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Contrary to stereotypical belief, readings can be fun. The First Fiction tour has roots in an indie bookstore in Arizona a couple of years ago, when the owner took it upon herself to organize a reading series for debut novelists. The tour has since become national and is the result of collaboration between publishers to win attention for promising first books. They have it at bars, which apparently helps. But don’t go for the pints alone. These four very different writers have some intriguing things to say. Journalist Marya Hornbacher attracted much attention with her first book, Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia (Random House, 1999). The Center of Winter (Harper Collins), her first novel, tells the story of a troubled family in Minnesota. After the suicide of her husband, Claire Schiller and her children try to recover. Here is a description of the man, told from the point of view of Katie, the youngest child: My father would sit on the back porch watching her, sitting the way men here sit: leaned back, feet planted far apart, arms on the arms of the chair, a beer in his right hand. The beer would be sweating. Serpent Girl (Villard) opens with a scene reminiscent of a certain famous book by a certain recently deceased “gonzo” writer. Matthew Carnahan’s protagonist, a young carnival worker named Bailey Quinn, comes to in the desert after being passed out for who knows how long. There is peyote involved, and a helpful drawing of a peyote button graces the text. In fact, a list of the drawings provided should give you a clear idea of the novel’s mood: thong, road flare, Schopenhauer. The following is one of the many highly educational passages about circus life: Clowns, in the circus caste system, are a separate entity from crew and performers. Clowns tend to stay in their own clique, often traveling between a few different circuses, or taking it solo and basking in malls. It was a journeyman skill I could learn and take anywhere, although I found it a little pathetic, putting on a bunch of pancake makeup and behaving like an asshole. But the pay was double props and rigging, and really, how hard could it be? The clowns at Maximus were a strange lot, drab and unremarkable without their makeup, and even in their makeup—their happy, smiley clowny makeup—they could communicate a level of hostility I had rarely encountered. They were known to the crew as the Fuck-You Clowns. Responsible Men (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill), by Edward Schwartzschild, tells the story of Max, a broken-down con man trying for some semblance of youth through affairs and new deals in Key West. The bar mitzvah of his son, Nathan, calls him back to Philadelphia, where his father and uncle, two cantankerous old salesmen, live together, and his ex-wife and her new, rather hilariously loathesome, fiancée are waiting to unwittingly torment him. Max’s Last Big Score drives the plot, but it’s the family and ex-family that make it interesting. This is a much-conversation between Max and his ex-wife “You should take Nathan with you,” Max said. “I’m sure he’d love some time on the islands” “Not possible,” she said. “Besides, your father would be upset, even if you wouldn’t. And we’ll be very busy over there. It’s not a pleasure trip, you know. Well, not entirely. Hiram’s going to learn more about Japanese landscape science, and we’ll both be taking intensive Japanese classes.” “It all sounds wonderful,” Max said. “The rewards of prosperity, long overdue.” “And what are your big plans?” The two young
female characters in The Effects of Light (Warner Books) have a
complex relationship with a woman who photographs them. Sisters
Myla and Pru model for Ruth, a middle-aged woman who takes the sort
of photos of nude children and adolescents that make Sally Mann,
Jock Sturges and other artists whose work tests the boundaries between
innocence and experience so controversial. Author Miranda Beverly-Whittemore
was a photographer’s model herself and knows of what she speaks: |
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COLUMNS |
BOOKS Preview the work of the four writers on the First Fiction tour by Laura J. Williams MUSIC MUSIC
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PLUS: CHOICE
A2P's selected events of the month |
