Laura: Play Money is a nonfiction account of my years on the trading floor. It could be categorized as a "humorous memoir" since there are no shortage of characters on Wall Street.
Denise: You were honored by President Clinton in 1994 as one of "Ten Outstanding Young Americans." Was it because of the above achievements or is there something else we should know?
Laura: Over the years I've used some of my business knowledge to assist fledgling women entrepreneurs. While working on Wall Street I attended New York University at night to earn a finance degree. Otherwise, I've always been interested in business, had lots of moneymaking sidelines as a kid, and started investing in the stocks and the silver market at age 11.
Denise: Going Away Party, your first novel, won the Three Oaks Prize for Fiction. It was published in 2001 by Story Line Press. Tell us about the novel's characters and tease us with the plot.
Laura: Going Away Party was originally written to be a student film and this goes a long way in explaining the minimalist feel -- basically a single set where almost all the action takes place with only two characters. Jess MacGuire is almost 21, just finishing college, and about to start "real life" when an older man arrives on the scene while her family is away on vacation. Denny Sinclair has just lost his wife and together the two of them find an unexpected bond, that is until Jess discovers that Denny was once her mother's boyfriend and that he has an agenda of his own. I'd say the plot is comic in spirit but serious at heart.
Denise: In Beginner's Luck young Hallie Palmer has a gift that can easily be perceived as a compulsion in today's society: gambling. Her ability to win at games of chance seems to have hit a road block and she lost her money for that car she wanted. Now what? How does she set things right? Who comes into her life at this point?
Laura: Hallie takes a job as a yard person for a family that has its fair share of eccentrics, at least for a conservative small town in Ohio. Bernard is an upbeat character who teaches Hallie to cook and gently encourages her to pursue books rather than blackjack. Olivia, Bernard's free-spirited mother, has her own politically (and sexually) active lifestyle that demonstrates to Hallie how education is oftentimes a necessity if you want to be an agent for change and a person who grabs life by the horns. The Stocktons don't lecture so much as lead by example, and soon Hallie is reevaluating the kind of person she wants to be and what sort of goals to set.
Denise: Call it luck, but Hallie finds a new (eccentric) family in Mrs. Olivia Stockton's home. What are Olivia and her son like? Did their "off-the-beaten" path attitudes and lifestyle come together easily? How do they help Hallie to grow as a person where her own parents weren't able to?
Laura: Hallie felt stifled in her overcrowded (6 brothers and sisters) home where her parents had a one-size-fits-all attitude toward raising children. She was bored in school and spending too much time playing cards and betting on the horses, whether as a bid for attention or just for some excitement. By lifting the rules and curfews and even the structure of the traditional school day for a year, Hallie is able to discover her true interests and concentrate on her future rather than waste all her time and energy on gambling and rebelling.
I teach children at a school in East Harlem and though it is my experience that most young people react well to structure and consistency, there's always one or two who learn best by charting their own course and find a rigorous planned program too restrictive and therefore frustrating. I'd say that Hallie fits firmly in the latter category.
Denise: Yona Zeldis McDonough, author of "The Four Temperaments," states this about your novel Last Call, "Laura Pedersen's wry, bittersweet story charts the unlikely romance between a dying yet still vibrant man and a nun whose faith has abandoned her. While much is lost in this gentle tale, much is gained too, and by the novel's end, the characters are granted the wisdom and acceptance for which we all continue to long." Your strength appears to be in your ability to create dimensional characters. Tell us about Hayden MacBride who sees no reason to take his own death lying down. What is he looking for and who does he meet during his last quest "to see the light" so to speak?
Laura: Hayden is the guy who, if his ship doesn't come in, he swims out after it. The word "no" is just a request for more information. He grew up in difficult circumstances and has resolved to succeed, and also have a terrific time while doing so. I think we all know a Hayden, the person at the party who is the most fun to be around, the guy who when you arrive at work you know will have a big "hello" and a hilarious story about something that happened over the weekend.
