Emerging Writers Network: Small Press Month - Press 53

Dan Wickett at Emerging Writers Network has been taking a look at a number of small presses during "Small Press Month." A couple of days ago it was Press 53's turn:

Emerging Writers Network: Small Press Month - Press 53

A Conversation with Tim O'Brien

Writers at the Beach 2010

I came home a few hours ago from Writers at the Beach, the only writers' conference I know that supports a charity, in this case Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children to help defray medical costs of those being treated there for Mitochondrial disease. It's a worthwhile cause and it's one thing that makes the conference special.

But it's also special because of the people who attend. Although I worked hard at the conference--I taught a workshop, sat on two panels, gave three manuscript critiques and a reading--I was also able to meet lots of other writers, including Robert Bausch, Sheri Reynolds, Steve Luxenberg, and to hang out with writers I already knew like Liam Callanan, Khris Baxter, Logan Ward, Anne Colwell, and James Keegan. It was also nice to make some new friends in writers C.M. Mayo, Catherine Carter, Devon Miller-Duggan, and others, including the conference director, Maribeth Fischer.

Although it was an exhausting few days, it was well worth it, not only for the camaraderie of writers, but also because of the great cause it supports. Check it out when the conference rolls around next year!

American Shakespeare Center Benefit Concert

No way was I going to miss the the American Shakespeare Center Actors' Renaissance Season Benefit Concert. I've been out of town and got back mid-afternoon after a long drive, but I made it to tonight's benefit concert. And it was even better than I expected, which is hard for me to imagine, because I had pretty high expectations.

This isn't a review. It's more like a love letter. I would be a big fan of the ASC even if there were no music. But the actors sing before each show and during the interludes, and sometimes during the shows themselves. The music is always excellent because almost all of the actors in the company are terrific musicians. And sometimes at the shows I wish I could listen more closely to the songs, which deserve more attention than they get (since people are finding their seats, or chatting, and otherwise getting settled). This concert was a chance for the music to take center stage, so to speak.

And it was simply great. And the audience LOVED it. I think even the actors were taken aback by the love from the audience. It's tough to single anyone out, and I don't mean to slight anyone, but here are some thoughts about the show:

* Chris Johnston is an amazing musician. How many instruments did he play during the course of the evening? At least eight, and chances are I missed one or two. (He's not the only one who plays multiple instruments, either--John Harrell, Benjamin Curns, Daniel Kennedy, Tyler Moss, and Greg Phelps all played more than one.) Chris is also fun to watch and listen to when he's singing. He's a huge talent.

* I love Miriam Donald's voice, and we got to hear a lot of it tonight. She looked like she was having such a good time, too!

* We didn't hear enough of Denise Burbach, in my view, whose voice is also wonderful, but she was featured in a couple of songs and they were great.

* Benjamin Curns, like Chris Johnston, is a fine musician. What I appreciate most about him, though, are his vocals, and he really commands the stage when he's singing.

* John Harrell's talents seem boundless. Besides playing several instruments, he is acting when he sings. You can see it in his face. Plus, his children were on stage for the first half of the show and they were also completely into the music.

* Daniel Kennedy plays both bass and trumpet, which is an odd combination, but he does a great job with both, and he also has great presence.

* Tyler Moss loves to perform, and he's emotional about it. So much energy on the stage tonight! Great songs, and great performances. The audience loved him.

* The audience also loved Gregory Jon Phelps. I was hoping he and Miriam Donald would perform the duet they do in Twelfth Night, and they did. But Phelps--who is another play of many instruments--also was featured in a number of other songs, some serious and beautiful and some simply hilarious. Phelps is very funny.

* Sarah Fallon, Allison Glenzer, and Rene Thornton, Jr. weren't featured as much as the others, but they were there and having a blast.

