Clifford Garstang's Blog, page 165

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Virginia Festival of the Book: Thursday

Thursday was a very busy day. I started off with a talk at the local Kiwanis Club at 7:00am. That was fun. I'd written some notes on what I wanted to talk about but didn't even look at them. It was very comfortable and it was a nice bunch of folks.

Then it was off to Charlottesville for the Virginia Festival of the Book. The Festival started Wednesday, but because of my class I wasn't able to get over the mountain then. I went to the Library where I moderated a panel on "Making Local History C...

Virginia Festival of the Book

Thursday was a very busy day. I started off with a talk at the local Kiwanis Club at 7:00am. That was fun. I'd written some notes on what I wanted to talk about but didn't even look at them. It was very comfortable and it was a nice bunch of folks.

Then it was off to Charlottesville for the Virginia Festival of the Book. The Festival started Wednesday, but because of my class I wasn't able to get over the mountain then. I went to the Library where I moderated a panel on "Making Local History C...

The New Yorker: "The Knocking" by David Means

On the plus side, this doesn't seem to be an excerpt from a novel. On the other hand, it's not much of a story. Flash fiction that needs considerable editing, maybe.The narrator has moved into an apartment building in New York and almost immediately discovers that his upstairs neighbor is fond of knocking—in many different ways. The story explores many of these different types of knocking, although some of the knocking doesn't sound like knocking (incessant moaning, grief-filled...

Book Tour: Lexington, VA -- Books & Co.

After my appearances at the Virginia Festival of the Book this week, my next reading is a little closer to home. I'll be reading from In an Uncharted Country on Sunday, March 21, at 2pm, at Books & Co in downtown Lexington, VA. I hope you'll come!

Virginia Festival of the Book

The amazing and wonderful Virginia Festival of the Book begins tomorrow in Charlottesville. Last year, I moderated one panel, which made me feel more a part of the festival than ever before. This year I'm moderating one panel, sitting on one publishing panel, and giving a reading as part of another panel.

First up for me is the panel I'm moderating on Making Local History Come Alive. That's at the Library at 10am on Thursday.

Then I'm reading at Barnes & Noble at 2pm on Thursday as part of the ...

Bent on Books: Rookie Mistakes

Check out this blog post from agent Jenny Bent: Bent on Books: Rookie Mistakes. I always read these kinds of lists in fear that I'll see mistakes that I've made (or that I don't know are mistakes), but I think I know all these. Good advice for those just beginning to query agents.

And, by the way, Jenny Bent will be on the agents' panel this coming Saturday at the Virginia Festival of the Book in Charlottesville.

Book Tour: Keene

On Saturday I visited Keene, New Hampshire's Toadstool Bookstore for the last reading of my trip north. It's a wonderful, sprawling store -- just the way I'd want my bookstore to be. They had the reading area set up and when the chairs filled I started. For the first time, I had to deal with competition -- a customer of the store was oblivious to the reading and continued to talk in a loud voice while standing right behind our section. It was distracting, and I kept hoping someone would say s...

Book Tour: Portsmouth

What a great town Portsmouth is! I wish I could have spent more time -- there are hundreds of cool looking bars and restaurants there. But the point of the visit was to read at RiverRun Bookstore, which I did last night with Tara Masih. A Friday night is tough anywhere, and our crowd was small, but it was fun anyway. It was great to hear Tara read and I chose to read from a story I don't normally do.

Thanks to Michelle at RiverRun for organizing the event!  On to Keene, NH on Saturday (Toadsto...

Book Tour: Concord

After a pleasant trip to Boston and a nice drive north to Concord, NH, I had a very nice event hosted by Gibson's Bookstore in downtown Concord. Gibson's is one of those great independent bookstores where I could spend hours browsing. I didn't have hours, though, but as it happened I spotted right away the book I wanted to buy: the new novel by Chang-rae Lee.

A few minutes after 7:00 we got started. The talk was recorded for radio, and eventually I'll post a link here. And there were about a d...