Talk Story: Bill Fernandez

Bill Fernandez writes for a few reasons.

He enjoys it. It keeps him sharp.

He has important stories about Hawaii’s history and culture he wants to tell. He is half Native Hawaiian.

And he loves his wife.

Wait. What does that third reason have to do with writing books?

You see, Bill and his wife Judie, who live in Kapaa, work as a unit when it comes to Bill’s books. He comes up with the subject, researches, and writes. She edits, takes care of the artwork, and handles marketing.

Both are very much involved, start to finish, with Bill’s latest work, “Hawaiian Rebellions: Book Three of the John Tana trilogy.”

Here is how the story is described on the back cover: “John and his young family have settled onto their farming compound on the north shore of Kauai island. It is the late 1800s, a time of ruthless expansion of sugar plantations which threaten native Hawaii water rights and the existence of the Hawaiian monarchy and sovereignty. Hawaiians seemed divided: some try to survive and others stubbornly cling to traditional religious practices. Tattooed men attack leading to unforeseen dangers including disease.”

The story came together under the eyes of both Bill and Judie, who have been married 33 years. They say their teamwork approach to Bill’s biographies and novels, eight books in all and more to come, has been for the better when it comes to marriage.

In fact, he encourages other couples to try it.

“Everybody has a good story to tell. They should not be afraid to tell their stories,” he said. “The happiness that is in our marriage is because my wife Judie is willing to listen to my stories and also be interested and be sympathetic. I think that it’s made our marriage stronger. It’s very important to our relationship.”

Judie smiles at that.

Working with her husband on his books, reading them, has given her insight into who he is. Hawaiian men tend to be quiet, insightful, reflective, rather than outspoken and talkative.

“I learned a lot about Bill, reading these books,” Judie said. “I think this has strengthened our marriage.”

They work pretty much full time on the books and have “a heckuva lot of fun.”

“The days are never boring,” Judie said. “We never say, ‘Hmmm, what should we do today?”

Fernandez, a retired judge and attorney, and a mayor in Sunnyvale, Calif., grew up on Kauai. He graduated from Kamehameha Schools and Stanford University. He has written three memoirs, “Rainbows Over Kapaa,” “Kauai Kids in Peace and War,” and “Hawaii in War and Peace.”

His four novels include “John Tana: An Adventure Tale of Old Hawaii,” “Cult of Ku: A Hawaiian Murder Mystery,” “Crime & Punishment in Hawaii” and “Rebellions.”

Asked if they’ve ever had a serious disagreement over something in the books, both shook their heads. No.

“We usually don’t have serious disagreements period,” Judie said. “We listen to and respect each other.”

“Maybe we should find some disagreements,” Bill said, smiling.

Both laughed.

What’s going to be happening at your book presentation on Thursday?

It’s more like having a party with your friends. That’s what it’s all about for me.

Why do you write fiction stories about Hawaiian history?

I want to tell the Hawaiian side of what happened in the 19th century to our people. Interestingly enough now, when you read our history books, the only successful rebellion that Hawaii had was really not reported except through the eyes of one of the revolutionaries, which happened on Kauai.

My story isn’t just keyed to the four rebellions that occurred starting in the 1890s but also my story talks about leprosy and the real problems that it caused for Hawaiian families and the revolution that resulted from it.

So when I write my stories it is to tell the Hawaiian side of why these revolutions might have occurred and what the results were and how it affected Hawaii’s people.

What’s the process you follow?

I take an incident and do a lot of research surrounding it, then I’ll put a story together so that if you read it, you will not only get the feeling of the people that were involved in it, but also both sides of the issue. After I’m done writing the story, I’ll go through the story several times to be satisfied with what I’m reading. I’ll read something I wrote four or five times just to be sure we’re getting the point across and I’m writing it with good grammar. Then, I turn it over to my beautiful and lovely and wonderful princess here to go ahead and do a review and editing of the story and that takes maybe a couple months.

You’ve been writing seriously now for nearly a decade. Is it getting easier or harder?

I love to hope that my writing has gotten better over time.

This is your third John Tana book. How is he changing and growing?

Let’s start with the reason I wrote it.

