Q&A with Susan Albert discussion

If you have comments, questions, etc about the China Bayles series, let's work with them here.

I adore China! I also love that you keep her real. What was your inspiration for her? Also, thanks for Ruby. I think we all need a friend like her!!

Actually, I think China is a version of myself, Carol--the self I would really like to be. She has plenty of faults (most of them mirror my own) but she's smarter than I am, and far more logical as a left-brain thinker. Ruby, on the other hand, is China's complement: she's a right-brain thinker who speaks from the heart and knows intuitively what China has to *think* about. When China leaps to conclusions, she's usually wrong. When Ruby leaps, she's right. Usually.

Keeping characters "real" is a big challenge, especially in a long-running series. When I first started writing the Chinas back in the early 90s, most characters in mystery series were like Nancy Drew or Miss Marple: they didn't grow. I realized from Book One that if China were to be "real," she would have to grow and change. Some readers didn't like that--but now, her character's growth and change has become a hallmark of the series.

One of my favorite things about the China books is the recipes. I know that you are a big gardener, so I was wondering - how many of the dishes in the books are your own creations, as opposed to things you find elsewhere?

The dishes are usually "standard," Kristin, since I'm not a great believer in exotic cookery, and the ingredients/recipes have been around for a long time, in various incarnations. The choices of the added herbs is usually my own. An example: the lavender/mushroom quiche that's featured in several of the books.

In the Cottage Tales series, the recipes are traditional dishes from Northwest England, redesigned for a modern audience. In the new series, The Darling Dahlias, the recipes are all Southern, most traditional.

I love putting recipes in books, because food says so much about who we are, our cultural traditions, and even what we think about the earth and its resources.

Oh my goodness -- I need to look up that quiche recipe -- love lavender in several dishes but have never tried a quiche which featured it. I love the recipes sprinkled through your books also, Susan. I recently spent a day with an old friend and we made the Rosemary Bagels which you had shared from another person in one of your blog posts! I enjoy your blog as much as I enjoy your books.

Oh, those bagels! I love them and really enjoy making them--would eat the whole batch if somebody didn't stop me. I just remembered that the lavender quiche recipe is on the website, in one of the tea party posts (no, not THAT kind of tea party!) I did a few years ago: http://www.abouthyme.com/China/TeaRoo...

I feel a little guilty about the blog. It's easier to be on Facebook and Twitter and here at Goodreads--the blog posts take quite a bit of time, and I haven't kept it up this summer. Glad you've enjoyed them.

Susan -- I put a few grains of coarse sea salt on the tops of the rosemary bagels -- the combination was superb so I do recommend you give that a try. I am absolutely addicted to rosemary and think I could eat the whole batch myself given the chance -- fortunately I had lots of help consuming them.

No, no, don't feel guilty over the blog -- blogs really should ebb and flow, don't you believe, after all so many of these are simply about life -- they are the modern version of the collected magazine columns from our favorite writers -- like Stillmeadow Daybook by Gladys Taber, the one I'm currently reading. I remember reading her column from Stillmeadow Farm in magazines which my mother purchased years ago. I was so excited to find this book and revisit Stillmeadow and "hear" Taber's voice again inside my mind. Who knows -- maybe your blog could one day yield a collection of the best entries which your readers would welcome in just this way!

And thank you linking to the quiche -- I've printed it out to hang on the fridge until I gather ingredientS! Quiche is such an easy and delicious item to make and keep on hand -- serves well for breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks -- I make various kinds often.

The salt is tasty--all kinds of herbs work in those bagels, so do experiment, Dottie. I was surprised when I discovered how easy bagels are, but you do have to get set up to do them.

I've enjoyed all the Taber books and have gradually acquired almost all of them online: I admire her "soft eyes" which see so much and so deeply.

Re: my blog, and a collection of entries. In 2008, I kept a careful, extensive journal about what I was reading, thinking, learning, some of which showed up in the blog, most didn't. (The year was a turning point in my life, and I think in the lives of many Americans.) UT Press is publishing the journal in September. An Extraordinary Year of Ordinary Days You might ask your library to order it.

And yes, you're right about quiche! Our neighbor has chickens and we're lucky to have fresh eggs from her flock--LOTS of eggs right now, so quiche is on the menu frequently. I also make it without crust, which cuts down on the calories. :)

I enjoy hanging with China and Ruby and watching all that the two of them have been through with each other. I would say on their own, but their friendship allows them to share their lives, trials, tribulations and joys. I would love to have a friend like either of them. Both are creative and outspoken, both qualities I aspire to.

And I check your blog to see what's blooming in your part of Texas. I get color mix ideas and more xeric plantings for my flowerbeds here near Boulder, CO.

