Sara Paretsky's Blog, page 17
December 11, 2010
Sara, Callie and Bark Magazine
I think if you click on this link, you will be able to read a PDF file of Callie's and my story in Bark Magazine. If the link doesn't work, I'll see what I can do to load content directly. In the photo, the wood plaque I'm holding was a Christmas present from my woodworking son Phil. If you want to order one for yourself, I can put you in touch with him!
December 9, 2010
Making Coffee, Giving Prizes–and a Dog–What could be more perfect?
The Alberta Clipper has hit Chicago a month early–with temperatures of -3 to +9 forcast for December 13. So I want to think about lighter things, and just a few that have come along in the last few months.
First of all, thanks to everyone who played the "V I's Lover" contest. Our completely arbitrary band of judges awarded the prize of a signed copy of Body Work and a pound of V I (and Sara's) favorite coffee to Mihael Franich. We'll be getting the package off to him ASAP.
Mihael Franich understands the poetry deep inside V I
There were other great answers: Kristen McAlear put in a passionate and wonderful tribute to Jake Thibaut:I have to say I think Jake is the one V.I. should be with. He fits what she's missing the most in her life, that touch of refinement and music that she carefully guards when not out facing 'hard knocks'. As much as the dogs and Mr. Contreras, music has kept her grounded, human and sane. Her other lovers have been as equally reckless or involved in as dangerous of situations as she is, making it difficult to find the balance of who needs to support whom when times get tough.
Rachel Benoit was equally eloquent on Morrell's behalf:Morrell! Without a question.
He is V.I.'s moral equal, and that is saying a lot. V.I. is willing to sacrifice her time, her body, even her relationships on occasion in the name of what is right. Morrell shares that moral drive. His career also takes up a lot of his time and takes him around the world, which not only puts him in a position to be tolerant of V.I.'s own case commitments, but gives them both the space they need as fiercely independent individuals. In addition to this geographical space, there is also a separation between Morrell and V.I.'s fields of work, so that their projects do not often come into direct conflict (as with Conrad, Murray).
Morrell also shares V.I.'s taste for fine dining and wine if I remember correctly, and gets along well with Lotty & her partner. He can mix with her closest friends, and that is very important in a relationship.
Murray and Morrell both got several votes from other readers. Terry Utas put in a vote for my choice, Conrad Rawlings, and Pekka Makkonen put in a word for V I's first lover, Ralph Devereux: I would like Roger Ferrant from Killing Orders make an reappearance. If that would need Ajax to be part of the plot why not bring Robin Bessinger from Burn Marks to be there too and of course Ralph Devereux could come back for third time (lucky?). And of course Conrad Rawlings and Morrell are the most memorable ones but that's no reason to pick them as lifetime partners for VI. And where's Murray? Murray would perhaps be too easy choice, but want to see more of him too at least once more. Perhaps a crime plot involving Murray? And the new guy was ok in Hardball.
Ralph got shot in the left shoulder for doubting V I on Indemnity Only; in the right shoulder for doubting her in Total Recall. The next time he shows up he may be plugged smack in the middle!
I was on tour from August 6 to November 1 and in the middle of that time, my camera, my cellphone and my cappuccino machine all went on the fritz. I bought new ones, none of which I can figure out (the Blackberry will not sync with my Mac no matter what I or my consultant try.) But priorities are priorities. I took one of my brief days at home mid-tour to ask Jeff Batchelder from Intelligentsia coffee in Chicago–where VI and I get our beans, to give me an in-home lesson in how to use my new machine. Here we are in my cappuccino annex:
Jeff oversees Sara's efforts with the new "Brewtus" brute of a machine
Callie Supervises the Whole Process
Finally, Callie the Wonderdog was featured in the November-December issue of Bark Magazine. The article about her is only available in the newxstand edition, not online–sorry, folks, because it's a very fun story.
November 25, 2010
Congress Shall Make no Law
Abridging the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. But the town of Columbus, Georgia–that's another story altogether.
