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We're a couple weeks into the summer reading program and it's the busiest time of the year. The kids are out of school, people are taking vacations and day trips, and we have a lot to offer.
Exactly one hundred people so far are part of this summer's reading. We're offering reward programs for everybody from birth to adults. The littlest kids are taking home rubber duckies, bigger kids get to choose glow bracelets, ice cream, and books, and teens and adults have multiple ways to earn tickets for gift certificate raffles.
Storytime and lapsit are going on every week. NH Audubon was here last Saturday with two of their owls and last Monday night we made our own flashlights. Find the pictures on our Facebook page. Coming up next week- Pajama Storytime and Teddy Bear Sleepover! The Friends are supplying milk and cookies for the kids. The kids' stuffed animals will spend the night at the Library and the kids will get pictures showing what they got up to all night. That's Tuesday at 7pm
The Hampstead Stage Company will be here Saturday morning July 14 at 10am to perform The Wizard of Oz for all and at 11 will conduct a Stagecraft Workshop for the kids who've preregistered. This event is brought to us by the Kids, Books, and the Arts grant (Supported by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services and donations from the Byrne Foundation, CHILIS, Cogswell Benevolent Trust, and the NH Library Association).
Sally Hirsh-Dickinson leads a discussion on Peyton Place July 17 at 2:30pm. Copies of the book are at the desk.
Remember we have passes to seven different places this year. The list is here.
Check our calendar for more details and future programs, or sign up for our e-mail list.
30 Eylül 2012 Pazar
End of Summer Wrap up
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Thanks to all those who participated this summer! Participants read over 34000 minutes! This was the first year of Rubber Ducky Club for the youngest kids and each preschooler (and younger) averaged two duckies apiece. Congratulations to Eddie Hoyt and Jill Latorella, winners of the teen and adult raffles.
Check out the pictures from Saturday's Touch a Truck event! While you're there, "like" us on Facebook.
Thanks to all those who participated this summer! Participants read over 34000 minutes! This was the first year of Rubber Ducky Club for the youngest kids and each preschooler (and younger) averaged two duckies apiece. Congratulations to Eddie Hoyt and Jill Latorella, winners of the teen and adult raffles.Check out the pictures from Saturday's Touch a Truck event! While you're there, "like" us on Facebook.
Why you should support your library
To contact us Click HERE
FIND YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY
INFORMATION INTEGRATED
WITH GOOGLE MAPS
DATA SOURCE: IMLS
FIND A LIBRARY NEAR YOU
FIND YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY INFORMATION INTEGRATED
WITH GOOGLE MAPS
DATA SOURCE: IMLS
Sources:
- ALA Library Fact Sheet
- Bureau of Labor Statistics - Data
- Bureau of Economic Analysis
- Northwestern University Libraries information
- MIT Library Data
- Institute of Museum and Library Services
- Census.gov - Public Libraries in the U.S. 2009
- ALA - Funding Technology Access Study
- Volunteer Match - Engaging Volunteers
- Pew Internet - Libraries, patrons & ebooks
- ALA Quotable Facts - American Libraries
- Harrison County Library - Facts and Figures
- Stanford University - Library Facts
- Library of Congress - Fascinating Facts
- Libraries for Real Life
- Houston Library - Facts
- Library Journal - Annual Library Budgets Survey
- ALA - State of American Libraries Report - 2012
- NationalService.gov - Benefits of Volunteering
- ALA - Library Operating Expenditures
Library Card Sign-Up Month
To contact us Click HERE
As students head backto school this September, we encourage parents to visit the Boscawen Public Library and make sure their children and teens sign-up for the most importantschool supply of all - a library card.
September is Library Card Sign-up Month, a time whenthe American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country remindparents and caregivers that a library card is the smartest card your can own.
When it comes to achieving academic success a library card provides students with access to a world of bothprint and electronic resources. Students can access free databases, online homeworkhelp and attend programs, activities and clubs that provide an added value tothe educational experience. No wonder that 84-percent of American’s agree thatthe public library is important to education.
Today’s students learn differently than their predecessors, withstudies indicating that students most effectively learn when they are allowedto follow their personal interest. Libraries and librarians are on thefrontlines of engaging these students, making a library card an essential toolfor inspiring a passion for learning.
Today’s libraries provide children and teens with access to newand innovative software and tools for shooting and editing videos, creatingtheir own web comics, composing music and writing blogs. Not only that, but thelibrary comes with an expert in developing original programs and honing thesenew skills – a librarian. What better place is there to explore and develop newinterests then at the library?
This September, open the door to aworld of possibilities for the student in your life and sign up for a librarycard today.
As students head backto school this September, we encourage parents to visit the Boscawen Public Library and make sure their children and teens sign-up for the most importantschool supply of all - a library card. September is Library Card Sign-up Month, a time whenthe American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country remindparents and caregivers that a library card is the smartest card your can own.
When it comes to achieving academic success a library card provides students with access to a world of bothprint and electronic resources. Students can access free databases, online homeworkhelp and attend programs, activities and clubs that provide an added value tothe educational experience. No wonder that 84-percent of American’s agree thatthe public library is important to education.
Today’s students learn differently than their predecessors, withstudies indicating that students most effectively learn when they are allowedto follow their personal interest. Libraries and librarians are on thefrontlines of engaging these students, making a library card an essential toolfor inspiring a passion for learning.
Today’s libraries provide children and teens with access to newand innovative software and tools for shooting and editing videos, creatingtheir own web comics, composing music and writing blogs. Not only that, but thelibrary comes with an expert in developing original programs and honing thesenew skills – a librarian. What better place is there to explore and develop newinterests then at the library?
This September, open the door to aworld of possibilities for the student in your life and sign up for a librarycard today.
The Big Read: NH Reads Edgar Allan Poe
To contact us Click HERE
Boscawen Public Library is pleased to announce that wewill be part of “The Big Read: New Hampshire Reads EdgarAllan Poe.” A statewide project of the Center for the Book at the N.H.State Library, the “Big Read” will include more than one hundred events throughoutNew Hampshirein October and early November.Celebratethe Big Read at the Boscawen Library with craft workshops, book discussions,and a NH Humanities Council speaker. October 8 6:30pm Steampunk WorkshopOctober 11 7pm NHHC LizzieBorden took an axe. . . or did she?October 16 2:30pm Book Group Entombed Linda Fairstein October 20 10:30am Steampunk WorkshopOctober 23 6pm Reading Interactive: Cryptography
The Big Read is a program of the National Endowment forthe Arts. It brings together partners across the country to encourage readingfor pleasure and enlightenment. In New Hampshire, the Big Read is organized bythe Center for the Book at the New Hampshire State Library, which received agrant from the National Endowment for the Arts to coordinate the statewideeffort and additional support from the New Hampshire Library Association.This is the third time New Hampshire has received a BigRead grant: previous programming focused on Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” andHarper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.” The Center for the Book at the New Hampshire StateLibrary was established in 2003 to celebrate and promote reading, books,literacy and the literary heritage of New Hampshire,and to highlight the role that reading and libraries play in enriching thelives of the people of the Granite State. It is an affiliateof the Center for the Book at theLibrary of Congress.For more information about The Big Read: New Hampshire Reads Edgar Allan Poe,visit www.BigReadNH.org or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/BigReadNH.The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts(NEA) designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. The BigRead is managed by Arts Midwest.
