Writeful

a weblog for readers and writers

Monday, October 31, 2011

The Delirium of Poe Benefits Poe House

Here’s a Halloween treat for fans of Poe. The Bedlam Ensemble, a nonprofit theatre company based in New York, NY, has staged "The Delirium of Edgar Allan Poe" and profits from ticket sales will be donated to the Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum in Baltimore.


Without help, the Poe House and Museum may close as early as June of 2012. This play is the latest in a series of charity events to save the Poe House


Kimberly Freeman, Director of the Bedlam Ensemble, said this:


“The Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum should not be allowed to close. Its not right for such a well respected literary icon to have part of his history destroyed/closed. Its part of the Poe legacy which in turn is part of American history and should be treated with the respect it deserves.”


Read more: http://digitaljournal.com/article/313315#ixzz1cMzqNTs1

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Friday, October 28, 2011

Last Rites on Halloween Eve


The Last Rites reading series takes place on the evening before Halloween—the last Sunday of October. As the event coordinator says: “The only thing scarier than Halloween is missing these great readers.”

The readers include Mike Young, Sid Gold, Wayne Hoffman, and yours truly. I’ll be reading an abridged story from Tracks: A Novel in Stories.

The event takes place this Sunday from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Baltimore Hostel in Mt. Vernon, 17 W. Mulberry St.

Learn more about the event and the readers at the following link.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=114155625360560

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Wednesday, October 26, 2011

York Book and Paper Fair

The York Book and Paper Fair takes place this Saturday, October 29 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Conference Center, 2000 Loucks Rd., York, Pennsylvania.

For more than 25 years dealers and connoisseurs of rare & antiquarian books, postcards, maps, posters, comics, records and related collectibles have come together for a day of appreciation and, perhaps, a bit of haggling. This will be the 56th York Book and Paper Fair.

While you’re there, look for me and I’ll give you some free Tracks swag—a magnet, postcard, or other paper product.

Learn more about the event, see a cool picture of a train, and even get a click and print coupon for discounted admission to the fair all at the link below.

http://www.yorkbookandpaper.com/web-content/index.html

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Monday, October 24, 2011

Harvest Some Atticus Author Activity


This harvest season, the authors of Atticus Books are getting around. The month October has been (and is still) full of readings, signings, festivals, reviews, discussions, publications, and other exciting literary activities.


Find out what John Minichillo, Steve Himmer, Alex Kudera, Matt Mullins, JM Tohline, Tommy Zurhellen, and yours truly are up to by browsing the latest blog post from Atticus publicity gury Libby O’Neill at the Atticus Books website.

http://atticusbooksonline.com/atticus-authors-on-the-move-october-2011


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Friday, October 21, 2011

F. Scott Fitzgerald Conference Tomorrow

The F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Conference takes place tomorrow, October 22.



Author Maxine Hong Kingston will accept the prestigious F. Scott Fitzgerald award for outstanding achievement in American literature. Past honorees include Norman Mailer, John Updike and Alice McDermott.



Writing and Literary Workshop Leaders will include emerging and established writers and and other literary professionals with a wealth of experience. Writing workshop leaders include E. Ethelbert Miller, a literary activist often heard on National Public Radio; Caroline Langston, a widely published writer and essayist; Amy Stolls, author of the novel The Ninth Wife, just out from HarperCollins; Eugenia Kim’s whose debut novel, The Calligrapher’s Daughter, won multiple awards; and Susi Wyss whose debut novel-in-stories, The Civilized World, was published by Henry Holt in 2011 and listed as a “Book to Pick Up Now” in the April issue of O, The Oprah Magazine. Literary workshop leaders include Jackson R. Bryer, Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Maryland, where he taught undergraduate and graduate courses for 41 years; Audrey Wu Clark, Assistant Professor of English at the United States Naval Academy; and Eleanor Elson Heginbotham, teacher of Fitzgerald and other American authors for over 40 years.



Learn more at the link below.



www.rockvillemd.gov/news/2011/10-october/10-10-11b.html

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Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Enjoy a Quick Snippet from the Rails


Sometimes a reader just needs a good snippet from a book to whet the whistle. That’s the idea behind Indie Snippets, a blog devoted to offering snippets of new novels from independent presses.


If you’re in the mood for a quick snippet from Tracks: A Novel in Stories, here’s the one they published—a passage which examines how not all wordsmiths like to write.


Enjoy this snippet—shorter than a commercial, but more fulfilling.

http://indiesnippets.blogspot.com/2011/07/from-tracks-novel-in-stories-by-eric-d.html

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Monday, October 17, 2011

Interview Published in Potomac Review


The Potomac Review, the literary journal published by Montgomery College, recently interviewed me about Tracks and writing in general. You can read the entire interview, “Following Tracks,” at their website.

http://potomacreview.wordpress.com/2011/09/13/following-tracks-an-interview-with-author-eric-d-goodman/


Here’s a sampling …


Potomac Reiew: Tracks: A Novel in Stories brings together characters with disparate backgrounds and interests. Why did you decide to write a novel in short stories?



