421. Love Will Get You Through: Reader Letters To Beverly Jenkins

[music]

Sarah Wendell: Well, hello there. Thank you for inviting me into your eardrums. I’m Sarah Wendell, host of Smart Podcast, Trashy Books. This is episode number 421, and my guest today is Beverly Jenkins. Yes, Ms. Bev is back! Recently she tweeted about reader mail and reader letters, and she was kind enough to pull some letters from her archives – of course she keeps all of them – to read and share with us. If you are looking for an episode of a podcast that’s like a big hug, this might be it, but you should probably grab some tissues; you might get a little sniffly.

I will have links to where you can find Ms. Bev and all of the books that she talks about in the show notes at smartbitchestrashybooks.com/podcast.

This podcast episode is brought to you by The Siren and the Deep Blue Sea by Kerrelyn Sparks, book two in the Embraced by Magic series after How to Love Your Elf. This book is described as Game of Thrones meets The Princess Bride, combining romance and high fantasy. It immerses readers in a world populated by duplicitous elves, sentient trees, shapeshifting dragons, and warrior princesses. Four sisters have become queens, rulers of all that Aerthlan’s two moons embrace. The last sister will forge her own path. Raised on the magic-seeped Isle of Moon, Maeve is used to unusual powers and the way they fuel the politics of her world. But when she discovers an ability to shape-shift at will, she knows who she wants to share it with first. Brody, the enigmatic, infuriating shifter-spy has always made time for Maeve, but it’s been almost two months since she’s seen him, and although no one else believes Brody is in danger, Maeve is more than ready to rescue him herself. The Siren and the Deep Blue Sea by Kerrelyn Sparks is on sale now wherever books are sold. You can find out more about this book and many others at kensingtonbooks.com.

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And now Wilbur and I have a compliment. I love this part!

To Deborah D.: You know how when cats stare off into the distance like they’re too great for this earth and, and the common problems of the universe are just utterly beneath them? That’s not actually what they’re doing. They’re actually thinking of you and how incredible you are.

If you would like a compliment of your very own, have a look at patreon.com/SmartBitches. Monthly pledges start at one dollar, and every pledge keeps the show going and helps me make sure that every episode is accessible. Thank you, Patreon community, for being so terrific, and thank you, Deborah, and thank you for considering having a look! Patreon.com/SmartBitches.

I have one more thing to tell you about. What are you doing with your free time? Playing Best Fiends probably, maybe? Yes? I am rather hooked on this game, and if you’re anything like me, you will find it to be quite enjoyable too! Best Fiends gives you a fun way to have some socially distant competition with your friends, and Best Fiends updates the game monthly with new levels and events, so it never gets old. Every time you log in, there’s something new and interesting and fun! Plus, Best Fiends treats the game like a service for their players. Every time I open it, there’s a new character or a new piece of the story, and there’s always new monthly themed challenges, which I like because they’re really fun, and it’s easy to try to beat a new level when I’m waiting in line or waiting for something to boil, which, gosh, takes a long time! And even if the cell service is really bad in the store that I’m in, no worries! I don’t need a connection to play. Best Fiends has thousands of levels already, with new levels, events, and characters added every month. It’s hours of fun right at your fingertips, and you can play offline. With over one hundred million downloads and tons of five-star reviews, Best Fiends is a must-play. You can download Best Fiends free on the Apple App Store or Google Play. That’s Friends without the R: Best Fiends!

As always, I will end this episode with a truly dreadful joke, and this one was sent to me by a listener, so thank you! If you want to send me bad jokes or ask questions or make suggestions, email me at [email protected] or Sarah with an H at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books dot com [[email protected]] – they go to the same place. I love hearing from you, and I especially love it when you tell me really, really, really bad jokes.

But let’s get on with this episode, shall we? We are welcoming Beverly Jenkins and all of her reading mail in this episode. I hope you like this one. On with the podcast.

[music]

Ms. Beverly Jenkins: Hello out there. My name is Beverly Jenkins, and I write romance!

Sarah: You sure do! Like a few!

Ms. Bev: Yeah, I –

Sarah: Several, several, in fact.

Ms. Bev: Yeah, in fact – you know, I’ve done so many of these Zoom things that, you know, I’m getting dizzy.

Sarah: [Laughs]

Ms. Bev: Somebody asked in one of these things, you know, how many books I’ve written, and I didn’t know, and I said, you know, just – oh, it was the thing for Book Romance Day on Saturday –

Sarah: Mm-hmm!

Ms. Bev: – and I told the moderator, I said, well, I have no idea. I said, just ask the audience; somebody’ll tell you. And sure enough, you know, one of the readers said, forty-one books and eight novellas! So –

Sarah: Wow!

Ms. Bev: – so she won a twenty-five-dollar gift card for books, because, like I said, I don’t know, you know. The readers know more about, you know, the books than I do, which is a good thing! ‘Cause, you know, I, I, I can’t answer sometimes, ‘cause I don’t remember.

Sarah: And also, it’s, part of your job is to look to the next book, not count up the ones behind you.

Ms. Bev: Exactly! And, you know, and they judge you not on your past, but the present! So –

Sarah: Well, I just asked Google: how many books has Beverly Jenkins written?

Ms. Bev: [Laughs]

Sarah: And it didn’t even bother to give me a number. It just gave me a carousel and was like, here! Here’s all of them.

Ms. Bev: Oh, I love it.

Sarah: Didn’t even try to count.

