Jessica Handler's Blog, page 4

Turning the reins over to a were-panther today…

Thursday will be Halloween, which is one of my all-time favorite holidays (okay, my birthday is the other one), so the time seems right to hand the reins over to the Mysterious Allan Kemp, author of the supernatural thriller The Black Phoenix.

What’s The Black Phoenix about?

For centuries, vampires, werewolves, witches, and wizards argued this question: if they’re superior to humans, then why hide in the shadows? Putting their differences aside, the supernatural groups band together and take over the world, establishing a feudal system in which they are the lords and nobles, and the humans are their serfs. In the city of Atlanta, Grover “Mutt” Davidson, half-wizard, half-werepanther, is caught in the middle of a territorial war between the vampires and the humans in Fort Buckhead, home of the last free men. Meanwhile, something rotten festers in the heart of downtown; something the supernaturals are powerless to fight.

If Mutt doesn’t stop this growing evil soon, it will swallow every human and supernatural in its path.

I asked Allan to talk with me – and you, oh Halloweeny readers – about werewolves, panthers, ghosts, social justice (yes, really), Atlanta’s future (yes, also really) and, um, sex. Because we’re grownups.

 

1. "The Black Phoenix" opens with a pretty remarkable, explicit scene. As a writer who builds worlds, why did you choose to open the book this way?
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1. “The Black Phoenix” opens with a pretty remarkable, explicit scene. As a writer who builds worlds, why did you choose to open the book this way?

The story takes place in a world ruled by the supernatural. Witches, werewolves, and vampires aren’t burdened by the same sexual mores as humans. Opening the book with an explicit scene was a good way to quickly establish the casual hedonism in their society.

 2. I’m a writer who specializes in grief and trauma, and so Mutt’s experience resonated with me on that level. Talk a little bit about what he’s lost, and how he’s trying to heal.

Even though Mutt is supernatural, he doesn’t believe that makes him better than humans. He grieves for the Atlanta he lost in the invasion. He uses his magical powers to help humans and he advocates for their rights.

3. The people who know you – behind the mask – know you’re a naturally funny guy. How does humor come through in this story?

Mutt narrates the story and he doesn’t take himself or anyone around him too seriously. I use his voice to show the vulnerable side of witches, werewolves, and vampires. This is group who tries way too hard to appear invincible. Besides, the imp in me rarely allows me to stay serious with any story I write.

4. Do you bring other tools to your writing besides just sitting at a desk? Do you draw, or take field trips to spark your imagination?

To help me visualize the characters in the story, I did sketches of them. The book contains illustrations of some of the characters. I did them as well. I have found that walking always spurs my imagination. Physically doing something that requires a minimum of thought clears my head enough to let random ideas through. I think that’s why people get great ideas while in the shower.

5. What’s next on the horizon for Mutt – and for Allan Kemp?

I’m working on Mutt’s next adventure. He manages to get entangled in another war. This time it’s between werewolf packs. Mutt has family members on both sides of the conflict.

Want some more Allan Kemp and The Black Phoenix? Fly on over to your Kindle and download the book! You can meet Alan (and find out who he really is!) at the

Atlanta Comic Convention on Sunday, December 8th and Con Nooga, in Chattanooga the weekend of February 21st , 2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

My wrist & Adrienne Rich

Thanks, Tattoo Lit, for including my Right wrist in your literary tattoo blog!

 

The whole poem is here, courtesy of AllPoetry.com.

Lucky Girl

When I was in grad school, a fellow student in my workshop said that the people in my essays all needed rehab. Our instructor pointed out to him, to my great relief, that “it was the seventies. Everyone needed rehab!”

I guess I had to become a Full Grown Person to get the long view. Here, from today’s Full Grown People site, is my take on growing up with recreational and prescription drugs, and being lucky.

Good to be home

Medieval Jousting Shield

My January and February are filling up with workshops about writing through grief and loss.   I’m excited, and every workshop I teach, I learn more about how our stories are our own and how they reach other people, too.

But first, I went to NY.

