tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83727984095850188792024-03-13T14:46:07.518-04:00Marian CopelandBooks. Sex. Food. What Else Matters?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967853502767397869noreply@blogger.comBlogger164125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8372798409585018879.post-71723680720256054612015-07-27T07:00:00.000-04:002015-07-27T07:31:26.411-04:00See you soon<div class="noborderdv" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967853502767397869noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8372798409585018879.post-12099697826097540762015-07-26T07:00:00.000-04:002015-07-26T07:26:23.512-04:00Most anticipated books for August based on number of copies in initial printingAccording to <i>Publishers Weekly</i>, the following books have the largest initial printings of the books to be released in August:<br />
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<b><i>Friction</i> </b>by Sandra Brown will have an initial run of 400,000 copies and be released on August 18. From her publisher:</div>
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Crawford Hunt wants his daughter back. Following the death of his wife four years ago, Crawford, a Texas <br />
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Holly, ambitious and confident, temporarily occupies the bench of her recently deceased mentor. With an election upcoming, she must prove herself worthy of making her judgeship permanent. Every decision is high-stakes. Despite Crawford's obvious love for his child and his commitment to being an ideal parent, Holly is wary of his checkered past. Her opinion of him is radically changed when a masked gunman barges into the courtroom during the custody hearing. Crawford reacts instinctually, saving Holly from a bullet. <br />
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But his heroism soon takes on the taint of recklessness. The cloud over him grows even darker after he uncovers a horrifying truth about the courtroom gunman and realizes that the unknown person behind the shooting remains at large…and a threat. <br />
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Catching the real culprit becomes a personal fight for Crawford. But pursuing the killer in his customary diehard fashion will jeopardize his chances of gaining custody of his daughter, and further compromise Judge Holly Spencer, who needs protection not only from an assassin, but from Crawford himself and the forbidden attraction between them.</div>
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<i><b>Secondhand Souls</b></i> by Christopher Moore will have an initial run of 250,000 copies and will be released on August 25. From his publisher:</div>
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In San Francisco, the souls of the dead are mysteriously disappearing – and you know that can’t be good – in <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author Christopher Moore’s delightfully funny sequel to <i>A Dirty Job</i>.<br />
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Something really strange is happening in the City by the Bay. People are dying, but their souls are not being collected. Someone – or something – is stealing them and no one knows where they are going, or why, but it has something to do with that big orange bridge. Death Merchant Charlie Asher is just as flummoxed as everyone else. He’s trapped in the body of a fourteen-inch-tall “meat puppet” waiting for his Buddhist nun girlfriend, Audrey, to find him a suitable new body to play host.<br />
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To get to the bottom of this abomination, a motley crew of heroes will band together: the seven-foot-tall death merchant Minty Fresh; retired policeman turned bookseller Alphonse Rivera; the Emperor of San Francisco and his dogs, Bummer and Lazarus; and Lily, the former Goth girl. Now if only they can get little Sophie to stop babbling about the coming battle for the very soul of humankind…</div>
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<i><b>The Marriage of Opposites</b></i> by Alice Hoffman will have an initial printing of 200,000 copies and will be released on August 4. From her publisher:</div>
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From the <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author of <i>The Dovekeepers</i> and <i>The Museum of Extraordinary Things</i>: a forbidden love story set on the tropical island of St. Thomas about the extraordinary woman who gave birth to painter Camille Pissarro – the Father of Impressionism.<br />
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Growing up on idyllic St. Thomas in the early 1800s, Rachel dreams of life in faraway Paris. Rachel’s mother, a pillar of their small refugee community of Jews who escaped the Inquisition, has never forgiven her daughter for being a difficult girl who refuses to live by the rules. Growing up, Rachel’s salvation is their maid Adelle’s belief in her strengths, and her deep, life-long friendship with Jestine, Adelle’s daughter. But Rachel’s life is not her own. She is married off to a widower with three children to save her father’s business. When her husband dies suddenly and his handsome, much younger nephew, Frédérick, arrives from France to settle the estate, Rachel seizes her own life story, beginning a defiant, passionate love affair that sparks a scandal that affects all of her family, including her favorite son, who will become one of the greatest artists of France.<br />
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Building on the triumphs of <i>The Dovekeepers</i> and <i>The Museum of Extraordinary Things</i>, set in a world of almost unimaginable beauty, <i>The Marriage of Opposites</i> showcases the beloved, bestselling Alice Hoffman at the height of her considerable powers. Once forgotten to history, the marriage of Rachel and Frédérick is a story that is as unforgettable as it is remarkable. </div>
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<i><b>If You Only Knew</b></i> by Kristan Higgins will have an initial printing of 200,000 copies and will be released August 25. From her publisher:</div>
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The drama, hilarity and tears of sisterhood are at the heart of the thoroughly captivating new novel by <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author Kristan Higgins – a funny, frank and bittersweet look at marriage, forgiveness and moving on.<br />
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Letting go of her ex-husband is harder than wedding-dress designer Jenny Tate expected…especially since his new wife wants to be Jenny's new best friend. Sensing this isn't exactly helping her achieve closure, Jenny trades the Manhattan skyline for her hometown up the Hudson, where she'll start her own business and bask in her sister Rachel's picture-perfect family life…and maybe even find a little romance of her own with Leo, her downstairs neighbor, a guy who's utterly irresistible and annoyingly distant at the same time. <br />
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Rachel's idyllic marriage, however, is imploding after she discovers her husband sexting with a colleague. She always thought she'd walk away in this situation, but her triplet daughters have her reconsidering her stance on adultery, much to Jenny's surprise. Rachel points to their parents' perfect marriage as a shining example of patience and forgiveness; but to protect her sister, Jenny may have to tarnish that memory – and their relationship – and reveal a family secret she's been keeping since childhood. <br />
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Both Rachel and Jenny will have to come to terms with the past <i>and</i> the present and find a way to get what they want most of all.</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967853502767397869noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8372798409585018879.post-49138971030165967372015-07-25T07:00:00.000-04:002015-07-25T07:18:33.891-04:00Jack Livings wins the PEN/Bingham prize for debut fiction with ‘The Dog’<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="float: left; font-size: 105px; line-height: 80px; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;">J</span></span>ack Livings has won the $25,000 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction for his book, <i>The Dog</i>. The Prize “honors an exceptionally talented fiction writer whose debut work – a novel or collection of short stories – represents distinguished literary achievement and suggests great promise.” <br />
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In their citation, the judges said:<br />
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The stories in Jack Livings’ collection The Dog take place in contemporary China, but they are the opposite of exotic. Livings’ precise, measured sentences draw on an intensity of knowledge which makes a glass factory in Beijing as familiar as any American office, a feat which speaks of long experience and careful research, but also, and more importantly, of a deep curiosity about the vagaries and vanities of human nature, the brutish demands of collective endeavor and the austerity of freedom, and the strange occasions for compassion in societies where corruption and betrayal are the norm. The Dog reminds the reader that fiction need not be autobiographical in order to be honest; it is an investigation, an act of empathy and imagination which brings the world to life. </div>
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The PEN America Center was founded in 1922 by John Galsworthy and Catherine Amy Dawson Scott. Based in New York City and with a membership of 3300 writers, editors and translators, it “works to advance literature, defend free expression to foster international literary fellowship.” Each year it awards the PEN Literary Awards. Among this year’s other winners are:<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The PEN/ E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award</span></b> of $10,000 for “a book of literary nonfiction on the subject of the physical or biological sciences,” to <b>Joshua Horwitz</b> for <i>War of the Whales: a True Story</i>.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction</b></span> of $10,000 to “the author of a distinguished book of general nonfiction possessing notable literary merit and critical perspective and illuminating important contemporary issues,” to <b>Sheri Fink</b> for <i>Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital</i>.<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography</span></b> of $5,000 “for a distinguished biography” to <b>Anna Whitelock</b> for <i>The Queen’s Bed: An Intimate History of Elizabeth’s Court</i>.<br />
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<b>The PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing</b></div>
of $5,000 “to honor a nonfiction book on the subject of sports” to <b>John Branch</b> for <i>Boy on Ice: The Life and Death of Derek Boogaard</i>.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The PEN Award for Poetry in Translation</b></span> of $3,000 “for a book-length translation of poetry into English” to <b>Eliza Griswold</b> for her translation from the Pashto of <i>I Am the Beggar of the World: Landays from Contemporary Afghanistan</i>.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The PEN Translation Prize</b></span> of $3,000 “for a book-length translation of prose into English” to <b>Denise Newman</b> for her translation from the Danish of <i>Baboon</i> by Naja Marie Aidt.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The PEN/Joyce Osterwell Award for Poetry</b></span> of $5,000 “for an emerging American poet showing promise of further literary achievement” to <b>Saeed Jones</b> for <i>Prelude to Bruise</i>.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship</b></span> of $5,000 “for an author of children’s or young-adult fiction to complete a book-length work in progress” to <b>Stephanie Kuehn</b> for <i>The Pragmatist</i>.<br />
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<img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rwNSN2-vbJY/Vaj6lUFgOaI/AAAAAAAACes/iHxrmwkL4VM/s1600/tinahowe.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />Tina<br />
Howe</div>
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Washburn</div>
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<img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--Is-apjUY0E/Vaj6lZmU8cI/AAAAAAAACeo/abLQeizAeN0/s1600/.jenniferblackmer.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />Jennifer<br />
Blackmer</div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Awards</b></span> of $7500 and 2500 to “Master American Dramatist” <b>Tina Howe</b>, “Playwright in Mid-Career” <b>Anne Washburn</b>, and “Emerging Playwright” <b>Jennifer Blackmer</b>.<br />
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Ryan</div>
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Spillman</div>
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Watson</div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Lifetime Achievement Awards</b></span> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">went to <b>Bob Ryan</b> (Literary Sports Writing); <b>Rob Spillman</b> for <i>Tin House</i> (Editing); and <b>Burton Watson</b> (Translation).</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967853502767397869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8372798409585018879.post-68446843616167010552015-07-24T07:00:00.000-04:002015-07-24T07:19:33.686-04:00Grand Arbor Reserve apartment complex blinks; bookmobile and teacher volunteers to return<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Wake County Public School System photo</span></td></tr>
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Raleigh <i>News and Observer </i>staffer Mechelle Hankerson has reported that the Grand Arbor Reserve apartment complex has changed its position. The Lacy Elementary School teacher volunteers will be allowed to return to the apartments with their weekly bookmobile for children.<br />
<br />
Grand Arbor Reserve officials had told the volunteers that they could not come back because of a new policy issued by the complex <br />
<a name='more'></a>owner, Landmark Apartments Trust: only events sponsored by Landmark would henceforth be allowed on the premises.<br />
<br />
According to Ms. Hankerson, “Many people criticized the decision on social media, and Landmark announced Saturday that it would allow the bookmobile.” <br />
<br />
In the meantime, Landmark will “collect documentation that shows volunteers have been screened.” Since every volunteer for the bookmobile program has already gone through the Wake County school system’s volunteer application process, which includes a background check, this was a no-brainer.<br />
<br />
Now that the program’s return has been assured, perhaps the next step is the ask Landmark to donate some money for more books for the children who live in the complex. If they are really interested in creating a “sense of community,” it would be a very nice gesture.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RM4Yj0p9Oys/VbD21jSKFbI/AAAAAAAACmk/wveQKGSfIp0/s1600/olander.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RM4Yj0p9Oys/VbD21jSKFbI/AAAAAAAACmk/wveQKGSfIp0/s200/olander.jpg" width="107" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Stanley J. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Olander</span></div>
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Contact information for Landmark Apartment Trust Co. of America: phone 813-281-2907; email: <a href="mailto:corporate@latapts.com">corporate@latapts.com</a>. The CEO is Stanley J. Olander and the corporate offices are at 4901 Dickens Road, Suite 101, Richmond, VA 23230.<br />
<br />
