Talking Books with Mary Lawlor, Author of ‘Fighter Pilot’s Daughter’

Mary Lawlor is author of Fighter Pilot’s Daughter (Rowman & Littlefield 2013, paper 2015), Public Native America (Rutgers Univ. Press 2006), and Recalling the Wild (Rutgers Univ. Press, 2000). Her short stories and essays have appeared in Big Bridge and Politics/Letters. She studied the American University in Paris and earned a Ph.D. from New York University. She divides her time between an old farmhouse in Easton, Pennsylvania, and a cabin in the mountains of southern Spain.

You can visit her website at https://www.marylawlor.net/ or connect with her on Twitter or Facebook.

Would you consider your latest book to be a one of a kind? How so?

Fighter Pilot’s Daughter is one of very few books that give an account of ordinary, everyday life during the Cold War. Perhaps even fewer tell that story from the point of view of a military kid. It’s surprising to me how many readers—whether they grew up in the service or not—have contacted me to say they were thrilled to find a narrative that captured what the years of the Cold War felt like—all the fear we were brought up with and the strange things we were trained to do to protect ourselves in case of a nuclear bomb (duck under your school desk and cover your head; find the nearest bomb shelter). There are plenty of histories and film documentaries of the time, and much fiction is set in the Cold War. But there really aren’t many books that relate what it was like to actually live through those times.

Where is your writing sanctuary?

I write on a stationary bicycle situated in a large, sunny room on the second floor of my house in Pennsylvania. My husband arranged a ledge on the handle bars of the bike, so I can set my laptop there. I peddle and write at the same time. The peddling goes very slowly, but I feel that my brain’s moving a little bit more as my legs move. As an added benefit my metabolism is charging more than it would if I were sitting still at a desk. This, at least, is what I tell myself is happening! I also listen to music through ear buds while I’m writing, which stimulates my energy and imagination.

In Spain, I often take my computer up to the top of the mountain where my house is located. I bring a cushion along and settle myself beside an old ruined house or at the foot of a big cork oak. I can write for hours up there. The views are wonderful and inspiring.

What do you believe a writer should not do as far as getting his or her book published?

You shouldn’t approach a publisher directly (unless it’s an academic book), because publishers generally expect writers to come to them through an agent. When approaching an agent in the hopes that they will take you on as a client, you shouldn’t be vague, overly modest, or overly grandiose about your project (i.e. brag about it too much). Be as clear, honest, and concise as possible so the potential agent can get a sense of what the work is really like and who you are as a write.

What inspires you?

Lots of things inspire me. Listening to people talk—not always for the content or logic of what they’re saying but for the phrasing, word choices, pronunciations, and idiosyncrasies of usage—is always very interesting, and I get ideas for dialogue from it.

I also get great inspiration from looking at landscapes near my home in Spain. The mountains and valleys are very dramatic, and the sea coast, with Gibraltar jutting up in the distance, is always fascinating. The light changes in striking ways from season to season and hour to hour. The pathways through the countryside are intricate, complex. All these landscapes capture my imagination powerfully, and I’ve reproduced them in the works of fiction I’ve been writing recently.

What is one thing you learned about your book after it was published?

I learned how much people of my generation remember the Cold War in deeply personal ways. I’ve heard from so many people who tell me they recognize the scenes and situations I describe in Fighter Pilot’s Daughter viscerally. It’s interesting too to see how they respond to these descriptions with gratitude! It’s brought home to me the fact that there really haven’t been many non-fiction books written of a personal nature about life during those years.

Aside from writing, what’s your passion?

I love to hike in the mountains of Andalucia. Our house there is a small place but it’s situated at the base of a high mountain called La Loberia. I often put on my hiking boots and climb to the top. From there you can see the whole circumference of the landscape, from Gibraltar to the west and north to the mountains of Grazalema and east to Sierra Bermeja. Cork oaks, olives and almond trees grow up there, and you can find wild herbs as well-oregano, rosemary and thyme.

I also like to ride horses very much, but I’m not terribly good at it. There are several stables near my Spanish home where I’ve ridden, and once years ago some friends took me riding bareback in the mountains nearby.

A third passion is swimming. It’s my favorite and best sport. Chapter 11 of Fighter Pilot’s Daughter describes my time with my older sisters on a synchronized swimming team in California. I only did that for a couple of years, but the training and practice made me a strong swimmer. For many years I swam almost every day. Writing has taken up too much time for me to do that in recent years, but I still head for the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean whenever I can in summers and for whatever heated pool is in reach during the colder seasons.

What’s next for you?

