The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters by Robert Lewis Taylor

A "good yarn". A long account of the travel west by the twelve-year-old Jaimie, his father, and their friends, to the gold fields in California. It's a much better novel than 95% of the stuff written today, I'm just not sure it's in the same league with some of the better Pulitzer winners I have read.

The problem is that it seems to be based on true accounts. Truth is stranger than fiction, and to have so many things happen to the travelers seems unrealistic. The boy gets kidnapped by bandits, captured by Indians, becomes a blood brother to a Sioux chief, is chased by radical Mormons, makes and loses a fortune, and so on and so forth. It's too much. Any one of these incidents would have made a great novel, to think that the boy lived through and survived all these incidents is too much.

And the thing that irks me the most is the use of dialect throughout, in dialog and narrative. That really grates on my nerves.

GWA Annual Contest entries

Polished up four stories to send in for the GWA Annual contest.

• Common Ground


• Ellis, Not Elvis


• Merle Littel


• Montag's Utopia

The entry fee is only a dollar apiece, but I sent $20 anyway, as an added donation, since they were asking for money to help fund the awards. Last year I won nothing in this contest, and I never heard who the winners were. I suspect there were not enough entries. Maybe this year we'll actually hear the results and I'll have some better news.

DWS first draft finished

Over 113,500 words. The longest first draft of a novel I have ever written. I feel really good about this one. I burned it on a CD and took it to Office Depot to get it printed out. Three hundred pages. I started this draft November first. It was, of course, a NaNoWriMo novel. That fifty-three days to write 113.5k words, or about 2140 words a day. How is that possible? Well, it's not high quality at this point. The trick of producing a first draft is to spew, and worry about making it better later.

There are a lot of problems with this draft, of course. Plenty of little details that changed as the novel went on: the age of a character, an action I referred to later that never happened earlier. These are the types of things that are easily fixed. And of course, plenty of word errors, which are a by product of using Microsoft Word and the spelling auto-correct feature. I am writing fast enough that I don't notice when Word corrects my spelling to a word that I did no intend. Also something easily corrected in the rewirte phase.

What is not easy to do, is to improve it now that it is on paper. The main things that are missing are the images that help convey my meaning to the reader. Finding just the right image is difficult and slow work.

What now? All the advice says to let it sit for awhile - a month maybe. I probably won't wait that long. After the holidays I'll probably start reading it and marking the obvious errors, and try to get the overview that is missing when you work on it for almost two months.

What is it about? Well, I haven't written the one line teaser yet. It's a story of a high school senior during desegregation in South Carolina in 1970.

Burning Books

I burned about half-a-million words today, the three novels of mine "Santeetlah", "Please Release Me", and "Fuzzy Mirror". Not permanently, of course. For two years I have been saving all the printed out versions of the novels, editing them with red ink, and stacking them in the corner of my home office. I kept saying I would use the paper for something - packing boxes to ship, scratch paper, cleaning windows. I finally realized it would take three lifetimes to use that much paper. I hauled it out to the backyard and set fire to it in a metal trashcan. Worked great. It was strangely satisfying to read snippets of writing while I burned the pages. The stack was about knee hige - I'm guessing a half million words total.

Cold Paradise by Stuart Woods

What garbage. This was a selection by my book club. In our defense, we are trying to read "popular" authors with some tie to our area, and Stuart Woods was born somewhere south of Atlanta. He's certainly popular, and prolific, but the boot is a thriller in the same vein as the Patterson novels. I didn't care for it at all, for the usual reasons that I don't care for these type of thrillers: improbable plot, shallow story, cardboard characters, manufactured twists and turns to keep you reading. And as an added bonus this one had lots of unrealistic sex scenes, that were not in the least bit provocative. If you have to write a sex scene, then read "The Mambo Kings" first to see how it's really done, don't bother with this novel.

Independence Day by Richard Ford

I'm very surprised I finished this novel. I believe it suffers from the all-too-common arrogance of some literary fiction writers. The belief that they can write about anything, no matter how boring or inconsequential, no matter how difficult the stretch to make their point, because they believe they are such great writers. I also place Updike in this category, with his Rabbit novels. Of course, they are successful, and I am not, so who am I to criticize them.

Ford is very good at dialog, dialog "tags", and the interplay between characters around dialog. Turn to any page and you can get excellent examples of the right way to do things.

Ford is very bad at telling a compelling story, though, and that ruins the whole thing for me. I don't sympathize or empathize with any of the characters. I don't identify with the story, which is what? I'm still not sure. I suppose it's just the mid-life crises of a rich, introspective, former writer. But I could be wrong. The novel didn't speak to me in any way, and certainly said nothing profound that I could find. I can't imagine spending so much time and effort writing something so banal.

And another thing - politics. The author obviously has a political leaning and it shows. I hate when the authors personal politics show.

So I am going to rank it pretty low in the pulitzers. About on a par with where I rank the Updike novels, which is pretty low, and for pretty much the same reasons.

DWS first draft update

Well, 90000 words is not enough for this first draft. I set the progress bar to 90k, not knowing hos many words it would be, never guessing it would be this long. I'm not just a hair shy of 90K and just getting to the end sections. Maybe 100K? I'll reset the progress bar and see where I get to.

Of course, the progress bar is just a useful tool. It's not about the word count, not in the first draft. What does it matter if it is 90L, 100k, or 120K? I just use the progress bars to keep track of "progress". It really does help to see that I am progressing on a daily basis.

Advise and Consent by Allen Drury

I'm impressed when I think of how much work this book was to write. It's detailed, well planned, well executed, and demonstrates a great understanding of character.

It's just the subject matter that is boring, to me at least. Politics. Anyway, if politics excites you, by all means, go for it.

Itty Bitty Lies by Mary Kay Andrews

I read this for my book club. Didn't buy it, so it's not in my librarything.com database. Not my usual fare, of course, but it was enjoyable. You just have to suspend disbelief with these light novels and have fun. The author did a very good job, craft-wise, of keeping the suspense building and the reader turning the pages. It was a little contrived, as all of these novels are, so that's not really a criticism. You have to write like this in order to sell these books, and Andrews did a great job with it.

My only real criticism is the large amount of dialog. I would estimate the novel at about 80% dialog - that's a lot. Settings, description, action, all suffer. But that's a minor criticism - it's probably just her style. She has a lot to pack into her 90K word joy ride.

GWA November contest - first place

My short story "Common Ground" won first place this month. This is the last monthly contest of the year, of course. Overall result for the year was first place also, as I wrote in a previous post.

Devil's Walking Stick update

Currently at about 72k words. This started out during NaNoWriMo, of course. It's code named "Devil's Walking Stick", after the thorny plant that grows around the South. At this point the plant has only a minor role in the novel, so I may drop it totally in the rewrite.

Now it's time to decide what direction to go in for the ending. Originally I intended two deaths, now I'm not so sure.  One death for sure, but the second one may not happen.

Final word count? I can't predict it. There is still a lot that needs to happen to wrap it up. Of course, 90k is a good target length, since anything longer than that will have difficulty getting published by a first time author.

GWA monthly contest - first place for the year

Attended the GWA Christmas party last night, where the awards for the monthly contests were given out. I got first place! Details of the stories I entered and the places I won are on my writing page. The award was cash - $50. The first money I have ever received for writing.

The tally for the year was first place - six times, third place - twice, fourth place - twice, and fifth place once. There were eleven contests, with no contest in December. Not bad for a year's work. I love these long projects, especially when I can look back and see actual progress.

The party was great. Laurie had a good time. I was my usual quiet, reserved self. Some things never change.

Now if I could just get a short story published. I think my New Year's resolution will be to work hard on that part of my writing.

The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett

I read something silly, just for a change of pace from all the Pulitzers. Silly is the right word. The novel is not serious in any way, and as a result it's hard to get excited about it, but it is fun to read. There's no point to it either, which is a little misleading, since the blurbs seem to imply satire or parody. If anything it is a parody of fantasy novels. This is the very first one in a long series of loosely connected novels. Maybe someday I will read another one - anything can happen.

Tales of the South Pacific by James A. Michener

A strange, unique form for a work of fiction. Is it a series of short stories with a similar setting, or a novel? Some of the characters continue throughout, others are seen only once. The "narrator" is the strangest aspect. We never learn anything about him, yet he sees all and knows all, even when he is not present. He is a character, not just the voice of the author, yet we learn nothing about him. Very strange.

It's also a lot more graphic and realistic than the sanitized musical that we have all seen on TV or sung in High School. Worth a read, but I can't rate it very high among the pulitzers. It takes more than an interesting sequence of stories to make good fiction.

A Death in the Family by James Agee

A unique, serious novel about death, and the way the living survivors deal with the death of a family member. It is so finely crafted it is inspiring for a writer to read, if only to admire the skill of the author. It is surprising that it is not better known, except that the subject matter is so depressing. Of course, I have experienced the death of both parents and all my grandparents, so maybe I can read it with understanding and a little detachment. Still, I was choked up at times.

I highly recommend it, but only if you think you can handle the subject matter...

NaNoWriMo 50K goal

Well, I hit 50k on the 26th of the month. As usual, Thanksgiving got in the way, and I spent four days without writing anything. Of course, my mind kept working away on it. When I sat down today to pick it up I had a little trouble getting started, but once under way a couple of good scenes poured out that put me over the 50k mark.

It is nowhere near finished though. Maybe halfway, maybe a little further than that. This is actually a good sign, the first time I have had this many words in my story at this point. Perhaps I did learn something from reading all those pulitzers, at least about the overall feel of a good novel.

I'm not saying my efforts are good, just that I am a little bit encouraged. This is still only a first draft, and a hastily written one at that.

I also have one more character than I planned for, and another complication that I didn't plan for, but it seems to be fitting in OK. The antagonist has had a rough start, but in the last scene has started to hit the right tone of nastiness toward the protagonist. Of course, the actual antagonist is something much larger - prejudice, racism, and bigotry. It is only personified by the physical antagonist.

