GOODWEATHER
REPORTS
XII ~ June 2008
Check out the following list, O, Best Beloveds!!! Notice the company I'm in! Many, many thanks to all of you for putting me there!!! The Southern Independent Bestseller List, as brought to you by Book Sense and SIBA, for the week ended Sunday, May 25, 2008. MASS MARKET 1. The Woods Harlan Coben, Signet 2. The King of Lies John Hart, St. Martin 's 3. The Pillars of the Earth Ken Follett, Signet, 4. The Name of the Wind Patrick Rothfuss, Daw 5. Suffer the Little Children Donna Leon, Penguin 6. The Hollow Nora Roberts, Jove 7. In a Dark Season Vicki Lane , Dell 8. The Land of Mango Sunsets Dorothea Benton Frank, Avon 9. Nights in Rodanthe Nicholas Sparks, Warner Vision 10. Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury, BallantineI gotta say this makes me feel good!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
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IN A DARK SEASON WEB ALBUM
Click here for a link to an album of pictures revealing the inspirations for various places in Dark Season
CONTEST!!!
Go to my ( almost) daily blog for June 1 for an announcement of another contest. (Win the right to name a character in the upcoming book!)
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Big, big congratulations to Kaye B. who is now a former smoker! Stick with it, Kaye! And to Barbara P. who is trying very hard and almost there!
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The writers' workshop at Lake Logan (sponsored by WNC Woman Magazine ) was a weekend to remember !
A group of women united by a desire to write and to share time with other writing women came to the Lake Logan Episcopal Center. On a spacious porch complete with rocking chairs and a magnificent view of the lake we sipped wine and lemonade and the questions flew – Where do you live? What do you write?
They were women of all ages, some long time residents in the mountains, others more recently arrived. Two had made the trip from Pittsburgh just for the weekend, two from Wilmington , one had moved to Asheville from California only a few weeks ago. They were writers of children's books, essayists, novelists, memoirists and poets -- lots of poets. Some were published, others aspiring, some few just beginning to begin.
Four presenters, Kay Stripling Byer, the charming current Poet Laureate of North Carolina, Peggy Millin, insightful, inspiring leader of women's writing workshops, Lavinia Plonka, dynamic, red-headed Feldenkrais maven and ex-mime, and me - paperback writer of genre fiction.
On the first evening Peggy gave a prompt for us to write to -- the word DRESS – and my eidetic memory smacked me upside the head.
Pink and green plaid organdy, it was a prim shirtwaist with a lace-edged collar. All the way from Best and Company in New York City , it had been my Easter dress, worn with hat and gloves and patent leather flats.
The memory takes me back, more than fifty years. Easter is months in the past and I stand on the sidewalk in front of Morrison's Cafeteria on a sultry Florida evening, disassociating myself from my grandparents who have paused to talk to friends. I am wearing the erstwhile Easter dress, tighter now that puberty has arrived and I have a budding bustline. New penny loafers are on my smooth brown feet and I see two boys pass and turn to look at me in a way that is new and somehow unsettling. Suddenly life has become more exciting – and much more complicated.
QUESTIONS AND OBSERVATIONS FROM YOU ALL
(or ‘you uns,' as Miss Birdie would say)
Nancy M., after reading my blog post about Girl Scouts going to the dark side -- had a memory of her own : “. . . of Mrs. B ___, a long-time school teacher at Walnut. We used to play such horrible tricks on her and she was one tough old bird. She kept an extra pair of “bloomers” in the closet in her classroom (this was when I was in the 8 th grade). Some of the boys found them and ran them up the flagpole on the playground. Since they were quite large, it amazed me that she didn't see them until the day was almost over – needless to say, we were all quick to tattle on the main culprit.”
Sue P in Texas says : “ let me assure you that your use of the dialect only adds to the authenticity of your stories. While I don't have family in Appalachia, I DO have family who came from Tennessee and settled in the SE part of Oklahoma , in and near the Kiamichi mountains. Their speech was colorful and pure and it wouldn't be the same if I had heard my Aunt Jewel or my Uncle J.C. and cousin Johnny-Honey (yes, his mother's pet name for him stuck even when he became a bank president) speak any way but the way they did. My grandfather was born in 1884 and came to Oklahoma in a covered wagon in 1906 (while it was still Indian Territory ) with my sweet little grandmother, who was only 16 at the time. They raised 9 children. He was a circuit rider Baptist preacher and the stories they told are some of my fondest memories. My mother's name was Alpha (as in Alpha and Omega, even though she wasn't his first girl), but PaPa decided he didn't want his last son to be named Omega, so he was Junior, instead.”