Ms. Bev: Yeah. I was really freaked out; my, my son – this was a couple years ago – said he asked – was it the Siri or Alexa or maybe both? – you know, who is Beverly Jenkins? He said, I wanted to see if they knew who my mom was. And he said, you know, and then he had me do it, and it was like, Beverly Jenkins is a romance writer, and I was like, oh wow!

[Laughter]

Ms. Bev: Even –

Sarah: Well, I mean –

Ms. Bev: [Laughs] Go ahead.

Sarah: – once you’re on Wik-, once you’re on Wikipedia, everybody knows who you are.

Ms. Bev: Well, you know, I, we, I had to, I had a big thing about Wikipedia about a month ago. Somebody, whoever – you know, you never should base stuff on Wikipedia ‘cause they get shit wrong.

Sarah: Mm-hmm.

Ms. Bev: Somebody had crossed me, apparently, with Brenda Jackson again.

Sarah: Nooo! Nooo!

Ms. Bev: And, and this was the novel part of it: it said my, my birth name was Brenda! And I’m like –

Sarah: Well, that’s news, isn’t it?

Ms. Bev: The, yeah, and new! You know, usually they’re, you know, they get us mixed up in all kinds of ways, so now they’re getting us mixed up on Wikipedia pages. So I’m like, really? No, my birth name is not Brenda!

Sarah: Mm-mm!

Ms. Bev: And then two minutes later, whoever must have been following me on Twitter or something. You know, it was changed back to, her first name is Beverly. I’m like, Lord have mercy, these people. So yeah. Interesting.

Sarah: The article has a header that says, “For the blues singer that recorded with her husband Gordon Jenkins, see Gordon Jenkins.”

Ms. Bev: Yeah. Yeah, there’s, there are at least four Beverly Jenkins that I know of. There’s the jazz singer; one is an author, and she goes by Beverly L. Jenkins because people kept getting us confused; and then I have –

Sarah: Oh wow.

Ms. Bev: – a woman on my Facebook page who was really angry about me using a picture of her son on a calendar, and I’m like, what are you talking about? I said, no, no, no, wasn’t me. You know, check the other, other Beverly Jenkins, and so I guess she did.

Sarah: [Laughs]

Ms. Bev: That girl was crazy near me. So she called, she sent me a, a, a Facebook post a couple days later and said that she had found the, the, the real one, so she said, you know, thanked me for being nice and not cussing her out and all of that, so. You know, I, I said, oh, in case you want a book by me, you know, a shameless plug. But yeah, it’s, it’s, being Beverly Jenkins is kind of interesting. And then we have a couple in my community, so I have to make sure I don’t get somebody else’s medical records.

Sarah: Oh my!

Ms. Bev: Yeah, so it’s, yeah, interesting.

Sarah: So you’re not a blues singer?

Ms. Bev: I used to be, before two packs of cigarettes fifty years ago, but, you know.

[Laughter]

Ms. Bev: In fact, I was a, a, a soprano, so I tell people, you know, I used to be a soprano; now I’m Lauren Bacall, so, you know.

Sarah: You know what, I was too.

Ms. Bev: Yep.

Sarah: I used to be a soprano, and my voice has gotten deeper and deeper as I’ve aged.

Ms. Bev: Yeah, yeah. Which is kind of cool, though, you know. The sexy voice.

Sarah: Yeah, right? Absolutely.

Ms. Bev: Yeah!

Sarah: So what are you working on right now? How are you doing?

Ms. Bev: I am doing well. You know, I know that there are a lot of people who are struggling with the, the quarantine and the lockdown and, you know, all of that, but, you know, this is my normal life, you know, being in the house. So I’m doing well. You know, I, I’ve had my groceries delivered for the last, eh, probably two and a half years, three years? So, you know, I, that hasn’t changed. In fact, I got a delivery this morning. So I am doing well.

I’m working on an independent kind of thing that if I can ever get it done, we’re going to self-publish, a follow-up to the Detroit series, the romantic suspense that I’ve been promising and lying to the fans about for like the last fifteen years I’ve been telling people.

Sarah: [Laughs]

Ms. Bev: So I’m working on that. I have, the next Blessings book is due to New York in Nov-, in January, so I’m going to give myself till probably Labor Day to finish this, this small project, and then dive into that. That’ll be book eleven. Not sure if it’s going to be the –

Sarah: Wow!

Ms. Bev: Yeah, I know. I don’t know if it’s going to be the last one or not, but, you know, we’ll, I’m contracted for two more, so we shall see.

But I am, you know, you know, if, if it wasn’t for the pandemic and I, you know, know people are grieving and people have lost family members and, and all that, but being home and not being on the road during the summer, which is usually, you know, my life –

Sarah: Mm-hmm.

Ms. Bev: – has been kind of, kind of cool! You know, catch my breath, and my house is sort of clean, and there’s no suitcases in the living room, and –

Sarah: My house is sort of clean! [Laughs]

Ms. Bev: It is! I mean, I still can’t get into the office. That’s still on the list. But I’m enjoying just sort of kicking back and not having a, like I said, not being in an airport every weekend. I’m missing being at church, though. We’re doing a, an outside kind of thing, and, you know, me and my COPD, I, you know, I can’t do masks for a long time, so.

Sarah: No.

Ms. Bev: I’m, I’m waiting for our governor, who we absolutely love, gives us a, a, a go-ahead to sort of return to as normal as we can, but we’ve still got a bunch of COV-, we call them COVIDiots, who are –

Sarah: [Laughs]

Ms. Bev: – screaming about her and, you know, wanting to recall her and all of that, but she’s done a damn good job of keeping us safe, so once she says it’s okay, then – ‘cause I know we can’t even sing in church now, so.

