Summer Newsletter 2024
“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.”
As if to spread the excitement, America celebrates the start of summer multiple times. The unofficial beginning is the Memorial Day weekend at the end of May; June 1st is another option; and the official start this year is on Thursday, June 20th at 4:50 PM with the Summer Solstice.
It’s a celebration brimming over with anticipation. I never get tired of the clearly demarcated seasons, and I love each one for a different reason. This summer I’ll be celebrating the one-year anniversary of my rellies living two houses away; the garden that my niece has designed and executed for me; and some quiet time after the hectic launch and book tour for The Deceived Ones.
We'll also be making a transatlantic crossing this month from Southampton to New York on the Queen Mary 2 (I'm rather sheepish about the sheer luxury of this!) with our longtime and deeply beloved friends, Peter and Tony. They are are inveterate travelers, so we'll be able to learn at the feet of the masters.
When I was thinking about the rollout of The Deceived Ones, I tried to plan varied events that would touch on the different themes of the book—Shakespeare, music, migration, and the backdrop of the war in Ukraine. So, book events coming up over the summer include Music in Words at Manor Mill in Monkton: Where words leave off... music begins! The two-set program will compliment Manor Mill Gallery's Architectural Appealexhibition, and I’ll be reading from The Deceived Ones along with musical selections by cellist Molly Aronson.
On Tuesday, June 18th, I’ll be part of the line-up for the Inner Loop June Reading at Shaw’s Tavern in Washington, D.C. My stalwart writing partner, Danielle Ariano (I just love the serendipity of us both having books coming out this spring!) will be one of the Inner Loop Author’s Corner Spotlight readers with her memoir, The Requirement of Grief.
July brings two back-to-back events with poet and fellow-immigrant, Pantea Amin Tofangchi, whose debut poetry collection, Glazed with War, recounts her experience growing up in Iran during the war with Iraq. We’ll keep each other company during a Meet and Greet book signing at the Curious Iguana indie bookstore in Frederick, Maryland at 6 PM on Monday 8th. We’ll follow that up the next evening at 6 PM on Tuesday 9th with a paired reading at Charm City Books in Pigtown, Baltimore.
The July listings aren't posted yet, so if you'd like more info nearer the time, please check on the Events page on my website.
It’s exciting that Apprentice House Press is planning to introduce audiobooks in the fall, and The Deceived Ones will be part of that line-up. In the meantime, here are three links to audio content, including some short sample readings by way of a precursor.
Midday on Books
For the book launch, not only did my good friend, Tom Hall, agree to be in conversation with me at The Ivy Bookstore, he also invited me to be on his Midday show on NPR. If you didn’t catch the broadcast, you can hear it here.
This Podcast ...
Another dear friend, Ben Tanzer—a force for good in the book world—invited me to be his guest for Episode Three Hundred and Thirty One of his podcast. Being used to the four-minute limit for BookNotes on WBJC, this longform interview was an absolute luxury.
The Authors Read. We Listen.
I first met indie book influencer, Lori Hettler, through Ben, and was so happy that she invited me to contribute a reading to her audio series on her TNBBC blog.
Anton Chekhov famously said, "If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there." Hence, Uncle Vanya. So, given that the F. Scott Fitzgerald quote refers to movies (along with summer), I’m going to mention my screenplay adaptation of André Brink’s novel, Philida, for the first time in quite a while. It seems that the appetite for poignant and gritty indie films that speak to the social constructs of our time is not ravenous, and it’s been challenging to find the backing to shoot it. Still, there is a glimmer of a chance that we might be inching closer.
Anton Chekhov famously said, "If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there." Hence, Uncle Vanya. So, given that the F. Scott Fitzgerald quote refers to movies (along with summer), I’m going to mention my screenplay adaptation of André Brink’s novel, Philida, for the first time in quite a while. It seems that the appetite for poignant and gritty indie films that speak to the social constructs of our time is not ravenous, and it’s been challenging to find the backing to shoot it. Still, there is a glimmer of a chance that we might be inching closer.
It's become more important than ever to make the movie now to honor Tamara Leschitz-Semevsky, who lost her life to heart disease on April 4th. She was tireless in her efforts to find the means to tell Philida’s story, and her fervent belief in the project was unshakeable. This movie would pay homage to that, as well as to the life of Philida.
Meanwhile, themes that I teased out from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night in The Deceived Ones have a way of continuing to resonate. One of those is immigration. May the Fourth is always personally significant for a lot more than its being associated with Obi-Wan Kenobi’s phrase, "May the Force be with you." It's when I mark the anniversary of my U.S. citizenship in 2001. Yes, I’d been a citizen for just four months and a few days before 9/11 that year, when the country lost the kind of guileless hopefulness I’d fallen in love with. Twenty-three years on, it’s as if it’s still trying to find its footing again.
And then there are the cross-dressing and gender storylines that are fundamental to Shakespeare’s plot and therefore find their way into my novel. Gender and sexuality are moving targets in my book, and on this first day of LGBTQ+ Pride Month, I’m thinking of beloveds who didn’t and don’t squash themselves into the binary spectrum. Whatever your orientation, I wish you a wonderful month and season—whether it’s summer in the northern hemisphere or winter below the equator.
Until the next season, take care!