All's Well at the El

I want to thank everybody who came out Sunday for the book launch for Breathing Out the Ghost. I feel very blessed to have such good friends and family. A lot of people deserve kudos, but first and foremost: thanks to Ms. Carolyn, who not only organized the event but picked up my tab. Lord knows what a dent that can make in a publicity budget. Thomas and Cheryl took the afternoon to sell books, Bubba gave up his day off to man the bar, Stefania took her time to keep the crowd in gin and PBRs, Bruce lent a mic and PA, Jim and Kathy drove from Summerville and Chris and Tracie from Atlanta. Jim rushed back from Fairhope, Lissa skipped church, Jim and Suzanne stayed over an extra night, and Kristal and Star took pictures. Dr. Al took time from his rounds, and a lot of folks from Immanuel PC and Troy dropped by. Most of all, Diane and Kip were there. And, yes, the pics on the website make one thing clear: it's getting close to beard-shearing day. I'm starting to look like a very gray SOS pad.

And so...

That was the coda my grandfather, "Pop" Formichella, always used to signal the story he was telling was going to take a slightly different tack. They never ended, Pop's stories. He was forever telling stories. They just shifted, not always in a logical manner, mind you, thinking back to those visits to his house, dry goods store and sprawling yard in Summit, New Jersey, but always to the complete delight of his audience, regardless of age. Summer vacations there meant playing in that yard all day or rutting about in the adjoining garden, and evenings spent sitting around the picnic table listening to Pop. "And so," he'd say, slowly, at junctures only he knew -- hence, the signal -- and slide from reminiscing about his childhood back in Italy a century ago to the time he thwarted a would-shoplifter only to give him the shoes he was intent on stealing anyway, as easily as Fred Astaire shifting from a waltz to a tango. "And so..."
And so, we went to Brewton Thursday night. I was ready, as I said, for some measure of confrtontation, hoping, actually, for the dialogue. That didn't happen though. The people who stood waiting with book in hand to be signed -- the signing lasting so long we had to move to a less conspicuous table lest we infringe on Grayson's playing time, so long I had to resort to a back-up pen (thanks again to the woman who rifled through her purse and gave me hers) as mine ran out of ink -- were universally supportive of the project and appreciative of the book. But get this, none of the truly privileged Brewtonians showed up. As if they're still trying to deny the story, by refusing to acknowledge it. As if sticking their manicured fingers in their ears, closing their eyes and singing out "La, la, la, la, la, la, la..." they can make the story go away. Or maybe it was two-for-one steak night at the country club. I don't know. I do know this: the story's not going away. The more people get acquainted with it, the more they want to know, the more they talk about it. And then ever more people want to know what's up with this Murder Creek thing? And so...

World's Oldest American Farm Widow Doesn't Tell All

Folks who know me know my one modest claim to fame has nothing to do with my writing. It's the fact that my great-grandmother, Edna Parker, is 114 and is currently the world's oldest documented person. (The character of Ethel Brandywine in Breathing Out the Ghost is based in part on Edna---and I stress "partly"). I say "currently" and "documented" because over the weekend a woman emerged in Israel claiming to be 120. It's interesting.... When the news broke I actually had folks emailing me the story (BREAKING NEWS!), perhaps thinking we would cobble together some talking points for some proto-John McCain-style PR. Instead, I did a lot of reading on Miriam Amash. Apparently, the only documentation she has is a birth certificate from 1888, which was a good 60 years before Israel existed. Indeed, the bc is from the Ottoman Empire! (What, no drivers license?) Here is the full story:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=515351&in_page_id=1770

It's an interesting question of how this will or won't be documented. It's a little known fact that the world of age verification can be quite cutthroat. Edna has one hell of a partisan in Mr. Robert Young, a certifier for the gerontology group that decides these things for the Guiness Book of World Records. Mr. Young also happens to be a Wikipedia enthusiast, which is why Edna has a handsome Wikipedia page. (She may be the only person in the world who doesn't read her own Wikipedia page). I've noticed over the past few days a little Wiki-war going on over whether to mention Miriam Amash in Edna's bio. On Monday, somebody had inserted a sentence insisting Edna was likely to lose her title. Now that sentence is gone---no doubt zapped by Robert, whom I met last April at the 114th birthday party.

All I can say that if Edna does go back down to No. 2 (her position from Jan-Aug 07, before she was elevated to No. 1), she'll be happy to be Hillary to Miriam's Barak. She's a very modest woman who gets embarrassed when folks gobble on about her age. Not to knock a supposed 120-year-old, but Mrs. Amash was quoted in the London papers as boasting of her status. Of course, that status won't be confirmed until more proof than Ottoman Empire paperwork can be found. Will the Parkers of Shelbyville IN and the Amashes of Israel duke it out for this coveted title? Nah, I doubt it. We're just happy to have Edna with us.

