What’s On My Bookshelf: Part 1

Posted on by Ashley Harris

I’ve been indulging myself lately with two new books. Because I’m just beginning to work on my third novel, I’ve been trying to focus more on writing than reading, but wouldn’t you know that life has other distractions in mind? But because these books are so unforgettable, I must share them with you. I’ll share one today and the other one in a follow-up post.

If you like Greek mythology and you can’t get enough of The Iliad, you must read Song of Achilles by first-time novelist Madeline Miller. No doubt, she makes creative use of her education (degrees in Latin and Greek from Brown University) but her imagination is the true vehicle for this book. You’ll be swept away.

I simply loved Miller’s portrayal of all the major characters — not just Achilles but others such as egotistical Agamemnon and Thetis, the smothering mother-goddess figure. This is a love story but it’s not between Paris and the abducted Helen; it’s between Achilles and his boyhood friend Patroclus, who lends his point of view to the novel. Completing the triangle is the endearing character of Briseis, Achilles’ war trophy. The climax of the book occurs when Agamemnon demands her for himself.

You know how the story ends so I won’t recap The Iliad, but the vivid characters and emotions make this book as enjoyable as any modern novel. And the subject of hubris will never go out of vogue; perhaps the time is right to take a new look at the consequences of excessive pride.

This book was recommended by my neurologist, a brilliant man who finds the art of reading literature oddly complementary to his day job. Perhaps he enjoys letting the right side of his brain take the wheel for a while? And on that subject, stay tuned for Part 2 of “What’s On My Bookshelf.”

So…what’s on your bookshelf?

 

 

Happy Mutts Day!

Posted on by Ashley Harris

Today, in honor of Shorty McMullen, the irascible mutt who helps save the day in Naked and Hungry and Born Again, Dead Again, we celebrate a day just for the non-pedigreed dogs of the world. And it’s about time. July 31 is NOT the day for your impeccable pekingese or Maltese. It’s not a day for your regal Afghan hound  or even the Presidential pooch, Bo the Portuguese water dog. It is not a day for dogs named Fifi or Duke.

Today is a day for all those dogs named Lucky, Sooner, or Bubba. It’s for those dogs with a DNA profile as random as the seashells that wash up on the beach. No one know for sure, but Shorty may have some German Shepherd, a splash of Dalmatian and even a smattering of Chihuahua in his genetic profile. Regardless, he’s undeniably a special dog. At times, he’s grumpy and willful. He’s also naughty and prone to outright disobedience. But he seems to have a sixth sense for when his “owner” (and I use this term most loosely) needs him the most. So we have to ask…are our mutts as random as we think?

There’s plenty of mayhem ahead in Born Again, Dead Again and to be sure, Shorty will be right back in the thick of things. He’s also up to plenty of mischief himself, involving the nice girl next door, a beautiful poodle named Miss Angelique!

If you have a mutt or know a mutt, take a few moments to scratch his ears or to toss him a treat. Tell her how grateful you are that she is in the world. And remind yourself that what makes all dogs so special is the fact that they don’t care where we came from; they just love us for who we are.

Knaked and Hungry Goes to Knoxville!

Posted on by Ashley Harris

In celebration of our upcoming (Saturday, July 28) visit to Union Avenue Books in Knoxville, Tenn., we’re changing up the spelling of Knaked and Hungry in homage to this friendly and literary city.

I’m looking forward to a return visit to Knoxville and the charming Union Avenue Books, an independent bookstore located downtown. Is Knoxville ready for an invasion by H.T. and gang? I sure hope so. Knoxville, named for Revolutionary War general Henry Knox, is associated with many writers, including James Agee and Cormac McCarthy.

Read more.

Announcing the Born Again, Dead Again Playlist!

Posted on by Ashley Harris

Although Born Again, Dead Again won’t be officially released until September 2013, we’re celebrating early with the release of the official playlist, courtesy of YouTube.

This playlist features all 8 of the popular hits mentioned in the book, from “Stayin’ Alive ” by the Bee Gees and “Sweet Dreams” by the Eurythmics to  “She’s Got the Rhythm, and I Got the Blues” by Alan Jackson. This last song is the backdrop to the Tri-County Tractor Pull, which H.T., the book’s lovable loser, hopes to win.

As the title of the book implies, danger is lurking in every corner. Will H.T., Jessica, Julio and Myrtle manage to escape it all? You’ll have to read the book to find out, but I can say that this mix of tunes as as eccentric as the characters themselves.

Ready?

Listen to the Born Again, Dead Again Playlist. 

Enjoy and feel free to comment!

Happy (Late) Nude Day!

Posted on by Ashley Harris

In addition to Bastille Day in France, I just learned that yesterday  (July 14) was National Nude Day in the U.S.! Why is this important?

