Q&A with Memoirist Brooks Eason

Brooks Eason loves stories - reading and writing them, hearing and telling them. He also loves music, dogs, and campfires as well as his family and friends.

Brooks has practiced law in Jackson, Mississippi, for more than 35 years but has resolved to trade in writing briefs for writing books. He lives with his wife Carrie and their two elderly rescue dogs, Buster and Maddie, and an adopted stray cat named Count Rostov for the central character in A Gentleman in Moscow, the novel by Amor Towles. In their spare time, the Easons host house concerts, grow tomatoes, and dance in the kitchen. Books, who has three children and four grandchildren, is also the author of Travels with Bobby—Hiking in the Mountains of the American West about hiking trips with his best friend.

Visit Brooks online at: www.brookseason.com.

Find out more from the publisher's website: https://www.wordcrafts.net/books/fortunate-son/

Interview:

Tell us about your book. What is it about and what inspired you to write it?

Fifteen years ago, on the eve of the birth of my first grandchild, a fascinating story fell into my lap. I was adopted as an infant, had wonderful parents, never searched for my birth mother, and never would have, but I was found as a result of litigation in four courts in two states because I was a potential heir to a fortune from my birth mother's very wealthy grandfather. My granddaughter and I were born under almost identical circumstances. My birth mother got pregnant when she was a freshman in college, my daughter when she was a sophomore. The circumstances were the same, but the times were very different, and my daughter got to keep her child, who has grown into an extraordinary young lady. On the day she was born, I learned my name was Scott Francis for the first year of my life. It was too good of a story not to write.

Tell us about your publishing process. What was it like? Did you go indie or the traditional way?

I was lucky, and it was easy. I chose a small, independent press, WordCrafts Press in Nashville, that was recommended to me by an author friend. I sent in my submission, they said they would love to publish my book, and we signed a contract the next day.

How did you choose the title for your book? Did it come to you right away, before you started writing it, or did it come later?

A songwriter wrote and recorded a song about the story of my adoption several years ago and called it "Baby Boy Francis," which is what I was called in the litigation before they knew who I was. Initially the book was going to be Baby Boy Francis with some subtitle. I was thinking Fortunate Son of Two Mothers, but others observed that readers would think I was raised by two women who were married to each other. So we decided to leave out the Two Mothers and swapped the title and subtitle. I like how it turned out.

Tell us about the cover design process. Did you have a basic idea of what your book cover would be like? 

Not really. We were thinking we would go with a young woman who would represent my birth mother, but we wound up using a photo of me taken in 1960, the year I turned three.

Who is your cover designer and how did you find him/her? 

My publisher chose the designer. I had no direct contact with the designer.

How was your experience working with the designer? 

It was indirect but very good. I'm very pleased with the cover.

What has been the readers’ response to your cover? People love it, both front and back. The photo of me suggests the period in which the story is set. I'm wearing a cap and have my hands in my pockets and my pants rolled up. The photo on the back is of my birth mother, who was quite a beauty. I don't know whether it was taken before or after I was born. Her family, who are my family too now, gave it to me. They also gave me two portraits of her, one on her wedding day in 1964 when I was in the first grade and one painted the year she turned fourteen. They've been very generous.

What tips would you give to authors who are looking for a cover designer?

I don't really have any tips because I never looked for a designer, but in terms of a design, my advice is to use something that catches potential readers' eyes and makes them want to open the book and read it.  

Anything else you’d like to say about your book?

I hope people will read it. I won't brag on the quality of the writing because my parents taught me not to brag, though I worked very hard on it and I'm happy with it. But it's not bragging to say it's a fascinating, compelling story, not because of who I am but because of the amazing sequence of events and the other people in the story, including my birth mother, who was beautiful and rich but lived a short, tragic life; the wonderful parents who raised me; and my brave daughter and extraordinary granddaughter. Writing about them has been a pleasure.  

Guest post by Sam Newsome, Author of 'Joe Peas'

Sam Newsome was raised on a farm in rural King, North Carolina. During his childhood on the farm, he learned to appreciate nature and family. He developed the work ethic that continues to benefit him.

He received a bachelor of arts in American history with pre­medical courses from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1971. He received his Medical degree from Bowman Gray School of Medicine (now Wake Forest University Medical School) in 1975. He completed his family practice residency and board certification in 1978 and geriatrics certification in 1992. The patience and perseverance learned from his parents during his youth on the farm were valuable contributions to Dr. Newsome’s educational success.

In 1978 Dr. Newsome returned to his hometown to establish his medical practice and fill gaps in the medical care. During the last thirty­eight years of medical practice, he has staffed the local hospital, Stokes County Health Department, Jail health services, and the local nursing homes. He has served as a county medical examiner since 1978.

He married his childhood sweetheart, Betty Jo, in 1971 and they have resided in King since 1978. They have two children. Carlton lives in Raleigh and shares a love of words, while Justin, an engineer at B/E Aerospace, resides in Winston­Salem.

His first novel, Jackie, explores the miraculous life of a disadvantaged youth with autism spectrum who is destined for heroism.

His new novel explores Joe Peas’ and his local doctor’s similar quests to remain individuals in a world that increasingly rewards conformity. It celebrates family, friendship, faith and healing. It also gives Dr. Newsome an opportunity to entertain and educate his readers about long term care and good health habits.

GUEST POST

The prologue of my book, Joe Peas, introduces the main character and explains how he got his name. It occurs during the Battle of Monte Cassino in World War II. An orphan child was found on the battlefield. The homesick G.I.s virtually adopted the child and kept him as long as possible. He had no name or was too shell shocked to remember it. He eventually called himself Joe (every shoulder was G. I. Joe). When the G.I.s had to move on, they were forced to turn the young boy over to authorities. They were OK with the first name of Joe, but needed a last name for the record. Joe could not remember his last name but he did see a can of Peas on the table. Since his recovery, the peas had been his favorite food. So he became Joe Peas.

Joe Peas is the central figure in the book. In the present an itinerant Italian house painter, Joe Peas, inserts himself into the fabric of a small rural North Carolina town and interacts with the local doctor and eventually becomes his patient in long-term care.

The cover idea was fully mine. The rather simple cover had no stock images available, so I did a simple ink drawing and sent it into Lulu Publishing. They had an illustration team formalize the picture and color it. One interesting flaw was that the first illustration proof has the Italian flag red white and green, rather than green white and red. Other than that, changing the tint of the cover and adding a short text on the bottom the front cover was finished.

On the back cover, I wanted to have a muted impression of a grandfather clock visible behind the text. The team at Lulu took a couple tries to get the positioning of the clock correct. The construction of a special heritage clock plays an important part in the story so I wanted to emphasize the significance of the clock on the back cover.