By Paul...
How do you explain it when intelligent, well-read critics violently disagree over the literary value of a book. Today’s case in point, “Thirteen Moons,” by Charles Frazier, author of the mega-seller “Cold Mountain.”
In Sunday’s Washington Post, distinguished reviewer Jonathan Yardley describes Frazier’s writing as “incredibly long-winded, sentimental [and] soporific.”
In today’s Los Angeles times, Michael Blake (“Dances with Wolves”) proclaims: “‘Thirteen Moons' is rare in many ways and occupies a literary plane of such height that reviewing it is not really salient.”
So why bother? But wait, it gets better...
Yardley: “Reading Frazier is like sitting by the cracker barrel for hour after hour and listening to an amiable but impossibly gassy guy who talks real slow, says ‘I reckon’ a whole lot and never shuts up. His novels have little structure and not much in the way of plot.”
Blake: “‘Thirteen Moons’ will provide the immense satisfaction of talking a literary journey of magnitude. Whether on a plane, in an office or curled in a window seat, readers who absorb Will’s story will find their own lives enriched.”
Wow. I’m happy when a reviewer says one of my books will kill some time when you’re stuck at the Denver airport in a snowstorm.
Yardley: “‘Thirteen Moons’ is going to be putting a whole bunch of people to sleep.”
Blake: ‘Thirteen Moons’ has the power to inspire great performances from succeeding generations of writers.”
At least you know where these guys stand. I once had meeting with a Hollywood producer to discuss a spec script I’d written. “Like it, don’t love it,” the producer said. Which, now that I think about it, means he hated it.
Jackie Rocks, Connelly Redux
All the Naked Authors share Jacqueline’s joy in winning the historical fiction Macavity Award for “Pardonable Lies.”
Congrats to Michael Connelly who won best novel category with “The Lincoln Lawyer.” As the losers always say at the Academy Awards, it was an honor just to be nominated. (Then they go home and kick the valet). “The Lincoln Lawyer” is my favorite of Connelly’s books, but then I’m a sucker for a shady mouthpiece who needs redemption. Mike also took home the Shamus award.
A big hand clap, too, for Louise Ure, whose “Forcing Amaryllis”
won the Shamus for best first P.I. novel. I seldom use the word “shamus” in conversation because I don’t know if it’s pronounced “shay-mus” or “shah-mus.” I asked Lee Goldberg, who was nominated for “The Man with the Iron-On Badge,” and also bested by the lawyer who works out of his Lincoln. Lee thinks the word rhymes with Shabbos. On the other hand, if you’ve seen the musical, “City of Angels,” you might remember the song, “You’re Nothing without me, when the fictional P.I. sings to his creator: “Hey, I’m a famous shay-mus, And most people don’t know your name.”
LARGE PRINT!
My mother, Sally Levine, age 89, would like to personally thank Thorndike Press, which just purchased rights to publish a hardcover, LARGE PRINT edition of “Kill All the Lawyers.”
By Paul, son of Sally & Stan
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Monday, October 02, 2006
In Conversation with Elizabeth George
Patty here...
Elizabeth George is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels featuring aristocratic Scotland Yard Inspector Thomas Lynley and his working class partner Barbara Havers. Her books have been nominated for the Macavity and the Edgar and have won the Anthony, the Agatha, France’s Le Grand Prix de Literature Policiere, and Germany’s MIMI award. Her books have been filmed for television by the BBC and can be seen in the United States on PBS’s “Mystery.”
Ms. George agreed to speak with NakedAuthors about her new novel, What Came Before He Shot Her, which was released on October 1, 2006.
Q: In your novel With No One As Witness you did something that few authors have the courage to do. You killed off one of your series characters. What led to your decision? Did you stop in the middle of a chapter and say Helen must die or have you been plotting her demise for a long time?
EG: I had known for quite some time that Helen was going to die, but I wasn't sure what novel it would take place in because I wanted her death to be thematically unified with the rest of the book. As I was writing With No One As Witness I saw that the death would fit into the story well. This plan—to kill off a major character—was an artistic decision. Writing a series instead of writing stand-alone novels requires the author to keep opening up the story of the lives of the continuing characters, not closing down the story of their lives. Killing off Helen Lynley effectively dropped a hand grenade into the characters' lives in that it created a situation in which I can now pick up any one of a number of threads to use in an ongoing story. With Helen alive, I would have been reduced to recounting the story of their growing family, which did not interest me. Helen dead allows me to examine Lynley in extremis and in recovery, which does interest me.
Q: When fans read of Helen’s death many went through the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and now, hopefully, acceptance. How does it feel when the prose you write touches readers so deeply?
EG: I've long believed that it's the responsibility of the writer to make the reader feel something. I'm trying to do this with every novel I write. John Steinbeck describes novel-writing as a trinity, which only exists when the writer, the work, and the reader are present together. I subscribe to this philosophy in that I wish to engage the reader's emotions. I wish the reader to care deeply about all of the characters. So the fact that people reacted as they did told me I was successful.
Q: Your books are considered works of psychological suspense. What in your background and/or training compels you to delve so deeply into the human psyche?
EG: I've always been interested in the human psyche and in why people do what they do. I also have a master's degree in counseling, grounded in psychology.
