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HARRIET ARDEN BYRD: A NOVEL REALM

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Harriet Arden Byrd
Harriet Arden Byrd

This month I had the pleasure of interviewing Harriet Arden Byrd (aka H.A. Byrd), author of the new fantasy novel Aru’s Realm. Like the novel itself, this “realm” is hard to shoe-horn into a category. A young girl who has caught the interest of a “master of magic,” Aru’s realm in some ways resembles the 19th century, including steam trains and horse-drawn carriages. In other ways, Aru’s realm is one we have never seen before, not only because it includes monsters and magic but also because it has many strong women and lacks the concept of war.

TZ: Your work has many roots in traditional epic fantasy but is distinct in having a pacifist bent–and also in centering on strong female characters.

THE CO-WRITING EXPERIENCE

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An Interview with Co-Writers Michael J. Tucker and Tom Wood

Michael J. Tucker
Tom Wood

I’ve co-authored non-fiction for most of my career, but never considered co-writing novels or short stories. Having complete control over the work has actually been one of fiction-writing’s chief draws for me–distinguishing it from the science writing, playwriting, and other collaborative writing I do.

But recently authors Michael J. Tucker and Tom Wood had made me re-think co-writing. They have just published a co-written, A Night on the Town. a short story about two strangers whose paths cross on a fateful rideshare encounter. 

Both were gracious enough in this interview to enlighten me about the co-writing experience.

TZ: A Night on the Town is written using alternating first-person voices—which strikes me as particularly well suited to co-writing because it gives each author the ability to develop a distinct character or characters (kind of like improvisational theatre).

(NOT) READING IN THE AGE OF COVID-19

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It turns out I’m not the only one having trouble reading lately. The struggles to get through a book seem pervasive as so many of us shelter in place–even for hardcore bookworms.

READERS HAVING TROUBLE READING

With all the holes in my calendar during the COVID-19 pandemic, I thought I’d be ripping through my library. Instead I find it hard to concentrate. So last month I asked if this sounded familiar.

It certainly did with most of my Facebook friends. Many reported having trouble reading as well. Most–many of them serious readers and some of them professional writers themselves–confirmed that they are having trouble concentrating on books these days.

I have yet to read an entire book during this pandemic

To my friend Nancy, having so much time to read ironically makes reading less precious, and less desirable.  

READING IN THE AGE OF COVID-19

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Like many friends, I thought a small silver lining of the COVID-19 shut-ins would be a chance to do a lot of reading. I was wrong.

I’ve been shut in for about 6 weeks now, and I’m still only on book number two. I haven’t made much progress on my backlog of magazines and journals either.

It’s Not Just Me

It turns out I’m not alone. Many friends have reported the same problem. They have plenty of time, and yet it seems to be consumed by Zoom calls and cleaning, daily walks, and the treacherous task of getting groceries.

It’s hard to keep your mind on the books when CNN keeps featuring Dr. Fauci.

Plenty of Books

Part of the excuse is that libraries are closed.

AN INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR TODD LONDON

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Author Todd London

I grew up surrounded by a dazzling number of talented classmates in Evanston, IL. Many went on to become world-famous academics, politicians, actors, directors, screenwriters, playwrights, and novelists. Todd London, the author of the new novel If You See Him, Let Me Know, was one of those people.

Todd lived right down the street from me, and we went to junior high and high school together. We even attended the same summer camp. But neither of us ever realized that last part, partly because I was too shy and insecure (or perhaps too vain and self-absorbed) to connect with him.

Todd is now Head of the MFA Playwriting Program at the New School, School of Drama and the Director of Theatre Relations for the Dramatists Guild of America.

CALLING ALL AUTHORS

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Writers Wanted

Have you written a book lately (or not so lately)? We’re still looking for authors to be interviewed on Late Last Night Books!

Looking for authors with stories to share

Once again, I am looking for authors who want help publicizing their new books or writing projects–or, as before, even a not-so-newly published book–in future blog posts. In my experience, getting your name and work “out there” is the most painful part of being a writer. I’m hoping this blog can help make that process a little less painful for others–especially writers (and that’s most of us) who don’t have well-funded publicity machines working on our behalf.

In the past this offer has brought forth many talented writers, including Bill Woods, Nancy Burke, Lila Iona McKenzie, Anna Marsh, and Michael J.

READING SPOTS: BEYOND THE ARMCHAIR

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Reading in the clouds
Reading in the clouds

Last month I asked readers about the most unusual or challenging places they’ve ever tried reading. They came through with fantastic answers, confirming my hunch that diehard readers will read anywhere and everywhere.

Forget the Armchair

The “weird” reading spots I mentioned ranged from bathrooms to beaches, commuter buses to cliffs. Many people agreed–there are many more places to read in this world than armchairs and libraries. Beds and trains are among the top picks.