Sarah: Yeah, I was going to say, our synagogue meets in a church, and we were told by the church building to not expect to have live services until at least spring of next year, because –

Ms. Bev: Yeah.

Sarah: – you can’t sing.

Ms. Bev: Yeah, yeah! We can’t do, can’t do communion.

Sarah: Nope.

Ms. Bev: And we have a, a fantastic new female priest, who is just, I mean, just amazing, and it would be really, really nice – she started in February – so it would be nice if we could sort of really integrate her into the community, but she’s been fabulous even, you know, doing the social distancing thing, so.

So a lot of things are going on, but, you know, we deal with it, and we keep moving and pray for all of those who need prayer and pray for ourselves and –

Sarah: Mm-hmm.

Ms. Bev: – see what happens next.

Sarah: And it’s interesting to just – you know, ‘cause you, you were saying, you, you travel usually –

Ms. Bev: Yes.

Sarah: – alll summer. I mean, you travel a lot!

Ms. Bev: I do. I do.

Sarah: And that requires, you know, advance planning, and one of the things I’ve struggled with is that there’s no planning!

Ms. Bev: Yeah.

Sarah: Like, I can barely plan meals a week ahead, and that’s really about as far as I get.

Ms. Bev: Yeah. And, you know, and not having anybody here but me makes it not bad for me. You know, I, I, like I said, I’m doing all these Zoom things, and I’ve got, farthest out event I’ve got is a visit to the Arizona State University in February, but we were supposed to be trying to have a pajama party in June, and my travel group, we had to cancel our trip to Tulsa this year –

Sarah: Oh!

Ms. Bev: – so we’re going to try to do it again next year. I was supposed to go to the Anguilla Book Fair, which was sponsored by the government, and they were going to pay for everything and –

Sarah: Ooh!

Ms. Bev: Yeah. So, you know, I could bring one of my friends and, you know, and that got canceled, and they’re going to try and, and reschedule for next year, but, you know, like you say, you don’t know! You absolutely don’t know what’s going to happen from day to day, so we’ll see.

Sarah: One thing I know that is true for readers is that the mental drain of processing so much stress and grief and uncertainty, and then the doom scrolling on social media and watching the news and how terrible things relentlessly seem is that it’s really hard to just read a book. Like, your brains are tired! It’s hard. It’s, it’s easier to reread; it’s easier to take on something shorter. I’ve been playing videogames because the, the story’s half built, and I just make a choice?

Ms. Bev: Yeah.

Sarah: But is that also a struggle for you? Is it hard to write right now?

Ms. Bev: It’s not! For me, it’s not, because it’s a world I can control.

Sarah: Ohhh, that’s very alluring!

Ms. Bev: Okay, it’s, it’s a wor-, you know, regardless of what’s going on in, you know, politically and social media and all of that, I can control what I write, and that gives me a bit of comfort, so I’m not have any – you know, and I know that there are authors out there who are – and readers – who are really, really struggling, but on that level, no. Not at all. And the fact that I have so much “free time,” that’s what I’m struggling with. You know, I’m like –

[Laughter]

Ms. Bev: – what am I going to do today? You know, it’s like, you know, and, and with my, you know, my mother-in-law passing in April and my mom passing, you know, two days later, you know, my mother-in-law has filled up my calendar for the last, you know, seriously, for the last three years. So, you know, I, I, I still sort of get up and say, oh, okay, I don’t have to ride over there today, you know, so.

Sarah: Mm-hmm.

Ms. Bev: So I’ve got a lot of free time that, you know, I’ve been able to plant flowers and, you know, kick back and, you know, clean off my patio and actually enjoy it and, you know, the weeds and I are still fighting, and the rabbits and I are still fighting, but I’m, I’m, I’m doing okay with this, surprisingly. I’m doing okay.

Oh, there’s the hummingbird! Ah, he’s out there just having a good old time right now.

Sarah: Awesome!

Ms. Bev: I can see him through the front, open front door as I sit here talking to you, so.

Sarah: Recently, you tweeted about getting a reader letter from someone’s husband –

Ms. Bev: Yeah.

Sarah: – who said that, this gentleman purchased a copy of your book for his wife and then sent it to you to autograph as a surprise, and you tweeted, “…he loves his wife as much as the hero in the story loves the heroine.”

Ms. Bev: Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you know, and, and I’m sure that, you know, there are – I’m going to read that to you. That’ll be the last the last thing I read to you.

Sarah: Oh, please read all the things to me. I am, I want to ask you all about your reader, your reader letters.

Ms. Bev: Yeah, I, I made myself a list so that I, ‘cause you know I can, I wind up, you know, we’ll be in Jamaica or someplace if I get to, you know, being distracted, but I’m sure there that are other authors who can, who can tell you about, you know, letters that they’ve written, that they’ve received that were just as moving, but, you know, that one sort of really, really struck me, just because of, of, of his declaration of, of how he felt about his wife.

My first memorable letter was the very first letter, very first fan letter that I received. Night Song came out in July of ’94, and I got that first fan letter probably a month later, maybe in August, late August? And it was so surprising, because I don’t think, you know, I don’t think I expected to get any letters? You know, like I said, I hadn’t planned on being a writer in the first place, so to get a fan letter, and she was an African-American woman who was a member of the Coast Guard, and –

Sarah: Oh!

