September 2023
Hi, Sharon. Can you tell us a little what your story, "A Touch of the Grape," is about?
A woman who has come to dispose of her beloved deceased aunt's possessions finds the key to happiness within the retro space she unwittingly re-creates within her aunt's mobile home community. For some readers, it will be a trip down Memory Lane, if the lane is Lombard Street...
How did you come up with the idea?
I love to take the themes Juli throws out and veer off in a different direction than some might. This time I was pondering spheres and remembered an object…one that I had saved after my parents passed. I dug it out, looked it up and down, did a bit of research, and voila! I had the key to my story. This one was a blast (from the past!) to write. Lots of personal connections: I had a very dear aunt named Norma, who sadly passed this year, and I've had relatives who for years gloried in the neighborly connections of their doublewide community. We also have friends who are old hippies, and I cribbed freely from my recollections of the stories they've recounted.
But the heart of the story is the wonder of finding a community that accepts and cares about you. The objects we surround ourselves with may be kitschy or trendy, worth thousands or worth pennies. But people who genuinely enjoy your company and seek you out? Priceless.
What is your inspiration for writing as a whole?
I want to tell the truth by making things up. I try to scrutinize a character's every move for real speech, real behavior, even in the most improbable of circumstances. Truth can be healing, but it can also be disconcerting, and I don't flinch from that. I want to let others see the world through my strange, often whimsical or humorous--but also occasionally transgressive or terrifying--point of view. I also am addicted to wordplay, and my stories usually reflect that (this one rather hinges on it!). Seeing the world differently (through different cultures and time periods) has broadened my horizons, and I can only hope to offer that to others.
Could you tell us a bit about yourself?
I've been writing fiction for a couple of decades but my training is in literary analysis. I have an advanced degree from UCLA in comparative literature (French, Spanish and English, with a bit of Italian and Romanian. I grew up in California's San Joaquin Valley and cannot get enough of the history of the western United States, as well as of world cultures. I have a theatrical group, Les Enfans Sans Abri (a terrible pun on an actual troupe from medieval Paris) that for 35 years has been performing short plays from the 13th to the 17th centuries in my translations in the US and Europe, including at the Getty Family Festival (Los Angeles).
I've done a smattering of acting for film/TV, and my husband and I have written and produced several short films, one of which, Plant Life, won an award for Best Mockumentary. Together we assist in running a rescue organization (RARN) that deals with sick, injured, and abandoned reptiles and amphibians.
Where can listeners find more of your work?
Third Flatiron Press has published three stories of mine before this, so back anthologies (Keystone Chronicles, Monstrosities, Things with Feathers: Stories of Hope) are a good place to start. I'm also very happy with my story "El Paletero" (Galaxy's Edge Magazine September 2018), which made the Tangent Online Recommended Reading List in 2018.
Any new work we should keep an eye out for?
I have a very short piece, "Over the Side," that came out at the start of 2023 in LOLcraft: A Compendium of Eldritch Humor, published by Dragon's Roost Press (ed. Michael Cieslak), and a story, "Re: Your MyCodependency" in the current edition (March 2023) of Dissections journal, eds. Gina Wisker and Michelle Bernard https://www.dissections.co.uk/
(And just for Juli's curiosity: What are you reading now?)
Nonfiction, at the moment. Beyond the Outer Shores by Eric Enno Tamm, a biography of Ed Ricketts, who was John Steinbeck's inspiration for the character of Doc in his works. It is well researched and so compelling for those of us interested in both great literature (Steinbeck is one of my favorite American authors) and the history of California.
What are books you will always love?
My favorite novel of all time is probably Karel Capek's War With the Newts, though Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House is still spine-tinglingly favored. And I am devoted to Steinbeck's Cannery Row and its sequel, Sweet Thursday.
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Editor's Note: If you enjoyed this story, you might be interested in reading the whole anthology, Rhapsody of the Spheres, with many more great stories. It's available on Amazon (ebook/print) and is free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers.
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