He is a 17-year-old orphan when he is struck with capitalism in the form of thugs of a sugar baron who take away his property. The problem that Hawaiians had with this new concept, private property.

The first chapter deals with not only the taking of his property by a person that acquired it through the law, but it tells you about the communal sharing system that Hawaiians were accustomed to. I will say that the reason I got started with him as a character and talking about his loss of land was that my grandfather was deprived of his land by sugar plantations and I felt it would be good to tell the Hawaiian side of what occurred.

I chose a 17-year-old boy because so many elders at this time of the 19th century were dead. He’s all alone and going to have to figure out what private property is all about. He has to figure out what capitalism is all about. He has to also figure out what the new religion is all about.

So it’s a culture class story and a story dealing with the profit motive, above all, which is anti-aloha.

That’s why I wrote the story.

I had one other thought in mind. People do not understand the consequences of leprosy to the Hawaiians. So when you get into the second part of my novel, “Gods, Ghosts and Kahunas,” you will learn about leprosy, how it affected the Hawaiian people. Then you get into the third story and you will see that there was a leprosy revolt and what happened to that.

Out of your three John Tana books, do you have a favorite?

It’s hard for an author to pick any particular one. I really like the last story, “Hawaiian Rebellions,” largely because of the effect on the Hawaiian people by what I just told you, leprosy, culture shock, profit, capitalism. I really like that the best. But if you want to learn about the ghosts and the kahuna, the number two story is very good.

What do you enjoy most about writing these books?

It keeps your mind active, it keeps you learning. I’m out there researching, I’m reading, finding information through maybe even obscure documents about what happened at this particular time in history.

How did you learn about these things?

As a child, I listened to what older people said and then I experienced some of them. I also conducted extensive historical research to form a factual basis for each book I have written.

Does your legal background help with your writing?

The trouble with the law, it’s all dry. Every time you write something you have to give citations, you have to give the rules. It really doesn’t make for good, exciting writing.

You have written two books with Grant Kingsley as your main character. What’s next for him?

Another Grant book, “Terror in Paradise,” is about fascism of the big five companies in running Hawaii and the rise of communism after World War I and how Hawaii in the ‘20s was a very fertile ground for communism to grow. It is a story that takes place after the September 1924 massacre of Filipinos in Hanapepe.

What’s the difference between the two main characters in your novels, John Tana and Grant Kingsley?

They’re kind of the same people. Judie always said to me, “That’s you.”

So, they are you?

There’s a little bit of relationship between those characters.

I’m expressing my point of view.

Will you write more biographies?

No. The first book I wanted to tell the story of my mother and father who really struggled to make it in Hawaii in the early plantation area and they were half Hawaiian, each of them, they came up with nothing and they were able to build a big theater on Kauai. And I thought people would find it interesting, what it’s like to grow upon this isolated island as a young boy.

Why the switch to fiction but include history?

People have to learn why there is this huge Hawaii sovereignty movements that started in the 1970s that’s still around. I’m not a sovereignty person but I think there are things that folks, if they’re interested, ought to know why some Hawaiians are upset at being discovered by the western world and how they were dealt with as part of being conquered.

Because of the ending of our sovereignty, the loss of land, and suppression of the Hawaiian, I decided to write fiction stories from the Hawaiian point of view of the events of the 19th and 20th centuries. A time when we lost our aina, kingdom, and became second-class citizens of the United States.

When someone reads your books, what’s something you hope they come away with?

That Hawaiians are basically good people, generous people, that the terrible things that occurred to them during the 19th and into the 20th century, that changed many of them for the worse. And also the reason why there is talk of sovereignty and “haole go home,” that kind of thing

Growing up, you really only got one side of the picture, and that was the side of the picture that the sugar people, the big five, wanted you to learn about. I want to tell the other side.

Author Bill Fernandez will be holding a talk story session from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the Kauai Museum courtyard about his latest book. The public is welcome. The book is $20. Twenty percent of book sales will be donated to the museum. Light refreshments will be provided.

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Bill Buley, editor-in-chief, can be reached at 245-0457 or bbuley@thegardenisland.com.