Heather Sharfeddin's Backstory
I love the name Blackbelly because it’s mysterious—some people suspect it’s erotic, some that it’s racist. It is, in fact, a breed of sheep with black bellies that hails from Barbados. Like my protagonist, Chas McPherson, I raise Blackbelly sheep. He raises them for meat, but I just use them to keep down the blackberries on my Oregon farm.
I was working on another novel (my fourth unpublished) when I woke up in the middle of the night compelled to write Blackbelly. When people ask me where my ideas come from, I have to say they come straight out of the darkness like a bolt of lightning. Or, at least the best ideas do. There was a connection in Blackbelly that was more personal to me than just the fact that I raise sheep, though it wasn’t evident until I’d finished the first draft. That’s when, stepping back, I could see the web of themes I’d knitted together and their striking relevance to my life: faith vs. religion, sin and forgiveness, prejudice and rural Idaho.
I was raised in an evangelical home in remote Idaho that bordered on Pentecostal at times. Chas McPherson is the only son of the most feared preacher in that same state, a man now mute and dying of Parkinson’s. Like me, Chas is ambivalent about his ties to religion, but not without his own carefully drawn conclusions about God. He is not what one would expect of a man from that environment.
The story of Chas McPherson is the story of who I wish I could be—unchanged by public opinion, unwavering in the face of adversity. But alas, that is not me. As a matter of fact I quit writing at page 175. I had racked up so many agent rejections on my previous work that I finally threw in the towel. Eight years of writing fiction, taking classes and workshops, hiring professional editors, and exploring the art and craft had not paid off for me. I’d never worked so hard at something in my entire life, and I’d never failed so thoroughly.
But what does a storyteller do when they quit telling stories? They drink. They rage. They make everyone around them miserable. It was my husband who suggested that maybe I wouldn’t be so angry about pepperoni pizza if I started writing again. He urged me to “just finish this one book. It’s almost done, anyway.” Sitting there that evening, listening to my husband cajole me into finishing Blackbelly I could not have imagined the glowing reviews it would received. I could not have believed strangers would write to me to tell me they loved it. But I suspected he was right about the pizza.
New Engaging Book on Camagüey Cuba Celebrates Life!
CUBA, I REMEMBER YOU/CUBA, TE RECUERDO
By OSCAR M. RAMÍREZ-ORBEA, PH.D.
$19.95
**Cuba, I Remember You is a book about family, love, relationships, and survival in difficult circumstances that all readers will find to be a wonderful reading experience.
Bettie Corbin Tucker
For IP Book Reviewers
Independent Professional Reviewers
See more about the book at:
http://cubairememberyou.zoomshare.com/
CUBA, I REMEMBER YOU/CUBA, TE RECUERDO
By OSCAR M. RAMÍREZ-ORBEA, PH.D.
A collection of 14 short stories, all in Spanish and English, based on the author’s experiences of childhood before and after the Communist revolution. Includes Appendix for educators wishing to use the book in Spanish or English foreign language classes. Lots of nostalgia for those who knew Cuba in the 50’s and 60’s and plenty of humor for readers in general. Includes also many period family photographs that illustrate the stories and bring them vividly to life!
About the Author
Dr. Oscar M. Ramírez-Orbea, was born in Camagüey, Cuba, in 1955. He emigrated with his family to the US in 1966, after completing elementary school in his home country. He longs one day to return to his native city of Camagüey and to all the fond memories it holds for him. CUBA, I REMEMBER YOU/CUBA, TE RECUERDO is Dr. Ramírez’s first narrative work. More
Available now from Airleaf Publishing (www.airleaf.com) or call today to order your copy at 1-800-342–6068.
Product Details
Paperback: 392 pages
Publisher: Airleaf Publishing; 1st edition (January 10, 2006)
Language: English, Spanish
ISBN: 1594539553
Posted by: Oscar Ramirez | July 01, 2006 at 03:58 PM