Boscawen Public Library is pleased to announce that wewill be part of “The Big Read: New Hampshire Reads EdgarAllan Poe.” A statewide project of the Center for the Book at the N.H.State Library, the “Big Read” will include more than one hundred events throughoutNew Hampshirein October and early November.Celebratethe Big Read at the Boscawen Library with craft workshops, book discussions,and a NH Humanities Council speaker. October 8 6:30pm Steampunk WorkshopOctober 11 7pm NHHC LizzieBorden took an axe. . . or did she?October 16 2:30pm Book Group Entombed Linda Fairstein October 20 10:30am Steampunk WorkshopOctober 23 6pm Reading Interactive: Cryptography
The Big Read is a program of the National Endowment forthe Arts. It brings together partners across the country to encourage readingfor pleasure and enlightenment. In New Hampshire, the Big Read is organized bythe Center for the Book at the New Hampshire State Library, which received agrant from the National Endowment for the Arts to coordinate the statewideeffort and additional support from the New Hampshire Library Association.This is the third time New Hampshire has received a BigRead grant: previous programming focused on Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” andHarper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.” The Center for the Book at the New Hampshire StateLibrary was established in 2003 to celebrate and promote reading, books,literacy and the literary heritage of New Hampshire,and to highlight the role that reading and libraries play in enriching thelives of the people of the Granite State. It is an affiliateof the Center for the Book at theLibrary of Congress.For more information about The Big Read: New Hampshire Reads Edgar Allan Poe,visit www.BigReadNH.org or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/BigReadNH.The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts(NEA) designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. The BigRead is managed by Arts Midwest.
29 Eylül 2012 Cumartesi
The Fifth Witness
To contact us Click HERE
The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly
Mystery
Times are tough for Mickey Haller. He has branched into foreclosures. One of his clients, Lisa Trammel is undergoing a foreclosure of her house by Westland Financial Bank. She has gone so far as to protest and has been served a restraining order by the bank.
When Mitchell Bondurant, the head of the mortgage department, is killed Lisa becomes the main suspect and she calls on Haller to defend her. Haller does what he does best and puts up smoke screens and major doubt. He finds out that Bonurant also had some financial difficulties and that sets into motion the defense.
This is full of court procedures. Haller seems to be able to use the system to show almost anything, true or not. Connelly had me going in this one. First she is guilty and then she isn't and then???? This book did show me that no one would want to get involved as witness or other because you could be destroyed in the process; guilty or not. I loved the twist at the end
First Line: "Mrs. Pena looked across the seat at me and held her hands up in a beseeching manner."
Rating:
(4.0/5)
Mystery
Times are tough for Mickey Haller. He has branched into foreclosures. One of his clients, Lisa Trammel is undergoing a foreclosure of her house by Westland Financial Bank. She has gone so far as to protest and has been served a restraining order by the bank.When Mitchell Bondurant, the head of the mortgage department, is killed Lisa becomes the main suspect and she calls on Haller to defend her. Haller does what he does best and puts up smoke screens and major doubt. He finds out that Bonurant also had some financial difficulties and that sets into motion the defense.
This is full of court procedures. Haller seems to be able to use the system to show almost anything, true or not. Connelly had me going in this one. First she is guilty and then she isn't and then???? This book did show me that no one would want to get involved as witness or other because you could be destroyed in the process; guilty or not. I loved the twist at the end
First Line: "Mrs. Pena looked across the seat at me and held her hands up in a beseeching manner."
Rating:
(4.0/5)
The Book of Air and Shadows
To contact us Click HERE
The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber
Thriller
A rare bookshop has a fire and in trying to salvage one of the rare books two of the employees find some pages written by Bracegirdle. Bracegirdle was an employee of Shakespeare. He alludes to a lost play.
Jake Mishkin is an Intellectual Property lawyer. When one of the employees sells part of the find to a professor, the professor seeks out Mishkin to keep the manuscript safe. What follows is classic thriller. Bad guys, treasure, kidnapping, ciphers, killing and some dashing around.
This is a thriller I should love to read but I didn't. I can't seem to put my finger on it. It might have been the hard to read Old English Bracegirdle letters. It might have been the confusing what is happening now plot. Maybe the plot was just a bit too complex or maybe this book's pace is too slow. Not the book for me.
First Line: "Tap-tapping the keys and out come the words on this little screen, and who will read them I hardly know. "
Rating:
(3.0/5)
Thriller
A rare bookshop has a fire and in trying to salvage one of the rare books two of the employees find some pages written by Bracegirdle. Bracegirdle was an employee of Shakespeare. He alludes to a lost play.Jake Mishkin is an Intellectual Property lawyer. When one of the employees sells part of the find to a professor, the professor seeks out Mishkin to keep the manuscript safe. What follows is classic thriller. Bad guys, treasure, kidnapping, ciphers, killing and some dashing around.
This is a thriller I should love to read but I didn't. I can't seem to put my finger on it. It might have been the hard to read Old English Bracegirdle letters. It might have been the confusing what is happening now plot. Maybe the plot was just a bit too complex or maybe this book's pace is too slow. Not the book for me.
First Line: "Tap-tapping the keys and out come the words on this little screen, and who will read them I hardly know. "
Rating:
(3.0/5)
Lemon Meringue Pie Murder
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Lemon Meringue Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke
Cozy Mystery
Hannah Swenson owns The Cookie Jar in Lake Eden, Minn, a small resort town. She and her co-owner Lisa dole out delicious sweets and coffee. Norman, one of her boyfriends, buys an old property and decides to built the dream home that Hannah and he have designed for a competition. But everyone in Lake Eden assumes that means they are engaged but Norman hasn't asked and Hannah doesn't know what her answer would be.
Before destroying the old house on his property, Norman offers Hannah's mother any of the antiques she might want. The three of them go out to the house and find lots of potential valuables but when Hannah's mother goes down to see what is in the basement, she finds the previous owner's body. Of course, Hannah is convinced to investigate and find out what happened.
Although the murderer was pretty evident fairly early on, the motive and how it involved the perpetrator took a bit longer to figure out. A cozy mystery with lots of recipes to try out.
First Line: "Hannah Swensen was startled awake at four forty-seven in the morning."
Rating:
(3.5/5)
Cozy Mystery
Hannah Swenson owns The Cookie Jar in Lake Eden, Minn, a small resort town. She and her co-owner Lisa dole out delicious sweets and coffee. Norman, one of her boyfriends, buys an old property and decides to built the dream home that Hannah and he have designed for a competition. But everyone in Lake Eden assumes that means they are engaged but Norman hasn't asked and Hannah doesn't know what her answer would be.Before destroying the old house on his property, Norman offers Hannah's mother any of the antiques she might want. The three of them go out to the house and find lots of potential valuables but when Hannah's mother goes down to see what is in the basement, she finds the previous owner's body. Of course, Hannah is convinced to investigate and find out what happened.
Although the murderer was pretty evident fairly early on, the motive and how it involved the perpetrator took a bit longer to figure out. A cozy mystery with lots of recipes to try out.
First Line: "Hannah Swensen was startled awake at four forty-seven in the morning."
Rating:
(3.5/5)
Fudge Cupcake Murder
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Fudge Cupcake Murder by Joanne Fluke
Cozy Murder
Hannah Swensen is a bakery owner in Lake Eden, Minn. She is in the process of developing the Lake Eden cookbook which will include recipes from everyone in town. At her potluck cooking class in the evenings she has had the participants test out the recipes. As she is winding up her class and tossing the garbage out, Hannah finds the local sheriff dead in the dumpster.
One of her boyfriends, Bill is appointed the Acting Sheriff. Bill determines that Hannah's brother-in-law, another law enforcement officer is the only suspect and suspends him. Andrea, her sister pleads for Hannah to solve the murder and clear Bill. Andrea is eight months pregnant and confined to rest.
