ANEMONE received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.
Following find an interview with author Jim Frazee.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
ANEMONE. The book was published on Amazon and other internet book outlets in March 2024.
What’s the book’s first line?
“With a sleight of hand all his own, Frank clinked open his Navy Zippo so that the flame rose magically at his cigarette, and this time over the diningroom table a pillowy smoke ring broke up into a hazy question mark.”
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
A teen runaway, wrongly accused of his brother’s murder in an arson, tracks down the killer, only to discover more than he could have bargained for about his family, his girlfriend, and the real target of the fire.
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
The book was inspired by several characters of my past, but more importantly, by the fact that child abuse at the time wasn’t an issue. By the end of 1967, after ANEMONE takes place, child abuse reporting laws were finally in place in all fifty states. As these laws came into effect, the frequency of physical and sexual abuse began to emerge. By 1974, approximately 60,000 cases had been reported. By 1980, the number of cases exceeded one million. In the 1990s, cases surpassed two million, and by 2000, the number of cases had reached 3 million a year. Today, the number is closer to 4 million. It is documented that for every incident of child abuse that’s reported, an estimated two incidents go unreported.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
I hope the reader will be moved by the dilemmas of Russell and Edie, Faulknerian innocents who make every attempt to survive and find the truth despite the harrowing challenges of their circumstances.
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?
That he never gives up, that he’s a decent person stuck in a sea of abusive characters, and that he’s painfully honest. His character comes somewhat from a boy with whom I went to school, a kid who disappeared when his house burned down.
When did you first decide to become an author?
When I was 9. I won a poetry contest sponsored by the Catholic Daughters of America.
Is this the first book you’ve written?
Yes. A book of my poems will be published late 2024, or early 2025.
What do you do for work when you’re not writing?
I worked in the film industry for 40 years, in the US and Europe.
How much time do you generally spend on your writing?
It varies. Mostly half a day, every day.
What’s the best and the hardest part of being an indie?
The best part is writing exactly what interests me. The hardest part is, of course, finding an audience.
What’s a great piece of advice that you can share with fellow indie authors?
If you love to write, you will continue to do it despite the challenges.
Would you go traditional if a publisher came calling? If so, why?
Not sure. I like the freedom of controlling my work.
Is there something in particular that motivates you (fame? fortune?)
A great story, language, discovery. I lose track of time when I write. And I like that.
Which writer, living or dead, do you most admire?
There are too many to name all. I was lucky to have great teachers over the years: Michael Ryan, Stephen Dobyns, Ellen Bryant Voigt, Louise Glück, Raymond Carver, John Skoyles, and Jack Myers, to name a few.
Which book do you wish you could have written?
SPEAK MEMORY by Vladimir Nabokov.