Chris Bohjalian's Blog, page 36

Six books for the fearless frequent flyer

I have always enjoyed the magazine, "The Week," immensely -- especially the section in which writers pick five or six of their favorite books.

This week I had the opportunity to choose books for the magazine.

And, given my interest in aviation and the research I did for "The Night Strangers," perhaps it was inevitable that I would decide to recommend six books about. . .plane crashes.

Ghoulish? Probably.

Fun? I hope so.

Here is the link to my recommendations for "The Week:" Six books for the truly fearless frequent flyer.

http://theweek.com/article/index/2204...

Safe travels. . .and happy reading.

Media Updates on The Night Strangers

I'm now two weeks through "The Nights Strangers" Let's Keep It Dark, Rock-and-Roll Book Tour, and I have been having way too much fun. I hope readers have, too.

This week I will be visiting Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Vermont, New York, Indiana, and Ohio. Full details can be found at:

http://www.chrisbohjalian.com/events

I had a terrific time this past week speaking with Steve Roberts on NPR's Diane Rehm Show. You can listen to the interview at your leisure at:

http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/201...

And I was enormously gratified (and relieved!) by the reviews this week in People Magazine and the Miami Herald.

People concluded, "This unsettling latest from master storyteller Bohjalian will keep you up at night."

And the Miami Herald critic wrote, "Bohjalian combines modern-day horror with supernatural horror to create a double-whammy of otherworldly fear. But despite the modern trappings, this is a blood-spattered, old-fashioned ghost story. And there’s no guarantee of safe passage in the end.”

To read that full review, visit:

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/10/16...

Thank you, as always, for your faith in my work. I hope I see you on the road.

Winter's coming. Time to call Rudy.

First of all, let me be clear: I am not as inept when it comes to home improvement projects as many of you think I am. I’m actually more inept. There are some things I don’t even try. For instance, I leave to the experts anything that involves electricity, plumbing, or the International Monetary Fund.

But it is now the middle of October, which means that it’s time to prepare our homes for winter – unless, of course, you live in the neighborhood in Miami, Florida in which I spent a part of my adolescence. Mid-October in Florida actually meant less work around the house, because we were no longer battling palmetto bugs. The palmetto bug is an insect that some people think is a mere cockroach with a southern accent, but I’ve never seen a cockroach the size of a poodle. Palmetto bugs, on the other hand, scared my dog. Nevertheless, as Halloween neared, my family and I were no longer swatting the bugs off the ceiling like they were zombies or trying to fix the holes in the screens through which they would slither. Good times.

In any case, I’ve been living in Vermont for over two decades now, and so even though in most regards I don’t have the slightest idea what I’m doing, I do have experience. And that counts. Just look at how much experience helped John McCain (2008), John Kerry (2004), and Al Gore (2000). So, here are a few winterization tips that may help you prepare for the first serious snowfall and first serious cold weather.

* Insulate your water pipes and try to prevent any from touching a basement foundation wall. Also, know what to do when your water pipes freeze. Some people recommend running a propane torch over the frozen pipes, but since I can’t tell the difference between a water pipe and an LP gas pipe, I recommend against this. Frozen pipes are frustrating, but blowing up your house will put a real damper on your day. So, I have found that when your pipes freeze, you should call a plumber.

* Consider buying a snow rake. If you want to minimize the chance of an ice jam that will lead to water leaking into your living room, try and keep snow off your roof. Still, be prepared for those nasty ice jams. At different points in the winter, I will find them in the eastern and northern-facing valleys on my roof. The ones facing east aren’t so bad, because I can stand on top of my screened porch and whack them with an ax like a serial killer. But the northern ones I can’t reach. So, if you ever find an ice jam on a northern valley of your roof, you should call my next-door neighbor, Rudy Cram. Unlike me, he knows what he’s doing.

* Use weather-stripping, Mortite, and clear plastic to seal your windows and doors to keep the heat in and the palmetto bugs out. Obviously I’m kidding about the palmetto bugs. We all know that palmetto bugs eat clear plastic for breakfast. But you do want to keep heat in. One tip? Don’t set the household blow dryer on “nuclear” when you are eliminating the creases in the plastic. You will blow a hole in the plastic and have to start again. Set the hairdryer on a lower setting. Then, once the plastic is crisp and you have blown a fuse, do what I do and call an electrician.

