Thursday, December 2, 2010

Interview with Historical Fiction Author Jeane Slone

Jeane Slone has a B.A. in History and enjoys researching pieces of the forgotten past especially involving female heroines and multi-cultures. She self-published She Flew Bombers, a novel based on the true adventures of the Women Airforce Service Pilots known as WASP. The Sonoma County Arts Council awarded her a grant to organize and moderate an oral history panel of six former WWII women pilots. Jeane has four daughters, one son, and one “brilliant” grandson!


Hello Jeane. You are the author of three books set during World War II. The first is called She Flew Bombers and is based on the true adventures of the Women Airforce Service Pilots during WWII. Your second book is She Built Ships During WWII. The third one is called She Was a Spy During WWII. When will the second book be released?

She Built Ships During WWII will be out in January. It is about a woman welder in the Richmond Shipyards. This historical fiction weaves a Tuskegee Airman, a black sailor hurt in the Port Chicago explosion, an airplane riveter, and a Japanese American mother interned in a horse stable and the first day care center in Richmond, California.

I love historical fiction because I learn so much about history and at the same time be entertained. How much research did you do?

She Flew Bombers took a lot of research since the women pilots were kept as a “secret weapon.” I did three years of research. I read many true stories about these brave women pilots. One WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) performed tow targeting. Tow targeting is flying a plane and towing a cloth sleeve behind 15 hundred feet of cable. The Army men practiced their infantry skills by shooting the target. This one WASP got her toe shot at by accident. After a medic removed it she had a jeweler in town make a necklace out of it! This is only one of the many hilarious adventures these brave young women had. Of course there are sad accounts in the book about dying. After I wrote my book, more information has come out about these brave women pilots. Since then, they received the Gold Medal this past March from the President. 

Who are the Soviet Night Witches?

The Soviet Night Witches are another group of little known women heroes during WWII. The WASPs would deliver Pursuit airplanes for these women to fly into combat. Unlike American women pilots, they were in combat. There were 400 soviet women pilots who flew 23,000 combat missions, and 15 - 18 missions a night bombing the Nazis. 

This is so interesting. Where did you get the inspiration for your novels?

I love to write about the forties, especially the values back then. Both my parents were in the Army during WWII and that is all they ever talked about. I read the history and then simply put fictional characters into it to make it personal and come alive.

All three of these books sound wonderful. I love learning about female heroes in history. Thank you for this interesting interview, Jeane. Now it’s time to tell us something about the real you that we’ll never forget.

To balance out all my sitting in order to write, I love riding my cruiser bicycle into town to run all my errands. (I have two big baskets!) I also have the Russian River right outside my window and am an avid kayaker and swimmer.

Awesome!!! I tried kayaking once and it was so much fun. And having the Russian River in your own backyard? Wow! That’s heaven. Jeane has a blog in which she interviews authors about their newly published books and a blog about females during WWII at www.jeaneslone.com. Visit her website, discover new authors, poke around a bit and see what you can find. And by all means, have fun while doing it!

She Flew Bombers is available through paypal on her website: www.jeaneslone.com.

15 comments:

Mozi Esme said...

We posted about this giveaway at Winning Readings: http://winningreadings.blogspot.com/2010/12/she-flew-bombers.html

janemaritz at yahoo dot com

Linda said...

This is oh so fascinating, even something my husband didn't know. Please enter me. Thank you!

desertrose5173 at gmail dot com

Anonymous said...

Wow! I want to read all her books!!!I am very interested in the contributions to the war effort for WWII. One of my aunts was a 'Rosey the Riveter" and I didn't know that there were any women bombers!!
One of my uncles was one, my father fly a small Piper for reconnaisance, another uncle was in Burma for the war, another learned Arabic in order to deciper messages and another one was in WWII and the Korean War. So I know a lot about the men in WWII but not much about the women. Thank you,Jeane Sloan for writing these books. Please enter me in this giveaway as I really want to read the book in this giveaway!!!

CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com

apple blossom said...

sounds like a very interesting book. I'd love to win thanks

ABreading4fun [at] gmail [dot] com

Charles Markee - ctmarkee@gmail.com said...

I find it strange that horrific military events, like WWII, contribute in ways we would never anticipate, to medicine, science and for these books, the workplace emancipation of women. In particular, these "secret weapon" fliers are a tribute to our nation and to their gender. It's also a niche in the world of historical fiction that deserves attention and I'm glad to see Jeane take hold and run with it. Whether we agree with it or not, historical fiction contributes to the education of generations subsequent to the events portrayed. It's a genre like performing arts that helps us relive those times and in the process, imprint our memories with, in this case, heretofore suppressed facts. Kudos to Jeane and I look forward to reading about courageous women.

Nikki in Niagara said...

Oh, this sounds fascinating. I am so interested in women's unconventional occupations in the 40s and earlier. This is something I really had no idea about.

nicolama at cogeco dot ca

Jo said...

I love the way Jeane brings womens history alive. These are the stories that didn't make the textbooks.

Stan Richardson said...

Having read Jeane Slone's She Flew Bombers I was made aware of a side of male chauvinism that I had been unaware of. It's a shame that some men cannot accept the fact that women, when called upon, are certainly as qualified as the male memebers of the human race. As a WWII combat veteran, I am looking forward with great anticipation to her next two books.

Aleetha said...

She must have done a great research. Cool.
I'd love to read te books.

aleetha.ally at gmail dot com

Molly said...

I love historical books and this one would be a welcomed addition! Thanks for the chance!

Mollydedwards AT yahoo DOT com

http://robinofrockridge.wordpress.com/ said...

Thank you Jeane and Linda for posting this enlightening blog.
As you know, Jeane, I've loved your story, SHE FLEW BOMBERS, since way back. How many years ago was it when we took that J.C. writing class w/ Jean H.? Four, five, six?
Keep up the great stories. I look forward to reading about the women ship builders of WWII.

karenk said...

i'm interested...please count me in...thanks :)

karenk
kmkuka at yahoo dot com

Louise Pledge said...

I'm impressed by all your research. It's great when one can be entertained and educated at the same time! ;)

Louise
LouisePledge(at)Yahoo(dot)com

Linda Weaver Clarke said...

Thank you, everyone, for your comments. Jeane and I really appreciate your interest in this interview and my blog. Happy Holidays!

Linda Weaver Clarke said...

Congratulations, Carol. You are the winner of Jeane's new book. I know that you'll enjoy it very much. Thank you, everyone, for participating in this book giveaway.