Comments by Pat Phillips on The Simulated Plantation
(Pat Phillips is an excellent writer and judge of writing. She was born and raised in Alabama and still lives there. The following is a letter she wrote to the author.)
Dear Ted:
Of course, you already know this, but I just want to voice my opinion about The Simulated Plantation…it’s great! I so enjoyed it. And, you were at the top of your game, My Friend. Hit just all the right notes at the right time to unfold the story at the proper speed and tempo.
Having never in my life played any sort of video game (not even sure that is the correct term), and, according to my dear husband, being the most “techno-phobic” person he had ever known, I’ll admit it took me a bit to get my mind around the unfamiliar AI thing at the beginning. Once I stopped trying to totally figure it out and just go with it and let the story gather me in, I got into the whole virtual reality/avatar mind set.
It was very obvious that you did extensive research. Even things that a non-Southerner might not have even considered were spot on. One example was the harvesting of feed corn, which you nailed. It is always harvested after table corn, and the silks must be dry, and it is always harvested before cotton is picked, at least in the area of north central Alabama where The Simulated Plantation was set. I could smell the damp, dankness of the country side and see the slowly changing colors of the trees. I have seen Black cotton pickers in the fields, (I even picked some myself in my grandfather’s sharecropper’s field…our schools were out for a ‘2 weeks cotton pickin’ period each Oct.) and you described perfectly of how swiftly and efficiently a good picker worked. A strong picker could pick a bale a day. You described it all so vividly, as though you had actually witnessed it. In fact, your narratives were so descriptive and vibrant, I felt as if I could see myself in the story.
Have you actually attended a Southern Black church service? If not, I can’t imagine how you could have gotten all the parts so right! All my early life, I heard those Negro spirituals in church and at ‘all night sings’, so it brought back pleasant memories. I grew up in the area, 50-60 miles away. I went to Talladega many times and I took so many ‘History of the South’ type courses, yet I learned facts I had not previously known. And, you were so spot on about how the plantation/slave owner culture robbed the Black man of his paternal potential and made him dependent on a system beyond his control. That has followed the culture down through the decades and is, I believe, the main reason there is still such a dearth of strong, Black father figures in the African-American family today. Again, you did some very intensive research and handled an extremely sensitive and volatile subject with insight, grace and intelligence.
As I mentioned earlier, you did not fall into the trap that many male authors do when the protagonist is a woman. The male voice becomes dominant and we lose the female voice, or it becomes secondary. I appreciated that you let Cory tell Cory’s story and that kept Cory’s story more interesting.
Have to admit, I struggled with the math! Whoa! I know math is the strong suit for engineers and that will certainly resonate with a portion of your readers. Even if some of us can’t understand it, we can appreciate it. But, from a personal point of view, I took 4 years of Latin in high school and not one single solitary day of it ever seemed one bit “logical”!!!! Maybe that was just me.
I tried to decide if the The Simulated Plantation is character or plot driven. I go back and forth. Which did you intend? Your characters are strong and authentic, but so is the plot given that it is largely based on fact and history and there is so much intrigue woven into the story.
I guess it is obvious that I really enjoyed this book! Seems to me it would make a great movie. Would you ever consider turning it into a screenplay? It would appeal to so many various types of viewers. There’s all the AI, geeky stuff to entertain the younger folks. The history would appeal to quite a few and then there is the whole Black/White, Male/Female, morality dilemma aspects that would resonate with a large audience. Too, with the visuals, flash backs to the beauty and wildness of OR, the lushness and beauty of Alabama and the contrast in scenery to Connecticut, well, I think it would be lovely. AMAZON and NETFLIX are both awash with movies not anywhere nearly as interesting or riveting as your story…and those do seem to do very well.
I didn’t intend to amble on so, but I don’t have anyone I can discuss your book with and I just don’t yet want to let it go. I wished it could have been much longer!
Now, The Simulated Plantation is travelling around my neighborhood. The lady across the street is next on the list, then my sister-in-law wants it, she has a MA in Lit and taught American Literature for 25 years. My niece, MA in History, is next.
