tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82690014464721747742024-03-13T16:15:43.174-04:00The Green HandBlog for The Green Hand Bookshop, 661 Congress Street, Portland, Maine, founded November 2009.<br>
The Green Hand is a general used bookstore, carrying a wide range of well-organized but eclectic materials. While we have a little bit of everything (almost!), weird fiction and weird non-fiction are our favorites.Michelle Soulierehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02896807228114420113noreply@blogger.comBlogger196125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8269001446472174774.post-83453099107698924942024-01-21T15:07:00.000-05:002024-01-21T15:07:26.944-05:00Christopher Golden's House of Last Resort Weekend<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFQa3rWkaXCqcRSDfWU090KXFc_js5TnBj4Ed2RwLKwcxCnfRvI9YUsjTQ79SUUAD8N1cifxj4_WPfYpt-HaPlS-YwGbs1k8IJJ6NV37Jzd6cpyRV1EnX7vugRGj_XmXQu1S3Zsbq5ulK2Cg72b64QHZQJKRzbAs7o0zG8vISFhUasi99ff3w0Z2yBDVdo/s1080/HseofLastResort.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="710" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFQa3rWkaXCqcRSDfWU090KXFc_js5TnBj4Ed2RwLKwcxCnfRvI9YUsjTQ79SUUAD8N1cifxj4_WPfYpt-HaPlS-YwGbs1k8IJJ6NV37Jzd6cpyRV1EnX7vugRGj_XmXQu1S3Zsbq5ulK2Cg72b64QHZQJKRzbAs7o0zG8vISFhUasi99ff3w0Z2yBDVdo/s320/HseofLastResort.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>Saturday Jan 20, 2024 -- Portsmouth NH<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I've managed to miss the Merrimack Valley Halloween Book
Festival every time it’s happened thus far, so when my friend Dennis asked me if
I wanted to go to Christopher Golden’s one-off event in celebration of the
upcoming release of his latest book, I said heck yes!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The event started on Thursday and ran through Saturday, the day we were able to go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was a blast!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lowkey, with a single-track
speaker schedule, so it was pretty easy to make decisions about what to
do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9oJ6MK9ib_1bohjKLzzXWBxvC48bYiJK_NSwGTjYWfV0HDfZH9osxoK5LVUUMQfvvAYrNr5-ONjzyPsyAT9Lap3_-aJ6LfIrntl03JbKQNmVtk8Ra6565R05TEHPcE6Am2YaT-8VoKV7Yl4tOamY3Oxp2mrD137fu3wK4COi_Hvx8EI78-Ot_oTv-WHWX/s4032/IMG_3807.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9oJ6MK9ib_1bohjKLzzXWBxvC48bYiJK_NSwGTjYWfV0HDfZH9osxoK5LVUUMQfvvAYrNr5-ONjzyPsyAT9Lap3_-aJ6LfIrntl03JbKQNmVtk8Ra6565R05TEHPcE6Am2YaT-8VoKV7Yl4tOamY3Oxp2mrD137fu3wK4COi_Hvx8EI78-Ot_oTv-WHWX/w150-h200/IMG_3807.JPG" width="150" /></a></div> <br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">On arrival we almost immediately got to meet author Brian
Keene, who was running the event – he kindly signed a stack of paperbacks that
Dennis had brought with him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We arrived in time for the signing with Owen King and Joe
Hill, at which point I had to kick myself for not bringing my copy of <i>The
Curator</i>, Owen’s latest book, which is sitting right on my bedside
table.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>D’oh!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, he was nice enough to sign the back
of my name badge (hooray for creative problem solving!), so that will go in as
my bookmark in his book.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOZEC6PH6wDfInYA5p8jUqnlFhJdmf926Gvd4UQUWjmU1qMupTyvbPzSgyrDhx3YJ5jqzk0BHIc-zfHjQQBPeVl0f-JS-wyq9YlgZJnTiVOwvRngB7bsLSahyub93h8bdqCAKm2bTuAVDGcNRZMZlPa1U2ftEpQyoJ8wGySLtgRIC3RZs04sMEtDSCFjoS/s4032/IMG_3817.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOZEC6PH6wDfInYA5p8jUqnlFhJdmf926Gvd4UQUWjmU1qMupTyvbPzSgyrDhx3YJ5jqzk0BHIc-zfHjQQBPeVl0f-JS-wyq9YlgZJnTiVOwvRngB7bsLSahyub93h8bdqCAKm2bTuAVDGcNRZMZlPa1U2ftEpQyoJ8wGySLtgRIC3RZs04sMEtDSCFjoS/s320/IMG_3817.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal">Once upon a time, Joe Hill visited my shop when the
International Cryptozoology Museum was in its first public location, in the
back room attached to my shop space, but unfortunately that was on one of the
days when it was closed and locked up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(That was the only bad part of having the museum there – having to
disappoint people!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Especially Joe
Hill!!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gahhhhh….)</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2hlwlQ9LhXMYZYuCgIr_EOQQqNn8Psv1gxp3Q7rbYO3wt3f9a80lEJh1yaBGOnEz08q4rcJtxEDuKNvnN3uvb6y6EMh9cv_U-5joCt0FkmJXXZq7RCqR9IzQY7CpEfp00PDHLcJtSgD0Z3Rlv5vmIYIpZthktv4lN84eHCXv8VCrN3n7hVW1MmUfd6nHe/s4032/IMG_3824.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2hlwlQ9LhXMYZYuCgIr_EOQQqNn8Psv1gxp3Q7rbYO3wt3f9a80lEJh1yaBGOnEz08q4rcJtxEDuKNvnN3uvb6y6EMh9cv_U-5joCt0FkmJXXZq7RCqR9IzQY7CpEfp00PDHLcJtSgD0Z3Rlv5vmIYIpZthktv4lN84eHCXv8VCrN3n7hVW1MmUfd6nHe/s320/IMG_3824.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="MsoNormal">Next we went to the panel discussion titled “My Favorite Exorcism.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Present (shown above, L-R) were authors Emily Hughes, Ronald
Malfi, Philip Fracassi, Tanya Pell, Rebecca Rowland, Vaughn Beckford, Cat
Scully (moderator), and Christopher Golden.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Possession and exorcism are themes that have fascinated and
horrified those who know of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
are fruitful fodder for horror writers, and this panel examined some of the
reasons why.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Part of what feeds this creative
fire are the classification systems and rituals that are built up around them
in the lore of the Catholic Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPhDKKuHO19OVE0x2yRpTounsX6kiBORuyeNE97mh2n6MLytlWuMWpZMbWjouGAjY3nPkbKL84VEq_Tv6lUmYmqG1smQeDpoeE_XDzeluHEDBwo4B4LgbpXaRHFl2oxX9ywZoKKev8SNq_Z-1ak1kulvBlDURrCk-x5gxYTw-zLqRvZu5KtaOcrk1v6pq_/s4032/IMG_3829.JPG" style="clear: left; display: block; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPhDKKuHO19OVE0x2yRpTounsX6kiBORuyeNE97mh2n6MLytlWuMWpZMbWjouGAjY3nPkbKL84VEq_Tv6lUmYmqG1smQeDpoeE_XDzeluHEDBwo4B4LgbpXaRHFl2oxX9ywZoKKev8SNq_Z-1ak1kulvBlDURrCk-x5gxYTw-zLqRvZu5KtaOcrk1v6pq_/s200/IMG_3829.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">[Right] Christopher Golden<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="MsoNormal">Stages of possession were discussed briefly, the names
evocative – infestation, oppression, obsession, possession.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The addition of non-Western traditions to the
known lore increases its potential.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>While Americans have become fairly well-versed in demonic exorcism due
to a plethora of pop-culture exposure points, there are other types, and many
analogues that can be utilized by writers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For example, in some Eastern traditions, places themselves have an
attached demon or spirit that can possess you and cause you trouble.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Self-contained possession is another applicable theme, when
a part of your existing personality rears up and refuses to be submerged again –
sometimes with an effect that is in some ways liberating, as it turns out <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(<i>The Yellow Wallpaper</i> by Charlotte Perkins
Gilman was mentioned, as well as the short piece “The Story of an Hour” by Kate
Chopin).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Christopher Golden mentioned
John Carpenter’s <i>The Thing</i> as a favorite non-demonic possession flick, and
Denzel Washington’s <i>Fallen</i>.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What makes possession so frightening?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The general consensus was loss of control,
although other themes pluck our nerves – “it could be anybody” – how do you
tell a person is possessed?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not
always immediately apparent, especially in <i>The Thing</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is another aspect of the phenomena that
lends itself to building tension in storytelling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Pregnancy can be seen as possession, people can be possessed
by uncontrollable rage, or unacceptable behavior.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Possession doesn’t always mean complete loss of agency,
either.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Philip Fracassi’s excellent <i>The
Boys in the Valley</i> (Tor Nightfire, 2023), the boys who have been infested with
the evil were still making their own decisions, but their existing attitudes
and flaws were magnified under the evil’s influence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The gloves were off.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Another facet is complicity, such as experienced by communities
who found themselves under Nazi command in WWII.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will you become a collaborator, or fight and
likely die?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Vaughn Beckford talked about the effect of defamiliarization
– when you are a child (or adult) and something happens which causes your
world, previously safe and familiar, to suddenly be yanked out from under your
feet, leaving you alone in a strange and unfriendly environment, with no way to
get back to where you were before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many
of us have felt that way in our daily lives, so it is easy to for us to
identify with a victim of possession feeling that same thing, only magnified a
million times more.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Cat Scully mentioned another favorite example in the <i>Evil
Dead</i> movies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For her, Ash’s fight to
overcome his possession stood tall as an analogue for overcoming fear and
persevering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ronald Malfi recommended we
look up a 7-part article called “The Haunted Boy” about Blatty’s experiences
researching and writing <i>The Exorcist</i>, based on a real world possession
case.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tanya Pell talked a little bit
about living with Type 2 narcolepsy, which in her experience includes sleep paralysis
and associated nighttime hallucinations, which invoke a physical response as
though the sufferer is actually fighting off a danger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Philip Fracassi mentioned the ‘80s film <i>The Hidden</i>
(yes! I was hoping someone would) as another example of non-demonic possession.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Vaughn threw the <i>Chucky</i> film franchise
into the ring (another great example!).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Cat Scully highly recommended the Thai film <i>The Medium</i>, and
another called <i>The Wailing</i>, and <i>The Incantation</i>, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Christopher Golden added <i>When Evil Lurks</i>
and <i>Talk to Me</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He talked about
how pure evil is a tremendous concept, evil being “quantifiable in the way a
black hole is dark.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The “restored” version of John Carpenter’s <i>Halloween</i> was
discussed, which seemed as though it hinted that the child (and eventually man)
that was Michael Myers was being possessed by something “other.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Likewise the hints given in the tagline of <i>Night
of the Living Dead</i> – “When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk
the earth.” – might be read to indicate that the zombies were not being
animated by their original selves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Were
they demon-ridden instead, since they were coming from Hell?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">During the audience Q&A following, adolescence as a
seeming possessed state was discussed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Tanya Pell recommended the YA book <i>The Good Demon</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Emily Hughes reminded the audience that hormones
are a possessing force!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Christopher
Golden talked about the massive chemical changes in the brain that occur during
adolescence, and then conversation moved onto other options – addiction, in one
form or another, is another analogue, as is mental illness (Billy Joel’s <i>The
Stranger</i> was brought up).</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A great question posed (and certainly one that could be food
for a good many stories) is – what “tell” would give you away to a loved one if
you were possessed?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What trait (or
absence thereof) would give that secret away to someone who knew you really
well?</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicaWAYVdJdaRP-TfRjRbN11s0hbX-rvRLru87HgYZh_gcxur6l5q2PTp44b5DRGAVImdf7RIN0WI2V9QlGoBBpvlavT4v5m1v9_o1R6FTfYVStZv4jHh7h_z0wL-PlGKjmMiyLaVyNAOYMOPgVYDmJPjvuFqjkR8K_FnxIp7LKBNsX81PwDtrJaiP7jOvv/s4032/IMG_0023.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicaWAYVdJdaRP-TfRjRbN11s0hbX-rvRLru87HgYZh_gcxur6l5q2PTp44b5DRGAVImdf7RIN0WI2V9QlGoBBpvlavT4v5m1v9_o1R6FTfYVStZv4jHh7h_z0wL-PlGKjmMiyLaVyNAOYMOPgVYDmJPjvuFqjkR8K_FnxIp7LKBNsX81PwDtrJaiP7jOvv/s320/IMG_0023.HEIC" width="240" /></a></div><br />After this we were psyched to run into author Eric LaRocca, who has not been able to make it into the shop in ages (but hopefully soon?). He's been busy cranking out the horror books!! <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://greenhandbookshop.com/search?q=larocca">https://greenhandbookshop.com/search?q=larocca</a><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV6hYYfbQsWcaZand_cXJU_2ol7A_l8gVNlXfhtNKg0y4jRGujdxVhrf3fPH_KuExruRZFXiVHq5i97CyBDCKSPZRzhYdzoiRpjB4yd3tuz1xsoliPXCB59sqObaUdJERtMHPHTcE21OWg99u20aSnaMP23I69SwkkkJ9nMhdJ043bR3n63gIl5_3Zg_VQ/s4032/IMG_3832.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV6hYYfbQsWcaZand_cXJU_2ol7A_l8gVNlXfhtNKg0y4jRGujdxVhrf3fPH_KuExruRZFXiVHq5i97CyBDCKSPZRzhYdzoiRpjB4yd3tuz1xsoliPXCB59sqObaUdJERtMHPHTcE21OWg99u20aSnaMP23I69SwkkkJ9nMhdJ043bR3n63gIl5_3Zg_VQ/w150-h200/IMG_3832.JPG" width="150" /></a></div> <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">----</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Next, after lunch at Cheese Louise -- a freezing cold but
short walk away from the hotel -- we went to a reading by Paul Tremblay and
Stephen Kozeniewski.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tremblay read the first couple chapters from his upcoming
novel, <i>Horror Movie</i> (6/11/24, William Morrow), and Kozeniewski spoke in
extemporaneous fashion – entertaining and sharply funny.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tremblay made my day by mentioning that <i>Horror
Movie</i> was inspired by Gunnar Hansen’s excellent account of his work in
indie film, <i>Chain Saw Confidential</i>, which is apparently available as an
audiobook now (yay!) even though the book itself is long out of print. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9MOx8so5jrkMXFrOfx4qeITpPFC_mh0NnuGISmzUj_khaR5b23TB2c5yvxygPPUx3eNoaZ1qtPuBNsVWcz6NYilnZFej6b3-Y6kpydYFplxOQLZToSuOxFDtrQVq1IsuEQ4RHSJp3lzftO1-Vnj0z0Ine6UAb3Q6Oq1SM01rTXt8zFEOFpptxA-IH1Jei/s4032/IMG_3853.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9MOx8so5jrkMXFrOfx4qeITpPFC_mh0NnuGISmzUj_khaR5b23TB2c5yvxygPPUx3eNoaZ1qtPuBNsVWcz6NYilnZFej6b3-Y6kpydYFplxOQLZToSuOxFDtrQVq1IsuEQ4RHSJp3lzftO1-Vnj0z0Ine6UAb3Q6Oq1SM01rTXt8zFEOFpptxA-IH1Jei/s320/IMG_3853.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Our next stop was “TV, Film, and the Adaptation Process”
featuring Philip Fracassi (moderator), Clay McLeod Chapman, Victor LaValle, Joe
Hill, and Owen King [shown L-R above].<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This panel
discussion ranged widely and examined the pitfalls and some helpful advice from
voices of experience about the subject.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This included – advantages to adapting other’s writing into script as
opposed to your own, how comic books and animation can liberate you from some
budgetary/creative constraints, and in general the fickle and changing nature
of the entertainment behemoth, enslavement of yourself to which often times
seems one of the few ways of making a paycheck (albeit sporadically) as a
writer.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSLRjZlRr9pvXU-ifeOqBSW2VLDtqJuyg24UvKCVkPGCJLLBaPNqOsS1yGl6013am5n8FE9TN0fJtTAe9wXDLkbF6LKeIGGDMi58jsz8xmyD-0XXn0AsvGzRlI2uKXCxkPir-WJ9ry_U1QgHkPyrcouqIe8nN4mBahxdQJeW8Ney5rYjUG_X17AjqFA7ZT/s4032/IMG_3884.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSLRjZlRr9pvXU-ifeOqBSW2VLDtqJuyg24UvKCVkPGCJLLBaPNqOsS1yGl6013am5n8FE9TN0fJtTAe9wXDLkbF6LKeIGGDMi58jsz8xmyD-0XXn0AsvGzRlI2uKXCxkPir-WJ9ry_U1QgHkPyrcouqIe8nN4mBahxdQJeW8Ney5rYjUG_X17AjqFA7ZT/w150-h200/IMG_3884.JPG" width="150" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">All in all it was a great time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I got to meet the nice folks from Copper Dog
