Reid: Clancy, you know, your writing …
Clancy: Yes.
Reid: Your writing is, I don’t want to say, one shade of grey but one shade or several shades steamier than the rest of the books here. Tell us how you, kind of, wrap family, family values, community, which is a great word that Lisa used, into your books.
Clancy: Well, in This Side of Legal the bond obviously, the steamy part comes between the girl and the guy, the hero and the heroine but the family is this group of pilots. They work together and because of the work they do, which is dangerous, their whole lives depend on honor, integrity and trust and they are closer than most families, this group of men. And any woman they bring into the group is going to be included in that immediate chosen family. So, it’s all about honor. It’s all about trust. It’s all about this bond between these men and the women that love them.
Reid: Super. And okay, Jennifer:
Jennifer: Yeah.
Reid: You know, obviously, the Amish theme, the Amish feel. I mean, they are huge family folks and a lot of people, kind of, know perfunctorily about Amish, or think they do. But, tell us a little bit about how values, some of the values that Clancy Upperly described when she was talking honor, loyalty, truth, family, community. I mean, these kind of catch words which run through the themes of these various books. Tell us how you incorporate those in your Amish work.
Jennifer: Well, family and faith are probably the two most important values to the Amish and they really have a sense of community. They don’t believe in buying insurance, or they don’t participate in the Social Security Program. And so, they together help each other. They support each other. They pay medical bills for people in the community. They are very tie-neat. In fact, they don’t even have churches. They go to church in people’s homes. And so, that central focus of family is huge for the Amish.
In my first book, Kate’s Song, the thing that pulls this Kate to the world is not as strong as what pulls her to her Amish community, her family, the ties that she has there, the people that she loves. And that’s really a sensual value of the Amish. Their family values are very strong and they are very committed to those values.
Reid: You know, it sounds almost, like a combination of cog-room and libertarian.
Jennifer: That is exactly right. That’s a very good description.