Interview with Bob Smith and Sara Rhodes

In the worn and tired town of Gulch Fork, Arkansas, certified nursing assistant Samantha Caminos heads to her patient Rob Dean's home and wonders how she can find common ground with the aloof, disabled Vietnam veteran who suffers from not only PTSD but also severe neuropathy caused by Agent Orange. As Samantha approaches the house, she has no idea that very soon their lives will take a new turn. Gulch Fork, a town once filled with Ozark tranquility, takes on an aura of evil when bizarre events begin to affect Rob and two other war-scarred veterans, Peter Ness and Ron Woods-Samantha's father. But when Samantha learns that two elderly couples without living relatives in the area have fallen prey to fraud and embezzlement by a man who claims to be a pastor, she sets out on a quest to piece together a complex mystery fueled by those hell-bent on taking advantage of citizens too fragile to defend themselves. In this compelling novel based on true events, three veterans seeking peace and serenity from PTSD fall victim to injustice, prompting a young health care worker to investigate the evil that has infiltrated their once peaceful Arkansas town.

THE INTERVIEW

Do you listen to music while writing? If so, what do you listen to? 

Bob- Beethoven and Brahms 

Sara- Any classical 

Do you have any suggestions for upcoming writers? 

Read the sentence, if it doesn’t sound right keep switching the words and the word order until it has a pleasant feeling about it. 

What is it you like to do when you are not reading/writing? 

Bob- Spend time with my cats and avoiding people. 

Sara- Camping, fishing, sewing, swimming and spending time with my family and dogs. 

Is there an author/authors that have inspired you? 

Bob- I always loved Edgar Allan Poe 

Sara- Robert Frost 

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? 

Bob- Pilot 

Sara- Teacher 

How do you/would you react to a bad review of your book? 

Bob- I go over it carefully and often find the reviewer didn’t read the book carefully, or lacks knowledge on the subject. Example: In our story we have an almost classical example of someone with Asperger’s Syndrome and one reviewer proclaimed his behavior didn’t make sense. 

Sara- I look at it as constructive criticism and roll with it.

Bob Smith is a naval officer who had Agent Orange spilled on him in Vietnam and suffers from severe PTSD in addition to disabling neuropathy. After living in Spain, he returned to America and settled in the Ozarks, where he is happily pursuing his dream of writing. Sara Rhodes is a wife, mother, and certified nursing assistant who originally lived in Alaska before moving to the Ozarks with her family. Bob is her former patient whose teachings about PTSD helped her recognize her own father's battle with it. Both Bob and Sara find animals to be a great source of comfort.