I see all ASC shows and will continue to do so. And I'll also plan to be at the next concert these extremely talented actors give. And it should be noted that the actors contributed their time and talents to this fundraising venture. The theater deserves the support of our community and theatergoers everywhere. I urge you to make a contribution to the American Shakespeare Center: here

Tim O'Brien: A Classic Looks at Twenty - The Ploughshares Blog

Ploughshares takes a look at one of the greatest books of our time, The Things They Carried, on its 20th anniversary: Tim O'Brien: A Classic Looks at Twenty - The Ploughshares Blog

The New Yorker: "I.D." by Joyce Carol Oates

I’m not a JCO fan, ordinarily, but in my estimation this is the best story of the year so far.

Lisette Mulvey is in Middle School and her mother may or may not be a blackjack dealer in Atlantic City. Lisette isn’t sure because her mother isn’t terribly reliable. In fact, she’s been gone since sometime the previous week, and Lisette, who is recovering from eye surgery, isn’t doing a great job of taking care of herself—not bathing, she lost the prescription for medication she needs for her eye, she’s hanging out with older boys who give her beer. And then the cops arrive at her classroom and take her away. Lisette at first thinks it’s the beer she drank or the lipsticks she pocketed, but then it is gradually explained by the gentle policewoman that she’s being taken to the morgue to identify a body.

What is brilliant about this story—other than the voice, I mean, which is pitch perfect, it seems to me—is the way the tension is built and ratcheted up and squeezed tighter and tighter as the story progresses. It takes awhile to know that Lisette’s mother is away, and then we learn that there’s a problem with Lisette’s father, and then we learn that the father caused the injury to the eye, and then we learn that the mother has disappeared before and isn’t such a great mother even when she’s around, and then . . . and it goes on building right to the end.

Excellent story!

March 29, 2010: “I.D.” by Joyce Carol Oates

The New Yorker: "The Pura Principle" by Junot Diaz

Yunior, who is still in high school, lives with his older brother Rafa and their mother. But Rafa has leukemia, and has been spending a lot of time in the hospital. Meanwhile, Yunior gets high a lot, and the mother spends time with her religious pals, the “Four Horsefaces of the Apocalypse.” When Rafa comes home, he doesn’t take care of himself. He goes out partying, gets drunk and high, and brings women home, all over the mother’s objections. He even spends some time with his old girlfriend, Tammy, who is now married to a white guy. But nothing happens between them, which suggests that he really cares for her—unlike the other girls he brings home. After a relapse, Rafa seems to settle down. He takes a job in a yarn shop, but after a few weeks he collapses and is brought home to recover. Which is how he meets Pura, who was in the shop when he collapsed. Pura is from the Dominican Republic and the mother doesn’t trust her, thinks she’s only out to get her green card, but Rafa won’t listen to her.  Shouting matches and estrangement ensue.

The plot here isn’t special, and even the setting is somewhat familiar. But the reason you should read this story is for the voice of Yunior, a jumble of Spanish and English and hybrid slang.

“O.K., for the record, I didn’t think Pura was so bad; she was a hell of a lot better than most of the hos my brother hand brought around. Guapisima as hell: tall and indiacita, with huge feet and an incredibly soulful face, but unlike your average hood hottie Pura seemed not to know what to do with her fineness, was sincerely lost in all the pulchritude.”

Pulchritude? Yeah, Yunior uses words like “pulchritude.”  So the voice is great, and the plot is good too—slightly familiar but compelling because of the setting.

This one is recommended.

March 22, 2010: “The Pura Principle” by Junot Diaz

The Secret to Success

If you're a book person, you've probably heard about a book called The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. The book, which is non-fiction, is doing very well. And I believe I know the secret to its success and I propose to offer this simple recipe so that anyone can achieve the same.

First, all you have to do is have a great idea. Skloot had her idea while she was in grad school. Easy.

Then it's just a matter of doing your homework. Skloot spent years researching, contacting Henrietta Lacks's children, talking to scientists, etc. Piece of cake.