If you are one of the people who contacted Grand Arbor and Landmark and asked them to bring back the bookmobile, THANK YOU! And thanks to Mechelle Hankerson of <i>The News and Observer</i> for her excellent reporting.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967853502767397869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8372798409585018879.post-39193007234839088232015-07-23T07:30:00.000-04:002015-07-23T07:38:24.770-04:00Brad Parks’ latest Carter Ross mystery, ‘The Fraud,’ is a winner!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fkUeeMeNiQ0/VaqEXJncHfI/AAAAAAAACkI/QOeD7BLnod4/s1600/bradparks_0368-small-e1263790399707-600x464.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0;"><img border="0" height="371" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fkUeeMeNiQ0/VaqEXJncHfI/AAAAAAAACkI/QOeD7BLnod4/s400/bradparks_0368-small-e1263790399707-600x464.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Jim Farrington</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Guest Contributor</i></span></div>
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<br />
<span style="float: left; font-size: 100pt; line-height: 80pt; margin: 1px 20px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">H</span></span>ow do you write a novel about the mean streets of Newark (NJ) that centers on a prevalence of street crime without insulting a city that has already borne more than its share of ridicule and derision? Brad Parks, in his latest novel featuring investigative reporter Carter Ross, manages to walk that line with a plot that centers on an epidemic of car hijackings involving multiple murders and corruption. Early on, Parks writes “You don’t stop for red <br />
<a name='more'></a>lights late at night in Newark, New Jersey. At least you don’t if you know what’s good for you.” Parks knows of what he writes having worked for 10 years as a reporter at <i>The Star-Ledger</i> located in the heart of the city that never fully recovered from the riots of 1967.<br />
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Newark has long had one of the highest rates of car theft in the country. Its extensive poverty and its huge port facility just waiting to load the stolen merchandise into containers for shipment to waiting buyers in South America are a perfect fit.<br />
<br />
Despite the routine occurrences of car theft, when a wealthy, white Newark banker is killed in a hijacking, it is front-page news in the <i>Newark Eagle-Examiner</i> where Carter Ross plies his trade. He finds the “angle” for his follow-story in the inequity of the reporting of that crime with a nearly identical hijack-murder of a Nigerian businessman that occurred a week earlier and rates little more than a mention in the police blotter. <br />
<br />
Running through the novel as a sub-plot is the unusual relationship between Ross and his managing editor, Tina Thompson, who is now nine months pregnant with his child and still rebuffing his offers of marriage. The two have a long history dating back to Parks’ first book in the series,<i> Faces of the Gone</i> where Tina is introduced as Ross’ “smoking-hot city editor.”<br />
<br />
Another theme that provides background for the novel is the decline in the newspaper industry itself. Parks manages to weave in the decline of the quality of reporting as seasoned veteran reporters are replaced with journalism school grads working as low-paid contract employees. A newsroom with many empty desks emphasizes what budget cuts have done to the in-depth reporting that used to be newspapers’ bread and butter.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">“You don’t stop for red lights late at night in Newark, New Jersey. At least you don’t if you know what’s good for you.”</span></blockquote>
<br />
As Ross begins his investigation into the disparity of the two hijackings, he quickly finds they are actually related, something the police had never connected. It isn’t long before the trail leads to a whole series of hijackings that seem to be intensifying with accompanying murders becoming much more frequent.<br />
<br />
Ross will follow a series of blind leads and find himself being followed in the process. His investigation will take him inside a suburban country club where suspicion falls on its less than likable management. There are more plot turns and red herrings as the book builds to a conclusion in which the plots collide with some major surprises.<br />
<br />
<i>The Fraud</i> is the sixth in Brad Parks’ Carter Ross series. While Parks was a success right out of the gate garnering prestigious mystery fiction awards with his very first book, he continues to grow with each book as he fine-tunes his craft. He maintains an interesting cast of characters including the crotchety police reporter with all the connections, a wacky intern, a flamboyant gay colleague, a distinguished executive editor not to mention Carter’s on-again-off-again love, Tina. It is also refreshing that he doesn’t use Newark as a punchline, but shows respect for its citizens and an almost loving attachment to the city where he did some of his finest work as a reporter.<br />
<br />
If you haven’t read any of the Carter Ross mysteries, I commend them to you. Parks manages to keep the murder and mayhem light with a lead character that is likable with his wise-cracking and self-deprecating humor but who is more than competent in his field. As for me, I’m looking forward to his next book.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Brad Parks</b></span> has received the Shamus for best first private eye novel and the Nero for best American mystery for his
debut, <i>Faces of the Gone</i>. He has won two Leftys for best humorous mystery for his third
and fourth books, <i>The Girl Next Door</i> and <i>The Good Cop</i>. In addition <i>The Good Cop</i> won the Shamus Award for
best hardcover novel. Parks is a graduate of Dartmouth College and spent a dozen years as a reporter for <i>The
Washington Post</i> and The <i>Star-Ledger</i>.<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jim Farrington</span></b> is a retired newspaper executive living in Chatham County, NC. Upon retirement, he reviewed books for <i>The Star-Ledger</i> for several years. He spends much of his free time volunteering at The CORA food pantry where he also serves as Secretary of the Board of Directors.</box2>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967853502767397869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8372798409585018879.post-21388713349023557372015-07-22T08:00:00.000-04:002015-07-22T08:16:01.068-04:00Graham Swift’s ‘England and Other Stories’ provides vignettes of ordinary life<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="float: left; font-size: 105px; line-height: 80px; margin: 3px 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;">G</span></span>raham Swift’s new collection of short stories (twenty-five stories in 238 pages) provide what Lucy Sholes, writing in <i>The Guardian</i> (8/3/14) calls snapshots: <br />
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<div style="margin-left: 3em; margin-left: 3em;">
Reduction in all its forms is something of a theme in Graham Swift's collection, both in form and content. Over 25 stories he reduces his characters' lives to these snapshots; a freeze-frame suspended image of a moment that distils the essence of the life in question, reduces it to <br />
<a name='more'></a>something small and, to an unknowing observer, seemingly inconsequential.</div>
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But, as Sholes concludes, they are not unconnected:<br />
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<div style="margin-left: 3em; margin-left: 3em;">
As a collection, these initially disparate-seeming stories come together to build a coherent and coesive whole; whether the same can be said for the lives depicted, Swift seems less sure. “What a terrible thing it can be just to be on this Earth,” thinks a lonely widower who discovers a dead body on a solitary country walk. “First on the scene” for the only time in his life – but having dialled the emergency services, he's lost for words.</div>
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Valerie Martin, writing in <i>The New York Times</i> (5/20/15, was a little less kind:<br />
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England and Other Stories comprises 25 stories. Some are very slight, barely sketches, bits of conversation or reflection caught in passing; they slip by as strangers do in a populous, busy world, or as doodles on the margins of a narrative. Others are more complex and deeply engaging. These stories exemplify the pastry-chef theory of realism in fiction, which holds that reality is a pie; you can slice it. In each slice is the essence of pie. Pie has no plot, but it has character, and that’s what you get. And that’s all you get.<br />
<br />
So in these stories we have a host of characters discovered at vulnerable moments in their lives. Most of them are men, but they are often having thoughts about women, encountering difficulties with women, talking to a mate or to themselves about women. If they are young men, the thoughts may be hostile, dismissive and anxious, if older they can be loving, tender and sad. The waning of passion is a theme reiterated bitterly. Passion is viewed by these men as irresistible, motivating, always worth the trouble though it’s bound to end badly.</div>
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An example of this is “The Best Days,” in which two young men observe an inappropriately-dressed mother and daughter at a funeral. One young man thinks of advice to give the other: “ ‘You run after them, Andy boy’ — this is what he might have said — ‘you get the hots for them and you have your wicked way with them and then you end up marrying them. And then years down the road, look what you get. So — let it be a lesson to you.’ ”<br />
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One of the more touching stories, “Fusilli,” is about a father who is in the pasta aisle of a grocery store when he receives the call telling him his son has been killed in Afghanistan. Later, he returns to buy the pasta he was holding, intending to secretly keep it as some small connection with his lost son. <br />
<br />
In “Knife,” a young boy looks at a knife in an open drawer while listening to the moans coming from his mother’s bedroom as she has sex with a man he despises. He thinks of the ease with which he could use it: “He understood that at this moment, though he was only 12, he had about as much power in the world as he would ever have. He understood it almost painfully now. At 12 you could not be held responsible, even if you were.”<br />
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These short scenes are skillfully presented. To again quote Valerie Martin:<br />
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The best thing about these stories, what carries the reader smoothly along with the grace and ease of a gondolier on the Grand Canal, is Swift’s prose style. It’s a theatrical act of balance and lightness. Revelations are sudden, and the level of narrative tension can skyrocket in a phrase…<br />
<br />
Another pleasure of Swift’s method is the continual play in his characters’ internal monologues, proceeding from some variation on a word or the unexpected turn of a phrase. Clichés often drive these characters to deeper scrutiny. In “Dog,” a wealthy older man pushing a pram containing his newest daughter (he could be her grandfather) ruminates about his life and how he came to this pass. “Was putting your affairs in order the purpose of life anyway? Affairs! A poor joke of a word. It was his affairs, having them, that had got him into this mess.”<br />
<br />
…There’s something bright and rewarding about this tendency to consider both the connotation and the denotation of words as they appear in random thoughts. </div>
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<b>Graham Swift</b> is the author of nine novels including <i>Waterland</i> which was short-listed for the Booker Prize and won The Guardian Fiction Award, the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize and the Italian Premio Grinzane Cavour. His <i>Ever After</i> won the French Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger and <i>Last Orders</i> won the Booker.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967853502767397869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8372798409585018879.post-53125533112518627742015-07-21T08:00:00.000-04:002015-07-21T08:00:02.769-04:00Scout goes home again<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>By NORMAN DARVIE</b><br />
<i>Guest Contributor</i><br />
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Fifty-five years after <i>To Kill a Mockingbird</i>, <i>Go Set a Watchman</i> has been published. If Harper Lee or her publisher planned its timing, they could not have picked a better time to release this novel. Harper Lee has once again given the world a captivating look at and a gripping narrative on the most divisive issue of our time.<br />
<br />
In 1957, Harper Lee submitted her novel, <i>Go Set a Watchman</i>, for publication. At the advice of her editor, she was asked to rewrite it as a coming of age story narrated by a young <br />
<a name='more'></a>Jean Louise (“Scout”) Finch. It took Harper Lee two years and, in 1960, <i>To Kill a Mockingbird</i> was published.<br />
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<i>Watchman</i> was written while Lee was living in New York City. In the mid 1950’s, the Supreme Court handed down three major desegregation decisions. Needless to say, the decisions, which nullified States’ segregation “rights,” hit the southern states like an earthquake. Those tremors became the focal point for the novel, <i>Watchman</i>.<br />
<br />
Jean Louise Finch, now 26 years old and living in New York City, returns to Maycomb County for a two week family visit. Her father, Atticus, is now 72 years old and suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. He lives with his sister and caregiver, Alexandra. He needs help with shaving, buttoning his shirt, tying his shoelaces and needs to be driven to his office where he still practices law. Still very well respected, he now has an assistant attorney, Henry Clinton, Scout’s teenage beau.<br />
<br />
With both passion and humor, Jean Louise’s narrative treats us to her intimate experiences with the people who loved her and who she in turn loved. They meant the world to her. <br />
<br />
After her first day back in Maycomb County, she says, “Every time I come home things change,” and she does not like change. Having lived in New York City for seven years, embedded in a more sophisticated culture and surrounded by artists, she feels out of touch with the people she grew up with and the rural South. <br />
<br />
She tells Henry Clinton, who still loves her and wants to marry her, that there is no way she is prepared for marriage even though she loves him. When he asks, “What do you do at night in New York?” she replies, “I attend the Art Students League five evenings a week.” She is still very much her own person and cares less what other people think. She has become more cynical in Henry’s eyes.<br />
<br />
The next day her world falls apart. She drives to the Maycomb Court House where her father is chairing a meeting with Maycomb County’s Citizens Council and Henry is one of the attendees. She sits in the same seat in the balcony where she and her brother, Jem, sat when they watched the trial of Tom Robinson twenty years earlier. She recalls her father’s voice, saying “Equal rights for all, special privileges for none.” But now, even though Atticus never speaks during the meeting, she is watching him and Henry as they listen to the most evil remarks of hatred toward the Negro community. Her stomach is turned and her mind is in a frenzy. <br />
<br />
She wants answers; she cannot believe what she has witnessed. Over the next two days, she confronts Henry and calls him a hypocrite. She also confronts her aunt Alexandra, her uncle, Dr. Finch, and, most vehemently, Atticus. <br />
