Flathead authors visit Hot Springs for book talk

HOT SPRINGS – The Hot Springs Artists Society presented book readings by two Flathead Authors Saturday at Wall Street Place.

The authors included Shirley A. Rorvik of Kalispell and Karen Wills from Coram.

Rorvik is author of Jack’s Carousel: Can Love Overcome Deep Prejudice. Rorvik has been an avid nonfiction writer in the past and tried her hand in the field of fiction. Characters for the novel are loosely based on her real life son.

“My son came out to me when he was in the Marines,” Rorvik said. “After seeing things on their side of the fence, I could write from the perspective.”

Rorvik began her novel writing by happenstance while taking a writing class at Flathead Valley Community College.

“We were assigned to write three chapters of a novel,” Rorvik said. “I turned those chapters into a short story and won an award.”

Prior to the experience Rorvik had been a nonfiction writer. She had been published in several national and regional magazines. The fiction experience made her think about her own life, particularly her and her son’s relationship.

“I started to think about how many people are judgmental toward gays, especially in churches,” Rorvik said. “It really upset me. It’s not what the Bible teaches. I wanted to get a message out to people about loving and caring and understanding. That is how this novel came to be.”

Rorvik wanted to show the struggles of a young person in a homosexual lifestyle and let people see the story from the other side. Her book has been well received by the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgendered community and others alike. The response has been so good in fact, she is writing a sequel to the novel.

People often tell her stories of homosexual relatives in their lives and how they never understood their struggle but have learned a new perspective about a situation through her writing.

For Karen Wills her novel Remarkable Silence addresses an even more hot-button issue. Her novel tackles issues within the Abrahamic religions.

“My husband has a real interest in Biblical scholarship,” Wills said. “We both have a real interest in the idea that you don’t only have one root to divine approval. There is more than one way to live your life as a moral person.”

The book deals with issues involving the discovery of tablets in Israel that give details of the 16 generations of family from Moses to Jesus. The thrilling part of the book comes when the discovery is announced and world leaders reaction to it. The discovery blows a hole in the core Abrahamic belief system.

Wills has gotten some unexpected reaction from readers.

“The reactions have been interesting,” Wills said. “I’ve gotten more positive responses than negative ones. I think our society is becoming more secular and more tolerant and open to ideas.”

Wills’ readers know the book is a work of fiction and have been more receptive to the idea of the novel.

“I’ve gotten a lot of people I thought would be turned off by the novel to say ‘well it’s fiction’ or good for you,” said Wills. “It really hasn’t gotten the negative responses I thought it might.”

Wills had expected the religious community to shun her, but she is pleased with the openness of a new age of people in America.

The two authors have been semi-regulars in Hot Springs and hope to continue to visit as well as write compelling novels everyone can enjoy.