This is a cozy mystery and as with all series some things get a little stale. Hannah's morning routine must have been written about 100 times already. Being not a cat owner I may not understand, but anyone who goes through that much trouble to feed a cat a 'senior' diet has something loose. Also her vacillations about her boyfriends is also getting a little stale. These mysteries are getting very predictable.
First Line: "Hannah Swensen moved to the front of the rectangular box and braced herself."
Rating:
(3.5/5)
Cozy Murder
Hannah Swensen is a bakery owner in Lake Eden, Minn. She is in the process of developing the Lake Eden cookbook which will include recipes from everyone in town. At her potluck cooking class in the evenings she has had the participants test out the recipes. As she is winding up her class and tossing the garbage out, Hannah finds the local sheriff dead in the dumpster.One of her boyfriends, Bill is appointed the Acting Sheriff. Bill determines that Hannah's brother-in-law, another law enforcement officer is the only suspect and suspends him. Andrea, her sister pleads for Hannah to solve the murder and clear Bill. Andrea is eight months pregnant and confined to rest.
This is a cozy mystery and as with all series some things get a little stale. Hannah's morning routine must have been written about 100 times already. Being not a cat owner I may not understand, but anyone who goes through that much trouble to feed a cat a 'senior' diet has something loose. Also her vacillations about her boyfriends is also getting a little stale. These mysteries are getting very predictable.
First Line: "Hannah Swensen moved to the front of the rectangular box and braced herself."
Rating:
(3.5/5)
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
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The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
Literature
Literature
What were to happen if a character were to be killed off from a book in the outside world? Would a new ending be created? Would the book stop? Hades soon gets his hands on the original Jane Eyre novel and that's when all hell breaks loose.
This was a fun and incredibly clever book. At times I felt like Fforde was trying to accomplish too much in one book, what with a time travelling dad, trying to determine if Shakespeare was the legitimate author of all his plays, the Crimean war, and a love story. Somehow it all worked but I think the book could have been even better if there was a little less packed in to this book.
This was enjoyable, I'm going to move on to the next book right away!
First Line: "My father had a face that could stop a clock."
Rating:
(4/5)
28 Eylül 2012 Cuma
Review of Renegade's Heart by Claire Delacroix
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Renegade’s Heart
Claire Delaxroix
Deborah Cooke Publisher
ISBN13: 9780987839930
280 pages
Claire Delacroix aka Deborah Cooke has been entertaining readers for many years with her bold heroines and lusty heroes from medieval times, and just when you thought the only way to experience the era with her was through her previous series she comes out with a brand new companion series staring the characters we’ve loved from Kinfairlie and Ravensmuir and the previously released and just recently re-released Jewels of Kinfairlie series.
This first installment stars Isabella Lammergeier sister to Alexander (The Snow White Bride) and Murdoch Seton. These characters will endear you to them within the first few pages, Murdoch with his arrogant yet honorable air and Isabella with her curiosity. Now if you don’t read historical novels everyday it may take you a page or two to get into the dialogue swing of things but once you do you’ll find a richly flowing narrative that will bring the action right to you. The plot involves a lot more fantasy then the last one’s did so you’ll see a fair amount of fairies flying about and raising havoc. The romance is sweet, it’s sensuous and it’s just a little racy too and I love how Claire describes it to us in her typical perfect time period fashion.
Bring on round three and thank you so much Claire for giving your fans what we so appreciate.
It’s a bitter homecoming for Murdoch Seton, after 3yrs held captive in the fairy realm he returns to find his father has died, his brother is laird and the coffers at the keep are empty. The relic that cost so much of the treasury has disappeared and with it the wealth and health of the estate. Murdoch is sent on a quest to find the treasure and to punish the villain who stole it. His crusade takes him to Kinfairlie where he’s met with falsehoods and deceits by it’s Laird and a fair maiden who intrigues him. It’s also become clear to Murdoch that the Elphine Queen who tricked him isn’t done with him by far, in fact she’s got permanent designs on him.
Isabella is shocked by her reaction to the renegade Murdoch, his mere touch causes shivers that are not from the cold, his heart seems true and his undertaking noble, but can he be trusted with her heart, and her innocence, and will she discover the secret to saving him from the fae Queen before he’s lost to her forever.
Together they search for the lost relic and what they find will change them, the question is will they survive the fae, and her kin.
Buy the book here visit the author's website here
Photo credit:
Michelle Rowen
Renegade’s Heart
Claire Delaxroix
Deborah Cooke Publisher
ISBN13: 9780987839930
280 pages
Claire Delacroix aka Deborah Cooke has been entertaining readers for many years with her bold heroines and lusty heroes from medieval times, and just when you thought the only way to experience the era with her was through her previous series she comes out with a brand new companion series staring the characters we’ve loved from Kinfairlie and Ravensmuir and the previously released and just recently re-released Jewels of Kinfairlie series.
This first installment stars Isabella Lammergeier sister to Alexander (The Snow White Bride) and Murdoch Seton. These characters will endear you to them within the first few pages, Murdoch with his arrogant yet honorable air and Isabella with her curiosity. Now if you don’t read historical novels everyday it may take you a page or two to get into the dialogue swing of things but once you do you’ll find a richly flowing narrative that will bring the action right to you. The plot involves a lot more fantasy then the last one’s did so you’ll see a fair amount of fairies flying about and raising havoc. The romance is sweet, it’s sensuous and it’s just a little racy too and I love how Claire describes it to us in her typical perfect time period fashion.
Bring on round three and thank you so much Claire for giving your fans what we so appreciate.
It’s a bitter homecoming for Murdoch Seton, after 3yrs held captive in the fairy realm he returns to find his father has died, his brother is laird and the coffers at the keep are empty. The relic that cost so much of the treasury has disappeared and with it the wealth and health of the estate. Murdoch is sent on a quest to find the treasure and to punish the villain who stole it. His crusade takes him to Kinfairlie where he’s met with falsehoods and deceits by it’s Laird and a fair maiden who intrigues him. It’s also become clear to Murdoch that the Elphine Queen who tricked him isn’t done with him by far, in fact she’s got permanent designs on him.
Isabella is shocked by her reaction to the renegade Murdoch, his mere touch causes shivers that are not from the cold, his heart seems true and his undertaking noble, but can he be trusted with her heart, and her innocence, and will she discover the secret to saving him from the fae Queen before he’s lost to her forever.
Together they search for the lost relic and what they find will change them, the question is will they survive the fae, and her kin.
Buy the book here visit the author's website here
Photo credit:
Michelle Rowen
Review of Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend + Q&A w/author Matthew Dicks
To contact us Click HERE
NewRelease Feature Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend
Plus Q&A w/ Matthew Dicks
It is my pleasure to announce that Matthew has agreed to bemy featured author in June of 2013 when the General Fiction Forum reads thisincredible novel together.
Debbie - MatthewWelcome to the General Fiction book club forum at B&N.comFor those of you who don’t know Memoirs of an ImaginaryFriend is narrated by Budo who is the imaginary friend of an autistic boy namedMax.Matthew I have to admit that the premise of this novelgrabbed me, can you tell me where the idea came from and tell us a bit aboutthe novel too.Matthew - The ideafor the book originates back in in childhood.
This is your third novel, did this release feel as excitingas the first?Every release isthrilling, and it is my most sincere hope that they never begin to feel likeold hat. I am continually stunned by the idea that something I made up in myhead can take on a tangible form and ultimately end up in the hands of readersaround the world. While this release is a little less nerve-wracking than thefirst because I know what to expect now, it is just as exciting as thefirst.
