Sibyl Avery Jackson has more than twenty years experience
as a writer, editor, publicist for television 
and
radio, as well as a researcher/writer/editor for corporate executives
and a local politician. She has also edited and published company
newsletters, magazines, and written grant proposals. It was through
Sibyl's position as spokesperson for one of the country's largest
wireless service providers--during the time when the first cellular
phone/brain cancer link became a national issue--that inspired
the writing of Degree of Caution. She is acknowledged in LAUNCHING
THE WAR ON POVERTY: An Oral History by Michael L. Gillette,
for her contributions as a researcher/editor while working in
the oral history program at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library
in Austin, Texas. Sibyl has a B.A. degree in English from Spelman
College in Atlanta, Georgia. She lives in Houston, Texas, with
her husband, Alfred, and their family, where she is currently
at work on a new "Special Agent Monica Sinclair" novel.
Visit Sibyl online at
http://www.sibylaveryjackson.net/
*DEGREE OF CAUTION is Nominated by the African American
Authors Guild for Best Mystery for 2002 (See
the Nominees)
Booksandauthors: Where did you grow up and was reading
and writing a part of your life? Who were your earliest influences
and why?
Sibyl Avery Jackson: I was born in Virginia and spent
the earlier part of my life in Amherst, Virginia; Tennessee,
North Carolina, and Seattle Washington, before moving to Houston,
Texas, when I was a teenager. No, I wasn't an ‘army brat.'
My father worked in Public Health before he established his medical
practice in Houston. Absolutely, reading and writing were a part
of my life. My mother was an educator who enrolled my siblings
and me in the reading program each summer at the local library.
You know the one: Read fifteen to twenty books, get a certificate.
My mother made sure we read at least one hour a day. Each time
I opened a book, I was transported to someplace new and exciting,
each reading experience made a lasting impression. It also helped
that I had quite an imagination as a kid.
Booksandauthors: Why do you write?
Sibyl Avery Jackson: Because I cannot not write. I
love the art of storytelling, of creating a work that is a part
of me that can be shared with others.
Booksandauthors: Who is Monica Sinclair? How much of
Sibyl Avery Jackson is in this character?
Sibyl Avery Jackson: She's one tough cookie, that FBI
Special Agent Monica Sinclair. I just enjoy her so! She's a connoisseur
of disguise and a bonafide risk taker. She is tenacious as she
is tender and her heart and soul are a match for her considerable
intellect. I nurture my adventurous side through her, though
I'm not as gutsy as she is! When Monica's investigating a case,
she works outside the box, lives life on the edge and fears no
one. Yet when it comes to confronting her own personal issues,
she does not apply the same principles. Instead, she has spent
decades building an impenetrable wall around herself that not
even she dares to crash through.
Booksandauthors: Tell us about your book DEGREE
OF CAUTION. Why did you write this book?
Sibyl Avery Jackson: DEGREE OF CAUTION centers
on an FBI investigation of a wireless company that conspires
to hide the truth about a deadly communications device. The cellular
phone/brain cancer controversy. The subplot focuses on the historical
social issue of Virginia's anti-miscegenenation law--that prohibited
interracial marriages--and the effects that law had on Sinclair's
family.
For three years, I was spokesperson for one of the largest cellular-service
providers in the nation. At the time the first cell phone lawsuit
made national news, I dismissed it as just another "conspiracy
theory" until I saw just how serious the public and
the industry took it. All
of a sudden, the issue dominated every media outlet--television,
radio, and print. Cellular stock dropped tremendously, wireless
customers drastically cut back on their cell phone usage, and
Congress demanded answers. The fastest-growing industry in history,
at the time, took a nosedive! I honestly thought either Grisham
or Robin Cook would be the first to break out with a book on
the subject. After a couple/three years of the issue simmering
on the back burner and none of the other authors stepped forward,
that's when I said to myself, "Hey, I can do this."
I interjected the anti-miscegenation subplot because I wanted
to add more depth to the book. Because I was born in Virginia
and my mother's side of the family is from there, the subject
has always interested me. It's one of those unspoken, historical
social issues that's been swept under the rug. The fact that
people in Virginia were prohibited from marrying outside their
race before 1967, when the law was overturned in the state (U.S.