<br />
Jean Louise loves Dr. Finch. He always smoothed things over when she got into trouble. Now, he tells her that, until WWII, she was related by blood or marriage to many families in the town. The Finches owned slaves; Atticus was born less than ten years after the Civil War when the South was mired in the Reconstruction Period. As a child, he says, “You never opened up your eyes,” and now the mindset of the South is “nursing its hangover of hatred”.<br />
<br />
Jean Louise thinks of Calpurnia, the Negro kitchenmaid who was entrusted by Atticus to take care of his children when his wife died and Jean Louise was only 2 years old. Cal was Scout’s mother. Jean Louise thinks back to when she discovered her menstrual cycle and went screaming to Cal who taught her about her monthly “ministrition” cycle and to when she thought she was pregnant because some boy French-kissed her and Cal quickly educated her. She remembers the day she was getting ready to go to the High School dance with Henry and had bought a pair of falsies to stuff in her bosom. That evening, when Scout came down all dressed up Cal noticed that one side was lower than the other. Cal wanted to sew them to the dress but Scout said no and off she went with Henry. While dancing with Henry he noticed that one side was lower than the other. Needless to say, Scout was saved the humiliation with the help of Henry and Atticus. Scout was a handful but Calpurnia loved her and knew how to handle her. Scout’s brother, Jem, was Cal’s favorite. He died of a heart attack at the age of 22, twenty years after his mother died.<br />
<br />
When Calpurnia’s grandson kills an old drunk in a car accident, Atticus takes the case but avoids meeting with Calpurnia. This infuriates Jean Louise and she goes to visit Cal who now is 89 years old. Jean Louise, knowing what is happening in Maycomb County, now asks Cal:<br />
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Did you hate us ? <br />
Calpurnia just stared and shook her head. </div>
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Jean Louise is devastated.<br />
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Now it’s Atticus’s turn. In a one-way blistering scolding, Jean Louise blames him for sheltering her: “I never heard the “N” word;” “Equal rights for all;” “I was color blind,” she tells him. “You sowed the seeds in me, Atticus, and now it’s coming home to you.” She walks out, goes to the house and packs her bag: “I’m never coming back.”<br />
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Dr Finch shows up as she is about to leave. She looks at him and knows that Atticus already has told him about their tete-a-tete. <br />
<br />
<div style="margin-left: 3em; margin-right: 3em;">
“You know what I said?” she asks. <br />
“Yes I do.” <br />
“Why didn’t he defend himself ? All he said was, ‘I love you - as you please.’<br />
“He was letting you reduce him to a human being.” <br />
“You’re very much like him except you are a bigot and he is not.”</div>
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Both Dr. Finch and Henry try to tell her that Atticus did what he needed to do in order to know who he would be fighting; he needed to know who was behind those masks. Dr. Finch tells her that, “They can parade all they want but when it comes to burning and bombing, you know who will be there to stop them.” <br />
<br />
Jean Louise realizes that the tongue lashing she spewed on Atticus was wrong but she doesn’t know how to approach him. Dr Finch tells her that Atticus has handled worse slander and not to worry: “Just go.”<br />
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When she returns to her father’s office to pick him up, she sees Henry and makes a date with him for that evening. She intends to let him down easy as to his marriage plans. <br />
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Atticus, hearing her in the office, says, “Jean Louise, are you ready?” She is startled and starts to say she is sorry but sees he is smiling. He tells her that he is proud of her for standing up for what she believes in. When she says to him, “Atticus, I think I love you,” he replies, “Let’s go home, Scout. Open the door for me.” She steps aside to let him pass.<br />
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The words of her uncle, Dr. Finch, will stay with her: “Every man’s island, Jean Louise, every man’s watchman, is his conscience.”<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Norman Darvie</b></span> was born in the Bronx, New York and comes from a family of artists where his siblings, uncles and cousins are and were painters, potters, sculptors and jewelry designers. Self-taught, he started painting at an early age and has mastered techniques in a variety of media: charcoal, pen & ink, pastels, watercolors, acrylics and oils, as well as figure sculpting in clay, wax and stone. Retired and a graduate of Rutgers University with a BA in Mathematics, he now lives in West New York, New Jersey and continues his art work in his studio in upstate New York. Norman is currently a life member of the Art Students League of New York and many of his paintings and sculptures are in private collections throughout the Country. For more, see <a href="http://normandarvieart.com/" target="_blank">normandarvieart.com</a>.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967853502767397869noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8372798409585018879.post-78307525473274884852015-07-20T08:00:00.001-04:002015-07-20T08:00:04.617-04:00Atticus Lish's ‘Preparation for the Next Life’ is an impressive debut novel of unsettling power<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LXRM0i_keQA/VapoPjqb-3I/AAAAAAAACgk/P0I5R_-mv58/s1600/Atticus%2BLish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0;"><img border="0" height="282" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LXRM0i_keQA/VapoPjqb-3I/AAAAAAAACgk/P0I5R_-mv58/s400/Atticus%2BLish.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="float: left; font-size: 105px; line-height: 80px; margin: 3px 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;">I</span></span>n awarding Atticus Lish the PEN/Faulkner Award for his debut novel, <i>Preparation for the Next Life</i>, the judges said it “scours and illuminates the vast, traumatized America that lives, works and loves outside the castle gates. The result is an incantation, a <br />
<a name='more'></a>song of ourselves, a shout.”<br />
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While it’s a book that deserves all the praise it has received, it also provides a real-life, heartwarming lesson for struggling authors everywhere. Lish is the son of Gordon Lish, the legendary editor who worked with Raymond Carver and others. It’s a connection which would have provided an easy route to the highest levels of the publishing business – except that Lish didn’t tell his father he had written a novel. Instead, he sold it to a struggling one-man press, Tyrant Books, for a reported $2,000 advance. Thirty-five hundred copies were printed. Then came the very positive reviews and the press had to scramble to meet demand. Since then, <i>Preparation</i> has also won the $5,000 Carla Furstenberg Cohen Literary Prize in fiction as well as the $15,000 PEN/Faulkner prize. <br />
<br />
<i>Preparation for the Next Life</i> is the love story of an illegal Chinese Muslim immigrant, Zou Lei, and an emotionally traumatized Iraq War veteran, Brad Skinner. But, as Patrick Flaherty wrote in <i>The Guardian</i> (4/18/15):<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-left: 3em; margin-right: 3em;">
It is clear from the start that <i>Preparation for the Next Life</i>, the impressive debut novel by Atticus Lish, cannot have a happy ending. Illegal immigrant Zou Lei and Iraq war veteran Brad Skinner, both seeking refuge amid the wreckage of post-9/11 New York, come crashing together with the force of classical tragedy. Charged with breathless momentum, the book propels them towards a destiny as devastating as it is hopeful.</div>
<br />
Zou is a half-Uighur, half-Han Chinese woman smuggled into the country in a truck and determined to survive, come hell or highwater. Caught up in an immigration sweep, she is released from detention without explanation after three months and makes her way to Queens, New York because, “she was going to stay where everybody was illegal…get lost in the crowd and keep her head down. Forget living like an American. It was enough to be free and on the street.”<br />
<br />
Skinner, suffering from PTSD after three tours in Iraq, hitchhikes to New York with guns in his backpack. He and Zou, both initially homeless, meet by accident in a condemned building where he is looking for an erotic massage and they become lovers.<br />
<br />
Zou, whose ancestors were nomads, dreams of wandering across America with Skinner, supporting themselves by trading, “wearing sheath knives and cowboy hats and riding horses in a sun-filled land outside the reaches of the authorities.” Instead, their life is supported by her underpaid work in fast-food restaurants, surrounded by people as poor and desperate as she. Skinner, haunted by the atrocities of Iraq, spends his days getting high and lifting weights. Eventually, he rents a room in the basement of a half-immigrant family with a white-supremacist ex-con son.<br />
<br />
At its core, this is a book about America’s own nomads, alienated and wandering in search of work and some glimmer of hope. Writing in <i>The New York Times</i> (11/12/14), Dwight Garner expressed it best: <br />
<br />
<div style="margin-left: 3em; margin-right: 3em;">
Atticus Lish’s first novel, “Preparation for the Next Life,” is unlike any American fiction I’ve read recently in its intricate comprehension of, and deep feeling for, life at the margins.<br />
<br />
This is an intense book with a low, flyspecked center of gravity. It’s about blinkered lives, scummy apartments, dismal food, bad options. At its knotty core, amazingly, is perhaps the finest and most unsentimental love story of the new decade. It’s one that builds slowly in intensity, like a shaft of sunlight into an anthracite mine.<br />
<br />
Zou Lei is optimistic, in the face of the odds, about where life is dragging her. After all, things are worse back in China. She is a fierce patriot of a sort. She thinks to herself: “The N.Y.P.D. would not stop her. If they scanned her, they would see an American flag under the scan.”<br />
<br />
The N.Y.P.D., as it happens, may be the least of her concerns. The final chapters of this indelible book pulled my heart up under my ears.</div>
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And, to quote from Patrick Flaherty in <i>The Guardian</i> again,<br />
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<div style="margin-left: 3em; margin-right: 3em;">
[T]his is not a book driven by plot. Much of its beauty and insight into the ordinary dramas of life occurs in scenes that serve no larger narrative purpose, suggesting instead a journalistic will to record the fine-grained detail of New York’s immigrant neighborhoods and the realities of exploitation and precariousness in the lives of America’s underclass.<br />
<br />
In his determination to narrate America from the bottom, Lish seems influenced as much by Dickens as by American modernists such as <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/1999/nov/27/fiction.reviews">Ralph Ellison</a> and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/jul/29/reading-american-cities-new-york-books">John Dos Passos</a>. He has a faultless ear for the speech of New York’s working poor, and an eye for situations that repeat themselves endlessly in fast-food restaurants, bodegas and shoe stores, where disaffected and underpaid employees meet disillusioned and impoverished consumers at the sharp edge of American capitalism.<br />
<br />
…This is, in the end, a profoundly political book.</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Atticus Lish</span></b> attended Phillips Academy where he studied Mandarin but dropped out of Harvard after two years. He worked in various blue collar jobs (such as a Papaya King and a foam factory) and then joined the US Marines. He was honorably discharged after a year and a half. He and his wife (a Korean-born schoolteacher) spent a year in a remote part of China teaching English. In his mid-thirties, he returned to Harvard where a fiction course set him on his path as a writer. He spent five years writing <i>Preparation for the Next Life</i> in longhand while working as a technical translator. He is said to be working on a second novel, this one set in Boston.
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967853502767397869noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8372798409585018879.post-39047952793496868292015-07-19T08:00:00.000-04:002015-07-23T10:22:01.924-04:00Raleigh apartment complex bans kids’ reading program (while allowing ice cream trucks)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-giL9HlfiZiU/Vap-B2YR_FI/AAAAAAAACjw/pY-tBvyPUaE/s1600/apts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 18pt;"><img border="0" height="203" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-giL9HlfiZiU/Vap-B2YR_FI/AAAAAAAACjw/pY-tBvyPUaE/s320/apts.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
<span style="float: left; font-size: 55pt; line-height: 40pt; margin: 6px 8px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>H</b></span></span>opefully, by the time you read this, the management of the Grand Arbor Reserve will have seen the light. If not, please contact them and the corporate owner, Landmark Apartment Trust, to point out the errors of their ways.<br />
<br />
According to a front-page story in the Saturday Raleigh <i>News and Observer</i>, teachers from the Lacy Elementary School load up their cars once a week with donated books and take them to two nearby apartment <br />
<a name='more'></a>complexes. (Originally, three complexes were involved but one has since closed.) The point of this volunteer program, created six years ago, is to keep kids reading during the summer vacation months. The teachers read to groups of children and the kids are able to borrow books for a week at a time.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Robert Willett photo, News & Observer<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Lacy</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Elementary School</st1:placetype></st1:place> teacher
Catherine Stelpflug </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">helps students</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Jamille </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jarett, 9, and Aniya Drake, 8 </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">select books.</span></span></div>
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One of the apartment complexes they serve is the Grand Arbor Reserve which recently told the teacher volunteers that they couldn’t return because “a company policy forbids any event at the complex unless it is sponsored by the corporate owner, Landmark Apartment Trust.”<br />
<br />
Jeannette Steele, regional director of Landmark, said, “This new policy serves to protect the interests of our residents and the property owner,” adding that Landmark is “exploring other ways to support this very noble cause.”<br />
<br />
Well, DOH! Here’s a suggestion, Landmark: Why don’t you sponsor the bookmobile and volunteer teachers and, while you’re at it, kick in a few bucks to buy more books for the kids who use and love the program. (After all, you can afford to do so, having announced your initial public offering (IPO) in May. You expect to raise $375,000,000 and that would pay for a lot of books.)<br />
<br />
If you’d like to express your views, here’s contact information for the Grand Arbor Reserve: It’s at 2419 Wycliff Road, Raleigh, NC 27607. Phone 919-238-7165; fax 919-783-0514; email: <a href="http://grandarborreserve.com/">grandarborreserve.com</a>.<br />
