Other Fires

This week’s other featured books, “Temple Dancer,” by Amy Weintraub, “Have Love,” by Deirdre Fagan and “Nujran and the Corpse in the Quadrangle,” by Krishna Sudhir, can be found by scrolling down below this post.

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THE BOOK: Other Fires

PUBLISHED: October 20, 2020

AUTHOR: Lenore H. Gay

EDITOR: Randy Marshall, Jamie Fueglein

PUBLISHER: She Writes Press.

SUMMARY: Joss and Phil’s already rocky marriage is fragmented when Phis is injured in a devastating fire and diagnosed with Capgras Misidentification Syndrome in which a person becomes convinced that a loved one has been replaced by an identical imposter. Faced with a husband who no longer recognizes her, Joss struggles to find motivation to save their marriage, even as family secrets start to emerge that challenge everything that she thought she knew. With two young daughters, a looming book deadline, and an attractive distraction named Adam complicating her situation even further, Joss has to decide what she wants for her family – and what family even means.

THE BACK STORY: As a former therapist, I still read some articles and novels about the field. The Capgras Misidentification Syndrome was new to me until I read a novel which led me to search for more information. Brain research revealed the syndrome was the result of a closed-head injury. The visual cortex relays information through two routes. One route to the temporal lobe, which is linked to facial recognition, and one to the limbic system, which registers emotional reaction. With Capgras, the route from the visual cortex to the limbic system is damaged, but the lobe is unharmed. For example, the person looks like “mother,” “wife,” or “husband,” but the patient has no emotional response—hence the patient believes he/she is seeing an imposter.

Reading further I discovered that the syndrome usually appears in schizophrenia and dementia. However, a closed-head injury could also cause the syndrome. I wondered about how this syndrome might affect a family. I made notes, jotted down ideas and characters for a novel, then I wrote the manuscript.

WHY THIS TITLE? Fire is a theme running through the book. A fire opens the book and fire effects the family in other ways. Other fires, physical and emotional, weave through the book.

WHY WOULD SOMEONE WANT TO READ IT? The subject of fires, on one level, is unusual and fires thread through the book. If there were a niche, I suppose it would be readers who know someone with Capgras and how it effects other people close to the person suffering from the syndrome, as well as readers who like to read about mental health.

REVIEW COMMENTS:

“Once again, Lenore Gay, has woven a story that captivates the reader from page one. Other Fires is a brilliant study of tragedy on multiple levels. Beginning with a dysfunctional family struggling in the aftermath of a terrible fire, she expertly peels back the layers of human behavior and motivation that unravels the lives of the guilty and innocent. Peppered with surprising twists and turns, the story will stay with you long after you close the cover.” – Pam Webber, author of The Wiregrass and Moon Water

“Heartwarming and dramatic, the two major intertwining stories in Other Fires reach across decades from troubled childhood into mid-life adults and reaffirm what remains human and vulnerable in all of us. The portraits of the main characters arc from hopelessness to vulnerability and a sense of recovery. Gay holds the reader’s attention from the first page.” — Diana Paul, author of Things Unsaid

“How do people figure out their minds? This novel explores what constitutes reality, and from whose perspective. Drawing on her varied experiences in life and background in rehabilitation and mental health counseling, Lenore Gay weaves together the perspectives of compelling characters who interact in ways that keep the pages of this novel turning.” — Chris Reid, PhD, Rehabilitation Psychology

AUTHOR PROFILE: I’m a retired Licensed Professional Counselor. I worked in several agencies, psychiatric hospitals and for ten years maintained a private counseling practice. I was on the faculty of the Rehabilitation Counseling Department of Virginia Commonwealth University where I taught graduate students, and for three years coordinated the internship program.

I spent a lot of free time reading: novels, poetry and nonfiction. In high school I wrote poems and a few short stories. Most of the early efforts have ended in the trash can. I read enough to see my writing needed more work, more practice. Later, I wrote a few short stories that read better, but still weren’t publishable. I printed out a few stories and gave them to family and friends on holidays. Later I was thrilled when the Virginia Center of the Creative Arts (VCCA) awarded me two writing fellowships. I still recall that worried feeling because I was such a novice. Most writers at VCCA already had books out and were developing state-wide and national reputations. I had little beyond a few short stories and a lot of energy to keep improving.

Later I was thrilled when my short story, “The Hobo,” won first place in Richmond’s Style Weekly’s annual fiction contest. By then I’d joined James River Writers. I became a volunteer reader at Blackbird, An Online Journal for Literature & the Arts.

In 2015, my novel manuscript, Shelter of Leaves, was accepted for publication by She Writes Press. In April, 2019 my novel manuscript, Other Fires, was accepted by the press again. I have enjoyed working with the publisher Brooke Warner, and the skilled SWP editors.

AUTHOR COMMENTS: After reading about Capgras Misidentification Syndrome I mulled over the syndrome and its possible effects on the patient and family. An idea for a book began taking shape before I began to write. When that felt solid, I made notes on the syndrome and thought about the characters, then I began writing the book.

SAMPLE CHAPTER: https://www.amazon.com/Other-Fires-Lenore-H-Gay/dp/1631527738/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1600789569&sr=8-1

LOCAL OUTLETS: My launch will be at Chop Suey Books, 2913 W. Cary St., in Richmond, Va.23221. Call Ward Treff, 804-422-8066, to order the book.

I’ll be outside of the store to hand out my book as people drive by the store. If people wish, I’ll autograph their book. October 20th, 4-6 pm. Please wear masks. Thank you.

OTHER LOCAL INDIE BOOKSTORES:

Book People, 536 Granite Avenue, Richmond, Va. 23226. David Shuman, 804-288-4346.

Fountain Books, 1312 Cary Street, Richmond, Va. 23219. Kelly Justice, 804-788-1594.

WHERE ELSE TO BUY: Amazon, Barnes & Noble.

PRICE: $16.95

CONTACT THE AUTHOR

Email: lenoregay@comcast.net Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lenore.gay

Twitter: lenore_gay