Welcome to the Saturday Spotlight, a weekly feature hosted by Tinasbookreviews and celebrates indie, self-published, up& coming and debut authors. This week I have the pleasure of introducing readers to:
HARRY BURRUS
Q&A
Welcome to the blog Harry, to start please tell us about yourself?
Normally, I avoid talking about myself. If I am engaged in a conversation with someone, when the talk is over and the other person walks away, waving goodbye, I usually know all about that person and she knows virtually nothing of me. However, this situation is different.
I’m a fourth generation Texan who after my initial pre-kindergarten years in Texas and New York (while my father was pursuing a PhD at Columbia and playing pro football), I grew up in St. Louis (Webster Groves), later living in Houston. Early on, particularly with tennis tournaments and travel, I recorded my observations. I developed the habit of logging names of restaurants, menu items, vintages of wine, names of bars, hotels, theatres, streets, and cities. As a teenager, tennis saturated my summers. I played all over the country and always missed the first and last week of school.
At out of town tournaments, I frequently received housing. That’s when members of the tournament committee or members of the host club or organization put a player up in their home. Usually, the member had a son or daughter in the tournament, although not always. Sometimes, my host was just a tennis patron. I made a point of investigating wine cellars and liquor cabinets. Did they prefer claret or burgundy wine? I’d leaf through photo albums to see where they had been. If they were readers I’d review the titles in their library. I’d make a journal entry of their style of china and crystal, and the brand of silverware. I mention all of this to explain how my writing began. Poems and characters often emerged from these entries. And from the poems, sometimes came plays. My interests, in no specific order, are reading, travel, photography, collage, rubber stamps, film, poetry, fiction, and theater. I have seven collections of poetry in the great out there and I’m trying to break into the London theater scene. I wrote and directed the feature film Marrakech.
Two different clips can be seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0Gcg_AoDn0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWc9uI3SD70.
The film is available at IndieFlix and Amazon.
What inspired you to write Time Passes Like Rain?
For some time, I've been interested in the rainforest and its indigenous tribes and have observed what has happened to them, most of it not good. Countries make the same mistakes and don’t learn from other countries experiences.With that as a backdrop I wanted to write an action-adventure story.
I like journeys and quests. I’m curious as to how individuals confront the unusual, the exotic. Take a few people who have a relationship and place them in a completely different environment and observe how they respond. Watch how they react to different surroundings and observe how this interaction with the new environment impacts their relationship.What do they learn? How do they change? I had several images that I wanted to concertize. Place three close women friends in the rain forest and have them confront all that the rain forest puts in front of them. I saw them interacting with and fighting indigenous tribes. Immersed in the rain- forest they gleaned a new appreciation for nature and for the people who live there. I saw them climbing sections of a mountain that had never been scaled before, truly testing themselves, and in the process making incredible discoveries. Juxtaposed to the lush environment of nature, the protagonists come into contact with the harsh politics of the country, much of it counter to what the rainforest offers. I tend to see scenes and situations—think mind movie, and then jump in and see where the words take me.
Have any authors inspired your work?
I am not aware of any author or group of writers that have motivated my work. The two things that impact much of what I do are travel and film (movies). I suspect it is impossible to have any grasp of universality without travel, without placing oneself in unfamiliar terrain, and dealing with the challenges the unknown tends to place in front of you. Film offers a complete art form and structure; it can encompass most, if not all, of the arts. It handles the continuum of time (the past, the present, and the future) and the workings of the mind better than other mediums.
If you could cast your book as a movie who would play the lead roles?
Ideally, it would be good to find some unknowns. I often find I believe and get into a movie more if I don’t know the actors—no associations are made with previous work. However, given this specific question: for Laura Ryder I’d like a young Charlize Theron. Even a young Gretchen Mol. Otherwise, perhaps Scarlett Johansson. Rhona Mitra would make a good Mimms. Elena Anaya could work for Chichi, although I’d prefer someone a touch younger. Orlando Bloom could work for Seth (or a younger version of Jeremy Northam). Ewan McGregor for Henri.
Can you share any future projects with us?
I’m working on a new play, Wade Cooper: Action Cowboy Star. I have a number of feature films that I’ve written I’d like to get into development, so, I’m pursuing that—a path strewn with frustration. I have a lengthy novel I want to edit further (The Hummingbird Wizard), plus, make some additions to it. And, I have notes for a new novel (Cambio) and another play (Tanganyika). I’m planning on directing two plays early next year.
What are you reading right now?
Two books are presently open, West with the Night by Beryl Markham and Somerset Maugham’s The Painted Veil. I had recently finished a 2010 bio of Maugham by Selena Hastings and mentioned it to a neighbor, knowing he was a Maugham aficionado. I told him I’d never been able to put my hands on a Maugham play. Well, turns out he had three, which he had purchased at an auction. All three plays, which I quickly devoured, The Bread Winner, East of Suez, and Loaves and Fishes were first editions and part of Maugham’s library at Villa Mauresque.
***Thanks Harry for being on the blog today and all that experience in rain forest and your love of films. Best of luck to you and your book, Time Passes Like Rain and keeping your sanity during the very busy schedule up ahead.
Giveaway
Today Harry is giving away one copy of his book Time Passes Like Rain, to a reader here at my blog. To enter please just leave a comment. Open to US residents only. Winner will be chosen on July 9, 2011.
Laura Ryder, an expat English poet, journeys with two adventurous female friends to a small South American country, their sights set on trekking through the rain forest and climbing the country’s highest mountain, ostensibly to see how well they respond to the challenges nature throws at them. They arrive in the capital city amidst protests and violent demonstrations over the recent Presidential election.
Through their interactions with a wealthy inland landowner, a newspaper editor, and a famous actress, they eventually become entangled in a web of political turmoil, exposing themselves to murder, kidnapping, and physical atrocities.
Ah, my old friend, Harry Burrus. We've kept in touch after playing with and against each other in tennis three quarters of a lifetime ago. He's slaving away now in the literary world while I'm still slaving away on the tennis court, teaching the "sport of a lifetime." Funny, I've gotten two books published but, just as in our old tennis days, he's a ways ahead of me. Only an old friend could confirm to you how well your interview captures Harry. A fascinating interview with a fascinating human being. Well done, both of you, and best of luck to you both in your future endeavors.
ReplyDeleteInvestigating indigenous tribes in the rain forest sounds like fun!
ReplyDeletemeredithfl at gmail dot com
Harry Burrus is one of the most energetically creative and intellectually inquisitive people I've ever met.
ReplyDeleteAnything he does is worth checking out!
I knew Harry over 40 years ago and we have stayed in touch. He used to write me poems that I have always kept. Sometimes I would send them back with circles around words that I needed explanations for and he would write back in depth. I loved his insights and comments. It would be an honor if Time Passes like Rain found it's way to me. Ellie
ReplyDeleteI'd love to win a copy of Harry's book!
ReplyDeletehawkes(at)citlink.net