What are you working on nowI have a few projectsin the works. I’m in the process of finishing my next novel, and I am alsoworking on several children’s book and a memoir. I’ve also partnered with amusician to write a rock opera that was recently picked up by a Hartfordplayhouse for a two week run, so we are busy getting that script into shape aswell. I have many irons in the fire at the moment, and I wouldn’t have it anyother way.
When you research for your novels do you do it from a deskor do you go out in the field as well.Most of my researchtakes place at the dining room table, which is where I do the majority of mywriting. My process is to write first and repair later, so when research isrequired, I tend to make an educated guess rather than stopping the flow of thestory in order to ensure that my facts are correct. I would much rather get thestory on the page first before worrying about what details are in need tochanging.
Your bio says that you’re an active teacher, a publishedauthor of not just fiction, an owner of a DJ company, a husband and father andsoon to be father again –congratulations, plus more. That’s a very activeschedule, how do you fit it all inI am not picky aboutthe way in which I get things done. I like to tell people that I write in thespaces of my life. If my daughter is taking a bath and I have fifteen minutesto myself, I will try to write six good sentences in that time. I think thatpeople are far too precious with their time, insisting on the right atmosphere,music, or beverage in order to write or accomplish a similar goal. I writewhenever I can. Having the summer free from my teaching job helps, of course,but I have not missed a day of writing in at least seven years, whether that isten minutes with a scrap of paper or eight hours at the laptop.
It also says you’re a reader but doesn’t list your genre(s)of choice, so what kind of reading to you enjoy, do you have any favoriteauthors.I read from almostevery genre except romance, and I may give that a try at some point. I split myreading almost evenly between fiction and nonfiction. My favorite author of alltime is Kurt Vonnegut, but some of my other favorites include Bill Bryson,Stephen King, Toni Morrison, Nicholson Baker, David Sedaris, Nora Ephron and(of course) William Shakespeare.
You said that you narrowly avoided dying twice by the age of18, did these events change the way you live, the way you look at life ingeneral, does it enter into your writing at all.My two near-deathexperiences, in addition to surviving an armed robbery, have greatly dictatedthe way in which I live my life. Like it or not, there is not a day, andoftentimes not an hour that goes by that the thought of my mortality does notenter my mind. It is this mindset that propels me from bed before sunrise everymorning wanting to make the most of my day, whether that is making time to playwith my kids to working hard to teach my students, write my books, improve mygolf game or grow my business. The awareness of time passing and the fragilityof life are ever-present with me in a way that is difficult for most people toimagine, and for good or ill, this is the reason I manage to get so much done.
Now for something unrelated to writing, what’s at the top ofyour bucket listI’ve been fortunate inknocking off a few of those things recently, including becoming involved in thelive storytelling circuit in New York City, primarily through The Moth. My goalwas to someday tell a story for a Moth audience, and I was fortunate enough towin on my first try. Since then I have won twice more and competed in two GrandSLAMchampionship events, but I have yet to win one. That remains a goal.
Matthew I know after reading your blog and website that Iwould love to meet you in person, do you tour with your books and do you haveany specific B&N events or signings planned. My book release willactually be taking place at the Barnes & Noble in West Hartford, CT, whichis the town where I teach. They have always been great to me, and I am thrilledto be able to kick things off there. We are in the process of planning the restof the tour, and I hope to include other Barnes & Noble stores as well.
Matthew thankyou so much for taking the time out of your incredibly busy schedule to answermy questions and good luck with the sale of the book. I look forward to thenext one too.
I urge my readers here to check out Matthew’s wonderful website, it’s an eclectic grouping ofinformation that is fun, interesting and educational and his piece about thisrelease day is especially poignant and a tribute to his wife.
And here is the address of the Barnes & Noble where Matthew’s book kick offwill take placeBarnes & NobleBlue Back Square
60 Isham Road
West Hartford, CT 06107
860-236-9900
Here is the code to listen to a sample of the audio book http://media.us.macmillan.com/video/olmk/macmillanaudio/MemoirsOfAnImaginaryFriend.mp3
My Review of Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend
Matthew Dicks
St. Martin’s Press
ISBN13: 9781250006219
320 pages
Budo and Max are best friends, Max created Budo from hisimagination. Budo is Max’s imaginary friend. Budo is different from otherimaginary friends, he’s been alive for longer than any imaginary friend heknows and he looks more human than a lot of imaginary friends do, that’sbecause Max is different than most boys his age. Max lives inside himself alot, he doesn’t like to be touched and sometimes he get’s “stuck” insidehimself too, this makes him a target for bullies and the other kids don’t knowhow to act around him so they mostly avoid him. Imaginary friends can see otherimaginary friends even though they are only visible to the friend that createdthem and Budo has befriended and lost many imaginary friends since he’s beenalive. Budo loves Max’s mom and dad, he loves Max’s school and most of histeachers, but not all of them. Budo also hopes that since Max is different thatmeans that he won’t “disappear” like other imaginary friends have done, maybeMax will need him forever or at least a long, long time, because the one thingthat scares Budo is disappearing.
I have to admit that several things caught my attentionabout this novel, first the title and second the premise, so after being reeledin by those things I was totally hooked when I started reading the book.
The narrative is intelligent, witty, innocent and adult. The story is told byBudo the imaginary friend of an 8 year old suspected autistic boy named Max, wefollow Max and Budo through their very interesting life and the lives of thepeople and imaginary friends around them, and then something happens whichgives the novel a very different feel as they get caught up in a dangeroussituation and how they go about getting out of it. It’s about life, it’s aboutdeath, it’s about being brave, being scared and doing the right thing even atthe cost of your own survival to help those you love, it’s a journey intounknown danger and how to persevere. And if you’re anything like me by the endof the read you’ll have been dragged through the gauntlet of emotions and wishyou had a friend like Budo too.
Thank you Mr. Dicks for this very impressive novel and I can’t wait until youjoin us for the month next June and I’m also looking forward to journey withyou as I read another of your novels.
Matthew's other novels
Buy the book(s) here visit the author's website here
NewRelease Feature Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend
Plus Q&A w/ Matthew Dicks
It is my pleasure to announce that Matthew has agreed to bemy featured author in June of 2013 when the General Fiction Forum reads thisincredible novel together.
Debbie - MatthewWelcome to the General Fiction book club forum at B&N.comFor those of you who don’t know Memoirs of an ImaginaryFriend is narrated by Budo who is the imaginary friend of an autistic boy namedMax.Matthew I have to admit that the premise of this novelgrabbed me, can you tell me where the idea came from and tell us a bit aboutthe novel too.Matthew - The ideafor the book originates back in in childhood.
This is your third novel, did this release feel as excitingas the first?Every release isthrilling, and it is my most sincere hope that they never begin to feel likeold hat. I am continually stunned by the idea that something I made up in myhead can take on a tangible form and ultimately end up in the hands of readersaround the world. While this release is a little less nerve-wracking than thefirst because I know what to expect now, it is just as exciting as thefirst.
What are you working on nowI have a few projectsin the works. I’m in the process of finishing my next novel, and I am alsoworking on several children’s book and a memoir. I’ve also partnered with amusician to write a rock opera that was recently picked up by a Hartfordplayhouse for a two week run, so we are busy getting that script into shape aswell. I have many irons in the fire at the moment, and I wouldn’t have it anyother way.