<br />
Landmark Apartment Trust Co. of America can be reached at phone: 813-281-2907; email: <a href="mailto:corporate@latapts.com">corporate@latapts.com</a>. The CEO is Stanley J. Olander and the corporate offices are at 4901 Dickens Road, Suite 101, Richmond, VA 23230.<br />
<br />
And, while you’re at it, shoot a thank-you e-mail to Mechelle Hankerson, the <i>News and Observer</i> reporter who broke the story: <a href="mailto:mhankerson@newsobserver.com">mhankerson@newsobserver.com</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967853502767397869noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8372798409585018879.post-21747080334178204232015-07-18T08:00:00.000-04:002015-07-18T13:24:57.334-04:00Registration is now open for the thirteenth annual James River Writers Conference in Richmond<div class="noborderdv" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vhrCh71lx3M/VafiqukZmfI/AAAAAAAACbs/NqBEkykh0XI/s1600/James-River-Writers-Conference-2015.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 0;"><img border="0" height="137" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sqhVwQYWUmY/Vagb3RfQJVI/AAAAAAAACeA/Lkj19Zc0zSs/s320/James-River-Writers-Conference-2015.png" width="280" /></a></div>
<span style="float: left; font-size: 70px; line-height: 55px; margin: 5px 8px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>R</b></span></span>egistration is now open for the thirteenth annual James River Writers Conference to be held October 16-18, 2015 at the Greater Richmond Convention Center in Richmond, Va.<br />
<br />
Pre-conference Master Classes will be offered on Friday, October 15. They include:<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div style="float: left; font-size: 9.5pt; height: 21em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 4%; text-align: center; width: 30%;">
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<img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GJ_6ZIky244/VafjSQRAu3I/AAAAAAAACb8/afwnYhSwtl8/s1600/Kris%2BSpisak.jpg" style="width: 100%;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Nuts and Bolts: Editing Your Work Like a Pro,” with editor <b>Kris Spisak</b></span></div>
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<div style="float: left; font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 4%; text-align: center; width: 62%;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RiOtXs4TZLY/VafjS3cWlCI/AAAAAAAACcE/B8UIN-w38n8/s1600/combo.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />“Surviving Self-Publishing: Patience and Perseverance,” with writers <b>Mary Chris Escobar</b> and <b>Alexis Anne</b></span></div>
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<div style="float: left; font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 4%; text-align: center; width: 21%;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7agoXMCpP5M/VafjTAca55I/AAAAAAAACcI/RE24D_QXT_0/s320/valley_haggard.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />“Life in 10 Minutes: Writing the Personal Essay” with writing teacher <b>Valley Haggard</b></span></div>
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<div style="float: left; font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 4%; text-align: center; width: 21%;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L5syKhqjtSI/VafjSYFx8bI/AAAAAAAACb4/qevmrCkQu-k/s1600/Public-Speaking-Expert-Charles-S-Long.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />“Say Something: Speaking gigs, book signings, and appearances for even the most introverted writer” with public speaking expert <b>Chris Long</b></span></div>
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<div style="float: left; font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 4%; text-align: center; width: 21%;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-s28MU8vGlC8/VafjS0A8StI/AAAAAAAACcA/oZnI9roIH9w/s320/Robert%2BTomes.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />“Welcome to the JRW Crime Lab: Learning the Ropes from Crime-Fighting Pros,” with retired police lieutenant <b>Robert Tomes</b></span></div>
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<div style="float: left; font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 4%; text-align: center; width: 21%;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="width: 100%;"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CGJnMUyh7ro/VafjSX30yLI/AAAAAAAACb0/_O6fgp-qG80/s320/Robert%2BBlake.jpg" style="width: 100%;" /></span>“The Art of Slam: Adding Spoken Word to Your Performance Repertoire: with <b>John S. Blake</b></span></div>
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Saturday and Sunday sessions will follow five tracks: The Pillars of Story, Diversity in Writing, Poetry, Writing for Kids/YA, and Writing as a Career. Also on Sunday, three agents and an editor will listen to and critique first pages read aloud (anonymously) and then offer comments on the spot. That afternoon, at “Pitchapalooza,” attendees will be selected at random to do one-minute pitches of their books to “Book Doctors” and literary agent Rebecca Podos.<br />
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Longer one-on-one sessions with agents will be available on a first-come-first-served basis. Participating agents are Helen Heller (The Helen Heller Agency), Rebecca Podos (The Rees Literary Agency), Linda Camacho (Prospect Agency), Heather Flaherty and Beth Phelan (The Bent Agency). An 8 minute one-on-one session with novelist David L. Robbins and a 7 minute session with Book Doctor David Henry Sterry are also available.<br />
<br />
For more information, the full program and to register: <a href="http://jamesriverwriters.org/" target="_blank">jamesriverwriters.org</a>.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967853502767397869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8372798409585018879.post-76546928384426533502015-07-17T08:00:00.000-04:002015-07-18T10:56:01.259-04:00‘One Man Against The World: The Tragedy of Richard Nixon’<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ymDGOntH6oo/VafcKtpF4CI/AAAAAAAACbI/UX4h4cPKw5A/s1600/richard-nixon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0;"><img border="0" height="330" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ymDGOntH6oo/VafcKtpF4CI/AAAAAAAACbI/UX4h4cPKw5A/s400/richard-nixon.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--NboMIlHo6Q/VafcJ4w0CCI/AAAAAAAACbA/dP8yWm21xwU/s1600/book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 0;"><img border="0" height="280" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--NboMIlHo6Q/VafcJ4w0CCI/AAAAAAAACbA/dP8yWm21xwU/s320/book.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
<span style="float: left; font-size: 105px; line-height: 80px; margin: 3px 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;">I</span></span>n an author’s note at the beginning of his <i>One Man Against The World: The Tragedy of Richard Nixon</i>, Tim Weiner asks the obvious questions about his subject:<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-left: 3em; margin-right: 3em;">
What compelled him to commit crimes – secretly collecting campaign cash from foreign dictators and aspiring American ambassadors, wiretapping his loyal aides and distinguished diplomats as if they were foreign spies – and then conspire to conceal them? Why did he drive the nation deeper into Vietnam, at a cost of tens of <br />
<a name='more'></a>thousands of American lives, only to accept a settlement no better than the one he could have signed on his first day in office? Why did he lie about his war plans to his secretary of defense and his secretary of state? What were the Watergate burglars seeking? Why did Nixon tape-record the evidence that proved his complicity in the cover-up? Why did he undertake the unconstitutional actions that led to his resignation?</div>
<br />
Weiner, who has reviewed the tens of thousands of declassified documents released between 2007 and August of 2014, writes that we now have the answers to those questions and “the story is richer and stranger than we ever knew:”<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-left: 3em; margin-right: 3em;">
For those who lived under Nixon, it is worse than you may recollect. For those too young to recall, it is worse than you can imagine. </div>
<br />
Weiner has not written a biography of Nixon. Very little is said of his early life. Rather, <i>One Man Against the World</i> focuses on his presidency and, in particular, his conduct of the Vietnam war and Watergate.<br />
<br />
Weiner begins by detailing Nixon’s efforts to prevent South Vietnam from entering into an agreement brokered by LBJ which would have ended the war. He meets with the Ambassador of South Vietnam in the presence of “The Dragon Lady,” Anna Chennault, and John Mitchell: “He wanted to make sure that a clear message was conveyed [to the president of South Vietnam] in private: whatever peace deal the Democrats were offering, South Vietnam would be far better served if the staunchly anticommunist Richard Nixon were in the White House.” As Weiner points out, it is a federal crime for a private person to conduct diplomacy with a foreign government against the interests of the U.S. <br />
<br />
As Nixon’s presidency proceeded, so did its violations of law. However, it was Nixon’s oft-stated view, “If the president does it, it’s not illegal.”<br />
<br />
Weiner presents a secretive, paranoid, deceptive, sometimes delusional Nixon who was anti-Semitic, hated Ivy-educated eastern establishment types, sneered at student protestors as “bums,” and was often drunk. He was suspicious of his closest aides as well as his enemies, and trusted no one:<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-left: 3em; margin-right: 3em;">
But Richard Nixon was never at peace. A darker spirit animated him – malevolent and violent, driven by anger and insatiable appetite for revenge. At his worst he stood on the brink of madness. He thought the world was against him. He saw enemies everywhere. His greatness became an arrogant grandeur.</div>
<br />
And, through it all, he believed himself to be a great statesman. <br />
<br />
Clearly, Weiner has done his research. There are thirty-one pages of small print footnotes, documenting or attributing every quotation and statement. <br />
<br />
If there is one fault with the book, it is the unremitting recitation of wrong-doing. Admittedly, I am no fan of Richard Nixon and was one of those “bums” protesting his actions and applauding his downfall but even he must have had some redeeming qualities somewhere. There are only two brief mentions of Pat Nixon. There is nothing of his family or personal life beyond noting his frequent trips to join Bebe Rebozo for booze-soaked respites. <br />
<br />
Certainly, I am not advocating a whitewash or the manufacturing of more sympathetic qualities if none existed. Nor do I think Weiner was required to write a family biography or a psychological study instead of the riveting book he has given us. I am saying only that, while I applaud Weiner’s presentation of what Nixon <i>did</i>, I am left somewhat unsatisfied as to the person himself. Did he enjoy anything other than revenge and power? Was he ever kind or empathetic to anyone? Was he really a total monster? <br />
<br />
I disagree with <i>The Wall Street Journal</i> which, of course, dismisses the book out of hand: “This is little more than another anti-Nixon hit job – as if the world needed any more of those… [It] is a book that will only charm inveterate Nixon haters eager to see their prejudices reconfirmed.” (Max Boot, 6/19/15) <br />
<br />
<i>One Man Against the World</i> is not a “hit job.” If anyone did a “hit job” on Nixon, it was Nixon himself who created his own destruction. As he later said, “I gave them a sword and they stuck it in.”<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tim Weiner</span></b> is the author of five books. His history of the CIA, <i>Legacy of Ashes</i>, won the National Book Award. He has also received the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for his writing on secret government programs. As a <i>New York Times</i> correspondent, he reported from Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere. He is an Anschutz Distinguished Fellow in American Studies at Princeton.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967853502767397869noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8372798409585018879.post-76854817015925078532015-07-16T08:00:00.000-04:002015-07-16T12:34:17.667-04:00Lisa Scottoline and her daughter ask: “Does This Beach Make Me Look Fat?”<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wVXY_p1ZhAQ/VaUsAFf74zI/AAAAAAAACaY/IOna2VOfXio/s1600/lisa-and-francesca.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0;"><img border="0" height="319" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wVXY_p1ZhAQ/VaUsAFf74zI/AAAAAAAACaY/IOna2VOfXio/s400/lisa-and-francesca.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="float: left; font-size: 105px; line-height: 80px; margin: 3px 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;">P</span></span>rolific mystery writer Lisa Scottoline and her daughter, Francesca Serritella, have released their sixth collection of short essays designed to appeal to women readers. From the jacket copy: “The unstoppable, irreverent mother-daughter team presents a collection of funny stories and true confessions that <br />
<a name='more'></a>every woman can relate to.” The two also write a weekly column for <i>The Philadelphia Inquirer</i> called “Chick Wit.”<br />
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Their 290 page book, <i>Does This Beach Make Me Look Fat?</i> contains seventy-seven very short pieces, fifty-one by Lisa and twenty-six by Francesca. Reading them is a little like reading the diaries of two women who are certain you’ll be reading them and thus want to make their lives sound as interesting as possible. <br />
<br />
The topics they cover are varied. Scottoline writes about her pets, her long time “besties,” her Mother Mary (who dies from advanced lung cancer), her bike and her bad back. Serritella, who lives in New York City, writes about dating, breaking up, gym memberships, The Girl Code, and her own girlfriends. Many of the pieces are amusing; a few are sad.<br />
<br />
The best character to emerge is Mother Mary, the tough-as-nails family matriarch who always told Lisa, “Don’t take any crap,” although she used a more graphic term, we are told. When her illness robs her of her ability to speak, she uses a dry erase board to issue her pithy views, curses, and commands.<br />
<br />
Perhaps Kirkus Review (4/14/15) said it best:<br />
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There are countless readers for whom a book is akin to a truffle, a small, sweet, delicate treat lacking in anything particularly sustaining. Often, it’s as much about having others know you’re enjoying it as it is about actually enjoying it. Here, bestselling novelist Scottoline and her daughter Serritella…deliver another truffle of a book. It is about nothing but enjoyment, a nudge-nudge, wink-wink narrative about womanhood in all of its messy, wonderful glory (well, “all” from the viewpoint of two well-to-do white women)… The topics are mostly the same as in their previous books, many similar to those Bombeck covered far more dynamically in her many bestsellers…<br />
<br />
A silly, featherweight confection that will only appeal to the authors’ many fans.</div>
<br />
Given that Lisa Scottoline has thirty million books in print, that’s a lot of fans to which it will appeal.<br />
<br />