Q: The settings in your novels are as evocative and deeply rendered as your human characters. What is your process for researching the locales in your novels and do you ever use the settings as a metaphor for the crimes committed there?
EG: Getting the setting right is a huge endeavor for me, and I frequently feel as if I haven't done the job I would like to do, especially when I compare what I'm doing with what Martin Cruz Smith does so consistently well in his books. I love novels with evocative settings. I may, however, have to resign myself to being a character writer instead of a setting writer. That said, I appreciate it when someone thinks I've done a good job with setting. My process of researching a setting is to go there and be there: taking photos, walking, taking notes, writing descriptions when I can, speaking into my tape recorder. I try to discover the telling details of a setting and I also try to discover what makes that setting different from other settings. In Cornwall, it's all about the mining industry and the fascinating geology.
Q: How far in advance do you plot your novels? Book to book? Or have you looked into the future and seen where they might end?
EG: When I'm working on an individual novel, I plot out ten scenes at a time, which is generally as far as I can go. I know who the killer is, but I don't always know how my detectives are going to figure it out. I also don't know how the subplots are going to work out until I get into the rough draft. Sometimes I know what the next book is going to be (I was in the lucky position of knowing what the next two novels were going to be when I was writing With No One As Witness) but often I haven't the slightest idea.
Q: Many book titles these days are based on clichés. What is the process you use to come up with your unique titles?
EG: I usually start with a single word that has something to do with the plot, like deception. Then I play around with it in different phrases until I come up with one that makes a statement about the novel and also has a metric flow to it. In my latest book that I'm working on, Careless in Red, I actually used that phrase to describe a character in the character analysis and as soon as I saw it, I knew it was the title of the novel.
Q: You have outlined your unique writing process in the book, Write Away: One Novelist’s Approach to Fiction and the Writing Life. At the beginning of each chapter you include excerpts from your daily journal. In one entry you state: “I received such an outstanding review for Deception on His Mind yesterday that it made me really nervous. Several reviewers have talked about the fact that they can’t wait to read my novels and that they’re a little scared before they read them that I won’t be able to maintain the quality I’ve had in them so far. Gee. They should be on this end of things if they’re feeling scared.” So after writing fourteen Lynley novels, numerous short stories, and a nonfiction book, is the fear still there?
EG: Absolutely. I expect that for any honest writer, the fear is always there. If someone isn't just churning out the same novel over and over again (changing the names to protect the innocent, as it were), then this has to be a scary process. As PD James once said, "When I finish one of these novels, I don't know how I did it and I don't know if I'll ever be able to do it again."
Q: You have long ago passed the stage in your career where you have to do anything but write novels. Why do you continue to teach aspiring authors?
EG: I see that as part of the great tradition of writing in the US. Here we have always passed knowledge of the craft along, which is why writing is alive and well in the US and moribund in some other countries.
Q: I once heard you challenge the notion that authors should write what they know by stating that if you had taken that advice you would be writing about a high school English teacher in Orange County. What is your advice today? What should writers write?
EG: I still adhere to the same philosophy. I believe writers should write about that which excites them. If they're just writing to get published or if they're writing in order to fulfill a reader's expectation, then so frequently their writing lies there inertly, neither engaging nor challenging the reader. People who are writing about something that interests them deeply or that they care about deeply usually turn out wonderful novels. The Constant Gardener is a good example of this. Wonderful book, big passion on the part of the writer, the incomparable John LeCarre.
Q: It’s becoming more and more difficult these days to get published and stay published. What are the qualities that turn a writer into a published author? And what must they then do to sustain a career over the long haul?
EG: At one time I would have said that the qualities of a writer that will get that writer published are talent, passion and discipline. But that was in the days when publishers were interested in sponsoring the career of a writer, which they knew would take some time to get off the ground. Now, however, there seem to be a lot of one-time wonders out there who get published because they have a groovy high concept that has Hollywood written all over it and Massive Sales written all over it as well. The writing is at best sophomoric and at worst ghastly but who cares because the pages keep turning and the pace is fast and people are buying the book like hotcakes because they don't have to think when they're reading it; they just have to go along for the ride. Thus for so many writers, what's required for a onetime publishing experience is a bang-up story that can be reduced to a single sentence, fast pace, and a motion-picture style.
However, this is not to say excellent writing, passion about the process, commitment to stay the course, and discipline do not get a person published because they do. Excellent writing will find a publisher eventually.
Staying the course and making a career out of it...I think this requires an enormous commitment on the part of the artist. The writer has to be willing to suit up and show up at the computer or the typewriter or the legal pad every working day and to stay there until the work gets done. It involves being willing to engage in publicity tours (which are exhausting, let me tell you), listen to criticism from editors, write and rewrite, and continue to challenge yourself and grow.
Q: It seems as if the trend these days for many authors is to take a break between series books and write a stand-alone novel. Have you any plans to do that as well?
EG: I suppose many people will consider What Came Before He Shot Her a stand-alone novel. Right now I have no plans to do another because I have so much else going on.
Q: What is the title of your next Lynley novel and what if anything can you tell your fans about it?
EG: The book I'm working on right now is called Careless in Red and it takes place in Cornwall, in a surfing community. Lynley is featured in it, as is Havers. It takes place several months after Helen's death.
Q: What is the question you've always wanted to be asked in an interview but never have been?
