Excerpts from a recent Interview with the Author by Bobby Burns of the Arizona Informant Newspaper:                                                                 

 
Question: When did you become interested in writing?

Response: I guess I was interested in writing from a young age. When I was in Junior High and High School I wrote mostly poetry. I wrote poetry because it was easy and you could write a number of poems and compile them into a book.

Question: Do you have any samples of these early writings.

Response: Bobby, that would be from 45 to 50 years ago. No. They're long gone along with my comic books. I do have the beginning of my first Novel from my Freshman year at Morehouse College.

Question: What was the name of the Novel?

Response: I never gave it a name. It was hand written in a spiral bound notebook. The pages are  tanned from age but I still look at it from time to time. It mostly brings back memories from my college days. However, I can see that my style of writing hasn't changed significantly.
 
 
Question: Who inspired you to become a writer?

Response:  Historically I would have to say, Ernest Hemingway and Ian Fleming. My contemporary influence domes from J.A. Jance and James Patterson.
 
 
Question: What do like most about writing?

Response: I like the fact that the only tools you really need are pencil and paper. Writing does not require a computer but I find it very easy now to create from the keyboard and the Word Processing programs are a great help.
 
 
Question: Was it hard getting a book published? Why or Why not?

Response: Not hard but expensive. Publishing has come a long way since I self published my first book in 1994. Print on Demand or POD publishers have sprung up all over the publishing landscape. For a fee, they will handle a number of services which I had to do on my own as a self published author. My website, http://www.homebasedbusinessuniv.com gives some pretty good insight into the POD world. Click on the "Get Published" link.
 
 
Question: Let's focus on your book, Baja Diaries... for a few questions. Why did you choose to live in the area south of Ensenada?

Response: I think that after living in the desert for a number of years, people tend to long for and seek cooler climes. The well off of Tucson have cabins on Mt. Lemon or they go to San Diego for a few weeks or months during the hottest period of the summer. I had been having this desire to live on the Ocean somewhere. A friend told us about Ensenada so we hit the road for the Baja one summer day. We were glad we made that short trip. That was the beginning for us.

Question: I find some of the things you've written about in "Baja Diaries..." stranger than fiction. Did the events of "The Thanksgiving of Our Discontent" really happen?

Response: Unfortunately they did and they did happen to my sister-in-law. In Mexico, in an accident, you're only taken to the hospital if there is blood. In this case there was a fatality. I credit my sister-in-law, Exa, with being very strong in this situation and not emotional. She had the presence of mind to call the American Embassy right away to make them aware of her situation.

Question: What was it like being the only two Blacks in an otherwise all white community?

Response: I think that you already know the Response to that question. Initially and for six years we were accepted by the community as just two additions to the community who happened to be Black. We were involved in all aspects of community life; the Church, the various clubs and their activities, Tina was the director of the choir at our Church. We worked with Helping Hands Mission and on and on.

Question: In the book you have a chapter entitled "Church Wars" and "Church Wars Armageddon." These Church Wars seemed very violent, not physically but psychologically. Would you address those chapters for a minute or so and I think we'll wrap it up.

Response: They were psychologically violent and damaging to us. After nearly six years we had been lulled to sleep and never considered racism ever affecting us in our community. We were wrong. We were "blindsided" or "sucker punched" by the appearance of racism. Moreover, we never had expected it to manifest itself in the church.

Question: How do you feel now. Do you still harbor any animosity toward the perpetrators?

Response: I feel no animosity toward anyone at this time but I was angry and vindictive for years. Tina has always been a stronger Christian and more forgiving. As my faith in Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has grown over the years my animosity has decreased. Besides, most of the ringleaders in the "Church Wars" have died. Five or six died in the six months after our return to Tucson. There's more about this in the book.

Question: What can you tell the reader about the chapter, "Night of the Soldiers" when over 200 Americans were evicted from their homes?

Response: Well Bobby, I think I've said enough about the book. I don't want to give everything away. People should purchase the book to read "the rest of the story."You've been a great Interviewer.

Interview Ends.

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