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Reviews of
Beneath Juliette:
“This is
the most powerful and subtle, humorous and wonderful debut novel I have read
in decades.” -- Clyde Mitchal, Youngstown Reviews
“I’m
very impressed with Beneath Juliette. This is a fine writer and the
characters really come alive, especially the villain.” -- Charles Salzberg,
author of “Swan’s Last Song”
“What
can I say? I read straight through Beneath Juliette in two days! Your
novel shines with elegance, insight, and texture. Breathtaking!” -- Robert Middlemiss –
author of “A Common Glory
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Frequently
Asked Questions
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Q
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Where did you come up with the idea for Beneath
Juliette?
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A
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Back in the seventies I used to go archery hunting
at a state managed wildlife refuge, called Rum Creek W.M.A. Back then
archery hunting was not as popular as it is today so I pretty much had the
place to myself. Just outside of Juliette, Georgia, it was as wonderful a
piece of rural countryside I’ve ever seen, a location just looking for
someone to tell a good story about it. By the time I decided to write the
novel, I had collected many stories, some which were told to me and some I
witnessed myself. I used to tell my children ghost stories and Beneath
Juliette starts off as a sort of ghost story. All of these pieces and parts
came together as a pretty good plot. Then I needed some characters. Most of
the folks I’ve met lead strange enough lives to be in a novel, but I didn’t
want to make Juliette’s characters from real life. That can be dangerous to
an author especially with villains!
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Q
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So your characters aren’t modeled after people
you know?
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Yes, but not entirely. Juliette’s characters have
characteristics of real people but most of them are spare parts too.
Characters have to be realistic, but like real people they do crazy things.
Only one character in Beneath Juliette is modeled from a real person, but
I’m not saying which one. The rest come out of the mold needing bits and
pieces of other people I know to flesh them out. Some of their
characteristics are my own invention.
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Q
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The villain is especially vicious. Did you ever
know anyone like that?
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Never. I think a lot of us have a level of
meanness in us, particularly when we’re driving. What I did with TV Swanson
was amplify that to the monster level. Yet I found him a fascinating
person, full of strange notions, anger, violence, self-loathing and a
bizarre fear of other people, especially his own 10-year-old son.
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Q
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What about your hero?
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Which one? Brendan Macbean is similar to a
broadcaster we used to have in the Atlanta area named Leroy Powell, who died
of brain cancer in 1999. Leroy Powell was the antithesis to a typical
television personality. He focused on unusual personal interest stories. I
wanted a different type of hero. Somebody who wasn’t a superman but solved
problems with his wits, someone who suffered from narcissism deficit
disorder enough to become obsessed with finding the other hero, the long
lost Frank Robillard, a true but flawed hero, brilliant, strong, courageous
but weak when it came to himself.
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Q
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Macbean seems very realistic and loveable.
Since you are not in broadcasting, how did you make him believable?
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A
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I was very fortunate. I went down to the WXIA studios
in Atlanta and spent an afternoon with Ted Hall and Brenda Wood, anchors
for the evening news, who were very gracious with their time. From them I
was able to get insight on how a broadcaster’s mind works, what some of the
problems they go through and how spots on television are conceived and
produced. Ted Hall was particularly helpful answering my endless questions
and to him I give a great deal of credit for the success of the character.
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Q
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Many of your most gripping scenes take place
inside of prison. How did you learn so much about incarceration?
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I had one relative who ran afoul of the law
pretty much his whole life and spent time in prison. At times he was very likable,
but he gave me insights to how criminals think. But his experiences were
insufficient to provide enough detail to make those scenes believable. The
rest came from research, but I figured if Stephen King could do it, I could
do it. Prison does things to a man and that’s what I wanted to explore.
Also I wanted to show the effects criminals have on their families, which
is something I witnessed firsthand.
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About The Author
John Wilsterman finished
a successful career with IBM and has now turned his hand to novel writing.
Mr. Wilsterman makes a spectacular debut with Beneath Juliette, a novel set
in the South, with all the strange and wonderful characters, places and
stories he’s encountered. Mr. Wilsterman is married and has two grown
children, Kira and Luke, and is now working on a new novel. He lives with his
wife, Jean, near Atlanta.
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