All the characters in the book are unique, quirky, and lovably dysfunctional individuals. They became so real to me as I was writing, that their speech patterns and conversational perspectives just flowed out.
Robert Steven Goldstein – 12 June 2020
The Back Flap
When Stanley Berman, a Jewish New York attorney, is appointed Chief Counsel at a North Carolina University, he opts to share a house with his good friend, Thomas McClellan, a professor in the school’s English Department. The men spend their evenings drinking wine, playing chess, and lamenting their ineptitude with women. Then the Professor, a Southern good old boy, former high school football lineman, and avid hunter, hatches a scheme to bring a young woman into the house, insisting that as a creative writing teacher, such women find him alluringly subversive and artistic. The Counselor is dubious but persuaded nonetheless―much to his detriment.
The articulate but bumbling Counselor and Professor find themselves outwitted at every turn by Victoria, a young woman who is clever, inscrutable, and superb at finishing what she starts. She initiates passionate sexual encounters with the men, but as time goes on, what she demands in return becomes untenable. When she goes missing, John Watson, the county sheriff―and the Professor’s lifelong friend―feels compelled to open a murder investigation.
Full of wicked humor, artful eroticism, scintillating dialogue, and a bit of intrigue, Enemy Queen is an exhilarating romp set in a North Carolina college town.
About the book
When did you start writing the book?
Late 2016.
How long did it take you to write it?
About a year.
Where did you get the idea from?
I was visiting a close friend, and I asked him if he intended to produce another opera. My friend sang a bit when he was younger, and over the years had produced a number of splendid community operas in the Bay Area. But it had been a good while since he’d produced a show, and I was hoping to hear that he planned to give it another shot. He was, then, in his early seventies.
“No,” he said wistfully. “I’d like to, but at this point it’s just too much for me to take on. There are singers, instrumentalists, a conductor, a venue—it’s just too hard now. But actually, I was thinking of maybe producing a straight play. You know, no music, just a play.”
That idea struck me as very interesting. “You know,” I said, “I was thinking of writing a play.”
And I had been. Sort of.
Actually, I was exhausted. Psychologically and emotionally. I had written two very serious, ambitious novels during the past few years. I’d invested huge chunks of my soul in them. And they had drained me. What I was really looking for was a writing project that was a bit lighter—funnier—without all the research and the gut-wrenching mining of my inner being. It didn’t have to necessarily be a play—in fact, I hadn’t written a play since high school (and my graduating class had just celebrated its fifty-year reunion). But a play sounded interesting.
“How about if I write a play that you produce?” I ventured.
“That’s a grand idea!” my friend exclaimed. “You write a play, and I’ll produce and direct it. Listen, I want to keep expenses to a minimum. So write a play with just three characters. Two of them will be middle-aged men—you and I can play those two roles. And we’ll need some pulchritude…” (he loves the word pulchritude, he uses it often)… “so make the third character an attractive young woman.”
I came up with three characters—Stanley: a somewhat paranoid and neurotic Jewish attorney from New York City, who finds himself chief counsel at a University in North Carolina—his best friend Thomas: a professor in the English department of the University, who is an avid hunter and a Southern good old boy—and Victoria: a charming, attractive young woman who is clever, devious, and tenacious.
I also came up with the barest high-level outline of a plot: the two men convince Victoria to move in with them, hoping to exploit her sexually—but she’s far more shrewd and wily than they are, and she gains complete control of the household.
That’s all I had at that point, but I thought this was a great premise for a play, and I pitched it to my friend. Sadly though, he said that after much thought, he’d decided he didn’t have the desire or energy to produce a play after all.
But I loved what I’d come up with, so I decided to write it as a novel—a dark licentious comedy—with a bit of a murder mystery thrown in. I expanded the plot and added more characters. Enemy Queen was born!
Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?
It was the ending that presented a bit of a problem.
Writing the book was a joy. I laughed incessantly as I came up with absurd situations, and improvised the plot as I went along. And although this may seem implausible, I wrote nearly the entire book without any idea how it would end. Because I was having so much fun, this dereliction of planning didn’t really bother me. And I think, in retrospect, my not knowing how the murder mystery would be resolved, enabled me to write it in a manner that enhanced the suspense for readers too, since both they are I were equally uncertain about the outcome.
Finally, though, it became clear that the story had only forty or fifty pages to go, and I needed to write an ending. I had to at last figure out how the murder mystery would be resolved. So I took a few days off from writing, and just thought about it. I thought about it while I took long hikes with my dog. I thought about it while I showered and shaved. Even while I tried to fall asleep each night.
The problem was that there were so many possibilities—and each of them made as much sense as the next.
Ironically, in the end, it was the fact that I had actually written the book rather than just outlined or plotted it, that turned out to be the key to my decision. Any outcome would have worked as a narrative device. But having actually written the book, and edited it as I went, the novel had acquired a tone, a perspective, a sensibility—it had become an actual being of its own. And when I finally considered that, it became obvious only one ending would work for that book.
What came easily?
The dialogue.
All the characters in the book are unique, quirky, and lovably dysfunctional individuals. They became so real to me as I was writing, that their speech patterns and conversational perspectives just flowed out.
Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?