The next step is a little bit harder, but all you have to do is build a platform by reviewing lots of books, publishing articles, organizing conferences, meeting editors and agents, getting to know the movers and shakers in the scientific community (or whatever the community is that is relevant to your subject). That's what Skloot did. Simple.

And then you need an agent and a book contract, but if you've done the previous steps, that should be a snap. Skloot did that. Twice, because the industry is so screwy.

I suppose you need to write the book along the way, too. And it helps if it's terrific, which by all accounts Skloot's book is. (I bought it at the Virginia Festival of the Book last week and had her sign it, but haven't had a chance to read it yet.)

The last step, after all the hard work is done, is to sit back and relax. And by "relax" I mean go on a grueling five month book tour, with up to three appearances a day, radio and TV interviews, meeting with readers and reviewers, and generally hand-selling thousands of copies of the book. As Skloot is doing.

No problem. Follow this recipe and your success is guaranteed.

Virginia Festival of the Book: Saturday

Another long day at the Book Festival. This time I did make it for a 10am program: "Book Promotion for the 21st Century" moderated by Bella Stander, featuring Rebecca Skloot, Carleen Brice (whose blog White Readers Meet Black Authors I've mentioned here before), publicist Kelly Powers, and Jag Bhalla, who has written a clever book about idioms. This was a very good panel, and helpful. Anytime people are talking about book promotion it pays to listen, and Rebecca Skloot's experience was particularly interesting (she spent years building a platform while seeking the right publisher for her book).

Then it was time for my last panel. This one was "Writing Contests -- Making Them Work for You" moderated by Sally Honenberger, whose had a good deal of success in contests. Also on the panel were Hawes Spencer, publisher of The Hook, which runs a popular local writing contest, Meredith Cole, who has won a mystery book contest, and Rachel Unkefer, who has won The Hook's contest, and is also on the Board of Writer House in Charlottesville. And me, of course. I've won or been a finalist in a number of short story contests, and a few of the stories in my book In an Uncharted Country earned recognition that way. I think we provided some useful information about where to get information about contests (my favorite sources are Poets & Writers, New Pages, the Writer's Chronicle, and the CRWROPPS listserv).

I then had a few minutes at the bookfair (Splintered Light Books was selling books by festival authors, including mine) before I headed down to hear Daniel Pink's talk on "Working Smarter and Living Better" which I gathered was based on his book Drive. Pink is also a Northwestern Alum and we (the Northwestern Alumni Association) had tried to book him for our annual Leadership Development Symposium (I'm on the planning committee), but he had something else scheduled. Too bad, because his talk on what motivates people was terrific. I bought the book and look forward to reading it. I also got a big chocolate chip cookie out of it, as a reward for audience participation (demonstrating the biological urge of hunger).

I then trekked back to the Omni Hotel for the Agents Roundtable, but the room was packed, there weren't enough chairs, and I've already got an agent, so I decided to leave. I had wanted to hear Jenny Bent, with whom I've had some nice correspondence in the past, but I needed a break. So I went back out to the mall, got a little bit to eat at the noodle shop, checked email, and rested for a bit before heading down to the Paramount Theater for the . . .

Authors' Reception. I liked this event last year. Festival Speakers are guests, and others pay to come in and meet the authors. The food is pretty good, and there's wine and other drinks. I mingled a bit and then saw Elizabeth Strout come in. She gave me a hug and I led her to the bar, where she introduced me to Lee Smith and Lee's husband Hal Crowther, and I was pleased to be among such important writers. We talked for a long time (and I hoped my friends were watching). My friend Elizabeth McCullough introduced me a couple of Staunton residents I hadn't met before, both writers and historians who teach at Bridgewater College: Jason Vuic and his wife Kara Vuic.

