Author Archives: Terra Ziporyn

WORDS TO WRITE BY

Late Last Night Books
4 NOVEMBER 2015 WORDS TO WRITE BY

11/04/15 – WORDS TO WRITE BY

I knew a boy in high school who kept laminated copies of favorite quotations in his wallet. Impressed, I started collecting favorite quotes about writing and art and life myself, and pinned them near my desk as inspiration. I still have them. And, yeah, I realize I could just Google any and every quote on writing or anything else these days. But these are my own private curated collection, and before the paper yellows much more, I want to share a few words of wisdom I’ve kept at my side for a lifetime. 

DON QUIXOTE ON TAPE

Late Last Night Books
4 OCTOBER 2015 DON QUIXOTE ON TAPE

10/04/15 – DON QUIXOTE ON TAPEDon Quixote Cover

My book club is reading Don Quixote – and they’re hating it. This is an erudite group. They have plowed their way through ponderous and elusive authors like Faulkner and Jane Austen. They’ve devoted long hours to devouring All the King’s Men and The Tale of Genji. But Don Quixote is killing the best of them. And I think I know why. They’re all listening to, not reading, the book.

INTERVIEW WITH TESSA BRIDAL, AUTHOR OF RIVER OF PAINTED BIRDS

Late Last Night Books
4 SEPTEMBER 2015 INTERVIEW WITH TESSA BRIDAL, AUTHOR OF RIVER OF PAINTED BIRDS

9/4/15 – INTERVIEW WITH TESSA BRIDAL, AUTHOR OF RIVER OF PAINTED BIRDS

Called a “fresh voice in Latin American literature” by the New York Times for her debut novel TheTrTessa Bridal Headshotee of Red Stars, Tessa Bridal is about to enter new territory with a second novel, River of Painted Birds. Slated for release in mid-October in both English and Spanish language versions, this new novel follows the adventures of an 18th century Irish woman who marries an abusive husband at fifteen and boards a ship westward-bound ship after accidentally killing him six years later. Rather than landing in Boston as expected, she ends up in the country known today as Uruguay where she joins forces with a wealthy half-Indian smuggler and a renegade priest determined to save the native people from slavery. 

TO SLEEP, PERCHANCE TO WRITE

Late Last Night Books
4 AUGUST 2015 TO SLEEP, PERCHANCE TO WRITE

08/04/15 – TO SLEEP, PERCHANCE TO WRITE

When I’m not writing, I spend much of my time as a sleep evangelist, leading a nonprofit (Start School Later) dedicated to school hours in sync with sleep needs. In that role, I’m always Sleep is the Enemylooking for ways to persuade people to value sleep—and it struck me that I could almost certainly call on the writers of the world for some pithy, poignant, and mellifluous thoughts on the subject.

PREVIEW OF OUR AUGUST 1 GUEST BLOGGER, POET PETER M. GORDON

Late Last Night Books
29 JULY 2015 PREVIEW OF OUR AUGUST 1 GUEST BLOGGER, POET PETER M. GORDON

Peter Gordon07/29/15 – PREVIEW OF AUGUST 1 GUEST BLOGGER, POET PETER M. GORDON

Prizewinning poet Peter M. Gordon, our August 1 Guest Blogger, offers five tips for marketing your poetry in the August 1 version of Late Last Night Books.  His poems have appeared in Slipstream, 34th Parallel, the Provo Canyon Review, 5-2 Crime Poetry, Cultural Weekly, and several other magazines and websites. He’s President of the Orlando Area Poets and teaches in Full Sail University’s Film Production MFA program. His collection, Two Car Garage, was published by CHB Media and is available on Amazon.com and other bookselling sites.

 

LONGING FOR A LIBRARY

Late Last Night Books
4 JULY 2015 LONGING FOR A LIBRARY

Henry Higgins library07/04/2015 – LONGING FOR A LIBRARY

When I was growing up, I wanted only two things in a future house: a swimming pool and a library. I never thought much about style, size, decor, or even location, location, location. I just wanted a pool so I could swim daily laps and a library like the one Professor Henry Higgins had in My Fair Lady.

