Book Release Party: Eye of the Wolf

Last week, I had the privilege of traveling to Duluth for Marie Zhuikov’s book release party. As she gave a presentation about the plight of the wolves on Isle Royale and how her book figured into that, I found myself flashing back to moments spent reading the manuscript on my parents’ couch in the middle of the night, making comments by the light of a small lamp; or curled up on the couch of my best friends in the twin cities, cozy indoors with wolves while a Minnesota winter loomed just outside the windows. I’m not sure of all the places life will take me as I read the published version of Eye of the Wolf, but I can’t wait to find out!

Marie is the first writer in my five-member speculative fiction writers group to publish a full-length book, and her success feels like a success for all of us — not just because we worked on the manuscript (and got a nifty mention in the acknowledgments!), but also because we know that Marie is “just like us” — a professional, dedicated, creative writer, yes, but also a woman who holds a full-time job (with freelance work on the side), is raising kids, walks her dog, and loves sweet potato fries. She’s a real person and not an elusive “author,” just as we all strive to be. With Marie’s success, it feels ever more attainable.

Marie’s book might be classified as a “paranormal romance,” but any genre label feels too small for it. Taking place in 1985 and based on Marie’s own experiences as a waitress on Isle Royale and her extensive research into wolf behavior (and the wolves on Isle Royale in particular), the book examines what might happen if the wolves on the island took the matter of their dwindling numbers into their own hands. They need to mate with new wolves to improve their gene pool, but the island setting doesn’t allow them to encounter new wolves. So the alpha male and female decide that they must “join” with two humans who will then help the wolves reach the mainland, their one hope for survival. What follows is a non-traditional werewolf story with such beautiful descriptions of setting that you might be booking a trip to Isle Royale for your next vacation. And when you do, you know the perfect reading material to bring with you.

[The book is still too new to be available online, but you can purchase a copy directly by contacting the publisher, North Star Press: E-Mail: info@northstarpress.com, Phone: (320)558-9062. I'll update this post with links for purchasing the book online when they become available.]

Writing Quote: Throw it Back

“I think, in part, writing is a way to complete my experience. It’s as if something–an episode, thought, emotion–hasn’t fully happened until I put it into words. It’s somehow not enough just to receive experience, to catch it like a baseball in a glove, so to speak, as I used to when I played catch with my father in the backyard. I need to throw it back.” – Jerry Spinelli, author of Stargirl.

Personal Connections Between Authors and Readers

When I was in fourth grade, our teacher read Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary to us. It’s about a kid who starts a correspondence with one of his favorite authors, eventually sharing all the trials and tribulations of his life with him. I’ve thought about this book a lot as an adult who has written for and worked with kids. I thought the book was awesome when I was a kid, but as an adult I wonder if Mr. Henshaw had some boundary issues.

Still, even as an adult, I feel tickled by personal connections with authors, and I can understand how such correspondences happen. Today I got a response from Judy Blume regarding the birthday message I left in her guestbook last week, and I thought, wow, if Judy Blume gets in touch with readers on a personal basis, it must be the thing to do.

The Internet has definitely changed the way that content producers and content consumers interact with one another. I keep a personal book blog but have received emails on more than one occasion from authors thanking me for writing a good review of their books. Some of these turned into lenghthier correspondences, although none of them reached Mr. Henshaw proportions. I have a pretty high threshold for boundary maintenence, and am likely to back off as soon as that boundary feels as though permeation is possible.

But I can see how easy it would be to come down. I mean, who doesn’t want to hear from people who think they’re fantastic? Who wouldn’t want to keep that coming? At the same time, I wonder how authors can possible keep up with it and still find time to write and make lunch and read a book or two. I have trouble keeping up with my email, and I’m not famous (except in my own mind, maybe ).

Sometimes I wonder whether the Internet makes use expect too much from people; or maybe I chronically expect too little. I never expected a response from Judy Blume, nor the other authors I’ve written, but I’ve often gotten one. I wouldn’t begrudge an author who didn’t write back; we’re all busy people, and just because I don’t get a response doesn’t mean there was no one on the other end. But I wonder if so many authors correspond personally with readers now because publishing is floundering, and every reader counts; or if it’s because consumers expectation of personal interaction with content creators has risen so much with the advent of the Internet; or if it’s really happening out of honest and mutual enjoyment.

With all of that said, I really do appreciate content creators who take the time to personally touch base with their fans. I just hope it doesn’t take over their lives. I like to keep my image of creatives taking long walks in the morning looking for inspiration and having dinner with their families after a long day of solitiude. The thought of authors hunched over their email spending more time corresponding than creating is a little depressing, despite how lovely it is to be on the receiving end of that attention.

Happy Birthday, Judy Blume

I can’t stay long, but I didn’t want to let this day pass without mentioning that today is YA author Judy Blume’s seventy-first birthday (if my math doesn’t fail me!). In addition to being the mother of young adult literature as we know it, she’s also a champion of free speech. This is one cool septenarian!

(I wrote a bit more coherently about her significance to generations of girls here.)