Brewton Bound

There's always, as Kirk say, a certain trepidation when readying to "launch" a book. I remember just weeks before the deadline of the first one, waking up in the middle of the night and getting physically ill over the prospect. (Everyone's friend Tom Franklin told me at the time, "That's great!" But we all know he's crazy.) Is it good enough? Did I make it bulletproof? Did I do justice by the story? Those are all questions, ultimately, that only a reader can answer. And that's the writer's angst. Murder Creek, of course, presents its own special anxiety. Launching it in Brewton only compounds the situation. We are already hearing from folks, professionals, anonymous citizens, that we shouldn't have pursued the story, shouldn't have opened those wounds again. I suppose I understand the intent of that attitude. The motivation troubles me. The goal of the book has always only been one thing: finding out whatever truth was still discoverable for Annie Jean's children forty years after her death. It wasn't too long into the process that the story became one that had to be told. Suzanne, who's more anxious about tonight than anyone, is fortifying herself with this belief: The only people who get to decide that this story's over are those same children. Period. No one else gets to determine that. And that's the attitude we'll take to the stage of the Brewton Civic Center tonight.

Murder Creek in the Brewton Standard

There's an article online at the Brewton Standard today about the revival of interest in the Annie Jean Barnes "mystery" since publication of Joe's book.

Brooke Walker, director of Brewton Public Library, says, “We are expecting a large crowd and moved the signing and concert from the library to the Brewton Community Center to accommodate the many people expected.”

Read it here: Book revives talk of mystery

Go Little Book (L'Envoi Redux)

So now in the warehouse there is a pallet of boxes in which lie books bearing my name. Like an anxious new parent I stare beneath the swaddling blankets of styrofoam at the wrinkled skin of a book jacket and I wonder, "What now?" ....

Not for nothing do writers speak of feeling something like post-partum depression when the final product finally arrives. Times like these I wish I were a Scientologist so I could will myself to another empowerment plane....

I've said this so many times it's my own private Idaho of a cliche, but it's true: writing a book is daunting, getting it published is more daunting, but most daunting of all is finding an audience. It'll be an interesting trip as we hit the road Ghost-hopping. I hope y'all will tag along...

Book Launch on Feb. 24

Kirk Curnutt, chair of the English department at Troy University’s Montgomery Campus, will be celebrating the release of his current novel, Breathing Out the Ghost, with a reading and signing sponsored by the book’s publisher, River City Publishing.

The event will take place on Sunday, Feb. 24, from 4 to 7 p.m. at El Rey Burrito Lounge, located in the Old Cloverdale district next to the Capri Theater at 1031 E. Fairview.

Breathing Out the Ghost is a literary thriller about two parents who come to envy each other’s ability to cope with the grief of losing children.

The novel was the December 2007 book club selection at ForeWord Magazine, the leading trade publication of the independent publishing industry.

Murder Creek signing in Brewton Feb. 21

Joe Formichella and Suzanne Hudson will appear at the Brewton Civic Center on Douglas Ave. (Hwy. 31) to discuss and sign copies of Joe's Murder Creek and Suzanne's 2003 novel In a Temple of Trees.

The Brewton Standard is all a-flutter about the event. They'll be running stories in tomorrow's and Sunday's paper about the signing.

Murder Creek Message Boards

The publication of Joe Formichella's Murder Creek: The "Unfortunate Incident" of Annie Jean Barnes has recently re-opened the door of controversy that Suzanne Hudson's In a Temple of Trees burst through in 2003.

After realizing that folks in the small town where Murder Creek and ...Temple... are both set had been using the online guest book of the local newspaper to discuss Formichella's book, we decided to give people a real forum for debate.

Please visit the Murder Creek Message Boards to discuss the book.

Pardon our progress...

The River City Publishing website may be down for a few hours on 13 Feb. as we do all sorts of cyber-based moving and housecleaning and such.

This is done in preparation for a new and greatly improved site - full of interactive features and a streamlined contact and purchase process.

I'll be blogging more about that later.

Right now I want to welcome one of our authors, Joe Formichella, on board the blog. Joe is a very busy man - a sort of writing machine, it seems - with one book just published with us, Murder Creek, and another in the pipeline.

Staying Ahead of the Posse: The Ben Jobe Story will be published in late March or early April, and promises to capture a lot of attention from the world of athletics - especially from the NCAA, about which Ben Jobe tells his truth without mercy.

On becoming a blogger

Morning folks. This is usually the time of day I covet the most -- the time when I get the bulk of my writing done. I will admit that, being something of a political junkie, I can't help but be a little distracted by the primary results, the campaigns, etc. Usually, I'd be wrapping up a few hours worth of work on whatever project I'm engaged with at the moment -- and there's always at least a couple I'm juggling -- and trying to morph into a responsible wage-earner. Some days it's easier than others. But as I say, today, Washington Journal, on C-SPAN is playing in the background. I know, I know, shame on me, shame on me. Can't help it. The stuff fascinates me. I can't decide if it's because this is really the raw, unscripted opinions of American citizens, or if it's just a glorified, electronic version of "sound-off" (hoping, of course, for the former). It's a guilty pleasure, to be sure. Problem is, I'm about thirty pages shy of finishing the next book, Principal Axes of the Heart, and I really need to finish it up before we get geared up pimping Murder Creek. Somebody spank me.

Murder Creek has been blogged

Michael Thomson over at the Alabama Confidential blog has discovered, to his seeming delight, Joe Formichella's Murder Creek: The "Unfortunate Incident" of Annie Jean Barnes.

http://alabamaconfidential.blogspot.com/2008/02/shocking-non-fiction-book-about-brewton.html

We appreciate the mention - and hope Murder Creek will bring to light many harsh realities often swept under the rug in Smalltown, USA.

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