Katy McKenna Raymond  
Personal blog of christian writer Katy McKenna Raymond in Kansas City, Missouri

Personal blog of christian
writer & fallible mom
Katy McKenna Raymond
in Kansas City, Missouri


Katy is represented by
Greg Johnson at
WordServe Literary

Read more Katy at
LateBoomer.net

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Through Irish Eyes

I will eventually read all of BJ Hoff’s historical novels, but you probably won’t be surprised to know that I’ve started with the Irish stories. I know, I know. I can’t help myself! I have learned so much about my own heritage by reading her books that I just can’t say enough good about them.

BJ HoffToday, I’m thrilled to present BJ to you right here on fallible. If you haven’t had the occasion to enjoy her blog, allow me to recommend it to you! You will find a wealth of information there about books, music, mac computers, culture, faith, and writing. And I’m blessed to have two copies of her latest release, Song of Erin, to give away to a couple of very fortunate commenters. So don’t hold back, fallible readers!

Dun Aengus, Inishmore IrelandKaty: BJ, you had me completely hooked when you opened Song of Erin with a character attempting to survive the devastating 1839 hurricane on the island of Inishmore, off the west coast of Ireland. As I read closer, I realized that the fort in which Terese finds herself trapped (Dun Aengus) is one Doug and I visited in 2000! (I’m posting two photos to prove it…)

BJ: Katy, you should know that you’re the first person I’ve heard from who’s actually seen the old fort up close.

Dun Aengus, Inishmore IrelandKaty: I’m telling you, once I climbed to the top of the hill (click on the pic to the left to see me huffing up the path)  on which the fort was built supposedly around 1000 B.C., I didn’t have ANY strength left to cling to a rock for survival like Terese did!

BJ: Isn’t it a wild and formidable sight? Can’t you just imagine a hurricane blowing through there? Oops—I forgot that you’re supposed to be the one asking the questions!

Katy: Ha! Okay, here’s a question: Can you tell fallible readers how you choose such fascinating bits of history around which to build your novels?

BJ: So much of what turns into story ideas originally comes from my own leisure reading (and, of course, my own family tree!). I tend to incorporate pieces of history that captured my interest and intrigued me when I was reading not for research, but simply for my own interest.

Katy: My own family is new to this country. My father came directly to Kansas City, sponsored by his Irish immigrant uncle. So somehow I’ve missed out on the Irish/New York story as it unfolded in the 1800s. How my family in County Monaghan avoided starvation during the potato famine, I’m still discovering…

BJ: Before I ever wrote my first historical novel, I spent years reading about the Irish potato famine (the “Great Hunger”) of the mid-1800s that resulted in the near devastation of Ireland and in the mass immigration of the Irish to America. It seemed that every book or journal I read caused me to go searching for more. 

Song of ErinKaty: Before reading Song of Erin (a re-release of two novels—Cloth of Heaven and Ashes and Lace—in one volume), I devoured all five books of your Emerald Ballad series. I couldn’t read them fast enough—or slowly enough, either—to make me happy. I loved (and hated) learning about the notorious slums of New York (such as Five Points), in which the Irish immigrants often found themselves subsisting.

BJ: By the time I decided to write the first book of my Emerald Ballad series, I had more ideas waiting to be developed than I knew what to do with! In Song of Erin, I deal again with aspects of the Irish making America their new home.

Katy: Tell us a bit about your writing process. Does the setting occur to you first or an inciting incident, perhaps? Or do characters appear and dictate what situations you place them in?

BJ: Every book I’ve ever written has begun with my anchor character. I’ve been asked time and again where my characters “come from,” but I’ve no idea. They simply … happen. First comes the main character, then the others. The story evolves from the people. Always. That’s been the way of it from the first book, and it’s never changed.

Katy: I love the way you say, “That’s been the way of it.” Sounds very Irish to my well-trained ear.

BJ: Well, I don’t mean to make the process sound at all “mystical,” but I truly have no real explanation for the way my stories develop.

