Maw Books

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I’d love to welcome Michael Lee West, author of Mermaids in the Basement, to the Maw Books Blog!  It is my pleasure to host Michael today and it is my hope that if you haven’t read my book review of Mermaids in the Basement that you’ll do so and then join us for a great author interview!

Maw Books:  Thank you for joining us today on your blog tour for Mermaids in the Basement! First, what were you like as a young reader and when did you know you wanted to be an author?

Michael Lee West: I grew up in a house where books were heaped everywhere. When I was very small, my mother read children’s books out loud, but I was quite demanding, and I wanted to hear the stories over and over. When her voice gave out, she bought stories on records, and I would play them relentlessly. I always had a pen in my hand and wrote stories on Big Chief tablets from my father’s dime store.

Maw Books:  What was the inspiration behind Mermaids in the Basement?

Michael Lee West: The idea for Mermaids in the Basement came in December 1989, when my parents spent the winter in Perdido Key, Florida. While I was visiting, the temperature plummeted and the bay froze. As I listened to the news, a character wandered into my mind, Shelby DeChavannes. She quickly introduced me to her heart surgeon husband, Louie, and their daughter, Renata. I drove down to Al’s dime store, bought several notebooks, then came back to the condo and started writing. I got sidetracked by another book, SHE FLEW THE COOP, my second novel, and didn’t make it back to Mermaids for years.

Maw Books:  And who could forget the scene in the book involving the frozen bay?  The novel begins and ends with a tabloid story.  Are you a fan of tabloids in general?

Michael Lee West: My husband is a huge fan, and he converted me without too much trouble.

Maw Books:  Do you see any of yourself in Renata, Honora, Gladys, Shelby or Isabella?

Michael Lee West:  Well, I’m like Renata because I’m not exactly a fashion plate and have been known to wear one navy shoe, one black. My mother has some of Honora’s qualities, and Gladys’, too. Thankfully, I don’t know anyone like Isabella.

Maw Books:  I loved Renata’s lack of fashion in a society where it matters the most.  And thank goodness you don’t know anyone like Isabella.  I certainly wouldn’t want to party with her.  What surprised you most about Mermaids in the Basement and/or characters as you were writing? Did anything turn out radically different than you’d originally thought it would?

Michael Lee West: The banter between the women. Whenever they got together, they started talking and wouldn’t hush.

Maw Books:  How easy or difficult was it to come up with the title Mermaids in the Basement?

Michael Lee West: I love finding titles. This one came from a line in an Emily Dickinson poem.

Maw Books:  One of the recurring features on my blog is to share an author recipe in my interviews and then attempt to make them later.  Do you have a great southern recipe that you’d like to share?

Michael Lee West:

GRAND MARNIER INFUSED CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRIES

Serves 4-6, or 1 Extremely Hungry Chocolate Lover

1 box of giant strawberries
1 container of chocolate dipping
1 syringe with 20 gauge needle
¼ c Grand Marnier

Wash the berries and set on a paper towel to dry.  Meanwhile, fill a syringe with Grand Marnier and inject about 1 cc into each berry. Melt the chocolate in a glass bowl, according to directions, and do not guess, as I did last New Year’s, setting off the fire alarm just as my guests were arriving.  After dipping each berry, set it on a wax-paper lined baking sheet.  Chill about an hour.

Maw Books:  I was salivating when Renata began to eat these at on of the parties.  Thank goodness you didn’t include Valium!  Thank you!  With more than five books under your belt, if you could go back and talk to yourself when you were beginning writer, what advice would you offer?

Michael Lee West: When I was struggling to get published, someone told me to be persistent, “a bit like a weed.” It was wonderful advice–wish I’d followed it sooner.

Maw Books:  What book is currently on your nightstand and what book or author do you think nobody should miss?

Michael Lee West: Paul Brians’ Common Errors in English Usage. I love words, love to squeeze them like grapes. Anyone who wants to write should read Stephen King’s ON WRITING.

Maw Books: What do you do outside the world of books?

Michael Lee West: I live on a small farm. I’ve learned how to care for chickens, donkeys, sheep, and African Pygmy goats. I’ve also learned how to bottle feed lambs and kids, to repair fences, and how to extract goats (rather, how to extract horns) from wire fences. Also, I belong to an online cooking community, WFD&More (What’s For Dinner & More). We are “The Darling Bakers” and post pictures and commentary about everything from what we cooked for supper to the china plates that we found at Goodwill. We talk about coffee pots, knives, pastry wheels. Our last bake off was Saturday. We made cupcakes. Now we’re getting ready to make appetizers for the Super Bowl.

Maw Books:  How cool is that!  Well, I’m glad I asked you for a recipe, you must have tons of yummy stuff!  And I’m thinking I need to read Consuming Passions, as well.  What are you working on now, and what new release(s) can we expect to see from you down the road?

Michael Lee West: I’m working on the first book in a trilogy about a Charleston chef. I’m guessing that it will be published in 2011.

Maw Books:  Sounds like a book that would make me very, very hungry!  Thank you so much Michael for joining us today.  I wish you congratulations on your continued success!

Michael Lee West is also the author of American Pie, She Flew the Coop, Mad Girls in Love, Crazy Ladies, and Consuming Passions.

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