Dottie wrote: "Susan -- I put a few grains of coarse sea salt on the tops of the rosemary bagels -- the combination was superb so I do recommend you give that a try. I am absolutely addicted to rosemary and think..."

I have never read Gladys Taber but my mom loves her books and the old columns she used to write for one of the ladies magazines in the '50s.

You might check her out, Melodie: Gladys Taber I don't know if her books are still in print, but they're a favorite in the libraries and there are many used online.

I enjoy books that show me strong, capable women living close to the land, and Taber is certainly one. Another: Josephine Johnson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephin...). I particularly liked The Inland Island

Vickie wrote: "And I check your blog to see what's blooming in your part of Texas. I get color mix ideas and more xeric plantings for my flowerbeds here near Boulder, CO."

My garden is pretty scrappy this year, Vickie. We're coming out of a disastrous drought, and with no assurances that the coming years will be better. I've gone to natives and xeric plants, but tend to pay more attention to the veg garden and let the rest get a little shaggy. Mine is no BHG garden, for sure!

Vickie wrote: "I enjoy hanging with China and Ruby and watching all that the two of them have been through with each other. I would say on their own, but their friendship allows them to share their lives, trials,..."

One risk with books like these (which focus on women's lives and loves) is that they tend to get "soap-opera-ish." The book that came closest to this, I think, was Mistletoe Man. I lightened that with humor where I could, but the subject of breast cancer is a serious one, and I wanted to treat it with the seriousness it deserved.

MISTLETOE MAN was my first China Bayles book. I didn't feel any sense of 'soap opera' whatsoever. You handled the whole book with delicacy and strength of character. The book made me look for more and continue with the series.

I'm glad, Vickie. I hung out (well, lurked) on several listservs with breast cancer survivors. I learned a great deal about their courage and resiliency from reading their posts and exchanges.

Susan, I would agree with Vickie. I read Mistletoe Man fairly early on also and don't recall it being other than well-thought out and informative as well as entertaining.

I also enjoy the friendships of the women in the books -- the circle is wide and inclusive and yet there are individual friendships which stand apart. Any woman who has had a long-time friendship with another woman knows that there is a special communication with such a friend which cannot be found in shorter term relationships -- that doesn't mean we don't all have brief and helpful encounters with other friends over our lifetimes but those which last the span of the liftime are far different and if one is fortunate enough to have held onto one or two friends over that span then that is wealth beyond counting. I have a handful of friends with whom I have shared my life for a range of forty to sixty years. They know me in a way which more recent friends of only fifteen years, say, cannot possibly know me no matter how much catching up with one another we might do. Then again there are the friends with whom a common link of some sort will click into place and away we go -- as though we already knew the other's entire life -- because we do know it from our own -- the lives being that similar and the thinking that congruent. I have one of that kind of friend as well. And yes, I've been fairly well-blessed in the friends department, actually.

I absolutely agree that the various friendships in the China books are a large part of the appeal for many readers, myself among them.

I love the China Bayles series, not only for the characters, but also because I like mysteries with a strong regional setting, especially a setting I'm familiar with because I've traveled there. I keep in my library the China Bayles book in which you have the recipe for lavender scones. Because my husband and I love our afternoon tea and want something light but tasty with it, I return again and again to the scones which are the best I've ever tasted. I can hardly wait each year until my plants produce enough flowers to bake a batch.
Lesley (also a mystery author from the Northeast)

Dottie wrote: "I also enjoy the friendships of the women in the books"

Dottie & Vickie, did you know that I used to write YAs? I wrote Nancy Drew, Cheerleaders, Sweet Valley Twins, and a flock of other mass-market YAs in the mid-late '80s. For teens, friendships are vitally important, and that was always a critical subtext for the character relationships. "Being a good (bad) friend" defined one axis of every relationship. This was no literary convention: it's the way teens manage their world. Both women and men carry that over into adult life. We need friends and friend bonding--even though our culture mythologizes the independent Hero who meets the challenges of the world and succeeds, single-handed. That's BS, of course, but the myth is pretty powerful.

When I started writing China (Thyme of Death appeared in 1992), women's mysteries were built on male models, on the myth of the independent Lone Wolf Hero (Sue Grafton's early mysteries are a good example.) I wanted to write mysteries that reflect the importance of friendship, cooperative questioning, and the process of finding answers through joint venture.

This is part of what's behind the friendships in all my books. But only part--the characters themselves demand these strong relationships, and I'm glad to oblige.

Lesley wrote: "I love the China Bayles series, not only for the characters, but also because I like mysteries with a strong regional setting, especially a setting I'm familiar with because I've traveled there. I..."

When I submitted the China series (she was rejected quite a few times!), one of the editors who rejected Thyme of Death suggested that I put my efforts into setting my mysteries on the east or west coast. She didn't think regionals had much of a chance, because in her view, that "narrowed" the potential readership. I'm glad that China proved her wrong!