Ms. Bev: Yeah! And she was based in Louisiana, and she said she had been a romance reader all her life. She was probably, back then – God, it’s been, what, twenty years, thir-, twenty-five years? – so she was probably in her early twenties back then? And she read romance, and she had never seen a Black romance, you know, with a Black couple on the cover, and so she sort of snatched it up and read it and then sent me this great letter, and she and I have stayed in touch all this time. I’m, you know, really close to her family and her mom; they came a couple years to the early pajama parties that we had. But it was so funny, because she hadn’t planned on having children, and – [laughs] – she told me this one Christmas. She and her husband were playing Chase and Cara Lee, which were the hero and the heroine of Night Song. They were playing Chase and Cara Lee on the steps of her mother’s house in the basement during Christmas Eve, and it resulted in a pregnancy.

Sarah: Oh, surprise!

Ms. Bev: [Laughs] I told her, that’s what you get for playing on the steps.

Sarah: [Laughs] Yeah!

Ms. Bev: So she said she hadn’t planned on being pregnant, and it was my fault and, and I told her, well, I wasn’t there, so it can’t be my fault.

Sarah: [Laughs] That’s a really big, powerful reach you have, ma’am! My goodness!

Ms. Bev: [Laughs] I know, ‘cause her mother lives in Ohio! I’m like, okay, now, not my fault! But that was the first letter.

And then the, you know, and I’m sure, and I have, you know, like I told you, I have all these letters are downstairs in my basement in boxes, because I kept everything. The next letter that stood out for me was right after Vivid. Vivid came out in ’95, and I think it went out of print probably three or four years later, so this must be 1999, maybe 2000 at the, at the latest? And I open it up, and the woman said that I had saved her marriage!

Sarah: Ohhh!

Ms. Bev: And I don’t know if I’ve told you this story before or not, but I know I haven’t told you the end of it. It was Christmas Eve – another Christmas Eve – and she and her husband had been going through a really, really rough, you know, newly married, a really, really rough patch, to the point where she was leaving him. And she said, you know, she picked up the baby and, you know, on her way out the door and, you know, tears and all of that, and, and he said, well, at least open your Christmas presents before you leave me. So she opened up the presents, and inside was the out-of-print Vivid. He had searched this book down because he knew how much she wanted it.

Sarah: Ohhh!

Ms. Bev: And she said she just dissolved. You know, she’s crying, he’s crying, and she never did leave, because, you know, love will get you through.

So, okay, so switch to, okay, let’s move this. So this was 2000 or so.

Sarah: Right.

Ms. Bev: 2017, my traveling group, my, my ladies and I are in New Orleans, and I don’t know why I was telling this story, but anyway, I’m telling this story again, and as I’m ending it, somebody in the back said, Ms. Bev, that was me.

Sarah: [Gasps]

Ms. Bev: ‘Cause I didn’t know who, you know, I, I had forgotten the name. I, you know, I, I never received anything else from the, from the letter writer, and I looked back there, and it’s Carolyn Hector Hall!

Sarah: Oh, my gosh!

Ms. Bev: Who writes for Harlequin!

Sarah: Oh my.

Ms. Bev: You could have knocked me over with a feather.

Sarah: [Laughs]

Ms. Bev: Like, really? She said, yep, that was me; that was my letter!

Sarah: [Gasps]

Ms. Bev: I’m going, oh my God! So, you know, life is so strange. You know, and the powers that be have such a great sense of humor, so. So here I am telling this story, you know, and then she’s in the, she’s in the room going, yeah, that was me. You know, and it’s like three kids later and all that, so I’m like, wow! [Laughs]

Sarah: So not only was your, are your books a way for readers to see themselves as beautiful and lovable and as the heroines of their stories, but it also allowed her husband to communicate how much he loved her –

Ms. Bev: Yeah.

Sarah: – through your book.

Ms. Bev: Yeah! It’s amazing. You know, romance is so amazing!

Sarah: It really is.

Ms. Bev: You know, because it, it does that, you know, and not just with, with me and my books but with, you know, everybody who writes romance probably has a, a, a spine-chilling kind of story like that that, you know, just makes you glad that you write and, you know, grateful for the gift and, and the ability to be able to touch people’s lives in a positive way, so. So that was kind of awesome!

Sarah: That’s kind of amazing, yes!

Ms. Bev: So everybody run out and get Carolyn’s books!

Sarah: [Laughs] Well, don’t worry; I will link to them.

Ms. Bev: Okay, yeah, she’s awesome.

So the next category of letters – I need to write down next.

Sarah: Please tell me that you, you are going to donate your letters and your papers someday to a library so that generations from now –

Ms. Bev: I am, yeah! I, my, my sort-of alma mater, ‘cause I didn’t finish school, Michigan State University reached out to me. Somebody was in an archive meeting and, and, and said, you know, y’all need to, somebody needs to step up, and so – this was four, five years ago – she, Michigan State University, their archivist, ‘cause they have my books in their special collection ‘cause I used to work there –

Sarah: Mm-hmm.

Ms. Bev: – said she wanted my stuff, and then we communicated over a year or so, and so I haven’t heard anything since then. But in the meantime, you know, there’s always Bowling Green.

Sarah: Oh yes.

Ms. Bev: You know, and Steve has been, like, waiting very patiently – [laughs] – for me to – so I think they’re probably going to wind up there, you know, if I, when I get a chance, I need to touch base with MSU to see if they still want ‘em, then if not, then they’ll definitely go to, on to, to Steve at Bowling Green, because I know he’ll take good care of my stuff, so. But yeah.