As usual, finishing 50k is not the finish. I will continue on until I get to an end for this novel, even if it takes me until Christmas or beyond.

The Town by Conrad Richter

An excellent book, the last in a trilogy (I only read this one), and another pulitzer prize winner. It's a treatment of the pioneer spirit, and how hardships and hard work affect character.

I have to admit it was a little disappointing. There was one character that I wanted punished for his actions, and that didn't really happen, except that he had to live the rest of his life with the results of his action. He is one of that characters that you love to hate - which is a compliment to the author, of course, but I wanted him punished!

A lot of the novel is also written in a voice that is slightly annoying, using dialect when the narrator is speaking, even though it is written in third person. I just finished reading "The Way West", and it had a much better treatment of that particular technique. The characters, also in third person, spoke in dialect, but the rest of the novel is written in correct grammar.

But it's a good read, especially if you are interested in a historical novel dealing with that time period.

GWA contest - tie for fourth

My story "Flash Mob" tied for fourth in last month's Georgia Writers Association contest. Not a great finish, but who's keeping track? Actually I am in good shape for the end-of-the-year awards, which means I have to go to the Christmas Party. Oh no! I have to bribe Laurie to go with me - no way I could go alone.

Only one more monthly contest this year, and only two more weeks to start and finish it. I haven't given it much thought - theme "Ambrosia".

The Way West by A. B. Guthrie Jr.

I read along through the Pulitzer Prize winners, disappointed by the lean years of substandard books, and then a real winner like "The Way West" comes along. This is an outstanding book, and I have to rate it as high as my other favorite Pulitzer winners. It has everything - story, plot, interesting characters, setting, and a journey to pull you along. I can't say enough good things about it.

NaNoWriMo interrupted

OK, I have a good excuse. My brother is in the hospital with colon cancer, and I made a trip to visit him. So at least two days went by without a single word being written. I was ahead of the silly little word count anyway, so I'm not too concerned. In the past I have missed days in a row with no problem. November always seems to be the month when the family has health problems. The last two NaNoWriMos I had to move my mother-in-law when her Alzheimers acted up. Now this year my brother has colon cancer. What is it about November that causes this?

On the good side, I was able to visit the old Stoke's homeplace while I was home for the visit. It's in ruins, of course, about ready to fall in on itself. All the barns have collapsed. The home place has a prominent position in my novel, of course.

A Fable by William Faulkner

I have to wonder what Faulkner was thinking when he wrote this, and why the prize committee thought this was worthy of a Pulitzer. Faulkner goes back to his characteristic wordy style, of page long sentences and three page long paragraphs. It requires a great deal of mental effort to read this novel and keep it straight. Is it worth it? Not for me. I much prefer "As I Lay Dying".

The characters are confusing and I have no empathy for them. The "story" has some merit, but is is so well hidden as to be almost invisible. Things move in jerks and fits, and the whole thing seems to be a fog. like the fog of war.

So what can I say? I love some Faulkner, but not this one.

NaNoWriMo one week update

Things are actually going well. I am ahead on the word count, for one thing. The novel itself is more satisfying then the previous ones I have written. It has to be because of all the reading I have done in the last year. And, of course, the writing.

There is substance to this novel, something that I think my other attempts were lacking. It is not a genre novel, like the mystery "Please Release Me". It's not a techno-thriller, like "The Fuzzy Mirror". It's not a muddle of family secrets and like the gothic "Midnight Blue". Instead it's literary fiction, and the main character has depth as well as problems to overcome.

Anyway, I hope it continues to go well. I've just gotten the problems stated and the character in the middle of his problems. My original plan may change, of course, it all depends on how things go, but so far things are sticking to my plan.

NaNoWriMo on track

After not writing a single word on Saturday, I am now back on track with about 6000 words in the last two days. Things are taking shape. with my poor main character faced with terrible problems. Mysteries are everywhere, which I hope will keep my imaginary audience reading.

It's just a first draft, of course, and a poor first draft at that. But it's a lot of fun to spool it out, telling a story I have been thinking about for a while. And maybe, just maybe, this will be the time that I produce something good (after a lot of editing, of course.)

Short Story in the GWA news magazine

The GWA editors decided to publish one of my short stories, Merle Littel, in the November/December news magazine. This is the story otherwise known as Earl Small, and the title change is another story.

There I was, driving on the down town connector, when my cellphone rang. It was the editor of the GWA newsmag. They wanted to put my story in the next issue, but there was a problem.

"Do you mind changing the title?" he said.

"No problem," I said, without even thinking about it.

I guess I am not one of those authors who can't tolerate changes by editors. What's in a title anyway?

NaNoWriMo has begun

Authors! Start your typewriters (or laptops, or neos, or pdas, or pen and paper).

Managed to put somewhere around 1900 words on disk yesterday. Then I decided it was junk, deleted about two-thirds of it, and started over. Got back up to 1900 again. Wasn't that fun.

That's against the spirit of NaNoWriMo, which is to turn off the internal editor and just write. But, what the heck, I am a NaNo veteran (this is my third one), and I think I can handle it. It's more important to me to get off on the right foot from the very beginning.

Stay tuned...

NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow

I've had a cold for a week. I've been so busy I haven't thought about my next novel for awhile. I still think I am in good shape though, since I had the whole thing planned out weeks ago.

It will be interesting to see if I can read and write at the same time this year. In the past I have had trouble doing that; reading affects my writing. I have to say that I am certainly more experienced now, but don't know if that will help.

I've had the usual second thoughts about my story. Do I really want to write this? It was Steve Barry that said you shouldn't write what you know, but what you love, since you will be living with it for years. Hopefully I can tell the story in a way that it will become something I like...

Let's test the NaNoWriMo supplied progress meter:



Or maybe this one:

Rejections from Glimmer Train

I entered two short stories in the Glimmer Train very short fiction contest and they both lost - "Syzygy" and "Spiritu Sancto". Oh well. I suppose I'll send them off somewhere else.

The 'Caine' Mutiny by Herman Wouk

A very good book. Unlike most Pulitzer prize winners, it is an exiting read. Of course, I had seen the movie with Humphrey Bogart. The movie focuses on the mutiny and trial, and the book is much more than that. It is the story of Willie Keith, and his life in the war. He goes from unexperienced ensign to Captain, and grows up in the process.

Although it is very good, I don't think it is as finely crafted as other Pulitzers. For the most part it is third person, using the viewpoint of Keith. But Keith can't be everywhere, and the author uses an omniscient viewpoint for other scenes, including the trial.

Guard of Honor by James Gould Cozzens

It only takes a few pages to impress the reader with the fact this is an expertly crafted novel. His use of dialog is excellent, and he flows in and out of multiple viewpoints easily.

He is also in it for the long haul. There is nothing hastily written here. It is also over 200k words. The reader needs to be in the right frame of mind - settle in and relax. I had to make a little note card to keep track of the characters.

Don't let anyone tell you it is about Black flyers in World War II. It's not. There are Black flyers, but they serve only as a source of conflict and problems for the major characters, who are all white. None of the Black characters are used as viewpoint characters.

It's a World War II novel, but it is not about a great battle or even about life on the front. It is concerned with those who are left behind, those in the States who are carrying on with training, resting after being at the front, providing support and public relations. In that sense, the "Guard of Honor" is really those military who serve behind the scenes. That is what the novel is about, how these average people cope with the difficulties and hazards of leadership in the Army Air Force.

An outstanding read, I highly recommend it.

NaNoWriMo Two Week Notice

A little less that two weeks to go, and I have managed to spend some time working out the problems that my main character will face. I have not done an outline in any sense of the word, but I have spewed a version of the story.

On the NaNoWriMo site things are cooking along. I am struck this year by how young everybody seems. I even saw a post from a thirteen-year old kid, who claims to have done it twice before. OK. I'm glad he's starting young. I'd like to see an age distribution of those who participate - I bet it is heavily weighted in the twenty-somethings.

As usual, I am laying low on the forums. I look at what others are saying, but there are usually so many responses to the intriguing topics that my response would just get lost in the clutter. Still, it's interesting to see what people are saying, although at this point (my third NaNoWriMo) I have seen it all before.

As usual, November is shaping up to be busy. I hope to go hiking for a week this year, if everyone's health cooperates and there are no family crises. I will have paper and pen along, of course. I'll probably get behind, but I'll make it up when I get back.

The last two years, the MIL (mother-in-law) has had some sort of crises in November. Hopefully we can avoid that this year. Two years ago we had to move her from Chicago to Atlanta, and last year was the big move into the nursing home. She's been there a year now, and recently has had some Alzheimer's related problems (forgotten how to dial the phone), bless her heart.

Anyway, I'm confident the novel will put itself on paper regardless of what happens. It probably won't be worth reading in that first draft form, but it will be created.

GWA September Contest - First Place

I got first place in the Georgia Writer's Association September short story contest with Earl Small. THis puts me, I think, into good shape for taking the overall prize for the year. There are still two more months to go, though (there's no contest in December), so I shouldn't start rubbing my hands with glee yet.

This months theme is cacophony, which was an easy one for me - Flash Mob will be my entry.

November's theme is ambrosia, which brings to mind that silly desert that my mother always made for Thanksgiving and Christmas. That and her "congealed salad" were not on the top of my list. Can I possibly make a story out of that?

Hunting Season by Nevada Barr

This is a mystery, a selection by the local book club I belong to. I don't usually read mysteries, or, to be more accurate, it's been a while since I read any. In the past I have read a lot of the Agathe Christie mysteries. In the last year or so I also read Jass by David Fulmer.

First off let me say that this was about as good as I expected it to be. It definitely fits in the mystery genre. It's not as good as Fulmer's Jass and I don't think I could compare it to the Christie novels since they are so different.

