Jay Lillie

“When did you first see the light in JUSTICE?” we asked author Jay Lillie several days ago, standing in front of the Supreme Court Building on Capitol Hill.

“About page 326,” he said.

He knew that’s not what we meant. We laughed. “That’s pretty near the end of the book?”

He nodded and smiled. “There was always something more. Right up to the last paragraph. ”

“So what’s the core message of JUSTICE?”

“It’s pure fiction, a novel, a darn good murder mystery, and it takes place in and around the White House. There’s no core message, unless it’s to point out that Americans know less than they think about their own Nation’s Constitution.”

“You have fun with the Senators on the Judiciary Committee.”

“Thank you. They’re an interesting bunch once you understand their agendas.”

“From where did “JJ” come? I thought Detective Julia Gold’s giving the young boy Barry Bond’s broken bat was a master stroke. I didn’t see how you were going to get out of the corner you’d written yourself into. Then “JJ” comes along. How do you come up with these ideas?”

“I like young kids. They keep things interesting.”

“Who’s your favorite character?” I asked.

“Oh, no,” he said. “I like and hate them all equally.”

“Okay . . . but how did you conjure up that dynamite finish?”

“If you referring to the last couple of pages, I think the French really did that.”

“It has that kind of ring to it, but it sure was a surprise when I read it.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 20, 2008

PACIFIC REBOUND announced as one of six finalists in the contest for best fiction book published in 2008 or late 2007 in the Adventure/Thriller category.

#1 You’ve had a Wall Street/international law practice for a number of years. What made you decide to start writing suspense novels?

·       I have a dozen draft novels and one act plays in boxes in the attic from when I was thirteen. I wrote Havana Passage in 1995 on the commuter train between Greenwich, CT and Manhattan, but it didn’t get published until 2006.

#2 What brought on Havana Passage?

·      That’s a long story, but I represented an American pharmaceutical company in negotiations with the governments of Hungary and Czechoslovakia when those nations were still under the Russian thumb. I spent time behind the Iron Curtain, and got to know some very talented people well enough to see how much they envied the freedom my clients had. It was no surprise to me they finally got out from under the tyranny imposed upon Eastern Europe.

·       Later, when I looked at Cuba and realized it was American law that was keeping us from doing the same there, I wrote essays and articles drawing the comparison to the fall of the Berlin Wall. It fell on deaf ears, so I put it in novel form – at least that was fun. That’s Havana Passage – Washington, Havana, and Miami, rather than Washington, Moscow, and Prague.

  #3 How much time have you spent in Cuba?

·      A fair amount. I was stationed in Guantanamo Bay for a while in the Navy, and witnessed the Castro take over. I went back several times under a license from the Treasury Department, and sailed in the Havana Yacht Race before the U.S. Treasury put it off limits in 1990. Finally, I joined a “People to People” visit to Havana for 10 days in 2003, and made some final revisions Havana Passage.

 #4 Your current novel, Pacific Rebound, takes place in the Western             Pacific. I guess you’ve spent time out there as well?

·      Yes, Pacific Rebound is more business oriented. I’ve started businesses in Japan for U.S. clients and done years of work in Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia. There’s not much better evidence for the notion that free markets breed individual freedom than in this area of the world.

#5 Does that include China?

·      Of course, but with a caveat. China will take its time if the people let it. It won’t happen overnight there as it did in Japan and Southeast Asia. The Chinese are born business oriented, but they have some very basic infrastructure to put in place over a vast population and geographical expanse. They’re off to a good start.

#6 What about the rise of Populism in places like Venezuela and Ecuador?

·      And Peronista Argentina in the 1960’s. That economy still hasn’t risen back to its pre-Peron rank of #2 in the world. Populism is the free market’s greatest enemy. Eventually, Populism decays into and an East Germany, or a Cuba, and the slide is already happening in Venezuela.

#7 But there’s so much poverty in those countries. How do you have a free market and even the playing field at the same time?

·      One thing for sure, Populism doesn’t help the poor climb out of poverty. Andrew Lloyd Weber is my hero for educating the world in Evita.