When you research for your novels do you do it from a deskor do you go out in the field as well.Most of my researchtakes place at the dining room table, which is where I do the majority of mywriting. My process is to write first and repair later, so when research isrequired, I tend to make an educated guess rather than stopping the flow of thestory in order to ensure that my facts are correct. I would much rather get thestory on the page first before worrying about what details are in need tochanging.
Your bio says that you’re an active teacher, a publishedauthor of not just fiction, an owner of a DJ company, a husband and father andsoon to be father again –congratulations, plus more. That’s a very activeschedule, how do you fit it all inI am not picky aboutthe way in which I get things done. I like to tell people that I write in thespaces of my life. If my daughter is taking a bath and I have fifteen minutesto myself, I will try to write six good sentences in that time. I think thatpeople are far too precious with their time, insisting on the right atmosphere,music, or beverage in order to write or accomplish a similar goal. I writewhenever I can. Having the summer free from my teaching job helps, of course,but I have not missed a day of writing in at least seven years, whether that isten minutes with a scrap of paper or eight hours at the laptop.
It also says you’re a reader but doesn’t list your genre(s)of choice, so what kind of reading to you enjoy, do you have any favoriteauthors.I read from almostevery genre except romance, and I may give that a try at some point. I split myreading almost evenly between fiction and nonfiction. My favorite author of alltime is Kurt Vonnegut, but some of my other favorites include Bill Bryson,Stephen King, Toni Morrison, Nicholson Baker, David Sedaris, Nora Ephron and(of course) William Shakespeare.
You said that you narrowly avoided dying twice by the age of18, did these events change the way you live, the way you look at life ingeneral, does it enter into your writing at all.My two near-deathexperiences, in addition to surviving an armed robbery, have greatly dictatedthe way in which I live my life. Like it or not, there is not a day, andoftentimes not an hour that goes by that the thought of my mortality does notenter my mind. It is this mindset that propels me from bed before sunrise everymorning wanting to make the most of my day, whether that is making time to playwith my kids to working hard to teach my students, write my books, improve mygolf game or grow my business. The awareness of time passing and the fragilityof life are ever-present with me in a way that is difficult for most people toimagine, and for good or ill, this is the reason I manage to get so much done.
Now for something unrelated to writing, what’s at the top ofyour bucket listI’ve been fortunate inknocking off a few of those things recently, including becoming involved in thelive storytelling circuit in New York City, primarily through The Moth. My goalwas to someday tell a story for a Moth audience, and I was fortunate enough towin on my first try. Since then I have won twice more and competed in two GrandSLAMchampionship events, but I have yet to win one. That remains a goal.
Matthew I know after reading your blog and website that Iwould love to meet you in person, do you tour with your books and do you haveany specific B&N events or signings planned. My book release willactually be taking place at the Barnes & Noble in West Hartford, CT, whichis the town where I teach. They have always been great to me, and I am thrilledto be able to kick things off there. We are in the process of planning the restof the tour, and I hope to include other Barnes & Noble stores as well.
Matthew thankyou so much for taking the time out of your incredibly busy schedule to answermy questions and good luck with the sale of the book. I look forward to thenext one too.
I urge my readers here to check out Matthew’s wonderful website, it’s an eclectic grouping ofinformation that is fun, interesting and educational and his piece about thisrelease day is especially poignant and a tribute to his wife.
And here is the address of the Barnes & Noble where Matthew’s book kick offwill take placeBarnes & NobleBlue Back Square
60 Isham Road
West Hartford, CT 06107
860-236-9900
Here is the code to listen to a sample of the audio book http://media.us.macmillan.com/video/olmk/macmillanaudio/MemoirsOfAnImaginaryFriend.mp3
Matthew Dicks
St. Martin’s Press
ISBN13: 9781250006219
320 pages
Budo and Max are best friends, Max created Budo from hisimagination. Budo is Max’s imaginary friend. Budo is different from otherimaginary friends, he’s been alive for longer than any imaginary friend heknows and he looks more human than a lot of imaginary friends do, that’sbecause Max is different than most boys his age. Max lives inside himself alot, he doesn’t like to be touched and sometimes he get’s “stuck” insidehimself too, this makes him a target for bullies and the other kids don’t knowhow to act around him so they mostly avoid him. Imaginary friends can see otherimaginary friends even though they are only visible to the friend that createdthem and Budo has befriended and lost many imaginary friends since he’s beenalive. Budo loves Max’s mom and dad, he loves Max’s school and most of histeachers, but not all of them. Budo also hopes that since Max is different thatmeans that he won’t “disappear” like other imaginary friends have done, maybeMax will need him forever or at least a long, long time, because the one thingthat scares Budo is disappearing.
I have to admit that several things caught my attentionabout this novel, first the title and second the premise, so after being reeledin by those things I was totally hooked when I started reading the book.
The narrative is intelligent, witty, innocent and adult. The story is told byBudo the imaginary friend of an 8 year old suspected autistic boy named Max, wefollow Max and Budo through their very interesting life and the lives of thepeople and imaginary friends around them, and then something happens whichgives the novel a very different feel as they get caught up in a dangeroussituation and how they go about getting out of it. It’s about life, it’s aboutdeath, it’s about being brave, being scared and doing the right thing even atthe cost of your own survival to help those you love, it’s a journey intounknown danger and how to persevere. And if you’re anything like me by the endof the read you’ll have been dragged through the gauntlet of emotions and wishyou had a friend like Budo too.
Thank you Mr. Dicks for this very impressive novel and I can’t wait until youjoin us for the month next June and I’m also looking forward to journey withyou as I read another of your novels.
Matthew's other novels
Buy the book(s) here visit the author's website here
Guest blog post by Heidi Jon Schmidt author of The Harbormaster's Daughter
To contact us Click HERE
Today's Guest blog post is from author Heidi Jon Schmidt featuring her new release novel The Harbormaster's Daughter
Here are what people are saying about her new release
Schmidt delivers a thoughtful, realistically complicated
exploration of love, marriage, friendship, and community
in The House on Oyster Creek while perfectly capturing the
spare beauty of Cape Cod in her subtly nuanced, beautifully
crafted prose."
--Chicago Tribune, Printers Row
"...Schmidt conveys the unassailable bond of tradition in a
tightly knit community along with the ins and outs of oyster
culture. Her writing is nuanced and oh so clever as it relays
her characters' persistence in the face of life's obstacles.
Superior literary fiction."
--Library Journal
Enjoy the Blog Post
I was reading Heidi's bio and one of her thoughts about writing interested me so I asked her this question: what does it mean to you as an author to set your stories in a place you know so intimately and what leads you to your stories
And so from that question came her blog postEnjoy
Diary of a Nosy NeighborWe had a wave of arsons in our little town a few years ago. The first fires were small, one in a dumpster and one in the dry grass beside the highway. Then someone's shed burned down, then a garage and then, on Halloween night, one of the oldest houses in town. My daughter was 10--she went as a flower fairy that year, in a costume I'd put together out of some green tulle over a thrift shop dress, with a cap that looked like a stem growing out of her head. The excitement of Halloween is so much about being out after dark, knocking on stranger's doors, Jack-o-lanterns flickering ghoulishly....and all while you're holding your mom's hand. When the sirens sounded that cozy scariness was interrupted by cold fear. Mothers picked up little dancers and goblins while the men in the neighborhood jumped into their trucks to head for the fire station. This town was built in the eighteenth century: wood frame houses crowded along streets just wide enough for horse carriages. Strike a match and you can wipe out a block before the fire trucks are out of the garage.