I love settings that add substance to the characters, plots, and themes. (And am frustrated when an author does not take advantage of the setting--and when the action of the book could be set anywhere.)

I'm sometimes impatient with having to set books over and over in the same place (Pecan Springs), so I try to write an "away" book every so often. Readers enjoy Pecan Springs, though, and some complain when a China is set elsewhere. I know why--but I live with these books a lot longer and more intensively that the readers, and just can't keep repeating the same setting exclusively. Gotta get China on the road!

Lisa wrote: "What I truly love about the series (besides China, of course) is the way you so respectfully treat witchcraft and New Age mysticism. I've read so many authors, mystery and other, who obviously hav..."

Lisa, thank you. That means a great deal to me. (I usually hear from readers who don't want Ruby to be such a Pagan.) A character's belief system is a unique and vital part of his/her personality, and Speaking as an author, I've used Ruby's beliefs to characterize her and to make her more vivid. Speaking as myself, I've used her to explore some of my own beliefs.

(Sorry, Ruby: don't mean to treat you as an entity to be exploited. We all know how real you are!)

I've been a resident of "Pecan Springs" for 34 years and just discovered the China Bayles series. I love it; you have captured the essence of this town, though admittedly a smaller version of what we've become.
Given your awareness of the upcoming challenges our world faces (climate change, resource depletion, general chaos, etc.), I wonder if you've considered a China Bayles story set in the future?
Betsy Robertson

Susan wrote: "Dottie wrote: "I also enjoy the friendships of the women in the books"

Dottie & Vickie, did you know that I used to write YAs? I wrote Nancy Drew, Cheerleaders, Sweet Valley Twins, and a flock of..."

Susan: I just read on another thread here that you wrote Nancy Drew. I had no idea that you'd written for those other series as well.
I read books with the lone wolf as well as books with the circle of friends, however big or small that circle is. I admire both type of character, but feel sorry for the lone wolf. That character type seems to not even like him or her self and won't let anyone else in.
That China and Ruby don't 'need' each other, but truly enjoy being with the other is the message I get when I read the passages of their interaction.

Susan wrote: "Lesley wrote: "I love the China Bayles series, not only for the characters, but also because I like mysteries with a strong regional setting, especially a setting I'm familiar with because I've tra..."

I like the 'away' books, too, if only to not let Pecan Springs become a ghost town from all of the murders.... *grin*
That and I enjoy learning about the locales when China goes awanderin'.

Betsy wrote: "Given your awareness of the upcoming challenges our world faces (climate change, resource depletion, general chaos, etc.), I wonder if you've considered a China Bayles story set in the future?"

Sorry, Betsy, I skipped past your question.

That's one of those places where I don't think readers would like to go. When I'm writing China, I feel I need to stay more or less within the boundaries that previous books in the series have set up. I can make changes, yes--and I do. But a "future China" would be a sci fi, and my editor would probably say no to that. This doesn't mean that some of these issues (particularly local food issues) can't be addressed within the familiar landscape of the books. It just means that I can't change genres without upsetting several apple carts.

I have (and Bill and I have) considered writing a post-apocalyptic novel, on the order of James Kunstler's World Made by Hand: A Novel. I (and we) have plenty of ideas for it, but just no time right now. And when I/we have time, the urgency to write may have passed. It's one of those writing projects that are still on the list.

Vickie wrote: "...and I enjoy learning about the locales when China goes awanderin'. "

That's a big part of it for me, too, Vickie. I usually take China someplace that has a rich history of human uses of plants I want to learn about. The next "away" book (maybe 2013?) will take China to northern New Mexico, where she gets involved in the political issues surrounding the uses of a local acequia, an irrigation ditch. There's so much wonderful acequia history in that area, and a great tradition of local foods--and of course, a curandera (wise woman healer). I'm looking forward to writing it!

Thank you for considering a book set in the future. There are so few positive models of how our culture could change.

Betsy wrote: "Thank you for considering a book set in the future. There are so few positive models of how our culture could change."

I'm wondering how we can define "positive" in this context. I think a great many authors, considering the subject and doing due diligence in their research, might not be optimistic about cultural change. I'm not. For instance, I agree with Bill McKibben's assessment of the problems in Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet. But I think his idea that the Internet would survive is unrealistic. If I wrote a PA, it would likely portray a bleak world peopled by tough survivors.

Have you read World Made by Hand: A Novel? The book models a grim future, but the people who survive are in many ways, "positive" figures.