It’s very important for Jessica Beane, the activist who re-appears in Born Again, Dead Again, my sequel to Naked and Hungry, because nudists come to her rescue during her protests of environmental injustice. While Jessica does not go au naturelle in her adventures, her commitment to the environment is as truthful as nudity in its expression. And the Free to Be Me nudists prove to be valuable allies in her quest to keep the natural world “pristine and serene.” Below is an excerpt from Jessica’s blog, which was written after an investigation in Corolla, N.C.:

The bad news is that on this very same trip I actually caught a construction company destroying the homes of countless sea turtles. Yes, before my very eyes I spied a bulldozer operator mowing over a protected nesting area. Needless to say, I made quite a spectacle as I literally threw myself in front of the bulldozer’s path. Lucky for me, some concerned nudists happened to be near by and joined the protest. Amidst the hullabaloo, the nefarious bulldozer operator fled the scene but you can be sure that I immediately filed a complaint with the Division of Coastal Management and will be reporting back on the resolution. Lesson learned? There’s like nothing like nudity to bring attention to an issue. 

This summer and fall, I’ll be continuing to promote Naked and Hungry at events in places such as Kernersville and Knoxville. For more, check out the latest event schedule. I’ll also be working with my editor and publisher to plan the launch of Born Again, Dead Again. So stay tuned to this blog for the latest news, contests and publication of more excerpts!

In the meantime, stay cool any way you can. 😉

 

Naked and Hungry Teams Up with Sisters in Crime!

Posted on by Ashley Harris

Next Sunday, July 1 at 1 p.m., I’ll speak to the Triangle chapter of Sisters in Crime, an internationally renowned writer’s association promoting the work of female crime and mystery writers. We’ll gather in Raleigh at Brier Creek at Earth Fare, a healthy supermarket specializing in earth-friendly fare.

Because I’ll be joining other writers, we’ll talk about one of our favorite subjects: promotion. The title will be “You Don’t Have to Go Naked and Hungry: Ten Tips for a Successful Book Promotion.” At this meeting, I’ll discuss my own journey to publication and the exciting world of promotion, both online and offline. I’ll talk about how I’ve taken advantage of Naked and Hungry’s storyline and characters to launch an unusual book tour that is helping build a following for my second novel, Born Again, Dead Again, to be released in September 2013.

In that spirit, we’ll also hold a drawing for a special prize that I hope underscores the fun side of promotion. Hint: It’s not a crepe pan! And who knows? We might bump into one of Naked and Hungry’s main characters, Jessica Beane, who is known for her passion for sustainable and organic food.

The event is free and open to the public so if you’re close by, I hope you’ll stop by. If you’re a writer, I hope you’ll also considering joining the group, which offers a lively bunch of writers and more exciting topics ahead.

Let Your Fingers Do the Walking

Posted on by Ashley Harris

Whenever I hold readings of Naked and Hungry, it never fails. Someone always asks me just where I found the name “Bermadean,” which is the name of an African pygmy goat in my book. Believe it or not, I always say, I let my fingers do the walking.

Desperate for a name for the goat, I happened upon on old phone book. As soon as I saw the name “Bermadean” my search was over. I can’t speak for the inadvertent donor, but for me the name conjured up the perfect touch of  Southern quirkiness. Done!

It goes without saying that the fiction writer shouldn’t lift both first and last names from a single person but you can cobble together some rather memorable combinations. Try pairing a first name such as Maxine with a last name such as Brown or Thomas. Need something more exotic? Change the spelling to Maxzine and add a last name such as Thorvelder or Fortenberry and you suddenly have a completely different character on your hands.

The phone book is also a great source of inspiration for story ideas in general. What do you imagine a woman who spells her first name Maxzine is like? I see an officious receptionist who insists that everyone signs in before being helped. What do you think? And what does a man with a last name of Bobo endure? How many schoolyard bullies did he encounter? And what is a family like who lives on Running Cedar Drive? I see them going in separate directions from the moment they wake up.

Drawing upon the tradition of Flannery O’Connor and Charles Dickens, you can also use last names to plant clues. What would the last name of Brickhouse imply? Someone who is solid and perhaps a bit staid. How about Fairweather? Friendly but changeable. For me, the name Scattergood conjures up the image of a disorganized do-gooder, perhaps known for random acts of compassion.

It can also be fun to use irony. Imagine that someone named Maryann Bakewell is a terrible cook. What if she can’t even make a sandwich? What if a family who is forced to sell their farm and move to the city ends up in a neighborhood called Meadowcroft? And what if a love-starved spinster has lived all her life on Amoretto Way?

Not only does the phone book offer a handy resource for a writer, I find it to be very entertaining. My own is dog-eared with notes and flags, just waiting to breathe life into my latest work. Let your fingers do the walking and you’ll see that the phone book is an instant cure for writer’s block. And the best part? It’s perfectly free.