Books, who were the only vendor at the event, got a few books signed for
myself, got to hobnob with old and new favorite authors, and a bunch of friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwkkZVkcK-wO1Fn-NxnV2Xy0HW8AhxQbi246FC6EewaQ6wAOIIHABve56WjZSkSxZ3qmSsp7-ZuOLErAHNf7jLaWXw2QWzz-E2cLVdNMS0PHhTW4is7x5CdiyKB-yPHOJIKbuXzf5-QzhFRxVcm9U1TfP6etv0pA5-2uw2d0dVzh5BHuTd03uDFczIROjC/s4032/IMG_0929.HEIC" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwkkZVkcK-wO1Fn-NxnV2Xy0HW8AhxQbi246FC6EewaQ6wAOIIHABve56WjZSkSxZ3qmSsp7-ZuOLErAHNf7jLaWXw2QWzz-E2cLVdNMS0PHhTW4is7x5CdiyKB-yPHOJIKbuXzf5-QzhFRxVcm9U1TfP6etv0pA5-2uw2d0dVzh5BHuTd03uDFczIROjC/s320/IMG_0929.HEIC" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Author Philip Fracassi explains he would like to come to Maine! Hint hint<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Three of us were wearing our Green Hand
tshirts, which in a crowd that small really stood out. I found this
hilarious, because it wasn’t planned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Nothing like a little spontaneous love to float your day along nicely!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge4LuKNzYc8bvxOUYqjRaZNl93G7x9eyoQHAE76CXIiutGH4g7b0MiDNhueznkB0lcqa_ea44Lp-iMcMIQFcRNL0e4TJ_Lz0hsyX6i5Pcx_nh6TOUkq6u0n-1Wah26hMHfXXVg3Nl9qL3i7XgJxQNKKv46d3Hya7EIz2x9A9l44G_f7OOeVN45k6oFg5Kl/s4032/IMG_3867.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge4LuKNzYc8bvxOUYqjRaZNl93G7x9eyoQHAE76CXIiutGH4g7b0MiDNhueznkB0lcqa_ea44Lp-iMcMIQFcRNL0e4TJ_Lz0hsyX6i5Pcx_nh6TOUkq6u0n-1Wah26hMHfXXVg3Nl9qL3i7XgJxQNKKv46d3Hya7EIz2x9A9l44G_f7OOeVN45k6oFg5Kl/s320/IMG_3867.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style></p><p></p>Michelle Soulierehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02896807228114420113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8269001446472174774.post-81520206844775670742024-01-06T12:33:00.010-05:002024-01-07T14:39:35.941-05:00A warning for would-be customers of Irish Booksellers<div style="text-align: left;">Due to a number of recent issues that have been increasing in frequency, involving extremely irate customers of the so-called Irish Booksellers (a vendor that appears - based on their irate customer reports - to engage in dropshipping via Abebooks and Biblio bookselling websites online), I am forced to issue this statement for purposes of disambiguation. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The Green Hand Bookshop, a real bricks-and-mortar bookshop in downtown Portland, Maine, is in no way associated with the so-called Irish Booksellers, which claims to be a bookseller in Portland, Maine, where they appear to maintain a P.O. Box at the local UPS Store on Marginal Way.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">WE CANNOT RECOMMEND THEM, and warn prospective customers that due to the number of complaints we receive about them, buyer beware. But don't just take my customers' word for it.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">You can see their Yelp reviews here (they have the lowest rating possible, 1 star):</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.yelp.com/biz/irish-booksellers-portland">https://www.yelp.com/biz/irish-booksellers-portland</a> <br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">And their Better Business Bureau rating here (it's an F):</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.bbb.org/us/me/portland/profile/book-sales/irish-booksellers-inc-0021-514293">https://www.bbb.org/us/me/portland/profile/book-sales/irish-booksellers-inc-0021-514293</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">If you would like to read more about dropshippers/bookjackers, please see Zubal Books' excellent article here:</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.zubalbooks.com/article-bookjacking.jsp">https://www.zubalbooks.com/article-bookjacking.jsp</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">If you have had a bad experience with Irish Booksellers, please scroll down for a link to the FTC complaint site, and other helpful information. <br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">Unfortunately for me, when you type Irish Booksellers into Google, it pulls up our street address (Green Hand Bookshop at 661 Congress St in Portland ME) and contact information -- hence this post to clear up any confusion! -- which gives users the impression that we are associated with these stinkers. </div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">GREEN HAND BOOKSHOP IS NOT AND NEVER HAS BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH IRISH BOOKSELLERS. </div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">Google has been extraordinarily unhelpful with my efforts to correct this search error, so I am forced to post this in an effort to divorce myself from this parasitical association.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">I have worked hard since 2009 to build a reputable business, and I do not sell online except select new books which are sold through my own website here: <a href="https://greenhandbookshop.com">greenhandbookshop.com</a> </div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">I have not ever listed any of my shop's used stock online via Abebooks, Biblio, or any other online marketplace, as I run a bricks-and-mortar used bookshop in the real world, where customers can walk into the shop and examine books before purchasing them, as that allows me to provide the best customer service experience for folks. <span style="font-size: x-small;">[NOTE: We <u>do</u> sell <u>new</u> books online via <a href="https://greenhandbookshop.com">greenhandbookshop.com</a> which we ship directly from our store ourselves, and via <a href="https://bookshop.org/shop/greenhandbooks">our affiliate link at Bookshop.org</a> which are shipped by Bookshop.org (not us, although we kindly receive proceeds from them), and audiobooks via <a href="https://libro.fm/greenhandbooks">our affiliate link at Libro.fm</a> (which sends us proceeds from our affiliate sales).]</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">Please come visit us if you would like to peruse our current collection of used books -- we'd love to see you!</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">Speaking of which, Portland Maine is an <u>amazing</u> town for books. Within downtown Portland alone, there are 3 used bookshops (including mine) and 3 new bookshops - and if you have a car, there are even more nearby. I'll be doing a post about how Portland is a City of Books in the near future! :)</div><div style="text-align: left;">------------------</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><u>Helpful information</u>:</b> <br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">If you have had a bad experience with Irish Booksellers or another dropshipper, and want to report them for fraud, please visit the FTC's fraud reporting site here:</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/%23/&source=gmail&ust=1704729288393000&usg=AOvVaw1IaK-2XiO5I03QFHDIggru" href="https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/" target="_blank">https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#<wbr></wbr>/</a> </div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">The FTC shares their reports with more than 2,800 law enforcers across the U.S., and while they can't resolve your individual report, they use your report, along with those of others who have filed, to investigate and bring cases against fraud, scams, and bad business practices. So it does have an effect - there is power in numbers!<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">If reporting them for fraud isn't the route you'd like to take, but you'd like some ideas on how to deal with the issue, the FTC has an excellent to-do list for you to follow:</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2022/12/what-do-if-your-online-order-never-arrives">https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2022/12/what-do-if-your-online-order-never-arrives</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">If you have not complained to Abebooks about the issue, please follow the steps here, which will ensure that the seller's account will be flagged by them for repeated issues:</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://support.abebooks.com/buying/s/article/contact-seller?language=en_US&searchText=contact%20seller">https://support.abebooks.com/buying/s/article/contact-seller?language=en_US&searchText=contact%20seller</a> </div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">Once you have attempted to contact the seller, Abebooks requires the seller to respond within 2 business days. Sending your inquiry through their system (see the instructions/links by reading the page linked above) will ensure that a record of your email is saved within your Abebooks account. If 2 business days have passed with no response, you can then reach out Abebooks Customer Service with the details. </div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">If you are having trouble using their website, you can try using this unconfirmed phone number to contact their Customer Service department: (800) 315-5335</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">As they say, "The seller's failure to respond to your initial question will be noted in their account. A pattern of such policy violations can lead to the seller's account being suspended and/or permanently closed." We can only hope that enough of these reports will, indeed, shut down such bad actors!</div><div style="text-align: left;">Biblio customers who have had similar problems can work with their Customer Service here:</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">https://www.biblio.com/support_request.php</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">You can also try calling them if you are having problems using our website, 1-800-813-9432 (U.S.) during regular weekday business hours (10 AM to 4 PM Eastern Standard Time).<br /></div>Michelle Soulierehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02896807228114420113noreply@blogger.com0661 Congress St, Portland, ME 04101, USA43.653419199999988 -70.265887115.343185363821142 -105.4221371 71.96365303617884 -35.1096371tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8269001446472174774.post-42000212496164342532023-12-10T15:02:00.004-05:002024-01-07T12:01:44.138-05:00Buying Local and making a difference!<p>Hi everyone!</p><p>As the holiday season rides up on us, I have been thinking a lot about how buying local can have an effect in our world. Like most of us, I try to walk the walk as well as talking the talk. It's not always possible 100%, but I do my best, because as a small business owner (micro business, even!) I see the difference it makes, every day.</p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg-zNl4IFTfWu-mFhTdm-h9mBgzpDsm8x91CGEb4BTKntMY2uz_Cu4qZ6cOnZ-rn796rsJvitTeFI3gUObG6beFFRLIQzvEDAqLP1hZ7hGww6xoUfZq493yj-yL-rm47QkIjr9D1zNnzoqmXEoLw-LlS-vazHq6m3NYmyC7ltQvoW7bO5nh3BYWIH074_I/s2816/DSCF4696_xmas.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2120" data-original-width="2816" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg-zNl4IFTfWu-mFhTdm-h9mBgzpDsm8x91CGEb4BTKntMY2uz_Cu4qZ6cOnZ-rn796rsJvitTeFI3gUObG6beFFRLIQzvEDAqLP1hZ7hGww6xoUfZq493yj-yL-rm47QkIjr9D1zNnzoqmXEoLw-LlS-vazHq6m3NYmyC7ltQvoW7bO5nh3BYWIH074_I/s320/DSCF4696_xmas.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flashback! The Green Hand Bookshop in Nov 2009.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>I don't have to quote statistics to you to explain that the small but vital percentage of people who try their hardest to buy locally instead of from the mega corporations means that I can pay more of the shop's bills sooner rather than later, and pay my employees above the laughable "minimum" wage -- not to mention buy my basic groceries and pay my low-income housing mortgage. Your money really does have an effect, every day, when you choose to pick up items at local shops.<p></p><p>This year, when everyone's grocery bills have doubled, we are all feeling the tightness and pinch. Fun-money has become scant. I'm not asking anyone to spend money they don't have (yikes! never!!), but instead I am hoping folks pay attention to <u>where</u> they spend, when they can. It's an investment in your community, instead of disappearing into the bottomless pockets of the corporate vacuum.</p><p>There are so many great little businesses in Portland and in Maine that have a long dark winter ahead of them. It's nice to be able to spread a little light, whether it's with Christmas shopping, daily errands, or later on when the midwinter doldrums hit and you just want to do something different!<br /></p><p>To those of you who already do this, I cannot thank you enough - every time I see it happen, I am simultaneously delighted and astonished. I know you are all pitching in, and that's why those of us who have survived are still here, after an unprecedentedly rough few years. We are very lucky to have a community that cares so much.<br /></p><p>Thank you for truly making a difference! </p><p>Here is another cautiously hopeful photo from Christmas 2009. Remember when there was barely anything in the shop? 😂 We started from scratch, opening in early November 2009, and since then it's been a slow, difficult process, but somehow we are still here, and chock-a-block full of good books now, even having sent thousands of books into good new homes along the way. We couldn't have done this without you all. Next year will see our 15th anniversary!<br /></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQjTowUcKPPYG-YXwMlq7MZQ-_FiNJ05JC1i8KnWXUc5cgXc3AVHhxDmeDw9aRwBhbQs4IA0hKpaktCIZfSPnojQ5_HGS9d7fjRNdf8jqmC1BNrab5BsK6OvJrsuOwvGjrkeVL7y7PWznAM3jhR4lIzhl11bytnZF5zE2Yokh7KroDa-9aMqeMBoQebGkC/s2816/DSCF4692_xmas.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2120" data-original-width="2816" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQjTowUcKPPYG-YXwMlq7MZQ-_FiNJ05JC1i8KnWXUc5cgXc3AVHhxDmeDw9aRwBhbQs4IA0hKpaktCIZfSPnojQ5_HGS9d7fjRNdf8jqmC1BNrab5BsK6OvJrsuOwvGjrkeVL7y7PWznAM3jhR4lIzhl11bytnZF5zE2Yokh7KroDa-9aMqeMBoQebGkC/w400-h301/DSCF4692_xmas.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Green Hand Bookshop, Christmas 2009 - Just a baby of a bookshop then!<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Help keep the real Portland (and the real Maine!) alive underneath the glib veneer of gentrification. Everyone in Maine's vital and hardworking small business community will thank you! And you'll get to see cool and unique things happen in our economy, and see the very change you created yourself. It's a win-win situation to buy local, every time.<p></p><p>I hope you all have the happiest holidays you can, however you can, with good people around you, and that you find all the light in our hearts visible when you need it the most.<br /></p><p>If you do want to buy books from us, or in a way that benefits us instead of Amazon etc, here are a few helpful links in case you can't get into the shop to browse our large selection of used books:<br /></p><p>New books coming directly from us: <a href="https://www.greenhandbookshop.com">https://www.greenhandbookshop.com</a></p><p>New books through Bookshop.org, which benefits us generously: <a href="https://bookshop.org/shop/greenhandbooks">https://bookshop.org/shop/greenhandbooks</a></p><p>Or if audiobooks are your thing, and you'd love to avoid Amazon-owned Audible while supporting the Green Hand: <a href="https://libro.fm/greenhandbooks">https://libro.fm/greenhandbooks</a><br /></p>Michelle Soulierehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02896807228114420113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8269001446472174774.post-85341255235914879592023-08-24T12:42:00.010-04:002024-01-07T12:03:15.973-05:00New John Connolly & a booksigning event!!!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiRC2dCFD8QnhFxPprwYlSJZg-LmTp2Hg-wuSCLd_Q5odNJzJM7O150FCCqs83iZwBC31zAVtAT2-T50j8-RTY9_SGJaXDskxQkJlse93-_cJUvgCEqfFHDpJleGQt647zUvTeierLv7_9kMbJR9h7JAYFuJYMyeiaXZ1pm5rrM7IOoJn6EDVySLIThcXL/s2125/the-land-of-lost-things-9781668022283_hr.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2125" data-original-width="1400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiRC2dCFD8QnhFxPprwYlSJZg-LmTp2Hg-wuSCLd_Q5odNJzJM7O150FCCqs83iZwBC31zAVtAT2-T50j8-RTY9_SGJaXDskxQkJlse93-_cJUvgCEqfFHDpJleGQt647zUvTeierLv7_9kMbJR9h7JAYFuJYMyeiaXZ1pm5rrM7IOoJn6EDVySLIThcXL/s320/the-land-of-lost-things-9781668022283_hr.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>Hi everyone! Here is life going on in spite of nonsense -- on Sept 19, John Connolly's new book, <i>The Land of Lost Things</i>, is being released in the US. Having already gobbled up my advance copy, I can tell you it is wonderful, dark and magical, whether or not you've read its predecessor in that universe, <i>The Book of Lost Things</i>.<p></p><p>While that date is exciting enough, please sit down, because next comes a book signing! We are lucky enough that John reached out to us for this, and we are still a little speechless that we can make it happen. We will be partnering with the soon-to-be-open <a href="https://novelmaine.com/">Novel Book Bar</a> down at the end of our block for this event. It is going to be a tremendously convivial and magical evening. </p><p>Novel will not yet be full-service, but you will get a sneak peek at their beautiful interior, and you can take advantage of this event to get a taste of things to come on our block.