Interview with Pamela Glasner, Author of Finding Emmaus

Interview with Pamela Glasner, Author of “Finding Emmaus”
Interviewed by Paul Dale Roberts, President of www.jazmaonline.com – HPI General Manager – www.hpiparanormal.com

Please note: nothing said in this interview is a spoiler —- everything here is either something that is established in the very beginning of the book or is stated in such a way so as not to give away any part of the suspenseful story.

Question: Pamela, give us a briefing on what “Finding Emmaus” is all about.

Answer: Francis Nettleton, a 17th century Empath living in Puritan New England, a society steeped in myths and intolerance, grows into adulthood believing himself to be insane. Inadvertently, he sets in motion a murder which will reverberate through four families and three centuries.

Wiccans have their Book of Shadows; Christians have their Bible. Even the secular world has its encyclopedias, but for Empaths there was nothing until Francis sacrificed everything to spend his life creating one authoritative body of knowledge, a central set of guiding principles meant to put an end to the relentless persecution and needless suffering of anyone who did not - or could not - fit the societal mold. He named it The Lodestarre.

Three hundred years later, Katherine Spencer, after years of hospitals and drugs, is given a rare opportunity: a second chance at life. At fifty-four, after she is told that, rather than being insane, she’s more likely Empathic, she sets out to find Francis and the legendary Lodestarre, both 300 years gone, in a last-ditch hope that she can finally learn to live. In the process, she unwittingly becomes a champion for the voiceless millions who are being victimized by a corporate machine of such omnipotent political power that she puts her life in jeopardy when she challenges the all-but-unstoppable pharmaceutical industry, America’s most powerful and affluent lobby.

“Finding Emmaus” is a very dark fictional yet factually-based novel in which two otherwise ordinary people find a way to transcend time and death to try and save millions of others whose lives are shattered because they, too, have been erroneously labeled mentally ill.

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It was released on October 1st of this year and has been very well received, albeit on a limited basis. Among those who’ve read it, the response has been enthusiastically positive, with an audience equally divided between men and women.

Question: Wow! How did you come up with this idea of having 2 empaths living 300 years apart, both working in unison to save the world?

Answer: Well, originally the story did not involve two Empaths, it only involved one: Katherine, who lives in the 21st century. But as I was writing it, I liked what I had, but it wasn’t really knocking my socks off. And then one day I was standing in front of this beautiful drawing I've had for about 25 years, a drawing of a very old man who really did live in Vermont, who sat in the shade of a covered bridge weaving baskets. The man’s name was Frank.

Of course, he would have been called Francis three hundred years ago, so that’s where I got the name of the story’s second principal character.

And staring at him, the whole story just sort of popped into my head: the name of the new England town where the story takes place became Weaver's Bridge and Francis was the ‘Father Of Empathy’, he literally ‘wrote the book on it.’ And then I thought: But the book disappeared and faded into legend.

On the heels of that thought came: well, if the book faded into legend, it must have been written a very long time ago, and since modern American history is only about 390 years old, the decision of when it happened was made for me.

I knew the story was going to take place in Connecticut and that narrowed it down even further, since the earliest white settlements/chartered towns in Connecticut were in the 1630’s.

And then I asked myself (AND answered myself, something I do pretty regularly, whether there’s anyone around or not!) “why did the book fade into legend?” The answer was, if you were white and lived in Connecticut Colony in 1630-something, you were a Puritan.

Puritan philosophy was based on a very literal (at least, the Puritan’s very literal)interpretation of the Bible. If something wasn’t specifically addressed in the Bible, it had no place in their lives. And Empathy, which has the appearance of mental illness to anyone who does not understand it or is completely ignorant of its existence, certainly would not have been excepted under any circumstances.

So even though Francis ‘wrote the book on it’ —- the book called The Lodestarre, which is the name of the series —- he would never have been able to publish it or in any other manner disseminate the information because it would have been considered blasphemous at best, the work of the Devil at worst and grounds for getting close up and personal with the inquisitor’s noose. So it was plausible that The Lodestarre would have hidden away for centuries, in the hopes that some day someone, in a less fearful, more tolerant society, might come along and unearth it.

Which is what happens in “Finding Emmaus”, three centuries after Francis creates it.

Question: Can you tell us some more about Francis and Katherine, your two main characters?

Answer: Francis and Katherine are both Empaths who suffer abominably because, not only are they the victims of those around them who do not understand the gift of Empathy, but they, themselves, do not understand it. Each suffers the torments of the world in which they live.