The earlier Scottoline-Serritella collaborations include: <i>Have a Nice Guilt Trip, Meet Me at Emotional Baggage Claim</i>, <i>Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog</i>, <i>My Nest Isn’t Empty</i>, <i>It Just Has More Closet Space</i>, and <i>Best Friends</i>, <i>Occasional Enemies</i>.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Lisa Scottoline</b></span> is the author of twenty four novels and has won the Edgar Award for suspense writing. She is the president of Mystery Writers of America. For more, see <a href="http://scottoline.com/" target="_blank">scottoline.com</a>.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Francesca Serritella</b></span> graduated <i>cum laude</i> from Harvard University where she won the Thomas Temple Hoopes Prize, the Le Baron Russell Briggs Fiction Prize, and the Charles Edmund Horman Prize for her creative writing. She is presently working on her debut novel. <a href="http://francescaserritella.com/" target="_blank">Francescaserritella.com</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967853502767397869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8372798409585018879.post-1338811336368404372015-07-15T08:00:00.000-04:002015-07-15T08:00:04.372-04:00Time to pre-order ‘Murder Under the Oaks,’ Bouchercon’s 2015 anthology<div class="noborderdv" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gLnEOyHVDMk/VaPpd7PBG8I/AAAAAAAACZA/7l5vIB8cDb4/s1600/logo_15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="161" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gLnEOyHVDMk/VaPpd7PBG8I/AAAAAAAACZA/7l5vIB8cDb4/s200/logo_15.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
<span style="float: left; font-size: 125px; line-height: 100px; margin: 5px 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;">B</span></span>ouchercon 2015, the 46th annual international crime fiction event, is being held in Raleigh October 8-11. More than a thousand authors, fans, publishers, reviewers, booksellers and editors are expected. (You can see a list of special guests and registered attendees at <a href="http://bouchercon2015.org/" target="_blank">Bouchercon2015.org</a>).<br />
<br />
The 2015 Bouchercon Anthology: <i>Murder Under the Oaks</i>, is now available for pre-order from Down and Out Books. Edited by Art Taylor, <br />
<a name='more'></a>it contains stories by Grand Master Margaret Maron, Edgar Award Winner Tom Franklin, and <i>New York Times</i> bestselling novelist Ron Rash. <br />
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<img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4jI9GRIAC1M/VaPrbefGT1I/AAAAAAAACZQ/Q-LQQi5vxko/s1600/maron.jpg" style="width: 100%;" /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Margaret Maron</span></div>
<div style="float: left; font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 2%; text-align: center; width: 31%;">
<img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-G2zq2ZWCr2E/VaPrbHNH5QI/AAAAAAAACZM/5ELxQjHfzJQ/s1600/Franklin.jpg" style="width: 100%;" /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Tom Franklin</span></div>
<div style="float: left; font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 2%; text-align: center; width: 31%;">
<img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Y-db5BjHP1w/VaPrbUkntMI/AAAAAAAACZU/fPUmTj8eW7A/s1600/rash.jpg" style="width: 100%;" /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ron Rash</span></div>
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Additional contributors include J.L. Abrams, J.D. Allen, Lori Armstrong, Rob Bruner, P.A. De Voe, Sean Doolittle, Toni Goodyear, Kristin Kisske, Robert LoPresti, Robert Mangeot, Kathleen Mix, Britni Patterson, Karen Pullen, Karen E. Salyer, Sarah Shaber, Zoe Sharp, B.K. Stevens and Graham Wynd.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6J7c6kOFj6w/VaPshZXlX0I/AAAAAAAACZk/ZlJLJ8zGJyc/s1600/anthology.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6J7c6kOFj6w/VaPshZXlX0I/AAAAAAAACZk/ZlJLJ8zGJyc/s200/anthology.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
All profits from the book go to support the Wake County Public Libraries. Trade paperback copies of the anthology can be pre-ordered from downandoutbooks.com for $15.00. You can pick up your copy at Bocheron or have it shipped for an additional fee.<br />
<br />
For more information about the Bouchercon Convention, and to register, go to <a href="http://bouchercon2015.org/" target="_blank">Bouchercon2015.org</a>.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967853502767397869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8372798409585018879.post-60868172449131226682015-07-14T08:00:00.000-04:002015-07-14T11:41:48.942-04:00T. C. Boyle’s ‘The Harder They Come’ is a yes-you-oughta’-read-it-now novel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AjvmTbuWAcc/VaPdqb8rN9I/AAAAAAAACYo/6bocaPv8krU/s1600/boyle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0;"><img border="0" height="270" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AjvmTbuWAcc/VaPdqb8rN9I/AAAAAAAACYo/6bocaPv8krU/s400/boyle.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="float: left; font-size: 105px; line-height: 80px; margin: 3px 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: inherit;">A</span></span>lmost every time I pick up a T.C. Boyle book, I begin to wonder what kind of Faustian deal I could make that would allow me to write half as well as he does. OK, a tenth as well. (Pssst! Call me, Mephistopheles.)<br />
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Boyle’s <i>The Harder They Come</i> (not to be confused with Perry Henzell’s 1972 Jamaican crime film of the same name) is his fifteenth novel and twenty-fifth book. Set mostly in Northern California, it “explores the roots of violence and anti-authoritarianism inherent in the American character.” <br />
<br />
The three main characters are Sten Stenson, a Vietnam vet and retired school principal, now in his 70’s, his son, Adam, and Adam’s older girlfriend, Sara. <br />
<br />
Sten has a trigger temper. In the opening scene of the book, he and his wife are on a cruise and have signed up for a nature walk in the Costa <br />
<a name='more'></a>Rican jungles. After a harrowing bus ride, they arrive at their destination whereupon three <i>banditos</i>, one waving a gun and two with knives, order the passengers – mostly elderly – to hand over their money and possessions. Sten’s military training kicks in: “What he’d learned as a nineteen-year-old himself, a recruit, green as an apple, wasn’t about self-defense, it was about killing, and does anybody ever forget that?” He gets the gunman in a choke hold – “…first thing they teach you. <i>Choke off the air and don’t let up no matter what</i>.” The gun falls away but Sten doesn’t reduce the pressure. “…He was immobilizing him because that was what he’d been trained to do and he had no choice in the matter. It was beyond reason now, autonomous, dial it up, semper fi.” <br />
<br />
In a subsequent scene back in California, his wife is determined to go into a bar where their son and his girlfriend are. Sten doesn’t want her to: “What he did then was take hold of her arm – or no, he snatched it with a sudden jolt of violence that seemed to explode inside him. ‘You’re not going nowhere,’ he rasped, his voice tight in his throat. She tried to pull away but he held on to her, his hand clamped just above her elbow, feeling the bone there, the humerous, and how weightless and weak and fragile it was.” <br />
<br />
That night, he sleeps in the guest room “because Carolee was in one of her moods.”<br />
<br />
Sten is part of the organization “Take Back Our Forest,” whose members patrol heavily wooded areas, searching for hidden Mexican cartel marijuana plantations. They are convinced that the Mexicans are killing wildlife to keep it away from the plantations, even going so far as to poison water supplies from which the animals might drink. In one scene, Sten and a fellow member see a group of Mexicans buying supplies and loading them into a pickup truck. Since the truck is not a beaten up junker, they immediately conclude that the Mexicans are drug dealers and determine to follow them in Sten’s Prius to see where they turn off to get to their camp. As the novel progresses, this organization moves more and more toward vigilantism.<br />
<br />
Sten and Carolee’s now-adult son, Adam, is seriously mentally ill, off his medications, and armed. He imagines himself to be the reincarnation of John Colter, Lewis and Clark’s scout, who became a mountain man survivalist. Adam sees “aliens” (which include police, intruders, anyone who interferes in any way with him) everywhere. He has built a camp high in the woods where he lives, raising marijuana plants and opium poppies. Each day, he pushes himself with physical routines to build his endurance, his ability to move soundlessly through the woods, and to perform military maneuvers in case “aliens” attack.<br />
<br />
Sten reacts to his son’s behavior with anger insisting that Adam “turns it on and off” at will. “He could feel the anger coming up in him, anger at her…but most of all at Adam, Adam with his thrusts and parries and the way he hid behind his debility, pulled it down like a screen to excuse anything….” <br />
<br />
Sara, who meets Adam by chance, is a “sovereign citizen” who refuses to recognize the authority of the “U.S. Illegitimate Government of America the Corporate.” She is stopped by police for not wearing a seatbelt (a thing she refuses to do on principle, it being an example of government overreach). She is arrested when she will not give her name or hand over her license: “I do not have a contract with you,” is all she will say. Her reading of the Uniform Commercial Code is that it guarantees “free and unencumbered access” to highways and byways – and, therefore, she cannot legally be stopped by the police whose authority she does not recognize. She becomes Adam’s lover and a kind of surrogate mother as well.<br />
<br />
After Adam sinks deeper into madness and murders an “alien,” a massive manhunt ensues. Although he eludes his pursuers for weeks, the novel moves inexorably toward its violent conclusion.<br />
<br />
Boyle presents his characters without condescension or polemics. His pacing is near-perfect and his descriptions of the settings in which the characters move are masterful.<br />
<br />
Some critics have been dismissive. Claire Fallon, writing for <i>The Huffington Post</i>, called Boyle’s writing “stodgily assured” and declared <i>The Harder They Fall</i> “a powerful but stylistically flawed novel.” Jason Sheehan blew him off as “an old school novelist” in an NPR review. To which I say, in the most professional tone I can muster, “Oh, bull.”<br />
<br />
Michiko Kakutani, writing in <i>The New York Times</i>, nailed it: “[S]tunning… It’s gripping, funny and melancholy…<i>The Harder They Come</i> is a masterly - and arresting - piece of storytelling, arguably Mr. Boyle’s most powerful, kinetic novel yet.” <br />
<br />
And Jess Walter wrote in the <i>Los Angeles Times</i>:<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-left: 3em; margin-right: 3em;">
How many times since T.C. Boyle began publishing in 1979 has traditional fiction been declared dead, moribund, irrelevant?<br />
<br />
And yet here he comes again, riding up on “The Harder They Come,” a full-throated Harley Davidson of a novel, his 15th (in addition to 10 stellar books of stories). Here he’s using some of fiction’s least fashionable attributes, social realism, pointed action and thematic ambition, to brilliantly dissect America’s love affair with violence.<br />
<br />
Fiction’s most recent deathwatch began with David Shields’ provocative 2010 book “Reality Hunger,” in which he diagnosed the traditional novel as ‘predictable, tired, contrived and essentially purposeless.’ Other autopsies followed.<br />
<br />
…In this meek climate, it’s a treat to read an expansive novel in which big characters (none of whom is a writer!) act out a gripping, grounded drama meant to expose some key aspect of the American character, in this case, the myth of self-reliance and its connection to paranoid jingoism. It’s the sort of novel critics might once have called writ large – and, dude, if its large writing you want, you could do worse than T.C. Boyle.</div>
<br />
If Boyle is “old school,” (Look, Ma, no vampires! No meta puns! No destruction of Planet Earth by rogue viruses! No navel gazing!), then I say, bring it on. Please.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZD95u1CVIh4/VaPdqa_h7DI/AAAAAAAACYk/xIY8-PAy0uk/s1600/boyle_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="131" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZD95u1CVIh4/VaPdqa_h7DI/AAAAAAAACYk/xIY8-PAy0uk/s200/boyle_2.jpg" width="175" /></a>
<b>T.C. Boyle</b> won the PEN/Faulkner award in 1988 for <i>World’s End</i>, and the Prix Medicis etranger in 1995 for <i>The Tortilla Curtain</i>. In 2014, he won the Henry David Thoreau award for excellence in nature writing. He is a Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967853502767397869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8372798409585018879.post-30032523605337454732015-07-13T08:00:00.000-04:002015-07-13T08:00:10.191-04:002015 International Thriller Winners<div class="noborderdv" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NXrAgBhgvjw/VaJ8Yrun36I/AAAAAAAACXo/ScYdrkrQjPY/s1600/itw-logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NXrAgBhgvjw/VaJ8Yrun36I/AAAAAAAACXo/ScYdrkrQjPY/s1600/itw-logo.jpg" /></a></div>
The International Thriller Writers announced the winners of the 2015 Thriller Awards on Saturday night in New York. Posted by SHOTS Crime and Thriller Ezine, they are:<br />
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<div style="float: left; font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-right: 3%; text-align: left; width: 47%;">
<img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8uyft7siWNo/VaJ3nEtTQ4I/AAAAAAAACXM/eqg-_xHpX9c/s1600/the-fever.jpg" style="width: 100%;" /><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">BEST HARDCOVER NOVEL</span></b><br />
<i>The Fever</i> by Megan Abbot</div>
<div style="float: left; font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-right: 3%; text-align: left; width: 47%;">
<img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Oj8k8-Zy9uc/VaJ3nF6CVVI/AAAAAAAACXc/WwWgJQrZ8L4/s1600/weight-of-blood.jpg" style="width: 100%;" /><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">BEST FIRST NOVEL</span></b><br />
<i>The Weight of Blood</i> by Laura McHugh</div>
<div style="float: left; font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-right: 3%; text-align: left; width: 47%;">
<img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--Jdcy0wASFY/VaJ3ms1Br7I/AAAAAAAACXQ/9hH-YRzxtaU/s1600/nearly-gone.jpg" style="width: 100%;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL</b></span><br />
<i>Nearly Gone</i> by Elle Cosimano</div>
<div style="float: left; font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-right: 3%; text-align: left; width: 47%;">
<img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CP3tn2Lieos/VaJ3mtMp4iI/AAAAAAAACXI/8qfCQUeLX98/s1600/moonlight.jpg" style="width: 100%;" /><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">BEST PAPERBACK<br />ORIGINAL NOVEL</span></b><br />
<i>Moonlight Weeps</i> by Vincent Zandri</div>
<div style="float: left; font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-right: 3%; text-align: left; width: 47%;">
<img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6FLPktyXr4g/VaJ3mqE9SVI/AAAAAAAACXY/rEzLks53d4k/s1600/hard-fall.jpg" style="width: 100%;" /><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">BEST E-BOOK ORIGINAL NOVEL</span></b><br />
<i>Hard Fall</i> by C. J. Lyons</div>
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Best Short Story Prize went to “The Last Wrestling Bear in West Kentucky” by Tim L. Williams (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine).
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<br />
Nelson DeMille was designated ThrillerMaster in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the genre and Kathy Reichs was given the Literary Silver Bullet Award.