EG: Why is the dachshund your choice of dog? Well, every human companion to a dachshund knows the answer to that!
Elizabeth George is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels featuring aristocratic Scotland Yard Inspector Thomas Lynley and his working class partner Barbara Havers. Her books have been nominated for the Macavity and the Edgar and have won the Anthony, the Agatha, France’s Le Grand Prix de Literature Policiere, and Germany’s MIMI award. Her books have been filmed for television by the BBC and can be seen in the United States on PBS’s “Mystery.”Ms. George agreed to speak with NakedAuthors about her new novel, What Came Before He Shot Her, which was released on October 1, 2006.
Q: In your novel With No One As Witness you did something that few authors have the courage to do. You killed off one of your series characters. What led to your decision? Did you stop in the middle of a chapter and say Helen must die or have you been plotting her demise for a long time?
EG: I had known for quite some time that Helen was going to die, but I wasn't sure what novel it would take place in because I wanted her death to be thematically unified with the rest of the book. As I was writing With No One As Witness I saw that the death would fit into the story well. This plan—to kill off a major character—was an artistic decision. Writing a series instead of writing stand-alone novels requires the author to keep opening up the story of the lives of the continuing characters, not closing down the story of their lives. Killing off Helen Lynley effectively dropped a hand grenade into the characters' lives in that it created a situation in which I can now pick up any one of a number of threads to use in an ongoing story. With Helen alive, I would have been reduced to recounting the story of their growing family, which did not interest me. Helen dead allows me to examine Lynley in extremis and in recovery, which does interest me.
Q: When fans read of Helen’s death many went through the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and now, hopefully, acceptance. How does it feel when the prose you write touches readers so deeply?
EG: I've long believed that it's the responsibility of the writer to make the reader feel something. I'm trying to do this with every novel I write. John Steinbeck describes novel-writing as a trinity, which only exists when the writer, the work, and the reader are present together. I subscribe to this philosophy in that I wish to engage the reader's emotions. I wish the reader to care deeply about all of the characters. So the fact that people reacted as they did told me I was successful.
Q: Your books are considered works of psychological suspense. What in your background and/or training compels you to delve so deeply into the human psyche?
EG: I've always been interested in the human psyche and in why people do what they do. I also have a master's degree in counseling, grounded in psychology.
Q: The settings in your novels are as evocative and deeply rendered as your human characters. What is your process for researching the locales in your novels and do you ever use the settings as a metaphor for the crimes committed there?
EG: Getting the setting right is a huge endeavor for me, and I frequently feel as if I haven't done the job I would like to do, especially when I compare what I'm doing with what Martin Cruz Smith does so consistently well in his books. I love novels with evocative settings. I may, however, have to resign myself to being a character writer instead of a setting writer. That said, I appreciate it when someone thinks I've done a good job with setting. My process of researching a setting is to go there and be there: taking photos, walking, taking notes, writing descriptions when I can, speaking into my tape recorder. I try to discover the telling details of a setting and I also try to discover what makes that setting different from other settings. In Cornwall, it's all about the mining industry and the fascinating geology.
Q: How far in advance do you plot your novels? Book to book? Or have you looked into the future and seen where they might end?
EG: When I'm working on an individual novel, I plot out ten scenes at a time, which is generally as far as I can go. I know who the killer is, but I don't always know how my detectives are going to figure it out. I also don't know how the subplots are going to work out until I get into the rough draft. Sometimes I know what the next book is going to be (I was in the lucky position of knowing what the next two novels were going to be when I was writing With No One As Witness) but often I haven't the slightest idea.
Q: Many book titles these days are based on clichés. What is the process you use to come up with your unique titles?
EG: I usually start with a single word that has something to do with the plot, like deception. Then I play around with it in different phrases until I come up with one that makes a statement about the novel and also has a metric flow to it. In my latest book that I'm working on, Careless in Red, I actually used that phrase to describe a character in the character analysis and as soon as I saw it, I knew it was the title of the novel.
Q: You have outlined your unique writing process in the book, Write Away: One Novelist’s Approach to Fiction and the Writing Life. At the beginning of each chapter you include excerpts from your daily journal. In one entry you state: “I received such an outstanding review for Deception on His Mind yesterday that it made me really nervous. Several reviewers have talked about the fact that they can’t wait to read my novels and that they’re a little scared before they read them that I won’t be able to maintain the quality I’ve had in them so far. Gee. They should be on this end of things if they’re feeling scared.” So after writing fourteen Lynley novels, numerous short stories, and a nonfiction book, is the fear still there?
EG: Absolutely. I expect that for any honest writer, the fear is always there. If someone isn't just churning out the same novel over and over again (changing the names to protect the innocent, as it were), then this has to be a scary process. As PD James once said, "When I finish one of these novels, I don't know how I did it and I don't know if I'll ever be able to do it again."
Q: You have long ago passed the stage in your career where you have to do anything but write novels. Why do you continue to teach aspiring authors?
EG: I see that as part of the great tradition of writing in the US. Here we have always passed knowledge of the craft along, which is why writing is alive and well in the US and moribund in some other countries.
Q: I once heard you challenge the notion that authors should write what they know by stating that if you had taken that advice you would be writing about a high school English teacher in Orange County. What is your advice today? What should writers write?