After the reception, we moved to the theater for American Accents. This program was moderated by Sarah McConnell and taped for the With Good Reason public radio show. The first reader was Lee Smith, who read from her most recent book, Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-eyed Stranger. Then E. Ethelbert Miller read from his new book, The 5th Inning. Next up was Liz Strout, reading from Olive Kitteridge. And last was Colum McCann, who read four short sections from Let the Great World Spin. Wow. What a panel! Then there were a few questions--some basic but good questions about reading influences, the intersection of the roles of teacher and writer, and the future of the book business.

On the way out, as the hordes were about to descend on Liz and the others, I had a chance to say a quick goodbye, and then I headed over the mountain (to a very worried dog, who didn't know what to make of the fact that I was so late).

Virginia Festival of the Book: Friday

Friday at the Virginia Festival of the Book was almost as long as Thursday. I didn't manage to get to a 10am program (I worked instead), which is too bad because I later met a couple of the panelists and realize the panel would have been quite interesting), but I did arrive in time for Bella Stander's lunch (Bella is Book Promotion 101) where I sat with Katharine Weber and my friend Jessica Handler. After a lively discussion, I hurried over to Barnes & Noble to hear "Virginia Stories" (a panel on which I think my book would have fit well, and, as it turned out, there was room because Peter Neofotis canceled). Josh Weil and Sheri Reynolds gave excellent readings.

Then it was back downtown for "The Business of Book Reviewing" moderated by Bethanne Patrick (aka "The Book Maven"). The panel consisted of Rebecca Skloot, Ron Charles, Katharine Weber, and David Montgomery. I don't know that I heard anything I didn't already know or suspect, but all of the panelists spoke well and were interesting. I'm especially impressed by Rebecca Skloot, whose book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is getting so much attention. (I later bought the book and got her to sign it.)

When that was over, I realized I was done for the day and headed back over the mountain, which means that I missed some other interesting programs and a dinner.

Six Bricks Press presents...

New issue of Six Little Things

Virginia Festival of the Book: Thursday

Thursday was a very busy day. I started off with a talk at the local Kiwanis Club at 7:00am. That was fun. I'd written some notes on what I wanted to talk about but didn't even look at them. It was very comfortable and it was a nice bunch of folks.

Then it was off to Charlottesville for the Virginia Festival of the Book. The Festival started Wednesday, but because of my class I wasn't able to get over the mountain then. I went to the Library where I moderated a panel on "Making Local History Come Alive" before an audience of almost 50. The panelists were great and included local historian Rick Britton, Jack Trammel, Bob Crewdson, and Stauffer Miller. After the presentations there was a lively Q&A, and the panelists were then engaged by audience members after the session was formally over.

Then I headed out to the Barracks Road Barnes & Noble for my reading there. We had a decent crowd. Jason Ockert read from his book, Rabbit Punches and also a new story. Then I read from "William & Frederick", one of the stories in my book, In an Uncharted Country. It was fun to talk to some of the audience members after the reading.

I decided to go home then, because I planned to go down to a reading at Washington & Lee University at 7pm, which I did. It was great to see my friend Porochista Khakpour again, and hear her read from her terrific novel, Sons and Other Flammable Objects.

Long day!

The New Yorker: "The Knocking" by David Means

On the plus side, this doesn’t seem to be an excerpt from a novel. On the other hand, it’s not much of a story. Flash fiction that needs considerable editing, maybe.

The narrator has moved into an apartment building in New York and almost immediately discovers that his upstairs neighbor is fond of knocking—in many different ways. The story explores many of these different types of knocking, although some of the knocking doesn’t sound like knocking (incessant moaning, grief-filled swooning) and may, in fact, originate elsewhere. The narrator has met the neighbor in the hall, but assumes that the neighbor knows that late in the day the narrator is in his “deepest state of reverie” pondering the nature of his sadness. Which, apparently, is related to the end of his marriage to Mary. At one point, while he’s remembering Mary, the knocking becomes sweeping and remains just above his head. Then the sound switches back to a knock. The narrator admires the knocker’s dedication, but projects his own pain (“the pain of a lost marriage”) onto the neighbor.