My friend Wheatleigh, for example, says his most unusual reading spot was probably the Shinkasen (Japan’s bullet train) while travelling at 200 mph. He did that a lot while living and working in Japan.

“Each station in Japan has a distinctive ‘eki ben‘ or station bento (lunch box),” he recalls.

WHAT’S YOUR WEIRDEST READING SPOT?

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Reading in the clouds
Reading in the clouds

The other day a blizzard blasted my husband’s daily walk in the woods. “Why not swim laps with me?,” I asked. (I was heading to the indoor pool across the street). He looked at me like I was insane. Didn’t I know that he cannot exercise without “reading,” i.e., listening to a book? And didn’t I know how hard it was to follow narrative while swimming laps?

I didn’t, though he may be right. I do enjoy audio accompaniment to exercise, but I have never tried stroking through a story. As a devoted and daily swimmer, I listen instead to music on my beloved swiMP3 (when it chooses to work). Some people might be able to synchronize swimming with reading—I’m just not one of them.

THE YOUNG AND THE HEADSTRONG

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Mrs. Piggle Wiggle

Last month I asked people to share their favorite headstrong women of literature. I was pleasantly surprised at the number of responses–though many responses were not exactly women, and, in at least one case, perhaps not even human.

Among the top answers were the kinds I was expecting. They included authors like Jane Austen, Louisa May Alcott, and Gertrude Stein who had written about strong, independent female characters and/or were notably strong and independent themselves. Some new names showed up on this list as well, including Jodi Picoult, Nora Ephron, Isabel Allende, Barbara Kingsolver, and even HIldegard of Bingen.

Other responses were female characters who clearly knew their own minds and felt empowered to live accordingly.

HEADSTRONG WOMEN OF LITERATURE

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Marjorie Morningstar--Cover

Recently I got an ad from The New York Review of Books featuring “headstrong women” paraphernalia in their Readers Catalog (pillow covers, tea sets, necklaces, that kind of thing). They meant “headstrong women” of literature such as Jane Austen, Louisa May Alcott, Gertrude Stein—women who took their lives into their own hands, I suppose.

Because I had just finished Herman Wouk’s novel Marjorie Morningstar, that email got me thinking about “headstrong” female protagonists. I can’t really say that Marjorie is headstrong. In the end she turns out to be quite conventional, at least externally, ultimately the poignant and ephemeral embodiment of a young man’s fantasy.

What on earth does headstrong mean anyway?

Still, Marjorie is in many ways a woman with a mind of her own, or at least a mind we got to see in depth in the novel.

FREEFALL: THE MAGIC OF AUTHOR LILY IONA MACKENZIE

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Author Lily Iona Mackenzie
Author Lily Iona Mackenzie

Lily Iona Mackenzie’s new novel Freefall: A Divine Comedy is a “coming-of-age” novel about four women turning sixty. As a woman of “a certain age,” this concept naturally caught my attention. The story of “wacky installation artist” Tillie Bloom and three friends from her teenage years follows the women’s lives over four decades in three countries, centered in the San Francisco Bay area, Whistler, BC, and Venice, Italy. The result is an imaginative, sometimes “hilarious,” romp with a touch of magical realism that also turns out to be a serious meditation on the relationship between art and mortality.

Besides Freefall, Mackenzie has published reviews, interviews, short fiction, poetry, travel pieces, essays, and memoir in over 160 American and Canadian venues.

SUMMER HAZE: AN INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL J. TUCKER

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I had the opportunity to interview writer Michael J. Tucker this month about his new novel, Summer Haze. Mike is the author of two critically acclaimed novels, Aquarius Falling and Capricorn’s Collapse, the poetry collection Your Voice Spoke To My Ear, and the memoir A Disrupted Life. His short stories include the Amazon best-selling short story series, Katie Savage.

Tucker’s newest work, Summer Haze, is a coming-of-age novel about three gifted musicians who all overcome childhoods of verbal, physical, emotional, and sexual abuse but eventually bond as a band of singer songwriters . They play in dive bars throughout the South and casinos along the Gulf Coast, navigating the challenges of friendship, rivalry, success, and, eventually, loss.

THE ART OF WRITING

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NOTE: As part of an occasional “Writers on Writing” series I will be featuring occasional guest bloggers. Kicking off this effort is this piece by novelist Bill Woods. — Terra

GUEST BLOG BY BILL WOODS, AUTHOR OF THE NOVEL ORIENT BEACH AND NOVELLA AND SHORT STORIES THE MUSE OF WALLACE ROSE

Bill Woods

A few days ago, a Facebook friend sent me Van Gogh’s Starry Night, a surreal picture a 3rd grader might idly do with crayon. And yet it creates pure emotion in me. Neither I, nor intellectual art critics, can explain how an artist captures emotion on canvas—or how my brain a century later can extract that same emotion. I doubt Van Gogh had a clue either. The process seems to be: ‘Emotion > canvas > emotion,’ no thought required.