So my next category of memorable letters are from the descendants of some of the historical people. The actual people that I wrote.

Sarah: No!

Ms. Bev: Yes!

Sarah: No way! Oh my gosh!

Ms. Bev: The first one was from the family and the descendants of Dangerfield Newby. Now, for those who don’t know who Dangerfield Newby was – who is or whatever – he was with John Brown at Harpers Ferry.

Sarah: Wow!

Ms. Bev: One of, I think, four or five Black men who were part of the raiders when he, John Brown tried to take over the arsenal. So Dangerfield Newby was the first person killed in the fight. So I mentioned him, probably in Indigo, and during the, you know, ‘cause there were a lot of letters coming in from Indigo, one of his descendants wrote me –

Sarah: Wow!

Ms. Bev: – and said, thanked me for keeping his name alive. You know, I think that’s one of the reasons why, you know, you do the, I do the unsung, people that I call the unsung, people who’ve been sort of, you know, forgotten by history, because you make them alive again. And so they were very, very grateful that I had written about their ancestor in a way that honored him, and I was blown away by that.

Sarah: Wow!

Ms. Bev: So that letter’s in the basement too somewhere. I know –

Sarah: That’s incredible!

Ms. Bev: Yeah.

Sarah: Did you get chills when you opened that?

Ms. Bev: Oh, I did! I did! You know, I called my mother, and she was like, oh my God!

Sarah: I have chills right now. That’s incredible!

Ms. Bev: Yeah. She was like, save that! I’m like, yes, Mama, you know I will. You know, so, so somewhere in the, in the probably hundreds of letters downstairs that I have is a, is a very kind note from the descendants of Dangerfield Newby!

Sarah: Wow!

Ms. Bev: Yeah.

The second memorable historical letter I got, I got a couple years ago from, I think she’s the great-great-granddaughter of “Hanging Judge” Isaac Parker.

Sarah: No.

Ms. Bev: [Laughs]

Sarah: Oh my.

Ms. Bev: And for those who know my work, you know that Parker is in Topaz, and he’s mentioned in, played a real good, real hearty role, heavy role in Something Like Love.

Sarah: Wow.

Ms. Bev: So this was his, I think, great-great-granddaughter, and this was a couple years ago, and she said, you know, she thanked me; she said the family loved the way that I, you know, put him in a story and, and, and got his personality right and, and all of that. So I was like, Jesus! So that was an email, and I need to pull that off of my, it’s on my old email, if I can remember the password.

Sarah: [Laughs]

Ms. Bev: Stuck in my old email, ‘cause we had to switch, we had to switch emails because I was getting so much spam, and then we had to change it when we, when we locked down the, made the, the website secure, and you had to go through GoDaddy and all of that, so somewhere on that old email list is a letter from descendants of Isaac Parker. I mean, and he was such amazing, he was so amazing because, for those who don’t know him, he was the first district judge appointed. He had Missouri all the way to Indian Territory, operated out of Fort Smith, Arkansas.

Sarah: Wow.

Ms. Bev: And had a Black bailiff and appointed some of the, the few African-American lawmen in I.T., specifically Bass Reeves, who’s, you know, such an iconic figure. There are historians who believe that the Lone Ranger is based on Bass Reeves.

Sarah: I did not know that!

Ms. Bev: Yeah, well, you know, the, you know, the Lone Ranger debuted in Detroit in, what the ‘30s, the ‘20s, whatever –

Sarah: Yeah.

Ms. Bev: – and the prisoners, the people who were sent to prison from Indian Territory were sent to Michigan, ‘cause that’s where the penitentiary was, and they think that, you know, all of the stories was, you know, Bass was like a bigger-than-life figure.

Sarah: Right.

Ms. Bev: He was, you know, just tall and he did, you know, disguises and, you know, tricks and stuff and never lost a man and all that, but could not read! Was illiterate. So all these tales –

Sarah: Ah!

Ms. Bev: – that people told about, you know, the legendary Bass Reeves, they think, historians, some historians think that, you know, these are the stories that sort of filtered down to whoever it was – I don’t remember the two guys that did the Lone Ranger. They took those stories and created the Lone Ranger, but of course they had to make him white. No, couldn’t make him, couldn’t keep him Black. So, yeah! So that’s where they think the Lone Ranger came from, so y’all can look up Bass Reeves. They, they finally raised a statue in his honor at Fort Smith, Arkansas, for, recently. For years, nobody knew where he was buried, supposedly. Historians were, you know, running around crazy trying to find out where Bass was supposed, was, was buried. So yeah, so Isaac Parker’s great-great-granddaughter.

And then, the, the, the last letter that I’m going to mention, I got couple, the last letter I got was an email couple weeks ago from the great-granddaughter of Ida B. Wells.

Sarah: No. Way!

Ms. Bev: [Laughs] Yeah, she’s doing a, a, some kind of story on her, on her great-grandmother, you know, who, you know, she was such a force. Oh my God.

Sarah: Whoa!

Ms. Bev: One of the women that, you know, I really, really look up to and whose shoulders I stand on, you know, for all of the things that she did for, you know, the anti-lynching campaign and women’s suffrage and all of that. So she reads my work, the granddaughter! And she said in her email, thanked me, she said, because through my work she was able to imagine the day-to-day life of her great-grandmother. Which I –

Sarah: Wow!

Ms. Bev: – write about everyday life, you know, and it’s –

Sarah: Yeah!