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Thanks to SHOTS Crime & Thriller Ezine (<a href="http://shotsmagcouk.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">shotsmagcouk.blogspot.com</a>) for putting out the word!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967853502767397869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8372798409585018879.post-26196233964288507672015-07-12T08:00:00.000-04:002015-07-13T11:52:06.404-04:00Authors & readers organize against Amazon’s “You Know The Author” review purges<div class="noborderdv" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<span style="float: left; font-size: 105px; line-height: 80px; margin: 2px 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>A</b></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">uthor Jas Ward has had enough! </span>Her petition to make Amazon change its “You Know The Author” policy has over 11,000 supporters (as of July 10) and the numbers are rising. You can join the fight at <a href="https://www.change.org/p/amazon-com-amazon-change-the-you-know-this-author-policy?source_location=petition_footer&algorithm=promoted" target="_blank">change.org</a>.<br />
<br />
David Streitfeld drew attention to Amazon “review purges” back in 2012 <br />
<a name='more'></a>in <i>The New York Times</i>:<br />
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<div style="margin-left: 3em; margin-right: 3em;">
Giving raves to family members is no longer acceptable. Neither is writers’ reviewing other writers. But showering five stars on a book you admittedly have not read is fine.<br />
<br />
After several well-publicized cases involving writers buying or manipulating their reviews, Amazon is cracking down. Writers say thousands of reviews have been deleted from the shopping site in recent months.</div>
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Among the problems that led to this purge: Timothy Ferriss, “The 4-Hour Chef,” sent several hundred review copies to fans and potential fans and, using Twitter and Facebook, asked for reviews. Dozens were immediately posted on publication day, some of which acknowledged that the poster had not yet read the book. Amazon’s response was, according to Streitfeld, “We do not require people to have experienced the product in order to review.”<br />
<br />
Then there was Harriet Klausner who had published an average of seven reviews a day for more than a decade, giving more than 99.9 percent of them four or five stars. “If I can make it past the first 50 pages, that means I like it, and so I review it,” she said.<br />
<br />
Cracking down on that sort of things seems reasonable so far, right?<br />
<br />
But, Amazon has escalated. Now it is searching social media for any connection between you and an author. If you have “friended” an author or “liked” his page or post, for example, your review of his book will be deleted, even if you’ve never met him. Instead, you’ll get a notice from Amazon that says:<br />
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<div style="margin-left: 3em; margin-right: 3em;">
Hello,<br />
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We removed your Customer Reviews because you know the author personally.<br />
<br />
Due to the proprietary nature of our business, we do not provide detailed information on how we determine that accounts are related.</div>
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Indie author and book blogger Imy Santiago had such an experience:<br />
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‘A couple of weeks ago I read the third installment of a series I really loved. Like any reader, as soon as I finished reading, I wrote my review. When I tried posting it on Amazon I received a rather concerning email.’<br />
<br />
The email told Santiago that she was ‘not eligible to review this product,’ which she challenged with Amazon’s customer service team, who she says told her: ‘We cannot post your customer review to the Amazon website because your account activity indicates that you know the author.’<br />
<br />
Santiago says she has only interacted with the author in questions online and doesn’t know them personally, and writes: ‘It is censorship at its finest. I have interacted with a couple hundred authors over the past year; from events to signings, authors and writers rub elbows in networking sessions. This does NOT mean I know you personally.’ She adds that Amazon has ‘spat in the face of those authors and writers whose work deserves praise and recognition. (David Barnett, <i>The Guardian</i>, 7/9/15)</div>
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The petition posted by author Jas Ward asks Amazon to change its policy and reads, in pertinent part:<br />
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<div style="margin-left: 3em; margin-right: 3em;">
In the world where both Indie and Traditional authors are using all tools available to try to get their latest books out to the reader, it’s essential for the authors and their associates to use social media, i.e. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.<br />
<br />
With that being said, a reader is therefore going to have cookies and data when they see that interaction and very likely would have LIKED and/or followed the author’s pages, profiles and other avenues being a fan of the author’s work. They are fans after all – they want to know what an author does and their current news and title releases.<br />
<br />
Your current process of removing reviews that a reader has created to show their honest & sincere opinion on a book is not fair and cripples the review process more than assists.<br />
<br />
In the days of the negative trend where those who wish an author harm are using reviews to hurt sales or the author’s confidence, this policy makes zero sense, as the individuals that are instructed or wish to harm are most likely NOT a fan and/or follower and therefore would most likely NOT to have as many cookies, data tracks as a good, loyal fan would.<br />
<br />
…Therefore, we are asking that you consider all of the above and review your internal policy on tracking a reviewer’s history. It is not fair nor is it just and we the readers and authors and all-around lovers of books ask that it be stopped.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967853502767397869noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8372798409585018879.post-6624123491412658942015-07-11T08:00:00.000-04:002015-07-12T10:18:09.772-04:002015 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction finalists announced<div class="noborderdv" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The American Bar Association’s ABA Journal and the University of Alabama Law School have announced the finalists for the 2015 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. The award is given annually “to a book-length fictional work that ‘best exemplifies the role of lawyers in society, and their power to effect change.’ ”<br />
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The finalists are:
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<div style="float: left; font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1%; text-align: center; width: 30%;">
<img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F2Btv_4ZK2Y/VZ0hyiadqOI/AAAAAAAACUs/j5FcGNj4G_4/s1600/My%2BSister%25E2%2580%2599s%2BGrave.jpg" style="width: 95%;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>My Sister’s Grave</b><br />by Robert Dugoni</span></div>
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<img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PPgCFDByqaU/VZ0hzEXZqoI/AAAAAAAACVA/VTjXnnB-Nk4/s1600/Terminal-City.jpg" style="width: 95%;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Terminal City</b><br />by Linda Fairstein</span></div>
<div style="float: left; font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1%; text-align: center; width: 30%;">
<img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3a0cX5SpBaw/VZ0hzBp_DeI/AAAAAAAACVI/MJaFmzOqyhI/s1600/The-Secret-of-Magic.jpg" style="width: 95%;" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Secret of Magic</b><br />by Deborah Johnson</span></div>
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The winner will receive the prize (and a signed copy of <i>To Kill a Mocking Bird</i>) on September 3 in Washington, D.C. <br />
<br />
Last year’s winner was John Grisham for <i>Sycamore Row</i>.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967853502767397869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8372798409585018879.post-79108639060312936102015-07-10T08:00:00.001-04:002015-07-10T16:51:27.604-04:00Judy Blume’s ‘In the Unlikely Event’ centers on three plane crashes near Newark Airport <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="float: left; font-size: 105px; line-height: 80px; margin: 2px 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I</span></span><i>n the Unlikely Event</i> is Judy Blume’s first novel for an adult audience in fifteen years and she says it’s the last long novel she intends to write. At age seventy-seven, she’s entitled to rest on her laurels, especially after having sold more than eighty-five million books.<br />
<br />
She is perhaps best known for her Middle-Grade and YA books including, <i>Are You There, God? It’s Me – Margaret</i>. She is known, admired (and sometimes banned) for her frank depiction of topics like masturbation, physically developing bodies, sex and other subjects often avoided in YA novels.<br />
<br />
<i>In the Unlikely Event</i> tells the story of three generations of a Jewish family in Elizabeth, New Jersey, mostly in the years 1951 and 1952. It is <br />
<a name='more'></a>structured around the crashes of three planes within eight weeks in the area around Newark Airport. In fact, Blume and her family lived in Elizabeth at the time of these three deadly crashes. One of the planes went down on an iced-over river but the other two exploded near schools and an orphanage, destroying homes. Residents along the flight paths demanded that the airport be closed.<br />
<br />
Miri Ammerman, a young teenager, is the daughter of a never-married mother, “Rusty.” They occupy the top-floor apartment and Irene, Miri’s grandmother and Rusty’s mother, occupies the first-floor apartment with her son, Henry, a fledging journalist.<br />
<br />
Miri’s best friend Natalie is the daughter of the family dentist, Dr. Osner and his wife, Corinne, who comes from a monied family in Birmingham. Their longtime housekeeper, Mrs. Barnes, is the mother of one of the downed pilots.<br />
<br />
All of the characters are affected in one way or another by the crashes: Miri witnesses one of the planes going down. Uncle Henry, the journalist, makes his reputation by reporting on the crashes and eventually is hired by a Washington, D.C. paper. Irene works in a makeshift site set up to feed rescue workers and brings home the widower of one of the passengers killed in the first crash. Dr. Osner is called upon to identify the bodies through dental charts. Natalie is obsessed with Ruby, a professional dancer killed in the first crash, and believes that her body is now “inhabited” by Ruby who talks to her, “instructs” her and eventually tells her to stop eating. <br />
<br />
The novel is structured in three main sections (one for each crash), bookended by a kind of prologue and epilogue in which the grown-up Miri returns to Elizabeth to attend a ceremony marking the anniversary of the disasters. Within the three main sections, there are very short sections, each labeled with the name of the POV character of that section.<br />
<br />
Blume’s strengths are these: she perfectly captures the mindset and actions of teenagers. Mira’s tender young first love with a boy who lives in an orphanage is spot-on. She is also particularly skilled at reproducing the fifties: the Elizabeth Taylor haircuts, the “I dreamed I saved the world in my Maidenform bra,” the Noxema smeared on young complexions to get rid of blemishes, the popular songs, the dances, the nylon tricot half-slips ($3.99), the Kate Smith Show, and so forth.<br />
<br />
In an article in the most recent issue of <i>Poets and Writers</i>, Blume says, “I have a fabulous memory for my early life, but I remember very few things about the crashes – which is why I had to do so much research.” That “fabulous memory” for her early life surely informs her ear for young people’s speech and thoughts. And the research is evident in every page of the book.<br />
<br />
In spite of these strengths, I did have some difficulties with <i>In the Unlikely Event</i>. It was very slow in starting (although the pace did pick up a little as things went on). There are literally dozens of characters and they are not well-differentiated. I finally had to make a chart and refer regularly to it to keep straight who was related to whom. Apparently, I was not the only one facing this difficulty:<br />
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<div style="margin-left: 3em; margin-right: 3em;">
Admittedly, the vast array of characters, who are quickly introduced, can be a little disorienting, and occasionally you might need to flip back pages to remember just who is who. It takes a while before you realize that Blume has threaded these lives together in an essential way and given every one of them importance, even a walk-on character like Longy Zwillman, the local gangster who promotes Las Vegas as the promised land they all need. (Caroline Leavitt, <i>The New York Times</i>, 5/25/15)</div>
<br />
And this:<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-left: 3em; margin-right: 3em;">
Initially this novel’s multiple-voice structure feels hard to follow. It could have done with a cast list. Early US reviewers report drawing up a chart of the 20-plus narrators in order to keep up. But Miri Ammerman, the first to appear, provides an anchor for the whole narrative. A bright, amusing but gawky teenage girl with the obligatory “perfect” best friend, Miri is being raised by Jewish single mother Rusty, who is equally entertaining. Miri serves as our quasi-sensible guide when everything starts to go wrong, as the inhabitants of Elizabeth struggle to cope with lightning striking three times. Is this related to a government conspiracy? Space aliens? The communists? The local paper reports Elizabeth as being “long fearful because of its proximity to Newark airport.” (Viv Groskop, <i>The Guardian</i>, 6/7/15)</div>
<br />
In my view, the novel could have been improved by deleting many of the characters and focusing more deeply on the ones that are central.<br />
<br />
In most respects, except for a couple of brief but graphic sex scenes, the book reads very much like a Young Adult novel. It is also oddly flat. Not much is made of the crashes themselves: A few passengers have their short POV sections. The plane goes down. Rescuers rush to the scene. As Caroline Leavitt writes, “…Blume is much more interested in the way people themselves crash and burn, or sometimes manage to fly higher than they expected.”<br />
<br />
With the exception of the delusional Natalie, the author doesn’t explore the effects on individuals very deeply, other than to simply state them. It is Grandma Irene’s mantra that survives: <i>Life Goes On</i>.<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Judy Blume’s</span></b> previous adult novels include <i>Wifey</i>, which has sold over 4 million copies to date, <i>Smart Women</i> and <i>Summer Sisters</i>, which remained on <i>The New York Times</i> bestseller list for five months, has sold more than 3 million copies. Blume has won over ninety literary awards, including the 1996 ALA Margaret A. Edwards Award for <i>Forever</i>, published in 1975. According to the citation, “She broke new ground in her frank portrayal of Michael and Katherine, high school seniors who are in love for the first time. Their love and sexuality are described in an open, realistic manner and with great compassion.” In April 2000, the Library of Congress named her to its Living Legends in the Writers and Artists category for her significant contributions to America’s cultural heritage. In 2004 she received the annual Distinguished Contribution to American Letters Medal of the National Book Foundation as someone who “has enriched [American] literary heritage over a life of service, or a corpus of work.”</box2>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967853502767397869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8372798409585018879.post-17242611721671045262015-07-09T08:00:00.000-04:002015-07-09T08:18:26.882-04:00For once, the term “hero” actually fits!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WCSq9a6xGMo/VZgEoOhKaXI/AAAAAAAACTI/_SLyNw6geEI/s1600/stevenson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0;"><img border="0" height="270" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WCSq9a6xGMo/VZgEoOhKaXI/AAAAAAAACTI/_SLyNw6geEI/s400/stevenson.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I2pEwHBIWIk/VZgFJBCUZhI/AAAAAAAACTQ/TuBhQkZb3s0/s1600/book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="280" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I2pEwHBIWIk/VZgFJBCUZhI/AAAAAAAACTQ/TuBhQkZb3s0/s320/book.jpg" width="196" /></a></div>
<span style="float: left; font-size: 105px; line-height: 80px; margin: 2px 25px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; letter-spacing: -12px;">We</span></span>tend to bandy about the word “hero” a lot these days. Anyone from a winning athlete to the neighbor who rescues a cat from a tree is a “hero.” It cheapens the currency so I am happy to announce that Bryan Stevenson, author of <i>Just Mercy,</i> is the real deal. A real, genuine, 100% hero. No less an authority than Desmond Tutu calls him “America's young Nelson Mandela.”<br />
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The great-grandson of slaves, Stevenson grew up in a poor, rural, racially segregated settlement on the eastern shore of the Delmarva Peninsula in Delaware. His father worked in a food factory and cleaned beach cottages and rentals on the weekends. His mother had a civilian job at an Air Force Base. Against these odds, <br />
<a name='more'></a>Stevenson graduated from Eastern College near Philadelphia and then from Harvard Law School and the John F. Kennedy School of Government.<br />