One day in New York and had lunch with Braving the Fire‘s editor, who I already thought was terrific but is even smarter and more fun in person. Also managed to not buy things at ABC Carpet and Home, because who can afford those clothes, really? Grabbed an hour at The Met (hence the photo) before tea with the mastermind behind The Practicing Writer.

Dinner with lovely cousins, and then in the morning, my favorite train trip up the Hudson River to fly a kite, eat homemade jam, meet a new kitty, learn how to watch the Red Sox on tv, and talk a little bizness.

Isn’t it great to be home! Even with an “I did too much in three days” cold!

 

 

My South

I’ve always wanted to share what I love about Atlanta with readers, and surprise, I got my chance!

Take a look at HGTV’s “Front Door”  feature, and get the heads up on places to listen to music, eat a good sandwich, clear your head, and buy good junk. Oh, and there’s this writing workshop next weekend we talk about a little, too.

 

 

(Picture of driftwood beach at Jekyll Island by me.)

How to spend your first birthday without your Mom

How I spent my first birthday without my mother:

Our birthdays were twenty five years and one week apart, and for the past decade, less the past two years, we took a celebratory trip together. We went to Kripalu together one year (yes, Mom had a yoga practice, as do I. She did the restorative weekend, and I did an inversions intensive. We were both very relieved that Kripalu had coffee.) We went to England one year. M. came too! We did things like that.

This year, I traveled only an hour, to the Chattahoochee Valley Writers’ Conference at the Columbus, Ga public library, which is a fabulous library that she loved, and I do too.

I gave a fun talk about surprising ways to do research for your writing. I met some really nice people, and saw a few old friends. And Joshilyn Jackson kindly kept my intellect firing on all cylinders, which is a particularly helpful distraction technique for a driving person hoping she doesn’t cry while driving very fast on I-85.

And then my wonderful husband M. ordered take-out and the entire 2nd season of “Homeland.”

Way to be, new kind of birthday!

On Yip Harburg, mishpocheh, and Lydia the Tattooed Lady

“She has muscles men adore so/and a torso even more so.”  

I love Lydia the Tattooed Lady, but it’s “Look to the Rainbow” and the pointed parody of American racism in my father’s LP of “Finian’s Rainbow” that got me hooked, as a ten year old, on Yip Harburg. And let’s not forget the lyrics for all the music in “The Wizard of Oz.”

Thanks, Triquarterly Review for letting me write about smart-mouthed lyricist and lefty Yip Harburg.


Postscript on 9/30- did you catch the song, “Lydia the Tattooed Lady,” as Lydia’s ringtone in the finale of Breaking Bad?

And his dog, Spot

One thing I really miss about LA is car dealer Cal Worthington and his dog, Spot, of Cal Worthington Ford in Long Beach.

If you’re here on the East Coast and have always been on the East Coast, you just plain missed out, and it’s you who gives me that blank look when I sing his awful, memorable, insane jingle. (And no, he is not saying “pussy cow.”)

Cal’s gone to the great car lot in the sky, so in his honor, here is Cal and his jingle, complete with decades-ago poor quality video transfer, a camel, a fox, and what I think is a reindeer but might be a yak.

Cal Worthington, Worthington Ford in Long Beach

You wanted an Atlanta workshop? You got an Atlanta workshop! Save the date! October 19th

Yep, I’m teaching an all-day workshop here in Atlanta on October 19th. Sign up! Bring paper and pen or a laptop! Prepare to talk and write and think and laugh (really!) and leave with ways to start – or finish – that essay or memoir you’ve been poking at like it was a snake.

It’s not a snake.

Writing Through Grief: Creating Powerful Prose After Loss or Trauma will be hosted by Hollis Gillespie’s “Shocking Real Life Writing Academy,” and you can register here, get directions to the loft (ooh! a loft! yay!) in stylin’ Virginia-Highlands.

Will I see you there? I hope so.

Welcoming a smart new lit mag to the world. Meet "Full Grown People," and a braided essay about me, my mom, Elizabeth Bishop, grammar, and a good death

All that in a slug line leads simply to this.  Thank you to Jennifer Niesslein, who’s made a home for my most bare-assed writing since 2009.