<br /></p><p><b>WHAT:</b> <i>The Land of Lost Things</i> by John Connolly - author talk and book signing</p><p><b>WHERE:<i> </i></b>Novel Book Bar, 643 Congress St, Portland ME 04101</p><p><b>WHEN:</b> Friday Oct 6, 2023 at 6:00pm</p><p><b>EVENT PAGE: </b><a href="https://fb.me/e/104eQfQK6">https://fb.me/e/104eQfQK6</a> Registration for the event via showing interest on Facebook is not required, but will help us get a headcount, and you will see any event updates. :) <br /></p><p>John will give a short talk (20-25 minutes), and if you haven't seen him speak in person you are in for a treat! Afterwards he will take any audience questions, then sign your books. It is going to be a delightful evening!<br /></p><p>More on the new book: <br /></p><p><i>The Land of Lost Things </i>by John Connolly<br />ON SALE: SEPTEMBER 19, 2023 - you can preorder your copy here:</p><p><a href="https://greenhandbookshop.com/products/the-land-of-lost-things-by-john-connolly-hardcvr">https://greenhandbookshop.com/products/the-land-of-lost-things-by-john-connolly-hardcvr</a> </p><p>After 17 years, #1 internationally bestselling author John Connolly finally returns to the upside-down fairy tale world of his critically acclaimed novel The Book of Lost Things for a wonderfully dark yet moving book about loss, parenthood, and the place of books and stories in our lives.</p><p>“Twice upon a time—for that is how some stories should continue…”<br /><br />Thus John Connolly begins his astonishingly original adventure set in a strange and magical universe. In The Land of Lost Things, the prolific, award-winning author again brilliantly blurs the boundaries of fantasy and reality while celebrating the redemptive power of the written word.<br /></p><p>Phoebe, an eight-year-old girl, lies in a coma following a car accident. She is a body without a spirit, a stolen child. Ceres, her mother, can only sit by her bedside and read aloud to her the fairy stories she adores in the hope they might summon her back to this world. But it is so very hard to be patient, to<br />keep faith, to believe. <br /></p><p>Now an old house on the hospital grounds, a property connected to a book written by a vanished author, is calling to Ceres, inviting her to open its door and enter a land colored by the memories of her childhood and the folklore she has shared with her precious daughter. In this familiar yet frightening place, Ceres will encounter friends and foes, witches and dryads, giants and mandrakes. But as she struggles to make sense of this landscape and decipher its hidden messages, old enemies are watching, and waiting.</p><p>Is this just a terrifying dream, or a way for Ceres to recover her daughter? And what sacrifices will a mother make in order to be reunited with her child? The only way to find out is by getting lost in another triumphantly fantastical novel from John Connolly.<br /><br />PRAISE FOR THE BOOK OF LOST THINGS<br /><br />“A moving fable, brilliantly imagined, about the agony of loss and the pain of young adulthood.”<br />–The Times (London)<br /><br />“Enchanting, engrossing, and enlightening.” –The Sun-Sentinel, Florida</p><p>“Peculiar and perverse and humane.” –The Irish Times </p><p><b>About the Author: </b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoMimOnMM0-xo7YCUZcUfI0Jk_QVFlF9qcbuKRUlhilmHUH_18Sm6-xOKKGm4JaAt9KENW7lWUGbRe7Irvf5L29OKL_QjhHVUAtolwKLjEdlB108Es_pTL1u6g9n3J9ZZKfYqTPg7h9H3m4fpKFdsnfjuNhGZV9_e5Ug6e2zUqgok4zgtENldcZXHAtp51/s3216/John%20Connolly_by%20Mark%20Condren.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2194" data-original-width="3216" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoMimOnMM0-xo7YCUZcUfI0Jk_QVFlF9qcbuKRUlhilmHUH_18Sm6-xOKKGm4JaAt9KENW7lWUGbRe7Irvf5L29OKL_QjhHVUAtolwKLjEdlB108Es_pTL1u6g9n3J9ZZKfYqTPg7h9H3m4fpKFdsnfjuNhGZV9_e5Ug6e2zUqgok4zgtENldcZXHAtp51/s320/John%20Connolly_by%20Mark%20Condren.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>If you haven't already had me yammer on about how awesome he is, read on. </p><p></p><p>John Connolly is the internationally bestselling author of 30+ books, including <i>The Book of Lost Things</i>, the Charlie Parker series of mystery novels, the supernatural collections <i>Nocturnes</i> and <i>Night Music</i>, and the Samuel Johnson trilogy for young readers. His books have won literary honors such as the Edgar, Shamus, and Anthony awards, and a CWA Dagger. </p><p>Formerly a journalist with <i>The Irish Times</i>, he studied English at Trinity College, Dublin, journalism at Dublin City University, and is currently pursuing his PhD at University College Cork. </p><p>He divides his time between his birthplace of Dublin, Ireland, and his home in Portland, Maine, the setting for many of his books. He is also the host of the long-running radio show <i>ABC to XTC</i> on RTE Gold, in which he returns to the music of his youth. For more information, visit JohnConnollyBooks.com.</p>Michelle Soulierehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02896807228114420113noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8269001446472174774.post-47000230997044257032023-08-10T16:02:00.000-04:002023-08-10T16:02:33.918-04:00 IMPORTANT notice re: special orders, website & bookbuying<p>Okay, 2nd try after the post draft dumped. :P</p><p>First of all, thank you all for your help in getting the cooling system installed here in the shop. It took months, and much hoop-jumping, and back-and-forth between myself, the contractor, the landlord, and the City of Portland, but it finally happened! Thank you all for helping that become a reality. What a relief! Please stop in when you can, and enjoy the cool comfort of a non-humid, refreshing shop.</p><p>But of course nothing stands still, and unexpected things happen. I have to go in for some major surgery before the end of August, so that is going to mean a few things will temporarily change. After my initial recovery period, there will be another month or so when I cannot lift anything substantial. Irony of ironies, for someone who spends all day, every day, lifting boxes and stacks of books. :( So that will be going on until mid-October. With that in mind:</p><p>1) <b>Bookbuying/trading</b> (which is currently limited and only done by appointment) <b>will be put on hold until at least late October.</b></p><p>2) The website will remain open so you can see what we carry for new items before coming in, but there will be a hiatus in processing orders, so we recommend you simply call or come into the shop if you would normally do a pickup order. <b>We will not be pulling/shipping orders on a normal timeframe until after Sept 15.</b> This means <b>any mail orders placed on the website after Aug 19th will be shipped after that date.</b></p><p>3) <b>Special orders are on hold effective immediately. </b> We will resume taking special orders after mid-September. We recommend buying through our Bookshop.org link at <a href="https://bookshop.org/shop/greenhandbooks">https://bookshop.org/shop/greenhandbooks</a> if you'd like to help out while avoiding giving money to Amazon!</p><p>Please do continue to come into the shop to support us - there is no shortage of amazing and wonderful books to peruse. Our hours remain the same (closed Mon, open Tues-Sat 11:00-5:00, and Sun 12:00-4:00). </p><p>All your support will be hugely helpful. It's been an expensive and painful summer. I haven't had a vacation since 2019, and I'm certainly not getting one this year.</p><p>Thank you in advance for your understanding as we hit the pause button on a few things!<br /></p>Michelle Soulierehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02896807228114420113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8269001446472174774.post-6801344366002019992023-05-13T21:49:00.005-04:002024-01-07T12:04:19.016-05:00(207)TERROR #2: We're back! ...with WOLFEN<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Here's another foray into horror fiction by me and Dennis. Last time we tried a conversational approach, interspersing each other's observations about Rick Hautala's <i>Night Stone</i>, and that went pretty well. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">[you can read post #1 here if you missed it: <a href="http://greenhandbooks.blogspot.com/2023/03/horror-dm-1-michelle-dennis-talk-horror.html">http://greenhandbooks.blogspot.com/2023/03/horror-dm-1-michelle-dennis-talk-horror.html</a>]</span> <br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This time Dennis wanted to try a different approach, wherein we got together and discussed our book face-to-face instead of typing back and forth. Obviously this is always a more enjoyable experience for us. Dennis promised he would take notes and type them up later.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">He got this far:</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtRv3UWdkSed58QpsRt6XBIbX_yNe8u4i21LMtgcJXDAPMHe6GaEdu6U0auLt_MgkFGbQM3KWSTbv8Uyj0GPK-k_fOQvx6NpLJpQZmmMEiKsv0GvOWvhBHamNOWAeAvhAVsLJavHSJBTeIdOK_IUuqG3oTYhIdOBskxbE8Hn7SrWUCTLfNC8XW-I4mUA/s600/IMG_7303.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="491" data-original-width="600" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtRv3UWdkSed58QpsRt6XBIbX_yNe8u4i21LMtgcJXDAPMHe6GaEdu6U0auLt_MgkFGbQM3KWSTbv8Uyj0GPK-k_fOQvx6NpLJpQZmmMEiKsv0GvOWvhBHamNOWAeAvhAVsLJavHSJBTeIdOK_IUuqG3oTYhIdOBskxbE8Hn7SrWUCTLfNC8XW-I4mUA/s320/IMG_7303.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">😂</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Apparently after tasting the Murder Hornet I ordered (my fave cocktail at LFK, which is right across Longfellow Square from the shop) it obliterated all of Dennis's original plans for the evening, and he gave up on taking notes at that point. Ah well! Of course we don't let such things stop us, and we have put together a post for you regardless.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><b><i>NOTE:</i></b> You won't know this from reading the text below, but Dennis's document formatting defaults to Dutch spelling, so my experience in editing this document was tremendously surreal, because most words showed up with the little red underlining that denotes typos... and every time I tried to type </span>something like "to the" it automatically changed it to "tot he" which at first I thought was making everything dead, but no, that would be in German -- instead it was trying to make me say "See you!" in Dutch (which I guess also works if you're dead? 😂). Word nerds unite!!!</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> ----------------</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span><u><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span><b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Wolfen</span></b></u><b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> by Whitley Strieber<br /></span></b><u><b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></b></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">discussed by Dennis Seine with sidenotes and afternotes by Michelle Souliere<br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">First things first.
Nine times out of ten, folks misspell this author’s last name: instead of
Strieber, they go for Streiber. Then, it becomes impossible to find his books
at your local library. Chaos ensues. The horror community comes crashing down.
So let’s keep it Strieber.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I was reading a bit
about this fascinating guy this morning. His newest book came out in 2017, and
is called <i>The Afterlife Revolution</i>. Why bring this up? Because he co-wrote with
his wife Anne. Who died in 2015.</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">So in case you were
wondering if Strieber (not Streiber) has backed down from his claims in his
1987 nonfiction bestseller <i>Communion</i>, think again. In these fruitful times for
conspiracy theorists, Strieber is letting his freak flag fly and is up to his
ears in Roswell, crop circles, JFK assassination plots, telepathic
communication (see above), and more of these gloriously weird ideas.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitkTJNurFbjUnCaH8JeRc-ny7KoZ5vBzTmhQsgtfiO_9xIZ9JUWCN2CzxaYS2Re64zWcdCokDBpxwdTOqQyk-9ms82NwynXyKA0c5110OYnRzmHJtDBxcORIORQRZVEPXx1QShszX_6UbE5R-QqLc4NqRFB_wIZs765Va_8spcAuWfFCdXZubhdic7Lw/s4032/IMG_7443.HEIC" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitkTJNurFbjUnCaH8JeRc-ny7KoZ5vBzTmhQsgtfiO_9xIZ9JUWCN2CzxaYS2Re64zWcdCokDBpxwdTOqQyk-9ms82NwynXyKA0c5110OYnRzmHJtDBxcORIORQRZVEPXx1QShszX_6UbE5R-QqLc4NqRFB_wIZs765Va_8spcAuWfFCdXZubhdic7Lw/w150-h200/IMG_7443.HEIC" width="150" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The text-heavy original paperback<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Now, this wasn’t
always the case. In 1978 his debut novel <i>The Wolfen</i> was published. And it was a
hit. The book got made into a movie with the same name in 1981, starring Albert
Finney.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">These Wolfen are not
werewolves. They are descendants from canine species and have lived secretly
alongside the human race for centuries, including in New York City, where the
book takes place:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“</span><span lang="NL">No
pack knew how these cities came about, but man inhabited them, keeping for
himself the warmth they produced in winter, and the dryness that was not
affected even by the most violent rain. While the sky poured water or snow, man
sat comfortably in the cities. How these things grew and why man possessed
them, nobody could say.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="NL">They feed on people, but pick out the ones
nobody misses: Outcasts and drug addicts, living in ghettos and alongside the
train tracks. It is as classic a picture of New York City in the seventies and
eighties as you can imagine. The city is dirty, crime abounds, homeless people
are walking the dark, rainy streets of Manhattan, full of trash. The place is
heaven for Wolfen.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMIzUJXFeyW7a5tE2SrKNGE4kwqL0UyJ62QDejtb7nlvp8bKQMQmhjP3g4QVuHAM9x9wQofN1hvsFYzV15lAWk4yKspP4GZVR3YEX59BwvXXsfhOSIpFk1O2Vpkahyr2bCLeZCiZYtXbzKqms_u4N2vTL9zZjzAn-_aFf2_cEV716eOfk-T5KWybiuAQ/s4032/IMG_7444.HEIC" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMIzUJXFeyW7a5tE2SrKNGE4kwqL0UyJ62QDejtb7nlvp8bKQMQmhjP3g4QVuHAM9x9wQofN1hvsFYzV15lAWk4yKspP4GZVR3YEX59BwvXXsfhOSIpFk1O2Vpkahyr2bCLeZCiZYtXbzKqms_u4N2vTL9zZjzAn-_aFf2_cEV716eOfk-T5KWybiuAQ/w150-h200/IMG_7444.HEIC" width="150" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another early paperback edition!<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span lang="NL">Until things go wrong. Strieber does not mess
around here. In the opening chapters a gruesome murder takes place. Two cops
are attacked and don’t even have time to fire their guns. They are partially
eaten. The tracks surrounding the bodies are odd and appear dog-like, plus
there is unexplainable fur on the wounds.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="NL">Obviously, the Chief of Police wants to avoid
a mass panic and issues with the upcoming election. So the published story
involves carbon monoxide poisoning and stray dogs. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="NL">But the two police officers
assigned to the case, the older George Nelson and his much younger female
partner Becky Neff (a female cop in the New York City of the seventies? She
must work twice as hard as her male colleagues to prove she belongs there.
SPOILER ALERT: she does.), aren’t buying it and follow the leads. They approach
several experts and slowly discover there are other sentient beings walking the
streets of the city than just prostitutes, dirty cops and other undesirables.
In the process, they almost develop some feelings for each other, but that
storyline more or less bleeds out.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBh3_5xVDNrtxTvehKRkJAoDnklUJZWldmazOGtD6z_kdNgrAoNckh6SLj4vLJ6Qd7D2x9QDF4Wsu0llU-nwGedODuca3SmmhSzyUvFIvvFzk5upebJpFMDQ_GdQBidLNrLsl7v67mrgC_l5R1OaaiNy-a2HbeORC4J3yDgS0Z_oc5N_dk7q_OVtdbPw/s4032/IMG_7445.HEIC" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBh3_5xVDNrtxTvehKRkJAoDnklUJZWldmazOGtD6z_kdNgrAoNckh6SLj4vLJ6Qd7D2x9QDF4Wsu0llU-nwGedODuca3SmmhSzyUvFIvvFzk5upebJpFMDQ_GdQBidLNrLsl7v67mrgC_l5R1OaaiNy-a2HbeORC4J3yDgS0Z_oc5N_dk7q_OVtdbPw/w150-h200/IMG_7445.HEIC" width="150" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Suntup ed w/Francois Vaillancourt art!<br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span lang="NL">Does this sound like your basic American
Werewolf story? Sure, to a certain extent. But Strieber makes a few decisions
that lift up this book to great heights.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="NL">First of all, he switches off the storytelling
perspective between the officers investigating the case and the actual Wolfen.
And it’s not even corny. It makes for a much more interesting background to the
‘villains’ in the novel.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="NL">Secondly, Strieber goes for functional gore.