·      Free markets will pull us out eventually if we concentrate less on giving things away and more on elementary and high school education. I submit that China, Korea, and other Asian cultures are way ahead of us in preparing the young for a successful future. If you want the details of how we’re losing the competition from fifth grade on, read Alan Greenspan’s new book, or walk across the campus at Caltech or MIT.

·      But poverty is what allows Populism to sound so good to people. It’s got to be dealt with.

#8 So what you’re saying is free markets and liberty are connected.

·      A secret poll was taken in Cuba several years ago and somehow secreted out to New York. It asked ordinary Cubans to rank from a list what they wanted most in life. It included all the things you can imagine, like the right to vote, freedom of religion, freedom to travel, etc. By far the first choice among these people, who haven’t had a glimpse of liberty in 50 years, was being able to choose what they do to make a living. 

·      I should clarify one thing. My agents have used the term “Big Business” in promoting my thoughts about business and freedom. The awakening can be any form of business which an oppressed people experience first hand, but it’s they’re own small business effort that builds the infrastructure, and it’s impossible without freedom of choice.

·      Tourism is probably the exception for businesses that help foment local industry in police states.  There’s plenty of that in Cuba, but what they need are engineers, builders, inventors, accountants and entrepreneurs, on the ground in their community and providing a local template for success.  (They already have plenty of lawyers.)

#9 What’s your next novel about?

·      I’ve always wanted to write a good murder mystery. I’m using the same lead characters as in Havana Passage, two Washington lawyers and the first woman President (no one you know). We start out nominating a new Supreme Court Justice, and end up with a murder mystery and political mayhem.

#10 I understand you were outside counsel for the International Tennis Federation from the beginning of Open Tennis until fairly recently. How come you don’t write about professional athletes?

·      You sound like my agent.

·      Seriously though, International sports are a business and have played a major role in helping develop the free infrastructure necessary to foster the liberty to choose your line of work in all the countries we’re talking about.

·      Look at professional golf and tennis today in Eastern Europe, Korea, and Japan. In Cuba, baseball and the Olympics represent the only exceptions to Cubans not being part of the real world. 

Q: The name of your book is HAVANA PASSAGE?
A: That’s right. It’s a bit of a play on words. The “PASSAGE” denotes Gordon Cox’s and Kate Steven’s trip there to gather information for the President, but also the passing into history of the age of Fidel Castro.

Q: Why a woman President?
A: Why not? A woman will hold the position someday. In this case having a woman in the Presidency meant I didn’t need to constantly worry about the character sounding or appearing like any prior presidential person. It was also a lot of fun visualizing how a new leader would handle things. I think Rebecca did pretty well, don’t you?

Q: But some of your characters come down hard on the Embargo that every Administration since Jimmy Carter has supported aggressively.
A: Some more than others, but that’s fair comment. Maybe they think that if the embargo was really designed to force Castro to embrace democracy or even freedom, as it states in the preamble of the law, then it has certainly failed. The dictator actually seems to like it. It keeps his subjects economically impaired and easier to handle, while allowing him to blame the USA for all Cuba’s problems. If we’d opened up the country up to trade Fidel might have been gone long ago.

Q: Is Kate correct in thinking the Embargo against trade with Cuba, aimed against American citizens, is unconstitutional?
A: I don’t think her position is unreasonable. Under our Constitution there has to be a clear and present danger to national security to allow the government to exercise control over the freedom of our citizens to travel abroad, or to spend money while they’re there. I not sure we ever made the case. Suppose it had been Chirac’s France instead of Cuba that we were told we couldn’t visit and spend our money? In the darkest days of the Cold War, we were still allowed to travel to Russia. I did it lots of times on business for clients.

Q: So it’s the Cuban expatriate vote in Florida that has kept the Embargo in place to punish Castro?
A: The Cuban Americans that I’ve met are much too smart and savvy to believe the embargo directly punishes Fidel Castro. Maybe they like to show him the power they have and the high numbers of Cubans fleeing to Miami to get away from its effects. Or maybe they like the idea of Cuba remaining relatively undeveloped until they get a chance to go back in and reclaim what they believe is theirs.

