Reconciliation ~ Heaven and Earth received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.
Following find an interview with author Diane de Simone.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
Reconciliation ~ Heaven and Earth ~ published in January of 2018.
What’s the book’s first line?
In front of a wall of nearly empty bookshelves, she sits on a hassock and takes a slowly executed look around a living room that’s in a serious state of being undone
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
Have you noticed that if you mention ETs you get a smirk or a raised eyebrow? Why? Have you ever thought that’s the way government wants you to respond? That you’ve been programmed? So, psychologist Martha Mathewson was smug. She was sure she knew who she was and what she believed in. For years she belittled her soon to be ex-husband, a revered astrophysicist, over his passion for little green men and the star civilizations they come from. But when Don Mathewson suddenly dies, when she finds out he was murdered, his files have been targeted, and she’s in danger, life as she’s known it becomes upended. And then, when she meets up with a small metal orb with ET intelligence, she has to face a stripping down, a transformation.
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
The initial spark came from reading about an unresolved murder of a research scientist I’d highly respected, and then being told he was murdered because of what he knew about ETI technologies and government suppression of such information. Frankly, I was shocked. I didn’t quite believe it. So, I began to do the research. I ended up going deep and wide into the whole field, having to filter out the woo-woo bits. I am like the character, Martha. I too had to slowly integrate all of the new and quite revelatory, incoming information. I had to expand!
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
It’s an entertaining work, as well as having some good, solid, research as its backbone. And it might be amazing to come away realizing that we really are citizens of a universe, a place in which beings similar to us abide, beings who wish to communicate with us. No joke. And why refuse to begin to entertain this reality?!?
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?
She’s spunky, honest with herself, persevering. She has aspects reminiscent of Karen Blixen, as in Out of Africa.
If they made your book into a movie, who would you like to see play the main character(s)?
Debra Winger.
When did you first decide to become an author?
It became a real decision when I was very young. Eleven or twelve. It was when I was reading all of Nikos Kazantzakis’ work and transfixed.
Is this the first book you’ve written?
No. Two others have been published, and one was boxed up and finally tossed during one of my many moves!
What do you do for work when you’re not writing?
There were years I didn’t write for publication. I had nothing to say. I wanted to be directly engaged with whatever community I was in. There were a number of jobs from bookseller to working for a non-profit. Also, as a psychotherapist, I held my own practice for a number of years. I also co-developed co-housing neighborhoods.
How much time do you generally spend on your writing?
When I’ve committed to writing a book, I work daily as much as possible. Mornings. Afternoons. Breaks for walks. I inhabit its world.
What’s the best and the hardest part of being an indie?
For me, it’s marketing – the post publication chapter.
What’s a great piece of advice that you can share with fellow indie authors?
Write without any expectation of any return on your investment!! Leave it to the gods! To mystery!
Is there something in particular that motivates you (fame? fortune? more sex?)
Sex? More sex? Fortune? Fame? Hehehehehe!! I love writing. It’s when I find out about myself – I come up against myself – thoughts, beliefs – ideas about the world.