Gore for gore’s sake can be a bit lazy. Here, it works, for instance when the
Wolfen are digging out the brains of one of their victims to get rid of all
memories of their discovery:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="NL">[p180 in 1988 Avon edition]</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span lang="NL">So, the little old
man was contaminated by the other two, the two who knew. […] The man’s hands
fluttered up before his face and his bowels let loose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was all that happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then they were on him, pulling and tearing,
ripping full of rage, spitting the bloody bits out, angry that the two important
ones had been missed, angry that this one also dared to confront them with his
evil knowledge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had cracked open
the head and plunged their claws into the brains, plunged and torn to utterly
and completely destroy the filthy knowledge.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="NL">Thirdly, the book does not waste any time and
goes into fifth gear straight away. This is a full-blown pageturner, a cop
thriller that uses genre conventions that work, adds a few dimensions, subverts
some of the reader’s expectations, and turns it into a rather short book that
packs a punch. It works its way into a terrifying and a bit of a sudden
apotheosis, which leaves open all sorts of possibilities for sequels that
unfortunately never came.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="NL"><u><b>Afternotes</b></u>:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="NL">When <i>Wolfen</i> dumps the reader right into
the action without any warm-up it’s a real jumpstart, and a heavy application
of police procedural as the focus for the storytelling really threw me (Michelle)
when I read it – at least at first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6cxccAF1UqaMobIEcLJ1JF7y6r92pB25MMljXvdb72zhnjHvuPisXBFFY0wUV-w8ULKIpYtAYmkiXji5qQFIRPKHD70535Dct5ih3usaBwO5wKXietXi4eYf_5kH81HoQ48Fvc6tusAnchSyhfKzBy14oQpZ3mm4hLeBt6U33lmHHRJ1kcB3ZjAOC6g/s4032/IMG_7675.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6cxccAF1UqaMobIEcLJ1JF7y6r92pB25MMljXvdb72zhnjHvuPisXBFFY0wUV-w8ULKIpYtAYmkiXji5qQFIRPKHD70535Dct5ih3usaBwO5wKXietXi4eYf_5kH81HoQ48Fvc6tusAnchSyhfKzBy14oQpZ3mm4hLeBt6U33lmHHRJ1kcB3ZjAOC6g/w150-h200/IMG_7675.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Michelle's copy, a 1988 reprint.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="NL">The way the story expands through history
almost effortlessly as the reader continues on is deftly done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As more and more of the voice of the Wolfen
is introduced, the perception of their culture and a fascination (almost
sympathy) with their survival is fed, word by word, as you learn more about
these very “other” characters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like a
vulpine Hansel and Gretel, the Wolfen strew breadcrumbs for you to follow them
into the maw of their story.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="NL"><u><b>Sidenotes</b></u>:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="NL">I also noticed (once I got over its
presence in a horror novel) that using a police procedural focus in the
storytelling allowed a very solid framework on which to hang some truly outrageous
story elements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because of how Strieber
tells this story via both its police officers and academic characters with
their rigid worldview, by the end of the book you find yourself nodding along,
accepting a deluge of fantastic concepts because you know, somewhere in the
morass of NYPD and institutional paperwork, it is all on record somewhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="NL">The other very effective tactic used by
Strieber as he invades our brain is a look-back realization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ferguson is driven to research the potential
of folkloric links left behind by the Wolfen. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mid-research, he finds himself leaping out of
a chair as a special collections librarian turns the page of an ancient book
for his inspection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The image on the
page triggers a flashback to what he thought had been a childhood nightmare.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span lang="NL">[p149] His mind was
racing now as he remembered an incident that had occurred when he was no more
than six or seven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>[…]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was asleep in his ground-floor bedroom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Something awakened him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Moonlight was streaming in the open
window.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And a monstrous animal was
leaning in, poking its muzzle toward him, the face clear in the moonlight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had screamed and the thing had disappeared
in a flash.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nightmare, they said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And here it was staring at him again, the
face of the werewolf.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="NL">This is an incredible moment, and the reader
feels as startled as Ferguson himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It adds a surreal gravitas, a reality to the situation that ties the
current tension to a childhood nightmare, and links it all to a centuries-old
lineage of lupine horror, following humans from the dark forests to the shadow
of their graves.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="NL">In closing: Is this a perfect novel? Heck no. But it is a fun read, with a lot of interesting ideas worked into it. And when you consider it's Strieber's debut, it's a heckin' strong start. Definitely worth sitting down with - entertaining and a fast read!<br /></span></p>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>Michelle Soulierehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02896807228114420113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8269001446472174774.post-80206975472880326692023-03-25T20:22:00.013-04:002023-05-12T22:39:14.670-04:00(207)TERROR #1: Michelle & Dennis talk horror!<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Those of you who know me, also know I read omnivorously. However, the horror genre is my favorite go-to. I cannot quit it!</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOx-gu3CPUd_7pZNPvNmfYFhQQbsptjm2xAYcqY_yNGyqQ3KLP363RqeIuGSSbtjuGg99NEUbj0CSBWmFKNhv1o9y_m2XADZROcPhAcQvkfPwzZ9XL1c5jB68lsxEpCU8BOnau9HQkJC7dfhS6KTtnetd7AGpR_sFropcrhGhGd0A33Gg0nlTBVlNpeA/s415/rick-hautala.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="415" data-original-width="339" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOx-gu3CPUd_7pZNPvNmfYFhQQbsptjm2xAYcqY_yNGyqQ3KLP363RqeIuGSSbtjuGg99NEUbj0CSBWmFKNhv1o9y_m2XADZROcPhAcQvkfPwzZ9XL1c5jB68lsxEpCU8BOnau9HQkJC7dfhS6KTtnetd7AGpR_sFropcrhGhGd0A33Gg0nlTBVlNpeA/w179-h220/rick-hautala.jpg" width="179" /></a></i><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>My friend Dennis is the same way about horror, and he suggested we start doing blog posts about some of our reading. So here we are! I initially called this feature "Horror DM" because it's Dennis and Michelle, and because we are DM-ing you on horror's behalf to let you know what's going on in some of these crazy books. But Dennis was skeptical 😂 so we brainstormed and now it's (207)TERROR because alliteration always wins.<br /></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Our inaugural post is about a Maine horror favorite, Rick Hautala. Enjoy! <br /></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>-------------- <br /></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;">
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span></span></span></span></p></div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span>Night Stone</span></i><span><span face=""-webkit-standard", serif" style="color: black;"> by Rick Hautala</span></span></span></b><span>
</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;">As discussed by Dennis Seine and Michelle Souliere</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>
</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in; text-align: left;"><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDZlRZQC-k1riPyf4gu7m2kQJH8BDxkxpYGqbRt5_uSxU3Fi3PgUmyAeMJtlYDWyr4kQwuvZgmWK3q4OB1ugdv-TN_tJv8ITak4blVkqGEMyTWMoThedpXUjsAZO7-f7YEVC3-14yvuBjULrTjyttagd5yQTps4awR86md6fDy7vROeewEJMUyQK_kTQ/s4032/IMG_6482.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDZlRZQC-k1riPyf4gu7m2kQJH8BDxkxpYGqbRt5_uSxU3Fi3PgUmyAeMJtlYDWyr4kQwuvZgmWK3q4OB1ugdv-TN_tJv8ITak4blVkqGEMyTWMoThedpXUjsAZO7-f7YEVC3-14yvuBjULrTjyttagd5yQTps4awR86md6fDy7vROeewEJMUyQK_kTQ/s320/IMG_6482.JPG" width="240" /></a></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><b><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;">Dennis:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;">Rick<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Hautala<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>is from Maine. Or<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>he<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>was
from Maine; sadly, he passed away in 2013. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And because it was exactly a decade ago he
died, fellow author and friend Christopher Golden organized an online
read-along of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Hautala’s<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>most famous work: <i>Night Stone</i>,
of which more than a million copies were sold (that blew my mind). And<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>that impressive number is<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>not just because it is one of the
first paperbacks with a hologram on its cover. This<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>atmospheric novel leaves a lasting
impression.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>It’s<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>hard to shake.</span></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>
</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;"> </span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>
</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><b><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;">Michelle:</span></b><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having
read a bunch of Rick’s books in the past, I was long overdue to dive back into
his bibliography, and what better place to jump back in than <i>Night Stone</i>!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Big thanks to author Christopher Golden for
instigating what will hopefully be an annual revisitation with Rick during
February, the month of his birthday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Rumor has it that next year’s selection is likely to be another iconic
Maine horror classic, <i>Little Brothers</i>, long rated a favorite of fans who
read it back in the 1980s, if you want to get a head start.</span></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span></p></div><p style="text-align: left;"><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha6xhHL0LVCB9t-IeAxEjRVU6WWPjPlBMAKxrPSDb5BaTyGmuaswDGU6WzqsIMZ1luJwzgTe0PHocpmOlaaaNkMG5NIRiLe1ZYAPZwEQTI0RkqS2f9ZcjKuiIPK3HlVEfFvUkoRae-CvqCeMrX2L-M374L3BuXZWJ0y1f307lo1jvB0C51zYPHvEMQ1A/s1440/nightstone-hologram-text.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1440" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha6xhHL0LVCB9t-IeAxEjRVU6WWPjPlBMAKxrPSDb5BaTyGmuaswDGU6WzqsIMZ1luJwzgTe0PHocpmOlaaaNkMG5NIRiLe1ZYAPZwEQTI0RkqS2f9ZcjKuiIPK3HlVEfFvUkoRae-CvqCeMrX2L-M374L3BuXZWJ0y1f307lo1jvB0C51zYPHvEMQ1A/w222-h222/nightstone-hologram-text.jpg" width="222" /></a></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>I wasn’t sure what to expect
from this book, dazzled as I was by the fabulously spooky laser hologram cover
(earlier printings have a confusing note inside the cover, referring to Zebra’s
line of romance novels, which in the context of this book is hilarious).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span>
</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;">However, once I settled in,
the story alternated between comfort and unease.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Comfort, because Rick captured the weirdly
in-between summer world of southern Maine, quasi-rural and butting up against
the seasonal tourist trade, old, with its century-old history already being
forgotten, but still nowhere near as ancient as the history lurking unknown
beneath its surface.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unease, because
from the start there are personal tensions at play, even before you push past
them to the true dread at the heart of the story.</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>
</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><i><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;">Night Stone</span></i><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;">’s
kickoff point is the overriding tension generated by moving several states away
from where the family was living (Rhode Island to Maine), and the weirdness of
living in an old family homestead that everyone else in the family refuses to
live in (renting it out to a steady procession of unknown renters instead). </span></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>
</span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span></p></div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><b><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;">Dennis:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;">In
the book we follow Don, his wife Jan and their daughter Beth as they move into
their new, rural home in southern Maine. Don is a handy fellow who is going to
teach at the local high school once the summer break is over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>his<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>vacation, he works on the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>endless list of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>chores that need to happen. The<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>dilapidated family home<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>is old and spooky, and needs some TLC.</span></span><span>
</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;">Meanwhile daughter Beth, I’m
not sure how old she is but I am guessing about twelve, finds a creepy doll
that she gets completely obsessed with<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and/or
possessed by. Always a great sign! And Jan is looking for work. She used to
make her money as a realtor back in Rhode Island, where they lived before
relocating to the sticks.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Turns
out the need for realtors in this part of the state is lacking, so she decides
to try her luck at a local restaurant as a waitress.</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>
</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><b><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;">Michelle:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;">I was
immediately struck by the first weird about-face in the story – when previously
successful Jan can’t immediately break the ice of the local realty market to
get hired by a firm, she instead on a whim applies at a greasy spoon with rude
tourist customers and an equally greasy I’m-gonna-get-in-your-pants owner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That seems …reasonable?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe she’s just a masochist at heart.</span></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>
</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;">Meanwhile, Don throws himself
into hard labor, rolling around in an attic full of itchy pink fiberglass
insulation on the hottest days of the year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And when that’s done, he enjoys digging trenches for a change of pace.</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>
</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;">Clearly demonstrating her
masochistic nature yet again, Jan sees that Don is having far too much fun
giving himself heat exhaustion, and decides to break ground on a garden for
herself, even though it’s far too late in the season to grow anything in
Maine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wait, maybe it’s not
masochism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe she’s just not that
smart?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also she makes Don do some of the
work for her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wait, so maybe she <u>is</u>
smart?</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>
</span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><b><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyqk4UuXUr1A7TJfxMNKIsHvq-qq44wYY_I3d307PyK-jrXumMNdJKQ-VXYhJpDPr2IeRci0PbSSd8GXiEaSg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe> </b></span></span></span></p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><b>Swanky hologram cover in action! <br /></b></span></span></span></p></div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><b>Dennis:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;">While
digging around in the garden, Don finds a severed hand, possibly Native
American. He becomes absolutely obsessed with not just the hand, but the
enormous stone slab he discovers in the yard. This displeases Jan. Actually,
everything the somewhat eccentric Don does seems to displease Jan. This does
not discourage Don, who calls in a few academic experts to help him. But his
main sidekick<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>is a neighbor with
a Native American heritage, Billy, who helps him dig up the colossal stone.
Great idea, Don!<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Go dig up an
ancient burial ground!</span></span><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;"> </span><span>
</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><b><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;">Michelle:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;">Meanwhile,
young preteen daughter Beth is exhibiting weird behavior (even beyond her
obsession with the tiny decrepit homunculus she’s carting around) which her
parents are either a) completely oblivious to, or b) choose to pretend hasn’t
happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In an unrelated plot twist,
Beth really, really, really wants a horse, so Don finally wears down Jan into
letting her keep a horse in the small barn beside the house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They find a lovely dark young mare named
Dobbin and buy her, and Beth promptly renames her Goblin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>NOTHING CREEPILY PORTENTIOUS ABOUT THAT AT
ALL.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nope.</span></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>
</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;">And did I mention…?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ever since they’ve moved into the house, Don has
been having vivid, unsettling dreams which involve him repeating over and over
to himself in shock, “No!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not
blood!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But why would you tell anyone
about that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don shrugs and goes on with
his hard labor days.</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>
</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;">And all these things just
make up the start.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are plenty of
incidents, omens, and warnings to ignore (yes, ignore – why would you pay
attention to a direct warning?) peppering the story as it gears up to its
bloody, explosive ending.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And yes, don’t
worry – there are plenty of moments in which to scream at the page, “WHY are
you DOING that?!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are you a FOOL???” <br /></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>
</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><b><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;">Dennis:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;">Is
the book a homerun? It wasn’t to me. But I had a great time reading it, even
though<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Hautala<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>or the editors at Zebra books could’ve
easily shaved off 200 pages of this 600 page clunker.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The characters are<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>as<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>vivid
as they are flat: Don is not the sharpest knife in the drawer and Jan is, well,
kind of an asshole, to be honest. Plus there are a few scenes with a voyeur
that seem completely pointless.</span></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>
</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;">The mood is key here, though.
While reading this bona fide page turner, it was hard to stop or to think about
anything else. From page one there is an impending sense of doom that runs
throughout the book. This meticulous and steady buildup of the events was
phenomenally spooky. And the claustrophobic ending? Absolutely terrifying.</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>
</span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVoiCNDtNyMvueLXR-I7qnTSrMHyUC3iHmQPNI34sKEBu-ZKvA1bhlem7a70DQ4cJIBxN97dEb7tRV7FcS1XI5H_KZ2ik0gfYFbTwVmlY1hIANWxpCdcGYfNGmUu1p43NqBmSQhd5ZiPQ7AEwaYJtJM9yyKxVQaySPwZow3q562XAhSkUB-zjzbVs2fQ/s4032/IMG_6481.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVoiCNDtNyMvueLXR-I7qnTSrMHyUC3iHmQPNI34sKEBu-ZKvA1bhlem7a70DQ4cJIBxN97dEb7tRV7FcS1XI5H_KZ2ik0gfYFbTwVmlY1hIANWxpCdcGYfNGmUu1p43NqBmSQhd5ZiPQ7AEwaYJtJM9yyKxVQaySPwZow3q562XAhSkUB-zjzbVs2fQ/w150-h200/IMG_6481.JPG" width="150" /></a></b></span></span></span></p></div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><b>Michelle:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;">As
part of the celebration of Rick via a group read of <i>Night Stone</i>,
Christopher Golden also arranged to host a Zoom gathering at the end of the February,
in which we all got a chance to sift through the detritus of this book from
back to front.</span></span><span>
</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;">During the discussion, some
repeated themes were brought up, such as severed hands, and a particularly
shocking dream image (Don had a lot of dreams!) which reappears later in the
real world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After listening to us muse
over these patterns for a bit, Christopher spoke up and illuminated something
for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rick had told him that these
barbed, stick-to-your-brain elements of the story came from one of his own
dreams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the dream, he had encountered
a horrifying corpse, strung up and with its hand severed, decayed and
unavoidable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The corpse, swinging from
its noose, turned to reveal its face to him, something pouring out of its mouth
as it did so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Write what you know!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yikes.</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>
</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;">So yes, as Dennis says –
while the story is a bit of a hot mess, and overall not subtle, there are
elements in it that have a cumulative, increasingly creepy effect on the
reader, and linger long after one puts the book down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also really enjoyed the way Rick wove his
Finnish heritage and bits of the Finnish language throughout the book, creating
some of the spookiest bits.</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>
</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;">All in all, it’s a perfect
example of the best of the “Paperbacks from Hell” phenomena.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Weird, entrancing cover art, lots of bizarre
story elements, lots of chances to yell in outrage at the characters, and lots
of fun.</span><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;"> </span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;"> </span></span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;">If you'd like to read more about Rick, here is a post I did shortly after his death in 2013.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""-webkit-standard",serif" style="color: black;"><a href="http://strangemaine.blogspot.com/2013/03/rip-rick-hautala-lifetime-is-not-long.html">http://strangemaine.blogspot.com/2013/03/rip-rick-hautala-lifetime-is-not-long.html</a><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>
</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><style>@font-face
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{page:WordSection1;}</style></span></span></span></p>Michelle Soulierehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02896807228114420113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8269001446472174774.post-81115767533775759622023-01-25T21:58:00.000-05:002023-01-25T21:58:12.363-05:00Ghosts Both Loud and Quiet - an interview with Grady Hendrix<p><span style="font-family: "Blue Highway",sans-serif;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq4TT_TEP20VXq-jxtdcN5ftRT3wEzLr1DsO5pyPAJF7CgsB_yLIjSMw0pfsVgcti_FDM0HCvt_ksA2gUiLRQiutj1vVfo9dJ3gSh6AFrn_ojcfXab-NMqbpUn2uz958MtAZGCu0cAoBjSJKlIkkK14VzbiguyZPfV8YppdgUS6z95H-Gt2PHgCeHeKg/s1206/grady-hendrix_H2SHH-cvr.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1206" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq4TT_TEP20VXq-jxtdcN5ftRT3wEzLr1DsO5pyPAJF7CgsB_yLIjSMw0pfsVgcti_FDM0HCvt_ksA2gUiLRQiutj1vVfo9dJ3gSh6AFrn_ojcfXab-NMqbpUn2uz958MtAZGCu0cAoBjSJKlIkkK14VzbiguyZPfV8YppdgUS6z95H-Gt2PHgCeHeKg/s320/grady-hendrix_H2SHH-cvr.jpeg" width="212" /></a></div>On
January 22, 2023, I was able to chat to Grady Hendrix about his new book, <i>How to Sell a Haunted House</i> while he was en route to his
performance in Savannah, GA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t
worry, I think we did really well avoiding any spoilers!!!