For the last twenty years, protestors have gathered in the week before Thanksgiving outside the School of the Americas (SOA) in Ft. Benning, Georgia, which is in Columbus, Georgia. They have conducted peaceful protests, in the nonviolent spirit of Gandhi and Martin Luther King. Protestors claim that The School of the Americas (known now as Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) train military personnel throughout the hemisphere in how to shut down protests and demonstrations, as well as training military and police in sophisticated torture techniques.
Protests began twenty years ago when Americans learned that graduates of SOA were implicated in the murder of six Jesuit priests in El Salvador. The priests were strong advocates for the poor among whom they lived and worked.
This year twenty-four people were arrested and charged with unlawful assembly, for parading without a permit, and for standing and watching the arrests (Excuse me–but what happened to "the right of the people peaceably to assemble." A local barber, for instance, stepped out of his shop to see what was going on and was promptly arrested.
Once in court, the judge did not permit those arrested to present evidence or make statements. Bail and fines were set high, and the town of Columbus said that all payments had to be made in cash: they would not accept credit card or checks. Four journalists, including two from Russia, were among those arrested. I guess we are showing them democracy in action so they'll know what to do when they get arrested at home.
How dangerous are these Sisters, anyway?
SOA Watch paid fines and bail for those arrested; the total was $75000. Since many of the members are Catholic Sisters and priests, as well as groups like Veterans for Peace, they don't have deep pockets. Disclaimer: I'm not a member but I did donate money for fines and bail.
I tried to insert video footage from the bus that transported people to the jail, but couldn't figure out how to load it. The URL is here
On this Thanksgiving Day, please pause for a moment and do something to preserve the liberties which we all cherish. And wherever you are, I hope your holiday is safe and joyful.
November 19, 2010
Edgar Allen Poe Awards
On November 18, I learned that the Mystery Writers of America are bestowing the Grand Master Award for Lifetime Achievement on me this coming April. I feel really excited, and happy, and in a way, bewildered. 
It seems as though it was only yesterday that I was watching Julian Symons receive the Grand Master award at my first Edgar dinner in New York. I was a novice and a stranger; I'd taken a half day of vacation time from my day job to fly out. I didn't know a soul, and I was seated at a table as far from the podium as you could get, but I was incredibly thrilled to see the writers I'd admired for years. Symons was followed the next year by the gifted Margaret Millar, and then John Le Carre. Dorothy Salisbury Davis, one of my icons, received the Grand Master in 1985. Dorothy later became not just a good friend, but an extraordinary mentor, not just in how to write, but in how to live. I can't believe I'm joining this legendary company.
November 16, 2010
Elvis is Dead
And I don't feel so good myself. That's one of my all-time favorite book titles, by the humorist and memoirist Lewis Grizzard, but it sort of sums up why I've been missing in action for a while.
I was badly injured in a car crash several years ago and all the travel I had to do this past summer/fall re-inflamed the nerve damage, so I'm having trouble typing–entries to the blog will definitely be spasmodic until that clears up.
I do want to announce a winner for our "V I's Lover" contest. We asked "which of her lovers should VI stay with and why?" My thanks to everyone who took the time to think this through–she's had at least nine that I can remember and I've probably forgotten a few.
Mihael Franich won me over with his romantic/philosophical take on the question:
The answer to VI's love quest is not who… but what, when and how. In every life, there is someone willing to go the distance, any distance, for her. Someone who knows every intimate hair on her skin, who sees her beyond a morning face, the beat up running shoes, really sees the person she is, understands what she needs, what she is unable to say herself. Her love is a strong, steady guy, solid, patient, with a long distance vision. She is in his thoughts each day, always close; he has a clear sense of their life together, the only thing he does not know is the when. The only things he can do is stay in touch, keep showing, not telling her what love is, long distance, hoping to close that space, that she will notice, let him know it's ok to move a little closer."