That night the arsonist didn't have to use a match: the house he targeted was under renovation, and he climbed in a first floor window, found a blowtorch, lit it and walked away, probably along the beach, where, in the dark of an October evening he was unlikely to be seen. The fire was knocked down before it could spread. Ten days later, another house went up in flames--while the firemen worked to squelch it a grand piano fell through the weakened ceiling and very nearly killed a man.
Who was doing this? Why? We speculated endlessly, on the steps of the Post Office, in line at the coffee shop. Suspicion fell on a former firefighter, a troubled teenager, then on a homeless man who'd been found sleeping in the firehouse. But they all seemed to have alibis (Never mind the police, four women at the grocery checkout could figure this out based on where they bumped into who the day before.)
The State Fire Marshall, called in to help with the investigation, held a meeting for townspeople, partly to reassure us, partly to ask for our help. Arson is the most difficult crime to solve, and in a tourist town like ours, where half the houses are unoccupied in the off season, it's all too easy for a criminal to make his way from yard to yard without being noticed.
"What we need," the Marshall told us, "is a nosy neighbor." Representatives from his office, in plain clothes, had gone through one neighborhood after another without so much as a single woman sticking her head out an upper window to interrogate them. What was wrong with us, he wanted to know, minding our own business this way? We needed to become a lot nosier, as fast as we possibly could.
This was it. Clearly my moment in the sun had arrived. I am one of the nosiest people I know. There is no little crevice of human existence that I don't want to peer into, preferably with a flashlight, a magnifying glass, and a notebook. And a small town, blessed with one main street (the better to see everyone you know as you head out to return a library book), and a stiff breeze (the better for your neighbor's divorce decree to blow out of his garbage and into your tomato bushes).
I went forth from that meeting charged with a mission. While I usually prefer the dignified term "curiosity," 'nosiness' does spell it out. If your Cyrano-like proboscis has ever been caught in a slamming door, it may be that you share this calling. We're needed, we snoops! And I was glad to have someone beside me recognize this. I've always thought nosiness got a bad rap, mostly because it has become associated with scornfulness and sanctimony over the years. But the fact that I'm dying to see in your windows does not mean I want to denigrate you. It means I want to learn from you, to understand how it is that different people, all of them wishing for more or less the same things (health, love, safety, recognition for the good we do, forgiveness...the list goes on and on), take such disparate paths to their goals.
How is it that we are all as different and as alike as snowflakes? I can read Freud and Tolstoy and Austen and Wilde for some answers to this question, but nothing will ever compare to that original text, the contents of my neighbor's trash. This has gotten me into trouble at times. I once complimented a painting newly hung over an acquaintance's couch; it was absolutely beautiful, but I'd only seen it because he forgot to close his curtains one night. In fact I wouldn't have known where he lived if he'd remembered to close his blinds, and now, when I walk past his house (as I do every time I head to the library) I add another little piece to the puzzle that this very nice man represents to me. He keeps his garden tidy, and grows an impressive variety of peppers-- is this because he grew up in a spicy culture, Mexican maybe? Or is he, like my husband, of such absolutely British descent that he never saw a garlic until he had come of age and has therefore a deep desire to Know the Peppers, in all their spectacular variety?
He would probably tell me it's because he likes peppers. Fair enough. 'Knock on any door,' a brilliant novelist, also a friend of mine, used to say-- meaning that behind every door there is plenty of beauty and of affliction, that we aren't alone in our peculiarities. Fiction does that for us--knocks on a random door and reveals that we're in good company, whether we're exulting or grieving or just snooping through other people's lives. My last two books--The House on Oyster Creek and The Harbormaster's Daughter, have been set in a fishing, touristing town not unlike the one I live in, and I know they are better for the kaleidoscope of thoughts and images and understandings I've gained from thirty years of the ordinary daily world here. The Harbormaster's Daughter imagines the growth of a girl whose mother was murdered much as a local woman was ten years ago. The book is full of my sense of this place and its people, and though many, many others know the outline of the story, no one else would imagine or write it the same way. My nosiness-- my fascination, which originates in my own peculiarities-- makes it what it is.
That arsonist was never arrested. One week there were no sirens, then the next, and the next, and after a while we forgot to be afraid. People theorized that he had been a summer visitor, renting an unheated cottage. When the air got cold enough he had to move and we got to breathe easy again. I wonder where he is now--does he still set fires or was that part of some madness that took hold of him that year and has let go now? Maybe he just came to some understanding and stopped--I wonder what that understanding might be. Maybe he has a little family and feels terribly guilty, is making up for the arsons by joining his local volunteer fire department.
Or maybe there's a much darker answer. How I wish I knew. And how I wish my nosiness had been vindicated and I had spied the firebug out my window. I'd have run out to ask him what he was doing. I mean--I assume it was a him, but I'm not going to know. I do believe that whether you call it curiosity or nosiness, our persistent interest in each other is ultimately a great thing-- that the first step to closing the gap between disparate people, and groups of people, is seeing, questioning, and thinking about those variations. Beneath the differences are much deeper layers of similarity. I'm never sure whether 'minding one's own business' isn't really a way of making sure one's assumptions go unchallenged, of failing to appreciate other lives and ways of life.
In my capacities as a nosy neighbor, and as a novelist, I will continue my investigations into this and many other questions, and keep you updated on my progress.
copyright Heidi Jon Schmidt 2012
Be sure and visit Heidi's website here buy the book here
Thank you Heidi for a look into your lovely town and into your personal and writing life.
here are Heidi's other titles
Today's Guest blog post is from author Heidi Jon Schmidt featuring her new release novel The Harbormaster's DaughterHere are what people are saying about her new release
Publishers Weekly
Schmidt (The House on Oyster Creek) returns to Cape Cod to examine the turbulent times of Franco, the bitter 47-year-old assistant harbormaster who is part of the insular Portuguese community that exists in constant tension with the wealthy summer tourists. A brief affair with a tourist named Sabine results in an unexpected pregnancy and trouble for Franco. But things get worse when, four years later, Sabine is murdered, making Franco, a married man, the primary suspect. Their three-year-old daughter, Vita, who knows nothing of her real father, goes to live with Sabine’s friend in a small town, where she grows up and is sheltered from the news of her mother’s real killer being found. But when the killer commits suicide in jail, she’s forced to confront both her past and her present, finding support with a local gang of misfits in a local theater company. Schmidt paints a colorful picture of the Massachusetts Cape and its people. She understands the struggles of adolescence and compounds them skillfully with the stifling nature of smalltown life. However, the central relationship—between Vita and Franco—isn’t given much attention, resulting in a story that feels at times without a center. Agent: Jennifer Carlson, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner. (Aug.)Schmidt delivers a thoughtful, realistically complicated
exploration of love, marriage, friendship, and community
in The House on Oyster Creek while perfectly capturing the
spare beauty of Cape Cod in her subtly nuanced, beautifully
crafted prose."
--Chicago Tribune, Printers Row
"...Schmidt conveys the unassailable bond of tradition in a
tightly knit community along with the ins and outs of oyster
culture. Her writing is nuanced and oh so clever as it relays
her characters' persistence in the face of life's obstacles.
Superior literary fiction."