Since I am going to discuss this with the book club, I'll list the problems I had:

• The beginning borders on "lying to the reader." She starts with a wedding, and the main character is listening to the Priest, and silly me, I naturally assumed it was her own wedding. At least there was no clue that it wasn't that I could see. Several pages later we learn that it's not her wedding, but some other unlucky soul. Of course, I felt cheated, not a good way to begin the novel.


• And speaking of beginnings, the author spent quite a bit of time in that first chapter dwelling on the death of her main characters husband, and how suspicious it was. It's a mystery novel, the reader is looking for the mystery to start, the author supplies a mystery. Can you blame me for thinking that's what the book was going to be about. Well, it wasn't. It was never mentioned again. The real beginning of the novel is when she gets the call about the dead man - that's where the novel should have begun.


• Details, details. Several times things did not strike me as true-to-life. Mystery novels deal in facts like gold, they are essential to the aura of the mystery. If the reader doubts the author at any point, they are in trouble.




• Why didn't the interpretive ranger call the cops when she found the body at the start of the novel? Instead she paged her boss, and it was at least an hour later before any cops were called. Negligent. An ambulance should have been called first, then the cops, then her boss. Unbelievable.


• The good-old boys chasing the main character in the dark. As a veteran night orienteer, it was not believable. I suppose it would satisfy those who had never set foot in the woods after dark.


• You don't use a lathe to make a child's coffin. Lathes are used to turn objects like table legs, wooden bowls, staircase uprights, etc.


• You can't kill someone by squashing their car with a pickup truck. It takes a lot more force than can be delivered by a truck with tires to squash a car. There are a lot simpler ways to kill, and why use a difficult way when a simple way will do?




• Style - she uses a style that is not smooth, especially in the dialog sections. She seems intent on showing off her skills at finding alternate words and action verbs - to the point of distraction. She has overdone it.

As far as the mystery goes, there wasn't much of one. The red herrings didn't fool me. Eliminate the red herrings and the only other character with pages devoted to him was the bad guy. Not hard to figure out at all.

Characterization is OK except for the major character. I suppose that may be taken care of in earlier books in the series, but this book is supposed to stand alone. It does suffer from being one in a long running series. Many times the author alludes to things that have happened in previous books that a reader of only this book would find confusing.

One thing I did enjoy was the mildness of the crime. The death at the heart of it all turned out to be accidental. There were no blood and guts scenes. No sex scenes. Motive was simply hatred of women superiors and protection of retirement. Enough to kill for? Not really, I guess, but it was a refreshing change from some of the more gruesome genre novels around.

Will I read more from her? Probably not. Too many books, too little time.

Book Club!

Laurie dragged me to the inaugral meeting of the "Rico Cultural Center" bookclub. Looks like there are six of us. The RCC is an old elementary school, and the library consists entirely of donated books. The Librarian is retired.

It will be good for me, I know. At least it will expose me to some things I would not normally read. Instead of literary fiction, we will be focussing on mysteries and thrillers and maybe some non-fiction thrown in. The first month's selection is a Nevada Barr mystery, and it is killing me to read it. I'll have to write a book opinion when I am done.

Do I sound like a literary snob? I suppose I do. I'm entitled to my opinion, though. So much of the genre fiction is formulaic, so much of the writing is forced and copy-cat. Not to say that every lit-fic novel is great - I hate it when they ignore basic things like story and plot.

Anyway, I will stick with the book club as long as it hangs together. I hope they are not offended by my opinions of the books we read.

Creative Non-fiction workshop by Gregory Freeman

A Georgia Writer's Association sponsored workshop. This one was outstanding. Freeman obviously knows his genre. He has written two books, Sailors to the End (about the USS Forrestal), and Lay This Body Down (about a peonage plantation and the murders associated with it). I haven't read either of them, but after this workshop I am going to get them and read them.

Some tidbits from the notes I took:

• Creative non-fiction is a true story, well told.


• It uses creative styles more common to fiction


• Strong characters - characters are everything for a story like this. A lot of reasearch is needed! Difficult to write the story until the research is done.


• Tell the story in a dramatic way.


• The fact that the story is true does not change your obligation to tell it in a dramatic way.


• Use these techniques:




• dramatic opening


• abundant use of involving scenes shaped from true material


• abundant use of dialog drawn from actual dialog


• a strong finish

He also strongly feels that you are writing a true story, and should not make things up just because you need it. Don't invent characters and scenes.

He references heavily, preferring endnotes. He wants to reader to have faith in him as a writer that he is telling the truth.

So it was a very impressive workshop. Don't know if I will ever write a creative non-fiction book, since I am so involved with short stories and novels. The amount of research needed is so intimidating! I don't think I could ever write one that involved so many interviews of living characters.

The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter

This collection gets an 'A' for craft and technique, but it doesn't generate much interest in me, the reader. There is a good selection of lengths, ranging from short short story to short novel. Take the first story, for instance. A woman kills her husbands lover, and her husband helps her cover up the crime. It's told in such a detached manner that I had no reaction at all - no attempt is really made to examine motive or feelings of either the wife or the husband.

Another example is the short novel "Old Mortality". It seems to be an examination of how children view adults as they grow up, but it is about as boring as commuting to work. The child finally grows up at the end and commits some of the same mistakes as her elders, yet the author doesn't examine any of that.

But it is much better than the Stafford collection. Maybe you just have to be in the right mood to appreciate it.

The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford

These stories won the Pulitzer for fiction in 1970, but were written between 1948 and 1969, and they seem a little dated and old-fashioned. I'm working my way backwards through the Pulitzer winners, and this is really the first time that a winner has struck me this way. Stafford has a cold, cynical, snarky approach to her subjects. She seems to have a condescending tone as well. I don't find myself getting drawn into these stories and identifying with the characters. I also read the introductory biographical material, and she sounds cynical in real life as well - I can imagine her insulting her friends in ways they may not have even understood. The stories are worth reading, of course, but she's not one of my favorite short story writers.

Last order of used books for the Pulitzer project

Sent in my last order for used books to Powells.com this morning. I order the books in batches of at least $50 - used books of course. They are always in good shape, almost never is there any evidence that anyone else ever read them. By ordering $50 worth at a time I get free shipping - which is also slow shipping.

This order will take me back to 1947, with the exception of the second Updike "Rabbit" novel, which I don't plan to read. Please don't force me to read another of those "Rabbit" novels! Talk about torture...

Elbow Room by James Alan McPherson

Another Pulitzer winner for fiction, a collection of short stories. Some of these stories are excellent, others are wide of the mark. For instance, Problems of Art was nicely done, but the title story was almost incomprehensible. At its core was a story of an interracial marriage, but overlying that was a bizarre dialog between the author and a critic. I have to agree with the critic that the story didn't make much sense in that form.

Another problem with the stories are their tone. It's erudite and condescending, while the subject matter is usually lower class Black people. I found it detached and off-putting. It certainly did nothing to immerse the reader in the story.

It can be tough to read these short story collections, since every few pages you have to start over with a new story and new characters. It's easy to lose focus and concentration.

NaNoWriMo Update

About three weeks until the big National Novel Writing Month kicks off. I have my idea for a new novel, have been thinking about it for months, and think I have a good idea where I want to start, what direction I will go in, and how I will finish it.

Some people do no planning beforehand. I meticulously planned for NaNo 2004, and did almost no planning for NaNo 2005. This year I hope to get somewhere in-between those two extremes.

One difference this year is that I have read about sixty novels since last year. Not just any novels, either, but about forty Pulitzer prize winners. Well that help? At least I know what I like and what I don't like in a novel now.

• a good story. I'm not talking about plot, which is a different thing, but I should have a good story to tell.


• a good plot. By this I mean that I should have a plan for engaging the reader and pulling them along with me, right to the end. I don't want any readers giving up on my novel partway through.


• interesting characters that the reader can sympathize with. It's not enough to just have an interesting character, since I hate spending an entire novel getting to know a "mean" character.


• setting. almost as important as character, but in a slower, more basic manner. A strong underlying setting is important to provide a good foundation.


• symbolism. Goes hand in hand with setting. Subtle use of symbols enhances setting in providing the appropriate atmosphere.

Anyway, it should be fun. I am looking forward to it. I have no doubt that I can produce the 50k words that are the object in November. The question is, how good will they be?

Pulitzer reading project update

I added a progress bar to the sidebar so I can see at a glance how far I have come and how far I have to go. It's been a wild ride. I hope I have learned something,as well as had fun reading some great novels and short stories. Of course, I have read some things I considered unworthy of winning any prize, but that's what makes contests interesting. After NaNoWriMo is over I will prepare a wrapup page and do some best and worst rankings.

The Fixer by Bernard Malamud

The author outdoes Job with this novel. It's very well written, meticulously crafted. I normally don't like novels with a "political" agenda. This is not really political I guess. I would sum it up as "The purpose of freedom is to create it for others," which one of the characters says towards the end of the book.

Which brings up the topic of the ending. There is none. I know the arguments, of course. What happens to the prisoner is not important, what's more important is what we learn from the story. Any ending that the author writes would be disappointing. It's trite to have a happy ending. We all know what happens to the Russians in just a few years after the trial. and so forth and so on. My point though, is that the reader has invested a great deal of time and empathy in the character of the prisoner, and to end with no resolution is cheating the reader. The author owes it to the reader to end the story, regardless of whether it is good or bad. Look at the example of Hemingway - he wasn't afraid to end "For Whom the Bell Tolls". Malamud definitely shows a lack of courage in not writing an ending.

Another thing that bothers me is this novel stretches the criteria for the award. It says "For distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life." No part of this novel deals with American life, or is even set in America. I assume the author is American, so I guess it fits.