I'll post all the other answers in a future notice. My own feeling is that Conrad Rawlings is the best man for V I, but there's the unsurmountable mountain to climb of his being a cop and her being a PI. If he agrees with her take on a crime, he'll get the boys and girls in blue to take over from her. If he disagrees they'll fight, as they did in Tunnel Vision, and V I is a street fighter. Every now and then, I get hate mail about the affair, because V I is European-American, Conrad African-American. When the book was first published, Reader's Digest offered me a high six-figure advance for the condensed version if I'd make Conrad white (or maybe V I black–they didn't say). It was a lot of money to walk away from, and maybe if I'd known how much my injury would slow down my writing I'd have thought twice instead of once…
PS My second favorite book title is Joe Namath's autobiography: I Can't Wait Until Tomorrow 'Cause I get Better Looking Every Day.
October 21, 2010
Body Work Grand Prize
Yours for not quite the asking, the Grand Prize in the Body Work Sweepstakes. We're giving away a signed copy of Body Work along with some Chicago memorabilia including not just a pound of V I's favorite coffee, but some Cubs mementos and a few surprise gifts. This Grand Prize will go to the person with the best answer to this question: Which of V I's lovers should she stay with and why?
Submit answers by email only to vi-bodywork@mindspring.com by November 3rd. All answers will be posted after the winner is chosen.
Winners of previous sweepstakes drawings are welcome to enter. The winner will be chosen completely subjectively.
October 10, 2010
Hossein Derakhshan, Prisoner of Conscience
On September 29, the Iranian government sentenced 33-year-old Canadian-Iranian writer Hossein Derakhshan to 19.5 years in prison for his writing. He was accused of many bogus crimes, including being an Israeli spy, but his real "crime" was blogging about Iran. He is currently being held at Evin prison, notorious for the torture and murder of its inmates.
Please write the following people to ask for his immediate and unconditional release. A model letter is on the PEN website where you can get more details. If your country has a diplomatic mission in Teheran, please copy your ambassador or other representative: if the Iranian authorities realize an international audience is reading your letter they will take it more seriously.
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic
His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed 'Ali Khamenei
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Shoahada Street, Qom
Islamic Republic of Iran
Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Sadeqh Larijani
Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh (Office of the Head of the Judiciary)
Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhouri
Tehran 1316814737
Islamic Republic of Iran
WITH COPIES TO…
President
His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Presidency,
Palestine Avenue
Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran
Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: Via Foreign Ministry: +98 21 6 674 790
(mark: "Please forward to H.E. President Ahmadinejad")
October 3, 2010
JAPAN, PEN literary forum and more
LITERARY FORUM, TOKYO-WASEDA UNIVERSITY
PEN-Japan hosted this year's annual PEN Congress from September 23-September 28, and I was privileged to be present.
Waseda University, where the Literary Forum took place
The Congress began with a literary forum, presented at the prestigious Waseda University, which featured my work and that of Franco-Syrian writer Salwa al Neimi, whose Proof of Honey was a cause celebre in the Middle East. The other featured writers were Japan's Takashi Atoda, Nigerian Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, China's Mo Yan, and the Ukrainian Marina Lewycka.
It was exhilarating to be part of the literary forum. For each of us, Shinobu Yoshioka created a script based on our writing. For my segment, based on Writing in an Age of Silence, he asked Midori Mori to compose original music, which accompanied a reading of the script by the professional actor Yamane Motoyo. During the reading, a slide show illustraed the work, including film footage of Martin Luther King, Jr., the original Equality Day March on 5th Avenue in 1971, and even photo footage of my childhood home in Kansas. The whole show was filled with images created by the great brush-stroke artist Hidekichi Shigemoto. (I tried to upload some of Shigemoto's images here, but couldn't, so follow the link to his website.)
The end of the performance was a virtuoso exhibition by Shigemoto–he painted live in front of the audience a series of pictures that illustrated the conclusion of the text, namely, America in the post 9/11 world. After the formal production, I gave a lecture on "The Uses of Literature;" I'll post that later (I gave four talks while in Japan, and about 10 press interviews–all interpreted by different skilled bi-lingual Japanese. At one event, one of the regular commentors on this blog introduced herself: she used to be the head of the National Library of Japan and now works for a social justice candidate for the Diet. It was very fun to meet another regular visitor to this site!)
It was an extraordinary event, and I was most privileged to be part of it.
Meeting writers from around the world was exhilarating; I came home eager to write new work, wishing for the energy to write everything that comes to mind.
