TBR: The Body Is A Temporary Gathering Place by Andrew Bertaina

TBR [to be read], a semi-regular, invitation-only interview series with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books. 

  

Give us your elevator pitch: what’s your book about in 2-3 sentences?

 

It’s a bit of a roundabout memoir in essays. The essays take place over about eight years of my life when I went through a lot of upheaval. Elevator pitch, it’s a mid-life crisis novel about parenting, divorce, identity and faith or lack thereof.

 

Which essay did you most enjoy writing? Why? And which essay gave you the most trouble, and why?

 

I had the most fun writing my essay “On Trains.” [See below for link.]  I think it was the first essay where I hit on the idea of just riffing on a subject matter. Thus, it’s about wedding trains, how Einstein used trains to prove his special theory of relativity, a guide to trying to make love on a train etc, all mixed with intersections with trains from my own life. It felt very freeing. At the same time, it was a kind of challenge to scour my memories for train related content. 

 

As for the hardest, I’d probably say the essay “On Baths.” I was closing in on the nadir of my mid-life crisis, deeply floundering, and I think that essay deals directly with the beginning of that fallout. I honestly don’t like to say any essay is too hard to write. It feels disingenuous when I’ve written the damn thing. Technically then, I’d say the essay “A Field of White,” because I had to find an internal structure to make it work. Otherwise, it was just too scattered. I like digressions; they mirror thought. However, internal structure is still useful, and I borrowed my structural device from John McPhee’s essay, “The Search for Marvin Gardens.”  In my essay, the mooring point is a tea party I’m having with my three-year-old and her stuffed bear.

 

Tell us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s road to publication.

 

Risking honesty, I wound up as notable in Best American Essays three out of the last four years. I know notable isn’t in the book, but I thought it might mean people would be clamoring for a collection. As always, my inbox was empty, so I had to figure out how I wanted to proceed.

 

My editor at Autofocus, Michael Wheaton, is an absolute gem, and he worked with me on finding a cohesive collection of essays. He was generous with his time and editing, and I’m deeply thankful to have worked with him. It ended up all right, but, as always in writing, I discovered the appetite for reading just isn’t that wide. But I have a beautiful book and a great set of essays that I’m proud of. They hold up.

 

 

What’s your favorite piece of writing advice?

 

I don’t own a single craft book volitionally. However, I think consistent writing is useful. Once you have a basic set of skills, it’s getting your butt in the chair. I often don’t, but I tend to feel better when I do. I tell my students who are struggling with it to just set a timer and do thirty minutes a day. That’s it. You can up it to four hours or whatever, but you should start small and build up. My paraphrase is, editing is writing, but you can’t edit nothing.

 

My favorite writing advice is “write until something surprises you.” What surprised you in the writing of this book?

 

I think I was surprised, mostly on a reread, with how much I was mentally suffering during the writing of these essays. In a way, it’s almost painful to go back and see so much wild energy and confusion without much purpose. I think it certainly captures something, and it’s not as though I have things figured it out now, but I was surprised at the kind of desperation I was giving off during those years, this mad desire to figure out life.

 

How did you find the title of your book?

 

The title of my book came to me in a dream. Okay. That’s a lie. But I like that lie. The title just seemed right. I meditate a bit. I don’t think the self is particularly real, and I think it’s even less solid for some of us, myself included. I have a hard time projecting myself into the future or feeling connected to my past. I have an essay that talks about it. Also, I think about death a bit. That life is temporary can be terrifying or beautiful. Choose wisely.

 

Inquiring foodies and hungry book clubs want to know: Any food/s associated with your book? (Any recipes I might share?)

 

I have an essay called “Eating Animals” in the book, but it includes several things that no reader would actually want to cook, including one’s spouse.

 

*****

 

READ MORE ABOUT THIS AUTHOR: https://andrewbertaina.com/

 

ORDER THIS BOOK FOR YOUR OWN TBR STACK:  https://www.autofocuslit.com/store/p/the-body-is-a?fbclid=IwAR0xmIb08R6M7sXuZAAeNVv8P9rOpO5nR4sLpVtUpSZcyUy3v2QyF_KiZQ0_aem_Afb-FrxmnqNxojEQPW9ZOlCiA2xorxK8ktsNmdS3FV4yg7FMRBCbueRuRTeTxq-6oCTAJHaNvutOLKDJk0TjjZYr

 

LINK TO AN ESSAY FROM THIS BOOK, “On Trains”:  https://greenmountainsreview.com/on-trains/

 

 

 

TBR: Rebel Falls by Tim Wendel

TBR [to be read], a semi-regular, invitation-only interview series with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books. 