Fans of Bermadean will be glad to know she reappears in my sequel, Born Again, Dead Again, which is coming to a bookstore near you in September 2013.

Life is Just a Bowl of … Tart Cherries

Posted on by Ashley Harris

Today I attended a meeting of the Sisters in Crime writers’ club where the speaker was none other than my fellow novelist Rick Bylina. His talk on social media was both informative, and, as always, entertaining. He stressed the importance of blogging, which inspired a great lunch discussion. All writers, myself included, sometimes struggle with this. You’re already a writer, so you have your book(s). So what do you write about in your blog?

Rick wisely advised us to just be ourselves. Just because you’re a writer doesn’t mean you have to blog about the dangers of dangling   participles or how the comma is provoking civil unrest in Denmark. It’s perfectly fine to blog about your cat, the dogwoods you’ve just planted, or even just the kind of day you’re having. There is always a connection to your inner world, the most precious domain of the writer. It was to Rick’s credit that we all left the meeting newly inspired about our blogs.

On that note, yesterday I travelled to a cherry orchard just north of the state border. The purpose was cherry-picking, more precisely, to take advantage of the two-week window in early June when you can pluck those delicious garnets of the cherry world: Montmorency cherries. Unlike sweet Bing or black cherries, Montmorencies are tantalizing tangy; small but nearly perfectly round and so glossy that they look as if each one had been polished by the cherry fairies. Imagine a tree filled with marachino cherries and you’re there! Cocktail time. Pie time. Cobbler time.

Having baked with my share of sweet cherries, which are delicious in their own right, I had always wondered what makes tart cherries so coveted for the pie. Well, just a few hours later, after taking two crumb-topped cherry pies out of the oven, I knew. The piquant, mouth-watering flavor of the Montmorency gives your pie an irresistible kick. It’s the conflict in your novel. The menace in your plot. The poignancy in your happy ending.

Such reflections are the benefit of taking a day away from the writing. You’re also rewarded with a host of new sensory experiences and characters galore, from hippies to cherry rustlers to the two men who nearly came to blows in the parking lot about a little bump-up.

Then there was the wise-cracking orchardess (orchardatrix?) who was pushing the weary cherry pickers to the scale and then on to the cash register. When asked if it was okay to eat the cherries without washing them first (even though we’d been sneaking them all day), she said: “Ain’t nothing wrong with them cherries. If there were, I’d be dead by now.”

 

A Walk on the Wilder Side

Posted on by Ashley Harris

Today as I wade through my co-worker’s copy of Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, I keep thinking about just what makes the book superior to any electronic form. You see, I’ve resisted buying a Kindle, Nook, or I-Pad longer than most folks. My most recent literary love affair has been with a paper copy of The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie by Wendy McClure.

This book brings back so many memories—my own love of the Little House books and how I could so easily escape into “Laura’s world.”  You see, like McClure, I, too, imagined myself making candy by boiling maple syrup and pouring it onto snow; I, too, had wanted to help Pa make those twists of hay that kindled the family’s fires;  and I, too, had wondered how on earth Ma could feed her starving family on nothing more than a bag of wheat during the Long Winter. Thanks to McClure, who does all these things herself and more, I think I now understand why Ma sometimes seemed to be in a bad mood!

As she retraces the steps of Laura’s life, McClure takes us on an enchanting journey behind the real story that leads her on some interesting adventures of her own, from sleeping in a covered wagon during a hailstorm to participating in a homesteading experience hosted by some “kooky survivalists.” If you are a Little House fan who’s ever suspected that the real story may not have been the saccharinely sweet version portrayed by Michael Landon, this book is for you. Ever wondered why the Ingalls family moved around so much? McClure does her own detective work and reveals that Charles Ingalls may have been skipping town for a reason. And did you know that the Ingalls family had once included a baby brother named Freddy who died tragically young? And have you ever wondered about the relationship between Laura and her only surviving child, Rose Wilder Lane? It’s a lot more complicated than I ever thought.

So the real story wasn’t as pure and simple as the books led us to believe, but that knowledge doesn’t diminish my appreciation of the Little House books one bit. It brings Laura’s story to life even more, told through the lens of an author who also admired Laura and longed to experience a fragment of Laura’s life herself. While McClure’s book is nonfiction, her story underscores the role of fiction in our lives. Her book reminds us of the beauty of novels and the importance of letting oneself enter the world of an author and feel something felt by someone besides ourselves.

As Carr so painstakingly reveals (with neurological evidence to boot), our brains are being reprogrammed to resist the urge to lose oneself in a book thanks to the “ecosystem of interruptions” surrounding us. Who would have thought that my mother’s torment (“Don’t think you can lose yourself in a book today, Missy; we’ve got chores to do!”) might one day be physically impossible? With a nod to Laura, this tragedy is a little bit like waking up one day and finding the wheat field of your mind destroyed by locusts.