<p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Blue Highway",sans-serif;">---------------------------- <br /></span></p>
<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>GH:</b> Do
you want to dive in?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>MS:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah, let’s do this!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I guess we could start with a little
check-in, because <i>How to Sell a Haunted House</i> came out just a week ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How’s it going so far?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>GH:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>Pretty chaotic!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve been on the road, doing shows, and I’ll
be out here for about two more weeks, doing shows all through Florida, and
Texas, and up into Chicago and then Massachusetts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m on my way to Savannah right now to do one
this afternoon in a brewery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m driving
past a bunch of Jesus billboards right this minute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah, it’s going great.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">It’s
weird, because this is a book my editor and I really thought was going to be
sort of a miss.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So it’s been nice to see
people respond to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a really,
really hard book to land.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were
three radically different versions of this book before I got to the one that’s the
current version.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My editor and I had a
pretty frank conversation. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both [of us]
felt like it’s a really weird book, it’s a really personal book, and we really
felt that – you know, it would be okay, but we’d do better next time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s what you’ve got to do, right?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were pretty prepared to write it off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">The
response has been really nice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it’s really
nice to see people get invested in a book this weird.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>MS:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>From my own experience reading it, yeah, it’s
a lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It came out great!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">How
did the book start?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What was the little germ
that kicked it off and seeded it?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>GH:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>It was definitely Covid. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My mom had a couple of health scares, and I
was down in South Carolina, staying with her for a while in 2020.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think Covid really made a lot of us
hyper-aware of our parents’ mortality. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
was standing out in the garage, looking for something, and she has all this
junk out there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were all these
garbage bags full of fabric scraps that she keeps saying she’s going to make a
quilt out of, for the last … twelve years?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Longer than that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And she’s never
going to make a quilt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She’s never made
a quilt in her life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">I was
just realizing, I’m going to have to sort through it all, and throw it out when
she dies. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What do you do with all this
stuff?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s the easy stuff, when
someone dies, and you’re cleaning out their house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s stuff that’s clearly garbage, and stuff
that’s clearly family heirlooms, but … there’s a lot of stuff that falls into a
gray area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are clothes, there’s
shoes, collections they have that you’re not very interested in, and don’t have
much value.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">It
just got me thinking about the weird kind of relationship we all have with
inanimate objects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We talk to our cars,
and we beg our phones not to crash, and we surround ourselves with dolls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With Funkos, and action figures, and… beanie
babies!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our kids have dolls, and our
dogs have dolls. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It made me really
realize that we all have this strange relationship with inanimate objects, that
I hadn’t really seen many people write about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">And I
wanted to write about family, because that was a challenge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hadn’t really written about a family with
siblings, and family stories are usually ghost stories -- are in general
haunted house stories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">All
those pieces started adding up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that
was where things started rolling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>MS:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>In your own life, do you have any particular doll
or toy experiences from your own past that kind of drove Louise and Mark’s
experiences in the book?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>GH:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh sure, sure!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I really had a lot of stuffed animals as a
kid, who I was very concerned with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
want to make sure they’re comfortable, and not bored, and have something to do
when you go to school, and things like that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Pupkin is definitely inspired by my wife’s childhood stuffed animal
Snocchio, who’s this guy who has been with her since she was probably two years
old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one’s quite sure where he came
from, he kind of just showed up one day in her crib, probably a gift?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s pretty terrifying, but he’s also – he’s
a cool guy, he just takes a little getting used to.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">I
always feel like <i>Toy Story</i>, the movies that deal with this, really let
Andy off a bit too easy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The toys have
an obligation to him, but he doesn’t seem to have any obligation to the
toys.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that’s sort of what drives <i>The
Velveteen Rabbit</i>, and why I always found that such a horrifying book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These animals <u>so want</u> to serve this
kid, and the kid seems to care less.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
always thought that was such a crazy unequal relationship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The dynamic is so warped.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>MS:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In <i>How to Sell a Haunted House</i>, it
really struck me when Louise talks about how her stuffed animals were an early
teaching tool for how to care for and love other people.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>GH:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>I think it’s really an interesting thing that
kids surrounded by things that seem animate, right? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stuffed animals!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet they are enormously, immediately
empathetic towards them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They recognize
that these are smaller creatures than them, that they have a responsibility
towards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think that’s enormously
kind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It taps into a real kindness from
kids that you don’t see sometimes when people get older.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“These are smaller, and weaker than me, and I
need to take care of them, I need to explain things to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I need to make sure they’re comfortable, and
all that kind of stuff” -- which I think is enormously empathetic, and seems to
occur naturally with kids.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>MS:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>And it’s an organic process that you might
not necessarily immediately feel with your siblings, your younger siblings,
because you <u>have</u> to do that with them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That’s a duty put upon you, but with the stuffed animals, it’s totally
voluntary.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>GH:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Right!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And also I think with a lot of kids, maybe not every kid, there’s also a
lot of projection there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’ll interact
with your stuffed animals and they’ll interact back with you and tell you
things and talk to you about things, but you kind of create their point of view
in your head.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>MS:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a really interesting little
dialogue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have that with the books in
the shop too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>[laughs]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I talk to them sometimes.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>GH:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>That’s what I’m saying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all, even as adults, have these
relationships with inanimate objects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
was talking to someone who was telling me that they didn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I was like, “Yeah, but if you step on one
of your kids’ stuffed animals, do you just not say anything?” and she goes, “Oh
no, well I say ‘Sorry,’” so exactly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
know?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>MS:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the start of <i>How to Sell a Haunted
House</i>, some sort of very mundane, but creepy house moments occur. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You talked about your mom having some house
scares [NOTE:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought he had said
“house scares” earlier, but he in fact said “health scares,” ha!], and stuff
like that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">Are
there moments where you’ve experienced stuff that make you wonder if
something’s going on?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because <i>How to
Sell a Haunted </i>House rides a tandem track between all these toys and
puppets, and also the house, and what <u>that</u> means, the <u>haunted</u>
house.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>GH:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>Absolutely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s not even stuff that made me wonder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I think everyone, to some extent, has experienced that feeling of being
in the house where you grew up, and it’s the afternoon, and maybe you’re home
from school early, or you come home and no one’s there, and … this feeling of
just… unease.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">You’re
all alone in that house, it’s afternoon, it’s getting towards evening, and the
house – you know, you definitely don’t feel like all the rooms are empty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You definitely feel like the house is
listening, and paying attention to you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I think that’s a really common experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My parents were divorced and my mom worked,
and so I’d come home and be alone until evening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My sisters were all older than me, and were
moved off to college, and living on their own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">There’d
be times I’d just leave the house and sit in the front yard and wait for
someone to come home because it got overwhelming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I would be surprised to meet someone who
hadn’t had that experience.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>MS:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’re a youngest child, yeah?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>GH:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>MS:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>I think my youngest brother also had a
similar experience, which we, the older kids, didn’t have, because the house
was always full.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That gives it a very different
feel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">Do you
remember any particular moments that sent you out into the front yard?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>GH:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh sure!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You’d hear things fall over in the attic… we definitely had squirrels up
there, but… <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>so you’d hear that. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or it would just become overwhelming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The feeling of unease.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because I think it’s really hard to be
anywhere by yourself as a human being, and not start to populate it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether it’s hiking, or when you’re in the
woods on your own, or you’re in a house by yourself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We just start to insert sentience into our surroundings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So for me it would hit a point where I just
couldn’t handle it any more, I would just have to get out of there.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>MS:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That shows a lot of wisdom, too, though.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Knowing your limits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>[laughs]</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>GH:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Exactly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And my limits were pretty low.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>MS:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>[laughs more]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Which is ironic considering the stuff you write!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>GH:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>At the same time, though, this is one of the
things that stands me in good stead – I feel like the job of a writer is to pay
attention to what’s going on around you and what’s happening, and I think that
feeling of unease probably stems from paying too <u>much</u> attention to the
house around you.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>MS:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>When I read your books, I generally have to
take breaks, because it gets to be too much, you know?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not unlike you having to get out of your
house!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so I have to put it
down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But with <i>How to Sell a Haunted
House</i>, I got my review copy so close to when we were initially scheduled to
do this interview that my breaks – instead of being a few days, or a few weeks,
or a few months -- the breaks got shortened into an hour or less. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I really had to jam it in there, really push
through it, and the whole thing that kept me going was “I know at the end of
Grady’s books he always pulls it all together, and it’s oooookay!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean -- it’s horrifying, but it’s okay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So I’m going to keep going, and I’m going to trust that he’s going to do
it again!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that was got me through it,
and once again it was totally worth it!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Because you really do – you push your readers to a real breaking point
right along with your characters sometimes. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">You
said that you, as a writer, need to pay attention to the world around you, and
I think you <u>have</u>, very keenly, and all of that is embedded in the book
in a way that’s so real, that it absolutely cannot be denied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>GH:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>Thank you!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I really appreciate that.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>MS:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Returning to writing – what is your process
like?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know it’s long. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also know you posted about your Wall of
Crazy which I hadn’t known about before, so – could you talk a little bit about
what your process is like, now that you’re through writing <i>How to Sell a
Haunted House</i>?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>GH:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I write a lot of drafts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And generally I’ll have a first draft, and
I’ll have a lot of stuff I want to get in there, a lot of set pieces, a lot of
moments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And generally that kind of
overwhelms it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I’ll kind of drag
myself through that last third, and then I’ll put it aside a little bit. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then I’ll go back and do another draft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Really what it becomes is getting <u>rid</u>
of all this stuff I think is so cool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And focusing more and more on the characters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And really narrowing down on them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">And
then I always have a big wall ahead of me [the aforementioned Wall of Crazy]
that has a lot of visual reference on it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of it is images that have stuck with me,
and some won’t even be for that particular book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s an image of a kid wearing an old man
mask, walking up a flight of stairs, and I’ve had that up since… probably <i>My
Best Friend’s Exorcism</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No – <i>We
Sold Our Souls</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think that went up
when I was writing <i>We Sold Our Souls</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In about 2016, 2017.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that
image is really part of the impetus for <i>How to Sell a Haunted House</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So its moment has come around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">But
the big thing with the wall is visual reference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because I find it really, really hard to see
things in my head without visual reference.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">I’ll
go to the neighborhood where something’s set, and take a lot of pictures. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just really need to see it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that gets harder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because I burn through a lot of the locations
that live largest in my head. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ones
that are most familiar, I’ve done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
know?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mount Pleasant in the 80s, Mount
Pleasant in the 90s. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>LA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Places I’ve been, that I really see
clearly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve done ‘em!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So this one, Mark and Louise’s house is
actually my aunt’s house from growing up, which is always where we had family
events, and the house I like a lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So
that loomed pretty large.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">There’s
just so much reference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Especially with
a family story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A family story is all
backstory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I have the family mapped
out, probably from the time Nancy, the mom, is 7 or 8 years old, all the way
through, year by year, all the way through the book’s beginning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s this massive, almost 30,000 word
document.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But in doing that I needed a
lot of visual reference for the 60s and 70s and the 90s, especially.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What were people wearing?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What was her hair going to be like?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So that’s a big part of it, just visualizing
what I’m seeing inside my head.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because
it’s very easy to get abstract, and that’s kind of death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>To sort of like think that, “Oh, well the house had a bunch of trees in
the front yard.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, what’s a
bunch?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>3?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>11?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“She was short.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well how short
was she?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>5’1”?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Was she 4’10”?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is she 5’3”?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I find getting those specific details really helps ground me.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>MS:
</b>And it’s not – one of the great things about your books is you don’t beat
people over the head with the descriptions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s just <u>there</u>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
embedded.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>GH:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It doesn’t necessarily have to be on the
page, do you know what I mean?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I
need to be seeing it really, really clearly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">One of
my big influences from a writing point of view is Elmore Leonard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And there are a couple other writers, like
Charles Willeford is one, George V. Higgins is another, Ed McBain’s a little
bit of one, in the sense that they really pare things down to the absolute
minimum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s more work to write the
minimum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>MS:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>[laughs]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And people don’t realize
that.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">So,
you mentioned writing multiple drafts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Do you start from scratch for each one?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Or are you <u>re-</u>writing?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>GH:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s writing, and re-writing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The start of the book, that first chapter,
that really didn’t appear until Draft 3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Probably?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so yeah, I’m always
rewriting, but trying to add things, and drill down on them a little more, and
really take out what doesn’t matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
with <i>How to Sell a Haunted </i>House, the last third of this book changed
radically.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first one took place in
Vermont, the second one took place in upstate South Carolina, the third one
took place in Charleston again, but it was way out on the highway, in sort of a
funpark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRabAYkHW4WJizchX7dsNofdpi_V9RsjciTWSLyBlv7pUu0jU8AgcGm4jmI2rYJ8-Ef7LYSNxMyvgKd8_u2NQLKOly_NwDe6owBnS5EcnJE2ribmk4IahjJpYvwj0umA9pPAGt8a8bOQFJ3aB_07MqDt6ZXp7-aStHCds1P3vDCaT1hS6gg4WOzkL3Aw/s4032/grady-hendrix_wallofcrazy1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRabAYkHW4WJizchX7dsNofdpi_V9RsjciTWSLyBlv7pUu0jU8AgcGm4jmI2rYJ8-Ef7LYSNxMyvgKd8_u2NQLKOly_NwDe6owBnS5EcnJE2ribmk4IahjJpYvwj0umA9pPAGt8a8bOQFJ3aB_07MqDt6ZXp7-aStHCds1P3vDCaT1hS6gg4WOzkL3Aw/s320/grady-hendrix_wallofcrazy1.jpg" width="240" /></a></b></div><b><br />MS:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>Returning to your Wall of Crazy, I notice it has
a lot of food on it for this one?<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>GH:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Yeah. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>MS:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>My friend Sharon that I’m doing a mystery
fiction blog with, she’s super food-obsessed, and she wanted to know if there
were any of those recipes or food-related things – if there was a recipe you
wanted to share that tied closely to the book.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>GH:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, not really.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean, those were all … me trying to get my
head around 90s food. For me, the way into Nancy, the mom, and her character,
was really the fact that she was a very enthusiastic but very baaad cook.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that’s always a Southern tragedy, because
if you’re a mom in the South, you’re expected to not only cook, but to love
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And to cook a certain kind of food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think there’s a lot of pressure on people,
on moms, for that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So that was why the
Wall of Crazy was so food-focused.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
idea of – she’s cookin’ and cookin’ and looking up new recipes, and getting exotic,
and experimenting, and treating it like this creative outlet, and the family is
just dreading eeeeverything she produces, because it’s awful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those recipes were more like, “Let me get in
that headspace.” I would feel like I was causing a health hazard to share any
of them.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifY1CmstjDW5CyZAfMKdbVgsENL3yWFQJUDR_7Gf9uWJEROlP3Y3XbJ4fMIxikfiPaXXq-bxdG418ZTqttVX9Q7HnGFpyDGMMh0Zod9-WWZlUKTkVn9QvbglIcmirShmxz9B_7E3SiHP7Oeaqm-bD7zguf4MLozZO3_zMvO64rwJUtTiStXG5Gx4Z87A/s844/grady-hendrix_PFH.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="844" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifY1CmstjDW5CyZAfMKdbVgsENL3yWFQJUDR_7Gf9uWJEROlP3Y3XbJ4fMIxikfiPaXXq-bxdG418ZTqttVX9Q7HnGFpyDGMMh0Zod9-WWZlUKTkVn9QvbglIcmirShmxz9B_7E3SiHP7Oeaqm-bD7zguf4MLozZO3_zMvO64rwJUtTiStXG5Gx4Z87A/s320/grady-hendrix_PFH.jpeg" width="227" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b><br />MS:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With the exception of maybe <i>My Best
Friend’s Exorcism</i>, your covers don’t generally follow the Paperbacks from
Hell model, but have you noticed because of reading all of those crazy novels
from the 70s and 80s, especially horror novels – have the Paperbacks from Hell
influenced your own writing?</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>GH:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>Yeah, I guess they have, in two ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One is – and mostly they’re examples of what <u>not</u>
to do – but the big thing I’ve realized is just how many of those books,
especially when you get to certain publishers like Pinnacle or Zebra, how much
those books were padded, and how much the cover was designed to sell the book,
but often had little to do with the interior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And you realize that <u>so</u> violates the contract with the
reader.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And you realize that some of
these books really get wild, in terms of what happens, but without being
emotionally engaged with the characters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">They
were all in an arms race, how to be bigger and more over-the-top and more
extreme, but they left behind the reader.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And since not much happens, in terms of scale, in <i>How to Sell a
Haunted House</i> -- there’s not a big body count -- but I found if you get
readers really emotionally invested in the characters, then even the small
things feel big, because they feel big to the characters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">I will
say the positive thing I got from the Paperbacks from Hell, is that there are
some writers like Elizabeth Engstrom, or Michael McDowell, who are really,
really good stylists. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They really helped
teach me what I can get away with, and that’s always good to see.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></b></p><b>