Thank you. For the book and for the opportunity to talk about it.
Pat
Of course, you already know this, but I just want to voice my opinion about The Simulated Plantation…it’s great! I so enjoyed it. And, you were at the top of your game, My Friend. Hit just all the right notes at the right time to unfold the story at the proper speed and tempo.
Having never in my life played any sort of video game (not even sure that is the correct term), and, according to my dear husband, being the most “techno-phobic” person he had ever known, I’ll admit it took me a bit to get my mind around the unfamiliar AI thing at the beginning. Once I stopped trying to totally figure it out and just go with it and let the story gather me in, I got into the whole virtual reality/avatar mind set.
It was very obvious that you did extensive research. Even things that a non-Southerner might not have even considered were spot on. One example was the harvesting of feed corn, which you nailed. It is always harvested after table corn, and the silks must be dry, and it is always harvested before cotton is picked, at least in the area of north central Alabama where The Simulated Plantation was set. I could smell the damp, dankness of the country side and see the slowly changing colors of the trees. I have seen Black cotton pickers in the fields, (I even picked some myself in my grandfather’s sharecropper’s field…our schools were out for a ‘2 weeks cotton pickin’ period each Oct.) and you described perfectly of how swiftly and efficiently a good picker worked. A strong picker could pick a bale a day. You described it all so vividly, as though you had actually witnessed it. In fact, your narratives were so descriptive and vibrant, I felt as if I could see myself in the story.
Have you actually attended a Southern Black church service? If not, I can’t imagine how you could have gotten all the parts so right! All my early life, I heard those Negro spirituals in church and at ‘all night sings’, so it brought back pleasant memories. I grew up in the area, 50-60 miles away. I went to Talladega many times and I took so many ‘History of the South’ type courses, yet I learned facts I had not previously known. And, you were so spot on about how the plantation/slave owner culture robbed the Black man of his paternal potential and made him dependent on a system beyond his control. That has followed the culture down through the decades and is, I believe, the main reason there is still such a dearth of strong, Black father figures in the African-American family today. Again, you did some very intensive research and handled an extremely sensitive and volatile subject with insight, grace and intelligence.
As I mentioned earlier, you did not fall into the trap that many male authors do when the protagonist is a woman. The male voice becomes dominant and we lose the female voice, or it becomes secondary. I appreciated that you let Cory tell Cory’s story and that kept Cory’s story more interesting.
Have to admit, I struggled with the math! Whoa! I know math is the strong suit for engineers and that will certainly resonate with a portion of your readers. Even if some of us can’t understand it, we can appreciate it. But, from a personal point of view, I took 4 years of Latin in high school and not one single solitary day of it ever seemed one bit “logical”!!!! Maybe that was just me.
I tried to decide if the The Simulated Plantation is character or plot driven. I go back and forth. Which did you intend? Your characters are strong and authentic, but so is the plot given that it is largely based on fact and history and there is so much intrigue woven into the story.
I guess it is obvious that I really enjoyed this book! Seems to me it would make a great movie. Would you ever consider turning it into a screenplay? It would appeal to so many various types of viewers. There’s all the AI, geeky stuff to entertain the younger folks. The history would appeal to quite a few and then there is the whole Black/White, Male/Female, morality dilemma aspects that would resonate with a large audience. Too, with the visuals, flash backs to the beauty and wildness of OR, the lushness and beauty of Alabama and the contrast in scenery to Connecticut, well, I think it would be lovely. AMAZON and NETFLIX are both awash with movies not anywhere nearly as interesting or riveting as your story…and those do seem to do very well.
I didn’t intend to amble on so, but I don’t have anyone I can discuss your book with and I just don’t yet want to let it go. I wished it could have been much longer!
Now, The Simulated Plantation is travelling around my neighborhood. The lady across the street is next on the list, then my sister-in-law wants it, she has a MA in Lit and taught American Literature for 25 years. My niece, MA in History, is next.
Thank you. For the book and for the opportunity to talk about it.
Pat