Vickie wrote: "I read books with the lone wolf as well as books with the circle of friends, however big or small that circle is. I admire both type of character, but feel sorry for the lone wolf. That character type seems to not even like him or her self and won't let anyone else in. "

That "lone wolf" detective is a holdover (as I see it) from the 1930s and 40s "noir" detective, always a guy. Typical of that era, I think--a mythic figure almost Ulysses-like in his heroic/tragic aloneness. Same kind of character we see in Westerns like "Shane." Police procedurals show us a "team" in action, and most of the current cozies involve a group of gal-pals. That's more my speed. :)

I do think that we feel disconnected and fragmented today (for a lot of different reasons), and that books in which friendships play an important role may help to fill that emptiness.

I have read "World Made by Hand" and also "The Road" and "The Fifth Sacred Thing" which is the most optimistic of the three. Actually, I'm looking forward to reading your "Darling Dahlias" series. There is much we can learn from the Depression years about how to live better with less. Part of our problem is a lack of imagination...most of Americans have only known the relative affluence of post-war America and don't realize that their lives could be fulfilling in a smaller impact world.

Betsy wrote: "Part of our problem is a lack of imagination...most of Americans have only known the relative affluence of post-war America and don't realize that their lives could be fulfilling in a smaller impact world."

Perhaps...but a bigger part of our problem is denial and a sense of entitlement. Americans can't bear the thought of giving up any part of what they have, because now that they have it, they feel their entitled to keep it. I think it will take more than a few PA novels (even optimistic ones) to change this attitude.

That said, I agree that some may find lessons in the Depression years. If the series helps them toward re-imagining the future, I'll be delighted.

I'm checking out The Fifth Sacred Thing right now, Betsy. Thanks for the mention.

Susan wrote: "I'm checking out The Fifth Sacred Thing right now, Betsy. Thanks for the mention."

Betsy, I just got a sample of this for my Kindle--downloading it right now. I've met Starhawk and enjoyed her work. This looks good.

Susan wrote: "Susan wrote: "I'm checking out The Fifth Sacred Thing right now, Betsy. Thanks for the mention."

And thank YOU for being so accessible and thoughtful.

Betsy wrote: "Susan wrote: "Susan wrote: "I'm checking out The Fifth Sacred Thing right now, Betsy. Thanks for the mention."

Yes, well, Susan (that's me) wrote the wrong thing: that Kindle edition of Starhawk's book isn't available yet--so I got it in PB, and now I have to wait. Boo.

Betsy wrote, And thank YOU for being so accessible and thoughtful.

Have to add my thanks, too. Just the kick that I needed. Since we started I have read Woodworm and started back on The Tale Of Briar Farm. As I sit here and read the comments, various scenes of China's books come to my mind.

Susan and Betsy -- regarding learning lessons from the Depression era -- those of us who while not experiencing it did hear and live it via our parents who were marked by that living. Many of us who have even that peripheral connection to the period are already the oldest generation of our famililes. If we are to turn those younger than us towrad living a better life by moving in a direction which appears as you say to be going backward -- well, it is high time and I'm cheering for your Dahlia series to have an impact upon those who are readers. I do doubt how effective and affective we might hope to be -- I recall series on TV which centered upon the times or the period of the war which holds center place in the lives of those of our age -- and they faltered and fell quickly. Tainted as old-fashioned perhaps?

I do see hope in the popularity of growing food to gain quality, and in the trend toward less is more and the groups I've encoutnered where there is a spiritual seeking that encourages a different view of the small in life -- being in tune with the moments we have daily -- again food -- but also taking time for looking at the sky or a flower. Pollyanna? Not me. I'm more like pigpen with the black cloud hanging over his head or Eeyore of the gloom and doom mentality -- but once in a while I just have these small ray of hope thoughts -- maybe we are already moving in the right direction but it might need to have started a decade earlier than it did -- at least?

I'm one who believes that one good story is worth a dozen lectures. So I'm hoping that if I tell a good story about a community that is facing adversity with strength and goodwill, readers will see the connection and make changes in their own lives.

But I'm also fundamentally interested in telling a good story. So while I definitely have an "agenda," I have to do what every other author does: interest you in the people and their problems. I hope the Dahlias are able to do that!

I am currently reading An Unthymely Death and Other Garden Mysteries. I see where Khat is named with a nod to Koko, Qwelleran's sidekick. The Cat Who are another of my all time read again and again, favorites!

Mary Alice wrote: "I am currently reading An Unthymely Death and Other Garden Mysteries. I see where Khat is named with a nod to Koko, Qwelleran's sidekick. The Cat Who are another of my all time read again and again..."

Yes, China Bayles reads The Cat Who, too.

Braun originally borrowed the idea from one of Kipling's Just So stories, "The Cat That Walked By Himself." (http://boop.org/jan/justso/cat.htm)

I took the "cat-that" character from Kipling and used him in one of my Cottage Tales: The Tale of Cuckoo Brow Wood.

I love being able to trace out the history of an idea--especially when it concerns literary characters. Don't you?