Author of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
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| The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Now Available on Amazon.com Description: They’re all the same—the Chads, the Peters, the Williams—and now there’s Terrance. All Sylvia is looking for is a man that has some of the same qualities as her father. She isn’t looking for drop-dead good looks or money. All she needs to be happy is a good, strong man who is intelligent, who will love her for the woman she is, and with whom she can grow old. After all, there are women who don’t have half the charm and good looks that she has, and they’re walking around arm in arm with some beautiful brothers. At least that’s the way it seems on the outside looking in. Sylvia would do anything to keep a man happy and satisfied. Yet here she is—stuck in Atlanta, still wishing and hoping. Will she ever find Mr. Right? Back to Top Appearances
BiographyBertrand E. Brown is the author of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. A former elementary and middle school teacher, social worker, program director, and sports editor for The Challenger newspaper, Mr. Brown just returned from a two year hiatus in London, England where he put the finishing touches on his first novel and worked as a private tutor. He is currently on tour and promoting his novel. An Interview With the AuthorThis interview was conducted by the Charlotte Independent News on February 14, 2006 by News reporter Ms. Tremaine Townsend. Tremaine: Well, first of all I’d like to say congratulations on your first novel; The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, which in all truth I must confess I only finished last night even though friends of mine have been applauding it for months now. Still, I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. I mean I thoroughly enjoyed it. Picked it up the day before yesterday and didn’t put it down ‘til I finished it at like one o’clock last night. I’m telling you it had me. But what I think fascinated me more than anything was how well you portrayed your main character, Sylvia Stanton. Just the fact that you’re a man writing from a woman’s perspective and capturing it so well just fascinates me. The word is that you interviewed a hundred women before you even started writing; The Heart is a Lonely Hunter so you could understand how women think and what it is that motivates women. Is there any truth to that?
Bertrand laughs: I don’t know how these rumors get started but like all rumors there is some element of truth to that. I literally interviewed thousands of women prior to the writing of the book but at the time I was interviewing them I had no idea that one day I’d sit down and write a novel that spoke from a woman’s voice or perspective.
Tremaine: So, there is some truth to the rumor. You know I couldn’t let that one just ride.
Bertrand laughs again: No one ever does. But at least now I can clear that one up once and for all. Fact of the matter is that I used to work for the Bureau of Child Support for the City of New York, (you know Social Services). Anyway, I worked there for a time and my job was to interview young women who were applying for child support and find out where the baby’s daddy was so I could get him to pay child support. And more often than not and even though these women came from a variety of different backgrounds and ethnicities they would all have the same story when it came to men. And almost to the woman they would always ask me what was wrong with the men out there.
Tremaine: Yes, please tell me. What is wrong with the men out there? I’m certainly interested to know.
Bertrand: Hold on. I’m getting to that but let me tell you about this one particular experience I had. One day I had a woman come in to submit some info on where to locate her baby’s father. Now this was in the early nineties and this woman came to see me in a blue fox coat with diamonds and a platinum necklace long before platinum and BLING BLINGIN’ became popular. The platinum necklace alone probably cost more than my yearly salary. (He laughs) Anyway, she came in requesting child support for her baby who was only a few months old at the time. And I’m telling you honestly, I haven’t seen many women more beautiful in my lifetime. Not physically anyway. Present company excluded.
Tremaine: No wonder you’re so good at writing chick lit. You know exactly what a woman wants to hear.
Bertrand laughs: Tell my thirteen year old daughter that. But anyway, let me tell you. This young lady, in her mid to late twenties, comes in all decked out and her physical beauty paled in comparison to her spiritual beauty and intellect. The more I sat and talked to this woman, the more I was mesmerized. But not only mesmerized I was more like confused. I just couldn’t figure out what kind of man would leave a woman with so much to offer let alone a beautiful baby boy.
Well, I came to find out after talking to her for a few minutes that she was going with some cat that was all over the Billboard charts, some R&B singer who had just hit it big with a chartbusting single. I think the record was number one in New York at the time. Anyway, to make a long story short, she had supported him through those lean years when they were in college and he was nothing more than a club act on the weekends when he could find a gig. She’d been footing the bills for close to eight years and when the record broke and he’d finally gotten his big break he’d bought her some jewelry and some clothes and gone on tour and she hadn’t heard from him since.
After eight years of living together and he promising to marry her after he struck gold he hadn’t even bothered to call. True story and I’m going to tell you that this wasn’t uncommon. I heard the same story day after day after day. And it really puzzled me.
Tremaine: And so our heroine, Sylvia Stanton, is basically an accumulation or better yet a composite of every woman you met while working and interviewing these women? Can we assume that? Cause Lord knows she goes through some trials and tribulations at the hands of the men she encounters. Not wanting to give too much of the book away but I don’t know too many women that could withstand what she went through and continue to stay positive and move on. That first incident is enough to destroy a lot of people.
Bertrand: Strong sistah’… Lot of them out there… They have to be… Sylvia Stanton is every woman that I’ve come to know in the course of my life and trust me I’ve known a few. Most of the women I’ve known have gone through one or more of the incidents that Sylvia has gone through and endured, persevered and actually gone ahead to thrive despite overwhelming odds. In all honesty I don’t know too many men that would have stood up under similar pressure.
Tremaine: So, is this an admission that women are in general stronger than men? In the book from beginning to end, from Melinda to Laurie and even Sylvia it seems like they could run circles around most of the men that I’ve met in my lifetime. You certainly portray them as being far superior to the men in the story.
Bertrand laughs: I think I may have opened a can of worms here, especially since I’ve known some mighty strong men who acted as mentors to me. But I don’t think there’s any question that women are much stronger than men. We don’t have to endure a portion of what a woman goes through on a daily basis let alone the built in inequities that society places on women.