House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday

In my opinion this novel is deliberately confusing. It jumps around in time, it moves in and out of reality and the spirit world, it changes narrator and point of view frequently. But if you are willing to hang in there and try to understand it does make sense and have some excellent moments. I'm not going to rate it highly among the Pulitzers though, because it is so needlessly confusing.

The Edge of Sadness by Edwin O'Connor

An outstanding book, another Pulitzer prize winner. It stands head and shoulders above many more famous winners. The edition I have was a re-issue by Loyola Classics, and that should tell you a lot. There are no sex scenes, no violence, no murders, no drugs, and just a little bit of alcohol abuse. There are at least four priests who are characters, including the narrator. A quarter of the way through the book I thought it was turning into a "Going My Way" movie-novel, but it surprised me and became something much more subtle and nuanced.

It is a little long-winded, but that is in keeping with the Irish descent of the narrator. Even though lengthy, it's an easy read - the author never confuses, always entertains. I guess you can tell I liked it a lot.

The Keepers of the House by Shirley Ann Grau

An outstanding book. It has everything you desire in a work of fiction: great characters, setting, imagery, plot. A refreshing change from most of the Pulizer prize winners I have read lately. There are jewels hidden among the Pulitzers, and this is one of them.

If I wanted to really nit-pick, I might raise some issues about motivation, not only about the major characters, but some of the minor ones as well. A few of the plot turns don't seem realistic either, but they are easily overlooked and accepted. I particularly liked the climax, it was heart-pumping.

third place (tie) in GWA contest

Got a third place for August with "442'. A tie for third, actually. Better than last month, anyway, and as far as I can tell, I still have more points than anyone else for the year. This month's story is not going well - actually it's not going at all - I have written nothing. Two weeks to go...

Another Short Story Rejection

"Tuning Hammer" got another rejection, this time from Southern Hum, an online journal. Not much I can say...

Smonk by Tom Franklin

A fast and enjoyable read, probably less than 80k words. You really have to think like a twelve year old boy to be able to read this novel without becoming disgusted by the blood, guts, violence, and sex. Hearing the author do a reading, like I did at the Decatur Book Festival, helps tremendously. When you hear him read it you realize he's not serious and it is all just make believe, a gory story that can be only be fully appreciated by the adolescent hiding within us.

Smonk is an interesting character, but not the main character. The book is stolen, in my opinion, by Evavangeline.

Pulitzer reading project update

A quick tally shows that I have read thirty-five of the fifty-five that I chose to read. That's an average of about one a week. One thing that I have learned is that I have some strong opinions about what I like and what I don't like. At the bottom of my list at the moment are some of the most famous authors - Updike and Mailer. I can't stand the "rabbit" novels, and Mailer's Executioner's Song was a huge disappointment.

I just made a new order from Powell's for used books. I think I am paying their light bill this year...

The Reivers by William Faulkner

A refreshing read after the bitter disappointments I have had from the Pulitzer's lately. This is another in the list of Pulitzer prize winners I am reading. Lately the authors have been failing to meet even my minimum standards (Mailer, Updike), but this little gem has refreshed my enthusiasm.

It is a light comedy, and also a moral tale. Faulkner's last novel, published in 1962, and put into that time frame it seems dated and old-fashioned. It's set in 1910, and is a moral tale of an eleven year old boy coming of age. It has everything that a novel needs, and is told by a master story teller, so for that reason it is refreshing after the disaster of Mailer's Executioner's Song, the last Pultizer I read.

My only complaint is the somewhat vague start. The narrator is an adult, telling the story (we assume) to his son, about what happened to the narrator when he was a young boy. This is never clearly stated and has to be pieced together as the novel progresses. A clear unambigous statement of what is going on near the beginning would be helpful.

The novel is also filled with Faulkner's own interpretation of the race relations of that time period. There are strong Black characters and weak Black characters. There are strong white characters and weak ones. But Faulkner colors everything with his own peculiar take on racial relations. The eleven year old boy is able to relate to his Black friends in ways not possible for an adult white male of that period.

It's a great novel though, not terribly serious but very enjoyable.

The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer

There is nothing I like about this book. It reads like a 1000 page feature article in the "Living" section of the newspaper. About a sixth grade reading level: short paragraphs, short sentences, short words.

It's not fiction, at least not in my opinion. I would categorize it as creative non-fiction. So why did it win the Pulitzer for fiction? Beats me. The first of the Pulitzers I have read that I would like to forget.

The Stories of John Cheever

It's tough to read 60+ short stories, much tougher than reading a novel of the same length. Every four or five pages you reset and start over.

The best of John Cheever, another in the list of pulitzer prize winners I am reading. They are in chronological order, so they do get better and more polished and more "Cheever" as the book progresses. His best are here, including the one everyone has to read in school, "The Swimmer." That story is very representative of the whole collection. The woes of suburban living, the American dream unrealized, man copes with loss, and so forth. Cheever sticks to what he knows. New York City and it's suburbs, New England vacation spots, and Italy after the war.

There are a lot of good stories here, and a few that I didn't like very much. This is a book opinion, after all, and my opinion is that he did a great job occasionally, and missed the mark occasionally, and the rest of the time did very well.

It's also obvious how influential he was on short story writers that followed him. Some of his writing seems dated - he favors an omniscient viewpoint, sometimes addresses the reader directly, uses very little dialogue, and sticks to characters that are rich. Was he writing for his audience, the rich New Yorker?

If you are a short story writer, I recommend studying these stories in detail.

Tom Franklin talk at the Decatur Book Festival

Tom Franklin is one of my favorite authors, so when I saw he was going to speak at this book festival I had to go. He's very funny, and read excerpts from his new book "Smonk". This was a talk inteded for readers, not writers, so it was entertaining and amusing, not informative. Franklin tells a good story, and frequently got side-tracked when answering questions, which was pretty funny in itself - I don't think anyone minded.

Laurie and I bought a copy of the new book and got it autographed. When I get a chance I'll post a book opinion.

Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow

"Man loses everything, finds himself." In 487 boring pages. Or it could be a modern Pilgrim's Progress, since every character seems to be a prop, foil, or soundboard for the narrator, who uses them to expound on his theories of life. The characters should have been named Greed, Avarice, Sloth, etc.

So I guess you can tell I'm not very impressed. Characters I don't care about or identify with (including the narrator), minor characters that are just cardboard, and the narrative is overloaded with phony intellectual arguments.

But it's better than the Updike novels, although that is not saying much. In the spirit of Faulkner's advice, I read everything, and learn from the good as well as the bad.

Of course this is a pulitzer winner, and Bellow also won a Nobel prize. What does that say about my opinions?

Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner

Part epistolary novel, part historical novel, part confessional novel, this is almost a great novel - only the last chapter mars its record. It's the story of a modern man, racked by a crippling disease, who is writing the history of his grandparents. Actual letters are used from a semi-famous woman writer and artist - the version of the book I bought had a nice introduction explaining the mechanics of the novel.

The fourth chapter of the section "On the Bough" has to be one of the best chapters I have read in a Pulitzer prize winning novel. It has suspense, characterization, and a vivid setting. Exceptionally well done.

On the other hand the last chapter is a huge disappointment. It violates the "don't lie to the reader" prime directive. It's a dream, and the read is not told it is a dream until it's over. Very unsastifying, the kind of thing that makes me want to throw the book against the wall, and it definitely leaves the book with a bad taste in the mouth.

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

A manic book, written for laughs all the way. Ignatius is funny, but so are all the other characters and strange situations. I'm surprised Hollywood never made a movie of this - or perhaps the major character would be too hard to understand.

The novel was a little repetitive, I think, but the author handled the multiple viewpoints very well. Especially since it was published posthumously - I wonder if there was any editing of the original?

Ironweed by William Kennedy

What a strange book - I'm certanly glad I read it. It's skillfully done, and I can't really categorize it. The main character is a skid-row bum in 1938 who sees the ghosts of people from his past. He abandoned his family, stayed gone 22 years, came back to make peace, then left again. If he had stayed, then his time away would have been wasted. Of course it was wasted anyway, but that's the story as it was presented.

It was interesting that it was mostly in one viewpoint, third person, past tense. But occasionally the author sneaked peeks into other viewpoints. It was very well done.

A Primer of the Novel by David Madden

A very informative little book. It doesn't go into a lot of depth, but it does provide a starting point if you want to do more research. The bibliography is excellent, as is the index.

It's divided into two parts, the first on the "Types of Novels", the second on the "Art of Fiction". His classification of novels includes many types I have never heard of before. The art section is fairly cursory, but still informative.

Now, what I need is a book on the history of the novel.

Joseph Conrad anecdote

Here's one I never heard before:

Joseph Conrad's wife locked him into his study, as she did every morning. When she released him for lunch, she asked, "Joseph, what did you do this morning?"

"I put in a comma," he replied.

After lunch, she locked him in again. When she released him for dinner, she asked, "And what did you accomplish this afternoon, Joseph?"

"I took the comma out," he replied.

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

What can I say about this that hasn't already been said? It only takes a couple of hours to read this novella, another Pultizer prize winner, but I shudder to think how long it took to write. Or should I say, how long it took to distill? That's what it seems to me, a distillation of the story down to it's essential elements.

Pulitzer reading project update

Twenty-seven down. Everything from 1947 to the present is fifty-five books (there were five years when there was no award), so I am halfway! That doesn't include the novels before 1947. Why the arbitrary year 1947? Because I read All the King's Men (and loved it). Once I get all these read I will consider going before 1947 - we'll see.

I buy the books, fifty dollars worth at a time, from a online used-book store. By purchasing firfty dollars worth I get free shipping. A few of the books I have gotten from the library, but I really love having my own copy. The used books are cheap, just a few dollars, and well worth it.

Once the reading spree is over I'll compile a list of lists, listing the best and the worst, in my humble opinion.

The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron

What would be your reaction, if, after spending years writing a novel, after publishing it to critical success, after receiving the pulitzer prize for it, to have it denounced and attacked as racist? It would devastate me. This version of the novel contains an afterword by the author that is as important to read as the novel.