To Save or Not To Save?

Late Last Night Books
4 JUNE 2015 To Save or Not To Save?

06/04/15 – TO SAVE OR NOT TO SAVE?

My 83-year-old mother has always been a tosser, so it surprised me when she told me she had spent the past week reading her collection of old letters and short stories she had written in college. I was even more surprised when she offered to feed my hoarder habit by giving my grandparents’ love letters to me. She thought I might someday work them into a novel.

THE RELUCTANT HEDGEHOG

Late Last Night Books
5 MAY 2015 THE RELUCTANT HEDGEHOG

5/04/15 – THE RELUCTANT HEDGEHOG

James Baldwin“Too many books, too little time” is a truism that has plagued me for decades. It has forced me into the painful position of having to decide whether to be a fox or a hedgehog, either tasting a little of all the literary world has to offer, or focusing closely a small subset of it. For most of my life, the fox won out: there is simply too much to sample to dig myself into a hedgehog hole.

 

ENDINGS: MUSINGS ON STATION ELEVEN

Late Last Night Books
4 APRIL 2015 ENDINGS: MUSINGS ON STATION ELEVEN

4/04/2015 – ENDINGS: MUSINGS ON STATION ELEVEN

Station ElevenAs I pulled into the last paragraph of Emily St. John Mandel’s post-apocalyptic novel Station Eleven, I flipped to the last page to confirm I was nearing the end, trying to concentrate on every word and how it felt to read it because everything was about to change. I often play this game when nearing the end of an engrossing novel, superimposing my awareness of the impending close over the experience of still being in the story, doing whatever I can to prolong the moment and appreciate the incompletion. I know that yet another world is about to end for me, and I want to savor every remaining moment before I am shut out forever. 

REIMAGINING THE MOMENT

Late Last Night Books
4 MARCH 2015 REIMAGINING THE MOMENT

3/04/2015 – REIMAGINING THE MOMENT

I’ve just finished reading two novels that re-envision a few days out of history, one about a famous battle, the other an obscure murder. Both novels include meticulously researched historical details, stretched here and there to fit the arc of a story and perhaps highlight a deeper truth, but still leaving readers with a fresh sense of worlds long vanished.  More than that, though, both Frog Musicnovels reminded me of the infinite richness in the smallness, shortest of moments, something all writers should remember.Killer Angels Cover

ON ADDING TO THE WORLD’S BABBLE

Late Last Night Books
4 FEBRUARY 2015 ON ADDING TO THE WORLD’S BABBLE

2/04/2014 – ON ADDING TO THE WORLD’S BABBLE

It is easy to throw words down on the page. But how much more difficult it is to choose which of these words are worth keeping, worth sculpting, worth sharing.

LOST – AND FOUND – IN TRANSLATION

Late Last Night Books
4 JANUARY 2015 LOST – AND FOUND – IN TRANSLATION

1/04/2015 – LOST – AND FOUND – IN TRANSLATION

One of the great joys of literature is a chance to enter the world of another person, particularly one who would otherwise be completely inaccessible. So I was excited about reading Lady Murasaki’s classic novel The Tale of Genji, and immersing myself in the world of high courtiers during early 11th century Japan. Instead I endeTale of Genji Coverd up wondering if I should simply stop reading anything translated from another language.Tale of Genji Waley

INTERVIEW WITH SANDY WARD BELL, AUTHOR OF PARKED AT THE MANSFIELDS’

Late Last Night Books
4 DECEMBER 2014 INTERVIEW WITH SANDY WARD BELL, AUTHOR OF PARKED AT THE MANSFIELDS’

12/4/14 – INTERVIEW WITH SANDY WARD BELL, AUTHOR OF PARKED AT THE MANSFIELDS’Sandy Ward Bell

In The Jane Austen Persuasion, I wondered how Jane Austen could be widely idolized by so many readers and yet at the same time dismissed, even despised, by other equally thoughtful, literate people. So I was delighted to have a chance to interview Sandy Ward Bell. As the  author of Parked at the Mansfields’, a modern twist on Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, I figured  she could shed considerable light on this question, and I wasn’t disappointed.

