Featured Interview With Leslie Silton
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I suppose this starts, in part, with my mother who was a bit old-fashioned. She feared her daughter would never make it as an artist, so she had me go to secretarial school when I got out of high school and that is more or less the work I did fairly steadily for a very long time. But I was an artist so I managed to squeeze in a semester of art school in Paris, France, and carve out 3-1/2 years earning a BFA as a painter. Meanwhile, I was writing poetry (as well as doing a whole slew of other artistic endeavors) the whole time, including participating in many poetry readings over the years. I even arranged poetry readings for myself and my poet-friends and self-published about half a dozen chapbooks. The point is I never lost sight of my goal: to make my living as an artist. I managed to segue myself out of secretarial work by tutoring young children, doing telephone surveys and finally, at last, four years ago, got a call from my brother to proofread a novel because he was too busy with his day job to do it. I had already been doing proofreading and editing work off and on for about 3 years, but this job got me going in a more steady way because after that job, there was more work from the man who owned a writers’ services. A year after that I launched myself as a book editor and writing coach. Now I do all kinds of writing services work. I love it. And happily my writer-clients are very happy with me.
I was born and raised in Brookline, Massachusetts. Brookline is a small town right next door to Boston. A couple of things stand out: one is that when I was in second grade I got into a fight on the school playground because I was wearing an “I like Ike” button (given to me by my father). Of course I had no idea who Eisenhower was. It was a very short fight. My opponent was wearing an Adlai Stevenson button. Yikes. Neither of us had anything substantial to say so we pushed at each other a little, nah-nahed and that was the end of my heavy involvement in politics until 1969 when I got busy marching in the streets of Boston to get the United States to pull out our troops. I wasn’t against troops, I was against war. The other enduring image is a tiny TV screen inside a huge rectangular box watching some people question other people in a very nasty tone of voice … as I later learned, I had stumbled onto the McCarthy hearings. All I knew was it was very disturbing. I wasn’t the smartest kid on the block in those days but I knew what I was watching was making me very uncomfortable. I only watched for a few minutes and then turned it off and went out to play.
After I graduated from art college I moved to Los Angeles — about the 40th time I had moved (because I tended to move myself around a lot). I had gotten ‘slushied’ by a car which hit a pothole turning a corner in downtown Boston and I thought: that’s it. I’m moving somewhere else. I came as a visitor and ended up staying.
Me and animals: that’s an interesting thing. I’m a bit of a Dr. Doolittle. I can talk to animals — and they talk back. I have no idea why I have this ability; it’s not something I ever planned on or knew about until it happened. But it’s fine with me. I have some interesting stories to tell. The funny thing is I was a total failure as a dog owner when I was a child. Both dogs I got at the pound ran away. I didn’t mistreat them — I think I was just a bit clueless and they weren’t ‘Lassie’ material. But I did have a squirrel for a pet and when I lived in New York City I rescued an abandoned duckling. He was really cute. He lived in my bathtub during the day along and swam around one side of my double kitchen sink while I made dinner. People who called me would hear his ‘beeping’ sound and ask what was that. I would tell them it’s a duck but they didn’t believe me. I brought him to a zoo keeper in Central Park when he was all well and strong. The keeper told me he was a Long Island White and he would be given a good home up at the Bronx Zoo.
So, now I live in East Hollywood in a building put up in 1923. Old buildings do not bother me. Boston has many old buildings. And Paris, France — oh, well. I lived on the 7th floor of a little old hotel in the maid’s room. It measured about 8′ x 6′. Hey, it worked out fine since only one wall slanted.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I was 6 years old when I went to summer camp for the first time. My mother took me to the library before we left and I checked out 8 books (the most you could check out at one time). When she came to see me two weeks later, I asked for 8 more. She spent part of her summer shuttling me 8 more books every time she came to visit. That might have been a clue. When I was 9 years old I found a huge book on my brother’s book shelf : the complete works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I read it. I did my book report on this 800-pg monstrosity but my teacher didn’t believe me. I had to bring my mother to school to say I had read the whole thing. That might have been another clue. And when I was in 6th grade I got the idea that what I should do is read THE ENTIRE SCHOOL LIBRARY. I went to the letter A and immediately got a little selective but I began to read, pretty much, the entire Letter A. When I got to “Cattle Dog” by Atwater, I had to admit to myself, this might not be the right way to go about doing a lot of reading. But it definitely set a precedent. I read about 125 books a year – just for entertainment. I am not thinking as an editor or even as a fiction writer. I’m just reading for pleasure. Later on, afterwards, that’s when all the analysis gets done.