* Inspect your furnace. But, in the name of heaven, don’t inspect it yourself! It has a pilot light, and there is nothing more terrifying than a fire that doesn’t go out. Call your gas or oil company and have them inspect it.

* Clean your rain gutters and down spouts. Why? I have no idea. For all I know, there are palmetto bugs living in them. I’ll call Rudy and get back to you.

So, in conclusion, if you do nothing else to prepare for winter, do this: Pay your phone bills and charge your cell phone.

(This column originally appeared in the Burlington Free Press on October 16. Chris’s most recent novel, The Night Strangers, was just published.)

The Diane Rehm Show

Just a note for my friends here on goodreads:

I will be visiting NPR's Diane Rehm Show this Wednesday morning, October 12:

http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/201...

If you would like to listen, check your local listings to confirm when the show airs in your market.

Thanks!

Be smart: Where there's smoke, there's fire.

I’ve now had my first fire in the woodstove, which means the Lincoln Volunteer Fire Company is on high alert. Okay, that’s an exaggeration. They’re only on medium alert — sort of like the old Homeland Security color-coded warning system, which was set always at orange. Orange, you will recall, meant, “We have no credible threat, but we are going to cover our butts and allow the TSA screeners to pat down yours.” In other words, the firefighters have seen smoke from my chimney, and know from experience that where’s there smoke, there’s fire … though, they hope, not one actually in my chimney.

I must confess, I think I’ve gotten a bad rap when it comes to chimney fires. I may be jinxing myself, but I have not had one since January 1995. Immediately after that, we had the switchbacks that marked our old MetalBestos chimney removed, and now it rises straight through the house like a traditional one. This prevents creosote from building up inside it like the fat in Joey Chestnut’s arteries.

Who, you ask, is Joey Chestnut? Last month he won the Oktoberfest Zinzinnati World Bratwurst-Eating Championship. He scarfed down an impressive 35 brats in 10 minutes. Now, I have no idea if eating three and a half dozen bratwursts has, in fact, had any effect on Joey Chestnut’s cholesterol. For all I know, his arteries are as clear as a spanking new garden hose. But you get my point. No good comes from a switchback chimney.

I love the start of the woodstove season. We all know there is something deeply comforting about a small blaze in a woodstove or fireplace. Years ago, Doug Mack, co-owner and chef at Mary’s at Baldwin Creek, a Bristol bed and breakfast and restaurant, put it this way when we were chatting: “There’s a decided homeyness that comes with crisp autumn air, the changing leaves, and a fire in the fireplace. It’s like coming home.”

Indeed. But fire is always dangerous, which is why we don’t play with it, jump out of frying pans into it, or throw gasoline on it. Today is the first day of Fire Prevention Week, which means now is as good a time as any to take a look around your home and see if you have done all that you can to keep your family safe.

According to Bob Patterson, deputy director of the Vermont Division of Fire Safety, “The most important thing you can do is be sure that you having working smoke detectors.” He shared with me a number of troubling statistics, but among the most disturbing was this: Roughly 80 percent of all house fires his division has investigated did not have smoke detectors or the smoke detectors did not work. In addition, almost every single fire he has examined that resulted in a fatality caught the victim off-guard because of a non-existent or non-functioning smoke detector. “A fire can be very quiet until it’s too late and suddenly you’re in harm’s way,” he said.

So, check your smoke alarm batteries and be sure the device is working.

Patterson also said that house fires are more common than we like to believe. In 2010 in Vermont, there were 1,956 structural fires — or more than five a day.

Finally, he said to be careful not to leave laptops overheating on couches or beds; to be attentive in the kitchen, where a great many house fires begin; and to be careful with candles, heating appliances and, yes, woodstoves. Get that chimney cleaned. Don’t let it clog like the arteries of contestants in bratwurst-eating competitions.

I have enormous respect for Vermont’s firefighters. One of the ways we can make their jobs easier and safer is by showing a little common sense — especially now that the woodstove and space heater season has arrived. Today, the start of Fire Prevention Week, is as good a time as any to start.

(This column originally appeared in the Burlington Free Press on October 9, 2011. Chris’s new novel, “The Night Strangers,” was just published.)

CNN weighs in on The Night Strangers

CNN's Christian DuChateau said, "The Night Strangers has all the hallmarks of a good ghost story, but. . .Bohjalian has put his own 21st-century spin on the supernatural genre in his frightening new novel."