Not long after publication, politically correct Black writers started to attack this novel as racist. I don't see it. It's fiction, and portrays an entirely feasible account of the little-known Turner that rings true. At least it does to me. I haven't read the criticism of the novel. Are there alternate tellings of the story that would make sense? Surely. It's FICTION. Is this novel racist? Not by any means. To call it racist is probably to misunderstand the definition of the word.

Reading about the controversy over this novel doesn't make me eager to write a historical novel about Tsali, or a novel about my experiences during desegregation in 1970.

The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty

I can't say enough good about this little novel. Welty is one of those author's who can come up with perfect imagery to illustrate her point to the reader. I'm sure it's a lot of hard work, but she makes it seem effortless and unobtrusive.

I hate to compare this book with "A Summons to Memphis", but I will. Everything in Memphis takes place in interior monologue, overdone "telling, not showing". The first two-thirds of "The Optimist's Daughter" is perfect "showing, not telling". Everything takes place through dialogue and action. At times it is difficult to understand just what is going on, what the purpose is, where the book is headed. You really have to pay attention, and in that sense it reminds me of "The Great Gatsby". It is masterfully done.

Only after things start to reach for a climax does Welty resort to letting the main character tell us what she is thinking, just when it is appropriate, and even then there is still plenty of action and imagery to move things along. I can't say anything bad about this little novel.

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

This novel has a great start, and a unique voice. Written entirely as prayers or letters, it is captivating right from the beginning.

Unfortunately, about two-thirds of the way through, the author gets on her soapbox and starts pontificating (through her characters) about everything from reefer to rubber plantations. Very annoying. I hate it when authors start preaching. The same thing happened with another novel that dealt with missionaries in Africa, "The Poisonwood Bible". Must be something about the subject.

It also seemed like the author went to great lengths to come up with a happy ending. She pulls a lot of strings to get everyone back together to live happily ever after.

But it's a great read. I need to get the DVD and look at it again and see how close it is to the novel.

A Good Scent From A Strange Mountain by Robert Olen Butler

Looking to study the short story at its finest? This is your book. Like Lahiri's excellent collection, one of the few collections of short stories awarded a pulitzer. "Fairy Tale" is my favorite.

Rabbit At Rest by John Updike

Why do I dislike this novel so much? The writing is excellent, there is no doubt of that. Pick any page and you can find something impressive about the writing. Updike is particularly good at finding the right image to get his point across to the reader.

But the characters are mean and uninteresting. From Rabbit down they are boring, mean-spirited, and selfish. The kind of people I try to avoid in real life, so why am I reading a novel about them? The story is also boring. There is nothing memorable about this book.

So I took out my bookmark and set the book aside. Next in the stack was "The Color Purple", and it only took a few pages to be hopelessly hooked on the character and story of Celie. The contrast could not be greater, and I have nothing good to say about "Rabbit At Rest".

Oh, and another thing, I have never seen so many typographical mistakes in a book. Who proofread this edition?

Duotrope

I signed up for a free account on Duotrope. It's a fantastic search engine for publishing markets. With a free account I can keep track of my submissions there. Increasing my submissions is one thing I really need to work on. I'll never get published if I don't keep my work circulating. I have three stories out now, and several more I could send.

The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos

Sex! There's more sex in this pulitzer prize winning novel than all the other twenty Pulitzers I have read. It's the story of the the Mambo King Cesar and his brother Nestor, Cuban immigrants who were musicians. Think Ricky Ricardo and Babalu! The brothers were actually guest musicians on the "I Love Lucy" show. Of course, all of this is fiction.

Almost zero plot. All character, and a sexual intercourse description every few pages. The best descriptions of sex I have ever read, but that's still a LOT of sex. It's also "stream of consciousness" writing, like some Faulkner, so there will be page long sentences. Time seems of little importance to the author too, so it's seldom a linear story.

But it's not as hard to read and comprehend as it seems. I had no problem keeping track of it all. My biggest complaint is the lack of plot.

Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie

A marvellous book. A little slow in the beginning, but it didn't take long before I was hooked. Very stylish and British - I could never write a book like this! I am surprised it won a Pulitzer though, not because the writing isn't good - it's definitely Pulitzer quality - but because it takes place entirely in London. It seems like an elaborate stage play, although there isn't enough dialogue. The principal characters are American, so I suppose that is enough to make it a comment on the American condition, and eligible for a Pulitzer.

Looking at the author's bio, she was writing about things that she knew. at least as far as the occupations and interests of her characters. I expected another plotless mish-mash. but the alternating love affairs kept things going, and the dramatic conclusions of the affairs were very satisfying.

19 Pulitzers read

I have somehow managed to read nineteen Pulitzer prize winning novels so far this year. Not too shabby. If nothing else, I am learning what I like and don't like about literary fiction. Plot is important to me, as are memorable characters. I like a setting that contributes, almost like another character. Close the circle with symbolism and I am a happy reader.

The element most often missing is plot. So many times there is nothing driving the novel forward, nothing to keep me reading. It doesn't have to be a thriller, but at least take into consideration that the reader requires some forward movement to stay interested. Look at A Thousand Acres. That novel has everything, including a forward momentum of stress/release that kept me interested.

I have no intention of stopping my Pulitzer reading project at this point. I'm having fun with it. Occasionally I take a little break, usually while waiting for another shipment of used books to arrive from Powells. It's becoming a habit now to read, just like it used to be for me years ago, and that is a good thing. At breakfast, at lunch, in the last hour before bedtime, I have the latest book open and am reading.

Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler

Remember the Neil Simon comedy the Out-of-Towners? It's been made into a movie a couple of times. The best way to describe this book is to compare it to that movie/play. A husband and wife travel to a funeral, and back home. The wife is as scatter-shot as they come. The husband is fact-driven. Yet they love each other and somehow stick together.

I admit I got bored with it about half way through. I stuck it out, but had to skim ahead, and then read the last two chapters. There just wasn't much driving the novel forward. From experience with these types of novels I knew that nothing was going to change, nothing of consequence was going to happen, for this odd couple. And I was right.

It would make an entertaining short story though, shortened to about four thousand words.

Another NaNoWriMo Idea

I'm not too fond at the moment of the historical novel idea for the next nano. I tried writing a short story with the correct setting and a likely character and was not happy with the result. I have been attempting to come up with something different, something that excites me, something that I can write with good results.

I think I have come up with a potential idea, code named "Devil's Walking Stick", for no particular reason. Probably because I have some growing in my backyard and I saw it last night and it got me thinking about the symbolism of that plant. This idea has plot, memorable characters, and a setting that excites me.

It's a retelling of the Romeo and Juliet story, but set during desegregation in 1970. Sometime I lived through. Instead of the Montagues and the Capulets, it's a white family and a black family. A strong grandfather figure in the white family knows some facts about the black family, namely that the boy and girl are cousins. The boys ancestors owned the girl's ancestors, and the girls g-g-grandmother was a mistress of the boys g-g-grandfather. Should be an interesting twist on an old story.

It will be a big challenge to handle the telling of this story correctly. I have no idea at this point how to tell it, but I'm confident I can come up with something. I like this idea; it excites me. It will be difficult to write, but that has never stopped me before.

I need to write a short story dealing with some of these characters and see how it goes before I make a final decision. It may not pan out; if not I have time to change my mind again before November.

The next NaNoWriMo

It's not too soon to start thinking about it. Actually I have been thinking about it for a couple of months already, just look back through the blog for the Cherokee and slavery related books I have read and the trip to North Georgia and Nashville that Laurie and I did for research.

The problem at this point is that I am not all that crazy about the type of novel I am contemplating: a historical novel set in the period around the Cherokee removal, or earlier on the Georgia frontier, including as characters African slaves, Cherokees and Creeks, and white settlers.

After reading "The Killer Angels" I am sure it has to be a focused novel, like a searchlight on some small fact or incident. I had hoped to use the Tsali encounter. Recent research has convinced me that it is not the "Nathan Hale" type moment that the Cherokee have traditionally portrayed. Tsali was not a willing martyr, giving up his life to save the eastern band of the Cherokee from removal. The Eastern band already had permission to stay. They led the hunt to capture Tsali. The Cherokee did not really think of themselves as a "nation", but as city-states, or towns. Allegiance was to clan, not nation. Tsali was on the edge of the towns that were being left in NC, he didn't get the protection of Will Thomas. Anyway, it is a very confused incident, difficult to portray. I am certain any portrayal I do will be disappointing to the Cherokee, and for that reason too I am reluctant.

I have other historical novel ideas: the old Negro Fort, the adopted Creek son of Andrew Jackson, the battle of Horseshoe Bend, the practice of slavery by the Cherokees, the Moravian missionaries among the Cherokees and their acceptance of slavery. It's tough to pick one.

It requires more thought. I have already done a lot of research along these lines, but if something that really inspires me comes along I will not hesitate to abandon the work at a moment's notice.

A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor

This is the kind of novel that drives me crazy - usually. There might be a dozen lines of dialogue. Nothing really happens. It violates the "show, don't tell" rule, since it is all telling. The language is stilted, the style old fashioned.

And the first two-thirds of the novel really did drive me nuts. It's 233 pages, but for the first 147 of those pages the narrator sits in his apartment and reminisces about his family. Maddening.

After that things pick up a little, but still, nothing happens. The narrator finally reaches an understanding of his family. That's enough for a novel, of course, but it certainly needs to be less boring in the telling. And it won a pulitzer. Not one of my favorites.

First Place - GWA June contest

My short story "Montag's Utopia" took first place in the June Georgia Writer's Association contest. The theme was "utopia", of course. My story is about a fireman who has a book reading habit that interferes with his social life. And yes, the choice of name, Montag, was deliberate. Remember another "fireman" by that name who had an obsession with books?