Katy: Speaking of main characters, I think you’ve said that if a movie were ever made of Song of Erin, your choice for the dashing character, Jack Kane, would have been a young Sean Connery. (Be still my heart.)
BJ: You would not believe how many readers have sent ideas to me about the casting for some of my novels! And out of all the suggestions I’ve seen for Jack Kane, a young Sean Connery is the one most often posed. Well, we can’t roll back the years for Sir Sean, so if the need ever presents itself, I’m not sure where we’ll look.
Katy: Will anyone else do? I don’t suppose Pierce Brosnan could fill in?
BJ: Sorry, Katy. Not Pierce.
 
Katy: Give me one good reason! I would be perfectly happy with Pierce.

BJ: He just wouldn’t do, not at all. Maybe Clive Owen or Gerard Butler?

Katy: Pierce Brosnan! Perfectly. Happy. Oh, wait. This isn’t about me…

BJ: I understand, Katy. These things happen.

Katy: I’ve read somewhere (perhaps on your blog?) that you attach particular importance to infusing your stories with hope. Toward the end of Song of Erin, I could not see how you could possibly pull off such a feat!

BJ: I honestly don’t believe I could write a book that’s without hope. Our God is a God of hope, and if we genuinely believe in Him, we have to believe in that hope.
Katy: But everything conspired at once to almost guarantee your characters would fail in their quests, and that their dreams would die a morose Irish death complete with old ladies keening at the wake.

BJ: Ah—but that’s only how it seemed, right? Seriously, the most miserable people (and characters) in the world must be those who don’t believe in hope or who have never come to know the God who makes it possible to hope.

Katy: Of course, not all of your characters meet a happy ending, but somehow the reader is left sighing with satisfaction that there is indeed hope for man and womankind. Tell us about the redemptive nature of hope and why it’s important to you to impart it through fiction.

BJ: This isn’t the kind of hope that “wishes for the best” or some fluffy mist of self-deceit we try to impose upon ourselves and others, but a gift. A God-gift that enables us, even in the midst of suffering and struggle and sorrow, to believe that He’s still in control, still guiding our lives, and still working His best will for each of us. So if hope truly does permeate my fiction, it’s because I believe this … because I believe Him.

Katy: It’s been a true joy to have you with us here on fallible, BJ! Thank you for coming.

BJ: This has been fun, Katy. Thanks for inviting me. 

Leave your comments, one and all! I’ll give away two copies of Song of Erin sometime on Friday.

Posted by Katy on 05/07/08 at 09:40 PM
Fallible Comments...
  1. You know, Patrick Dempsey (ala "McDreamy") works for me as an Irish hero... count me in the drawing. I love Irish books!
    Posted by Kelley  on  05/07/08  at  10:56 PM
  2. Kelley--I don't watch the show, but I DO know who Dr. McDreamy is, and I think you might be onto something!! Now if we can just get BJ to agree.... :)
    Posted by Katy  on  05/07/08  at  10:59 PM
  3. This is my first comment on Fallible, but I've been reading for awhile. I loved this interview with B.J. Hoff and your musings on Ireland and her latest novel. Irish history is so fascinating (and romantic ;) Please enter me in the drawing!
    Posted by Gracie  on  05/08/08  at  12:17 AM
  4. Gracie--Welcome here!! If you win a book, I guarantee your enjoyment of Irish history will be enhanced. Best wishes!
    Posted by Katy  on  05/08/08  at  12:20 AM
  5. Thanks for your talk with BJ. She was one of the authors whose Irish books drove me to research my ancestry. Maybe we could try Val Kilmer. He's may not be Irish, but he could pull of the role.
    Posted by Sandi Thompson  on  05/08/08  at  07:08 PM
  6. Ah, Katy--I fear I shouldn't have been so quick to give a thumbs-down to your choice of Pierce Brosnan for the character of Jack Kane, but ... we can do better, sure.

    McDreamy is ... dreamy (and I have a son-in-law who takes a terrible razzing from me because he so resembles Patrick Dempsey)--but I fear he's not quite right for Jack. We need a true Gael who's not shy of getting news ink under his nails and has a bit of brawn in his back, don't you see? That's why no one but Sir Sean has ever worked for me. Just as he was the *only* James Bond (far as I'm concerned, there hasn't been a genuine 007 since Connery stopped playing him), he seems to be the *only* Jack Kane. Sorry, Katy--what can I do to make up for this?!