Ms. Bev: – you know, and we weave the history through, but, you know, it’s just, people making a way out of no way every day, and so she thanked me for that, and I thanked her for sending me the – [laughs] – the email, and now we’re following each other on Twitter, so.

Sarah: [Laughs] Of course!

Ms. Bev: Of course! So that was kind of awesome!

Sarah: Wow!

Ms. Bev: So those are the, the, the three historical letters or missives or emails that, that come to mind.

So let’s move on. The Blessings series – I mean, there were so many memorable letters tied to that that, you know, I can’t even count those. Letters from foster parents: they sent me pictures of their kids.

Sarah: Oh!

Ms. Bev: They sent me – I mean, I cried a lot after that.

Sarah: Oh, I can’t amazing, I can imagine!

Ms. Bev: After that, yeah, after that first, after Bring on the Blessings, the first book in the series, lots of educators, lots of social workers who thanked me for writing a story that they, resonated with them because of what they do, and like I said, the foster parents, and then I got a letter from a young man who was dyslexic, and he said he had never read a whole book before, but he’d read the Blessing, the first Blessings books –

Sarah: Oh wow!

Ms. Bev: – and he thanked me for helping him with his reading! I’m tearing up right now. I wept.

Sarah: Oh my gosh.

Ms. Bev: Yeah. So yeah! So it’s been – you know, and then I got a letter from a, a, with the Blessings series, from a Marine drill sergeant!

Sarah: As you do.

Ms. Bev: As you do! 

Sarah: [Laughs]

Ms. Bev: He said that he knew that my publisher probably didn’t think he was in my demographic, ‘cause he’s a white guy, he said, but I love these damn books!

[Laughter]

Ms. Bev: And I was blown away by him too. I was like, oh my goodness!

So, so from Night Song through the Blessings series, lots of memorable letters and emails and interactions and, and, you know, and it makes you, as, as a writer, it makes me feel that I, in my own little bitty way, in my own little bitty part of the world, that I’m making a difference, and that makes you feel good, because that means you’re honoring your gift, ‘cause this writing thing I think is a gift. Stuff comes through me; it’s not of me.

So then you get those kind of letters, and then you get letters like this. All right, everybody, get your snacks! [Laughs]

Sarah: All right, I got my water; I am ready. Let me get my blanket. It’s story time!

Ms. Bev: It’s story time.

Sarah: This is like the best story time ever!

Ms. Bev: [Laughs] I –

Sarah: It’s story time with Ms. Bev reading spicy letters!

Ms. Bev: I know! I know. This is an interesting letter. This came October 8th last year. Okay, I, I, I was so freaked out by this, I sent this to my girlfriends. That’s the only reason I kept it, ‘cause I could –

Sarah: [Laughs]

Ms. Bev: – I was able to find it, ‘cause it’s in the other old email, so, you know, I – oh, I remember; I sent it to Iris. So here it is.

Hello, Ms. Jenkins

I hope you get this message. You probably don’t have time to read all of your fan mail, but I pray this one gets to you. I read your books for so many, many years. By far, Indigo was the greatest. It reminded me of one of my other favorite books, Pride and Prejudice. I just love how you intertwined African-American history with love and progression. The number of books you’ve written shows how much talent God has given you.

All right, you ready?

Recently, I had some time alone with the Lord. I really asked Him to show me where I may be falling short of walking in holiness. And do you know that God showed me that I had a battle with lust? The Bible says if you even look at someone with lust, you have committed adultery with them in your heart – Matthew 5:28. I was truly surprised, because I don’t, didn’t really, didn’t really think that I was. I don’t watch porn or read dirty magazines. I assumed as long as I’m not committing adultery, I’m okay! But God told me that I still play images in my mind of explicit sex. This is lust. It is punishable by death. So –

Sarah: Oh.

Ms. Bev: [Laughs] I know. It gets worse.

Sarah: Oh, oh dear.

Ms. Bev:

So I realized I needed to change. I needed to put my thoughts on Jesus. I stopped listening to certain music and watching certain television programs that were filled with lust, but it seemed very difficult to shake the thoughts at night! So of course I talked to God about my dilemma. Do you know what? God showed me my nightstand with all of the novels I kept stacked up to read late at night. That’s right. God showed me that lust enters my heart when I read romance novels. This surprised me at first because I never thought about books causing lustful thoughts, but it made absolute sense. Some of my most beloved stories I read over and over were filled with lustful scenes. Convicted, I knew I had to put those books away.

So why am I saying this? Maybe you are not aware –

She’s talking to me.

– but God wants you to know that putting the idea of sex in a person’s mind contributes to lust and sin. As an author, you have the gift of creating images in a person’s mind with your words. An author who writes books that describe lustful desires contributes to the stumbling block of many who God desires to walk in righteousness. Now, I’m not judging you.

But yes, you are. 

I’ve sinned, and I take full ownership of my sin. I can’t point the blame at anyone else. I wanted to share this email with you to encourage you to turn to Jesus, because as one of my favorite authors, I only want the best for you. I don’t want you or anyone else to fall or contribute to sin. My encouragement to you is not to stop writing – no way – but to change your writing into literature that edifies the Lord. Omit anything in your writing that could allow sinful desires to enter your readers’ hearts. The Bible says that all men have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Because we have sinned, we will face punishment. That punishment is Hell.

So she goes on and on and on and on about Jesus being crucified, and she ends with this:

As one of my beloved authors, I want to tell you this so that you will turn to God and seek Him. Take the time to ask yourself what His desire is for you as you write. I believe He will show you that He wants you to use the pen to write for His glory and His purpose. With your gift, I could only imagine the number of women you could set free from lust and turn them towards righteousness with Jesus.