Supreme Court Decision: Loving v Virginia), is a concept I can't
wrap my mind around. Even though members of my own family were
affected by this law. What's portrayed in DEGREE OF CAUTION
is one of the extreme effects the anti-miscegenation law has
on a particular family whose parents are African-American and
Jewish.
Booksandauthors: You were a spokeswoman for Houston
Cellular when the first cellular phone/brain cancer lawsuit made
national headlines. What did you know from your experience that
help write DEGREE OF CAUTION? What did you have to research?
Can cell phones cause brain cancer?
Sibyl Avery Jackson: I knew this was an issue of huge
concern to a vast number of people, including those within the
industry. Reporters hounded us daily; frantic customers flooded
the phone lines with requests to cancel contracts or to swap
handheld phones for mounted car phones; there were some customers
who wanted to know if they should schedule doctors appointments;
and our own employees whispered among themselves. As soon as
one fire was out, another set of flames ignited. Reflecting back
on it now, I guess we operated pretty much in a crisis-management
mode for a long time.
When I left the company to begin developing the book, it helped
that I had either saved numerous articles on the subject or knew
which daily newspapers and/or industry trade magazines had tracked
the issue. I also knew which key members of Congress to monitor
and which government and health agencies/organizations to contact
for information. For the first time, I had a more balanced look
at the research out there, not just what had been handed down
to me from within the industry. And as I sifted through it all,
what got my engine racing was that I couldn't find any reference
to a study that had used human participants. Words like "models
of human heads" or "laboratory rats" were synonymous
with most of them.
I also learned that scientists around the world, including Israel,
U.K, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Scandinavia, were not only
trying to determine whether or not electromagnetic rays from
cell phones caused brain cancer, but whether they interfered
with DNA structure (especially in children whose neurological
systems are still developing); produced onset adult leukemia
or other blood diseases; caused a rare form of eye cancer or
memory loss; and many other health risks. All of this chilled
me to the bone.
Think about these startling facts:
Currently, there are more than 137 million U.S. subscribers,
several hundred million worldwide.(Cellular Technology Industry
Association)
According to the Boston-based consulting firm Yankee Group,
34 percent of youth ages 13 to 24 have cell phones compared to
50 percent of the general population. By 2003, the company predicts
that more than half of teenagers and adults in the country will
have cell phones. By 2006, young people will outpace the rest
of society 75 percent versus 68 percent.
A few of the health agencies/organizations studying the issue
include the FDA, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer
Institute, World Health Organization, and many others.
As early as the 1990s, some cellular phone manufacturers filed
patents for devices that would protect users from radiation emitted
from cell phones. (Cnn.com) (Why file patents for protective
devices from something you claim is not harmful? This doesn't
make sense to me.)
Dr. George Carlo, lead scientist who headed the industry-backed
study for more than six years, left the study once his research
detected cell phone health risks. (Why does the industry reject
his findings?)
During the last few years, there were numerous liability lawsuits
filed against the cellular industry, the largest of which--$800
million--was filed in 2000 by a Baltimore neurologist, Dr. Christopher
Newman, who claims his brain tumor resulted from his regular
use of cell phones. (News.cnet.com)
One incident that convinced me I was on to something occurred
during the drafting of DEGREE OF CAUTION when I went to
interview a leading epidemiologist. Just after I'd taken out
my pad and pencil, fired off a couple of questions about the
cell phone/brain cancer controversy and pressed PLAY on my tape
recorder, the doctor immediately instructed me to turn it off
and emphatically stated that he/she would not be a part of "mass
hysteria." (Notice I'm not mentioning names, here.) I was
basically told that no reputable person in the medical community
gave credence to the claim, that the medical conditions I'd just
asked about--brain cancer, headaches, memory loss, DNA interference--were
all products of the public's imagination. Basically, I was laughed right
out of there. To make a long story short, after leaving Dr. #1's
office, I was stopped in the hallway by Dr. #2, who asked me
if I wanted to take a look at the proposal that had been sent
to various doctors/scientists requesting their participation
in a major study on the subject. (Dr. #2 had received such a
copy. I suspect Dr. #1 had, as well.) A few days later, I received
the information in the mail. And you know what? Some of the exact
questions I'd sought answers to just days before were going to
be researched in this particular study. Since that time, I've
talked to several medical specialists--my father is a retired
surgeon, so I have access to more than a few--who've admitted
there may be a link.