    BJ
    Posted by BJ  on  05/08/08  at  07:30 PM
  7. Katy, I have to agree with BJ - I think Gerry Butler would fit the type she's describing. Plus, he's yummy.

    I have read BJ's blog for a long time, but haven't read any of her books yet. I'd love to win!
    Posted by Carrie K.  on  05/08/08  at  08:45 PM
  8. New book...you know I'm in. Maybe I'll get lucky this time. :)
    Posted by Bridget  on  05/08/08  at  10:36 PM
  9. Sandi--And isn't researching your ancestry so rewarding?? I have had SO much fun working on mine--and I knew next to nothing when I started. Now I've actually stood among the stones of my ancestral ruin in County Monaghan. I am glad BJ inspired you!!

    BJ--I think I just jumped on the Black Irish thing. I DO like Pierce a lot, though. But no where NEAR as much as Sean. And then there's Colin Farrell with those eyes. I guess Liam Neeson is too old? I care rather deeply for him. :) I fear you've created a character in Jack Kane that can't be matched with many among the current batch of available actors--all the more reason to read your book, eh??? Romance abounds....

    Carrie K--Gerry Butler is quite the hunk, all right. He deserves top consideration. You and BJ are right about him.....And Carrie, you would really enjoy the Irish stories, with your love of all things Irish!!

    Bridget--May the luck of the Irish be with you, my dear wee sister!!
    Posted by Katy  on  05/09/08  at  01:10 AM
  10. I have no suggestions other than good 'ole Sean, but maybe after I read the book, others will come to me! So put me in the drawing!
    Posted by Nancy Wood  on  05/09/08  at  03:44 PM
  11. I seem to keep missing out on these book give-aways. Maybe I'll have the "luck of the Irish" this time....afterall, I am half Irish. Should I try to find a four leaf clover?
    Posted by Mary Anne Green  on  05/09/08  at  04:15 PM
  12. Nancy--It is difficult not to love Sean, isn't it??? Good luck in the drawing!

    Mary Anne--I did NOT know you were half Irish! I'm only 1/4, plus 1/4 Scottish (Dad was born in Scotland, as was his mother, but his dad was born in Ireland), plus all the assorted stuff on Mom's side. ;) Those are some nice genes you've got there!
    Posted by Katy  on  05/09/08  at  07:02 PM
  13. Well, Sir Sean is of course the best pick for anything, as BJ has said. Like her, there is no other 007. Hoewever, when Pierce came along, he was a real close second.

    Katy, my mother's family is all Scots and Irish, although I could probably find some Welsh there to if I looked. Ireland is rife with Price's. I am finding the Tate line harded to track, but it has been fun and challenging.

    I love all of BJ's books that I have read, and I think I have read them all. Keep them coming, BJ.

    Sandi
    Posted by Sandi Thompson  on  05/12/08  at  01:44 PM
  14. nice entertainment advices. i leave behind keep successful mind those and continue your function.
    Posted by montreal outcalls  on  05/29/10  at  10:19 AM
  15. Every time I see spaghetti marshmallows name I think of Will Farrell's character, friends, on holiday film Elf. You know, the part where he is eating spaghetti with marshmallows and all other delicious candy you can imagine, covered with syrup.
    Posted by chevy turbocharger  on  01/19/11  at  05:54 AM
  16. What a fun exchange to read!! I have no profound thoughts to leave, just a BRAVO to you both!
    Posted by Kari Knabe  on  04/19/11  at  03:58 PM
  17. LOVE this interview!
    Posted by paula  on  04/19/11  at  04:29 PM
  18. What a great article, I read all of it then i am satisfied to say that It’s a terse idiom, and if you’re concerned about the performance you must not have a database or anything else that consumes resources orders of magnitude greater. Consider yourself lucky, otherwise don’t optimize at this level unless you really need to. Keep blogging.
    Anam

    <a href="http://www.prideoftexas.net/brazoslofts.htm"> Brazos Lofts for Sale </a>
    Posted by Brazos Lofts for Sale  on  06/26/11  at  01:02 PM
    19. Page 1 of 1 pages
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