Wiley Cash's Blog, page 2

A Special Offer for Patrons of Indie Bookstores

From Quarter Moon Books in Topsail Island, North Carolina, to City Lights in San Francisco , California, from the Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale, Arizona, to Longfellow Books in Portland, Maine, I've been fortunate to have experienced incredible support from this country's independent booksellers.

My Literary Crushes

In honor of Valentine's Day - and because I'm on the road for the paperback tour of A Land More Kind Than Home instead of at home with my wife where I should be - I thought I'd share with you a few of my literary crushes. When I was reading the stories and novels that feature these women, I found myself asking very important literary questions, the kind of questions most literary scholars ask of iconic works of literature: I wonder if Elizabeth Bennet really looks like Keira Knightley? What would Dasiy Miller and I talk about while we wandered through the old city? Would Brett Ashley chew me up and spit me out too?

On the Road (Again)

I can�t believe it�s been nine months since the hardcover release of A Land More Kind Than Home and the incredible experience I had visiting bookstores and libraries across the southeast, meeting readers, seeing old friends, and making new ones.

The Art of the Agent Query Letter: As Boring as You Wanna Be

First, here's my query letter to Nat Sobel of Sobel Weber Associates, Inc.:

25 January 2010

Wiley Cash
Main Street
Bethany, WV 26032
Email
Phone number

Nat Sobel
Sobel Weber Associates, Inc.
Address
New York, NY 10003

Dear Mr. Sobel:

I am seeking representation for my completed novel �A Land More Kind Than Home,� which is about a young, autistic boy who dies mysteriously during a Pentecostal healing service in 1980s� western North Carolina.

My Summer Reading List

Here we are, halfway through the summer, and I'm just now getting around to choosing books for my summer reading list. So far, I've already read Wallace Stegner's Angle of Repose, Richard Ford's new novel Canada, which I really enjoyed, and Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden--From 9/11 to Abbottabad, which I found a little tedious. If you've read them, let me know what you thought. If you've read any of the books below, feel free to share your thoughts, but please don't give anything away!

"Extras" in Trade Paperback Editions

The paperback of A LAND MORE KIND THAN HOME will be out next year, and it will include a few essays on topics that pertain to the book. That being said, what topics would you be interested in reading about? Inspiration for the story? The writing process? Literary influences? Please share your ideas. Thanks!

Photos of the Real Places in A LAND MORE KIND THAN HOME

Today, on Twitter, I'll be posting some of my photographs of the real places that inspired the fictional places in A Land More Kind Than Home. #landphotos
Follow me on Twitter here.

My Questions for Book Clubs

One of the best things about having my novel published has been the opportunity to meet readers and visit book clubs in person and via telephone and Skype. I hope your book club will consider selecting A Land More Kind Than Home, and I hope you'll consider following the link below to find questions that I personally designed for book club discussion. Beneath each question, feel free to leave your own question or a comment. I look forward to reading your responses, and I'd be honored to meet with your book club and discuss these questions in person. Contact me.

Link to Discussion Questions

What I Need and Don't Need from Hotels

I've been traveling a lot lately, and it's given me plenty of time to think about what I need and don't need from hotels. My list is below.

What I need from hotels:

- A light switch right inside the door. I hate walking into a dark hotel room and having to feel around for a lamp while worrying about tripping over a dead prostitute or stepping on an uncapped hypodermic needle.

More Atticus, Less Homer

A few weeks ago, two friends and I were hanging out when a rerun of Family Ties came on television. None of us had seen it in years, and we kept remarking on how unrealistic the premise was, how stuffy and cheesy. I was shocked by this, because, apart from its liberalism in the age of Reagan, I'd remembered this show as reflecting the experience of many middle-class American families in the 1980s. I'd felt like it reflected my own family in many ways: a busy household, parents who both worked, kids who played sports and took part in after-school events. But watching it as a grown man, something seemed off. Only recently did I realize why the show struck me as strange: in this age of Homer Simpson and Peter Griffin, the thing that seemed "off" about Family Ties is the show's portrayal of father Steven Keaton. He wasn't an idiot.