Local LIT

  Gregory Frost 

  Rachel Pastan    

Saturday night I headed out to a book launch party for novelists Gregory Frost and Rachel Pastan, being held at Swarthmore College, where both teach writing.  Frost’s latest fantasy, Shadowbridge, and Pastan’s second novel, Lady of the Snakes, were released this month, within a day of each other. This serendipity led them to link celebratory forces.

As an invited guest, I had decided to simply enjoy the event, not cover it for Local LIT. However, as soon as I entered the party, I wished I had at least brought my camera.

The room glowed with local literati.

The convergence of authors, in addition to Gregory Frost and Rachel Pastan, included, in alphabetical order: poet Nathalie Anderson; novelist Diane Ayers; novelist/anthropologist Judith Berman; YA novelist and editor Steve Berman; writer/editor/critic Meredith Broussard, fresh from her January publication in Harper’s; fiction writer Clare Keefe Coleman; short story writer Ef Deal; columnist/investigative journalist/author Stephen Fried; novelist, screenwriter (and proud new papa) Joe Gangemi; Bill Kent, journalist and “Street” mystery novelist;  poet and novelist Judy Moffett;  novelist-turned-poet Margaret Robinson; Kelly Simmons, whose debut novel, Standing Still, will be published February 5; award-winning fiction writer Carla Spataro, co-editor/co-publisher of Philadelphia Stories; and science fiction and fantasy author Ann Tonsor Zeddies.

I hope I haven’t forgotten anybody.

Pastan and Frost read from their works, then faced off for a humorous and witty Q & A of each other, which included (Frost to Pastan) “If you were Jell-O, which flavor would you be?  Then Pastan asked the following question, and Frost’s answer capped the inspiring qualities of the evening for me:

As a writer, what do you now know, that you wish you had known 20 years ago?

Frost referenced Robert Olen Butler (From Where You Dream: The Process of Writing Fiction), and said what beginning writer’s invariably leave out of their stories is the element of desire.  He said somewhere along the line, this fact finally “clicked” in his writing mind: that all great fiction is predicated on desire in some fashion.  Kurt Vonnegut’s more humorous way of expressing this, Frost said, was to tell his students to make their characters want something, and right away (not 20 pages in), even if it’s nothing more than a glass of water. Vonnegut said even characters paralyzed by existential crisis get thirsty now and again.

  David Sedaris

Michael Fox of Joseph Fox Bookshop just e-mailed me with the news he will be hosting  

a special in-store signing (no talk 

. This will be Sedaris’ only bookstore event in Philadelphia, according to Fox, and the new title, Indefinite Leave to Remain, will be out only four days at the time. “We expect a huge crowd, and plans will be made for crowd control,” Fox wrote. “Of course, anyone who wants to reserve a signed book can do this – and I would even encourage it. [David] will sign as long as necessary and I will guarantee a signed copy.” For more details, keep an eye on the Joseph Fox website.

 Actually, I am re-reading this book, preliminary to seeing the film which was recently released and is at present playing at the Ritz East.  The Diving Bell and the Butterfly  is one of my top ten all-time favorite books. You can read a review I wrote of it here.