EG: I still adhere to the same philosophy. I believe writers should write about that which excites them. If they're just writing to get published or if they're writing in order to fulfill a reader's expectation, then so frequently their writing lies there inertly, neither engaging nor challenging the reader. People who are writing about something that interests them deeply or that they care about deeply usually turn out wonderful novels. The Constant Gardener is a good example of this. Wonderful book, big passion on the part of the writer, the incomparable John LeCarre.
Q: It’s becoming more and more difficult these days to get published and stay published. What are the qualities that turn a writer into a published author? And what must they then do to sustain a career over the long haul?
EG: At one time I would have said that the qualities of a writer that will get that writer published are talent, passion and discipline. But that was in the days when publishers were interested in sponsoring the career of a writer, which they knew would take some time to get off the ground. Now, however, there seem to be a lot of one-time wonders out there who get published because they have a groovy high concept that has Hollywood written all over it and Massive Sales written all over it as well. The writing is at best sophomoric and at worst ghastly but who cares because the pages keep turning and the pace is fast and people are buying the book like hotcakes because they don't have to think when they're reading it; they just have to go along for the ride. Thus for so many writers, what's required for a onetime publishing experience is a bang-up story that can be reduced to a single sentence, fast pace, and a motion-picture style.
However, this is not to say excellent writing, passion about the process, commitment to stay the course, and discipline do not get a person published because they do. Excellent writing will find a publisher eventually.
Staying the course and making a career out of it...I think this requires an enormous commitment on the part of the artist. The writer has to be willing to suit up and show up at the computer or the typewriter or the legal pad every working day and to stay there until the work gets done. It involves being willing to engage in publicity tours (which are exhausting, let me tell you), listen to criticism from editors, write and rewrite, and continue to challenge yourself and grow.
Q: It seems as if the trend these days for many authors is to take a break between series books and write a stand-alone novel. Have you any plans to do that as well?
EG: I suppose many people will consider What Came Before He Shot Her a stand-alone novel. Right now I have no plans to do another because I have so much else going on.
Q: What is the title of your next Lynley novel and what if anything can you tell your fans about it?
EG: The book I'm working on right now is called Careless in Red and it takes place in Cornwall, in a surfing community. Lynley is featured in it, as is Havers. It takes place several months after Helen's death.
Q: What is the question you've always wanted to be asked in an interview but never have been?
EG: Why is the dachshund your choice of dog? Well, every human companion to a dachshund knows the answer to that!
Friday, September 29, 2006
My Fifteen Minutes
from Jacqueline
Actually, that is a gross exaggeration – it was only three minutes. And it was more than a little scary. Cornelia, I could well have joined you in the upchucking stakes!
The escapade began last Friday afternoon, when I found out that the CBS Early Show wanted to record a segment about me and my novels on the following Monday afternoon. Luckily I had only two days to get my knickers in a twist, as we say in Britain. Some people take to this sort of thing with ease, calmly going forth where more famed ones have gone before, confident of their celebrity. First, as we all know, I am not a celebrity, and second, I almost ran the other way, but the publicity team at my publishers were just about dancing in the streets at this most wondrous thing – an author on the box!
The day dawned. Well, actually, no, it didn’t dawn for me, because I couldn’t sleep the night before. So active were the butterflies inside me, that there was no peaceful coming of dawn. I was on my way to the airport in Pittsburg by seven o’clock anyway. I finally arrived at my hotel in New York and dashed out again. Retail therapy was in order. Being a savvy “on the road” dresser, I had packed only garb in black, white and beige (those safe colors that go with each other) for a month away, and had been told by someone, somewhere, that you shouldn’t really go for black, white and beige on camera unless you’re an established TV presence – a Katie Couric, Christiane Amanpour or Madonna. J. Winspear clearly needed help with the old attire. I came back with brown, which may seem a bit, well, muddy, but I thought it would be better than any other color I could come up with. I thought it would be fine. Not so the bill for this insouciant moment.
Despite being sent out to put powder on my face by the cameraman (I am not a big one for make-up, considering myself somewhat inept even with a mascara wand), everything went smoothly, more so than I could have imagined. The crew (two of whom filmed the Katie Couric/Condi Rice interview for 60 minutes – that’s a good two degrees from the White House right there) were delightful, and kept saying how nice it was to work with an ordinary person for a change. And I have to say, it staggered me later, when I reflected upon this adventure, how quickly one gets used to a strange man with headphones poking around one’s waistband with wires and threading more wires up through one’s jacket.
I couldn’t bring myself to watch the Early Show on Thursday morning, so I took off down to the hotel fitness center, to pound out the time on the treadmill and wait for someone (a friend, a husband) to let me know how it all turned out. And I still haven’t watched it, but if you are interested, there’s a video clip available at the following link:
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=2047606n
Of course, one of the slight snafus was in procurement of a suitable photograph of me as a child. As you all know from my posts sent while in England, my parents live in a rural area, have no internet access and even in the town four miles away wouldn’t know where to go to get online. CBS wanted a pic of me as a kid (I possess no such thing) so I ‘phoned my mother, asked if she could track down a place that would scan and send a photo. Then told her exactly - and I mean, exactly - which photo to send. I added that there was no need to send more than that one photo, the only one I could remember that does not make me look like a little devil. My mother – a most efficient woman – had the photo scanned and sent to my publisher within the hour. I knew this because I received a copy of the email, along with a note: “Photos of Jackie, from her mum.”
