Novelist Beth Duke chats with me about her new historical sci-fi, Anywhen.
Bio:
Beth Duke is an Amazon #1 Best Selling Author and the recipient of numerous awards and honors for her fiction on two continents. She is eyeing the other five.
Beth lives in the mountains of her native Alabama with her husband Jay and an assortment of dogs—including a recently-rescued coonhound named Daisy who has stolen her heart. Beth is the adoring and proud mother of Jason, Savannah, and her new son-in-law, Matt. She is a constant reader, travel aficionado, and likes to pretend she’s in baking competitions.
Her brain is absolutely stuffed with trivia and she wins every round of Jeopardy from her living room sofa. However, she would be a combination of a deer, a rabbit, and a Rhode Island Red quaking in the headlights of the studio.
Beth finds great joy in joining book clubs for discussion (usually via Zoom). If your group would like to schedule a date, please email beth@bethduke.com.
Her books Delaney’s People, Don’t Shoot Your Mule, It All Comes Back to You, Tapestry, Dark Enough to See the Stars, and yes, Anywhen, are all love letters to her home state.
Please tell us about your current release.
Anywhen is my sixth novel, and something of a departure for me. The idea of a time-traveler from a future, utopian society being fascinated by 1969 and Woodstock and hippies and flower power was irresistible. I had so much fun researching and writing this story; I visited the site of the original Woodstock Music and Art Fair and interviewed some fascinating attendees. It was so much more than the mack daddy of music festivals, a really seminal moment in American cultural history. To view the counterculture, slang, and music through the eyes of someone from the twenty-second century was very cool.
What inspired you to write this book?
In addition to my interest in the premise of this story (which fascinated me from day one), I loved the idea of creating a novel that would be full of inspiration for a terrific book club meeting and discussion. The fashion, the food, the music…it just seemed like a lot of fun. My career has been built around meeting with book clubs, and I dedicated this book to them:
“To my book club women everywhere
You’ve given me love, laughter, and memories I’ll always treasure.
This one’s for you, and I hope it leads to
pineapple upside-down cakes and 60s music and bell bottoms
and me”
Book club women are the best. I am truly grateful to them for embracing my other books and inviting me to their meetings, whether in person or via Zoom. At this point I’ve met new friends from Maine to Hawaii to Quebec. Many of them are featured in The Most Beautiful Readers in the World gallery on my website.
Excerpt from Anywhen:
1
Unity SE35.86
December 9, 2101
As I type this on an antique “laptop” a chittering monkey sits opposite me and watches, occasionally lifting a paw to his mouth and gnawing at it. I have never seen him before and likely won’t again.
He is an apparition, an artificial intelligence-generated manifestation of my nervousness.
I am your direct descendant and so is this situation. So, it seems a good way to introduce myself and the world I live in. The work you did at the dawn of artificial intelligence led to this incredible place, well over a century later.
The first known instance of animagenesis (animal genesis) was two years ago in what you’d have known as Coventry, England. A woman slammed the door of her homepod and stalked away from her husband as passersby stared at the Bengal tiger padding along slightly behind her, baring its teeth at those in proximity.
Of course, no one has seen a Bengal tiger in more than fifty years. All of Unity NE521.5 was terrified until the truth was known. They cowered indoors well after the tiger strolled out of sight with the oblivious, furious wife.
Then, people all over Unity started having animals appear, always reflecting their moods. My neighbor, when he became eligible to begin his Reproduction Cycle, was accompanied everywhere by a panting labrador retriever whose penis was exposed like a 20th century lipstick. A lady who lives by the town square walks to the park alongside a sloth; her male companion occasionally appears with a menacing wolf.
I think the monkey is here because I finally decided to sit down and write to you. I’m generating text on paper with this computer and printer my friend Daniel found and persuaded to work.
These days, we all find the animals amusing, if a little embarrassing sometimes. I thought you’d be interested in them as an illustration of how far artificial intelligence has come since the days of your research.
I’m called Baezy (rhymes with daisy). I’m almost thirty-two years old and you are my M5, my great-great-great-grandmother on the maternal side. You’re a legend to me for so many reasons, Kelly Jean Adams, especially your experience at Woodstock. Does it surprise you we know all about that? Well, the year I was born was the centennial anniversary of The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, of all things hippie, peace, and flower power. Much of the world went crazy in 2069 with celebrations; there were holos on every town square of many of the original performances, and singer/actors hired to imitate Janis Joplin, Santana, and Joan Baez. (With modern prosthetics, you’d never have known the difference.)
That’s where my name comes from: Joan Baez Smith. Baezy for short. My mother wore a beaded headband and bell bottom jeans; she kept a pink flower tucked behind her ear, accenting long, straight purple hair, through her entire pregnancy.
We celebrate every truth your generation realized, and I want you to know we’ve achieved the world you dreamed of.
You began it all, Grandmother. From crude computers to the society we’ve achieved through artificial intelligence and human compassion. There is no hunger here. There is no war. The average lifespan is one hundred and fifty years, thanks to our ability to eradicate disease and combat aging at a cellular level. To you, I’d look about seventeen, and I won’t even begin my Reproduction Cycle until I’m at least thirty-five or forty.
Our lives hold promise like no generation’s before.
My mother (your M+4, gr-gr-granddaughter) was one of the most celebrated mathematicians and physicists of the 21st century. You would be very proud of her. Her name is Anantha and along with your brilliance she has a great beauty; I can even see a bit of you in her, especially her green eyes.
Of course, human work has been supplanted by AI in her field, but Mom’s still well-connected at TIP (Time Insertion Protocol). This visit with you at Woodstock is her birthday gift to me, a huge honor as there are many with greater qualifications and privileges who could be traveling instead.
Of all the times I could choose, you and the greatest gathering of love the world has seen are an irresistible combination.
-Chapter One, Anywhen
© Copyright Beth Duke 2024
What exciting project are you working on next?
I am excited to meet with book clubs and other readers to discuss Anywhen! There is always a period that follows writing a book in which I’m in no mood to write another hundred thousand words.
That doesn’t last, though.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I have always loved putting ideas into words, been fascinated by etymology, and generally in love with language. I began writing short stories about twenty years ago. I had a group of friends who wanted to see those stories as soon as they were completed; some of them are still among my “early readers.” Their encouragement kept me going.
I entered my first work of fiction in a contest and won second place around 2005. I felt very author-y.
It took another fourteen years to establish myself as an author, but I wouldn’t trade a minute of this journey.
Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your workday like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
When I’m in “writing mode” I begin in the morning and write until 7 PM or later, with a few interruptions. A writer is always writing, even when they’re not at a keyboard. My favorite way to spend time otherwise is travel; that certainly inspires new stories along the way.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I can only write sitting on my bed with a laptop, in pin-drop silence. My husband is well-versed in guarding the “hermetically sealed writing chamber” from interruption.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a doctor, a famous actress, or a reporter. I think I was inspired by an early “Nellie Bly” biography. I still love all things medical and have a strong curiosity to learn more…and I can be a bit of a ham.
Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
All writers are, first and foremost, readers. I love wordcraft and story as much as you do, and hope my work brings joy to others.