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

This may be the best Pulitzer winner I have read. I'm up to sixteen now, the latest ones for the most part. This novel is as good as "To Kill A Mockingbird", I think.

It starts slow, a retelling of the King Lear story, but there are plenty of foreshadowings of things to come. And they do come, unexpected twists that kept me guessing and reading. All the way through I was marvelling at how well constructed the novel is. Much planning and a lot of hard work went into this book. Highly recommended.

Walking the Trail by Jerry Ellis

Subtitled: One Man's Journey along the Cherokee Trail of Tears.

A really nice, insightful book. I'm a big fan of "journey" books anyway, and I have read several about hiking the Appalachian Trail. I hope to hike it someday myself. Ellis hiked the Trail of Tears, backwards from Oklahoma to Georgia/Alabama. Not exactly the outdoor experience of hiking the AT, but the man was on a mission. He's a great writer - makes me want to look him up and see if he has written any fiction.

It also makes me jealous. I love his descriptions, and he has a wonderful sarcastic tone at times that I like. The whole thing is upbeat though, something that I never seem to be able to manage. A great read.

Research trip

Laurie and I went on a little trip to do some research for a possible novel I want to write. We visited New Echota, the Chief Vann House, and the Hermitage. They were having a re-enactment at the Hermitage for the 4th of July, and I got this picture of a cannon firing.



We were impressed with all three sites. New Echota was the most surprising, of course. So often our mental image of Indians is wrong. The next picture is the Cherokee Council House, where the government met. It's a reconstruction, of course, but supposedly very accurate. A two-story log cabin, the ground floor is one room, with a raised bench on one side for the VIPs and a fireplace at one end.



The final picture is Chief Vann's tavern, moved from its location on the Chattahoochee River to New Echota. It's half log cabin and half vertical clapboards, with a central chimney. Chief Vann was a famous drinker and gambler, so including his tavern here seems appropriate. He was killed in a brawl at a tavern.



The Hermitage is a classy place, fitting for a presidential home. No pictures allowed inside the house though.

What was missing from the re-enactment? The Cherokee warriors and the slaves that would have accompanied the officers. The tour guides in the Hermitage were also in period costume, but no slave guides. I'm not trying to accuse or lay any blame, just wondering why those groups were not represented. The explanation could be as easy as lack of volunteers - all the volunteers were white.

All three sites are gems, little known and not that well visited. Definitely worth another trip if I decide to go forward with the novel.

Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney

An impressive body of work, collected from the eastern band of the Cherokee by the author in the late 19th century. While much Cherokee lore had been lost over the centuries, this book faithfully preserved sacred formulas and myths that had been saved by the last shamans.

Of course, I am primarily interested in the Tsali legend, and Mooney presents the version that later became the martyr legend. Since I recorded the historical version presented by Finger, here is the version given by Mooney:

One old man named Tsali, "Charley," was seized with his wife, his brother, his three sons and their families. Exasperated at the brutality accorded his wife, who, being unable to travel fast, was prodded with bayonets to hasten her steps, he urged the other men to join with him in a dash for liberty. As he spoke in Cherokee the soldiers, although they heard, understood nothing until each warrior suddenly sprang upon the one nearest and endeavored to wrench his gun from him. The attack was so sudden and unexpected that one soldier was killed and the rest fled, while the Indians escaped to the mountains. Hundreds of others, some of them from the various stockades, managed also to escape to the mountains from time to time, where those who did not die of starvation subsisted on roots and wild berries until the hunt was over. Finding it impracticable to secure these fugitives, General Scott finally tendered them a proposition, through (Colonel) W. H. Thomas, their most trusted friend, that if they would surrender Charley and his party for punishment, the rest would be allowed to remain until their case could be adjusted by the government. On hearing of the proposition, Charley voluntarily came in with his sons, offering himself as a sacrifice for his people. By command of General Scott, Charley, his brother, and the two elder sons were shot near the mouth of Tuckasegee, a detachment of Cherokee prisoners being compelled to do the shooting in order to impress upon the Indians the fact of their utter helplessness. From those fugitives thus permitted to remain originated the present eastern band of Cherokee.

A wonderful story, too good to be true. See the Finger book for something more realistic.

The Eastern Band of Cheokees 1819-1900 by John R. Finger

An excellent, scholarly book, with plenty of footnotes and an impressive bibliography. I've been wanting to get a copy for quite a while, and found a copy at the Hermitage.
The reason for my interest is the author's treatment of the Tsali story, the first I have ever read that relies on fact and not legend. The facts don't supprt the martyrdom of Tsali, of course. The incident is a lot more complicated then the legend suggests.

Here's the relevant quote from the book:
It is now necessary to view the Tsali incident in a somewhat different light from that of the heroic legend. First, there is no documentary evidence to support the charge that soldiers mistreated Tsali and his band. This does not mean such cruelty did not occur - merely that a reasonable doubt exists as to the army's culpability in the drama. Furthermore, if one is to believe Colonel Foster and his informants, the younger male Indians rather than Tsali were the principal actors in the murders. As for Thomas, it is obvious he was an important participant in the events, but there is no evidence to support Mooney's tale of visiting Tsali's lare after the murders and personally convincing the Indian to surrender. The documentary accounts, moreover, make it clear that Tsali did not surrender at all but was tracked down by other Cherokees, apprehended, and executed by them. Thus, there was no noble sacrifice. And last, the capture and execution of Tsali little affected the right of the Qualla Cherokees to remain in North Carolina. They already had at least tacit permission to stay. Only Euchella's small band directly benefitted from the episode.

Of course, that makes my idea of making a novel out of the story questionable! But that's why we do research.

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

An extraordinary book, a fast-paced retelling of the Battle of Gettysburg from the viewpoint of officers on both sides. Special attention ig given the confederate officers, the losers at Gettysburg.

The characterization is excellent. The design of the novel well thought out and planned. The attention to detail immerses the reader in the period.

I can't think of anything to criticize, unless it is the lack of "ordinary" characters. There are no enlisted men used as viewpoint characters, a contrast with "The Red Badge of Courage."

Pulitzer Reading Project

My reading project is progressing well. I have read about fifteen of the pulitzer winners now, and the flavor of the winners is clear - Americana. Makes sense, since the award is for "distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life."

The works I have read so far cover a wide range of the American experience. From the Civil War and slavery to Greek hermaphrodites. Tales of immigrant families seem to predominate so far.

The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields

An excellent, engrossing book. It really pulled me along, spinning out the history of Daisy Goodwill in a new, refreshing way.

I admit I was confused in the beginning a few times, when she seemed to vacillate between third person and first person. She didn't really do that again until the very end. Write whatever you want, break all the rules, as long as it works - isn't that the advice Steve Berry gave me? I guess Carol Shields followed that advice - I can imagine her getting critiqued by some of the instructors I have had lately. They would ruin her book.

The other question I have is - was Daisy a real person or not? I wouldn't even ask the question if there weren't pictures of the family in the middle of the book. If she is fictional, the photos are a nice touch!

Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer

An excellent novel, seemingly simple on the surface, but complex within. A lot like the "hotels" that Dressler builds in New York. Written like a fairy tale, full of symbolism, and fun to read.

Algonkian class - final wrapup

I'm glad it's over. I have a low tolerance for classes that are not run in a professional, businesslike manner. I certainly didn't get out of it what I had hoped.

Here's the critique of the class I posted on their forum:

Good things about the class:

1) Kaley was very helpful and also very patient in putting up with my complaints.
2) I enjoyed the analysis of the professional stories as well as my own story.
And my complaints:
1) The class started a week late. I had planned my vacation around the class, since I was taking it seriously. We got about four days notice that the class was postponed a week, and no explanation. Not a good start.
2) The lecture material needs a good editor. There was good content, but it was sometimes difficult to understand. Everything seemed to have been slapped together hastily.
3) Comments from the students were ridiculed and discouraged. This happened early in the course, even though we had been instructed to comment on other student’s work. This effectively shut down an important part of the course for me.
4) Emphasis is on analyzing stories, not writing stories. I enjoyed the analysis, it was the best thing about the class. There was not enough writing – there should have been two or three times as many writing exercises, and we should have finished a draft of the story. I can only speak for myself, but I wasn't overworked.
5) I had to beg to get a draft of my story read. The instructor, Kaley, took pity on me and several other students and reviewed our stories. A bright spot in the class, at least Kaley seemed to understand what we wanted and needed. Our final assignment, for an actual journal editor to review, was to present only a synopsis and the opening. That was all, after ten weeks of class.
6) The instructor only commented on work and answered questions early in the week. If you have a question on Friday or Saturday, when you are working on your submission for Sunday, forget about it. How much more work would it be to check messages once a day and respond?
7) Since the class started a week late, it finished a week late. Our instructor has another commitment the last week of class. I've had to change plans of my own. Is this the paying student's fault?
8 And lastly, the comments from Michael, public and private, are unprofessional. The customer should be treated with respect. I wish I could submit this anonymously. Why am I even bothering?

I won't go into the comments from Michael that prompted #8 - they weren't directed at me initially, but were public, and I complained in a private message to him. I received his wrath. That doesn't work on me, and certainly doesn't scare me away, which seemed to be his intention. He seemed to be intent on ridiculing his customers until they quit - an odd way to run a business. It was sophmoric.
I did get a more polite tone from Michael after I posted my critique of the class, and even an offer of a partial refund because of the week delay in the class. I didn't take it. The offer of a refund should have been made before the class started, at any rate, not after I was a dissatisfied customer.
Other class members had a good experience and enjoyed the class, but I can't recommend it.
Final, final update: I got the much-touted review of the beginning of my story by the visiting Editor. I suppose, since he had so little to work with, it was OK. Was it helpful to me in improving my story? Not really. How can he be helpful without seeing the whole thing? He contradicted what I had been told by the class instructor. Since I am used to getting critiques that are contradictive, that doesn't surprise me.
Of course he said, "Without seeing more of the story...". Well, duh! I successfully resisted the temptation to respond that I would have been glad to show him the whole story, if only I had been allowed to. I'm closing the book on this one.