Note plural. Photos. I opened the file with some trepidation, and all but passed out. There I would be, on national TV with my scraggy braids, that little devil grin and – oh dear – those bangs my mother used to cut herself. She was so scared that she might accidentally poke my eye out, that the line of hair that began above eye level ended up somewhere around my scalp. And – as I have just said – on national TV. Another reason for not watching the show.
So, that was it. My three minutes, over and done.
I’m not at Bouchercon, as you have probably guessed. For some reason my name was on the website as attending, but I knew from the outset that I wouldn’t be able to go, given the book tour. This morning I am Ho-omeward Bound, oh yes, I’m ... Ho-omeward Bound (thank you, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel), then on Saturday I’m at the Santa Barbara Book & Author Festival, which should be fun, plus I don’t have to travel that far to get there.
I can’t wait to get into my own kitchen, put the kettle on, make a cup of tea and sit down in the garden with my feet up. I might even watch a little recorded TV.
Until next week ...
PS: My mother has recently discovered this blog. I knew when she began a call with, "So, did you go to the doctor about that clot-like bruise?"
Actually, that is a gross exaggeration – it was only three minutes. And it was more than a little scary. Cornelia, I could well have joined you in the upchucking stakes!
The escapade began last Friday afternoon, when I found out that the CBS Early Show wanted to record a segment about me and my novels on the following Monday afternoon. Luckily I had only two days to get my knickers in a twist, as we say in Britain. Some people take to this sort of thing with ease, calmly going forth where more famed ones have gone before, confident of their celebrity. First, as we all know, I am not a celebrity, and second, I almost ran the other way, but the publicity team at my publishers were just about dancing in the streets at this most wondrous thing – an author on the box!
The day dawned. Well, actually, no, it didn’t dawn for me, because I couldn’t sleep the night before. So active were the butterflies inside me, that there was no peaceful coming of dawn. I was on my way to the airport in Pittsburg by seven o’clock anyway. I finally arrived at my hotel in New York and dashed out again. Retail therapy was in order. Being a savvy “on the road” dresser, I had packed only garb in black, white and beige (those safe colors that go with each other) for a month away, and had been told by someone, somewhere, that you shouldn’t really go for black, white and beige on camera unless you’re an established TV presence – a Katie Couric, Christiane Amanpour or Madonna. J. Winspear clearly needed help with the old attire. I came back with brown, which may seem a bit, well, muddy, but I thought it would be better than any other color I could come up with. I thought it would be fine. Not so the bill for this insouciant moment.
Despite being sent out to put powder on my face by the cameraman (I am not a big one for make-up, considering myself somewhat inept even with a mascara wand), everything went smoothly, more so than I could have imagined. The crew (two of whom filmed the Katie Couric/Condi Rice interview for 60 minutes – that’s a good two degrees from the White House right there) were delightful, and kept saying how nice it was to work with an ordinary person for a change. And I have to say, it staggered me later, when I reflected upon this adventure, how quickly one gets used to a strange man with headphones poking around one’s waistband with wires and threading more wires up through one’s jacket.
I couldn’t bring myself to watch the Early Show on Thursday morning, so I took off down to the hotel fitness center, to pound out the time on the treadmill and wait for someone (a friend, a husband) to let me know how it all turned out. And I still haven’t watched it, but if you are interested, there’s a video clip available at the following link:
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=2047606n
Of course, one of the slight snafus was in procurement of a suitable photograph of me as a child. As you all know from my posts sent while in England, my parents live in a rural area, have no internet access and even in the town four miles away wouldn’t know where to go to get online. CBS wanted a pic of me as a kid (I possess no such thing) so I ‘phoned my mother, asked if she could track down a place that would scan and send a photo. Then told her exactly - and I mean, exactly - which photo to send. I added that there was no need to send more than that one photo, the only one I could remember that does not make me look like a little devil. My mother – a most efficient woman – had the photo scanned and sent to my publisher within the hour. I knew this because I received a copy of the email, along with a note: “Photos of Jackie, from her mum.”
Note plural. Photos. I opened the file with some trepidation, and all but passed out. There I would be, on national TV with my scraggy braids, that little devil grin and – oh dear – those bangs my mother used to cut herself. She was so scared that she might accidentally poke my eye out, that the line of hair that began above eye level ended up somewhere around my scalp. And – as I have just said – on national TV. Another reason for not watching the show.
So, that was it. My three minutes, over and done.
I’m not at Bouchercon, as you have probably guessed. For some reason my name was on the website as attending, but I knew from the outset that I wouldn’t be able to go, given the book tour. This morning I am Ho-omeward Bound, oh yes, I’m ... Ho-omeward Bound (thank you, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel), then on Saturday I’m at the Santa Barbara Book & Author Festival, which should be fun, plus I don’t have to travel that far to get there.
I can’t wait to get into my own kitchen, put the kettle on, make a cup of tea and sit down in the garden with my feet up. I might even watch a little recorded TV.
Until next week ...
PS: My mother has recently discovered this blog. I knew when she began a call with, "So, did you go to the doctor about that clot-like bruise?"
