Something’s Going on Here received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.
Following find an interview with author Ruth Cherry.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
Something’s Going on Here was published in August 2022.
What’s the book’s first line?
Another grey misty Friday night in this small coastal town.
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
Nick, a retired Penn State English professor, heads west with his aging dog Hildy to start life anew in Los Osos, a small coastal town in California. As the story unfolds, Nick chats us through a series of increasingly bizarre encounters with town fixtures and luminaries. We learn that he’s got plenty of baggage of the invisible dirty laundry kind.
Houses burn, a car explodes, lives are lost; poor intrepid Nick gets conked on the head not once but three times. The town’s abiding mission is to survive. In order to do this, Los Osos carefully covets and nurtures secrets. Those who pry run the risk of losing all – especially if they are newcomers like Nick, who can’t seem to stop looking into things, even when it costs him his health, his dog, his car, maybe his sanity. Sanity – and insanity – are running themes in this marvelous book. Nick, given to fits of obsessional thinking and compulsive behavior, dialogues with an absent wife – his familiar, his amanuensis. Dr. Cherry’s handling of the unburied past – which always comes back to bite, to haunt, to punish – is more than adroit.
Psychological insight and humor abound. In one aside, Nick describes how Edgar Allen Poe wrote about the hidden evil in things. At another point there is an extended discussion of a town sewage project which is to say: unprocessed dirty deeds and failed relationships always come back to haunt. The protagonist Nick gets clocked three times by the shadowy wrong-doers.
The book is not what it seems. Right up to the end, we believe that a whodunit is spinning out. But Something’s Going On Here is that – and much more. The book is a telling portrait of the universal human challenge to live a meaningful, rewarding and self-aware life.
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
My 50th birthday inspired me to take a chance and open to any possibility that Life presented. I had practiced as a clinical psychologist for 24 years and I loved it. I had meditated almost as long. I trusted my spiritual guidance completely. I received a postcard announcing jobs for psychologists and I jumped at the opportunity. I moved to Los Osos (the site for Something’s Going On Here) and the job didn’t materialize.
I found myself with no structure and no expectations. All I could do was play. My favorite play activity is writing. I pay attention and I notice words and imagery moving through my head. No intellectual component is involved in the creative process. Thus, Something’s Going On Here was born, one word at a time, as I came to know Los Osos and myself in mid-life.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book? What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character?
In addition to enjoying the action-packed story, folks will recognize themselves when they are challenged to release the past and to move into their own Hero. At some point we are all called to live larger, to release our limitations and to trust Life to guide us. But it is our choice. If we cling to the familiar we refuse the opportunities that open to us. Nick accepted his challenges and he experienced transformation. Nick is Everyman.
When did you first decide to become an author?
I didn’t decide to write. I decided to earn a doctorate, to practice individual psychotherapy and to meditate. I learned to pay attention to my inner world activity. By doing so I receive words and imagery. I am just the first reader and the transcriber of these books who chose me.
What’s a great piece of advice that you can share with fellow indie authors?
Meditate and journal daily. Pay attention to your inner world.