An Interview with Gary Slaughter:

Q: Your Cottonwood series of novels spans the four seasons between June 1944 and May 1945. What inspired you to write this series set in a small town in Michigan during that time frame?

A: Aspiring novelist are always advised to write about what they know. So I chose to write about the place, events, and people I experienced firsthand growing up in Owosso, Michigan during World War II. The Cottonwood novels are set in a fictionalized version of Owosso, a small Midwestern town that I called Riverton, Michigan.

The ongoing Cottonwood story spans the four seasons of the last year of the war, beginning with the D-Day invasion in June 1944 and ending shortly after the surrender of Germany in May 1945. That single year impacted America and the rest of the world like few other years in history. And the larger-than-life events of that year provide a dramatic historical backdrop for these books.

Q: Cottonwood Fall was the finalist for PMA’s 2007 Benjamin Franklin Award for Popular Fiction. Cottonwood Winter: A Christmas Story was finalist for three awards: 2008 ForeWord’s Book of the Year Award for Popular Fiction and the 2008 Next Generation Indie Award for General Fiction/Novel and for Young Adult Fiction. Did those honors put pressure on you to do even better with Cottonwood Spring?

A: Fortunately the Cottonwood Winter manuscript was nearly completed before the Benjamin Franklin Award finalists were announced. Of course, everyone associated with Cottonwood Fall was pleased by this honor, but word came too late to have any effect on Cottonwood Winter. The same happened with Cottonwood Spring. Early reviews of Spring have given us reason to believe that we may be honored with even more recognition in 2009.

Q: In contrast to Cottonwood Summer and Cottonwood Fall, Cottonwood Winter and Cottonwood Spring were written in both the first person and the third person. Why did you change your style?

A: When writing in the first person, an author must create a story comprising scenes that the narrator can observe and report to the reader. Cottonwood Winter and Cottonwood Spring contain storylines where this was simply impossible. The Cottonwood narrator, Jase Addison who is an eleven-year-old boy, was not in position to observe the Battle of the Bulge or the secretive trip of a Nazi espionage agent traveling from Germany to America. So those storylines had to be told in the third person. The mixing of two voices is always risky but I thought the blend worked well.

Q: The first two Cottonwood novels involved Rivertonians interacting with German POWs, daily life on the home front, and dealing with news from the front lines. In Cottonwood Winter you overlaid all of this with a truly fascinating Christmas story. Was that a challenge for you?

A: Because I knew Cottonwood Summer and Cottonwood Fall were hard acts to follow, I wanted to make Winter an even better book. My biggest hurdle was creating a Christmas story that wasn’t a clichéd, warmed-over version of others that came before it. Thankfully the muses inspired me to write a truly original Christmas story brimming with mystery, magic, and fun. And a story that advances the plot as well. Most importantly readers love it.

Q: In a review of Cottonwood Summer, your home town newspaper referred to your debut novel as “a thinly-veiled autobiography.” Why did you decide to write a novel instead of a memoir?

A: About nine years ago, I began writing a memoir of my experiences growing up in small-town America during the war. But after about 50,000 words, I was totally frustrated, torn between preserving the truth and this fierce compulsion to use my imagination to embellish that truth. Luckily the compulsion won out. The result was the Cottonwood series.

Q: Can you tell those who haven’t read a Cottonwood novel more about Jase and Danny?

A: The story’s main characters are Jase Addison, the precocious and sometimes irreverent, now-adult narrator of the ongoing Cottonwood story, and his best friend, the inimitable Danny Tucker. These two eleven-year-old charmers will insinuate themselves into your heart faster than you can say Jack Robinson. Once again Danny’s keen insight into the criminal minds of dangerous villains saves the day. And Jase, his loyal admirer, follows along dutifully to report on Danny’s eccentricity and uncanny intuition.

Q: Were you amazed that John Seigenthaler, host of A Word on Words, described Jase Addison and Danny Tucker as “this generation’s Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn?”

A: I was greatly flattered to be included in the company of Mark Twain, especially having been placed there by John Seigenthaler who is himself an American legend as far as I am concerned.

Q: What is the significance of “Cottonwood” in the novels’ titles?