Thanks for listening.

Sarah: I can’t even describe my face right now.

Ms. Bev: [Laughs] I need a drink of water.

Sarah: [Sputters]

Ms. Bev: [Sputters] Yep.

Sarah: [Sputters]

Ms. Bev: Yep. I’m responsible for her being lust-, for her lustful thoughts. So I sent her a letter back –

Sarah: Oh no!

Ms. Bev: – and I said, you know what? I have been a lay minister with the Episcopal Church for the last twenty-five years.

Sarah: I was going to say, aren’t you a lay minister?

Ms. Bev: Yeah. Yes. Yes, yes, yes! And I said –

Sarah: Oh my stars.

Ms. Bev: – how about – I said, and, oh, and my gift comes from God.

Sarah: I was just going to say, you were just talking about how the, the, the gift comes through you, not from you.

Ms. Bev: Right! So I told her, I said, so how ‘bout I worry about my relationship with God, and you concentrate on yours? Thank you very much.

Sarah: Oh my.

Ms. Bev: And I’m sure, you know, she feels in her heart that she was right, and when I, and after I sent her my response, she, she sent me a short note: No worries! No worries! And I’m like, yeah, yeah, right, right, right. So yeah, so I’m, reader, writers get all, get stuff like that, especially romance writers.

Sarah: Ohhh, romance bloggers too. I get some strange email like that.

Ms. Bev: Yeah, yeah. So that was kind of fun.

Sarah: Did that – ? I mean, that strikes me as really kind of hurtful, to be told that what you’re doing is leading people into sin and damnation.

Ms. Bev: You know, it, it, it would be hurtful if I believed her. [Laughs]

Sarah: Right, absolutely. Yeah, that, you got a good point there.

Ms. Bev: So –

Sarah: You don’t have to believe in her narrative.

Ms. Bev: No. You know, I don’t have to believe in, you know, just, like, you know, we, we don’t believe in, in the narrative of some of these people who profess to be Christians, you know. And, and, and are turning a blind eye to all of the craziness and horror and, you know, awfulness in the world, but yet they’re still Christians. I, you know, my question is, you know, how am I responsible for you, you and your lustful thoughts? You know, it sounds like a personal problem to me, so I didn’t pay much –

Sarah: And it –

Ms. Bev: [Laughs]

Sarah: – it’s, it’s just stunning, because it, it’s, it’s, it’s incredibly sad. Like, I feel so much empathy for this person who has internalized this message that sexual feelings are terrible and bad! Like –

Ms. Bev: Yep.

Sarah: – whoa!

Ms. Bev: This is two pages. It’s two pages, girl!

Sarah: Oh. And handwritten or – no, this is typed. This was an email.

Ms. Bev: Yep, email. Yep. Two pages.

Sarah: Oh wow.

Ms. Bev: So let’s end this session with something that’s a little bit more uplifting.

Sarah: Yes, please!

Ms. Bev: Okay. This is the –

Sarah: Good gravy! That poor woman!

Ms. Bev: Oh yeah. [Laughs] This is the letter that I received – must have been early July of this year. It says:

Mrs. Jenkins,

Thank you for taking the time to read my note. The love of my life is a fan and has all your books. The one she has loved to death – this is her third copy –

Sarah: [Laughs]

Ms. Bev: Yeah, it was a copy of Indigo.

Would you mind autographing for her sixty-ninth birthday on July 31st? If you do not get this in time, nor have the time –

And I did, and I sent it back.

– I appreciate your consideration. She reads all of your books to me, and I have come to enjoy them as well.

I was, that’s awesome.

Sarah: Ah!

Ms. Bev: Yeah. I told –

Sarah: Melting! Melting!

Ms. Bev: [Laughs] Yeah! I’ll talk about that in a minute, but I have my readers read the books to their husbands.

I have come to enjoy them as well, especially your Blessings series. Please do not shut down the residents of Henry Adams. Bernadine and Mal should marry, and Cletus with Riley keep me coming back.

So –

Sarah: [Laughs]

Ms. Bev: – he talks, he gives me his wife’s name –

–  is my Hester in more ways than one for the last forty-six years –

Sarah: Oh!

Ms. Bev:

–  and I will do anything to see her smile.

Sincerely,

Her husband’s name.

Sarah: Melting! Melting!

Ms. Bev: I know! Do anything to see her smile!

Sarah: I’m tearing up. Ms. Bev, I don’t have tissues! [Laughs, sniffles]

Ms. Bev: You have to have tissues when you talk to me. That’s one –

Sarah: I know.

Ms. Bev: It’s one of my superpowers is making people weep. So –

Sarah: [Laughs]

Ms. Bev: You’ve seen me in ballrooms with people, ballrooms full of people crying when I have the mic.

Sarah: I sat next to your sister, and we had to, like, pass tissues back and forth.

Ms. Bev: [Laughs] I remember that. Yeah.

So yeah, so that’s sort of my overview of, of my interaction with my readers via mail and email and, and it’s, they, they just amaze me. They, they really, really do.

And he was talking about her reading the books to him. I have readers, and I’m sure other romance writers can say the same – I have readers who read, they read the books at night for cuddle time? One night he’ll read, one night she’ll read, or one night she’ll read and he’ll read, or they’ll swap chapters and, you know, so – that’s an amazing, you know, romance is amazing in, on so many different levels. Bringing people together, you know, got guys professing their love by running their, running down out-of-print books and asking me to sign books because they love their wives. I mean, that’s, it’s an awesome kind of thing. It’s amazing. Yep.