I don’t think there’s more here than that. Views?

March 15, 2010: “The Knocking” by David Means

Book Tour: Lexington, VA -- Books & Co.

After my appearances at the Virginia Festival of the Book this week, my next reading is a little closer to home. I'll be reading from In an Uncharted Country on Sunday, March 21, at 2pm, at Books & Co in downtown Lexington, VA. I hope you'll come!

Virginia Festival of the Book

The amazing and wonderful Virginia Festival of the Book begins tomorrow in Charlottesville. Last year, I moderated one panel, which made me feel more a part of the festival than ever before. This year I'm moderating one panel, sitting on one publishing panel, and giving a reading as part of another panel.

First up for me is the panel I'm moderating on Making Local History Come Alive. That's at the Library at 10am on Thursday.

Then I'm reading at Barnes & Noble at 2pm on Thursday as part of the Short Fiction panel. (With Jason Ockert)

And on Saturday at Noon I'm on the Writing Contest panel.

I hope to see you there!

Bent on Books: Rookie Mistakes

Check out this blog post from agent Jenny Bent: Bent on Books: Rookie Mistakes. I always read these kinds of lists in fear that I'll see mistakes that I've made (or that I don't know are mistakes), but I think I know all these. Good advice for those just beginning to query agents.

And, by the way, Jenny Bent will be on the agents' panel this coming Saturday at the Virginia Festival of the Book in Charlottesville.

Book Tour: Keene

On Saturday I visited Keene, New Hampshire's Toadstool Bookstore for the last reading of my trip north. It's a wonderful, sprawling store -- just the way I'd want my bookstore to be. They had the reading area set up and when the chairs filled I started. For the first time, I had to deal with competition -- a customer of the store was oblivious to the reading and continued to talk in a loud voice while standing right behind our section. It was distracting, and I kept hoping someone would say something to the woman, but . . . no.

Anyway, it was fun and we had a lively discussion after the reading.

I then managed to squeeze in a little tourism. We visited a sugar house in a nearby town and watched the process of making maple syrup, and also bought some. Then I went to dinner with my friends in a wonderful little restaurant in another small town, where I ran into a friend and fellow writer whom I met a couple of years ago at VCCA. Amazing.

Pictures to come.

Book Tour: Portsmouth

What a great town Portsmouth is! I wish I could have spent more time -- there are hundreds of cool looking bars and restaurants there. But the point of the visit was to read at RiverRun Bookstore, which I did last night with Tara Masih. A Friday night is tough anywhere, and our crowd was small, but it was fun anyway. It was great to hear Tara read and I chose to read from a story I don't normally do.

Thanks to Michelle at RiverRun for organizing the event!  On to Keene, NH on Saturday (Toadstool Books at 2pm)

Book Tour: Concord

After a pleasant trip to Boston and a nice drive north to Concord, NH, I had a very nice event hosted by Gibson's Bookstore in downtown Concord. Gibson's is one of those great independent bookstores where I could spend hours browsing. I didn't have hours, though, but as it happened I spotted right away the book I wanted to buy: the new novel by Chang-rae Lee.

A few minutes after 7:00 we got started. The talk was recorded for radio, and eventually I'll post a link here. And there were about a dozen people in attendance. After a nice intro by the events coordinator for the store, I chatted for a while, then read from "Flood, 1978," and answered a lot of questions.

I'll post pictures when I get home, but for now you can visit Gibson's Facebook Page to see the shots they took. And if you're ever in Concord, stop into this great store!

