The Master Butchers Singing Club (Revisited)

The Master Butcher (Louis Erdrich) – 255/365, BlackBerry 365, Minneapolis, Minnesota, September 2010, photo © 2010 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved. To celebrate the World Premiere stage adaptation of The Master Butchers Singing Club at the Guthrie, Liz and I have started reading the novel aloud to each other. I savor each moment. This will [...]

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The Short Story & Spring Writing Contests

A story is a way to say something that can’t be said any other way, and it takes every word in the story to say what the meaning is. You tell a story because a statement would be inadequate. When anybody asks what a story is about, the only proper thing is to tell him [...]

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The Hot, Spicy Meat Of Isabel Allende

For Christmas I got the 2009 Page-A-Day Book Lover’s Calendar, which features a different book each day. Guess which author turned up on the page for Wednesday, January 14? Isabel Allende and her book Inés of My Soul. I’ve never read that book, but based on the Page-A-Day write-up, it is a passionate love story [...]

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Fiction: The Smarting Up Of America

In a cultural moment when we are hearing nothing but bad news, we have reassuring evidence that the dumbing down of our culture is not inevitable. ~Dana Gioia, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts Good news from the National Endowment for the Arts. According to a report it released today, “Reading on the [...]

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The Discipline Of Isabel Allende

Isabel Allende, a portion of the book cover from Allende’s memoir Paula, (colors manipulated), photo © 2009 by ybonesy. All rights reserved. Yesterday all day I thought about author Isabel Allende. In 2008 I read two memoirs from the large collection of fiction and creative non-fiction that she’s written: The Sum of Our Days—published last [...]

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Do You Do Opening Nights?

Twilight Advance, advance ticket for opening day of Twilight, the long-awaited film adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s young adult hit series, image © 2008 by ybonesy. All rights reserved. Twilight opened at midnight last night, and I imagine theaters everywhere were filled with teenage girls dressed in black. My teen didn’t make it; today was a [...]

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An I.P. Freely & Seymour Butts Reunion

Two old author friends, beloved by generations of readers and pranksters alike, came together for a brief reunion on red Ravine to talk about the challenges of publishing and staying relevant in today’s world. I.P. Freely: It’s been ages, Seymour, ol’ boy. What have you been doing?? Seymour Butts: Likewise, I.P. What a pleasure to [...]

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Stephenie Bit Me, Too!

By Bob Chrisman Yesterday evening as I sat in my favorite coffee shop and drank my French press of Irish Breakfast tea, I finished Twilight, Book One of the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer. In August when I decided to read the series as a result of the red Ravine post My Kid Got Bit [...]

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My Kid Got Bit By Stephenie Meyer

Raise your hand if you or someone you know is hooked on Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series of books. Chances are there are lots of hands in the air out there. My twelve-year-old daughter got her copy of Breaking Dawn, the fourth and final book in the series, at a midnight release party last Saturday. She [...]

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Flannery O’Connor (Part I) — The House I Grew Up In

Flannery O’Connor — The House I Grew Up In, Savannah, Georgia, July 2008, photo © 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved. It’s almost time to leave the South. It seems like I’ve been gone forever. I had hoped to write more from the road but, I tell you, I’ve just been too exhausted when I [...]

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A Tale Of Visionary Pragmatism

What should we name the store? Yeah, I’ve been thinking about this. How about …  “VALLEY SUPERMARKET”? SUPERmarket?? It’s not a supermarket. Smith’s in Taos is a supermarket. Albertsons in Santa Fe is a supermarket. No, no, no, wait a second. This is big, man, this is huge. Our store is gonna be the biggest one this town [...]

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The 1970′s — What Was America Reading?

           Minerva, 1889 – 1890, Roman goddess of poetry, music, wisdom, and warriors (Greek, Athena), bronze sculpture by Norwegian American artist, Jakob H. F. Fjelde, downtown Minneapolis Central Library, Minneapolis, Minnesota, photo © 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.     The first black hole was discovered in the same decade that Star Wars was released (and [...]

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Kerouac Does Haiku (& Other Tales From On The Road)

        On The Road, Summer 2007, Minneapolis, Minnesota, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved. In September 2007, I finished reading On The Road. It was the day the book turned 50. I have this thing for Kerouac. I consider him the James Dean of writers. I guess I’m easily swayed by myth. On The [...]

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From Norman Mailer

Norman Mailer died this morning. Here is a quote from Mailer: I think it’s bad to talk about one’s present work, for it spoils something at the root of the creative act. It discharges the tension. Words to write by.

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Ann Patchett – On Truth, Beauty, & The Adventures Of “Opera Girl”

Writer’s Hands IV, hands of Bel Canto author, Ann Patchett, signing a copy of her latest book, Run, Fitzgerald Theater, downtown St. Paul, Minnesota, October 2007, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved. Part I. On a rainy October night, inside the haunted Fitzgerald Theater, Ann Patchett held the audience rapt. She has created a [...]

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WRITING TOPIC – WHAT HAVE YOU LOST

What Have You Lost, Rainpainting Series, outside the Fitzgerald Theater, downtown, St. Paul, Minnesota, night of Ann Patchett, October 2007, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved. If you want to know someone, truly know someone, ask them about the things they have lost. No matter how long it’s been. It doesn’t matter. The things [...]

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Interview With Author And Teacher Robert Wilder – Part 2

          Images provided by Anna Crowe, Bantam Dell Publishing Group, Random   House, Inc.; Cover Art © 2007 by Jose Luis Pelaez, Inc./Picturequest; Cover   Design by Lynn Andreozzi. Photo of author Robert Wilder © 2007 by Jennifer   Esperanza. All rights reserved. On Thursday, September 13, QuoinMonkey and ybonesy interviewed Robert Wilder, [...]

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