Here we are at the “Cubby Bear.”
The Cubby Bear is not just a bar, it's the bar across the street from one of the most beautiful places on earth, home of the Chicago Cubs, Wrigley Field.
I arrive early and relive memories from when I was here last fall. My sister and I met up with my friend Jason (the guy I went to AZ for the playoffs with). The Cubs had just swept the Pittsburgh Pirates and took what turned out to be an insurmountable lead in the playoff race. Of course we won’t talk about what happened in the playoffs. Before I have a chance to get comfortable, Geoffrey Edwards appears in the doorway.
Okay, I'll be honest, he eclipses the doorway.
A towering figure, Geoffrey sees me and advances towards the table that I've secured for us. I extend my hand, but he brushes it away in favor of a bear hug that would be admired by Brian Urlacher.
We sit down and Geoffrey orders a Wrigley Field favorite, an Old Style beer. I consider a white wine but, as if reading my mind, Geoffrey glares at me until I order a relatively premium beer for Chicago, a Coors Lite.
After a bit of small talk, our drinks come and we toast to the Cubs winning the World Series in 2008. And then we get down to business.
Steve Prosapio: Geoffrey, there is a moment when an author decides unequivocally that he/she is going to follow through with their desire to write a novel. Tell me about yours.
Geoffrey Edwards: I had toyed with the ideas at the heart of the novel in my head for a little while before I put pen to paper. Once I began writing, however, I never once thought about stopping. I really thought I had a good story to tell and I was damn well going to tell it. But there was never the epiphany that I have heard others mention. I just loved being a writer, and I didn’t want to do anything else (That feeling remains. However, my wife insists the heating bill must be paid.).
SP: Fire Bell in the Night opens with an emotional prologue. Did you go through a range of emotions while writing it?
GE: The prologue deals with a small slave uprising on a Georgia plantation. And writing it was a grueling task. The only time I ever became emotional throughout the writing process was when I was creating this slave world. I think the ability to empathize is tremendously important for writers. Unfortunately, we can leave ourselves vulnerable because of that. I will say that I knew I had succeeded when one Stephen Prosapio read my prologue and assumed I was black. That was about the best compliment I think anyone could have given me.
[Ed note: That’s true! To my credit, however, I remained friends with him even after I learned he was really…ugly. Okay, okay, I'm kidding. Here is a picture of Geoffrey. Please keep in mind that he is not the same size as those skyscrapers. He's closer to the camera and is slightly smaller than some of them!]
SP: How long did it take you to write the book? Were there any periods during its writing that you stalled?
GE: The book took 2 years, which included 6 months of research. I never really had an extended stall over that time. But, also, if something was bothering me, or a scene was giving me problems, I took the non-confrontational route – I skipped it. I found that working around my problems was the best course for me.
SP: Okay. Good strategy. So Jeff, what has been the most fun part of being a published writer?
GE: Just a few weeks back I was asked to come back to my high school and speak to the students. I hadn’t been back since I graduated 15 years ago. It was surreal – they escorted me around like some celebrity and the teachers all fawned over me like I was God’s gift. By the time I left, I wouldn’t have been surprised if they told me they had renamed the school in my honor. When we leave high school, we all would like to think if we ever go back it would be to that kind of reception. I was lucky enough to have it happen.
SP: That’s a phenomenal story. Geoffrey, what was the first book you can remember having an influence on you?
GE: Believe it or not, I hated reading as a child. I was too active, too busy. However, my mother read The Lord of the Rings to me aloud when I was very little. I was mesmerized, and can still actually quote passages from the books that I committed to memory. So, I suppose, J.R.R. had a profound impact on me.
SP: What are your top 3 novels of all time?
GE:
1) The Great Gatsby
2) The Sun Also Rises
3) The Killer Angels
SP: What are your 3 favorite time-periods in history?
GE: I’m obviously fascinated by the Civil War Era in American History. I was a Colonial American history major, so that time period, with all its hope, doubt, and danger, has always held the strongest allure.
Beyond that, I am fascinated by the ancient civilizations that grew up in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Meso-America.
SP: Interesting. So if you could go back in time to one time-period, which would it be and why? What would you do there?
GE: I would LOVE to go back to Ancient Greece in the time of Athenian power. The evolution of ideas was as dramatic as our technological evolution of the last 100 years. I would just speak with as many of the scholars, philosophers, and politicians as I possibly could. I would also love to see an Olympiad. People walked from all corners of Greece for these events, and hundreds of thousands would congregate for weeks of drinking, feasting, and sport. (Sounds a bit like the Cubs in the playoffs.)
SP: What one historical lesson do you feel, as Americans, we could/should be learning from right now.
GE: Interesting question.
SP: Why thank you. I assume you have an interesting answer.
GE: (laughs) I think, that I would tell the populace to take a look back at the great empires or civilizations of the past and recognize the events that predated their collapse. One might be a bit scared to see familiar signs in American culture. One thing that we often overlook is that democracy is not some God given right, nor is it the natural proclivity of man. We have been given this amazing gift by the founding fathers; a gift that subsequent generations have protected with their blood and their ideals. We must understand the lessons passed down to us and act accordingly.
SP: Good point, Geoffrey. As Thomas Jefferson said, "The cost of freedom is eternal vigilance." What’s your next book about? How far along are you with it and when do you hope to have it completed?
My next book is about a ghost writer, or pamphleteer, who lived in Boston in the time just before the American Revolution. These writers did not sign their own names because of the threat to them by the Crown. My story revolves around the radicalization of one such patriot, and the story involves vast conspiracy, misperceptions, and one hell of a twist at the end. Having said that, I haven’t even begun writing yet…still researching.
SP: Ah, research. The devil’s in the research! Okay my friend, enough of the literary questions. What about the Cubs this year? How do you like our chances of winning the Series this year?
GE: On this, the 100 year anniversary of our last championship, I predict the ultimate success. Of course, I’m a Cubs fan. What did you think I would say?
SP: Only the truth my friend. Only the truth.
We order another round (or two) and drink to the Cubs rightful place in the World Series, as well as our rightful place on the New York Times Best Seller List.
I hope you all take the opportunity to get the first edition of the debut novel of a great historical novelist. Fire Bell in the Night, by Geoffrey Edwards.
From Publishers Weekly
One of the two winners of the Gather.com First Chapters contest, Edwards's provocative debut begins in the summer of 1850 as the debate over the expansion of slavery into the Mexican Cession territory prompts threats of secession and war. A slave revolt and rumors that the leader of the uprising is roaming the countryside recruiting an army further frays nerves in Charleston, S.C. When a local farmer is caught harboring a runaway, he is charged with a capital crime. The New York Tribune sends young reporter John Sharp to cover the trial; he quickly befriends planter Tyler Breckenridge, the scion of one of the most powerful families in Charleston. But as Sharp and fellow reporter Owen Conway uncover clues of a covert militia buildup, Sharp begins to suspect that Breckenridge is involved. As the emotionally charged fugitive-slave trial unfolds, Sharp and Conway rush to expose the secessionist conspiracy and head off war. Edwards fills the gaps in the record of the Crisis of 1850 to produce a plausible scenario that eloquently captures the fear and rivalries of the antebellum era, though many passages could use a healthy pruning. For fans of historical fiction—and Civil War fiction particularly.
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