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While at Harvard, he interned at the Southern Prisoners Defense Committee (SPDC) and found his calling. After several years there, he founded and is the Executive Director of, the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), a non-profit headquartered in Montgomery, Alabama. Since it was founded, EJI has saved 115 death row prisoners from execution.<br />
<br />
His book, <i>Just Mercy</i>, is framed with the story of one such prisoner, Walter McMillian, who spent six years on death row for a crime he did not commit. In 1986, McMillian was an African-American man who lived in Monroeville, Alabama – the town made famous by Harper Lee with a courthouse in which a good deal of the movie was filmed. He had his own logging business and no criminal record except for a misdemeanor resulting from a youthful bar fight. He was married and had a large extended family. However, he was also violating one of the “sacred” taboos: he was having an affair with a white woman.<br />
<br />
A young white woman, Ronda Morrison, was murdered in a dry cleaning store and the town was anxious and angry that no one had been arrested. After eight months, one Ralph Myers was arrested in connection with another case and, after a week of interrogation, accused McMillian of the Morrison murder.<br />
<br />
McMillian had dozens of witnesses that put him at home that day. His family and members of his church were conducting a very large fish fry in his front yard, selling fish sandwiches to passers-by to raise money for the church. One of the customers was even a law enforcement officer.<br />
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Nonetheless, McMillian was arrested by Sheriff Thomas Tate and, in an extraordinary move, placed on Death Row in a State Prison <i>before he was even tried</i>. The trial judge, Hon. Robert E. Lee Key, then moved the trial from Monroe County, which is 40% black to Baldwin County which is only 13% black. <br />
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The prosecution called three witnesses: Myers testified that McMillian asked him to drive him to the cleaning store where, he claimed, he witnessed the murder. A second witness claimed to have seen McMillian’s “low rider” truck at the scene and a third witness also implicated him. After a one and a half day trial, he was convicted. The jury sentenced him to life in prison without parole but the judge overrode their decision (as permitted by Alabama law) and sentenced McMillian to death in the electric chair.<br />
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Bryan Stevenson and his team took on the case. Soon after he agreed to represent McMillian, Stevenson got a call from Judge Robert E. Lee Key himself who warned him off the case and strongly suggested “you just go ahead and withdraw.”<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1reuxd-PgDM/VZgWIIRQ5BI/AAAAAAAACUA/LaO2O-mqQds/s1600/McMillian_home.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="221" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1reuxd-PgDM/VZgWIIRQ5BI/AAAAAAAACUA/LaO2O-mqQds/s320/McMillian_home.jpg" width="280" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Walter McMillian at his family’s home the day of<br />his release.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Stevenson didn’t and, with the help of the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, was able to show that every element of the prosecution’s case was untrue. All three witnesses recanted, testifying that they had been bullied into making their statements by law enforcement officers. Amazingly enough, some of those sessions had actually been tape recorded. Exculpatory evidence was withheld, including the fact that Myers avoided a capital murder charge by testifying against McMillian and that other witnesses were paid thousands of dollars for their false testimony. After applying to court after court, Stevenson finally won an order for a new trial. By that time, Judge Key had retired and there was a new prosecutor who joined in the application to dismiss the charges against McMillan and free him.<br />
<br />
Sheriff Tate, however, was re-elected again and again and was still the sheriff of Monroe County at the time of the book’s publication in 2014.<br />
<br />
While continuing to work for prisoners on death row, the Equal Justice Initiative turned its attention to mandatory life sentences for children. Stevenson won a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court that it is unconstitutional to sentence children to life without parole if they are 17 or younger and have not committed murder. Prisoners in many states are eligible to be paroled under this holding but each case must be pursued separately. After he gave a TED talk on the subject, one million dollars was raised for this work.<br />
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The cases Stevenson describes are often heart-breaking and the statistics are sobering. Much work remains to be done and we need more men – more heroes – like Stevenson to do it.<br />
<br />
<i>Just Mercy</i> was awarded the 2015 Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction by the American Library Association last month. <br />
<br />
In 1995, Bryan Stevenson was awarded a MacArthur Prize which he donated to the EJI. He is also a 1989 recipient of the Reebok Human Rights Award, the 1991 ACLU National Medal of Liberty, and in 1996, was named the Public Interest Lawyer of the Year by the National Association of Public Interest Lawyers. In 2000, Stevenson received the Olaf Palme Prize in Stockholm, Sweden for international human rights and in 2004, he received the Award for Courageous Advocacy from the American College of Trial Lawyers and the Lawyer for the People Award from the National Lawyers Guild. In 2006, NYU (where he is a professor of law) presented Mr. Stevenson with its Distinguished Teaching Award. He has received honorary degrees from several universities, including Yale University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Georgetown University School of Law. Stevenson has also published several widely disseminated manuals on capital litigation and written extensively on criminal justice, capital punishment and civil rights issues.<br />
<br />
For more information on the Equal Justice Initiative and its work, see <a href="http://eji.org/" target="_blank">eji.org</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967853502767397869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8372798409585018879.post-53736985590910567082015-07-08T08:00:00.000-04:002015-07-08T08:00:14.953-04:00David Rosenfelt asks: “Who let the dog out?”<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Jim Farrington</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Guest Contributor</i></span></div>
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<span style="float: left; font-size: 125px; line-height: 100px; margin: 4px 20px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">W</span></span>hen a stray shepherd-mix named Cheyenne is stolen from a shelter belonging to a foundation owned by attorney Andy Carpenter, the recovery of the dog should have been a simple matter of following the tracking device implanted in the animal. Instead, it sets Carpenter on a path that will involve murder, diamond smuggling, international terrorists, and, oh, more murders.<br />
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Along with his friends Willie Miller who manages the shelter and police detective Pete Stanton, they track the stolen dog and find her sitting next <br />
<a name='more'></a>to a man whose neck has been cut from ear to ear. That could have ended Carpenter’s involvement, but his curiosity as to why someone would break in and steal a dog they could have easily adopted won’t permit him to let go.<br />
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It should be explained that since inheriting millions, Carpenter does everything he can to avoid actually practicing law despite his obvious skill. He prefers the life of a philanthropist supporting canine causes. Unfortunately, his only entrée into this case turns out to be to agree to defend the man accused of the brutal murder just so he will answer questions about the victim’s involvement with the theft of the dog.<br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Carpenter’s self-deprecating, wise-cracking manner keeps the tone light-hearted and humorous despite the mayhem that occurs.</span></blockquote>
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In his quest to prove his client’s innocence, Carpenter is joined by his investigator/wife, Laurie, Sam (his accountant) who is also an accomplished computer hacker who has turned his class of senior-citizen computer students into hackers as well, and Marcus his other investigator whose mere presence intimidates everyone except Laurie.<br />
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Shortly after it is established that Cheyenne belongs to a chemistry professor who is on the lam, the professor turns up dead. Subsequently that link leads to diamond smugglers and more dead professors. <br />
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When multiple federal agencies are suddenly taking an interest in the case and camping on Carpenter’s doorstep, it becomes apparent that his case and all the murdered professors has evolved into something even bigger than all that.<br />
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With the ongoing trial in the background, the book works its way to a conclusion that still holds some more big surprises.<br />
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This is the twelfth book in the Andy Carpenter series and will be released on July 21. The core cast of likable characters surrounding Carpenter appears in most of the books in the series. Carpenter’s self-deprecating, wise-cracking manner keeps the tone light-hearted and humorous despite the mayhem that occurs. <br />
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So, there you have it: dogs, mystery, court-room drama and international terrorism all surprisingly sprinkled with a touch of humor. If you haven’t read any of the earlier books in the series, I’m betting after reading this, you will be back for more.<br />
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<box2><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-n78GGHSX6oA/VZSILVq_kJI/AAAAAAAACRM/Amyaimyt_kU/s1600/jim%2Bfarrington.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="153" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-n78GGHSX6oA/VZSILVq_kJI/AAAAAAAACRM/Amyaimyt_kU/s200/jim%2Bfarrington.jpg" width="200" /></a>
<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jim Farrington</span></b> is a retired newspaper executive living in Chatham County, NC. Upon retirement, he reviewed books for <i>The Star-Ledger</i> for several years. He spends much of his free time volunteering at The CORA food pantry where he also serves as Secretary of the Board of Directors.</box2>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967853502767397869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8372798409585018879.post-82313962759471994632015-07-07T08:00:00.000-04:002015-07-12T18:24:27.083-04:00July 31 submissions deadline for Main Street Rag anthologies on ghosts, suspense, time and dogs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-urpoKObDDHE/VZaW2DPk_eI/AAAAAAAACSc/zG_fvcxizG0/s1600/MSM_winter_2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="310" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-urpoKObDDHE/VZaW2DPk_eI/AAAAAAAACSc/zG_fvcxizG0/s320/MSM_winter_2015.jpg" width="203" /></a></div>
<span style="float: left; font-size: 105px; line-height: 80px; margin: 2px 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">J</span></span>uly 31 is the deadline for submissions to Main Street Rag’s four (count them, four) anthologies. And, this year, there are prizes! For each anthology there will be a $100 award for best short fiction (2,000 words or more); $50 for best flash fiction, $50 for best poem and $50 for best creative nonfiction story.<br />
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The themes for the anthologies are Ghosts, Suspense, Time and Dogs. Below are the descriptions (from the Main Street Rag website) of what the editors are seeking.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>GHOSTS </b></span>will be edited by Jane King Andrews. <br />
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We all have them. The dead won’t stay still. The departed won’t shut up. Do you see dead people? What do they want? Do you hear your name called when no one is there? <br />
<a name='more'></a>Poltergeists may throw plates or slam doors, but hauntings can include anything that makes the hair on your arms stand up. We’re looking for poems, stories and essays to make us believe in spooks. Submit writing that scares the hell out of us, moves us, or even makes us laugh. Coming back from the dead; it’s not easy. Why do they do it? Think about the last time you were afraid to look behind you. What was there? Submissions need to be sent to <a href="mailto:Ghosts@mainstreetrag.com">ghosts@mainstreetrag.com</a> by July 31.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>SUSPENSE </b></span>will be edited by David Bell and Molly McCaffrey.<br />
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Shouldn’t all writing hold us in suspense? Shouldn’t we be dying to turn the pages if only to fulfill that most basic question: What happens next? For that reason, we’re looking for stories, poems and nonfiction essays that are page-turners, the kind of writing that makes the reader’s heart catch in her throat and causes her fingers sweat as she turns the pages. But we’re not looking for cheap thrills here. We’re not interested in blood and guts. We’re interested in stories of psychological suspense, stories that explore the working of the human mind and heart much more than the workings of a gun or knife And we’re not looking for straight detective stories either. We’re less interested in who done it and more interested in why. Think Hitchcock. Think Patricia Highsmith. And keep those pages turning. Submissions should be sent to <a href="mailto:Suspense@mainstreetrag.com">suspense@mainstreetrag.com</a> by July 31.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>“IT’S ABOUT TIME.”</b></span> (Editor to be announced)<br />
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When you hear that phrase, what comes to your mind? A parent or a spouse, arms crossed, foot tapping, watching as someone sneaks in at night? Or do you see a calendar, its days or weeks flapping? Maybe you see time extended into an imagined future, something yet to be understood or experienced. Birthdays. Monday Night Football. The arrival of hormones or their subsequent departure. Eyes opening wife to the world for the first time, or wrinkles causing those eyes to disappear in a smile. Parallels in reality and in the universe. Do deadlines make you crazy? Do you see time with hour and minute hands on a white face or bright green digital numbers, a colon beating between like a heart? Send us short stories, creative nonfiction, or poetry that will have us thinking about time in all of its metamorphoses and metaphors. Whether you hear time in the pacing of feet, the passing of minutes, the snapping of a voice or tendons, or the noontime chime of Big Ben or a FitBit reminder to move, stretch, bend, write about it. Submissions should be sent to <a href="mailto:AboutTime@mainstreetrag.com">AboutTime@mainstreetrag.com</a> by July 31.</div>
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The fourth anthology will be about <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>DOGS</b></span>.<br />
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Lassie or Old Yeller, White Fang or Cujo, those canine creatures we call dogs hold a special place in the hearts and psyches of human beings everywhere. Here’s an opportunity for writers to explore those feelings. It does have to be a “Peta” moment, though those would be welcome as well. What we’re looking for are poems, short stories, and nonfiction essays where a dog is a featured “player” and important facet to the narrative. Engage our hearts and minds with the page-turner dog lit you submit. Submissions should be sent to <a href="mailto:Dogs@maindstreetrag.com">dogs@maindstreetrag.com</a> by July 31.</div>
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For rules and guidelines, see: <a href="http://www.mainstreetrag.com/MSR_Short%20Fiction%20Anthology.html" target="_blank">mainstreetrag.com</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967853502767397869noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8372798409585018879.post-41027021647682096212015-07-06T08:00:00.000-04:002015-07-06T08:00:12.729-04:00Nineteen tales of lust, love and longing! Yummy!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uyxWcreAHgA/VZCZsQtdYsI/AAAAAAAACOo/BfpIgOTzOoc/s1600/cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uyxWcreAHgA/VZCZsQtdYsI/AAAAAAAACOo/BfpIgOTzOoc/s320/cover.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By CAROL PHILLIPS</b></div>
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<i>Guest Contributor</i></div>
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<span style="float: left; font-size: 125px; line-height: 100px; margin: 4px 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">C</span></span><i>arolina Crimes: 19 Tales of Lust, Love, and Longing</i>, was formed from a simple directive: write a crime story about sex. From there, the Carolina Sisters (and Brothers) of Crime let their imaginations loose. This anthology has stories for everyone, from the ice cream in “Ice Cream Allure” by E.B. Davis to the violence in “The White Van” by Joanie Conwell; from the futuristic sex in Marjorie Ann Mitchell’s “The Game” to the historic <br />
<a name='more'></a>“Pound of Flesh” by Sarah Shaber. <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vBdfFVqAMwo/VZCZrERN25I/AAAAAAAACOc/SplpuLj6OeQ/s1600/Margaret-Maron.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="111" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vBdfFVqAMwo/VZCZrERN25I/AAAAAAAACOc/SplpuLj6OeQ/s200/Margaret-Maron.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