--Library Journal
Enjoy the Blog Post
I was reading Heidi's bio and one of her thoughts about writing interested me so I asked her this question: what does it mean to you as an author to set your stories in a place you know so intimately and what leads you to your stories
And so from that question came her blog postEnjoy
Diary of a Nosy NeighborWe had a wave of arsons in our little town a few years ago. The first fires were small, one in a dumpster and one in the dry grass beside the highway. Then someone's shed burned down, then a garage and then, on Halloween night, one of the oldest houses in town. My daughter was 10--she went as a flower fairy that year, in a costume I'd put together out of some green tulle over a thrift shop dress, with a cap that looked like a stem growing out of her head. The excitement of Halloween is so much about being out after dark, knocking on stranger's doors, Jack-o-lanterns flickering ghoulishly....and all while you're holding your mom's hand. When the sirens sounded that cozy scariness was interrupted by cold fear. Mothers picked up little dancers and goblins while the men in the neighborhood jumped into their trucks to head for the fire station. This town was built in the eighteenth century: wood frame houses crowded along streets just wide enough for horse carriages. Strike a match and you can wipe out a block before the fire trucks are out of the garage.
That night the arsonist didn't have to use a match: the house he targeted was under renovation, and he climbed in a first floor window, found a blowtorch, lit it and walked away, probably along the beach, where, in the dark of an October evening he was unlikely to be seen. The fire was knocked down before it could spread. Ten days later, another house went up in flames--while the firemen worked to squelch it a grand piano fell through the weakened ceiling and very nearly killed a man.
Who was doing this? Why? We speculated endlessly, on the steps of the Post Office, in line at the coffee shop. Suspicion fell on a former firefighter, a troubled teenager, then on a homeless man who'd been found sleeping in the firehouse. But they all seemed to have alibis (Never mind the police, four women at the grocery checkout could figure this out based on where they bumped into who the day before.)
The State Fire Marshall, called in to help with the investigation, held a meeting for townspeople, partly to reassure us, partly to ask for our help. Arson is the most difficult crime to solve, and in a tourist town like ours, where half the houses are unoccupied in the off season, it's all too easy for a criminal to make his way from yard to yard without being noticed.
"What we need," the Marshall told us, "is a nosy neighbor." Representatives from his office, in plain clothes, had gone through one neighborhood after another without so much as a single woman sticking her head out an upper window to interrogate them. What was wrong with us, he wanted to know, minding our own business this way? We needed to become a lot nosier, as fast as we possibly could.
This was it. Clearly my moment in the sun had arrived. I am one of the nosiest people I know. There is no little crevice of human existence that I don't want to peer into, preferably with a flashlight, a magnifying glass, and a notebook. And a small town, blessed with one main street (the better to see everyone you know as you head out to return a library book), and a stiff breeze (the better for your neighbor's divorce decree to blow out of his garbage and into your tomato bushes).
I went forth from that meeting charged with a mission. While I usually prefer the dignified term "curiosity," 'nosiness' does spell it out. If your Cyrano-like proboscis has ever been caught in a slamming door, it may be that you share this calling. We're needed, we snoops! And I was glad to have someone beside me recognize this. I've always thought nosiness got a bad rap, mostly because it has become associated with scornfulness and sanctimony over the years. But the fact that I'm dying to see in your windows does not mean I want to denigrate you. It means I want to learn from you, to understand how it is that different people, all of them wishing for more or less the same things (health, love, safety, recognition for the good we do, forgiveness...the list goes on and on), take such disparate paths to their goals.
How is it that we are all as different and as alike as snowflakes? I can read Freud and Tolstoy and Austen and Wilde for some answers to this question, but nothing will ever compare to that original text, the contents of my neighbor's trash. This has gotten me into trouble at times. I once complimented a painting newly hung over an acquaintance's couch; it was absolutely beautiful, but I'd only seen it because he forgot to close his curtains one night. In fact I wouldn't have known where he lived if he'd remembered to close his blinds, and now, when I walk past his house (as I do every time I head to the library) I add another little piece to the puzzle that this very nice man represents to me. He keeps his garden tidy, and grows an impressive variety of peppers-- is this because he grew up in a spicy culture, Mexican maybe? Or is he, like my husband, of such absolutely British descent that he never saw a garlic until he had come of age and has therefore a deep desire to Know the Peppers, in all their spectacular variety?
He would probably tell me it's because he likes peppers. Fair enough. 'Knock on any door,' a brilliant novelist, also a friend of mine, used to say-- meaning that behind every door there is plenty of beauty and of affliction, that we aren't alone in our peculiarities. Fiction does that for us--knocks on a random door and reveals that we're in good company, whether we're exulting or grieving or just snooping through other people's lives. My last two books--The House on Oyster Creek and The Harbormaster's Daughter, have been set in a fishing, touristing town not unlike the one I live in, and I know they are better for the kaleidoscope of thoughts and images and understandings I've gained from thirty years of the ordinary daily world here. The Harbormaster's Daughter imagines the growth of a girl whose mother was murdered much as a local woman was ten years ago. The book is full of my sense of this place and its people, and though many, many others know the outline of the story, no one else would imagine or write it the same way. My nosiness-- my fascination, which originates in my own peculiarities-- makes it what it is.
That arsonist was never arrested. One week there were no sirens, then the next, and the next, and after a while we forgot to be afraid. People theorized that he had been a summer visitor, renting an unheated cottage. When the air got cold enough he had to move and we got to breathe easy again. I wonder where he is now--does he still set fires or was that part of some madness that took hold of him that year and has let go now? Maybe he just came to some understanding and stopped--I wonder what that understanding might be. Maybe he has a little family and feels terribly guilty, is making up for the arsons by joining his local volunteer fire department.
Or maybe there's a much darker answer. How I wish I knew. And how I wish my nosiness had been vindicated and I had spied the firebug out my window. I'd have run out to ask him what he was doing. I mean--I assume it was a him, but I'm not going to know. I do believe that whether you call it curiosity or nosiness, our persistent interest in each other is ultimately a great thing-- that the first step to closing the gap between disparate people, and groups of people, is seeing, questioning, and thinking about those variations. Beneath the differences are much deeper layers of similarity. I'm never sure whether 'minding one's own business' isn't really a way of making sure one's assumptions go unchallenged, of failing to appreciate other lives and ways of life.
In my capacities as a nosy neighbor, and as a novelist, I will continue my investigations into this and many other questions, and keep you updated on my progress.
copyright Heidi Jon Schmidt 2012
Be sure and visit Heidi's website here buy the book here
Thank you Heidi for a look into your lovely town and into your personal and writing life.
here are Heidi's other titles
New Release Feature Hemingway's Girl plus Q&A w/author Erika Robuck
To contact us Click HERE
Q&A with Erika Robuck
New Release Feature 9-4-2012
Erika thank you for visiting with me and the members of theB&N General Fiction Forum
Debbie - Firsttell us a little about your new novel Hemingway’sGirl.Erika - Hemingway’s Girl is the story of ahalf-Cuban young woman living in Key West in 1935 who secures a job as ahousekeeper for Ernest Hemingway and his family, and becomes more involved inhis personal life than she could have anticipated. As the writer’s secondmarriage begins to crumble, she finds herself torn between the larger than lifewriter and a WWI veteran and boxer building the Overseas Highway.
This is your second novel, tell us how you felt when yousold your first book.I actuallyself-published my first novel, Receive MeFalling. During the querying process for that novel, many of my friends inbook clubs wanted to read it. I decided to self-publish, knowing I couldcontinue to query agents since I owned the rights to the book. Thirty bookclubs later, that novel is still going strong.
Tell us about how you came to be an author, did you always wantto write, how did it happen?I’ve written as longas I can remember. I started with plays, poetry, and songs. In middle and highschool I wrote two terrible novels and even more terrible diaries. I minored inliterature in college and taught elementary school until I had my first son adecade ago. While staying home with my son I was finally able to use my freetime (naptimes and bedtimes) to work on novels. I’ve been committed to the formever since.
