An Interview with Kenneth Thomas
Kenneth Thomas, a lawyer with an undergraduate degree in anthropology, has practiced in both disciplines over the years. He has traveled extensively in Africa and participated in archaeological digs, both on land and underwater as a certified PADI diver. In the 1980s, he represented South African political refugees (fleeing the apartheid regime) in asylum cases and testified before the United Nations on behalf of economic sanctions against the apartheid government. Soundscape, his first novel, speaks to many of these experiences. He lives in Manhattan with his wife, Alicia. Their son, Andrew, is an immigration attorney in Philadelphia.
Tell us the story of your book’s title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?
The book’s title was going to be Winds of Change, which is the title of the book within the book that the male protagonist writes. My editor felt it was too generic a title for the novel. I checked on Amazon and discovered there were at least fifty books with that title. Time to change. I tried several alternatives, all the time checking the Amazon catalog, and each title was already ‘taken’ by numerous authors. One of the key elements of my novel is the use of tape recordings of a particular type, described in the book as ‘soundscapes.’ They are the recordings that protect Hannah, the female protagonist, from a deep, dark past. I could not find one novel with that title. When a reader asks me what Soundscape means, that is music to my ears. My answer: Read the book and find out. The first answer to that question comes as early as page twenty-six, but the concept takes on more and more meaning and importance as the book’s story unfolds.
How did it feel when you first saw your book cover? Or when you first held your book in your hands?
My first big decision was whether to go abstract or realistic for a cover. I decided on realism, with the female protagonist dominating the cover, overlooking the archaeological site where the book begins. With many tweaks back and forth, the completed cover was exactly what I wanted, and I have gotten many positive, and some glowing notes from readers on the cover. My favorite was from a reader who had finished the novel and wrote: “Now I can truly appreciate the book’s cover. You depicted Hannah starting out on her journey, and what a journey it has been. Magnificent!”
Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?
I have started many novels over the years. I have a desk drawer that is littered with unfinished first chapters. Why, after all these failed attempts, I finally found a story that drew me in, characters whose story I wanted to tell, and a story that kept changing as I wrote and then edited my drafts, I do not know, other than to say that writing this book was a magical experience.
What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?
Some of what they should know they will find in the ‘About the Author’ and the ‘Acknowledgments’ sections. As noted there, I have been an anthropologist, but primarily an attorney in my professional life. What they wouldn’t know is that because my son took up soccer as a youngster, I became a soccer referee for his youth group, AYSO. I progressed from there to become a United States Soccer Federation (USSF) professionally sanctioned referee, and over the years I have refereed many high school and college soccer games in my spare time, mostly on weekends. It’s a whole different experience to view a game as an on-field official than to view it as a fan from the stands.
What was the most rewarding/meaningful part of publishing your book?
First, seeing the finished product and being so proud of how it turned out. Second, seeing the Amazon page devoted to my book. As a first-time author, I hadn’t even contemplated that I could send my friends to Amazon to purchase the book or the Kindle version. That’s when you know you’ve arrived.
If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?
Obviously, since the action of the novel takes place over the two-decade period from 1984–2005, we’re talking about an oldie soundtrack. But let me go back much further. I am an opera buff. I love the music of great opera, the incredible voices that sing it, and the overwrought emotions that great operas convey, without any apologies for doing so. Many of the scenes in Soundscape have operatic underpinnings in their intensity and in the revelations made. There is one scene in particular, toward the end of the novel, which goes on for a plot-altering thirty-eight pages. It is inspired by a particular life-defining scene in Verdi’s La Traviata, and I hope it catches the intensity, the energy and the beauty of that scene.
What is one thing you hope readers take away from reading your book? How do you envision your perfect reader?
That everyone’s life is a journey and no two journeys are the same. In Soundscape, Hannah and Nick each face decisions, sometimes together but more often apart. There are decisions to be made, paths to be chosen, mistakes to be reckoned with, challenges to be faced. My perfect reader is one who immerses himself/herself in the story, is jolted by some of the twists in the plot, wonders whether he or she would have made the same choices as Nick and Hannah, and, no matter what, enjoys the journey.
What creative projects are you currently working on?
I am currently working on a second novel based in Southern Africa. Instead of being a two-decade saga like Soundscape, it is a two-week story of survival in the rugged semi-desert conditions of Botswana. Here, the stakes will be higher and more primal, and the emotions will be just as intense, if not more so, than in Soundscape.
How was working with Atmosphere Press? What would you tell other writers who want to publish?
Atmosphere Press was a revelation. I never realized all the pieces that had to fall into place to take a finished manuscript and turn it into a published book, and how much input I would have into that process. Copy editing, reading galley proofs, cover art: that much I expected. But who knew there was an entire department called interior design. And how crucial and creative they were to the look of the book. Then there are the creators of the author’s website, and the people who file the copyrights and interface with Amazon and Barnes and Noble and other key players in the publishing industry. Since Atmosphere Press has employees working their magic from all over the globe, most conversations were done with them either by email or by pre-arranged phone conversations, given some of the time zone differentials. A finer, more enthusiastic, and supportive group of professionals I have rarely encountered in my life. We authors can be a little abrasive when our ‘baby’ is getting close to publication, and I need to thank them all for putting up with my anxiety, impatience and sometimes unrealistic demands through much of this process.
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