Writer’s Block: Lee Kvern

All Lit Up: Tell us about Catch You on the Flipside. What can readers expect?

Lee Kvern: My fourth novel Catch You on the Flipside is best described by Toronto writer Jean Marc Ah-Sen: “If gambling intrigue, bear attacks and political kleptocracy are at all your pet subjects, this may be the book you’ve been waiting for.”

In 1983, Elle is a blackjack dealer at an Alberta casino. At the same time, Amado is a baggage handler in Manila. When Amado witnesses the assignation of a prominent political figure in Manila, he flees to Canada and ends up in the same casino as Elle, as well as her coworkers: a disgruntled Hollander Erik; and a card counter and stalker, Regrettable Russell. Over the course of 30 years, these characters remain connected as their stories and histories intersect.

Readers can expect a blend of truth, fiction, historical events and their present-day implications. This novel is a departure from my last three books as my aim this time around was to write a literary thriller. One of the best rejections I got from an eastern publisher that I admire was: “This is too thriller-ish for us.” I couldn’t have asked for a better rejection, haha.

All Lit Up: What inspired the idea for your latest book?

Lee Kvern: From age 19 to 32, I worked the casinos in Alberta and British Columbia. I dealt blackjack, roulette and was one of the first craps dealers in Alberta. I was also a pit boss and supervisor. This book is inspired by true-ish events from that time. I worked with a friend of mine who had emigrated from the Philippines (the Amado character in book). We dealt together six days a week, went out for drinks and food, shared breaks and cigarettes together. Then one day, the Attorney General’s office swept in and escorted my friend out of the casino. I’ve not seen him since.

When I heard, after the fact, what he’d done, I was shocked. When I found out WHY he’d done it, I was gobsmacked. While I was fighting with my then boyfriend over who would clean the bathtub and iron HIS shirts for the work week, my friend was involved in something much more clandestine. I coupled his fascinating, true/fictional story with another person I’d known from my casino days.

Regrettable Russell (not his real name) was a card counter when card counting was relatively new in Alberta and BC casinos. Over the next three decades, he became a renowned card counter who travelled the world. Another bizarre coincidence is that decades after my last contact with him, a friend of mine worked at a coffee shop that Russell frequented daily for two years. My friend and I had no idea that we both knew the same regrettable person until his picture appeared on the front page of the Calgary Herald. As a writer, that intrigued me. The passing of time, the impact of people from your past into your present. People’s flipsides that I had no idea about. Regrettable Russell’s flipside involved a heinous crime for which is he is currently serving time in prison.  Much of his story was sourced from news stories and social media. I took the liberty of fictionalizing the details to make the story work in the context of Catch You on the Flipside.

All Lit Up: What was the most surprising thing you discovered about your story and/or characters while writing your latest book?

Lee Kvern: So many surprises, I hardly know where to begin! When I started to research on what was going on in the Philippines during the mid-80s, while Amado and I worked at the casino, I was stunned. I had no idea. To give you a Coles notes version, President Ferdinand Marcos ‘held’ the presidency for over two decades. He declared martial law, and anyone who opposed Marcos either went ‘missing’ or was found dead. In 1983, when Opposition Leader Ninoy Benigno Aquino came back from open heart surgery in America, he was assassinated at the Manila airport. This was witnessed only by a baggage handler and a crying woman in first class. Because I had no idea what my casino friend’s background was, this discovery became the fictional basis and engine for my Amado character.

Further research into the People Power blew my mind. It was a non-violent revolution that led to the departure of the Marcos regime after his 20 years of martial law. The country restored their long-lost democracy with little or no bloodshed. I can’t help but draw a parallel between what the Marcos government did, and what is currently happening to our southern neighbours under a president with little regard for democracy. Americans would do well to look at this period in history to see what becomes of a country under a corrupt leader. It does not fare thee well.

The second surprise came when I interviewed my friend’s parents, and their friends who were politically active during the Marcos reign. They were a generous wealth of firsthand information, which was invaluable to me as a writer. After I’d finished the book, I asked them to give it a read. My husband and I happened to be staying with their daughter, who was planning to take her 80-year-old parents back to the Philippines. They went water walking each day at the local pool to get into shape. We accompanied them, and on this morning after they’d read my manuscript, they surrounded me and gave me their advice and suggestions all while continuing to water walk. It was, by far, the best and funniest critique I’ve ever had.  My husband said it was both hysterical and sweet to watch. I’m enormously grateful to all of them on so many counts. I’m also an accomplished water walker thanks to them. 

All Lit Up: If you could spend a day with one of your characters, who would it be and why?

Lee Kvern: Amado!! I was so thoroughly invested in what was going on in the Philippines. The rise of the People Power, the power of people when they work together for the common good. When all that is important is that everyone has their rights and their needs taken care of. I’d have loved to have been a fly on the wall during this miraculous time. Conversely, Marcos’ son, Bongbong, is the current president until 2028. When the people who’d lived through the original Marcos regime asked for reparation, President Bongbong told them that he owed them nothing and that they should move on. That makes me sad for the brave people who rose up and restored democracy to their country some 30 years ago.

All Lit Up: How do you celebrate when you finish a book?

Lee Kvern: I dance around the house, go out with my writer pals, invite all my friends and fam over to catch up on what I’ve missed out on while writing. None of this would be worth it without my super helpful family, writer buddies, and cheerleader friends.

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Lee Kvern is an award-winning author of short stories and novels. Her stories in 7 Ways To Sunday have won the CBC Literary Award, Western Magazine Award, Hazel Hilles Memorial Short Fiction Prize, and the Howard ‘O’ Hagan Award. Afterall was selected for Canada Reads (Regional) and nominated for Alberta Books Awards. The Matter of Sylvie was nominated for Alberta Book Awards and the Ottawa Relit Award and Alberta Magazine Awards. Her work has been produced for CBC Radio, and published in Funicular, Grain, Event, Descant, Air Canada enRoute, Tishman Review, Globe & Mail, and subTerrain.