</b><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>MS:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was reading your little writeup you did on
Tor about the book and about ghosts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>[Note:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can read the article here:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://www.tor.com/2023/01/10/how-to-sell-a-haunted-house-the-economic-realities-of-owning-a-haunted-property/">https://www.tor.com/2023/01/10/how-to-sell-a-haunted-house-the-economic-realities-of-owning-a-haunted-property/</a>]
I assume you’re always looking at ghost stories, in your work, as you’re
researching. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you have a favorite
little tiny ghost story tidbit, a detail from a ghost story that is your
favorite thing?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>GH:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>One of the things I love is Sir Walter
Scott.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was April in 1625, and he was
out riding in Highgate. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had snowed,
and he suddenly had this insight that freezing could preserve meat, and keep it
from rotting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So he found a chicken and
chopped off its head, and plucked it, and packed it with snow, to show that the
ice could preserve meat over a course of several days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in the process of doing that he got
pneumonia and died!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">To
this day, people believe that at Highgate they’ve seen the ghost of a plucked
headless chicken running around, roosting in trees and dropping down on people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was seen in WWII, some of the air wardens
would chase it, thinking it was an escaped chicken they could catch and
eat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The last report of it was in the
70s, but I love the idea of this ghost chicken without a head, clucking its way
through Highgate.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>MS:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>I do too!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>[laughing]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Highgate is like a
high-strangeness nexus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Isn’t there the
Highgate Vampire and all that other stuff there?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So there’s much more serious stories at
Highgate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that’s a beautiful
complement to them! </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">I know
your family has teachers in it, and you’ve obviously grown up reading from a
young age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How did you wind up starting
to read as a kid?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did you have any
favorite early books that you started with?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>GH:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My family were big readers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Even my dad, who only reads hardcover non-fiction about World War
II.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is <u>always</u> reading.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that probably comes from his family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He grew up pretty poor in upstate South
Carolina in the country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But his mom was
a schoolteacher, and so reading was always a big deal in that family, and
education.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And my mom’s family – she was
a big reader from the time she was a kid.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">So for
my family, from the time we were all kids, you always had a book with you, and
you weren’t allowed to be bored.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
you’re waiting in the doctor’s office, you’re expected to be reading.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If it’s a long car trip, you’ve got a
book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To this day, my sisters and I
don’t go anywhere without taking a book, because you might wind up in line, and
then you’ll read!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">As a
kid, magazines were fine, newspapers were fine, comic books were fine, books
that were kind of age-inappropriate – as long as it was <u>reading</u>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My parents were pretty permissive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean, I wasn’t allowed to see R-rated
movies, and we didn’t get cable until very late, but books, they really didn’t
care.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">I
remember there were a couple of books when I was really little – <i>Robert the
Rose Horse</i> was one that I was <u>huge</u> on, I’d read that once a week,
sit in the library and read it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was
really a big one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Library trips were a
big, big deal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was big on knights as a
kid, so I read lots of books about knights, and I also had a thing about
underwater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I <u>loved</u> underwater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So if a book was a picture book that had
stuff underwater, I was all in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
was a pirate book that had an underwater bit in it that I would read over and
over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDxid4L91ou0rv9agUXSKUmOs83HBPZiEp1dOfzOMVlJBEpNniNzlcKvtcD9A_LjFkW8sk3m2MSfb9jW58NICwTAo_ybQpaXQTWVjhMqHbiqTUcNyG9QivBn3-POvMqtlgplm6eO4vexNnJiUBjrFX58PzBpNriOVEkKq3zbLj0sB99Sxt3yrsXMYVGA/s464/folkloremythslegendsUK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDxid4L91ou0rv9agUXSKUmOs83HBPZiEp1dOfzOMVlJBEpNniNzlcKvtcD9A_LjFkW8sk3m2MSfb9jW58NICwTAo_ybQpaXQTWVjhMqHbiqTUcNyG9QivBn3-POvMqtlgplm6eO4vexNnJiUBjrFX58PzBpNriOVEkKq3zbLj0sB99Sxt3yrsXMYVGA/s320/folkloremythslegendsUK.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><br />The real
big one for me happened because my dad worked in England in Guy’s Hospital for
about a year and a half when I was 6 turning 7, so we lived in Dulwich, sort of
south London, during that time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we
rented a house from these folks, and this was in the 70s, so this was very
brown corduroy damp London.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the
library at this house had this big, black fake leather book, and it took me
forever to figure out what it was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
only learned it a few years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was
the Reader’s Digest book called <i>Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">I
never want to see it again, because I’m not sure it would live up to my memory
of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">As a
kid, I was fascinated by it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was
heavily illustrated, it was full of really gritty gothic kinds of legends, and
it made England make a lot of sense to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There were pictures of witches being hung, and people in gibbets, and I
remember really vividly a woman who had her hands tied to the clapper of a big
bell, and it was being rung.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All this
stuff!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I knew that I shouldn’t be
reading it, but I would take it and hide it and read it every chance I
got.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">It just
really made England make sense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because
my parents were really into the whole, “Okay, it’s the weekend, we’re going to
drive to this country home, or this circle of stones, or this church.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were always doing these cultural things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reading the book, it was like, “Oh, this
cultural home? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had priests’ holes,
where Catholic priests would hide, and then the agents of the queen would drag
them out and torture them to death.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or
this circle of standing stones where druids would go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It just made the country seem not the gray,
rainy place I was looking at, but this place that had all of this amazing
bloodshed and history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">And
you know, it’s funny.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not sure
there’s such a thing as an inappropriate book for a kid, honestly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unless it’s hardcore porn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just feel like – I mean, I read so much
stuff that I’m not sure I’d be allowed to read if I was a kid today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>None of it did me any harm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even the stuff that upset me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Learning how to deal with the upset was
important.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>MS:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Digesting it, and learning what to do with
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah it’s true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was constantly being <u>told</u> I was
reading inappropriate stuff, because I was reading at grade levels way higher
than I should have been, so I was constantly invading parts of the library
which had very serious or saucy material that I shouldn’t have been touching,
so I would get redirected constantly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My
references to that are probably a reflection of that constant pushback.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>GH:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s funny.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>People talk about how boys don’t read, they give up reading around 12,
or whenever they get heavily involved with videogames, that seems to be the
time.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>MS:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It used to be sports.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>GH:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>Yeah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And I used to read so much adult sexually explicit material when I was
13, 14, and really violent stuff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was
really big on men’s adventure fiction, military fiction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And really intense stuff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that’s what I wanted at 14, and 13, and
12.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wanted that stuff!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wanted to read something more adult.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And honestly, I really am not sure any of it
did me any harm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean even the
super-upsetting stuff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We used to have
those big bound volumes of Life Magazine photography.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was reading those from the time I was 8 or
9, and my dad was really into WWII, so he had the Time-Life series of WWII,
which has a whole volume dedicated to the Holocaust.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I was seeing pictures of concentration
camps and the picture of the girl with the napalm, and things like that by the
time I was 9 or 8.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">They <u>were</u>
upsetting, but they were also – I don’t know – they made me feel like there was
a larger world out there, where serious real things happened, that maybe I
couldn’t process yet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was fascinated
by the images but I didn’t want to know more about them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I got older, I did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it was the idea that there were things
out there that weren’t quite okay yet.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>MS:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think that’s a very good point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember I would go through phases where I
would be really into stuff like that, and then I would step away from it and
refuse to look at anything like that for a while, and then I’d be curious
again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think it also gives kids a
sense of – I don’t know – <u>choice</u>, and agency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At this point in your life, you can choose
whether you want to look at this stuff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As an adult, you might not have that choice any more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a rare moment in life.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>GH:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think you’re right about the sense of
agency – I mean, there was stuff I read that was wildly inappropriate, and I
would recite the plot to my mom and dad, and it would be really violent, or
sexually explicit, because I had an adult library card from a young age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d be reading stuff like science fiction
that was <u>really</u> raunchy sometimes, and they would just talk it
through.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t imagine what it would
have been like to mention that to my parents, and have them react in a way that
made me think I’d somehow done something wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That would have been weird, I would have really shut down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>MS:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>That actually touches on something about this
book, because there’s the terrifying things that happen, like I kind of want to
ask you about “the Inside Out Man who lived in the trees” but I also don’t,
because <u>not</u> knowing about him is somehow much scarier, I think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the real horror story beyond the puppets
and the haunted house and the ghosts, is the horror of what families refuse to
talk about, and how that is inherited generation by generation by the kids, and
affects them, because of that choice not to talk about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It sounds like your family communicated with
each other, which is wonderful.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>GH:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes and no.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My family was very locked down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My immediate family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when my
parents got divorced, I was around 12 or 13 years old, and after that – that
turned out to be a great thing, because that wrecked this illusion that we were
this perfect family, which my family worked very, very hard to project.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Matching outfits, doing all this kind of
stuff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And after the divorce – and my
youngest sister was probably 19 when my parents got divorced – since then, my
sisters and I really have this sort of unspoken rule where we’ll talk about
anything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no such thing as a family
secret.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Probably it’s an overcorrection
in the other direction? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">Obviously
you’re not going to say anything that’s going to embarrass or humiliate someone
in public, but everyone has these issues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>These are all just human things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re
just life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And to treat them as
something that “shall not be spoken” I think just gives them too much
weight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we’ll just talk about it
all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s something I was very
conscious of from a young age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And after
growing up with, “Oh don’t talk about this subject or that subject,” to have
that removed was so liberating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>MS:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>Out of all the things I can see in the shifts
of the last several generations, I feel like the current span of the folks
probably 50 down through 20s, is that hopefully there is a better culture for
that now, where you <u>do</u> talk about all that stuff because the weight it
carries when it’s not spoken about can heavily damage everybody.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Worse than the hurt and shock you might feel
when you’re initially talking about it. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>GH:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well and it’s also a two-edged sword.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m writing a book right now about a home for
unwed mothers, back in the 70s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have
people in our family who were “sent away.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>On the one hand, that was a horrorshow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>On the other hand, they wouldn’t have gotten a fair shake if they’d
stayed in their communities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You stay
home and you have a baby when you’re not married and you will be ostracized,
and the rumors will ruin you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So not
talking about it was a bit of a mercy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At the same time, you had someone mothering, giving birth to a child,
that they then give away and never talk about again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">There
is no right or wrong there, they’re both wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s a really weird thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve
definitely seen the older members in our family as they got older, both of them
have passed away now, but when they were older sort of come to terms with that,
and have that become something that they were comfortable talking about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It really was amazing to see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was sort of like watching someone solve
the problem of their life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They just
became very different people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a good
way.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>MS:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>Yeah, it creates a sea change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s like a tidal shift that affects
everything as it runs into your future.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>GH:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>But at the same time, in 1962, how would you
have gotten married if people knew you’d had some other man’s baby?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It would have been almost unthinkable, except
for a few people.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>MS:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>At the time, that was how it had to be
done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was the safest way to do
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">For my
very last question, and then I’ll let you [laughs] continue on your route to
Savannah – As I was reading the book, I had moments where I was just like, “Oh
my gosh, he’s putting me through the wringer, I can’t handle this, AAAHHHHH!!!”
One of those points happened when I was reading the parts where the possibility
of possession is examined, and I actually scribbled down on my scratchpad,
half-angry, half-exasperated, half-genuinely-wondering, “Do you ever get
possessed by your books as you’re writing them?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>GH:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>Um, I wouldn’t say “possessed,” but when writing
a book, you focus very intently on something entirely made up, and bunch of
imaginary playmates, and you do that for 10 months, 12 months, 13, 14 months. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There does come a point where that, and the
stakes of the book, seem a lot more real than the world around you. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The book becomes the lens you see the world
through.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">It really
does become this strange and difficult-to-describe process where there’s a back
and forth between the book and your life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When I wrote <i>My Best Friend’s Exorcism</i> about those high school
friends who disappear, my best friend from high school out of the blue got in
touch with me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We hadn’t spoken in
fifteen years, maybe longer? We see each other a lot now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrzCuCGrNATiy1TnP1pXEaiBQHHjM0U3ia5tGojjNCcg_htCoe0G2L4mzaFNljlsR8OsUg0zCOhvrxANA3B9KqMFyidHSrQBmxxNju3zugdm-q8IScWg2BKK7K7bkrYNWbh3P8U6XVBlum9ExP73NIhNaanS3_UsGCK2F6XBF7biCbnsSnjG0zRX2EUg/s900/grady-hendrix_WSOS-cvr.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrzCuCGrNATiy1TnP1pXEaiBQHHjM0U3ia5tGojjNCcg_htCoe0G2L4mzaFNljlsR8OsUg0zCOhvrxANA3B9KqMFyidHSrQBmxxNju3zugdm-q8IScWg2BKK7K7bkrYNWbh3P8U6XVBlum9ExP73NIhNaanS3_UsGCK2F6XBF7biCbnsSnjG0zRX2EUg/s320/grady-hendrix_WSOS-cvr.jpeg" width="213" /></a></i></div><i><br />We
Sold Our Souls</i><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">,
which is sort of the book about not giving up and keeping going, was really
around the time I was thinking about quitting writing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was just not going well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that book, writing that book, really got
me through that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">Writing
<i>How to Sell a Haunted House </i>got me through the pandemic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was away from my family, I missed them, and
so I had an imaginary family I could spend time with and think about, and focus
on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My parents both had really serious
health scares, and my siblings and I, as I was writing this book, hit a point
in our lives where we had to sort of start figuring out, “What are we going to
do when our parents die?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do we stay a
family?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do we stay in touch?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do we … what do we do?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How does a family look after that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">Every
single one of these books has been such a part of my life that it would be very
hard to give that up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></b></p><b>
</b><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>MS:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>Talk about a sea change, right?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each one has an effect…</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAgUK0gIPgsgSoHlNZtBi3grXzG6WW7nxneUVBpnGTt3lLFLise6iejIKokjBiJBLcl9-4294FPA5PAu-i0Jtix9bXC9V22LOCHr4_vLFGY29DDLpwtIyROtvz8dHcTqm1z_g73BKIsJZjdgwxDqiqXG6A1401u-83hzciFct4tDGWqdmGwWPIZp_B4A/s860/grady-hendrix_TFBB_cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="645" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAgUK0gIPgsgSoHlNZtBi3grXzG6WW7nxneUVBpnGTt3lLFLise6iejIKokjBiJBLcl9-4294FPA5PAu-i0Jtix9bXC9V22LOCHr4_vLFGY29DDLpwtIyROtvz8dHcTqm1z_g73BKIsJZjdgwxDqiqXG6A1401u-83hzciFct4tDGWqdmGwWPIZp_B4A/s320/grady-hendrix_TFBB_cover.jpg" width="240" /></a></b></div><b><br />GH:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>Well you know, it’s funny.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wrote <i>These Fists Break Bricks </i>with
this guy Chris Poggiali. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a
non-fiction book about kung fu movies coming to America, and that’s very much a
story about black martial arts and Latin martial arts and Asian martial arts in
America, and what that meant in the 70s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Chris and I were doing the most amount of writing on that book during
the George Floyd protests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So it was
like we were back in the 70s and watching that history still moving around
us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;">It’s
such a huge part of my life now, I’d have a hard time giving it up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These books are me.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>MS:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>Well I hope you never do, because after you
write them, they become part of our lives, and we get to partake in that too,
so … thank you!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thank you for writing,
and thank you for putting them out there and getting them into our hands.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>GH:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>Oh yeah!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well I love it.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>MS:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thinking in terms of your new show, do you
have any warnings or promises for the audience of your April talk here in
Portland?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>GH:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span>All I’ll say is that it’s going to change
your life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will supercharge your
selling abilities, and you will really, really come away from it knowing that
if a situation arises, you will be fully capable of putting a haunted house on
the market.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"> </span></b></p><b>
</b><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Century Gothic",sans-serif;"><b>MS:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>Hey, everyone should join us!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Grady will be coming back to Portland, Maine,
to appear at SPACE Gallery the evening of Wednesday, April 26.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Keep your eye peeled for event info! And meanwhile, if you haven't yet, you should grab a copy of <i>How to Sell a Haunted House</i> and read it for yourself!<br /></span></p>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>Michelle Soulierehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02896807228114420113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8269001446472174774.post-6608551189747796422022-10-07T12:50:00.001-04:002022-10-07T12:50:44.659-04:00Author talk: Morgan Talty at Thompson Free Library!<p>For those of you who were unable to attend the Morgan Talty author talk last night, held at the Thompson Free Library in Dover-Foxcroft, Jon Knepp has been so kind as to post the video recording of the talk online for folks to watch whenever they want! Jon's introduction is below. Enjoy!<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV1u0_y2hOPyv2QNJhFezCkcanf6jeeep4sO65SAwUH3gOuDQKu73xycRohLBfQ9sJOh3plWePy44sggCOKmnLaxU-gqpO9nO4ka8JbBRPHu_5AcxAcmntgLJdIz_xaQ2eDJSiboF85eDY5C1CJ4Z7T6vyzrT2guw9oqRFI0G91BuXdwgWlcay0EQ9Jg/s2304/unnamed.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2304" data-original-width="1728" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV1u0_y2hOPyv2QNJhFezCkcanf6jeeep4sO65SAwUH3gOuDQKu73xycRohLBfQ9sJOh3plWePy44sggCOKmnLaxU-gqpO9nO4ka8JbBRPHu_5AcxAcmntgLJdIz_xaQ2eDJSiboF85eDY5C1CJ4Z7T6vyzrT2guw9oqRFI0G91BuXdwgWlcay0EQ9Jg/s320/unnamed.png" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 20px;"><b>Youtube Recording of Author Morgan Talty in Conversation with Lisa Sockabasin</b></span></div>
<div><br />
<span style="font-size: 16px;">Because we've had a lot of interest,
I wanted to share the Youtube link to our program last night with author
Morgan Talty (<i>Night of the Living Rez</i>) and Lisa Sockabasin, co-CEO of Wabanaki Public Health and
Wellness. <br />
<br />
The program was amazing, a good mix of social issues, the indigenous
experience in Maine, Morgan and Lisa's personal experiences, and
Morgan's writing process, all with Morgan's dark humor mixed in. We even
got to hear Morgan read some of his negative Amazon reviews, which was
hilarious There were also some heart-warming moments that I don't want to spoil! <br />
<br />
Morgan's book is awesome. A must-read if you haven't already. <br />
<br />
Please click on the link below to watch the recording and feel free to share with those who missed the event:</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 16px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD2mqOcCDQ8">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD2mqOcCDQ8</a><br /></span></div>Michelle Soulierehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02896807228114420113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8269001446472174774.post-58935031571260661372022-04-14T21:25:00.000-04:002022-04-14T21:25:15.646-04:00VIDEO: Author talk with Joe Lansdale about his new book "Born for Trouble"!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfYQr84nmkbLeF4g8vDENJ77gjKivRfvVT49tohQhNV6KjCncgbOnqiXbm3XIc0HisY-HMFVB8-DP336O64VTJDceT4bZUEQLVo6eGBVhcFXuGjbWJnFIgzSeo7N797z5giJKebKQjKyQlC3dPtPJ4oSkTZ_yLA15SSlJd7V4cPRsVaDrmWFCx50af-A/s1440/lansdale-talk-flyer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1440" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfYQr84nmkbLeF4g8vDENJ77gjKivRfvVT49tohQhNV6KjCncgbOnqiXbm3XIc0HisY-HMFVB8-DP336O64VTJDceT4bZUEQLVo6eGBVhcFXuGjbWJnFIgzSeo7N797z5giJKebKQjKyQlC3dPtPJ4oSkTZ_yLA15SSlJd7V4cPRsVaDrmWFCx50af-A/s320/lansdale-talk-flyer.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Hi everyone! I had a great chat with Joe during our Zoom author talk
this evening. If you missed the event, you can watch the video here.