American Pastoral by Philip Roth

All through this book I was thinking how similar in style it is to Faulkner's "Absalom, Absalom!". It's a long nightmare, about a 40 weight Faulkner. Where Absalom is 90 weight gear oil, and "The Sound and the Fury" is about 60 weight. Long paragraphs, rants and raves, all told by a narrator who wasn't there and didn't know what really happened. Uncanny how similar that is to Absalom.
But he doesn't have Faulkner's vocabulary, and his writing is fairly easy to understand. That's not to say the novel is easy to read. I like some plot, and the loose ends are never tied up in this novel. It's character driven, of course. We know the ending in the beginning of the novel, so that's not as bad as it sounds, but it would have been so much more satisfying if he had wrapped it up in the end. It is consistent, though, all the way through, and well written.

It's also "telling, not showing", all the way. Incredible amounts of navel gazing - I had to skim. And the narrator never makes an appearence at the end, after being so very important in the beginning - that was strange.

Royal Deluxe Typewriter

A new typewriter and photo on the blog. Laurie picked this one up for me at a local flea market. It's a Royal Deluxe, probably from the late 30s or early 40s. I cleaned it up a little, bought some ribbons, and it types great!

I know it's strange, but I like doing a first draft on the typewriter. I set up the tab to produce the paragraph indent, set the carriage return to double space, and go. It is relaxing not to worry about anything except the ding of the bell.

I can actually type faster than the little machine can keep up. Combinations like "er" and "th" produce jammed keys. Too many years of "keyboarding" have made my speed irregular. Proper typewriter technigue is to hit the keys with a steady rhythm - no bursts of speed allowed.
It's a lot of fun to spew out that first draft, keys clicking away, story appearing as if by magic on the printed page. The irregular type is also appealing, a sharp contrast to the computer-perfect printout.

Once the first draft is done, I mark it up with a red pen and type it into the computer. Call it a draft-and-a-half.

Algonkian week #10

Almost time to move on. To say that this class was a disappointment is an understatement. After it's all over (next week?) I'll produce a lengthy blog entry with my review of the class. My current complaint is that the last week covers no new material, and we have unclear instructions about how to get our promised review by a short story magazine editor. This too shall pass.

What next? I have about twenty stories waiting on my hard disk. About the only good plan is to work them over and make them as good as I can, then start submitting them around.

The Hours by Michael Cunningham

Can't give an opinion because I couldn't get past the first chapter. Too smarmy, snarky, New Yorker for me. Exactly the type of fiction I don't like. The prologue was OK (a suicide), which got my hopes up. The first chapter killed my enthusiasm with its neurotic fretting.

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

A wonderful book of short stories, the winner of the 2000 Pulitzer for fiction. They are not difficult to read or understand. The "over-the-top" images are minimal. In fact, I think they are plainly written, but insightful. Only occasionally over-sentimental. I hear she has a novel coming out in the fall that is being made into a movie.

Slaves in the Family by Edward Ball

A must read for a Southerner, white or black. I have wondered many times if my family were involved in slavery, or owned or sold slaves. My family history is so hidden I will probably never find out. Edward Ball had the opportunity to research, and was blessed with ancestors that documented everything. He examines the lives of his ancestors, the people they enslaved, and their descendants.
Also an excellent source for kernels of inspiration for stories and novels. Truth is so much stranger than fiction - you just can't make this stuff up!

GWA Meeting

I attended a GWA meeting today and for the first time was disappointed. They had lined up a writer to talk about his publishing errors. I won't name him, but he was uninspiring and his talk was too short. I drove 90 minutes to hear some guy mumble for 15 minutes and then sit down? What a waste of time.

Of course you never now beforehand what the meeting will be like. It was at a GWA meeting where I head Steve Berry talk - that was absolutely wonderful.

Algonkian Week #9

This week we recapped and revisited the rationale for our stories. It is their contention that, for short fiction to be publishable, it has to have these basics:

• an original story


• a very good hook


• a sympathetic major character


• a defined complication with catalyst


• minor complications


• a suitable resolution

Nothing earth-shattering about that. It can be quite difficult to apply those criteria to some published stories (try!), but I agree that if my story fits those criteria it has a better chance of being published.

I submitted my first draft for critique, even though it is not part of the class, as I have mentioned earlier. Hopefully some of my fellow students will read and comment, and possible one of the instructors.

The Moviegoer by Walker Percy

A break from my pulitzer novel marathon, while waiting for another shipment of used books. This is a National Book Award winner. I'm not sure what to think of this book, much as the protagonist is not sure what to make of the world. It is well written, with appropriate and illuminating descriptions. The "search" of the protagonist for meaning in his life pulls us along instead of a traditional plot. Sometimes it is very grim. I like dark novels, but this is not dark so much as depressing.

The protagonist is a stoic or possibly an existentalist. The novel doesn't preach though, not like the more recent "A Man In Full", which I didn't really care for. I'm not a philosopher, but I can certainly identify with the protagonist's search - I think anyone would.

The style reminds me a lot of Fitzgerald's "Great Gatsby". Much is told through dialogue and a minimum of action. You have to pay attention! If there were only a little plot, like "Gatsby", this might be a more well known novel now.

And if you think you are not affected by what you read, after I finished this novel I was in a funk the rest of the day. I'm surprised the author was able to write this novel and not be so affected by it that he abandoned writing it!

Algonkian Class Week 8

I am not too happy with the class at this moment in time. The editors seem to be focused on confining our efforts to the opening of a short story. Can I spend ten weeks working on an opening? Not and be happy about it. Not and pay hundreds of dollars for the privilege.

What's the harm in producing a first draft? In ten weeks of class? Personally I can't plan a story without at least writing a draft. How do I know how to get somplace if I never go there? How do I know I will like where I am going if I don't visit it, or several other alternate places. It makes little sense to me, and in conjunction with my other complaints about the class, is leaving me very sour on the whole experience.

Empire Falls by Richard Russo

This book is slow to build. It almost put me to sleep in the prologue and the first chapter. If I had had anything else to read I probably would have set it aside. But once I got about halfway through I realized I had to finish it.

The problem is absence of plot, which seems almost a pre-requisite for winning the pulitzer. The book is character driven. Half of it is dialogue, and the other half "character introspection" - at least it seems that way to me. The characters were not interesting at first, and neither was the subject matter. It took a long time and many pages before I developed any interest.

Russo is a master at characterization, though, and taking Faulkner's advice, I could learn a lot by studying this book's techniques. Only at the end of the book do things pick up a little and the many lives start to come together with some tension and movement.

Algonkian Class Week #7

Things are going slowly. Last week was focused on description - so is this week. I would rather that we moved on to something else, or made an effort to finish our stories. It looks we will not finish, even after spending 10 weeks in the class, at least that is what I gather from comments I have seen.

I would rather present a completed story for critique, but that seems not to be in the plans. That's another peeve I have, the coming assignments are kept "secret" until the week they are due.

But I am determined to reserve judgement until the class is over.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

An excellent book, another in the list of Pulitzer prize winners I am reading. It's told in first person by a hermaphrodite, raised as a girl for the first fourteen years of her life. When she reaches puberty she finds out the truth about herself and decides to continue her life as a man.

It goes all the way back to the narrator's grandparents, which I think is the strongest part of the novel, and works its way forward through the parents and finally to the narrator. Worthy of being called a Greek Epic!

There were a couple of plot twists that left me shaking my head as implausible, but I was so happy to actually have plot in a Pulitzer that I didn't really mind.

More distracting were the "asides", the parenthetical expressions, sprinkled throughout the book. It's author intrusion, and got on my bad side. It seems more prevalent in the later sections of the book.

Algonkian Class - week 6

This past week we converted what we had over to 3rd person in multiple viewpoints, including an omniscient narrator. An interesting exercise, but not right for my particular story.

This week we are working on description. Looks like the final three weeks will have us wrapping the story up - at least I hope so. I have never spent so much time on one story before - I'm sick of it!

FIrst Place GWA April contest

I got first place in the Georgia Writer's Association April contest with my short story Syzygy. That was a surprise, since I really had to dash this one off because of the class I'm taking. It's short too, only about 1200 words. Here are the complete results:

First place: Sam Smith "Syzygy"
Second place (tie): Janice Bearden "Apollo"
Second place (tie): Bobbie Christmas "Cosmic Revelation"
Third place: Rich Sestili "Cosmetonic Rocketronic"
Fourth place: Vicki Kestranek "Loose Ends"
Fifth place:Lisa Siegel "Midnight in the Garden of Cosmic Speculation"

I also entered the poetry competition, for the first time, and finished ninth!

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

An interesting novel, winner of the 2005 Pulitzer prize, and an example of the rule, "do whatever you want as long as it works".

The entire novel is a letter from a seventy-six year old preacher to his six year old son. That is the primary "hook" that keeps you reading; there are plenty of questions around that simple statement.

There is very little action or dialogue. There were three things that kept me reading through most of the first half of the novel. 1) tales of the grandfather, who was an abolitionist preacher. 2) the mystery about the late marriage and young son. 3) the hope that something else would happen.

No I'm not kidding about number 3. I kept hoping the author had another unconventional trick up her sleeve. She didn't.

There is another mystery that is introduced later - the godson of the narrator that stirs things up and keeps you reading to the end.

By the way, there is not a single chapter break in the entire book. Near the end there is a blank page before a significant little story - and that gets the reader's attention!

Algonkian Class Week Five

I have never spent so much time on one short story before. I'm getting sick of this particular story. I suppose that is one of the values of this workshop as opposed to others I have taken. We are focused on one story, and in making it as good as we possibly can. So far we are only up to the first story block.