In addition to presenting his review of the novel, he interviewed me about the inspiration for this novel, and his questions were terrific.

Here is a link to the full story.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/07/living/...

Big thanks to Christian and CNN.

The Washington Post on The Night Strangers: "That thump thump you hear. . ."

Humongous thanks to critic Keith Donohue, editor Ron Charles, and the Washington Post.

I love the last lines of the newspaper's review of The Night Strangers:

“A perfect book for Halloween. . .That thump thump you hear as you read is only your heart leaping from your chest.”

To read the full review, click here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/enterta...

"It will invade your world."

That headline is a line from Nanore Barsoumian’s review of “The Night Strangers.”

I love it.

But there have been other terrific lines so far, too. To wit, this one from Justin Cronin in his review:

“To put the matter succinctly: The first chapter of Chris Bohjalian’s The Night Strangers is so riveting, I dropped the book in the tub.”

And on a CNN pop culture blog, my dream came true when my name appeared in the same sentence as Leslie Knope:

“‘Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America,’ a book by the creators of ‘Parks and Recreation’ under the moniker of Amy Poehler’s character Leslie Knope, arrives today, along with ‘The Night Strangers’ by Chris Bohjalian and ‘The Dovekeepers’ by Alice Hoffman.”"

Below are, so far, what people are saying are about “The Night Strangers.”

My fingers are crossed you’re not disappointed.

PRAISE

“Shades of The Shining make for a haunting tale. . . A modern-day ghost story worth losing sleep over.” – Family Circle

“You will close the book’s covers totally satisfied, aware that this masterful storyteller has done it again.” – Seattle Times

“After losing passengers in a forced landing, a pilot seeks respite by moving his family to New England. But the house is haunted and local witches won’t leave them alone. Good ‘n’ spooky.” – Good Housekeeping

“Riveting. . .seamless. . .a hell of a good ghost story.” – Justin Cronin, author of The Passage

“Put a haunted man in a haunted house. . .and you have a Halloween hair-raiser. But it’s more than that. Bohjalian, with a dozen well-received novels to his credit, understands trauma: how long it takes to recover from unimaginable pain, and how people who have never experienced it rarely understand.” – Tim Clark, Yankee Magazine

“A spellbinding, heart-pounding novel. . .this is one perfect book for Halloween.” – Megan Fishmann, Book Page

“A delicious and haunting tale. . .Bohjalian is a terrific writer and parsimonious in the way he issues information, slowly building an increasing sense of dread and excitement.” – Curt Schleier, Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Bohjalian uses a clean-edged pen to dice, toss, and serve a gasp-inducing plot that is ghost story-meets psychological thriller. . .The book has a spellbinding clutch. A mélange of horror, thrill, drama, sex, and gore—juxtaposed against the quiet and solitude of a small New England town—it will test your courage and resolve. . .[It] will invade your world.” – Nanore Barsoumian, The Armenian Weekly

“Masterfully crafted. . .a suspense-filled ghost story set in rural New Hampshire. . .This is a great read filled with real-life characters, an intricate story line and just enough ‘spooky.’” – Julie Bonner Williams, The Grand Rapids Press

“Bohjalian has crafted a genre-defying novel, both a compelling story of a family in trauma and a psychological thriller that is truly frightening. Fans of Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones and Margaret Atwood’s Cat’s Eye and The Robber Bride will find similar appeal here.” – Library Journal[Starred Review]

“A gripping paranormal thriller. . .Meticulous research and keen attention to detail give depth and character to [the] eerie world. . .Bohjalian is a master, and the slow-mounting dread makes this a frightful ride.” – Publishers Weekly

“A page-turner of uncommon depth. Guilt, egotism, and fear all play parts in this genre-bending novel.” – Booklist [Starred Review]

“Compelling. . .a practical magick horror story.” – Kirkus Reviews

Derby Dames not just spinning their wheels

It’s a Saturday evening and we’re barely three minutes into the first half of the Green Mountain Derby Dames’ first bout, when “Darkness Visible” hip-checks the Wisconsin blocker, “Shrimp Trampi,” sending her skidding off the track on her hands and knees and nearly causing the sort of pile-up that puts seats in the seats at Nascar – and, perhaps, at roller derby. The announcer, “Rock Thudson,” goes wild.

