Interview of Bonnie Napoli

by

Joanna Hollier

Joanna: It gives me great pleasure to introduce Bonnie Napoli. Bonnie, give us the name of your book and tell us about it.

Bonnie: The title is Shadows of the Eclipse, a Native American Paranormal Historical. It takes place in 1844, and the premise is: can a white woman whose family has just been slaughtered by Indians, and a Crow warrior who despises the white man, fall in love with each other, and rectify mistakes they’ve made in another lifetime.

Joanna: How many books do you have published and give us the publisher.

Bonnie: This is my first published novel.

Joanna: How long have you considered yourself a "writer?"

Bonnie: I was a real bookworm since I first learned to read. I had a vivid imagination and was always changing the endings to tv shows, adding scenes to movies in my head. Then, junior and senior high school English classes often started with Miss Anna Paul writing a phrase on the blackboard. Using that phrase as a starting point, we students had to write for 10 minutes. Usually Miss Paul had to pull my paper out from under my scribbling pen when time was up. One day, after reading my latest prose, she rapped me on the head with a knuckle. "Miss Napoli, you are such a romantic. Someday you are going to be a writer!" And the dream began..

Joanna: What made you take up writing?

Bonnie: Oh, the pretty typical reading book after book thinking: I can do this. I can do better than this! And then back in the 1970's I read Nakoa’s Woman by Gayle Rogers. I loved it so much; the story haunted me. Perhaps because it reminded me so much of one of the many stories playing in my head for so long. So then I just had to write my story.

Joanna: Where do you live? Give us some of your personal background.

Bonnie: I live in the northwest hills of Connecticut, in an old farmhouse, in what is still considered a farming community. Until a couple of years ago when a fox family wiped us out, we raised turkeys, chickens and guinea fowl, some ducks and geese, too. I am a registered nurse. I am married, with grown children, Michael and Krista. I have two grandchildren, Madison and Ethan.

Joanna: Do you have other hobbies or interests?

Bonnie: I am a bookaholic. And an avid gardener. Although we have a large vegetable garden, I don’t really eat many vegetables, so I am losing interest in that. I am a nut for trying all kinds of sweet corn, gourds and pumpkins, but my greatest gardening love is perennials. Long ago I was into photography, mostly black and white, and someday I would love to take that up again. We have spent more than the past decade redoing this old house, and I really love that, though it has been really hard at times.

Joanna: Which genre interests you the most? Tell us why you chose that genre.

Bonnie: Hmmm, this is tough. I like some horror, paranormal, and mainstream contemporary. But if the book is good, it doesn’t really matter the genre. Except for sci-fi or fantasy. I have tried, but just can’t get into them.

Joanna: What future plans do you have for your writing?

Bonnie: Welllll...I’d love for Kevin Costner to call one day and say he just has to make Shadows of the Eclipse into a movie, would I mind? Of course, I would agree to him playing the Army Captain.

Joanna: Tell us of your goals professionally and personally, and what exciting things you have coming up.

Bonnie: Professionally, I would like to keep writing, and getting published, of course. And I would like my books to be successful enough for me to give up my paying job. Personally, I would like to be able to give up my paying job so I can finish fixing this house, make a few more gardens, take up photography again, and of course, write, write, write. I would also love for us to get an RV and travel throughout the country, for a long, long time. I would also love to wake up one morning and find myself an exercise addict! I am now working on a contemporary set in 1990 about a Viet Nam widow who clings to the past, until she meets a man who is about to bring her into the present with an offer of a darn good future.

And don’t forget to visit Bonnie’s web page…