Tremaine: First time I’ve ever heard a man make that admission. It’s certainly nice to hear that. But getting back to The Heart is a Lonely Hunter … The reviews so far have been pretty terrific and yet there have been some criticisms when it comes to certain aspects of the book like the sex scenes. A lot of people are making similarities to Zane when it comes to the sex scenes. How do you answer your critics?
Bertrand laughs again: I only wish I had Zane’s gift and proficiency, not to mention her bank account. (Laughing) Trust me, when you do something as well as Zane is doing her thing, it’s with a great deal of hard work and expertise. But as far as Zane goes I can’t really comment on her writing style because in all honesty I’ve never read Zane. Not that I have anything against Zane’s writing but as an artist, (and I use that word loosely), you don’t want anyone to have an influence on your craft. That is to say writer’s that are my contemporaries.
Of course, I read and have my favorites like James Baldwin and Langston Hughes but I try to stay away from my contemporaries. As far as the criticisms the sex scenes I simply have to ignore them. Not to be flippant, but with billions of people in the world someone is definitely engaging in some sexual activity unless I’m missing something. In any case, I always thought sex was a necessary or better yet a natural progression when two people are madly in love with each other as my characters are. All my characters are mature and in Sylvia’s case she sometimes gets sex mixed up with love or wanting to cement a stable relationship and I think these things happen in all our lives so I see nothing wrong with it. After all art is just a reflection of life. Isn’t it?
Tremaine: Well put. They say that The Heart is a Lonely Hunter was one of the fastest selling, self-published novel in the history of Amazon for the month of December. What do you attribute your success to?
Bertrand: I really don’t know that it’s one thing. I have a great staff made up of family and close friends that are pretty adamant about assuring the book is a success. And I think it’s a fairly good story and people are just now catching on and spreading the word and there’s abuzz in the air. I’m just grateful it is since I quit my day job. (Laughs)
Tremaine: Speaking of your day job, I hear you were a pretty good elementary school teacher before you began writing. I’m told you won awards and everything for teaching.
Bertrand: Yes, and up til’ now that is probably the one thing in my life that I am most proud of.
Tremaine: Including the book?
Bertrand: Including the book.
Tremaine: Wow! That’s some statement. And why is that?
Bertrand: Well, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter was my first novel and there’s no doubt that I enjoy the creative nature of writing and I take a great deal of pride in it along with the other four that are waiting in the wings. Being the first it’s almost like it was my first born. Altogether it’s like having five children. And when you’ve finished there’s a sense of completion. And there’s that sense that you’ve brought some joy into someone else’s life and they yours through their appreciation. But there’s a finality to writing that doesn’t exist when you’re involved with young minds that never stop grasping and growing. Don’t get me wrong, writing is wonderful. But it’s a solitary effort and often times a lonely existence.
Tremaine: That’s beautiful… We need more brotha’s out there with that mind set.
Bertrand: Oh, there out there. They’re just not getting the props and the recognition they deserve but they know the importance of what they’re doing and the communities they’re working in know how vital they are.
Tremaine: Back to the book for a minute…. Why do you think Sylvia’s character has touched so many African-American women?
Bertrand: Well, I wrote from the heart and for many women and especially black women the heart is truly a lonely hunter. When you consider the scarcity of Black men out there, with no baggage and available and able to earn a decent living where they can support a spouse and a family the pickings are pretty scarce. The Black woman has a hell of a time trying to find a good Black man that possesses all of the attributes she desires. And don’t quote me on this but there are a lot of brothers out there that have it going on but recognize how much they are in demand and have become opportunists or as my kids term it ‘playa playas’. They realize that they’re in demand so they say why settle down and so the odds of finding a good man decrease even more.
So many of my female friends are experiencing this that it seems almost commonplace now. And I guess I’ve been blessed with the ability to listen and sympathize with them. Sylvia is just a culmination of all those women and the shit they’re going through. She just reacts and handles it differently from most of the women I know. And it eventually takes it toll on her.
Tremaine: Last question. Who do you most attribute the success of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter to?
Bertrand: That’s a difficult question. There have been quite a few people who pushed me to get it out there--my father, my sister, a very close friend. I was content to just write and let them sit since writing is like therapy for me. But if I had to narrow it down to one person it would be my father, a writer himself and a retired New York City college professor who literally forced me to get it out there. Aside from my father and family I’d have to say the rest of the success goes to everyone out there that bought the book and has written or met me and said how much they enjoyed it.
Tremaine: It’s been said that you had an extremely difficult time getting your book out there where it was readily available to the public. And in fact a lot of people are still having difficulty obtaining the book through traditional venues. I know I did.
Bertrand: That’s what I hear and it’s still difficult getting copies. Amazon only carries a few copies at a time and from what I understand it’s an eight to ten day wait in a lot of cases ‘til they get copies if they’re sold out. And the traditional bookstores aren’t really carrying it on their shelves. Both Barnes & Nobles and Borders have it on backorder, or better yet request that you come to the Information Desk and order there which means you have to know my name—no easy task in itself—and the title of the book or the ISBN# and I don’t know of too many people that walk around with an ISBN# in their head. And since they do this I simply send everyone to Amazon.com and simply tell them to type in my name or write me and order directly from me and I’ll autograph and pay the shipping and handling. Cuts through all the red tape. But I guess this is the price you pay for self-publishing. Still, even with that said I wouldn’t do it any other way. The experience in itself is invaluable.
Tremaine: Well, I am certainly glad you could find the time to stop by. I certainly enjoyed the book although the way it ended I have to ask if there’s going to be a sequel.
Bertrand: Only time will tell. Only time will tell. (He smiles).
Now Available on Amazon.com Customer Reviews
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A FABULOUS READ!, March 1, 2006