Last month I watched Roller Derby for the first time, and I’m hooked. It was a Derby Dames doubleheader, with Vermont’s Black Ice Brawlers taking on Team Unicorn from Wisconsin in the late afternoon. Then, in the evening, Vermont’s “Grade A Fancy” began a systematic pummeling of “The Legislashers” from New Hampshire. (Final score? 244 – 36. But it wasn’t even that close.)

There are any number of reasons to explain the crowd at the Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Junction, but my sense is that any sport that combines interesting, athletic women in fishnets and ripped stockings with speed and the possibility of violent collisions is going to have appeal. There is also a soft, gauzy halo of nostalgia (Didn’t our grandparents watch roller derby?) combined with the hard edge of good-natured and completely filthy sexual parody. Half the skaters have derby names and numbers that are brilliant and, alas, unprintable. Here, however, are a few that are: “Ivana Thump,” “Terminate Her,” “Miss Dairy Air,” “The Atomic Muffin,” and “Track Infection.”

And, oh by the way, some of the skaters are spectacularly athletic. That doesn’t hurt either. I had no idea what was going on at the beginning of the afternoon bout and watched it the way my wife watches football. We had been married a month before she understood that you don’t – to paraphrase that great Miami Dolphins kicker, Garo Yepremian – kick a touchdown. But it didn’t matter, because the skating was riveting. As “The Atomic Muffin” – a.k.a., Mary Katherine Dow, a hair stylist by day at O’M Studio in Burlington – put it, “Roller derby has the brute strength and team choreography of football. We play a smart game, too, but we play it sexy, fat, skinny, theatrically, and without apology. I think Americans have a thing for hardworking rebels.”

Here, however, is what surprised me most and what really drew me in. Roller Derby, first and foremost, is about empowerment. It’s that whole, “I am woman, hear me roar” thing that I love as a dad of a daughter. (Why has no one chosen “Helen Ready to Roll” as a derby name? It must only be a matter of time.)

“Darkness Visible” is actually Elaine Haney Sopchak, mother of three and former bookseller. Her derby name is a reference to John Milton and the phrase the poet used to describe Hell in “Paradise Lost.” She told me she “had been kind of adrift” since closing her bookstore. Then, one day when “The Atomic Muffin” was cutting her hair, the stylist brought up roller derby. Sopchak went from reffing to jamming in short order, enduring the bumps and bruises and overcoming the self-doubt. “Many of us were misfits who never were part of the in-crowd,” she told me. “The camaraderie I’ve experienced with the Dames is special. I’ve become friends with women I never would have met if it weren’t for derby.”

Which brings me back to those names. “The derby serves as an alter ego for most of us,” said Sopchak. “We’re secretaries, moms, nurses, artists, and retail counter clerks. On the track, though, we are our derby personas.”

And so despite the broken bones and bruises and torn ACLs, the sport is actually rather healing. As “The Atomic Muffin” told me, “I’ve been sober for almost 13 years. Adrenaline is the only drug I can take without forfeiting my medallion.”

There is certainly plenty of adrenaline flowing at the derby – and just maybe some endorphins, too. To quote the Terminator (versus “Terminate Her”): I’ll be back.

* * *

The Green Mountain Derby Dames return to the track next Saturday night, October 8, with bouts at the Champlain Valley Exposition at 4:30 and 7:00. Tickets are available through the Flynn Center Box Office and at the bout.

(This column originally appeared in the Burlington Free Press on October 2, 2011. Chris’s next novel, “The Night Strangers,” arrives this Tuesday — October 4.)

"It will invade your world."

That quote is from Nanore Barsoumian's review of "The Night Strangers" in the latest issue of the "Armenian Weekly."

I love it. It may be among my favorite five words any reviewer has ever written about my work.

Specifically, she wrote:

“Bohjalian uses a clean-edged pen to dice, toss, and serve a gasp-inducing plot that is ghost story-meets psychological thriller. . .The book has a spellbinding clutch. A mélange of horror, thrill, drama, sex, and gore—juxtaposed against the quiet and solitude of a small New England town—it will test your courage and resolve. . .[It] will invade your world.”

– Nanore Barsoumian, The Armenian Weekly

To read the full review, visit:

http://www.armenianweekly.com/2011/09...

Big thanks to Nanore and the "Weekly."