Sarah: That’s really incredible.

Ms. Bev: It is. But I did send it. I assume he got it. I haven’t heard anything back. I mailed it probably two weeks before her birthday, so hopefully it didn’t get caught up in the madness with the post office, but –

Sarah: Wow.

Ms. Bev: – hopefully they got it, so yeah! So hopefully, you know, this’ll be a good podcast for you.

Sarah: Oh, it definitely will. And you keep your reader letters!

Ms. Bev: Yeah, I do. I do. I will continue to keep them. The memorable ones I will. You know, and I panicked – I’ve got to tell you the story about this one – I panicked this morning with this last letter that I read about the guy who, doing anything to see his, his wife smile. I couldn’t find it!

Sarah: Oh no!

Ms. Bev: And I’m running through the house, you know, and my, the front of the house is, is, is clean; the back of the house is a mess. So I’m like, okay, now, what did I do with it? I know if it’s in the office we’ll never find it for seven years.

Sarah: [Laughs]

Ms. Bev: I remembered that I had taken, I have a dumpster outside that I put all my paper in. I have a, a, a shredding service that comes to the house every ninety days or so to get rid of all of my stuff, and I had put a big pile in there day before yesterday, and so probably when I swept up the table, the stuff I had piled on the table, I thought, well, maybe I swept up the letter, and there it was. It was in there. I took, you know, in the –

Sarah: Ah!

Ms. Bev: – with the top, the top stuff, and I was like, oh God, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. ‘Cause it was going to be like, okay, to call Sarah, tell her we’ve got to reschedule because I don’t know what the hell I did with the letter. But there it was!

Sarah: Oh, thank goodness.

Ms. Bev: Thank goodness is right, so.

Sarah: Oh wow.

Ms. Bev: Yeah, so. Yeah! So that’s my, those are my, my letters and readers and the historical pieces and –

Sarah: Wow!

Ms. Bev: I’m still blown away by the, the history stuff, though, you know, that they would actually take the time – no, that they actually read my books!

Sarah: Yeah!

Ms. Bev: And then take the time to, you know, to send me a note, so.

Sarah: And you have an archive of the number of people that you’ve reached personally.

Ms. Bev: Yeah. Yeah! You know, and I’m sure that there are other writers who save their – I assume they save –

Sarah: I save mine! I have a whole file of fan email.

Ms. Bev: Yeah! Yeah.

Sarah: Thank you for keeping me company, thank you for giving me this book, thank you for telling me about this author.

Ms. Bev: Yeah, yeah! Yeah, you can look back and see all the good that you’ve done.

Sarah: Yeah, it helps on a bad day.

Ms. Bev: Yeah, it does. That does.

Sarah: That, that you, that you made a difference to this person right then when, when it was important, when it needed to happen.

Ms. Bev: Yeah, yeah. So we’ll just, you know, keep writing and pray the government doesn’t kill us all and –

Sarah: Mm-hmm.

Ms. Bev: [Laughs]

Sarah: So are there any books you want to tell people about? I always like to ask for book recommendations. If you have books –

Ms. Bev: Mm-hmm.

Sarah: – you want to tell people about, let me know.

Ms. Bev: Yeah. Okay. Can I send you a list? ‘Cause I don’t –

Sarah: Of course you can!

Ms. Bev: – I don’t have anything on my head right now.

Sarah: No, absolutely send me a list. Send me the list; I’ll put it in the show notes!

Ms. Bev: Okay, sounds good. Sounds good!

[music]

Sarah: And I will have that list of books in the show notes – fear not – at smartbitchestrashybooks.com/podcast. I will also have links where you can find Beverly Jenkins online and on Twitter and on Facebook if that is your thing.

I want to thank Ms. Bev for hanging out with me and for sharing her reader mail. I’m curious if you’ve ever written an author that, whose work you really liked. You want to tell me about it? You can email me: [email protected] or Sarah with an H at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books dot com [[email protected]], whichever one sticks in your memory better! I would love to hear from you, and you can tell me bad jokes, ‘cause you know I love those.

Thank you again to our Patreon community for keeping the show going. Monthly pledges begin at one whole dollar, and every one is deeply appreciated. They make sure that the podcast continues and that every episode is accessible. And thank you to garlicknitter for providing our transcripts. [Always a pleasure! – gk]

All right, it’s bad joke time. You ready? This joke comes from Tammy. Thank you for emailing me, Tammy. This is a really silly one.

Where do you take someone who’s been injured in a peek-a-boo accident?

Give up? Where do you take someone who’s been injured in a peek-a-boo accident?

The I-See-You!

[Laughs] So silly, I love it! Thank you, Tammy! ICU! I see you too! Go away! Oh, I love it! Thank you so much for emailing me. Again, bad jokes! Send them to me, because, seriously, it makes me so happy.

On behalf of everyone here, we wish you the very best of reading. Have a wonderful weekend, and we will see you back here next week when my guest will be Amanda. We’re going to find out about her reading with the psychic who was recently on our show, and we have listener email requests for recommendations! And follow-up email from our last episode with Amanda, so, you know, join me here! You know where I’ll be!

Until then, have a great weekend!

Smart Podcast, Trashy Books is part of the Frolic Podcast Network. You can find more outstanding podcasts to listen to at frolic.media/podcasts.

[nice music]