Welcome to Inside the Mind where we here at The Faerie Review interview authors and creators.
Our guest today is Rea Keech*, the author behind Uncertain Luck

*Rea is pronounce Ray, so that’s why the interview below says Ray

Lily:  Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview Ray I loved reading Uncertain Luck. What inspired you to write this?

Ray:  I lived in Iran for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer. Then I went to Japan as a teacher for two years, married a Japanese woman, and returned to the States. Years later, when I retired, I wrote A Hundred Veils based on my experience in Iran, then a series of three novels based on my observations of American suburban life, First World Problems, Shady Park Panic, and Shady Park Secrets. I hadn’t written anything based on my experience in Japan, possibly because, also after I retired, my wife and I divorced and the memories were a little upsetting. But I was finally able to write Uncertain Luck.

Lily:  I’m gad you were able to write it, and I hope it didn’t bring up too many painful memories. It sounds like you’ve had an interesting life! You convey a lot of emotion in the book, was it difficult to write any of it?

Ray:  The Shinto wedding was difficult to write. That brought back a lot of memories. So did descriptions of walks in the park. I also wanted to question the conduct of the Vietnam War while at the same time bringing out the decency of some who participated in it—a delicate balance.

Lily:  I think you did a great job balancing it, and I know the Vietnam War was and is a controversial conflict. Was Emiko inspired by anyone?

Ray:  Not by my wife, or at least not very much. It’s actually based on a girl who had moved to Tokyo from Japan’s snow country and began a relationship with an American soldier. They lived in a little house behind the house I lived in. When he was away, she sometimes came and talked to me about her troubles.

Lily:  That’s really sweet. If you were in Emiko’s position, would you have taken Genji’s offer?

Ray:  Definitely not. One of the things I wanted to bring out in the novel is the way wealthy Japanese men easily took advantage of women.

Lily:  You definitely succeeded. Now we’d like to talk about you as a writer. Do you have a favorite place to write?

Ray:  I sit in a cracked leather chair and scribble notes on scrap paper left over from my teaching days. Then I go upstairs and put the leather-chair inspired ideas into Microsoft Word. If I get stalled, I go back to the leather chair. It seems to work every time. I’ve started to call it my Idea Chair.

Lily:  That sounds both comfy and brilliant! Do you like to outline or just fly by the seat of your pants?

Ray:  I outline. I like to know how a story is going to end before I start it. It’s in the middle parts between one turning-point and another that winging it comes into play. I do get lots of ideas that weren’t in my (very rough) outline, and I often change the outline as I’m going along.

Lily:  I think that’s probably the best of both worlds. What’s harder, writing the first draft or editing it?

Ray:  Writing is the harder part. Editing comes almost naturally, maybe because I spent most of my life correcting and editing student compositions. Side note: Uncertain Luck has been translated into Japanese. In gratitude to the translator, I offered to turn the Google-translation version of a 437-page Japanese novel he wants to publish into readable English. Now THAT’S hard.

Lily:  I wish you luck in that endeavor! I can imagine all that experience editing other would make editing your own work easier. Let’s finish up with some fun questions and get inside your mind. Which is better, cake or pie? What’s the best flavor?

Ray:  Pie. My favorite is minced meat, although it’s funny they keep calling it that when there’s no meat in it any more.

Lily:  I’ve never had mince meat pie, but it’s on my culinary bucket list. Is cereal soup, why or why not?

Ray:  Now that’s something I’ve never thought about. I love soup of all kinds, but I don’t eat much cereal any more. Maybe if I thought of it as soup, I would.

Lily:  Hehe it would be an interesting way to go about it. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?

Ray:  This actually is something I’ve thought about. Besides the States, I’ve lived in Iran, Japan, and Greece and traveled in lots of countries in Asia and Europe. Wherever I was at the time, I always thought it would be nice to live there. That includes the States, where I’ve lived most of my life. I live in a small house near a river that flows into the Chesapeake Bay, and I’m fine right here.

Lily:  Sounds like a peaceful place to live. What’s one thing everyone should do before they die?

Ray:  The Japanese say you have to climb Mt. Fuji before you die. I haven’t. I’m old, but maybe not too old: there’s a bus nowadays that drives you at least halfway up!

Lily:  I think that might be an adventure waiting to happen! Do you have any hobbies?

Ray:  I like sailing. In my younger days I was into sailboat racing in small dinghies as well as larger boats. There’s a description of a sailboat race on the Chesapeake Bay in Chapter 45 of Shady Park Panic that’s pretty accurate. The chapter is called “Rail Meat,” which is what the rich owners of the big boats called people they invited just to sit on the rail of the boat to weigh it down when the wind blows the boat on its side.

Lily:  That’s awesome! Would you rather travel by train, plane, or car (assuming you’re traveling somewhere not crossing oceans)

Ray:  By train if possible. Traveling through India by train was an unforgettable experience. I wish America had a better public transportation, one that included trains. One of the things I wanted to bring out in Uncertain Luck is the ease with which you can get around in Tokyo and all of Japan because of the fantastic railroad system. I’ve always wanted to take a train all the way across America. Maybe I should have said that was something I’d like to do before I die.

Lily:  I’ve always wanted to travel across the country by train. I have a friend who did a train trip across Canada, and it’s made me want to try. Is there anything else you would like to add that I haven’t included?

Ray:  I can’t think of anything right now. I’m still hung up on wondering if cereal is a soup or not. I’ll have to get past that first.

Lily:  You’ll have to let me know which side you end up on! How can readers discover more about you and you work?

Ray: From any of the links below. Uncertain Luck is also available from iBooks through the Apple store

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