Ho-omeward Bound, Oh Yes I'm ...
from Jacqueline
This is not my prepared post for today. The hotel broadband was not working and I am just about to check out. At the first opportunity I will post the prepared little story for today - about my fifteen (actually, it was three) minutes of well, sort of, almost, nearly ... (actually, not even close) fame on national TV this week.
In the meantime, with an anthem of lyrics from Simon and Garfunkel in my head ...
I'm Ho-omeward Bound.
Look for a post later on today.
In the meantime, gotta ticket and, um, suitcase in hand ...
This is not my prepared post for today. The hotel broadband was not working and I am just about to check out. At the first opportunity I will post the prepared little story for today - about my fifteen (actually, it was three) minutes of well, sort of, almost, nearly ... (actually, not even close) fame on national TV this week.
In the meantime, with an anthem of lyrics from Simon and Garfunkel in my head ...
I'm Ho-omeward Bound.
Look for a post later on today.
In the meantime, gotta ticket and, um, suitcase in hand ...
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Scout Grows Up
From James
One of my favorite books of all time is Harper Lee’s "To Kill A Mockingbird." I think about Scout and Atticus Finch probably more than most normal human beings do, but as the saying goes, “Why be normal?” My children are almost old enough to read it and I can’t wait to re-read it and talk to them about it.
Being such a fan, you can probably imagine how excited I was to come across a real-life Scout and Atticus story. In this story, “Scout” grew up to be a federal judge named Phyllis Kravitch.
Since 1979 Judge Kravitch has served as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. When she was appointed by President Jimmy Carter she was only the third woman in the United States to become a United States Circuit Judge and the first female federal judge in the Southeast. Before that, she practiced law in Savannah, Georgia and was the first female Superior Court Judge in the state.
And she is quite a good storyteller.
Back in 1983, I worked in Atlanta for one of her colleagues on the court, Thomas A. Clark—who, by the way, is one of the greatest human beings I have ever known (see my website for more on "Judge"). A story circulated throughout the courthouse about Judge Kravitch, and for many years, I wondered if it was actually true. I spoke with Judge Kravitch last spring, and she confirmed it. Yup, absolutely true.
Judge Kravitch flew to Atlanta from Savannah to hear oral argument on a panel with two other federal judges. She was standing at the curb at the airport, about to get into a cab, when a man cut in front of her and announced that he was “late for court.” He stole her cab and headed off to the courthouse.
Now, imagine that poor man’s surprise when he stepped up to the podium in the federal court of appeals, said his obligatory “May it please the court,” and saw Judge Kravitch—the victim of his cab robbery—staring down at him.
Great story. But Judge Kravitch has another one I’d like to share with you, too. She was kind enough to include it in my latest book. Last week I mentioned that my first young adult novel was just published—a fantasy legal thriller called "Leapholes" that allows kids to enter into law books, travel through time and meet people like Rosa Parks and Dred Scott. As an Afterword to Leapholes, the American Bar Association asked some famous lawyers to tell kids in their own words what inspired them to become a lawyer. There were many wonderful stories, but here is one of my favorites, compliments of Judge Kravitch:
"As a young girl growing up in Georgia in the 1920s and 30s I never considered a legal career. Rather I envisioned myself pursuing dance and becoming a ballerina. However, when I was eleven years old, my father, a trial attorney,was appointed by the court to represent an African-American man who had beenaccused of murder. The case was highly publicized and – because of thedefendant’s race – made my father very unpopular. As a result I was shunned bysome of my schoolmates, and was the only girl in my scout troop not invited toanother girl’s birthday party. This upset me very much. In his attempt toconsole me, my father explained the importance of our Constitution, andespecially the Sixth Amendment, which guarantees everyone accused of a crime theright to a jury trial and to be represented by an attorney which, he explained,meant regardless of a defendant’s race, wealth or social status. At the time this seemed somewhat abstract, and certainly didn’t make me feel any better about being excluded. He finally said "when you are a little older you will understand that there are more important things in life than birthday parties."
Over the next few years I began to understand what he meant as he taught me more about the Constitution, our judicial system and the role of lawyers in helping others and protecting the rights and liberties of us all. The more I learned the more interested I became.
Although few women were in the legal profession at that time, especially in the South, my father encouraged me to go to law school and practice law. I followed his advice and his example and it is a decision I have never regretted.”
Like I said: Real life Scout and Atticus Finch. Don’t you love a happy ending?
NOTE: Judge Kravitch’s piece is copyright protected: © Copyright Phyllis Kravitch 2006. All rights reserved, printed in "Leapholes," (c) Copyright James Grippando 2006, All rights reserved.
One of my favorite books of all time is Harper Lee’s "To Kill A Mockingbird." I think about Scout and Atticus Finch probably more than most normal human beings do, but as the saying goes, “Why be normal?” My children are almost old enough to read it and I can’t wait to re-read it and talk to them about it.
Being such a fan, you can probably imagine how excited I was to come across a real-life Scout and Atticus story. In this story, “Scout” grew up to be a federal judge named Phyllis Kravitch.
Since 1979 Judge Kravitch has served as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. When she was appointed by President Jimmy Carter she was only the third woman in the United States to become a United States Circuit Judge and the first female federal judge in the Southeast. Before that, she practiced law in Savannah, Georgia and was the first female Superior Court Judge in the state.