A: During the Depression, WPA construction crews build a sidewalk along our street. Not having the heart to cut down a majestic cottonwood tree that stood in their path, they brought the sidewalk up to either side of the tree. They simply stopped and left the tree right in the middle of the sidewalk. We neighborhood kids met under the cottonwood each morning and plotted adventures to fill our day. Legend has it that the Chippewa Indians believed that vows made under the spreading branches of a cottonwood tree were sacred. So who were we to disagree?

Q: German prisoners of war play an important role in all the novels. What stimulated your interest in POWs?

A: Today, most Americans are not aware of the fact that during the war we had over 426,000 POWs interned in camps all over the country. In fact, only four of the 48 states back then did not have POW camps. When the army chose to build a German POW camp on the outskirts of Owosso, my curiosity -- and trepidation -- soared. I saw POWs every day riding by in army trucks with armed guards on their way to jobs on nearby farms and at our neighborhood canning factory.

When two young women working at the canning factory helped two POWs to escape, the story made headlines all over the country. When these women were brought to trial for treason, a hanging offense in wartime, Owosso citizens were in shock. Even as a small boy, I just knew that someday I would tell that story. You’ll find a fictionalized version of that episode as a major storyline in Cottonwood Summer.

Q: Stories set in World War II continue to fascinate readers of all ages. Why do you think this is so?

A: Most Americans think differently about World War II then they do about any war before or since. After Pearl Harbor, there was nearly total commitment by every element of society to fighting and winning the war. In contrast to recent times, Hollywood played a major role in this cause. Movie studios vied with each other to produce more and more super-patriotic movies.

Abandoning their schooling and jobs, millions of young men and women rushed to recruiting offices all over the country to sign up. In the end, over 16 million Americans served in the armed forces. Over 12% of the population -- one out of every eight Americans -- was in the military. Every American family had a member in the service. And over 600,000 of those serving were killed in action.

This total commitment made a big difference in the way World War II was perceived and cherished after its conclusion. In contrast, today our military stands at about 1.5 million. Only one American out of 200 is serving in the armed forces. So the level of personal involvement with and commitment to our military has significantly decreased.

Q. How much research was required to recreate the culture of America in 1940s?

A: The short answer is, not much. I remember vivid details of things that happened in my life when I was very young. For many years, I thought that everyone had this ability, but I have come to learn that it is rather unusual. I was also lucky to have been born into a family of storytellers who helped me to see the world in terms of potential stories to be told. I was also blessed with an active imagination and plenty of grist growing up on the home front to enable that imagination to flourish. Finally I had an undying curiosity about everything having to do with the World War II and that curiosity has stayed with me all my life. With all this going for me, I didn’t have to spend much time refreshing my memory to write this series of books.

Q: You have written extensively over the course of your adult life, but your writing has been non-fiction, focusing on the management of corporate information technology. Did you know you had the gift of writing critically acclaimed fiction?

A: I certainly never planned to be a successful writer of fiction. It has been a total and most pleasant surprise. Before Cottonwood Summer, the last time I had tried my hand at fiction was when I was the Features Editor for the Trojan Trumpet, my high school newspaper. I can honestly say when the Cottonwood stories started flowing from my mind I was truly amazed.

Q: Cottonwood Summer was published in 2004 and since then you have produced Fall in 2006, Winter in 2008, and Spring will be published in spring 2009 for a total of four 400-page novels. Do you plan to continue writing and publishing at this pace?

A: I suppose I have been writing at this pace because, having started so late, I felt a need to catch up with my fiction-writing peers who have a considerable head start. There are some people who aspire to write fiction all their lives and never have a chance. I consider myself fortunate to be able to bring joy to people of all ages through my writing. So I expect to continue to do so for the rest of my life.

Q: You have said that Cottonwood Spring will be the last in the Cottonwood series. Have you thought about what you might write after the Cottonwood series?

A: Danny Tucker and Jase Addison, the main characters of the Cottonwood series, are eleven-year-old boys who are going to grow up. My plan is to let them do just that, while I explore other stories that I am eager to tell. But, who knows? Perhaps I will return someday to see what adventures the Cottonwood heroes have experienced in high school -- or college -- or even beyond. I can hardly wait.

Q: Do you have any closing thoughts you would like to add?

A: As Danny Tucker often says, “All’s swell that ends swell.”