CALL FOR WRITERS (AGAIN)

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Writers Wanted
Writing something? Let me know!

Do you have a new book? Are you working on one? If so, please let me know.

I’m offering this call to help publicize new writers and writing projects here on Late Last Night Books. I’ll even help with a not-so-newly published book.

There’s no gimmick. I’m looking for writers to interview in future blog posts. Whatever your write or wrote or are writing, you almost certainly qualify.

Any kind of writing is fair game: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, plays, translations, and anything else involving putting words together. I’d love to know more about what you’re doing.

I’m offering up this space to writers in need of publicity once again because, frankly, the well has run dry.

CATCHING UP WITH WRITER NANCY BURKE

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Headshot of Author Nancy Burke
Author Nancy Burke. Photo by Martha Abelson Photograph

Nancy Burke is a writer, musician, and psychoanalyst who recently published her first novel, Undergrowth. In my mind, though, she remains a young girl who I saw annually at a mutual friend’s childhood birthday parties–so clearly I have a lot of catching up to do. In this interview, I had a chance to get the process started, at least it terms of Nancy’s writing life

That writing life has been prolific and diverse. In the years since those birthday parties, Nancy has received numerous writing awards and grants, and, as a psychoanalyst, has published non-fiction articles and edited the nonfiction book Gender and Envy. Also a songwriter, she has recorded two albums of her original songs: American Goodbye and a second scheduled for release later this year.

FEW REGRETS: AN INTERVIEW WITH BILL WOODS

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Bill Woods

Bill Woods, author of the new novel Orient Beach, has been a published writer 57 years–sort of. He first published a story at age 15 in the Sunday Edition of The Memphis Commercial Appeal after winning a short story contest.

But then life got in the way.

“I had a little business meeting with myself when I finished high school,” Bill recalls. “On the one hand, I really, really wanted to be a writer. However, I grew up poor. Becoming a starving artist did not seem romantic to me. So now, a retired engineer, I’m back where I started. I still want to be the writer I wanted to be at 15. “

A lifetime later, Woods has become that writer.

JUST PUBLISHED A BOOK? THIS MIGHT HELP

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Writing these things is pretty much like sending out a message in a bottle. If I’m lucky–and often I’m not–a handful of family and friends might glance at my blogs. I often feel like giving up.

Why should anyone read what I have to say here? Everyone’s busy. I get that. Heck, I don’t read most of what my friends write, so why should they read my stuff?

And why should they read my book review of a book that has already been reviewed countless times?

Honestly, the last thing the world needs is another blog by an obscure writer. But obscure writers with newly published books need blogs about them desperately.

That’s why this month–instead of my usual solipsistic musings on reading, writing, and literature–I’m going to make an offer.

AN ARRANGED MARRIAGE: MERGING BOOK COLLECTIONS (PART 2)

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Popular science books in a home library

Can merging two personal book collections break up a marriage? I asked this question last month and got some excellent tips on how to deal with domestic disputes that arise when “marrying” two systems of organization (or lack thereof).

Merging and Arranging Book Collections

Some people grappled directly with the issue at hand. Others responded with ways they organized their personal book collections. Some simply said, or implied, that the best system is to donate books once you’re done with them.

Beth Dietricks’ first response to my question was that she doesn’t have many books anymore because she’s “tired of accumulating things” and tries to “pass them on to get rid of them.” After trying to organize her remaining books by size, though, she discovered that she still had books in every room of her house.

AN ARRANGED MARRIAGE: LOVE, BOOKS, AND SHELVING

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Money. Religion. Fidelity. Those are supposedly the top issues that destroy relationships. But for some bibliophilic couples, a more challenging issue is how to arrange the books.

MORE

My husband and I share most values, or so we’ve always believed. We have a common religious and educational background. Our lifestyles and life goals are compatible. We even survived a 3-week bicycle trip through 1980’s China before we decided we could spend a life together What we failed to realize, however, was that combining our two book collections would be harder than combining our finances.

It turns out many of our friends, usually academics and/or writers, share this problem. People who love or use or need books turn out to care quite a bit about how to shelve them.

FOR A COUNTRY THAT READS, TRY ESTONIA

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My husband’s dream vacation is in Estonia. I kid you not. He loves Estonia for its visionary e-democracy, Why e-democracy would make Estonia a great place for a vacation eludes me, but I understand that for a political scientist like my husband, the country deserves respect.

Now, though, I may have to give Estonia some respect of my own. It turns out that Estonia tops the list of European countries that read the most.

World Book Day Statistics

I learned this intriguing fact about Estonia from new statistics released by Eurostat last spring for World Book Day. The chart above shows the fascinating numbers, gleaned from a survey conducted between 2008 and 2014 on people from aged 20-74 in 15 European Union countries.