All my characters, in every book I’ve written, contain bits and pieces of various people I’ve known, along with a heavy dose of my own imagination. I’ve never written a character based solely on the persona of a unique individual with whom I was acquainted.
Do you have a target reader?
This book will appeal to sophisticated, open-minded readers, who appreciate wicked humor and satire. This book is a genre bender, so if you’re looking for a traditional mystery, you probably should look elsewhere. There are also a few fairly graphic erotic segments, some a bit twisted, so a reader would need to be open to that too, if they’re to enjoy the novel.
About Writing
Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?
As soon as I wake up in the morning, I throw on my sweats, and go for a long hike with my dog. During that hike, I’ll often meditate, and I’ll also spend time thinking about the novel I’m working on. Once I get home, I feed the dog, I feed myself, check emails, pay bills, do a quick readthrough of the New York Times online, then get to writing.
I write my novels in short segments, rather than long chapters. I work directly in Microsoft Word, on a Macintosh computer. I’d say I generally write four to six hours a day, six or seven days a week.
I never have to force myself to write—I just love doing it.
Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?
I do not outline. When I start a segment, I may type in a few key occurrences, and some snippets of dialogue and description that come immediately to mind. Or I may not. Mostly I just dig in and start writing.
Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?
I edit constantly, as I go. Sentence by sentence. Paragraph by paragraph. I may edit a segment twenty or thirty times before moving on to the next—but even then, I’ll usually return to it and edit some more. While I’m editing, it seems to me that my subconscious mind must be at work, because that’s when I often get my best ideas about what will come later in the book.
Did you hire a professional editor?
Enemy Queen was published by SparkPress. They provided a superb copyeditor and an excellent proofreader.
Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?
No. I prefer my space to be absolutely quiet when I write. However, if there’s ambient noise around (like right now—the city is tearing up my street and replacing the sewer lines) I’m innately pretty good at blocking it out.
About Publishing
Did you submit your work to Agents?
Ceaselessly. To over a hundred agents. I researched each agent online, and tried to tailor my submission to each one personally.
What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?
I’ve never managed to build the type of author platform that attracts agents. (I’m sure most of the people reading this interview know what an author platform is, but for those who don’t, it’s a measure of how many readers you’ll bring to the table to buy your book. It’s based on how your books have sold in the past; what, if any, degree of celebrity you enjoy; the extent of your social media outreach; influential people you know; and that sort of thing.) Like many writers who eventually decide to go indie, I believed I had a good manuscript, but agents wouldn’t even look at it because I had no author platform to speak of. (And you can’t really blame the agents for that—it’s what the big publishing houses demand—and agents only make a commission if a publisher picks up their book.)
Then I came across the following quote: “… you must consider the publishing industry for what it is: a business enterprise looking for partners who bring enough to the table to merit their risk. The business of book publishing is less about story and content than it has ever been. It’s less about talent and good writing than it has ever been…”
The quote was from Brooke Warner, publisher at She Writes Press and SparkPress, both of which are award winning enterprises. She’d left the traditional publishing industry to be part of alternative presses. Both She Writes Press and SparkPress utilize an entrepreneurial model (sometimes referred to as “hybrid”) and state explicitly in their mission statements that they judge work based on the quality of the manuscript, not the platform of the author.
That was the kind of press I wanted to be a part of.
She Writes Press was the larger of the two presses, but they only work with female authors, so that was not an option for me. SparkPress is much smaller, it publishes only about twenty books a year, and of those, only a handful are by male authors. It seemed to me a longshot, but I submitted my book anyway.
I was overjoyed to learn, a few weeks later, that my novel, Enemy Queen, had been accepted for publication.
Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?
SparkPress took care of the cover design, and involved me closely in the process.
Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?
I contracted with BookSparks, which is connected with SparkPress, for publicity. I have a wonderful publicist, Tabitha Bailey, who’s been working closely with me on marketing the book. She knows far more about this sort of thing than I ever will, and is a joy to work with. Crystal Patriarche, the CEO of SparkPoint Studio, runs the operation and provides great oversight.
Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?
I’d say work as hard as you can on your manuscript, and believe in it. Publishing is a brutal industry for a new author. Before I started writing seriously, I had a thirty-five-year career in the corporate sector. I worked my way up from mail-boy to vice president over those thirty-five years, and talked my way into countless positions along the way. As hard as any of that was, trying to break into the publishing industry as a new author is far more difficult. Perseverance is critical—you can’t possibly succeed if you give up.
About You
Where did you grow up?
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Where do you live now?
San Francisco.
What would you like readers to know about you?
I have practiced yoga, meditation, and vegetarianism for over fifty years. My wife and I have been together for over three decades and we’re still in love. She and I have shared our home with various dogs, cats, rabbits, and parrots, each of whom displayed a unique and vibrant personality, startling intelligence, and a profound capacity for love. And along the way there was also one turtle my wife rescued from a Vietnamese grocery. My wife had bought a bunch of vegetables, and while checking out, the turtle kept stretching its head out of its slotted wood crate, trying to touch her thigh. My wife asked how much for the turtle. “Five dollars—makes good soup,” was the response. She named him “King Turt,” and he loved playing in our garden as he lived out the rest of his years.
What are you working on now?
Another novel.
End of Interview:
For more from Robert, visit his website.