Q: What about global terrorism?
A: This was never put forward as the reason for denying Americans the right to visit and trade with Cuba until February, 2004, during the last Presidential race, when the Administration beefed up enforcement of the restrictions on all Americans going to Cuba.

Q: Why make these points in a fictional piece?
A: Conflict feeds fiction as well as the news headlines. Fidel Castro is a demon, but he’s very clever. I placed the two protagonists in a Washington political setting, what-iffed a little about the Cuban Embargo, and let them look out for themselves. Different characters in the story see the world quite differently. HAVANA PASSAGE is also a love story, and Kate’s ire had to be aroused before the rest of her. I needed to get her good and mad.

Q: Your description of the homes and hotels in Havana seems very real. Did you go there and check things out?
A: Absolutely. Thanks to the People to People Program and the determination of friends. And I had to obtain permission from the Treasury Department. While there I interviewed people in and out of government. Havana is an interesting city, and the Cuban people are its biggest asset. If you don’t look hard, you might not even notice the oppression at large, but it’s there. No character in the book is drawn from anyone I met or spoke with in Havana, or anywhere else for that matter.

Q: Who was the prototype for the rascal, Santiago, Fidel’s ex-body guard, turned all American boy?
A: I guess you’re right about his being a rascal. His portrayal changed almost daily as I was writing the story. He’s critical to the story for many reasons. His personality links together every other character and situation evolving in Florida, Washington, and Havana. He’s the eyes of the reader walking the unlighted streets of Havana at night, he’s our view into the minds of the Cuban elite, he’s proof that the American way, with all its warts and pimples, truly works, and he’s a vital contrast to the charm and educated veneer of Kate Stevens. He and Kate grow and evolve in unison throughout the story, and together make things happen.

Q: Where do you get your ideas?
A: There are very few interesting places in South America, Asia or Europe in which as a lawyer I haven’t done some business. I’ve dealt with presidents, dictators, spies, diplomats, bureaucrats, and my share of scoundrels.

Q: Why not write those adventures as a non fiction history of your practice?
A: I couldn’t give that sort of writing what it would need without betraying confidences, Besides creating a novel out of whole cloth is much more fun and challenging.

Q: Do you target an audience?
A: Goodness no. I wouldn’t know where to start.

Q: You conjure up a couple of pretty good storms in the Gulf Stream. Is that from personal experience?
A: The Stream is a dynamic marine environment, and it plays a key role throughout this story, as it does every day in Cuban/American relations.

Q: When you are describing the sea state, and the scenes of life threatening ocean waves, is it from personal experience?
A: I’ve been out there in small boats in bad seas, and larger craft in a hurricane. That much is personal. I’ve never been in a life raft, except practicing drills in the Navy and to get my ticket punched to enter ocean races. Body surfing in big waves was a daily exercise when we were kids living near the ocean, so it’s all part of what I know. The terror is real, as well as the adrenaline rush that survival requires. The key to writing about it is to know what you don’t know.

Q: Did you have anyone in mind creating the President’s character?
A: No, she evolved. I guess I wanted to like her, and she had to be an iconoclast. That’s the only way the plot would work.

Q: So which of the characters didn’t you like?
A: Can’t you tell?

Q: Carlos, the Orphan, Diego?
A: Actually, I love that character. He’s totally fictional. He’s also what makes the plot balanced. He had a personal reason to hate Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution. In that sense he doesn’t stand alone in South Florida. He’s a victim of his past, like most of us. His temper gets the best of him sometimes.

Q: I could tell you liked the young Cuban girl, Ana.
A: You’re right about that, and she was the last character to come into my head and into the story. She’s a victim of everything that’s wrong with despotism. She stands for the resilience of youth and brains being able to survive the worst of times. I like her tough innocence, and hope she shines through as the future of our planet.

Q: Do you believe there’s an undercover insurgency in Cuba?
A: How could there not be. It’s too small a world for people to not realize when the rest of us are passing them by. And the Cubans are doers. They are result oriented. If you don’t believe that look at what some of them have accomplished given some freedom in Miami.

Q: Well good luck.
A: Thanks. I’ve enjoyed speaking with you.