And she is quite a good storyteller.
Back in 1983, I worked in Atlanta for one of her colleagues on the court, Thomas A. Clark—who, by the way, is one of the greatest human beings I have ever known (see my website for more on "Judge"). A story circulated throughout the courthouse about Judge Kravitch, and for many years, I wondered if it was actually true. I spoke with Judge Kravitch last spring, and she confirmed it. Yup, absolutely true.
Judge Kravitch flew to Atlanta from Savannah to hear oral argument on a panel with two other federal judges. She was standing at the curb at the airport, about to get into a cab, when a man cut in front of her and announced that he was “late for court.” He stole her cab and headed off to the courthouse.
Now, imagine that poor man’s surprise when he stepped up to the podium in the federal court of appeals, said his obligatory “May it please the court,” and saw Judge Kravitch—the victim of his cab robbery—staring down at him.
Great story. But Judge Kravitch has another one I’d like to share with you, too. She was kind enough to include it in my latest book. Last week I mentioned that my first young adult novel was just published—a fantasy legal thriller called "Leapholes" that allows kids to enter into law books, travel through time and meet people like Rosa Parks and Dred Scott. As an Afterword to Leapholes, the American Bar Association asked some famous lawyers to tell kids in their own words what inspired them to become a lawyer. There were many wonderful stories, but here is one of my favorites, compliments of Judge Kravitch:
"As a young girl growing up in Georgia in the 1920s and 30s I never considered a legal career. Rather I envisioned myself pursuing dance and becoming a ballerina. However, when I was eleven years old, my father, a trial attorney,was appointed by the court to represent an African-American man who had beenaccused of murder. The case was highly publicized and – because of thedefendant’s race – made my father very unpopular. As a result I was shunned bysome of my schoolmates, and was the only girl in my scout troop not invited toanother girl’s birthday party. This upset me very much. In his attempt toconsole me, my father explained the importance of our Constitution, andespecially the Sixth Amendment, which guarantees everyone accused of a crime theright to a jury trial and to be represented by an attorney which, he explained,meant regardless of a defendant’s race, wealth or social status. At the time this seemed somewhat abstract, and certainly didn’t make me feel any better about being excluded. He finally said "when you are a little older you will understand that there are more important things in life than birthday parties."
Over the next few years I began to understand what he meant as he taught me more about the Constitution, our judicial system and the role of lawyers in helping others and protecting the rights and liberties of us all. The more I learned the more interested I became.
Although few women were in the legal profession at that time, especially in the South, my father encouraged me to go to law school and practice law. I followed his advice and his example and it is a decision I have never regretted.”
Like I said: Real life Scout and Atticus Finch. Don’t you love a happy ending?
NOTE: Judge Kravitch’s piece is copyright protected: © Copyright Phyllis Kravitch 2006. All rights reserved, printed in "Leapholes," (c) Copyright James Grippando 2006, All rights reserved.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Bcon, Baby!
By Cornelia
Here is what I feel like most of the year:
Unless school is out, and I feel like this:
(except for having two daughters instead of four sons and a dog, and of course NOT being married to David Niven)
And here is what my house looks like:
Sometimes I make contact with the outside world on an actual telephone, rather than by email:
But those moments are pretty rare.
Annually for the last three years, however, I have taken off for a distant city to hang out with all these other groovy crime-bookish type persons at a wonderful thing called Bouchercon.
The prospect always makes me feel like this:
One of the coolest things about going to Bouchercon is that I get to stay in a hotel room, which contains towels and sheets and stuff that I did not have to personally launder.
Well, okay, the first year I stayed in the youth hostel in Toronto, so I got one sheet to make my bed with and had to bring my own towel, but it was painted really groovy colors (actual photo of actual hostel interior):
which pretty much made up for the towel thing.
Although if you ever stay in a youth hostel once you are forty-plus years old, I recommend earplugs and an eyeshade, even if you get the single room:
Because you are not allowed to tell your fellow guests to be quiet, since they are Other People's Children.
Last year, though, I got to room with my secret twin Andi Shechter in more grownup accomodations.
This year we will be doing the same.
The only problem is that we talk too much and don't sleep a whole lot. But here is one thing we don't have time for at Bcon:
And we will also have a gathering of three members of our band, the Sad Anoraks, because Louise Ure will be there too:
But we will miss our fourth member Shaz Wheeler:
Sandra Ruttan and I have threatened to get tattoos:
I already have one-and-a-half myself, but I think she will chicken out.
And I get to be on a panel:
(Only it will be with Ken Bruen, Alafaire Burke, Laura Lippman, and Zoe Sharp {in alphabetical order} at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday morning--and I bet we won't have to wear masks)
This is the first time I will be at Bouchercon as an actually published person:
Which still feels like I'm hallucinating, even though I am trying to finish editing my SECOND book:
SO if you're reading this and will be in Madison for Bcon, please come up and say hey, and we should hoist a few:
And party like cheesy ersatz bohemians:
Dudes, I am SO STOKED!!!
Here is what I feel like most of the year:
Unless school is out, and I feel like this:
(except for having two daughters instead of four sons and a dog, and of course NOT being married to David Niven)
And here is what my house looks like:
Sometimes I make contact with the outside world on an actual telephone, rather than by email:
But those moments are pretty rare.Annually for the last three years, however, I have taken off for a distant city to hang out with all these other groovy crime-bookish type persons at a wonderful thing called Bouchercon.