Eric D. Goodman: When I wrote the first few stories from Tracks, I didn’t realize I was writing a novel in stories. They just happened to all take place on trains. It was around that time that I read Joan Silber’s collection of linked stories, Ideas of Heaven: A Ring of Stories and then Bathsheba Monk's Now You See It … Stories from Cokesville, PA. I fell in love with the concept and decided to try to do the same with these train stories. Since I started about five years ago, the format seems to have taken off with such books as Olive Kitterige and A Visit from the Goon Squad and Here Comes Another Lesson. It’s a format I’d really like to revisit.


Read the full interview; visit the Potomac Review online.



http://potomacreview.wordpress.com/2011/09/13/following-tracks-an-interview-with-author-eric-d-goodman/


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Friday, October 14, 2011

High Tea with Tracks, Saturday Afternoon

If Words & Wine aren’t your thing (see previous post), stop by Constellation Books on Saturday afternoon for Tea with Tracks.

Constellation Books is located at 303 Main Street in historic downtown Reistertown. As part of their regular tea with authors reading series, I’ll be cozying up with bookstore customers from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday afternoon.

Enjoy a cup of tea and some refreshments as I read excerpts from Tracks, followed by a literary discussion and high tea.

Find out more about Tea with Tracks at the Constellation Books blog.

http://constellationbooks.blogspot.com/2011/10/tracks-author-tea-this-weekend.html

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Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Words and Wine to Benefit Library

Mingle with fellow book-lovers in the library stacks; engage in conversation with local authors; sip on wine varietals provided by The Wine Bin in historic Ellicott City; savor gourmet cheeses and desserts; listen to jazz guitarist Bob Margolis. It’s all happening at the 6th annual author reception to benefit the Catonsville Library.

The Friends of the Catonsville Library will host “Words & Wine” on Friday, October 14 from 7 to 9 p.m. More than a dozen authors from the area will share their work and have books available for sale and signing. Featured authors include Michael Collier, Louis Diggs, Tom Flynn, James MagGruder, Madeleine Mysko, and Eric and Nataliya Goodman.

These authors will be happy to chat with you, and to sell and sign copies of their books. Tracks: A Novel in Stories and Flightless Goose will both be available.

Tickets to this popular event are $25 and will be available at the Catonsville Library (1100 Frederick Road, Catonsville) or at the door. This year’s proceeds will be used to conserve historic documents in the Catonsville Room.

Take a look at the poster to learn more about the event. Hope to see you there!
http://www.bcpl.info/sites/default/files/pdf/friends_ca_special_wordsandwine_2011.pdf

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Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Savvy Mailbox

Savvy Verse and Wit is a popular literary blog “dedicated to all literary and poetic works.” One thing the Wit delivers is book reviews.


Each Monday Savvy Verse and Wit opens its mailbag to share some loot. Guess what made the Monday mailbox recently? Tracks: A Novel in Stories.


Check out the Monday mailbox at Savvy Verse and Wit, and stay tuned for a review coming soon …

http://savvyverseandwit.com/2011/09/mailbox-monday-145-and-library-loot-7.html

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Friday, October 07, 2011

Have You Seen the Press Kit?


In February, Atticus Books put together a press kit for Tracks: A Novel in Stories. The kit, available in glossy print and online, features a press release announcing the publication of Tracks, some of the advance praise received at that point, and links to more information—such as radio podcasts, published excerpts, sample lines from each story in Tracks, video interviews and book trailers, and a list of upcoming readings, signings and events.


All of those links are updated regularly, so they’re as valid to you today as they were to the press in February. If you haven’t seen it, check it out at the link below!


Next event: a reading, signing, and televised interview about Tracks, with musical talent by the cigar-box guitar king Sane Speal, at the York Emporium from 5 to 7 tonight!


What better way to prepare for tonight than by looking over the Tracks press kit?

http://atticusbooksonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Goodman-Press-Release-032311.pdf


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Wednesday, October 05, 2011

Five Train Stories Worth Riding


Recently, I was a guest blogger on C.M. Mayo’s popular writing blog, Madam Mayo. I was invited to write about five train stories—a list including both movies and books.


As I wrote for the post: “The train is a wonderful setting for a story. Trains are mysterious, exciting, and always in motion, the setting virtually unset. Strangers on a train are placed side by side to share a journey into the unknown, and in many cases, by the end of the line they are no longer strangers. Movies, novels, stories; adventures, comedies, mysteries—genres and themes as diverse as the passengers on a train. There are hundreds, but here are five train stories worth riding.”


What are the five train stories included in the post? You may know some; others may surprise you. Check them out at http://madammayo.blogspot.com/2011/07/guest-blogger-eric-d-goodman-5-train.html.


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Monday, October 03, 2011

Make Tracks for York


Every first Friday of the month in York, Pennsylvania the city features festivities throughout the nation’s first capitol—and some of the best acts are booked at York’s independent bookstore, The York Emporium.


For October’s first Friday, I’ll be reading from Tracks: A Novel in Stories. The York Emporium event takes place from to 9 p.m. and will feature live music, a reading from Tracks, and refreshments. I’ll be doing a live television interview during the event.


Read more about October First Friday at York Weekend.

http://ydtalk.com/weekend/2011/10/02/october-first-friday-fall-harvest-jazz-wine-and-cheese/


Check in at the York Emporium’s Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-York-Emporium/56235580344?ref=s


Learn more about this and other upcoming Tracks appearances on the Tracks site.

http://www.tracksnovel.com/appearances.html


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