Consistently Inconsistent

MORE STRANGE THAN TRUE

Countdown to Launch

In this newsletter being consistently inconsistent is about the only thing I’ll promise you. I’ve got a lot going on - which is what I plan to share with you - so I honestly don’t know how often I will be able to get to this.

Some things I’d like to talk about -

1. What it’s like being a debut author (especially one over 60)

2. Writing and craft topics

3. Books I love and books you love

4. Food

5. Travel

6. Music

7. Other stuff that occasionally crosses my mind

First things first. In case you haven’t heard, I’ve got a novel coming out in June. The title is MORE STRANGE THAN TRUE and it’s being published by Sagging Meniscus Press.

So what is this book about? Here’s a short description:

After an epically shitty day, Jewell Jamieson decides to throw herself a pity party for two – herself and her standard poodle, Oberon. Unknowingly she eats a meal spiked with magic and then makes a sloppy drunken wish. When Jewell awakes the next morning, she discovers her beloved dog Oberon is gone and, in his place, (in her bed), is a beautiful naked man. Things get complicated when Titania, the impulsive Queen of the Faeries, decides she wants Oberon for herself. Is Oberon simply a man who used to be a dog, or is he somehow something more? When Jewell discovers the answer, she will be faced with a devastating choice. Will she choose to save the man she’s grown to love by giving him up, or will she honor his wishes and watch him die? 

MORE STRANGE THAN TRUE is a whackily fantastical, extremely approachable and yet unendingly clever novel that brings the magical world of Midsummer’s Night Dream and the day-to-day concerns of life in contemporary Philadelphia into delicious collision.

I’ve been publishing short stories for over 20 years and have had some success, won grants and contests, been nominated for awards, and included in anthologies along side some very well-known writers. What I haven’t been able to do up until now, is get a book published. For most writers, publishing is a tough business. If you don’t learn how to handle rejection early on, it will be even tougher. I consider myself lucky in that before I started writing fiction seriously, I had a lot of practice being rejected. I originally went to college to study music. I thought I might be a professional opera singer and I pursued a career as a singer until I was in my early 30s. One advantage to being rejected as a writer is that it usually happens remotely in the privacy of your own home. As a singer, not so much - at least when I was auditioning. All of this is to say that when I first started submitting short stories and then novels for publication, I had developed a very thick skin. That didn’t mean that the rejection didn’t hurt. Sometimes it hurt a lot. (Like the time I got ghosted by an agent after she asked for a revision. That was brutal.) But still, you forge ahead and keep writing. For me, there really isn’t another path.

So now, at 61, I have a novel coming out, and honestly I feel a bit overwhelmed at times in that I have a lot of ground to cover. I got started late and now I’m ready to make a splash, even if it’s in a very tiny pool!

If you are in the Philadelphia area and would like to help me celebrate the launch of MORE STRANGE THAN TRUE, I would love to see you at my inappropriately extravagant launch party on Friday, June 21 from 6-8 PM. You can scan the QR code in the image below and RSVP. If you’ve never been to the Mummers Museum, you’re in for a kitschy treat, that’s for sure. Food will be provided by the Kitchen Consiglieri (now I know you want to come) and there will be alcohol. I’ll be reading and signing books (which will also be for sale), and who knows what else we’ll get up to.

I’m also in the process of scheduling readings and events in the Philadelphia/S. Jersey area, as well as in Michigan - and some other places too! As I’m able to update all of that, I will do so here and on my website.

If you’re anxious to pre-order the book you can do so now through Asterism Books. It will also be available through all the other normal channels in a month or so.

So before I close out today, I thought I’d mention a couple of books that I’ve read recently that I’ve enjoyed tremendously. First is The Waters by Bonnie Jo Campbell. I’ve been a huge fan of Campbell’s since I read American Salvage back in 2008. The Waters is a lush and mythic feminist journey that reminded me of Alice Hoffman’s The Rules of Magic in all the best ways. Campbell has a knack for making even the most unlikeable character worthy of compassion. That is a real gift. Currently, I’m reading Invisible Things by Mat Johnson. I’m also a big fan of Johnson. I teach Loving Day in my novel craft class and I also really loved the absurd and over the top Pym. This novel is also a satire and I am here for every word.

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