In Francis’ time, the 17th century, the medical community honestly believed that lunacy (the mentally ill, which is what Empaths would have been perceived as, were not referred to as ‘patients’ until many years later) was contagious and that the ONLY cure for lunacy was physical torture. Lunatics were therefore segregated from society into places like Bethlam Royal Hospital (sometimes referred to as Bedlam), and subjected to the most hideous treatment imaginable —- and then treatment which is not imaginable. This treatment is all well documented and described in gruesome and graphic detail in numerous historical sources. It is also fairly graphically described in my book.

In the New World, in Connecticut Colony, there would not have been an asylum like Bethlam, not back then, so lunatics would have been locked away in a room in the family home, probably chained there to prevent escape, or would have been put to death for the good of society and the repose and salvation of the lunatic’s tortured soul.

In Katherine’s time the tortures and trampling of basic human rights are just as prevalent, though more sophisticated.

For example, as recently as twenty-eight years ago, twenty-seven states in our country were actively forcing surgical sterilization on patients labeled mentally ill, even though, in most cases, there was (and still is) no standard or definitive way to diagnose or prove the mental illnesses which those people were thought to be victims of. But they most certainly did become victims!

And, of course, there are the myriad psychotropic drugs which, 70% of the time, fail to have their desired effect, but nearly all the time, have horrible, lasting, sometimes permanent, sometimes fatal, side effects.

Katherine lives this hell until her mid-fifties when an especially enlightened psychiatrist friend of hers suggests that she is an Empath rather than a victim of mental illness.

Question: If this book became a movie, who would play Francis and who would play Katherine?

Answer: I’m smiling as I write the answer to this question because as I wrote the book, there were, in fact, three characters whom I put actor’s faces to in order to “see” them move through their days and interact with other characters. I’m a very visual person and that’s how I write: I “see” the scene in my head and then I write it.

However, I never did picture anyone specific for either Francis or Katherine, only for Michael, Carly and Humphrey. And I will leave that for the readers to guess!

That said, I think I could see Sir Ian McKellen as Francis (in the year 2008, as a 98-year-old ghost)and perhaps Marcia Gay Harden as Katherine.

Question: What other books have you written?
Answer: “Finding Emmaus” is my first novel. I’m presently working on book two of the series.

Question: Can you tell us something personal about yourself? Your family life, schools you went to. How you became a writer.

Answer: I was born in the Bronx (in New York City) and raised in Queens. If you ever saw the movie “Funny Girl”, that’s the life I grew up in: everyone’s mother was everyone else’s mother. There were no dividing lines amongst the families. Nancy’s mother or Laurie’s mother could discipline me for misbehaving just as my mother could discipline Diane or Ellen. Didn’t matter; we were all like one big family on a city block with 32 houses on each side of street. A tiny microcosm which, to my young eyes, seemed to encompass the entire world.

It never would have occurred to me that I was not welcome at Nancy’s table for any meal any more than it would have occurred to Nancy that she was not welcome at Diane’s.

My parents decided we needed to leave NY when the neighborhood began to change and became too dangerous to live in. So we moved to Connecticut and, aside from the culture shock, I lost that feeling of knowing down the core of my being that I belonged, that I was unconditionally accepted.

I've lived in some lovely places since and have made some wonderful friends, I belong to a fabulous church and I am regularly surrounded by amazing, talented, remarkable people. But nothing, I think, ever compares to the friendships you make as a young child.

I've been writing as long as I can remember. When my parents would send me away to camp, instead of sending home post cards, I’d write essays! The longest letter I ever sent to a friend from camp was 23 pages. But that was way before the days of copiers (I’m dating myself here!) so I don't have any of them. Too bad, too, because it would have been interesting to be able to look back on them and see what I wrote about, what I counted as important, from a child’s point of view.

I know I always wanted to write a book but I never believed I actually could. I’d sit with paper and pen and think to myself, “What could I possibly write about that anyone would be the least bit interested in?” And then one day, while standing in front of that drawing I mentioned earlier, the entire story of “Finding Emmaus” just came to me —- all of it —- in less than 15 minutes. And then I sat down and, five months and seven hundred and sixty-two pages later, I had a novel.

Question: What are your hobbies and recreational activities?

Answer: I love horses. I can go to a town fair and watch the equestrian events for hours and not get bored. I've had a few horses, but not for a while now because my life does not lend itself to that kind of commitment and responsibility.

