Shel’s Comments (group member since Mar 05, 2009)

Shel’s comments from the fiction files redux group.

Actually -- come to think of it -- it feels a bit creepy and weird to go to a book launch party for someone who died almost three years ago.

Almost... necrophiliac. Or at least sycophantic.

Maaaaan that place is like 5 minutes from my house and I'll be away. It's where I bought my copy. :(((

As the child of two parents who spent their professional lives in the civil service, all of the inside jokes, calling the IRS "the Service," all the GS-9 and GS-13 talk... it's like going home for Thanksgiving when my parents still worked for the feds...

What do you think the point of the moves between what's happening on the plane & the safety card, accounting rules, tax regulations, a brief history of Sylvanshine's career, and the blips in and out of the childhood are all about?

Past the flannel plains and blacktop graphs and skylines of canted rust, and past the tobacco-brown river overhung with weeping trees and coins of sunlight through them on the water downriver, to the place beyond the windbreak, where untilled fields simmer shrilly in the A.M. heat: shattercane, lamb's quarter, cutgrass, sawbrier, nutgrass, jimsomweed, wild mint, dandelion, foxtail, muscadine, spine-cabbage, goldenrod, creeping charlie, butter-print, nightshade, ragweed, wild oat, vetch, butcher grass, invaginate volunteer beans, all heads gently nodding in a morning breeze like a mother's soft hand on your cheek. An arrow of starlings fired from the windbreak's thatch. The glitter of dew that stays where it is and steams all day. A sunflower, four more, one bowed, and horses in the distance standing rigid and still as toys. All nodding. Electric sounds of insects at their business. Ale-colored sunshine and pale sky and whorls of cirrus so high they cast no shadow. Quartz and chert and schist and chondrite iron scabs in granite. Very old land. Look around you. The horizon trembling, shapeless. We are all of us brothers.

This is the opening paragraph (copied from Hugh on Facebook). What I love about it is the rhythm, the cadence. So very, very lovely.

And the picture of southern Illinois farmland, which I spent not a few summers living in. It was the brown water and the list of plants that gave it away.

So, my mom has read it and really enjoyed it. And now is giving it as a gift or loaning it to her friends.

The best fans are the grassroots ones. :)

ohhhhhh... now that is way too internetty for me. ;)

Yes. shelbybower@gmail.com. Never occurred to me to do that... do I need to request funds from you? To be honest I've never used it to *get* paid for anything.

Hi --

Yeah, I plunked down the $. :)

Glad you like the look of the place!

1440 W Addison #2, Chicago IL 60613 is the snail mail.

Thanks in advance to anyone who ships the dinero ahead of time, but you can always wait til you get there, too. :)

Yeah, JE -- to echo what other conversations -- there will always be naysayers and people who don't get it.

I run into them EVERY day.

I have compassion for them as human beings, but I don't have to listen to what they say...

Wow. That is an awesome post that is making me rethink many of the books I've read.

Holy cow.

No, really. Seriously. Wow. What a mindblowing idea to start applying to sooooo many books.

Hey -- Lara asked me on FB what airport to fly into. It's Minneapolis-St Paul, the code is MSP in that whole flight booking thing.

The house is right near a place called Sauk Centre (Center)? so we will need a small caravan thing similar to what we've done in past years where we catch rides with each other.

Zee house, she is OURS!

July 31-Aug 7, because they have people who already reserved it through the 30th... (so that's Sunday to Sunday, not Saturday to Saturday).

I'm sure there will be other details as we get closer. She noted that it's in a really nice natural setting and that there is tons of outdoor activities to do... I think it will be a good space for us.

Here's the link, in case you missed it.

http://www.vacationhomerentals.com/va...

Usually some of us rent cars and some of us hitch back and forth in little groups. It's pretty much impossible to time trips precisely *and* find a nice quiet space away from everything, and most of us can't really afford a 2 hour cab ride anywhere.

In past years it's all worked out just fine -- there is usually someone coming and someone else going within a few hours of a flight time and we just help each other out.

OK -- Margaret says wait til Monday, JE says pull the trigger. I'll call tomorrow if everyone is ok.

OK -- I'm moving forward with the reservation but won't plunk down the moolah until Monday, just in case.

Sorry guys --I'm not trying to pressure anyone -- we have about 20 people confirmed for at least some part of the week, we agree on the week we are doing it and people like the place?

I have to put down a deposit to hold the place... and I don't want to make any unilateral decisions.

The description says (and I can't help but smile when I see that Lake Wobegon is nearby)...so I think, yes.

The Grey Eagle area has over 20 lakes. This small town is 5 minutes away and has restaurants, hardware store, post office, library, gas stations and churches.

Sauk Centre is just 15 minutes away offering shopping, raceway, theater, fine dining and parks.

Alexandria extends it's hospitality for shopping, dining, a water park, winery and it is just 35 minutes from the Retreat.

Melrose is a quaint town 12 minutes from the retreat and has a spa, eclectic shops, dining and fitness centers.

Close to the Lake Wobegon and Soo Line Trail - it is central to many outdoor activities!

OK --- the first house is available, everyone.

I assume I will have to put money down to reserve so I need to know if this is final-final and if everyone is good with the location and space before I do...

i emailed them earlier today with dates, number of people and 1 kid (Owen) ... so I should hear back soon.

I am looking at places that sleep 18 or more, with some kind of outdoor activities readily available, on the water, somewhat near the airport.

I'm not sure who to call about finding a place where we could get a string of cabins next to one another which may or may not be a simpler way to go, sorta like Fort Flagler.

Just as a potential alternative that could be fun... I do have a friend of a friend who actually owns a summer camp he's renovated and rents out. It used to be for kids in Wisconsin, but it's in Wisconsin... my friend is actually having his wedding there next year.

I am also thinking I will actually venture into a Costco for the first time since my kids were in diapers to get a crate of bug spray.
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This one is a really nice house, sleeps 21(with a bit of bunking up) and is about $3K total ($150 each). 2 hour drive from the airport.
http://www.vacationhomerentals.com/va...

This one has ITS OWN POOL. Sleeps 22, 25 minutes from airport. More pricy at $4K/$200 each... but it has ITS OWN POOL.
http://www.vacationhomerentals.com/va...

I'm still thinking about who this character is ... I know it's gotta be obvious to me and it'll pop into my head at about 3 am one night.

I just wanted to say to anyone who is on the fence about driving a few extra miles to hear Jon read, get off the fence.

I have been to a lotta readings in my time. Most of them given by stiff/nervous/standoffish writers who don't really want to talk about the work, their method, and generally just clam up in front of an audience.

Not so, our JE. This is a challenging book to read from but he has found passages that illuminate the book and really work... and if you haven't heard him read dialogue, it's ... dareisay... puckish. :)

But it's not just that. Half of the reading time is spent with him answering questions about his process and how he wrote the book. He is engaging, open, funny and nothing short of brilliant. He leaves the audience pretty sure they met one of our best writers. Which they, you know, just did. Not that I'm biased or anything.