Kind Words for In an Uncharted Country

Gibson's Bookstore's Deb Baker has nice things to say about In an Uncharted Country in this post on her book blog, Bookconscious.  (You have to scroll down pretty far to get to the part about me, but I recommend you read the whole thing because there's lots of good stuff about other books, too.) Here's part of what she has to say:

I enjoyed the way Garstang wove different generations’ stories together. I especially liked the way “Flood, 1978,” “The Hand Painted Angel,” and “The Red Peony,” worked together.  But I also enjoyed “William and Frederick,” which was less directly related to the other stories, and “The Nymph and the Woodsman,” which is simply beautiful, and tragic. Actually, there wasn’t any story I didn’t care for, and I can’t remember the last time I read a collection where at least one story didn’t disappoint.

 That's so gratifying to hear! And I'm really looking forward to my reading at Gibson's Bookstore tomorrow night.

LitMag Tease

So, Shenandoah is going online. TriQuarterly is going online. Well, I'm going online, too. We haven't made a formal announcement yet, but I'm involved in the new literary magazine that will be published by Press 53. Stay tuned for more information, forthcoming very soon!

Shenandoah to Move Online

This comes as something of a surprise to me, given that Shenandoah, the Washington & Lee Review, has until now resisted accepting electronic submissions, but I've just learned that in 2011 the magazine will cease its print publication and become a web-only magazine. The announcement from R.T. Smith puts a brave face on the change, but to me it doesn't sound good. As talented as WLU students are, I'm not sure I like the sound of them participating in the editorial process, as Smith says they will. Still, I know the magazine, for which I used to read slush, has been under pressure from the school, and we all have to get real in difficult times. Web magazines are the future. I just didn't expect Shenandoah to be leading the way.

I learned this news from Leslie Pietrzyk's Work-in-Progress, who has her own thoughts on the matter.

Andrew's Book Club March Selections

This month Andrew picks two books I own (or have already ordered) and one that also sounds interesting for Andrew's Book Club. The "big house" pick is Brad Watson's Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives, which I'm really looking forward to reading. (I reviewed "Visitation" from this book when it appeared in The New Yorker: here.)

The "indie" pick is Darlin Neal's Rattlesnakes and the Moon, from Press 53 (the publisher of my own book, In an Uncharted Country). Can't wait for this one to arrive!

And this month Andrew makes a "micropress" pick: Phantoms, by Chad Simpson, from Origami Zoo Press.

Lots of good reading.

Fifty-Two Stories

A "fiction delivery service"? Okay. Whatever. Fifty-Two Stories looks pretty interesting, whatever you call it. This week the service is delivering fiction from Kyle Minor: The Truth and All its Ugly

The New Yorker: "Ask Me If I Care" by Jennifer Egan

Just two months ago, The New Yorker published “Safari,” an excerpt from Jennifer Egan’s forthcoming novel, A Visit from the Goon Squad. It was good, although it didn’t quite work as a story, and most people I know liked it. This is another excerpt from the same novel that also doesn’t quite work as a story. It’s also very good, and I’m guessing people will like this one, too. In “Safari,” Lou goes to Africa with his very young girlfriend. Here, Lou is in San Francisco, having sex with Jocelyn, a teenage punk rocker, and generally contributing to the delinquency of minors by supplying coke, among other things.

At least in this excerpt we meet Bennie, who is apparently the subject of the novel. This excerpt is told from the point of view of Rhea, a girl insecure about her appearance because of her freckles, and deals with her circle of musician friends: Scotty, Bennie, Alice, and Jocelyn, and their band, the Flaming Dildos. The band gets a big gig, Lou, who’s in the music business, comes to watch, and to quote Marty (a “dork” who plays violin with the band), the whole thing is “intense.” Scotty realizes that Jocelyn is with Lou and so unavailable, and he turns to Alice, which frees up Bennie, who Rhea wants but doesn’t think she can have. It’s all pretty high school because . . . they’re all in high school.

So this was a fun read, and I’m sill looking forward to the book (June 2010 release) but I’d rather the magazine stuck with short stories.

March 8, 2010: “Ask Me If I Care” by Jennifer Egan

Book Tour: New England

Hard on the heals of my recent Chicago trip comes a Spring Break visit to New Hampshire for three book events.