Commissioned by Sisters in Crime, Triangle Chapter, and edited by Karen Pullen, a founding member of the chapter, with an introduction by <b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Margaret Maron</span></b>, the anthology contains works by several leading mystery writers in Chatham County, NC.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MsCafcKhIYE/VZCbETt80UI/AAAAAAAACPM/QAT8idi2fcI/s1600/Toni-Goodyear.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="100" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MsCafcKhIYE/VZCbETt80UI/AAAAAAAACPM/QAT8idi2fcI/s200/Toni-Goodyear.jpg" width="90" /></a></div>
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“Heart Surgery” by <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Toni Goodyear</b></span> tells the story of a woman scorned as she plans her ingenious revenge. Goodyear, a former journalist and freelance writer won the NC Press Association Award for feature writers. She recently completed her first cozy mystery, <i>Trouble Brewing in Tanawha Falls</i>.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DkiZvOPaEFM/VZCbERRv4nI/AAAAAAAACPQ/Pzesnmoq3xo/s1600/Karen-Pullen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="107" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DkiZvOPaEFM/VZCbERRv4nI/AAAAAAAACPQ/Pzesnmoq3xo/s200/Karen-Pullen.jpg" width="90" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Jessica Key photo</span></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Karen Pullen’s</span></b> “The Fourth Girl,” is a light-hearted tale of a laid-off teacher who is bequeathed an independent life in a town that minds its own business by an aunt she barely knew. Pullen, whose short fiction has appeared in numerous journals, published her first novel, <i>Cold Feet</i>, in 2013. You can find her at <a href="http://karenpullen.com/" target="_blank">karenpullen.com</a>.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9QYMYb3yl-4/VZCZqreOB_I/AAAAAAAACO0/74pFx45IIjU/s1600/Linda-Johnson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="84" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9QYMYb3yl-4/VZCZqreOB_I/AAAAAAAACO0/74pFx45IIjU/s200/Linda-Johnson.jpg" width="90" /></a></div>
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Meanwhile, in “Happy Pills,” by <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Linda Johnson</b></span>, an octogenarian uses sex to steal pills for her black-market drug business. Johnson has published two novels, <i>Trail of Destruction</i> and <i>A Tangled Web</i> and often allows people to read her short stories for free at <a href="http://lindajohnson.us/" target="_blank">LindaJohnson.us</a>.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-75gSZU-kgnc/VZCZrdgQV8I/AAAAAAAACOk/KWpTqYoPLiw/s1600/Ruth-Moose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="93" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-75gSZU-kgnc/VZCZrdgQV8I/AAAAAAAACOk/KWpTqYoPLiw/s200/Ruth-Moose.jpg" width="90" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ruth Moose</span></b> entertains with the flash fiction, “Mama’s Boy,” a story about a mother’s revenge for her son’s marrying the woman she liked least of all his girlfriends. Moose, a poet, fiction writer and retired UNC professor, won the St. Martin’s Press 2013 Malice Domestic competition for <i>Doing it at the Dixie Dew</i>, published in 2014. For more, see <a href="http://www.ruthmoose.com/" target="_blank">RuthMoose.com</a>.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rdTaKR17RSo/VZCZqmaA8tI/AAAAAAAACOU/KjDn1hFoPxQ/s1600/Judith-Stanton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="97" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rdTaKR17RSo/VZCZqmaA8tI/AAAAAAAACOU/KjDn1hFoPxQ/s200/Judith-Stanton.jpg" width="90" /></a></div>
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And finally, but certainly not least, is <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Judith Stanton’s</b></span> “Big Girls Now,” in which a wife discovers her husband’s unlikely obsession and the work of a rare murderer. Stanton, also a retired UNC professor and scholar, is a RITA finalist. Two of her Regency romances were recently reissued while her contemporary suspense, <i>A Stallion to Die For</i>, continues to get top reviews on Amazon. Look for her at: <a href="http://catcrossing.com/" target="_blank">catcrossing.com</a>.</div>
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Hank Phillippi Ryan, a Martha Higgins Clark award winner, writes about this anthology:<br />
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I’d call this anthology a guilty pleasure – but I don’t feel guilty at all. This array of deliciously seductive stories will have you laughing out loud, shivering with delight, applauding the Carolina sisters’ gorgeously diabolical imaginations – and turning pages as fast as you can. Terrific!”</div>
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And I can’t say it better. To find it on Amazon: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1479408832/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=0F405FGE13SJJTRR2VZN&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2079475242&pf_rd_i=desktop" target="_blank">www.amazon.com</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.sistersincrime.org/" target="_blank">Triangle Sisters in Crime</a> is a chapter of the international organization Sisters in Crime. “We are authors, readers, publishers, agents, booksellers and librarians bound by our passion for the mystery genre and our support of mystery writers. We welcome Sisters and Brothers in Crime from anywhere who have an interest in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill mystery community of North Carolina. <a href="http://www.trianglesinc.com/" target="_blank">www.trianglesinc.com</a>.<br />
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<box2><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jf40sfZBGko/VY9FDSkTZyI/AAAAAAAACMI/oI4Onxk9yCs/s1600/carol_phillips.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jf40sfZBGko/VY9FDSkTZyI/AAAAAAAACMI/oI4Onxk9yCs/s200/carol_phillips.jpg" width="150" /></a>
<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Carol Phillips</span></b> has short stories in the <i>Red Clay Review</i> and <i>County Lines: A Literary Journal</i>, and poems in <i>Haiku Journal</i>. She is working on a collection of short stories while completing a memoir about her mild traumatic brain injury. A member of the NC Writers’ Network since 2006, she enjoys the literary and art world of Chatham County.</box2>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967853502767397869noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8372798409585018879.post-12657666785317653732015-07-05T08:00:00.000-04:002015-07-05T08:00:03.621-04:00Submit your art for Banned Books Week trading cards<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wDe-zBKmEJQ/VZML7eaRWwI/AAAAAAAACP8/1X36K-u9Zlk/s1600/BBW14_CoverArt_op1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0;"><img border="0" height="184" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wDe-zBKmEJQ/VZML7eaRWwI/AAAAAAAACP8/1X36K-u9Zlk/s400/BBW14_CoverArt_op1.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="float: left; font-size: 140px; line-height: 110px; margin: 2px 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">B</span></b></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>ANNED BOOKS WEEK</b></span>, the annual celebration of the freedom to read, will run from <span style="font-family: inherit;">September 27 through October 3, 2015, and </span>will be observed in libraries, schools, bookstores and other community settings across the country.<br />
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This year, Banned Books Week will focus on Young Adult fiction. In recent years, the most frequently challenged books in libraries have been Young Adult (YA) titles. Six YA titles were on the list of the Top Ten Most Challenged Books of 2014, according to the American Library <br />
<a name='more'></a>Association. Attempted bans on books of all kinds also frequently occur under the guise of protecting younger audiences.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Cx6BrchsXLo/VZMNU9vVoQI/AAAAAAAACQU/_lSPnHhFews/s1600/i-know-why-the-caged-bird-sings-banned-book-card.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 35px;"><img border="0" height="195" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Cx6BrchsXLo/VZMNU9vVoQI/AAAAAAAACQU/_lSPnHhFews/s200/i-know-why-the-caged-bird-sings-banned-book-card.jpg" width="139" /></a></div>
One of the features of this year’s activities will be the creation of Banned Books Trading Cards. Chapel Hill Public Library is just one of many sponsoring a competition for artwork for these cards. The library is asking local artists from Orange, Durham, Wake, Chatham and Alamance Counties in North Carolina to create small (5” wide and 7” tall) works of art inspired by a banned or challenged book or author.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-guY_PiMIzWc/VZMNmTzWaKI/AAAAAAAACQc/dBXBH5cPgvI/s1600/ordinary-people-banned-book-card.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 35px;"><img border="0" height="195" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-guY_PiMIzWc/VZMNmTzWaKI/AAAAAAAACQc/dBXBH5cPgvI/s200/ordinary-people-banned-book-card.jpg" width="139" /></a></div>
Seven of this year’s new works will be selected by a jury and printed as trading cards. The artwork will appear on the front of the card and the artist’s statement as well as information about the book and its author will be on the back. Winners will receive a $100 prize. There will also be a special $100 award for best entry by an artist under the age of eighteen. All entries will be displayed during Banned Books Week.<br />
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All entries must be received by August 17, 2015. For details, guidelines and rules of submission, see <a href="http://chapelhillpubliclibrary.org/" target="_blank">chapelhillpubliclibrary.org</a>.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Banned Books Week</b></span> is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association, American Booksellers for Free Expression, American Library Association, American Society of Journalists and Authors, Association of American Publishers, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Freedom to Read Foundation, National Association of College Stores, National Coalition Against Censorship, National Council of Teachers of English, People For the American Way Foundation, PEN American Center, and Project Censored.</box2>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967853502767397869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8372798409585018879.post-39901706948446651152015-07-04T08:00:00.000-04:002015-07-04T12:10:38.994-04:00Happy Independence Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xxnitWANilE/VZAczVNi8YI/AAAAAAAACN4/zmOBZmdUC34/s1600/fireworks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0;"><img border="0" height="313" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xxnitWANilE/VZAczVNi8YI/AAAAAAAACN4/zmOBZmdUC34/s400/fireworks.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="float: left; font-size: 60px; line-height: 30px; margin: 8px 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>When</i></span></span><span style="font-size: large;">in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.</span><br />
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<span style="float: left; font-size: 60px; line-height: 30px; margin: 8px 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>We</i></span></span><span style="font-size: large;">hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967853502767397869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8372798409585018879.post-48446466277142833692015-07-03T08:00:00.000-04:002015-07-03T08:26:57.719-04:00Ken Kalfus’ ‘Coup de Foudre’ is a collection of surprises<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: 40px; line-height: 14px;">Here’s the thing </span>about Ken Kalfus and his <i>Coup de Foudre</i>. You can’t typecast him or describe this collection in a few simple words. The fifteen short stories and one novella contained in it are so different, one from another, that it is almost like an anthology <br />
<a name='more'></a>of work by myriad authors. The book is divided into three parts, from which we may glean some of the author’s intentions.<br />
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Part I is devoted to the title story, a retelling, in graphic detail, of the Dominic Strauss-Kahn sexual “interaction” with a hotel housekeeper. In it, David Leon Landau, the Strauss-Kahn stand-in, writes a confessional letter to the housekeeper recounting what occurred between them. He toys with sending it even though it would mean a setting aside of their civil settlement, the reopening of the criminal charges against him and his literal (as opposed to moral) bankruptcy. <br />
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There is more than a little Humbert Humbert mentality revealed in the letter. Landau is certain that Sarkozy is having him illegally tracked by French intelligence and has bugged his telephone. Yet, this does not stop him from pursuing his Viagra-fueled sexual conduct. In a tryst with a sometime sex partner, he throws her to the carpet in the foyer of his hotel suite:<br />
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This is how I prefer to have my women, and how they sometimes prefer it too, without the feints and hypocrisies of seduction, without the over significant looks and the lame jokes, in a sudden strike, a jump, a rage – a <i>coup de foudre</i>, a thunderbolt.</div>
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The justification for his attack on the physically unattractive housekeeper: “Every person is worthy of sexual attention. Our fundamental human dignity demands it.” <br />
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Arrested at the airport on his way to a meeting to present his plan to save Europe to the “sluggish” and “stolid dreary” Angela Merkle, he is outraged, not because of his own behavior but, ironically, by that of the politicians who have “plotted” his disgrace:<br />
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Now, and not for the first time, I felt ambivalence and an actual revulsion toward my involvement in politics. I was reminded that this kind of aggressive, sordid behavior is a regular feature of political life, manifesting itself far in excess of and with greater virulence than a middle-aged technocrat’s romantic adventuring…Criminality behind the façade of politics is a regular trope of popular culture. But I was squarely within the political process. I went into politics for love of country and a belief in humanity, and for me the abuse of power still provokes outrage.</div>
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Indeed, he feels “the weight of the world’s many conspiracies. All my virtues – my intelligence, my idealism, and my passion – were being employed against me.” He conflates his own downfall with the downfall of Europe: <br />
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You must wonder how I could be so smart and yet think so recklessly. This was, however, exactly the man I was, the man I am today, the man who would save the European economy.</div>
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While you are still reeling from this portrait of a monster, Kalfus moves into a completely different mode in the stories which make up Part II of the collection. Two of the stories are fantasies: In “The Moment They Were Waiting For,” a convicted killer utters a curse at the moment of his execution. Everyone then living discovers he knows the exact date of his or her own death. In “Square Paul-Painleve,” the narrator comes to believe that a park bench is enchanted so that one is unable to rise from it unless “freed” by another person. <br />
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“Factitious Airs” described a nitrous-fuelled “enlightenment” which comes to the narrator during a periodontal cleaning (and disappears as the effects of the gas wear off) and “Teach Yourself Tsilanti: Preface” is a wickedly funny sendup of academic philologists.<br />
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“In Borges’ Library” recounts the perhaps apocryphal story of an aged reader who read a book and was struck mad by it. The narrator says:<br />
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The last book he read proved that everything he had read before it was read <i>wrong</i>. His life had been wasted. It’s impossible, I believe, for one reader to communicate to another how he has read a book at the level where the book is most intimately experienced.</div>
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I was particularly taken with several of the stories in the final section of the collection. “Shvartzer” is a very realistic portrait of an angry, blustering, elderly man with dementia. The ophthalmologist in “Laser” epitomizes the “Doctor as All-Knowing God” who simply ignores facts that don’t fit with what he opines. The journalist in “Mr. Iraq” misses an important deadline and is fired while bailing his 80 year old father out of jail. The older man has been arrested in a protest against the war.<br />
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“The Un-” explores the world of the aspiring but yet-unpublished writer desperately trying to get over that “wall” between himself and the published writer.<br />
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On that subject, in a 2006 interview in <i>Philadelphia Stories</i>, Kalfus said:<br />
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Perhaps the pains and failures of published writers are inspirational to the unpublished. But it may be more productive to remember that as serious readers and aspiring writers, we're part of the great world literary enterprise, among the noblest human endeavors, whatever our level of success. Passionate reading, receptiveness to good literature, thoughtfulness about the world, the willingness to take creative risks and rigorous craftsmanship lie at the heart of the enterprise.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Ken Kalfus</b></span> is the author of two earlier story collections, <i>Thirst</i> and <i>Pu-239 and Other Russian Fantasies</i>. His three novels are <i>The Commissariat of Enlightenment</i>, <i>Equilateral</i> and <i>A Disorder Peculiar to the Country</i>, which was a finalist for the 2006 National Book Award. He has received a Pew Fellowship in the Arts and a Guggenheim.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16967853502767397869noreply@blogger.com0