THE SHAME OF BOOK HAWKING

Late Last Night Books
4 NOVEMBER 2014 THE SHAME OF BOOK HAWKING

11-04-14 – THE SHAME OF BOOK HAWKING

Running a booth at the Baltimore Book Festival last month taught me a hard truth:  not only do I not write the kind of novels you can sell on the street, but I don’t have it in me to pretend that I do.

PREVIEW OF OUR NOVEMBER GUEST BLOGGER, PALLAS ZIPORYN

Late Last Night Books
29 OCTOBER 2014 PREVIEW OF OUR NOVEMBER GUEST BLOGGER, PALLAS ZIPORYN

Pallas Snider Headshot 201411/29/14 – PREVIEW OF NOVEMBER 1 GUEST BLOGGER, PALLAS ZIPORYN

Serial novelist Pallas Snider Ziporyn (who, full disclosure, also happens to be my daughter) tells all about the trials and tribulations of “playing the indie publishing game” and trying to make her book free on Amazon.

Interview with Janice Holmes

Late Last Night Books
4 OCTOBER 2014 Interview with Janice Holmes

10/04/14 – INTERVIEW WITH THE ANNAPOLIS BOOKSTORE’S JANICE HOLMESThe Annapolis Bookstore

We so often hear that the age of independent bookstores is over. With the rise of Amazon and other online sellers, we have even seen the fall of the very chains that were supposed to be putting small-town, independent bookstores out of business – putting the future of all physical bookstores, independent or otherwise, into question.

A BREAK FROM NOVEL READING

Late Last Night Books
4 SEPTEMBER 2014 A BREAK FROM NOVEL READING

9/4/14 – A BREAK FROM READING NOVELS – BAD MISTAKE!

I have to take long breaks between writing novels. This summer, though, I went a month without reading one. Don’t let me do that again.

The Jane Austen Persuasion

Late Last Night Books
4 AUGUST 2014 The Jane Austen Persuasion

8/4/14 – THE JANE AUSTEN PERSUASION

When I told my adult daughters and son-in-law I’d be reading Jane Austen’s Persuasion for book club, all three pulled disgust faces. “Why?” groaned my older daughter, a Harvard graduate. “I couldn’t even finish Pride and Prejudice,” said my son-in-law, who had reveled in Plato and Cervantes and the rest of St. John’s Great Books curriculum. My younger daughter, another product of a Great Books curriculum, recalled that Harold Bloom had a reputation for droning on about Persuasion for reasons she was unable to fathom.

INTERVIEW WITH JUDITH FRANK, AUTHOR OF ALL I LOVE AND KNOW

Late Last Night Books
4 JULY 2014 INTERVIEW WITH JUDITH FRANK, AUTHOR OF ALL I LOVE AND KNOW

7/4/14 – INTERVIEW WITH JUDITH FRANK, AUTHOR OF ALL I LOVE AND KNOWJudith Frank Author PhotoAll I Love and Know Image

Ever since she sat beside me in 11th grade English class, I suspected that Judith Frank had something to tell the world – and the writing chops to tell it. Over the years Judy confirmed my suspicions repeatedly, winning prizes for her poignant poetry even back in high school and going on to become an author of both scholarly works and prize-winning fiction. If I had any lingering doubt, her new novel All I Love and Know, has shattered it.

MAKING TIME FOR SERENDIPITY

Late Last Night Books
4 JUNE 2014 MAKING TIME FOR SERENDIPITY

6/4/14 – MAKING TIME FOR SERENDIPITY

Inexplicably, I found A.S.A. Harrison’s novel The Silent Wife, on my nightstand. Where did this book come from? Did my mother leave it for me? Did I buy it for a book club meeting I couldn’t attend and abandon it? I had no clue, but I picked it up and started reading.