First, I'll be reading at Gibson's Bookstore in Concord at 7:00 pm on Thursday, March 11.

On Friday, March 12, at 7:00 pm, I'll be at RiverRun Bookstore in Portsmouth.

And on Saturday, March 13, at 2:00 pm, I'll be at Toadstool Books in Keene.

If you're in the area, please stop by. I'd love to see you!

American Shakespeare Center Podcast Central

Shakespeare lovers, this is fascinating stuff--a discussion with the cast of Henry VI, Part 2, now showing at the American Shakespeare Center:
American Shakespeare Center Podcast Central

And here's my "review" of the production: ASC: Henry VI, Part 2.

The New Yorker: "Appetite" by Said Sayrafiezadeh

Although the ending of this story fell flat for me, the rest of it was terrific. The unnamed first person narrator is an underachiever who, at the age of 25, has convinced himself that steadily working his way up the hourly wage scale at a restaurant is a kind of success, and maybe the only kind open to him. He’s battling his manager though, and his apparent inability to make a grilled cheese sandwich. He is burdened by the expectations of his family and also the neat category into which he fell after high school: one “entering directly into the workforce.” Those words spoken by the cocky valedictorian of his class during their graduation ceremony still resonates for him—and haunt him.

The story gets interesting when a new waitress begins work at the restaurant. She’s “pretty but had no breasts or ass,” and is anorexic. Even so, at least she’s college-bound, which is more than the narrator can say. She calls him “funny boy.” And then “boy.” And then he thinks he hears her call him “pretty boy.” And it is apparently the first nice thing he’s ever heard about himself. “Really?” he asks.

There’s more going on here that I haven’t quite nailed down. What’s with the “Emerging International City?” for example. And what’s the joke about the plane crash got to do with anything?

The story requires more thought, but on first reading it’s most enjoyable.

March 1, 2010: “Appetite” by Said Sayrafiezadeh

Book Tour: Chicago

I'm just back from a wonderful trip to Chicago to promote In an Uncharted Country. I was gone four days and made three appearances, and I'm beginning to understand just how much time the whole "book tour" process takes. I had help getting the appearances set up, but still--there was a lot of planning and coordination, and then the trip itself. It's a big investment of time.

But it was a lot of fun, and we sold a few books. Not a lot of books, but some.

The first stop was at 57th St. Books in Hyde Park. I really like this store, which is crammed with great books, hidden corners, and book-loving people. Most of the chairs the store had set up were filled--with my friends or friends of friends--and things got underway almost before I had a chance to think about it. (I read from "Flood, 1978," which seems to work well for a store event.) Afterwards, many who attended went over to my friend Carol's house for pizza and talk. It was great fun. (And I left behind some signed copies of the book at the store, if you need one!)

On Saturday I was joined by lots of family at the Book Stall in Winnetka (see the picture at left) for another reading. This is a suburban store with a different feel, but it's another great independent bookstore. Again, the store chairs were filled, this time with family and friends from many periods of my life: high school, Peace Corps, law school, law firm, and these writing days. The talk followed the basic pattern, with lots of questions. And that night we celebrated at a new Italian restaurant in Evanston.

Sunday afternoon was a bit different. I had arranged a fireside chat at my fraternity house at Northwestern University. We invited the undergraduate and alumni members, and I had no idea how many would come. In the end, the event was complicated by the USA-Canada gold medal hockey game from the Olympics! At the time we had planned to start, the game was only about half over. Fortunately, though, the guys didn't mind putting the game on TIVO, and letting me proceed. I didn't read though, as that seemed unreasonably cruel. I talked, there was a lively Q&A, and then--since the pizza had arrived by then--I stopped and let the game resume. And that was fun, too.

In Brief: Russell Bittner on In an Uncharted Country by Clifford Garstang at Gently Read Literature

Russell Bittner reviews In an Uncharted Country at Gently Read Literature