Author and past guest Robert Steven Goldstein tackles the theme of what we hide in his new book, “Golda’s Hutch.” In the book, were introduced to Craig Schumacher and his wife Shoshana and the secret life they would do anything to keep hidden.
In this interview, Robert talks about the creation of Schumacher and how he incorporates a bit of himself into his characters. He shares how psychologist Carl Jung’s concept of the “shadow” and how this shaped the story.
I like the theme of ‘what we hide from the world versus what we reveal.’ How do you explore it in your book?
“Golda’s Hutch” is an emphatically psychological novel. How the characters interact with each other vs. what they agonize over in their own private thoughts is how the book splits its time. Although Craig Schumacher is ostensibly the protagonist, there’s really an ensemble cast of seven characters at play (three couples and a single woman) all of whom are professionally accomplished but also flawed, and in various ways dysfunctional. Readers will come to know each of these people well. They’ll also come to know an intriguing rabbit named Golda, who practices yoga with Craig, and joins him in his spiritual journey.
How did you create the character of Craig Schumacher?
There are bits of me in Craig, as well as bits of other people I came to know during my 35-year corporate career. When I first started out, in 1974, as a mail-boy earning $500 a month (yes, a month!) I naively believed that as I moved up the corporate ladder, at each new rung I’d encounter people with greater intelligence and more integrity. I was sorely mistaken.
With each promotion I mostly met people who were more scheming, cunning and Machiavellian. But there were exceptions—and the leaders I encountered who modeled values of honesty, integrity, and compassion were not just better people to be around—they also tended to build the most hardworking, loyal. and successful teams. And most of these leaders had a solid spiritual core—and for a select few of them, that spiritual core was shaped more by experiential Eastern mysticism than by faith-based Western traditions. Craig Schumacher is one of these fascinating folks.
Can we get some insight into the secret he’s hiding?
Here’s where the novel gets controversial, and where some readers will really latch on, whereas a few others may shy away. Craig and his wife Shoshana are members of the San Francisco Bay Area’s clandestine BDSM community. Shoshana, in fact, makes her living as a professional dominatrix, although both she and Craig go to great lengths to hide all this from Craig’s work associates.
There have certainly been novels that explore BDSM—some have even been bestsellers—but those novels tended to eroticize BDSM and employ it as a vehicle for titillation. “Golda’s Hutch” is very different. “Golda’s Hutch” gets deep inside the minds of people who are otherwise ordinary, but whose innate sexual orientation demands power exchange and dominant/submissive play. The novel reveals the furtive machinations these people are forced to engage in to keep their propensities secret. And it questions why, despite societal acceptance of many other sexual orientations, this one remains taboo.
Byron Dorn sounds like Craig’s opposite, but how do the two interact?
Byron, an ambitious, and bitterly envious man, reports to Craig in the corporate hierarchy. Quite by chance, he stumbles upon the secret Craig and Shoshana have worked so hard to keep hidden. After his initial discovery, Byron proceeds to uncover still more evidence through purposeful and meticulous spying. Byron and his wife Adelle ostensibly remain friends with Shoshana and Craig, even as they secretly plot to use the potentially damaging information for self-gain.
When I develop characters for a story, I always like to put a little bit of myself into each one, whether that character is male or female, likeable or unlikeable, old or young. When creating Byron Dorn, I was reminded of the famous psychologist Carl Jung, and his concept of the “shadow”—the part of us we’re not particularly fond of, and which we keep hidden away in the deep subconscious recesses of our psyche. The aspects of me that went into Byron were mined from my shadow.
Reading about your past works, you really span different ideas and genres. How do you develop your stories?
I start with characters. I try to recall people I’ve known, combine the interesting traits of two or three of them, toss in a sliver of myself and a huge chunk of imagination, and after a bit of cerebral kneading and manipulating, I have a character. That character often suggests to me what sorts of other characters would make for intriguing compatriots. And a week or so later, when what feels like the right number of characters have materialized, they as a group pretty much take over—they make it quite clear where the novel needs to be set—and then the plot starts oozing slowly from their collective fictional pores.
This process doesn’t lend itself to producing works of a consistent and predictable genre or brand. Some of my novels are light and humorous—some are probing and philosophical—whereas my latest, “Golda’s Hutch,” is a bit of both while also being gritty, and suspenseful. And that, I guess, is a reflection of me as a person. Sometimes I’m serious, sometimes I’m silly, and all sorts of places in between. My novels reflect this sort of variety. And as a novelist, it’s really the only way I feel comfortable working.
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