And when I thanked Sue for her email, she added: “ Am glad you enjoyed the story. As with most people, I suppose, we all have colorful family histories. My dad's side of the family is still bickering over whether we came from Scotland on the run as cattle thieves, or if we were the much-more-respectable Pirates some claim!”
Pepper Cory, an email buddy and quilting teacher in Beaufort , NC says: Thought you might be interested in our upcoming quilt event in Morehead City . Rather than an academic event with scholarly papers, Lynn Gorges (Textile Preservation Studio, New Bern ) , Janice Pope (the Quilt Doctor, Cary) and I decided to throw an all-day free-to-the-public-bring-your-old-quilts-and-we'll-talk-about-'em day. We christened the event Quilt Flap and it's coming up three weeks from today. Here's the notices on my blogs and that's the simplest way to get a snapshot of what's going to happen.
http://peppercory.blogspot.com and http://quiltflapper.blogspot.com
If you know anyone who might be interested and is coming down to the beach, please feel free to pass on the news, copy, print, forward etc. We'd appreciate any help with publicity.
If you like quilts, Pepper's blog is a treat!
Candace suggests Daphne Du Maurier's House on the Strand
Marge G, recommends Karen Armstrong's Through the Narrow Gate
Bacot W. calls Sarah Addison Allen's Garden Spells “a delicious Asheville
book.”
Aleen S. told me about Dudley Clendinen's new book: A Place Called Canterbury . All about a luxury retirement home, it's causing a stir among the folks in Tampa who have had kin there. Dudley was a younger kid down the block when I was growing up and several of my parents' friends and acquaintances (including Dudley's mother) spent their last years at Canterbury . I'm looking forward to this one!
Recent Reads
Some books I've enjoyed
Silver on the Tree by Susan Cooper - the last book in the young adult sequence “The Dark is Rising” Excellent Arthurian-based fantasy.
A Severed Wasp by Madeleine L'Engle - Beautiful writing – resumes ( about fifty years later) the story of the heroine from her much earlier novel (below).
The Small Rain by Madeleine L'Engle
Digging to America by Anne Tyler – Two very different families are brought together when they both adopt daughters from Korea . Tyler never fails to deliver a wonderful, thoughtful story.
Too Close to the Falls by Catherine Gildiner – a memoir of a very unusual childhood
Flashman - George MacDonald Fraser – a very unlikeable ‘hero,' but a fascinating look at the British attempt to control Afghanistan in the early 1800s (didn't work then either)
The Scent of Water by Elizabeth Goudge – a comfort read and a beautiful look at rural England of more than 40 years ago
Vicki's Schedule
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Thursday, June 5 – City Lights Bookstore, Sylva, NC. 12 noon. Vicki will be talking about and reading from her new book In A Dark Season. Bring a bag lunch or make reservations for a light lunch ($6.50). For more information and/or reservations, contact City Lights Bookstore 828-586-9499 3 East Jackson Street Sylva , NC 28779
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Sunday, June 8 - Malaprops Bookstore and Cafe, Downtown Asheville , NC . 3 pm. Vicki will be talking about her new book, In a Dark Season. www.malaprops.com
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Saturday, June 14, 7 pm - Osondu Books, Waynesville. Vicki will be talking about her new book, In a Dark Season. http://www.osondubooksellers.com/
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Friday,June 20, 6 pm (not 7) - Accent on Books, 854 Merrimon Avenue , Asheville , NC . 252-6255 I'll be talking about my new book, In a Dark Season. There will be wine and nibbly things. www.accentonbooks.com
Monday, June 30, 6:30 - Madison County (NC) Public Library. Vicki will join the book group for a discussion of In a Dark Season. Open to the public.
Thursday, July 24
11 to 1~ Highland Books, Brevard , NC . Vicki will be talking about the Elizabeth Goodweather Appalachian Mysteries, especially the recently released In a Dark Season. 277 N. Broad St. Brevard , N.C. 28712 ~828-884-2424
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Thursday, July 24, 7 pm - The Open Book, Greenville SC. Vicki will speak at the meeting of the Upstate Chapter of Sisters in Crime. Open to the public. More info to come.
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Saturday, September 13 - Carolina Mountains Literary Festival, Burnsville , NC . Vicki will be doing a workshop, a panel and a reading. More info to come. http://cmlitfest.org
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October 9-12 ~Bouchercon ( The mystery convention), Baltimore, MD http://www.charmedtodeath.com/
More info to come.
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2009
Sunday, March 1, 3 pm ~ Vicki is speaking at the Troy, NC Public Library. Sponsored by the Montgomery County Friends of the Library.
Contact: David Atkins, Manager
Montgomery County Public Libraries
215 West Main Street
Troy , NC 27371
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