Only Hayden is not his usual positive and endearing roguish self when his beloved wife dies in her early 50s (he feels a doctor could have prevented this) and a year later Hayden is diagnosed with terminal cancer. But in typical Hayden fashion he is at least determined to exit life on his own terms and in his own way. Hayden always works best to an appreciative audience, and so when he meets a woman in the hospital who is also facing a medical crisis, he pulls her along on his last and greatest adventure. It turns out that he falls in love with her. It also turns out that shess a nun. Fortunately Hayden was never a man to worry about obstacles.
I suppose it's odd to have a romantic comedy that involves so much terminal illness. (And it's certainly the only book I've ever been asked to speak about at hospitals.) But I've heard from a lot of readers who have had cancer scares or lost a parent (to any disease) and they claim to find enjoyment in the story and can identify with the vastly different attitudes toward treatment. While Hayden is quite cavalier about rejecting the advice of doctors, his adult daughter Diana wants him to try an experimental drug. Meanwhile, Rosamond is depending more on the power of prayer and unsure of how exactly to proceed with the medical establishment.
Denise: You reunited us with Hallie Palmer in your Aug. 2 release of Heart's Desire. Now it's her time to come around and offer someone help. What is Bernard Stockton asking her to do? Who do you introduce us to in this latest installment of young Hallie's life?
Laura: As Hallie finishes her first year of college, Gil breaks up with Bernard, and Bernard desperately wants her assistance in a plan to win him back. Hallie is unhappy about the breakup, as well, since Gil and Bernard are her second set of parents, however she's not so sure about undertaking reunification schemes that Bernard has picked up from watching old Bette Davis movies.
If this challenge is not enough, Hallie is faced with the dilemma of who will be her first "serious" boyfriend. She and Craig had agreed that long distance relationships only end in disaster. Her new college boyfriend seems to be suddenly "busy" on certain Saturday nights leaving Hallie to believe that he's probably dating other women. And so when the grandson of Cappy, the local bookie, suddenly arrives on the scene, Hallie decides he just might be her white knight. Only when you live with Bernard Stockton it appears you don't have complete control over running your love life. Although it turns out this just might be a good thing, as his culinary inspiration Martha Stewart likes to say.
Denise: What are you currently writing?
Laura: Right now I'm finishing up Full House, which is the third book in the Hallie Palmer series. Hallie is suddenly called home during her sophomore year of college when her Dad has a heart attack. While her Mom is in shock and experiencing a depression of sorts, Hallie has to take care of her eight younger siblings. The strain is considerable and when Craig arrives on the scene to help, in her frustrated state Hallie only ends up pushing him away.
Meantime, Bernard is preoccupied with the fact that his Bohemian mother has taken up with a younger (and quite handsome) man, one who claims to be a chef, to make matters worse. Gil claims he's jealous, but Bernard views his interference differently, as if he's in charge of quality control when it comes to everyone else's relationships.
Denise: How are you promoting your books?
Laura: A number of book clubs have been reading Beginner's Luck, Last Call, and Heart's Desire. So if they look on my web site (http://www.laurapedersenbooks.com/) it's possible to set up a phone chat during one of their meetings. Those are lots of fun, the readers ask great questions, and they have wonderful stories to tell about their own eccentric family members, which I greatly enjoy hearing. Beginner's Luck and Heart's Desire have also landed on a number of high school reading lists so I've also enjoyed doing some talks with classes. The teenagers seem to identify with Hallie, while I suppose older readers might enjoy Olivia the most. Unlike so many books and especially movies with stereotypical grandmother characters, though Olivia is 60-something, she's intelligent, witty, attractive and young people actually listen to her advice (when they don't consider it too outlandish - such as her suggestion that Hallie chain herself to the front porch to avoid school). This winter I'll write Best Bet, which is the fourth and final book in that series.
Denise: I'm so glad we had this opportunity to learn about your books, Laura. Best of luck with future projects.