Enjoy!<br data-mce-bogus="1" /><p></p><p><a data-mce-href="https://youtu.be/2jvD0qJP3Iw" href="https://youtu.be/2jvD0qJP3Iw" title="Zoom author talk with Joe R. Lansdale about his new Hap & Leonard book "Born for Trouble" and more">https://youtu.be/2jvD0qJP3Iw</a><br data-mce-bogus="1" /></p>If you'd like to order a signed copy of <em>Born for Trouble</em>, you can do that from us here: <a data-mce-href="https://greenhandbookshop.com/products/hap-leonard-born-for-trouble-by-joe-r-lansdale-signed" href="https://greenhandbookshop.com/products/hap-leonard-born-for-trouble-by-joe-r-lansdale-signed" title="link to product page for signed copy of Lansdale's new book, "Born for Trouble"">https://greenhandbookshop.com/products/hap-leonard-born-for-trouble-by-joe-r-lansdale-signed</a>Michelle Soulierehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02896807228114420113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8269001446472174774.post-43123702463035304122022-03-31T16:56:00.006-04:002022-03-31T16:56:37.996-04:00A Poet's Life in film - upcoming event at SPACE!<p> <span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql b0tq1wua a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d9wwppkn hrzyx87i jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"></span>Hi everyone! I know a lot of you are either deeply interested in poetry (and the creative process) or are poets yourself -- I thought you'd like to know about this upcoming event at <span><span class="nc684nl6"><span>SPACE</span></span></span> Gallery!</p><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgngGKl2H6AQpbmNvgBhTHKS9YINBAl3trTRYAOzr0IxCrx-eQuJ6DDu821EsjAwYyoYBuCYkm0OqdZZ3WQvYl3ujlmQ3_2jO9bDu1aZMHUNlTSCWM5_q3I8p7N9eU3OwFg6CPAXtQ0pHUh3r-I5uX7mLDcAx1VazwzQcMKph5aWX4lj4OZFcAIi7p44w/s810/Screen%20Shot%202022-03-29%20at%208.41.30%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="618" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgngGKl2H6AQpbmNvgBhTHKS9YINBAl3trTRYAOzr0IxCrx-eQuJ6DDu821EsjAwYyoYBuCYkm0OqdZZ3WQvYl3ujlmQ3_2jO9bDu1aZMHUNlTSCWM5_q3I8p7N9eU3OwFg6CPAXtQ0pHUh3r-I5uX7mLDcAx1VazwzQcMKph5aWX4lj4OZFcAIi7p44w/s320/Screen%20Shot%202022-03-29%20at%208.41.30%20AM.png" width="244" /></a></div><br /></div></div><p></p><div class="" dir="auto"><div class="ecm0bbzt hv4rvrfc ihqw7lf3 dati1w0a" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id="jsc_c_5i"><div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t ew0dbk1b irj2b8pg"><div class="qzhwtbm6 knvmm38d"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql b0tq1wua a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d9wwppkn hrzyx87i jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">FILM SCREENING: Ruth Stone's Vast Library of the Female Mind</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Director Nora Jacobson and Poet Chard DeNiord appearing in person </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2022</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">7:00 PM to 8:45 PM</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">38 CONGRESS ST, PORTLAND, ME 04101</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span><a class="oajrlxb2 g5ia77u1 qu0x051f esr5mh6w e9989ue4 r7d6kgcz rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 nc684nl6 p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of lzcic4wl gpro0wi8 py34i1dx" href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mainewriters.org%2Fcalendar%3Ftag%3DPortland%26fbclid%3DIwAR1BFRLiQsYPqeGz5eZ4l_JZSk92b2RQqb9u2fdNYSNIbbhYNuQdLKP8ANs&h=AT3X3puG7OJ7_9e1-V7V4SqJUFwzbhaY9rh8rs5i3Px2F0GgbE3ZYbZteEb-p8TwI1SzMay4gpIOBvnSEfBQimdG6u9X03TX_Hgs7-V0zdChbI7inh4M7Dcd9tuwyERGUhicFhU&__tn__=-UK-R&c[0]=AT3A-yujRPxjLsftCoPt_uUuBstNT2sgY2TMx1KPRi-JoY5auKe_g3-1vDlBwADb4yl7cMK9gyXrz2u-etjmyqGjIwkMQM-PX78MGGBW9auvggFqwqnQDrxqn92Tz9aNQXHmzzHTnBuX2oity6oChEi3JT58riLakSciFm6cCBOmO5yh" rel="nofollow noopener" role="link" tabindex="0" target="_blank">https://www.mainewriters.org/calendar?tag=Portland</a></span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Ruth Stone was a promising young poet, living an idyllic life with her beloved husband Walter Stone, a poet and professor when he died unexpectedly by suicide in 1959. Already a published poet with one book out titled In An Iridescent Time at the time of Walter's death, Ruth found a way to continue writing while raising her three young daughters and teaching at various universities around the country as an itinerant poet. Nora Jacobson's film Ruth Stone's Vast Library of the Female Mind chronicles Stone's heroic life story as a poet, mother, and teacher in a 76 minute film that leaves its viewers inspired, enlightened, entertained, and uplifted. A visually beautiful film, that incorporates rare archival footage and hand-made animation by Ruth's granddaughter Bianca, Ruth Stone's Vast Library of the Female Mind captures the rural grist of Stone's heroic career, leaving no question as to why she has become both a Vermont and national treasure.</div></div></span></div></div></div></div>Michelle Soulierehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02896807228114420113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8269001446472174774.post-35248368536587980342022-01-27T16:15:00.001-05:002022-01-27T16:15:38.299-05:00Author event: Joe R. Lansdale with Green Hand Bookshop on April 14th!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgd6a1Fs49BU5_g7EdQ2Ewo_25qiDI8VNkWktw6HSTSAvtHv6YRxsb4CRogAUjebc9PgoRaEVSqSrjvim91mQXGyMWliAms3VNcwfOyLv71F_DagmhnYXT736e6oITLTNjrRW8efT84IkcJu9pqPViVv00JmLmG-f4QPjUJIXFdNX8KLfbBDXbRIPoLMQ=s1000" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgd6a1Fs49BU5_g7EdQ2Ewo_25qiDI8VNkWktw6HSTSAvtHv6YRxsb4CRogAUjebc9PgoRaEVSqSrjvim91mQXGyMWliAms3VNcwfOyLv71F_DagmhnYXT736e6oITLTNjrRW8efT84IkcJu9pqPViVv00JmLmG-f4QPjUJIXFdNX8KLfbBDXbRIPoLMQ=s320" width="256" /></a></div><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql b0tq1wua a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d9wwppkn hrzyx87i jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Exciting news! We’ll be doing a Zoom talk with one of my favorite authors, Joe R. Lansdale, on <b>Thurs APRIL 14th at 6:00pm EST</b>. </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">You can preregister at <span><a class="oajrlxb2 g5ia77u1 qu0x051f esr5mh6w e9989ue4 r7d6kgcz rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 nc684nl6 p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of lzcic4wl gpro0wi8 py34i1dx" href="https://tinyurl.com/LansdaleTrouble?fbclid=IwAR1gPVPxxOiK6mXSng1U9HloIHWqbdFzhwiQM314K9LYwce06J2U7kZZErs" rel="nofollow noopener" role="link" tabindex="0" target="_blank">https://tinyurl.com/LansdaleTrouble</a></span> !!!</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">We will be discussing his new book, <i>Born for Trouble: the Further Adventures of Hap & Leonard</i>, a collection of deliciously dark short stories about those two Texas rascals.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">The talk is free, and meanwhile we will have signed copies of the book when it is released on March 21st.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">In Edgar Award winner Joe R. Lansdale’s newest Hap and Leonard story collection, the boys are back, with more righteous ass-kickings, highly improbable adventures, and disastrous fishing trips. These never-before collected tales showcase the popular not so dynamic duo, who are a little bit older, but not a whole lot wiser—Hap and Leonard were truly born for trouble.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Feel free to email me at michelle.souliere@gmail.com with any questions you have for Joe in the meantime. <br /></div></div></span><p></p>Michelle Soulierehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02896807228114420113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8269001446472174774.post-48663374393928710272021-11-04T11:19:00.009-04:002021-11-10T14:47:27.614-05:00Our first "virtual" event! Christopher Golden & Josh Malerman talk "Ghoul n' the Cape"!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgie2JxaJFYeUUiwnMv9l1p5GaPVfxRWFvrTDIipIVe7EV1UVNSQ7y-83qbsaVe_drbxTETWRgV33DZY_-N6WN67vHmBu5nns8O8wFotniTJU08DCopETJofXT7AxD2LXyOfzNeTINiLCW5/s1920/IMG_0126.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1254" data-original-width="1920" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgie2JxaJFYeUUiwnMv9l1p5GaPVfxRWFvrTDIipIVe7EV1UVNSQ7y-83qbsaVe_drbxTETWRgV33DZY_-N6WN67vHmBu5nns8O8wFotniTJU08DCopETJofXT7AxD2LXyOfzNeTINiLCW5/w400-h261/IMG_0126.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><p><br /> A big THANK YOU! to <a href="http://earthlingpub.com/">Earthling Publications</a>,
fellow creative New Englanders, for summoning up this meeting of the
minds. What fantastical foment will occur? You will have to tune in to
find out! Registration link is now LIVE, thank you for your patience as we sorted that all out.</p><p>Please click here to register: <a href="https://www.crowdcast.io/e/josh-malerman-/register">https://www.crowdcast.io/e/josh-malerman-/register</a><br /></p><p>Join us on the evening of Thursday, Nov 18 at 7:00pm EST for a rare and
entertaining evening of bookish discussion and wild speculation!<br /></p>Michelle Soulierehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02896807228114420113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8269001446472174774.post-51582451289069245362021-09-26T11:53:00.003-04:002021-09-26T11:53:53.740-04:00Thinking ahead...<p>Hi everyone!</p><p>I know the holiday season is far from everyone's minds right now, but I just wanted to pass forward some information that has been bubbling up from the publishing/shipping industry so that you all have fair warning.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgv-z3ag5k1HnIfr6gbeejzzc7sWuH2PAsDK0JkV6bqGyii80Eo7RjFobewX-UbbrzX7PVHGsH0pKo4pvdZFhd4rLQ1a1dyXHVgqH3qO8GwCbOBwzJjopilkLPMprYHGpeIW7sLDditSml/s599/vintage-green-bookstack_w-Qmark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="599" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgv-z3ag5k1HnIfr6gbeejzzc7sWuH2PAsDK0JkV6bqGyii80Eo7RjFobewX-UbbrzX7PVHGsH0pKo4pvdZFhd4rLQ1a1dyXHVgqH3qO8GwCbOBwzJjopilkLPMprYHGpeIW7sLDditSml/w200-h178/vintage-green-bookstack_w-Qmark.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>If you have items that you are interested in getting specifically for various folks in your lives for holiday gifts, please consider ordering them as early as possible, perhaps even now. I am happy to special order any titles you are seeking to gift new copies of to friends and family (or yourself!).<br /><p></p><p>Booksellers (including myself now that I'm selling new books too) have been alerted that the book industry supply chain is facing a number of challenges going into late 2021, including truck driver shortages and lack of freight capacity, warehouse labor shortages, congested ports, and extremely high shipping container costs. These disruptions stem from global setbacks during the past year. We are already seeing this happen, and it will continue to cause unpredictable delays on orders placed throughout the remainder of the year.</p><p>So please be aware that this situation is unfolding and now is the time to get ahead of the curve with any specific items you are hoping to put under the tree. 🎄 The last thing I want is for any of you to be disappointed or frustrated during what would otherwise be a happy season.</p><p>Of course, if you are simply buying used books, you know that is a wonderfully unpredictable quest already, so no surprises there. 😉</p><p>Now back to your regularly scheduled fall glee!!! 🎃<br /></p>Michelle Soulierehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02896807228114420113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8269001446472174774.post-5521326063569054562021-06-02T14:53:00.005-04:002021-07-08T13:00:14.513-04:00Summer hours - latest update!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNafyzwfTYjQ8tTwla2_sNUird7bPqCfitC3Ui3QIyBUd6jyYQL-hxMvsspMsK440Evojax_gYea5Ph7LZ_hg8vOsXb0y_7URpzROLztECE3W6WKcuyaZ2sYZ6faadur9yjDqFLq59Wq3-/s1516/Yellow-Sun-Graphics-Fairy.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1516" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNafyzwfTYjQ8tTwla2_sNUird7bPqCfitC3Ui3QIyBUd6jyYQL-hxMvsspMsK440Evojax_gYea5Ph7LZ_hg8vOsXb0y_7URpzROLztECE3W6WKcuyaZ2sYZ6faadur9yjDqFLq59Wq3-/w200-h198/Yellow-Sun-Graphics-Fairy.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Hi everyone!
<p></p><div class="rte" itemprop="articleBody"><p>As of July 6, we are now open Tues-Sun. Hours are 11:00-5:00 Tues-Sat, Sundays 12:00-4:00. Masks are optional for those fully vaccinated, and we do ask that customers wear a mask if not yet vaccinated.<br /></p>
<p>We are happy to expand our hours to greet those of you who are
out brunching and wandering again with the nice weather. :)</p>
</div>Michelle Soulierehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02896807228114420113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8269001446472174774.post-68141062657608639922021-03-17T12:27:00.001-04:002021-03-17T12:27:45.069-04:00The green is for luck!<p> <span data-offset-key="58go1-0-0"><span data-text="true">A candid note on an important day. </span></span></p><div data-contents="true"><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="85eb0" data-offset-key="adagv-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="adagv-0-0"><span data-offset-key="adagv-0-0"><span data-text="true">Last year my birthday was a ruthless disappointment. This year, the sun is out, there is hope on the horizon, and I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all for the support you have given to the shop in the very rough past year. Because of all of you, the Green Hand Bookshop has survived calamity to continue our mission to get good books out into the world for the foreseeable future.</span></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="85eb0" data-offset-key="47jtc-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="47jtc-0-0"><span data-offset-key="47jtc-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="85eb0" data-offset-key="29aeg-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="29aeg-0-0"><span data-offset-key="29aeg-0-0"><span data-text="true">Thank you to those who appeared out of nowhere with donations of books or much-needed funds -- or even a loaf of fresh-baked bread! -- when the hours were darkest.</span></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="85eb0" data-offset-key="2vqib-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="2vqib-0-0"><span data-offset-key="2vqib-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="85eb0" data-offset-key="5tf4i-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5tf4i-0-0"><span data-offset-key="5tf4i-0-0"><span data-text="true">Thank you to those who spread the word about the shop. I think we have more customers now than we ever had in the 11 years prior!</span></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="85eb0" data-offset-key="c1rh8-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="c1rh8-0-0"><span data-offset-key="c1rh8-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="85eb0" data-offset-key="49a04-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="49a04-0-0"><span data-offset-key="49a04-0-0"><span data-text="true">Thank you to those who have been supporting us via our Bookshop.org link, which has been helping us pay our bills in an almost miraculous way. </span></span><a href="https://bookshop.org/shop/greenhandbooks"><span class="py34i1dx"><span data-offset-key="49a04-1-0"><span data-text="true">https://bookshop.org/shop/greenhandbooks</span></span></span></a><span data-offset-key="49a04-2-0"><span data-text="true"> </span></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="49a04-0-0"><span data-offset-key="49a04-2-0"><span data-text="true">That so many of you remain interested in helping us out and rerouting money that would have gone into Jeff Bezos' pockets at Amazon has been inspiring as well as helpful!</span></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="85eb0" data-offset-key="680s8-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="680s8-0-0"><span data-offset-key="680s8-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="85eb0" data-offset-key="b1ltv-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="b1ltv-0-0"><span data-offset-key="b1ltv-0-0"><span data-text="true">Thank you to those who wanted to help but weren't able to. Good thoughts count!!!</span></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="85eb0" data-offset-key="3u1g8-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="3u1g8-0-0"><span data-offset-key="3u1g8-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="85eb0" data-offset-key="3jvtu-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="3jvtu-0-0"><span data-offset-key="3jvtu-0-0"><span data-text="true">It takes a village, and every one of us makes a difference. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. </span></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="85eb0" data-offset-key="edc58-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="edc58-0-0"><span data-offset-key="edc58-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="85eb0" data-offset-key="8bu2-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="8bu2-0-0"><span data-offset-key="8bu2-0-0"><span data-text="true">For my part I worked hard to keep the shop safe for everyone when I reopened, and that effort continues. I pushed my credit limits to broaden our selection when you began seeking out more diverse voices in your reading, something I'd wanted to do for years, but is hard to do on a secondhand basis here in very-white Maine.</span></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="85eb0" data-offset-key="27f29-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="27f29-0-0"><span data-offset-key="27f29-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="85eb0" data-offset-key="rb0v-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="rb0v-0-0"><span data-offset-key="rb0v-0-0"><span data-text="true">I hope that here at the Green Hand Bookshop we are able to serve you and your reading needs for many years to come.</span></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="85eb0" data-offset-key="1ph4f-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="1ph4f-0-0"><span data-offset-key="1ph4f-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="85eb0" data-offset-key="ahajn-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="ahajn-0-0"><span data-offset-key="ahajn-0-0"><span data-text="true">Happy Birthday to me, and Happy Reading to all of you!!! <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXbp0Img3dNjYwDjB-ZOVsxvmXIWU1apsNdlwzfZE4WoJJD90uStZgEGGURIV1kILOCrp3Xi_yei4xy9arGEAqtIV4nbWwc2HEdPd36DdmuJw_qroWP9QckH1OEhKRTX6WpjlzlfSkCuSx/s2896/greenhand_librofm-banner2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1086" data-original-width="2896" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXbp0Img3dNjYwDjB-ZOVsxvmXIWU1apsNdlwzfZE4WoJJD90uStZgEGGURIV1kILOCrp3Xi_yei4xy9arGEAqtIV4nbWwc2HEdPd36DdmuJw_qroWP9QckH1OEhKRTX6WpjlzlfSkCuSx/s320/greenhand_librofm-banner2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /></span></span></div></div></div>Michelle Soulierehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02896807228114420113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8269001446472174774.post-90622293895801945502021-03-03T22:53:00.002-05:002021-03-03T22:53:33.197-05:00Spiffing up our new website<p>Hello friends!</p><p>Greetings from the land of almost-spring Maine. I've been adding more new items to our ever-growing website, and as I do so, have started creating more categories for easy browsing.</p><p>Tonight I added some fun ones to our Non-Fiction collections:</p><p><a href="https://greenhandbookshop.com/collections/travel-with-your-mind" target="_blank">Travel</a></p><p><a href="https://greenhandbookshop.com/collections/ufos-extraterrestrials" target="_blank">UFOs</a></p><p><a href="https://greenhandbookshop.com/collections/food-cooking" target="_blank">Cookbooks & Food</a></p><p><a href="https://greenhandbookshop.com/collections/art-creativity" target="_blank">Art & Creativity</a></p><p>It's a slow process, but it's fun to see it taking shape. Please email us to let us know if there is anything you would like us to order for you, if we don't have it used. Part of the adventure of adding more new books to the mix is the ability to fill in gaps in our used selection -- books that I've wanted to have in the shop, but which rarely came in secondhand.</p><p>If you're wondering what you've missed in our new stock (I'm adding books every week!), jump on over to our <a href="https://greenhandbookshop.com/collections/new-arrivals" target="_blank">New Arrivals</a> page and you can get caught up. You might be surprised at what you find!</p><p><a href="https://greenhandbookshop.com/collections/new-arrivals">https://greenhandbookshop.com/collections/new-arrivals</a></p><p>Happy almost-spring, everyone! 🍀🐇<br /></p>Michelle Soulierehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02896807228114420113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8269001446472174774.post-67400735698749209202020-11-29T09:49:00.001-05:002020-11-29T09:49:34.490-05:00An Open Letter to those who love Portland's small businesses<p>This is an open letter to anyone who loves Portland, Maine, and all its small businesses. I have been thinking about writing this letter for months now, and finally feel like I have a moment to sit down and write out my thoughts.