The bottom line is, I don't believe we'll know exactly what we're
dealing with for a very long time. Until then, one word comes
to mind: tobacco.
Booksandauthors: What makes a good mystery? What do
you feel sets your book apart from others in the genre and why?
Sibyl Avery Jackson: A compelling plot with enough
conflict and tension, believable characters with real-life issues,
and dialogue that advances the story. I believe DEGREE OF
CAUTION has all of these components. Also, in developing
Monica Sinclair as a series character, I believed that in order
for readers to establish kinship with her and want to spend time
with her in future books, they needed to understand why she is
the way she is and what made her life so unbalanced.
Booksandauthors: In another interview you said, 'There
is some measure of insecurity in all of us and, if we don't overcome
whatever it is--no matter how slight--we just may allow it to
dictate the course of our life's journey.' Please explain and
how this statement relates to your story and characters in DEGREE
OF CAUTION.
Sibyl Avery Jackson: I believe that who we are, what
motivates us, what we believe about ourselves--whether true or
imagined--is spurred by something that happens to or within our
families. With Monica Sinclair, how she views herself began with
Virginia's anti-miscegenation laws that separated her family
and set the tone for the person she would become 30-something
years later: An accomplished professional whose personal life
is totally screwed up by her resentment towards her white-looking
brother, misguided anger towards her Jewish father, and her own
feelings of low, self worth she attributes to her ‘blackness.'
The same premise applies to Victor and Gerald Conti, the Italian
brothers who head Bayou City Wireless and the Conti Empire, though
their circumstances are different.
Booksandauthors: What has been your feedback from readers?
What do they say to you about their interpretations of your books?
Sibyl Avery Jackson: Most say before using their cell
phones now, they think of DEGREE OF CAUTION. Oops! No,
seriously, DEGREE spent 15 consecutive weeks on Cushcity.com's
bestsellers list. In addition to that, the book has been well-received
by a wide audience of readers, which was my goal from the beginning.
One of the greatest thrills for me came earlier this year when
I attended Meharry Medical College's Annual Book Fair in Nashville,
Tennessee.
Booksandauthors: Who are your favorite writers and
why?
Sibyl Avery Jackson: I have deep respect for a number
of authors: Pat Conroy for his eloquent narrative of the South;
Tananarive Due--she blows me away with her imagination; Anita
Bunkley for her detailed African-American historical fiction;
Jack Higgins, James Patterson, and Patricia Cornwell for consistency
in their series characters; and Judith McNaught for her historical
Romance novels. Maya Angelou is my absolute favorite poet.
Booksandauthors: What's next?
Sibyl Avery Jackson: I'm currently at work on the latest
"FBI Special Agent Monica Sinclair" adventure. After
that, at least three others. I have a couple of other exciting
projects in the works, but I'm not quite ready to discuss them.
Booksandauthors: What was the last book you read?
Sibyl Avery Jackson: I read at least two books a month.
The last novel I read was THE FEAST OF ALL SAINTS by Anne
Rice which beautifully explores pre-Civil War placage, another
unspoken historical social issue. Before that, THE EMPEROR
OF OCEAN PARK by Stephen Carter.
Booksandauthors: Do you have any hobbies? What are
they? How do they enhance your writing.
Sibyl Avery Jackson: I love shopping for antiques, preferably
English and French furniture. I also have a passion for antique
cars. I'm the proud owner of a fiery red, convertible roadster
that is more than 30 years old! Reading and traveling also top
my list of hobbies. I read for two reasons: escapism and research.
When I have a couple of hours to myself, there's nothing more
relaxing than reading a great novel. Also, when I need a break
from drafting a new book, I read the works of authors of the
same genre as mine. Some writers say they don't like to do that
because it interferes with their "voice." To me, it's
a great reminder of how a finished, professional work is supposed
to read. Therefore, once I return to my own writing, I can easily
spot fragments, lack of conflict and tension, dialogue that rambles,
and other problem areas that need to be fine tuned.
I also love to travel and talk to people whose lives and ways
of living are different from mine. It expands my mind and keeps
me focused on the fact that
the world is made up of all kinds of people. My work reflects
that. That's why the nationality of my characters are diverse
in DEGREE OF CAUTION--Jewish, Italian, Native American,
Puerto Rican and African American--and will continue to be diverse
in future works.
I love the art of storytelling,
of creating a work that is a part of me that can be shared with
others.