Of course, I had to spew the entire story first. I found it extremely difficult to plan the story totally without writing something first. By spewing it all out in a rough first draft, at least I know where I want to go. The emphasis is on theme in this workshop. How can I come up with the theme unless I first have some raw material to work with?

Of course, this makes me want to go back now and rework all my stories to this level of detail. At least those stories that have some theme that can be exploited.

So far the good cop/bad cop technique of the editors has only shown up in one week. I don't know when the bad cop will return - probably toward the end of the class. I can't say that I am looking forward to it.

The Classic Slave Narratives

An excellent primary historical source. Four slave narratives from the nineteeth century are presented by Henry Gates. These are actual narratives written by escaped or freed slaves and published at the time. I was suprised to read there were thousands of narratives like these published - Gates has selected four as representative of the genre.

I found here what I was looking for - specifically the attitude of religious people toward slaves and the use of religion to justify slavery. Pretty chilling accounts of the debasement of the people touched by slavery, not only the slaves, who had no choice, but the slave owners, who went to great lengths to excuse their evil actions.

Plenty of material for novels here!

GWA annual workshops

I attended the annual GWA workshop day Saturday, my second year. It is fun and informative, and I would recommend it, with some reservations. Laurie went with me, and that always makes it more fun.

The first workshop I attended was on dialogue by Cec Murphy. It was great. I've been to his workshops before - he is energetic, knows his material, doesn't wate any time, and gives out good information.

In the afternoon, I attended two workshops on different subjects by an instructor who shall remain nameless. They were pretty bad. He was unorganized, easily distracted, and wanted to talk about himself and his own books (unpublished) more than he wanted to impart any information. After the first one I should have known better than to go to the second one, but I am always hopeful - it was just as bad.

But you have to expect that sort of thing at these workshop days. Next year things may be different, since KSU is taking over the management of the GWA

Test of new blogging software

Well, I abandoned drupal over the weekend, since the database issue could not be resolved. Errors everywhere, related to permissions to lock tables. The contributors at drupal had no solution, and didn't seem interested in finding one. No chance of getting godaddy to give me the required permissions, so I switched to serendipity - does everything I was doing with drupal, and no database errors.

Algonkian Class - week four

We're in week four now, and finally doing some writing. The assignment this week is to set down the beginning of our short story up to the first scene. To recap, so far we have presented three possible story ideas (which had to be based on real life events that either happened to us or we witnessed), wrote two possible beginnings, and three possible titles. The editors chose which of our ideas and beginnings to proceed with for this weeks exercise, as well as which title to use.

I have a couple of nitpicks at this point. Early on the class was very vocal in the forum area, commenting on each other's experiences, being polite and supportive. When we presented our story ideas we continued bantering back and forth for the few days before the editors reviewed our submissions. We got blasted pretty severely by one of the editors for being amateurs playing at editors. Of course, the course material stated that we were to be active in the forums, commenting on our fellow student's work.

Not surprisingly, all comments stopped after that little outburst, which was a shame. It's not like we couldn't tell the difference between a fellow student's polite encouragement and the editor's replies.

My other nitpick is the quality of editing of the lecture material. It needs a good going over by a good line editor. Somehow that doesn't instill confidence. It's almost as if it were hastily written. Of course, we shouldn't expect book quality work, but it is distracting. Aren't we always told by editors to submit only our best material? Here, in a workshop by editors, we have editting mistakes. Oh well.

Anyway, the final verdict is still out on the class. We are only in week four of ten. So far I have learned to take a more critical approach to the underlying structure of my stories, something I had avoided before, somehow just hoping for the best. We'll see if I can produce a better story this way. Of course, the ultimate aim is publication.

Library Thing

I have started to keep my reading list on Library Thing - see the "currently reading" block in the sidebar.

March by Geraldine Brooks

An excellent novel, and worthy of the Pulitzer. Brooks does a fantastic job of writing in a style that fits the historical period. Even more surprising, there is plot! Hooray! I get so tired of plotless, character driven, literary novels. I highly recommend this one.

Beloved by Toni Morrison

A wonderful book, much easier to read and understand than many people think. If you have been scared off from reading this because you have heard it is hard to comprehend, then get over it. In fact, I think the book is much easier, and more enjoyable, than the movie with Oprah Winfrey. I'm sure the screenwriters did their best, but it's tough to make a movie of a novel where most of the action happens in flashbacks.

To fully enjoy this novel, just ignore the whole question of whether Beloved is real or not. Every major character believes she is the dead daughter come back to life, so you should too.

Accordian Crimes by Annie Proulx

I'm a big fan of Proulx's Shipping News and short stories, but this novel is tough to read. If it were marketed as a loose collection of short stories I would not be in the least bit disappointed. Don't look for plot in this novel - there is none. It's a series of character sketches.</p><p>The theme is immigrant America, and she follows Italians, Mexicans, Germans, Cajuns, Scandinavians, Poles, etc.etc., all connected very loosely by the same accordian. Very loosely. I was expecting something more like "The Red Violin". This is not even close.

Terrible things happen to every immigrant. No one leads a happy life in this book. I usually love novels like that ("Hell at the Breech"), but in this case the lack of any plot spoils it for me. Terrible story follows terrible story and I start to wonder what her message is - or if there is one.

She is at master at character and scene though. Every page had an image or characterization that I admired.

Algonkian class update

Things are going well, although we are in the thrid week and have yet to submit any actual writing in the exercises. This week, we actually have to write fiction! Interestingly, we had to come up with three real-life story lines to play with during the class. Not sure exactly where we are going with this, but it looks like we will use one or more of them as raw material to write the exercises around. Anyway, I am having fun so far.

First place GWA contest for March

A little bit of good news. My short story "Zephyr" got first place in the March GWA contest. There still seem to be plenty of entries - I even beat Bobbie Christmas this time! So far this year that is two firsts and one third place. Not too bad.

Algonkian class starts

Finally! I have been looking forward to this class forever. Looks good so far, and I can't wait for things to get ramped up. There's an interesting mix of other students, of all ages and all experience levels.

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

Finally got a chance to read this, since it came out in paperback. Boy, has he made a lot of money, not only for himself, but for his agent, editor, publisher, and all the hanger-on authors trying to ride his coattails. I say, "Good for him."

Laurie loved the details in this thriller, and he has certainly done his research. He has the thriller genre mastered. The mystery, though, borders on lying to the reader, something I dislike intensely. Brown intentionally obscures or hides facts from the reader to keep the mystery of who the "teacher" is. Some people love that, some people feel cheated.

As far as the grail mysteries and the big controversy surrounding the book, remember this is a novel. It's fiction. Get a grip!

GWA Annual contest - no joy!

Word is (unofficial) that I did not win, place, or even show in the GWA annual contest. Bummer. The stories I submitted were: Broken Keys , Christmas at Grandma's, Flip Flop Flap, From Dogs to Cats, One Man's Church, Tuning Hammer, and Within a twilight Cave. That's some of my best stuff, I think. I'll be very interested to see what did win, and compare my own work to the winners.

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

I first read this novel over thirty years ago as well, but I didn't remember it as well as the other Hemingway books. Perhaps I confused it with the movie, which I remember as being pretty different. What strikes me now is that Hemingway abandoned his "minimalist" approach in this novel. It's large compared to his other novels, and I would have cut large chunks out - of course, I am not a writer of the talent and stature of Ernest Hemingway. What do I know? It could be about any war, and I honestly think it would be stronger if it were about "any" war, in the sense that a lot of the details about the Spanish Civil War could be omitted or made generic. The inclusion, near the end, of new characters while the "message" is being taken to headquarters is ripe for deletion. We know there is no chance the attack will be canceled, and the entire scene with the crazy general seems like Hemingway is just engaging in a little revenge against people he once knew.

The dialog is also tiresome. Why painfully represent the Spanish language that way? It's silly, at least to me. What's the point, really?

The return of Pablo near the end is also very unsatisfying. After all he had done, and after coming close to being killed by the others twice, he shows back up and is not shot on sight? Not believable.

Also interesting is the fact that the plot drives this novel forward. Not the characters. We want to find out what is going to happen. Will they survive? Will the bridge get blown up? Will the lovers be together afterwards? It's not a modern thriller, but there is little that would characterize this as a modern literary novel either. It's simply a good story.

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

It's been thrity years since i read this - no, thirty-four. I haven't forgotten a bit of it - funny how the mind works. It's not my favorite Hemingway by a long shot. Too much drinking, none of the characters are sympathetic, and I really disliked Brett. Also, now that I know Jake's problem, it's not quite as interesting. In a way, it's too minimalist - I would certainly like a little more detail and less aimless wandering about, but I guess that's the whole point of the "lost generation".

Anyway, it was good to read it again - it's a fast read if you have read it before.

Enough reading?

I've been taking a break from writing, ever since I decided to take another class, and exposing myself to as much "different" writing as I could. I think I've done a pretty good job. The class should be starting Monday, except it has been postponed a week (what's up with that?). I still have a couple of Hemingway novels in the queue, and they are "easy" reads, so I'll probably finish those over the next week. I'm ready to get back to writing!

Joe by Larry Brown

A literary novel - don't look for any plot because there isn't any. The characters are about as Faulkneresque as you can get, moved forward into the modern times of the late twentieth century. Poor, white trash, low-down, dirty, nasty, men and women. You know it's going to be bad as soon as you start reading it, and it's worse. Yet you can't look away.

I also read Fay, some time ago. Fay makes an appearence in this book, before she runs off to ruin some lives in her own novel. The writing is great, even if the subject matter is dark and gritty. There is none of the obfuscation of Faulkner - everything is plainly written and easy to follow, even if you don't really want to know what is happening.

It's a shame Larry Brown died young. I get the feeling he was writing what he knew in these books, and I can't help but wonder if that didn't contribute to his early death.