</p><div>Many of us love Portland in large part because of its creative and vital small businesses. In conversations with customers since reopening my bookshop in mid-July, I have come to the realization that many folks, sequestered at home, remain unaware of the widespread changes in Portland's small business landscape brought on by this year's struggle with Covid and all its attendant threats. </div><div><br /></div><div>These small businesses, which form the backbone of Portland, and make it a stand-out community, have in most cases had a terrible year. Many of us found ourselves considering whether we could or should keep our businesses functioning through Covid. Some of our peers closed down for good. Others are maintaining a modified version of their businesses, eking out a shoestring existence, trying to hang in there in spite of reduced means. Some of us have been lucky enough to have assistance from kind customers, or government crisis loans.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I urge you to take a moment to think about the small businesses in Portland that you love. Maybe it's your favorite Thai noodle place. Maybe it's one of Portland's fabulously eclectic shops which stocks a wild mix of vintage items alongside their own handmade goods. Or perhaps it's just the corner shop which makes your ideal egg sandwich. <br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgykXAAimEnfhoW1f8jWyhS1_T6MZbYVQjzNIfIXKXHl6k6GUt_8FerWI0xv74azgT46PqWxKJeiy14GM6JxnrwsSA3MfWeKnLY06KUDGB5F0_CD0pK7aG-Vze_0SSD3Zpsk0T1lQN-VTPz/s2048/greenhand-front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgykXAAimEnfhoW1f8jWyhS1_T6MZbYVQjzNIfIXKXHl6k6GUt_8FerWI0xv74azgT46PqWxKJeiy14GM6JxnrwsSA3MfWeKnLY06KUDGB5F0_CD0pK7aG-Vze_0SSD3Zpsk0T1lQN-VTPz/s320/greenhand-front.jpg" /></a></div>Whatever places you love, remember they have had to continue paying their bills all those long, bleak months. Since March, owners have lost sleep, wondering if their business would survive, or whether it was worth it to put their lives and the lives of their employees on the line to make that happen. We continue to worry over these harrowing questions every day, and over whether we are able to maintain a safe and reasonably risk-free way for our customers to shop.</div><div><br /></div><div>More small businesses won't survive this winter, having barely survived 2020, the Year of Despair.</div><div><br /></div><div>So if there are local places and unique creators that you love, think about them as you make your purchases, for both daily and special occasion needs. </div><div> </div><div>Your purchases make a big difference when you choose to buy local. You help steer the course between life and death for Portland's small businesses, a large part of Portland's creative character. You can help ensure some of Portland's heart and soul remains alive and beating to push through these next difficult months, and we promise to continue doing our best to help create a community we can all be proud of living in.</div><div><br /></div><div>Thank you Portland! Thank you Maine!</div><div> </div><div>The Green Hand is currently open limited hours for browsing, 12:00-4:00 Weds-Sat. For those at home or away, we offer easy pickup at the door, or mail order to your doorstep.</div><div> </div><div>Be well and stay safe, <br /></div><div>Michelle Souliere</div><div><div><div>The Green Hand Bookshop <br />661 Congress St<br />Portland, ME 04101<br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.greenhandbookshop.com&source=gmail&ust=1606747248749000&usg=AFQjCNFJ85Lq3TvCpO-E9QEWxA8JMp-PHg" href="https://www.greenhandbookshop.com" target="_blank">https://www.greenhandbookshop.<wbr></wbr>com</a><br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/greenhandbooks/&source=gmail&ust=1606747248750000&usg=AFQjCNHQ6XWxiOVUCAGcjAW9McD_UY-YlQ" href="https://www.facebook.com/greenhandbooks/" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/<wbr></wbr>greenhandbooks/</a><br /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.instagram.com/greenhandbooks/&source=gmail&ust=1606747248750000&usg=AFQjCNGOyc52FkfjyWntYOrmxjuwko1BnQ" href="https://www.instagram.com/greenhandbooks/" target="_blank">https://www.instagram.com/<wbr></wbr>greenhandbooks/</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Help us out by ordering new books here instead of through Amazon: <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://bookshop.org/shop/greenhandbooks&source=gmail&ust=1606747248750000&usg=AFQjCNHRU863Qg3O781qMux18oeQrhDQaQ" href="https://bookshop.org/shop/greenhandbooks" target="_blank">https://bookshop.org/shop/<wbr></wbr>greenhandbooks</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Help us out by getting your audiobooks here instead of through Amazon-owned Audible: <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://libro.fm/greenhandbooks&source=gmail&ust=1606747248750000&usg=AFQjCNGyZ1kgpAUK6h5haX-dQzbOyi_QXg" href="https://libro.fm/greenhandbooks" target="_blank">https://libro.fm/<wbr></wbr>greenhandbooks</a></div></div></div>Michelle Soulierehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02896807228114420113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8269001446472174774.post-65044636006129070312020-10-01T14:36:00.003-04:002020-10-01T14:36:48.203-04:00Another way to help<p> Another helping program we've been able to add (thanks to generous patron assistance) is a storefront on Bookshop.org!</p><p><a href="https://bookshop.org/shop/greenhandbooks">https://bookshop.org/shop/greenhandbooks</a></p><p>If you enter Bookshop.org via the above link, your purchases anywhere on the site, whether from our recommendation lists or not, will benefit us substantially. I'm not kidding -- they really do send us a generous portion of their proceeds from these purchases. It's a great way to route money out of the hands of Amazon and into the local economy, all at the same time.<br /></p><p>This new addition lets you buy new books from us that we don't have in stock, and sends them directly to your doorstep. Safe and easy!</p><p> I'll be adding more recommended reading in coming weeks if you're looking for ideas as to what to read next. <br /></p><p>Thank you everyone for your support! We wouldn't be here without you all taking the time to help out in little ways like this.<br /></p>Michelle Soulierehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02896807228114420113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8269001446472174774.post-25452885213054719732020-09-25T19:39:00.004-04:002020-09-25T19:41:36.333-04:00If you like to listen to your books... read on!<p> Hi everyone! This is a note to say that if you want to support the shop, but are more likely to listen to audiobooks these days, you can still help out! </p><p>We are now signed up with <span>Libro.fm</span>, and when you buy from or subscribe to their audiobook library via their Green Hand Bookshop page, we will receive a portion of the proceeds. This is also a great way to move away from using Amazon-owned companies such as Audible.<br /></p><p>Thank you in advance for your support! <span class="pq6dq46d tbxw36s4 knj5qynh kvgmc6g5 ditlmg2l oygrvhab nvdbi5me sf5mxxl7 gl3lb2sf hhz5lgdu"><img alt="😃" height="16" src="https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/t51/1/16/1f603.png" width="16" /></span> And... happy reading, however you enjoy your books!</p><div dir="auto"><div class="ecm0bbzt hv4rvrfc ihqw7lf3 dati1w0a" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id="jsc_c_3r"><div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t ew0dbk1b irj2b8pg"><div class="qzhwtbm6 knvmm38d"><a href="https://libro.fm/greenhandbooks"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql gk29lw5a a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d9wwppkn fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb hrzyx87i jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"></span></a><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql gk29lw5a a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d9wwppkn fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb hrzyx87i jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><a href="https://libro.fm/greenhandbooks"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span>https://libro.fm/greenhandbooks</span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span> </span></div></a><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><a href="https://libro.fm/greenhandbooks"><span> <br /></span></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://libro.fm/greenhandbooks"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinozVFhrl0nCKENHmXKaLSKQ-WvA5gbkhjm3ndeqG5KHyMgWP3HAZttfrbc2Bgpc7TuMbZAdcT12OniNTPHYD-fyOGvSoj6xrpjaS7LKBSKf9M_GdF6UyhLoOh8KWJn1Nxq7ZUepjVOCgQ/s1029/greenhand_librofm-screen.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="572" data-original-width="1029" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinozVFhrl0nCKENHmXKaLSKQ-WvA5gbkhjm3ndeqG5KHyMgWP3HAZttfrbc2Bgpc7TuMbZAdcT12OniNTPHYD-fyOGvSoj6xrpjaS7LKBSKf9M_GdF6UyhLoOh8KWJn1Nxq7ZUepjVOCgQ/s320/greenhand_librofm-screen.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div></div></span></div></div></div></div>Michelle Soulierehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02896807228114420113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8269001446472174774.post-83051474725645008282020-07-28T22:45:00.001-04:002020-07-28T22:45:55.249-04:00Book Review: Max Brooks' DEVOLUTION<div><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEignUjaQfiLWIJKY54J_0ocVjDzaFDhYxnebUowKEsHZp3Mcd9C25fmmceduSC0ovwf9br89wVqyr3KkEwv_GsVUnO6f-p1MyJRGgmV1CojBRTziZ0ILDGdCa_xyakE37FF_oJqilBAuEWZ/s450/maxbrooks_devolution-hc_9781984826787.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="298" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEignUjaQfiLWIJKY54J_0ocVjDzaFDhYxnebUowKEsHZp3Mcd9C25fmmceduSC0ovwf9br89wVqyr3KkEwv_GsVUnO6f-p1MyJRGgmV1CojBRTziZ0ILDGdCa_xyakE37FF_oJqilBAuEWZ/s320/maxbrooks_devolution-hc_9781984826787.jpg" /></a></div>A review of <i>Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre</i></b> <br /></div><div>by Michelle Y. Souliere</div><div><br /></div><div>Max Brooks' new book is, necessarily, different from its predecessors. However, it does draw upon the same steady buildup of everyday-gone-wrong that <i>World War Z</i> utilized so effectively. This time he gives readers a linear storyline, interspersed with interview segments and epistolary musings from those sifting through the wreckage of events, trying to put together what happened from the fragments they can gather. <br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The whole thing is put together cunningly. At the start of the book, because of the way it is introduced, the reader feels like they know what is going on. Kate's journal entries are innocuous enough, a little neurotic and anxiety-ridden, but in the Covid-era world, we can all understand how life drives you to previously unknown extremes due to stress, and how after a certain point, whatever has to be done to fix that will be done come hell or high water. <br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The other characters are introduced, and one is lulled by the normal weirdness of living isolated overall, but in close quarters with other people you might not have gotten to know so well before (again, Covid-era folks, we all know this feeling). <br /></div><div><br /></div><div>And then the slide begins. A cataclysm, distant but with near effects. Then side effects, then WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING NOW???
Once again, Max Brooks sneaks up and wallops readers six ways to Sunday, and leaves us shaken and deeply stirred by a very human, perhaps too-close-to-home at moments tale. <br /></div><div><br /></div><div>If you're looking for a good distraction, it's here. Better get <u>it</u> before it gets <u>you</u>. <br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b><u>On a personal note</u>:</b> Brooks (as always) has done his research. The conditions in this sequence of events are in some ways very similar to a series of happenings in my home state of Maine that I have been researching while writing my upcoming book, Bigfoot in Maine. Just consider that. <br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I have a few copies left of this hardcover available for purchase via our website, either for local pickup or mail order: <a href="https://greenhandbookshop.com/products/devolution-by-max-brooks">https://greenhandbookshop.com/products/devolution-by-max-brooks</a><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><u>Note to publishers</u>: If you have upcoming horror or speculative fiction titles which you would like to send to my shop for review in the form of a print copy, please do so. I cannot promise to review everything received, but I will do my best. I do not read egalleys, I'm an old-fashioned bookworm. Review copies can be sent to me at: Michelle Souliere, Green Hand Bookshop, 661 Congress St, Portland ME 04101<br /></div>Michelle Soulierehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02896807228114420113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8269001446472174774.post-21719131591978807062020-07-15T08:29:00.000-04:002020-07-15T08:29:20.439-04:00Reopening with limited hours!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirXcDJYuZVPxcbvVy8RJ6RK_PxXaUT5eMd5bMML_E4HI245Vz7kBrnktgvfsnh4Xdt9b5X8kAuznTO94H6yHZoMotHuUNIwOMuD3QCgzS5dT0O1AWJkDhElFj6VQ1OHKLF279UmKKWMSyA/s1600/ltd-hours.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirXcDJYuZVPxcbvVy8RJ6RK_PxXaUT5eMd5bMML_E4HI245Vz7kBrnktgvfsnh4Xdt9b5X8kAuznTO94H6yHZoMotHuUNIwOMuD3QCgzS5dT0O1AWJkDhElFj6VQ1OHKLF279UmKKWMSyA/s320/ltd-hours.jpg" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="960" data-original-height="960" /></a></div>Currently reopening with limited open hours for browsing. Still offering pickup and mailorder for those who prefer not entering businesses. Please email michelle.souliere@gmail.com with any requests! :) Select new items also available for ordering at <a href="https://www.greenhandbookshop.com">https://www.greenhandbookshop.com</a> for mailorder or pickup.<br />
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Available by phone for questions from 11:00-6:00 Tues-Sat at (207)253-6808. Please leave a message if you get voicemail, and I will get right back to you. I may be with another customer or making a quick trip to the post office. <br />
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Thank you everyone, hope you're safe and well!Michelle Soulierehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02896807228114420113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8269001446472174774.post-27302907439462472872020-06-29T09:06:00.000-04:002020-06-29T09:06:48.665-04:00Mid-July reopening news<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDEaaEfOa7yxLFhiVRroiJ3ifgppA_hV11dLqkmfkhW0ZWk6BAzlP0KDgoNf_Gqy-dLe-_birp1x1NTgjRcqtphWEtWUw4sQxmbpnkMtyGT9lbd8pW7QH41n66HkUT2aFC-iugsoII2dHQ/s1600/2CBB6B82-63AD-4172-B508-4756859F6376.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDEaaEfOa7yxLFhiVRroiJ3ifgppA_hV11dLqkmfkhW0ZWk6BAzlP0KDgoNf_Gqy-dLe-_birp1x1NTgjRcqtphWEtWUw4sQxmbpnkMtyGT9lbd8pW7QH41n66HkUT2aFC-iugsoII2dHQ/s320/2CBB6B82-63AD-4172-B508-4756859F6376.jpeg" width="260" height="320" data-original-width="750" data-original-height="924" /></a></div>Hi all, it is with mixed feelings that I announce the necessity of reopening the shop, because I don’t think the business will survive much longer if I don’t. It’s been a tough haul since March 15 when we closed because of Covid. I am planning on reopening on a very limited basis in mid-July, so stay tuned for definite details as the date nears and I get more reopening preparations checked off on my to-do list. I take my responsibility in keeping both you and myself safe from unnecessary risks very seriously. Facemasks will be required for entry, and only 5 people will be allowed in at a time. Here’s to better days somewhere out there in the future. Stay safe and be well!Michelle Soulierehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02896807228114420113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8269001446472174774.post-5276784653581270822020-06-01T19:12:00.001-04:002020-06-01T19:21:46.883-04:00Notes on the current status of the Green Hand BookshopUPDATE: Hi everyone, I know there have been a lot of questions about when we're planning on reopening. I figured I should do a post so that everyone is on the same page. I am not planning on reopening the shop to the public for the foreseeable future. It is just too risky, and I care too much about my customers (and myself) to take unnecessary risks right now. I want you all to remain safe! <br />
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I am continuing to offer order pickup at the shop, and mailing services (which are very reasonable for shipping books via USPS Media Mail, hooray for the US Postal Service!!!).<br />
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For used books, the best way to inquire about and order them is to email me at michelle.souliere@gmail.com -- feel free to browse the shelfshots album here, or on Instagram (the posts are often slightly different, so feel free to browse both to get ideas). :) <a href="https://www.instagram.com/greenhandbooks/ ">https://www.instagram.com/greenhandbooks/ </a> If you need to call the shop, I'm generally in there running around putting orders together Weds-Sat 11:00-6:00.<br />
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Another option is to order via my new Shopify site at <a href="https://greenhandbookshop.com/">https://greenhandbookshop.com/</a>, where I am gradually listing new retail items, adding new things whenever I have a spare moment (ha!).<br />
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For those of you who are struggling with decision making (and boy do I know the feeling), I have started putting together customized bundles. Pick a budget from $30 up (remember this will include sales tax and shipping if you need them mailed), email me your preferences:<br />
-- what you're in the mood for (genre? topics? fiction/nonfiction?),<br />
-- whether reading copies are okay for condition, and if you have a preference for hardcover vs softcover<br />
-- give me an idea of what your past favorites are, <br />
-- and let me know if there are any authors etc that you either have enough of already or don't like, so I don't send you something you don't want. ;)<br />
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I'll handpick you a book stack of your very own! :D Folks have been really happy so far, so it seems to be working well.<br />
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A lot of you have asked how things are going. "It's been a rollercoaster!" is the short answer, but because a lot of you have been so supportive, it seems to be working, and I'm squeaking by adequately to keep things going during these weird, weird times. I hope you're all hanging in there too. <br />
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Many thanks for everyone's help over the last 2 1/2 months. I couldn't do this without you all! 💕Michelle Soulierehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02896807228114420113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8269001446472174774.post-66510892560813194002020-04-23T11:28:00.000-04:002020-04-23T11:28:03.418-04:00Thank you everyone!During Monday's workshop meeting of the Portland City Council it was decided that the city was not going to enforce the ban on mail order for retail businesses, until they can formalize and rewrite the order in the next official meeting (April 27). Thank you everyone for the support you gave towards the effort to make this happen! We couldn't have done it without you. <br />
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Thank you for speaking out in support of the survival of Portland's small businesses who were going to be decimated by this measure! We are able to continue to provide safe service to you all because of this.<br />
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Going forward, we are again able to provide mail order delivery of books to you. Please email michelle.souliere@gmail.com with your requests, and I will work through them as rapidly as I am able. Gift certificate orders are still being accepted, and obviously if anyone feels strongly enough that they want to make a donation, I will gratefully accept funds to assist in keeping the Green Hand Bookshop going during this dearth of "business as normal."<br />
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Please know (and this should be common sense) that <b>I am not buying or trading books at this time</b>, or for the forseeable future, and that <b>the shop continues to be closed to the public</b>. <br />
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Hopefully by sometime this summer it is possible that the Covid-19 outbreak will be leveling out, and with antibody tests in place we can start to plan out a return to "normal."<br />
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Thanks again, everyone! :)<br />
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Here is WGME's coverage of the events that culminated on Monday evening:<br />
<a href="https://wgme.com/news/coronavirus/portland-clarifies-what-non-essential-businesses-can-do?jwsource=cl">https://wgme.com/news/coronavirus/portland-clarifies-what-non-essential-businesses-can-do?jwsource=cl</a>Michelle Soulierehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02896807228114420113noreply@blogger.com0