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Cheryl: I’m talking today with fellow Chicago Writers Association author, Lynn Voedisch. Welcome, Lynn!   Lynn: Hi, Cheryl. Good to be here. Cheryl: Your novel is about a lot of different subjects and crosses genres. How would you describe it?

Lynn: “Excited Light” (ASJA Press, $14.95) probably would fit into the contemporary fantasy genre — if anyone understood what that is. It’s set in the real world, but certain spiritual messages are delivered by angels, and that accounts for the fantasy element of the book.

It’s about a 10-year-old boy who has a single, alcoholic mother and he talks to his angels (in the guise of a stuffed animal) for guidance. With the help of some bright and watchful friends and neighbors — and the angels — Alex learns to help his mother when she gets involved in a nightmarish relationship of drinking and sex.

Cheryl: So, this “angel” book wouldn’t exactly fit into Christian literature?

Lynn: Not at all! I’m afraid that fundamentalists would be offended by elements such as a Tarot card reading, a discussion of quantum physics and angels as photons, and the (non-graphic) sexual encounters. Open-minded readers would not object. I rather see this as a New Age novel more than anything else, but that genre has disappeared.

Cheryl: Didn’t the angel fad pass a long time ago? Where are the angel fans coming from?

Lynn: It’s true that there was a big angel boom in the 1990s when everyone from Fr. Andrew Greely to Danielle Steel was writing books about angels, but the angel fans have not gone away. Beleifnet.com has an angels page that it mails out to thousands of people a day. There are many angel Web sites. Yahoo groups has a lot of New Age mailing lists where angels are mentioned frequently. I even have my own: WithWings. If you visit my website, you will find my email address and can ask for an invitation to join.

Cheryl: Do you have to believe in angels to like this book?

Lynn: Not at all! Most of the readers who loved it the most don’t believe, but they look at the angels as a metaphor. People believe in a lot of different things, but everyone seems to focus on hope — and that’s what these messengers stand for.

Cheryl: There’s also an addiction and recovery theme in the book. Why aren’t you going after the recovery groups for publicity?

Lynn:That’s a tricky road. Yes, the book deals quite explicitly with alcoholism and I don’t hold back on what it can do to a person. I think this gritty aspect to the book gives it its tension and conflict. The trouble with publicizing it to groups like AA, is that most recovery groups stick to officially sanctioned literature. And not too many recovery Web sites are out there for what is essentially an anonymous process.

Cheryl: There are some newspaper scenes and you are a former reporter. Did you use some of your former colleagues as characters?

Lynn: I used the general idea of a newsroom and its workings, but I’d never turn an actual person into a character. They are all fictional.

Cheryl: You’re a Chicago writer. Does the action take place in Chicago?

Lynn: No, actually, I decided to place it in Iowa City. I tried to think of the place in America where you could find the most normal people possible, and I couldn’t get Iowa out of my mind. This is not to say that Chicagoans aren’t normal! My other novels do have a lot of Chicago scenery, however.

Cheryl: What other novels have you done?

Lynn: I’ve done two novels that my agent is trying to sell in New York. It is a very slow process, not at all like ASJA Press, which is an imprint of iUniverse. They got the book out in three months. Because I’m a journalist, I was able to get high-quality editing and proof-reading for free from my co-workers, and the book, like all other ASJA publications, looks great and reads error-free.

Cheryl: How have you been publicizing the book?

Lynn: With self-publishing, you’ve got to really put yourself out there. A New Age publication in Chicago (the Monthly Aspectarian) did an excerpt from my book, and angel museum in Beloit, WI, is going to have me over for a book signing, I’m doing an Internet radio broadcast and I’ll be signing books at Chicago’s Printers Row Book Fair. I just keep asking people if they are interested and it’s amazing how many people say yes. Also through an intensive e-mail campaign, I got the book to hit #515 on Amazon.com sales in January.

Cheryl: Congratulations! I’m linking to Amazon but where else is it available? Lynn: You can buy it at Barnes and Noble and all the other online bookstores. If you want to save on shipping costs, Barnes & Noble will order it for you. Also, in the Chicago area, you can find it at Planet Earth in Evanston, and Women and Children First Book Store in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood. Visit Lynn’s blog

UPDATE
Lynn’s article, A Critique of Critiques, has just been posted by the Chicago Writers Association.