I wrote my first poem at the age of 9. I still remember the first two lines. Forget it. It’s awful. But it was a start. When I was in secretarial school I started writing poems when I was supposed to be learning how to touch-type the top row of keys (numbers and symbols). At least when I got found out, they only confiscated the poems until I graduated at the end of the summer. Soon after that I was living in New York City and attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. On the weekends I was going down to Greenwich Village, sitting around writing poetry. One night I was yanked on stage by a fellow who thought it was about time I started sharing, So I did. My first time at an open mic. I got a couple of handclaps and someone who now reminds me of actor Viggo Mortenson as Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings movie slipped me the cover from a book of matches on which he had written, “I liked your poems.” That was my start.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My first favorite author was Conan Doyle. I read Nancy Drew Mysteries but very few of the Bobsey Twins stories. For me it’s not so much the genre as the quality of the writing as the amount of spirituality in the stories one way or another. Heroes with a very strong sense of ethics, reliability and care for others. So my favorite authors are Robert B. Parker’s Spenser stories and all of Dick Francis’ racing mysteries. I used to like science fiction – writers like Roger Zelasny (Wizard of Earth Sea), Anne McCaffrey. Definitely a fan of Robert Heinlein, some Issac Asimov, E.E. “Doc” Cummings. I like Georgette Heyer. Her heroines are spunky. I like Raymond Chandler – a masterful writer. A book I read several years ago sticks with me: “The Typist” by Michael Knight. It is a novella, it is beautifully written, the story line is terrific and it’s got a happy ending (sorry if that spoils it for anyone reading this). When I was in art college I read “None But The Lonely Heart” by Richard Llewellyn. It absolutely blew my socks off. What amazed me more is that after the book was originally published, he had it re-issued with more content at the end. I still remember how he describes the blood-red nail polish of the girl the hero is smitten with. He got so close in – he really moved inside the hero’s head. (The movie was also excellent – probably some of the best work Cary Grant ever did. Okay, I’ve seen A LOT of movies.) Each of these authors has had a particular effect on me, which I am in no way sorry about. I’m still my own person as a writer but ‘no man is an island.”
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My novel is entitled “The Gift Horse”. My heroine wants to make it big as an artist and when she can’t, she moves to Long Island, to a small artist colony with a whole slew of galleries where all kinds of artists are doing just fine. She seems to have chosen her gallery representation well because she hits the big time, too, in pretty short order. Well, things go south, but I don’t want to give away the secret in the story. (See page 16 in the paperback edition and you’ll begin to see what is going on.)
For me personally, I am concerned about artists being magnets for antisocial personalities because people in general are not educated regarding social and antisocial characteristics. So I wanted to include that in my story. Maggie is, in fact, being stalked; her life is being manipulated.
And there is Parker, her best friend, who is the daughter of very rich parents who all but ignore her. I wanted Maggie and Parker to be dyed-in-the-wool best friends. That would give the story something to lean on.
In my story, both girls manage to get their lives in gear even if they are late bloomers. (Okay, I’m what I call a late bloomer.) So, I wanted to show how it’s still possible for us (late bloomers) to have good lives. We haven’t been totally left out when all the good stuff is being handed around just because we are late in arriving at the Dinner Table of Life.
The story is definitely science fiction but it just so happens that most of the sci-fi I write, takes place in the present – because there’s no rule about when the future begins. I mean, really, the next instant, actually, is the future. I think there’s too much of a gap between life now and life when most sci-fi writers set their stories. I’m filling that gap my way.
The real work of writing the book took me about a year on and off. It was actually the opening page that I spent the most time on, and the last chapter — which I didn’t realize needed to be there until I realized I was in a holding pattern. So, I took a really long walk and bingo! The last chapter arrived.
I have some favorite scenes: it’s only about half a page but this is about as erotic as I can get. It’s still very tame by most people’s standards, I would guess, but I had the best time writing it. It’s also a bit humorous.
And there’s another scene fairly late in the story: Gus (who owns and run a donut shop) and Veronica, a 19-year old cutie who is also smart, is Gus’ cashier. This is the scene where they finally show their hands about liking each other. I think the dialog is first-rate and I’m very proud of it. I can’t help smiling each time I read it.
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