I’ve been writing fiction since Fighter Pilot’s Daughter came out. I’ve finished a novel, The Stars Over Andalucia, set in the village in Spain where I live for half the year. At the moment I’m considering having it translated and published in Spanish, but there are still many issues to consider before taking this step. I’m also about half way (I hope!) through a first draft of a new novel titled The Time Keeper’s Room. It’s set in Spain and Morocco and focuses on the experiences of a young woman who’s exploring her family’s and her country’s past. She has visionary contacts with figures from the medieval period when Spain was shifting from Islamic to Christian domination. It’s a rather exotic story, and I’m having a great time writing it.

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An Interview with Kenneth A. Baldwin, Author of The Shards of Lafayette

Kenneth A. Baldwin writes stories that blur the lines between history, magic, dreams, and reality. He loves finding oddities in history books with unbelievable tales or unexplained phenomena. His first series, The Luella Winthrop Trilogy, takes place during just such a time when late 19th-century Victorians struggled to balance a surge of occultism and never-before-seen scientific advancements.

Before he started writing novels, Kenny paid his way through law school by writing, performing, and teaching humor. You can still catch him on stage or in corners of the Internet that feature sketch and improv comedy. Now, he lives nestled under the Wasatch Mountains with his wonderful wife, sons, and Golden Retriever.

Website & Social Media:

Website ➜www.kennethabaldwin.com

X ➜http://www.x.com/kennethabaldwin

Facebook ➜www.facebook.com/kennethabaldwin 

Goodreads ➜ www.goodreads.com/kennethabaldwin

Would you call yourself a born writer?

I’m not sure such a thing exists. Every great writer in history has written awful drafts and penned terrible work. Some even published them. So to me, being a born writer probably has more to do with taste and outlook than ability or talent. I’m blessed to have had influences in my life that opened my taste up to new inputs and challenged my sure footings. The one thing I’ve always been good at is trying something on and giving it a fair shot or trying to recognize what makes a certain topic romantic or meaningful. I’m passionate about food, for example. Once, I made a dish for a roommate that he really enjoyed. The next time I made it, he looked over my shoulder and said, “Oh, so it’s just this ingredient and this ingredient like this…” With a passionless simplification like that, I knew he’d never make it the way he liked it. If being a writer is carrying the innate understanding that sauteeing onions isn’t a step in a recipe but an exchange of gratitude between human beings and the world that’s made them, then sure, I’d call myself a born writer.

What was your inspiration for The Shards of Lafayette?

The courage of WWI combat pilots and the relationship that bound them together. I don’t think those two things are distinct from one another. We may all know a person or two who is courageous in everything they do, but in their relationships most of all. I figured there had to be magic in people like that. Those early WWI pilots followed their hearts to the end of the road. Many of them left lives of great responsibility and promise behind because they felt compelled to help with the war effort. So, I built a magic system based on human friendship and the unique characteristics of some of the war’s great combat pilots.

What themes do you like to explore in your writing?

I’m drawn to write about questions that don’t have easy answers. At the heart of Shards is one of those themes. Marcus has been at war for a couple years. He can’t bring himself to kill anybody. 

Is that an honorable thing? Is that a useful thing? There are really strong arguments on both sides, and at its heart is the question that drove the whole storyline: must we dirty our hands to protect the things that are important to us? And is there a point where keeping the proverbial hands clean makes them the most dirty of all? I’ve lost a lot of sleep over that.

How long did it take you to complete this first novel?

It went pretty quickly. I started it during COVID, and it was therapeutic to write. I’d say about a year to a year and a half.

Are you disciplined? Describe a typical writing day.

You know, a lot of writers are very good at getting a schedule down and pumping out words. For me, much of the writing process happens when I’m taking a walk outside. Sitting down in a chair and typing words isn’t intimidating to me. But it simply doesn’t happen when I don’t feel good about the story or characters or themes. So I do a lot of walking and thinking.

What do you love most about being an author?

I can think of no better way to explore yourself than being an author. It’s scary. It’s enlightening. But when you get the story and the characters just right, something inside you sings with happiness because you’ve finally understood something deep, perhaps dark and scary, about yourself. Then, when readers write in and say how much so-and-so meant to them, you get to see firsthand how all of us are reaching out for something beautiful together to make sense of our own experiences. That’s real magic right there.

Did you go with a traditional publisher, small press, or did you self publish? What was the process like and are you happy with your decision?

I self published for a multitude of reasons. I’d like to try the traditional route one day, or even a small press, but I’ll need to have an idea for a novel that gets me really excited and that I don’t mind changing everything about according to the trends of the time. Traditional publishers are in the business of selling books en masse. They are bound to the trends and themes in writing that are most profitable or else people lose their livelihoods.. I prefer to be bound by good stories. 

Where can we find your book on the web?

Well, since I’m self-published, I’ll direct readers first to my own website, kennethabaldwin.com, where fewest royalties go to support huge business. But I have listed on Amazon and Barnes and Nobles and other e-retailers as well.

The Shards of Lafayette: Drops of Glass Book 1 is available at Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Drops-Glass-Magic-Shards-Lafayette-ebook/dp/B0C42B144X .

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