Editor’s Blog
New blog coming Spring 2010
Starry Night
2008
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.
WHAT I’M READING: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Le Scaphandre et le papillon)
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.
AUTHOR PODCASTS AVAILABLE
The Free Library of Philadelphia has made podcasts of past author events available on its website. Featured authors include Norman Mailer, Steven Pinker, Dave Barry, Khaled Hosseini, Carlos Eire, Nikki Giovanni, Calvin Trillin, Richard A. Clarke, Alice McDermott, Wole Soyinka, Frank McCourt, Maureen Dowd and Ernest J. Gaines. See complete list
“CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE”
I just signed up to read Swann’s Way through Daily Lit, a great site similar to Suzanne Beecher’s DearReader.com, in that one receives able-to-be-read-in 5-minutes snatches of books serially by e-mail, for free. In Daily Lit’s case, however, the books are all classics (Beecher primarily focuses on new releases), plus some open source, and you select the exact title you wish to read, as opposed to the site choosing a title for you based on your selected genre. Daily Lit allows you to find your desired title by browsing authors, titles or categories. You can select to have your mini-readings sent to you at a designated hour on weekdays, on Monday-Wednesday-Friday, or daily. The site also tells you into how many five-minute sections the book is divided, so you can figure out how many weeks or even months it may take you to read your chosen book in its entirety.Interestingly, the site offers classics in French, Italian, German and Spanish as well as English.Daily Lit also has forums you can join if you wish to converse with others who are reading your same title. If you want to join a forum, you need to register — also free. If you just want the book e-mailed to you, there is no need to register.
LOCAL LIT CORRECTLY PREDICTS OPRAH BOOK
On Wednesday, September 27, Local LIT went on record on mediabistro’s blog, GalleyCat, saying that the next Oprah’s Book Club title — a closely guarded secret — would be Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez [READ STORY HERE]. GalleyCat editor Ron Hogan, who asked for title predictions after providing answers to several clues (cost, publisher) — plus a clue to the last clue —(number of pages) — thinks the guess is a good one. We’ll find out for sure this Friday.
UPDATE, October 5: Local LIT was right!