The prospect always makes me feel like this:
One of the coolest things about going to Bouchercon is that I get to stay in a hotel room, which contains towels and sheets and stuff that I did not have to personally launder.
Well, okay, the first year I stayed in the youth hostel in Toronto, so I got one sheet to make my bed with and had to bring my own towel, but it was painted really groovy colors (actual photo of actual hostel interior):
which pretty much made up for the towel thing.
Although if you ever stay in a youth hostel once you are forty-plus years old, I recommend earplugs and an eyeshade, even if you get the single room:
Because you are not allowed to tell your fellow guests to be quiet, since they are Other People's Children.
Last year, though, I got to room with my secret twin Andi Shechter in more grownup accomodations.
This year we will be doing the same.
The only problem is that we talk too much and don't sleep a whole lot. But here is one thing we don't have time for at Bcon:
And we will also have a gathering of three members of our band, the Sad Anoraks, because Louise Ure will be there too:
But we will miss our fourth member Shaz Wheeler:
Sandra Ruttan and I have threatened to get tattoos:
I already have one-and-a-half myself, but I think she will chicken out.
And I get to be on a panel:
(Only it will be with Ken Bruen, Alafaire Burke, Laura Lippman, and Zoe Sharp {in alphabetical order} at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday morning--and I bet we won't have to wear masks)
This is the first time I will be at Bouchercon as an actually published person:
Which still feels like I'm hallucinating, even though I am trying to finish editing my SECOND book:
SO if you're reading this and will be in Madison for Bcon, please come up and say hey, and we should hoist a few:
And party like cheesy ersatz bohemians:
Dudes, I am SO STOKED!!!
"Lt. Stanley H. Levine Believed To Have Escaped Death."
By Paul--
Last week, after subscribing to a search engine called newspaper archive, I entered my father's name in the window and clicked the mouse. The monitor flickered with the front page of The Williamsport (PA) Gazette-Bulletin, September 14, 1945. There was a photo of my father in his Air Force uniform, and the headline: "Navigator on Doomed Plane Reported Safe." The drop-headline read: "Lt. Stanley H. Levine Believed to Have Escaped Death."
I tried to imagine my mother's reaction to the news. Sally Levine had been waiting five weeks after having been told by the War Department that my father and his B-29 crew were M.I.A. The crew had d borrowed an aircraft, the "Nip Clipper,"
because their own, the "Sad Tomato," was grounded with mechanical problems. The crew was part of a wave of 30 B-29s that had taken off from Tinian and dropped 1128 incendiary bombs over the industrial area of Yawata on the Japanese mainland. The craft was struck by anti-aircraft fire; an engine burst into flame and spread to the wing. Captain George Keller gave the order to bail out.It was August 8, just after Hiroshomia and before Nagasaki. Ten of the eleven crew members survived the plunge into the Sea of Japan and floated in rafts for several days before being captured by a Japanese fishing vessel. The surviving crew members were taken to "Hiroshima Prison Camp Number One," which was actually 35 miles from the destroyed city on the island of Mukaishima. The official Japanese surrender -- you remember those amazing photos on the U.S.S. Missouri -- was still two weeks away, and P.O.W.'s were routinely being slaughtered by angry Japanese soldiers.
One morning, Japanese militia members lined up the 10 Americans in front of straw baskets. The men were to be beheaded by swords. A courageous Japanese Army military policeman named Nobuichi Fukui intervened and saved the crew. For the next 40 years, my father
and Fukui remained pen pals, sending each other holiday cards and family photos.Soon, the Japanese guards abandoned their posts and the American, British, and Australian prisoners took over the prison camp. The crew members found some paint and wrote "OX-23 Crew Is Here" on the roof of the barracks. The sign was seen by American aircraft, resulting in the newspaper story below:
HUGHESVILLE--An unofficial report that Lt. Stanley H. Levine, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Levine, of North Main Street, Hughesville, is a prisoner of the Japanese and presumably well and safe, was received here Thursday.
The wife of the pilot of the B-29, on which the local officer was serving as a navigator when the craft was shot down off the Japanese mainland Aug. 8, has informed his parents that she learned the crew is safe. No official message has been received from the War Department.
According to the letter, a U.S. plane stationed on Tinian Island was flying over an unknown area of Japan Aug. 31 and its crew was attracted by a message printed on top of the building. It read: OX-23 Crew Is Here."
Returning immediately to their home base the fliers reported the incident to headquarters and learned the number was the identification of the missing plane. Information as to the message seen in Japan was sent to the pilot's wife, who resides in Fort Wayne, Ind. by a member of the crew which sighted the building. The airmen also indicated the prisoners soon would be freed by American occupational forces.
Lieutenant Levine and his 10 comrades were returning from their 17th bombing missing when...
(Continued on Page 15, Column 1)
And that's the end of it. I couldn't recover the jump page. One tragic end note. Captain George Keller's wife had been informed that all the crew members were safe, but that was a mistake. Captain Keller was the last to bail out of the flaming aircraft, and his chute never opened. He did not live to see the Japanese mainland. The other 10 crew members returned home safely. My father died at age 76, in 1996.
By Paul
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