So far both your books are historical in nature, are youplanning to always write historical novels?I have always beendrawn to the past in art, architecture, music, and literature, and I anticipatethat I will always write historical fiction. I’ve been thinking about a memoir,but even that will utilize the history of Ireland. I’ve always felt a deepconnection to the past, and find it both relevant to the present and importantfor inspiring empathy in readers.
Are you a reader, fiction or non-fiction, who are some ofyour favorite authors?I love to readanything and everything, but especially historical novels. The research phaseof writing is one of my favorites because I get to immerse myself in nonfictionlike biographies, autobiographies, letters, and other writings on or from thepast.
Do you belong to a writers group?I do, and I don’tknow how I would exist without them. First, I have two critique partners onopposite ends of the globe. Kelly McMullen lives on the west coast and writesnarrative nonfiction and poetry in the style of Kerouac and DiPrima. In Prague,Jennifer Lyn King writes multi-period upmarket fiction. I exchange work withthese women once a month and conference afterward by phone or Skype. I amdeeply connected to them, and my work is better because of our exchanges.
Tell us about a normal day in the life of Erika Robuck.This question made mesmile. It’s hard to describe a normal day with three sons ranging from agesfour to ten, a husband, a dog, piano lessons, hockey practice, soccer practice,and on and on.
You have many events planned for your release and yourlaunch as well as others are at Barnes & Noble Bookstores-I hope you meetmany fans who read about you here and good luck with the novel.Thank you so much. Itwas my pleasure!
Friday September 7th 7:00pm
Barnes & Noble
2516 Solomon’s Island Road
Annapolis, MD 21401
410-573-1115
My review of Hemingway's Girl
Hemingway’s Girl
Erika Robuck
NAL
ISBN13:9780451237880Erika Robuck gave me a fly on the wall look not only intothe great novelist Ernest Hemingway’s personal life in Key West, but the relationships he made andbroke, the ruined economy of post WWI Key West and the multi-cultural residents who populated the area. Withsimple easy to read dialogue she painted a real picture of the area, the timeand it’s people that was both informative and imaginative. Her protagonistMariella Bennet was a fascinating specimen of fortitude, attitude and humilityand she will long be remembered in this reader’s mind and along with hermultitude of wonderful eclectic characters made this novel a definite keeper asshe educated and entertained me. It’s a hard to put down read so make sure yourchores are finished before you pick this one up. Know that this journey wasmore than worth it’s time and I’m anxious for the next place this incrediblestoryteller wants to take me.
It’s 1961 Key West Florida and after a day of deep seafishing with her son Mariella learns of Papa Hemingway’s death. The news sendsher back in time to 1930s Key West where the living was anything but easy,where left over depression still lingered in the Keys, in the shanty homes andthe gaunt hopeless faces of it’s residents, to the year she met Papa, whereonly months before her own father had died. She was almost 20 the first timeshe met him, bigger than life and full of himself and he left an impressionthat never would or could die. She remembers that tumultuous year of her lifeand the role Hemingway and others played in it, she remembers falling in love,she remembers joy and sadness. She remembers the best and worst of times, sheremembers just what Papa meant to her and she to him.
Photo by Catherine Pelura of KC Photography
Q&A with Erika Robuck
New Release Feature 9-4-2012
Erika thank you for visiting with me and the members of theB&N General Fiction Forum
Debbie - Firsttell us a little about your new novel Hemingway’sGirl.Erika - Hemingway’s Girl is the story of ahalf-Cuban young woman living in Key West in 1935 who secures a job as ahousekeeper for Ernest Hemingway and his family, and becomes more involved inhis personal life than she could have anticipated. As the writer’s secondmarriage begins to crumble, she finds herself torn between the larger than lifewriter and a WWI veteran and boxer building the Overseas Highway.
This is your second novel, tell us how you felt when yousold your first book.I actuallyself-published my first novel, Receive MeFalling. During the querying process for that novel, many of my friends inbook clubs wanted to read it. I decided to self-publish, knowing I couldcontinue to query agents since I owned the rights to the book. Thirty bookclubs later, that novel is still going strong.
Tell us about how you came to be an author, did you always wantto write, how did it happen?I’ve written as longas I can remember. I started with plays, poetry, and songs. In middle and highschool I wrote two terrible novels and even more terrible diaries. I minored inliterature in college and taught elementary school until I had my first son adecade ago. While staying home with my son I was finally able to use my freetime (naptimes and bedtimes) to work on novels. I’ve been committed to the formever since.
So far both your books are historical in nature, are youplanning to always write historical novels?I have always beendrawn to the past in art, architecture, music, and literature, and I anticipatethat I will always write historical fiction. I’ve been thinking about a memoir,but even that will utilize the history of Ireland. I’ve always felt a deepconnection to the past, and find it both relevant to the present and importantfor inspiring empathy in readers.
Are you a reader, fiction or non-fiction, who are some ofyour favorite authors?I love to readanything and everything, but especially historical novels. The research phaseof writing is one of my favorites because I get to immerse myself in nonfictionlike biographies, autobiographies, letters, and other writings on or from thepast.
Do you belong to a writers group?I do, and I don’tknow how I would exist without them. First, I have two critique partners onopposite ends of the globe. Kelly McMullen lives on the west coast and writesnarrative nonfiction and poetry in the style of Kerouac and DiPrima. In Prague,Jennifer Lyn King writes multi-period upmarket fiction. I exchange work withthese women once a month and conference afterward by phone or Skype. I amdeeply connected to them, and my work is better because of our exchanges.
Tell us about a normal day in the life of Erika Robuck.This question made mesmile. It’s hard to describe a normal day with three sons ranging from agesfour to ten, a husband, a dog, piano lessons, hockey practice, soccer practice,and on and on.
You have many events planned for your release and yourlaunch as well as others are at Barnes & Noble Bookstores-I hope you meetmany fans who read about you here and good luck with the novel.Thank you so much. Itwas my pleasure!
Friday September 7th 7:00pm
Barnes & Noble
2516 Solomon’s Island Road
Annapolis, MD 21401
410-573-1115
My review of Hemingway's Girl
Hemingway’s Girl
Erika Robuck
NAL
ISBN13:9780451237880Erika Robuck gave me a fly on the wall look not only intothe great novelist Ernest Hemingway’s personal life in Key West, but the relationships he made andbroke, the ruined economy of post WWI Key West and the multi-cultural residents who populated the area. Withsimple easy to read dialogue she painted a real picture of the area, the timeand it’s people that was both informative and imaginative. Her protagonistMariella Bennet was a fascinating specimen of fortitude, attitude and humilityand she will long be remembered in this reader’s mind and along with hermultitude of wonderful eclectic characters made this novel a definite keeper asshe educated and entertained me. It’s a hard to put down read so make sure yourchores are finished before you pick this one up. Know that this journey wasmore than worth it’s time and I’m anxious for the next place this incrediblestoryteller wants to take me.
It’s 1961 Key West Florida and after a day of deep seafishing with her son Mariella learns of Papa Hemingway’s death. The news sendsher back in time to 1930s Key West where the living was anything but easy,where left over depression still lingered in the Keys, in the shanty homes andthe gaunt hopeless faces of it’s residents, to the year she met Papa, whereonly months before her own father had died. She was almost 20 the first timeshe met him, bigger than life and full of himself and he left an impressionthat never would or could die. She remembers that tumultuous year of her lifeand the role Hemingway and others played in it, she remembers falling in love,she remembers joy and sadness. She remembers the best and worst of times, sheremembers just what Papa meant to her and she to him.
Photo by Catherine Pelura of KC Photography
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