Title: Gilded Prisons
Author: Linda Gould
Publisher: Independently Published
ISBN:979-8742818762
Pages: 255
Genre: Literature & Fiction
Interviewed by:Tony Espinoza

Read Author Interview

PBR:  Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I am a retired career bureaucrat and a lifelong resident of the Washington, DC area. I have been self-publishing novels since 2003, and now have unleashed six of them.

PBR:  What was the inspiration behind your book, “Gilded Prisons”?
In a previous novel, Let’s Play Ball (2010), I tried to combine my love of baseball with my interest in politics. Accordingly, the story featured ballplayers and their families becoming embroiled in both domestic and international intrigue. Gilded Prisons deals with a subsequent  kidnapping incident, about seven years after the first. However, it features a different political era and mostly different characters.

PBR:  What theme or message do you hope readers will take away from your book?
I feared that the initial violence related to the kidnapping and imprisonment of Justin, the ballplayer, might put off some readers. However, most who persevered seemed to appreciate his efforts at rehabilitation, leading to a positive conclusion. Even for the villains of the piece, redemption was possible.

PBR:  What drew you into this particular genre?
I’ve always had trouble settling on a genre. All of my novels seem to be a genre mismash. They start off as chicklit, but they don’t adhere to the usual romantic tropes. I throw in a lot of politics, music, sports, and anything else that seems relevant.

PBR:  If you could sit down with any of the characters of this book, what would you want to ask them or talk about in relation to the book’s events or their character background?
I’d like to sit April and Guadalupe down together and ask them about their evolving relationship. Specifically, how did two such different women, who had every reason to be enemies for life, managed in time to overcome dire circumstances and become genuine friends?

PBR:  What inspired you to utilize the backdrop of Major League Baseball, the politics of US and Cuban relations in regards to baseball, and how much of the actual history of this particular subject did you incorporate into the narrative?
I’ve been in love with baseball since my dad introduced me to the game when I was a little kid. Cuba is a baseball-obsessed nation, and through the years Cuban players, some of whom were defectors, have had a strong influence on Major League Baseball. According to legend, Fidel Castro once tried out for the Washington Senators but failed. If the legend is true and he’d succeeded, imagine how different things might have been.

PBR:  What advice would you give to aspiring or just starting authors out there?
I would advise aspiring writers to write every day, even if it’s only for fifteen minutes. Inspiration may seem lacking at first, but it will come if you persevere. The rise of independent publishing is a great boon for writers, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t seek out all the help you can get―beta readers, editors, cover designers, etc. That makes the whole industry better.

PBR:   What does the future hold in store for you? Any new books/projects on the horizon?
Six novels in eighteen years feels like a lot to me, especially since I did so many drafts and got each one critiqued by a strict writers group. Right now I’m taking a break from doing anything publishable, and trying out something entirely different, just for fun―a space odyssey involving a government bureaucrat. Heaven knows how it will turn out, but it’s been good for a few laughs.