Today Bruce Jenvey has returned to say farewell, but first he’s going to share an insightful and entertaining interview between him and a journalism student who also happens to be a fan of this work. Enjoy!
FAN: I’m so glad we finally got a chance to sit down with you and ask you about your new book, The Ragtime Coven.
BRUCE: Again, I apologize to everyone for the delays, but family needs come first and this last year has been a long one. But I’m back at the keyboard and the new book is wrapping up well, now!
FAN: First, tell us about your Cabbottown Witches. In today’s books and movies, I’ve never seen witches portrayed like yours are.
BRUCE: That was a bit of controversy when Angela’s Coven was first released. My witches have no magic wands, no pointy hats, no Hokus Pokus. Aunt Maddy and her girls are actually, more historically correct!
FAN: You mean there really were witches?
BRUCE: In a matter of speaking… yes! The first witches were Midwives who had learned the art of natural healing from mothers and grandmothers before them. Even in the dark ages, they were making potions and slaves, things we would today call Home Remedies or Holistic Medicine… and they were getting some pretty miraculous results with those kind of cures! Well, at least by Medieval standards. It was the ‘Men Doctors’ who didn’t like the competition and the legends of green warty noses, cooking children and being in league with the Devil were all started to discourage people from trusting the Midwives. True!
FAN: So, how does that relate to your Cabbottown Witches?
BRUCE: My witches harvest herbs, bark, mushrooms… all things natural and then they simmer things over a stove, grind the powders and mix things together to get some pretty amazing results. You see, when they started burning witches at the stake, as a group, they pretty much went underground. That was over a thousand years ago! I’m just saying that in all those years behind closed doors… I bet ya they’ve made some progress and breakthroughs!
FAN: So these are… modern day witches of the olde school variety?
BRUCE: I like that! I’ll probably steal that if you don’t mind. But yes. In the first book, Angela’s Coven, it involves the witches with a terminally ill rock star and his contract with the devil. In my books, Lucifer is a physical being but never leaves his office in Hell. He sends his right hand minion, his lawyer, out to do his bidding. And yes, there are some very humorous moments you’ll find there, really throughout the books. But bring your tissues, too!
FAN: So the witches don’t work for Lucifer?
BRUCE: No, quite the opposite. Other characters in my books are actually Angels! My wife is a big angel collector and that’s been a big influence on me. So the Angels and Lucifer might be at odds, but the witches are caught in the middle. In the first book, they were guardian angels. In The Great Northern Coven, he was more of a troubled angel. But in the third book, this angel, is an Avenging Angel! He’s quite a character all in himself!
FAN: Tell us more about the third book.
BRUCE: This is The Ragtime Coven and is a prequel to Angela’s Coven. It covers a lot of unanswered questions as it follows the Coven in the time of World War I and the Prohibition Era. There’s rumrunners, gangsters, flappers and it’s really quite fun. Some of my best characters, really! But most important, this book will tie all THREE books together and a lot of pieces fall into place. If you liked the first one, you’ll love this one, really!
Find Bruce on Amazon here.
Bruce Jenvey is the award-winning author of Angela’s Coven and other tales of the paranormal. He was raised in rural Michigan with a great interest in history, popular culture and the paranormal. After twenty years in the advertising industry, he spent the next decade traveling the Great Lakes region as a journalist Now, Bruce has turned to fiction and shares many of his real-world experiences through his Cabbottown Witches.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords
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