I also love reading, but I sort of go on a ‘reading hiatus’ when I’m writing, except for the non-fiction research required for The Lodestarre series. Although I recently got my hands on a lovely biography of Increase Mather, a man with whom I became fascinated while I was writing “Finding Emmaus”. He was very involved in the Salem witch trials and, as such, I was prepared to hate him. Instead, even though I no longer need to delve into his life, after reading some of his sermons and learning the comparatively small amount I've learned so far, I just can’t stay away from him. So I guess he’s become another hobby of mine.

Question: If you had 6 dinner guests, 3 historical and 3 fictional, who would they be and why?
Answer: Well, obviously, one would be Increase Mather. Despite his active role in the witch trials, I don’t believe he agreed with condemning those people to death. He actually apologized, but eventually he recanted. I think he was torn. I’m certain he was concerned for his safety and that of his family. It’s clear from writings that he was devoted to family. I’d love to ask him in person what it was like to be him, Harvard graduate and professor, well-loved and well-respected minister, extraordinary orator and, though not the hangman, definitely complicit in the deaths of those he privately deemed innocent. An enigma if ever there was one.

The other two historical figures would be John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster and his mistress —- and eventual wife —- Katherine Swynford, née (de) Roet. I fell in love with the two of them, and with English history, when I read Anya Seton’s historical novel named “Katherine”, a wonderful tale about their life-long love and the turbulent times in which they lived. Katherine was actually sister-in-law to Geoffrey Chaucer, the author of Canterbury Tales. I would love to know, first-hand, what their lives were like in the 1300’s.

Far as fictional characters go, I think I’d enjoy chatting and sharing a glass of wine with Nick and Nora Charles, fictional sleuths played by William Powell and Myrna Loy in the famed “Thin Man” films. I can’t imagine anyone more entertaining than the two of them, except perhaps Dr. David Huxley, the long-suffering paleontologist from “Bringing Up Baby”.

Question: What TV shows, movies do you like?
Answer: My favorite TV show, hands down, is Law and Order, followed closely by it’s cousin, Special Victims Unit. My favorite films are (in no particular order) Goodfellas; Beetle Juice; Corpse Bride; Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix; The Girl In The Cafe; Baby Boom; How the Grinch Stole Christmas!; Labyrinth; LadyHawke; Coal Miner's Daughter

Question: What are some of your favorite books?
Answer: Well, as I said earlier, Katherine by Anya Seton is my all-time favorite historical novel. I’ve read everything Terry Brooks has written and I adore Stephen King. There is one book I've loved longer than any other in my life, and that is “Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose” by Dr. Seuss.

Question: What is your website address and how can someone contact you?
Answer: The web address for “Finding Emmaus” is http://www.lodestarre.com/index.html and if anyone wants to contact me, probably the easiest way is through Facebook. My ID is the same as my name: Pamela Glasner.

Question: Thank you for the interview, any words of wisdom for your fans?
Answer: If I've learned anything at all through this experience of ‘suddenly’ writing a novel and becoming a published author at the age of 55, it’s that nothing is more important than trusting that voice inside. Some people call it intuition; I call it my gut. That doesn’t mean I never struggle with three-o'clock-in-the-morning courage, but you can’t let the fear win.

You know, in the Olympics, the uneven parallel events, when the athlete comes off the bars? She hits the mat, bends her knees just a bit and then … you can just see it in her eyes when she knows with everything in her that she absolutely ‘stuck’ that landing.

There’s a lot of advice out there and not all of it is good. And I’m not saying, “Ignore everybody else”, or “Stick your head in the sand” or “Get cocky” or “Don’t get an education” or “Don’t try and learn from other people, especially people you respect.” What I am saying is that, above all, there comes a time when you just need to trust what’s going on inside you, the part of you that is truly YOU.

True creativity comes from your heart and your soul and your gut and some inexplicable, insatiable need to express it. And it can be anything. It doesn’t have to be writing. It doesn’t even have to be an art form.

Inventing the light bulb and the process of pasteurization came from the same place in Edison and Pasteur as my writing comes from in me. Otherwise, who would spend so much time and energy doing something over and over, in face of criticism or undisguised contempt or continuous failure, in the face of never knowing if you’ll ever succeed or be appreciated, much less get one red cent for your trouble?

At some point you just have to shut out all the rest and look inside —- and if what you’re feeling resembles that look in the athlete’s eyes when she sticks that landing — that’s when you know that you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing.