Q and A with Author Pearl Cleage

April 28, 2004 -- I Some Things I Thought I'd Never Do is the latest book club selection in Good Morning America's "Read This!" series.

Author Pearl Cleage tells the story of Regina Burns, a former reporter who moves to her family home in Atlanta as she recovers from a broken heart and six months of drug rehab.

Cleage has answered questions about the book as part of an online Q & A with ABCNEWS.com.

Q: How/Why did the author become inspired to add the aspect of re-connecting with people from past lives into this plot? —Monica Sund, Flaunt Book Club, Chicago

A: I am not a person who believed in past lives or even thought much about it, but one day my husband said he thought he remembered a past life in which he was an emperor.

I was very surprised and at first, I thought he was teasing me, but he was serious, so I asked him to talk a little more about it. He went into great detail about what it felt like to be an emperor, some of the problems he encountered and how he handled them. Since he is not usually a mystical sort of guy, I was truly amazed and it made me start thinking about the whole question of past lives. I wondered what it would be like to remember another life and to come back with another chance to fix the things you couldn't fix before. I was also intrigued by the fact that he remembered himself in a leadership position. Well, I thought, maybe that explains some of his more imperial behaviors!

When I started working with the character of Blue Hamilton, I borrowed much of what my husband had said to me for that character. I added the part about the society not being able to figure out "the woman question", because that gave me some interesting things to add to my story, but the core of the idea came directly from my husband's sharing of his past life memories. Is is true? Who knows, but I love what it does for Blue's character! As for Aunt Abbie's vision, I have never had visions, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed! I figure we deserve some reward for surviving menopause!

Q: What was the significance of having only women living in Blue Hamilton's personal home? Was there a reason for developing a main character who is a married woman (Flora) living in the home with her daughter but without her husband? — Cheryl James, Flaunt Book Club, Chicago,

A: Part of Blue Hamilton's mission is to create an environment where women and children are safe from "the bad guys". Flora's husband, Hank, is a good friend of Blue's, but he is in Detroit working as a prosecuting attorney and he has come under attack from drug dealers.

I explain in the book that his home was bombed and his daughter was threatened. In order to continue his work without worrying about his family's personal safety, he asks Blue if he can send his wife and daughter to Atlanta to live under Blue's protection until the trials are over. Blue, of course, agrees and installs them in an apartment downstairs from his own where he can personally guarantee their safety.

Aretha, one of the other occupants of the building, is very close to Ava Johnson, a friend of Blue's, who now lives in Michigan. When Aretha came to Atlanta to go to school at Spelman College, Ava asked Blue to keep an eye on her and he agreed, renting her an apartment and putting her to work as a housepainter so she could earn money for school. He is, in effect, her godfather.

When Regina comes to Atlanta, she is looking for an apartment near the Morehouse College campus and she comes upon Blue's house while walking through the neighborhood. She stops to listen to the Bob Marley music coming from the upstairs windows where Aretha is painting and Blue comes out to say hello. He immediately recognizes her from his past life and offers to rent her the apartment that very afternoon. She agrees. Each woman has a different reason for coming there, but all of them are under the protection of Blue Hamilton, who lives upstairs.

Q: The assumption is that Blue Hamilton is your modern day knight in shinning armor, every woman's prince charming in a more urban kind of way. Is this what was meant to be taken away or was Blue written with some other aspect in mind (i.e. Robin Hood)?

— Kimberly Turner, Flaunt Book Club, Chicago

A: Blue Hamilton is a man who looked around his community and saw that the problem of male predators was not being addressed by any of the agencies charged with this responsibility. After the sister of his best friend is brutally murdered, he decides that he will take on that responsibility himself.

He gives up a career as a popular R&B singer to devote his time, energy and resources to making his Atlanta neighborhood "a safe zone for women and children." He isn't really a Robin Hood figure since he doesn't take from the rich and give to the poor. He isn't really a traditional "knight in shining armor," either, since his methods are sometimes controversial and often outside of the limits of the law. I see Blue as a strong individual who decides to use that strength in the service of creating a community where people can live together like human beings in peace.

Q: I just wanted to let you know I picked your book for our current selection for the Tuesday Book Society. I am enjoying the book. Is there a place like this in Atlanta or is this all fiction? … Marilyn, Bowling Green, Ky.

A: The neighborhood in the book is based on a real southwest Atlanta neighborhood called West End, but I have fictionalized it to dramatize the difference it would make in an urban community if the men all agreed to be peaceful and productive. I have lived in southwest Atlanta for many years and I love my neighborhood, but I often fantasize about how wonderful it would be if I could walk through the park at night and not be afraid.

If old ladies could sit on their front porches without worrying about being robbed. If trash filled vacant lots were transformed into community gardens. By writing the book, I have offered my readers a view of my real neighborhood, but better.

Q: I am writing you because I just finished your book, What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day. First of all, I'd like to really commend you on such a great job you have done with that book. That was the first book I have read that you've written. It was good. But one thing I am interested in and also intrigued by is how you seem to be concerned about the welfare of our black people, communities, youth, etc…

See, I am just a court reporter. I am not a talk show host or an author, although one day I would like to be. But I would like to know, what do you suggest as a means of helping the black community get it together, so to speak? I mean getting our community to realize that if we unite we will have so much more, but as long as we stay divided, we will never have anything to sum it up. Well, I don't want to go on forever and ever. But I do hope to hear from you soon. —Tiya, Orlando, Fla.

A: I think the black community is no different from any other community. We need to take responsibility for how we live together. We need to be personally responsible for keeping our streets clean, our schools safe, and our houses peaceful. As African-Americans, we often spend our time and energy blaming other people for the problems we see around us. In my books, I am always trying to suggest that we could change everything if we used that same energy to do what is necessary to make our neighbors places where we want to live and raise our families.

Blue Hamilton, Flora Lumumba, the West End Growers Association are all examples of people trying to address the problems they see around them in the ways they can be most effective. Flora wants to grow things. Blue wants to redirect male energy in a positive way. The West End Growers want to continue to be active participants in their neighborhood even as they get older. I think the key is to look at what you can do as an individual and do that. As a writer, I can take what is and present it in a way that allows us to wonder "what if… ?"

Q: Here's a sequel for Regina Burns: now, after all she's been through, she discovers that there's a process that can make OIL from modern-day raw materials; anything that's carbon-based — even garbage, but her editor won't believe it. She wants to be the Erin Brockovich of the OPEC world, but someone mysterious stands in her way. this process, thermal conversion, could change the whole balance of energy power in the entire world, putting many terrorists out of business and exposing many world leaders of complicity in terror, including many who said they were our allies. Strange thing about all this is— it's true!!! Please see www.changingworldtech.com. Does this sound like an idea for a book? — Marie Davis, King, NC

A: The idea of making oil from scratch is very interesting, but I don't think Regina is the one to make it happen!