Prisoners of Conscience
On a more sombre note, while PEN, which exists to support freedom of expression around the world, was meeting, Iran imprisoned Hossein Derakhshan for 19 years for insulting Islam. I'll try to get details on how to protest this outrageous act and post them as soon as possible.
Doshisha University
From Tokyo, we went to Kyoto, where I had the opportunity to speak to the advanced English seminar of Professor Masami Usui. Professor Usui graciously opened her home to my husband and me, and we spent a splendid evening with her, with Yayoi Yamamoto, who has translated all my books into Japanese, and two of Yayoi's friends, the translator Yosuko Endo, and American professor Jane, from Nashville.
Yayoi Yamamot (right) Yosuko Endo and Sara Paretsky in a garden near Doshisha University, Kyoto
Yayoi entertained us beautifully and royally during our trip. She hosted a brilliant party, where we met her friends, who include writers, wine collectors, scientists and translators. My career in Japan is due to Yayoi's work; she is universally hailed as a brilliant and exceptional translator. During my seminar at Doshisha, Professor Usui asked Yayoi to speak on translation. She said after she reads a work in English, she floats between English and Japanese as the English text settles into Japanese images in her mind. I found this an extraordinary image.
Professor Usui, Yayoi, and her other friends turn to ancient Japanese arts and rituals as a way of keeping centered in the middle of their busy lives. They study tea ceremony, calligraphy, embroidery or music; Professor Usui quoted to me a Japanese saying that "The person who is too busy for ritual is most in need of ritual."
Courtenay, Professor Usui, and Yayoi Yamamoto enjoy a traditional Japanese dinner
I hope, before my life gets out of whack again back here in Chicago, to explore rituals that might help me keep centered in my own life.
With Courtenay outside the temple of the Great Buddha of Nara
Courtenay and I had one free day during the trip, which we spent at the ancient capital of Nara. Along with a thousand screaming schoolchildren, we visited the great Buddha of Nara. It stands 15 meters high and has survived war and fire for 1300 years. Afterwards, while Courtenay rested, I visited the Isuiden Gardens outside the Daibutsu-den. It was raining, and I had this exquisite, peace-filled garden completely to myself.
Inside the Isuiden garden, Nara
I learned about the garden from members of the "Vic Fan Club," a group of energetic feminist women who honor me by their interest in my work. We had dinner in Nara, organized by the Web designer Sukimo Sugiya.
At dinner with the Vic Fan Club. Ms Sugia is on my right
Just before boarding the flight back to Chicago on October 2, I walked through the rice fields near Narita airport. I was alone. As the early morning mists rose from the fields, I felt my heart stand still in the face of the beauty of the stream that ran through the fields. Surrounded by high wild rice plants, with birds singing, and the hills rising in front of me, I realized how very fortunate I am on this planet that I could witness such beauty and see such sights.
September 29, 2010
Week #4 Grand Prize Sweepstakes
Thank you to all those who signed up to receive Sara's newsletter. It has been a fun five weeks for the Sweepstakes Team, randomly choosing winners and having email conversations with them!
The Sweepstakes Team is pleased to have randomly chosen a grand prize winner this last week of the sweepstakes in honor of Body Work. The winner has been notified by email. The grand prize is a V I Warshawski gift basket complete with personalized copies of Body Work and Hardball, a V I t-shirt, a pound of V I's favorite coffee, a Cubs hat, and Chicago memorabilia.
We also just heard from Sara, who is having a marvelous experience in Japan. In the coming weeks, look for a blog or newsletter entry of her experiences.
September 24, 2010
Sweepstakes Week #3 Update
The Sweepstakes team would like to thank the following winners from Week #3 for permission to post their names on this blog:
Jorge Gutierrez
Liz Clark
Sharon Smith
Congratulations! We hope you enjoy the prizes.
Reminder to all blog readers: Sweepstakes Week #4: There is still time to win the grand prize! We will choose the winner of the V I Warshawski gift basket next week (Wednesday, September 29th, a week behind schedule). Remember that if you're already on Sara's newsletter list, your name i...
