s Kill.
Emily said on 04.04.11 at 02:31 AM • [comment link]
I’m an Episcopalian, and I love me some Clare Fergusson. Julia even commented on my first blog review of her books. Oh please oh please oh please gimme gimme gimme.
Jordan D. said on 04.04.11 at 02:49 AM • [comment link]
Please put me into the drawing! It’s been a long three year wait and I have been trying to get a copy everywhere I could!
There’s nothing I don’t love about the Millers Kill books. Everything about small town life is spot on. Thank you, Julia, for bringing another book to readers.
Elizabeth Sheffer said on 04.04.11 at 03:05 AM • [comment link]
I love the series. Being an Episcopalian the hymns used as titles fit so perfectly and when we sing them in church, my mind flashes to the book. Is that bad? Can’t wait to read One Was A Soldier. I will be with 3 of my best friends at the book signing in Troy on April 16!
Brenda Rupp said on 04.04.11 at 03:23 AM • [comment link]
I’ve never heard of the series and would love to read them!
Keira Soleore said on 04.04.11 at 03:47 AM • [comment link]
I’m afraid I’m new to Julia’s books. So many people I know have been recommending Julia’s books to me, but it’s this interview that has me now wanting to try. I read this interview and put the first book on my Amazon list. Thanks, Sarah, for adding to my to-read authors.
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