 

 

Give us your elevator pitch: what’s your book about in 2-3 sentences?

 In 1864, during the last months of the Civil War, a troubled, young woman is sent to the border with Canada. Rory Chase’s assignment? To stop Confederate spies from seizing the lone Union warship left on the Great Lakes. (Much of this novel is based upon true events.)

 

Which character did you most enjoy creating? Why? And which character gave you the most trouble, and why?

 

Rory Chase enthralled and confounded me. Early on, she disguised herself and tried to join a Yankee infantry regiment. After her identity was discovered, Rory became a Union spy. By late 1864, Confederate spies had targeted the U.S.S. Michigan and planned to bombard Cleveland, Buffalo and other cities on the eve of the presidential election. To stop them, Rory must find the courage to not only follow orders but know when to break the rule, too.

 

Also, I enjoyed writing about the rebel spies – John Yates Beall and Bennet Burley They are based on real-life people. Beall crossed paths with John Wilkes Booth, while Burley was a soldier of fortune from Scotland. When the war ended, he got away and became a foreign correspondent for The Daily Telegraph in London.

 

To stop the rebels, Rory needs the help of the wait staff at the Cataract House hotel, once a key stop on the Underground Railroad. That this sinister plot takes place in the shadow of Niagara Falls, one of the most captivating places in the world, was good fun to write.

       

 

Tell us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s road to publication.

 

On the road to publication, the novel was “orphaned” twice, meaning that my editors left for positions at other publishing houses. In the end, though, it worked out. Each of the three editors – Dean Smith, Michael McGandy and Mahinder Kingra  – brought distinctive reactions and insightful comments. It was up to me to incorporate their suggestions into the novel.

 

 

What’s your favorite piece of writing advice?

 

Remember that rejection and failure are not the same. To me, rejection is a temporary setback. It may really, really sting, but how you react to it is up to you. In comparison, failure means that you’ve moved on. Turned the page. And that may be what’s needed at the time. Still, the final choice is yours, and there’s something empowering about that. At least to me.

 

My first novel, CASTRO’S CURVEBALL, was rejected 33 times before it found a home with the Ballantine imprint at Random House. During that process, time and again, I saw ways to improve the story. Even when editors or agents ultimately turned it down, I believed I was making progress and was game to try again.

 

My favorite writing advice is “write until something surprises you.” What surprised you in the writing of this book?

 

 By ingratiating herself to the rebel spies, trying to win them over, Rory risked losing her purpose, even herself as well. In the end, Rory was faced with a difficult decision – Join ‘Em, Leave ‘Em, or Take ‘Em Down. I didn’t start with that template, but eventually I realized that some of my favorite stories follow a similar organization, including THE GREAT GATSBY, THE HANDMAID’S TALE and THE OUTSIDERS.

 

 

How did you find the title of your book?

    

Gregg Wilhelm, a longtime friend, and director of the George Mason writing program, suggested it. A play off Niagara Falls. Then I took it a step further. Late in the novel, Beall and Burley, the rebel spies, discuss how the world will be different if they capture the Union warship. How the Confederacy could become a separate nation, with statues to Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson throughout the land, even perhaps erected in the shadow of Niagara Falls.

 

I wrote much of this book after moving to Charlottesville, Virginia, where era statues and views of our nation’s past can be contentious issues. Walking through town, you’re reminded of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy and how it still casts a long shadow.

 

 

Inquiring foodies and hungry book clubs want to know: Any food/s associated with your book?

 

 The Cataract House hotel was known for its fine food. Served family style in an expansive dining room with crystal chandeliers, the fare included roast beef, baked white fish, salad, roasted potatoes, succotash, along with a dessert trolly wheeled to your table. A new restaurant recently opened on the American side of the Falls based on an 1859 menu from the Cataract House.

 

Also, the Bourbon Old Fashioned was all the rage during the 1860s. That allowed me to have Rory Chase partake of the cocktail during a pivotal scene.

 

Bourbon Old Fashioned (Several of my characters love the cocktail. I do, too.)

From Liquor.com (https://www.liquor.com/recipes/bourbon-old-fashioned/)

1 teaspoon sugar

3 dashes Angostura bitters

1 teaspoon water

2 ounces bourbon

Add the sugar and bitters into a mixing glass, then add the water, and stir until the sugar is nearly dissolved. Fill the mixing glass with ice, add the bourbon, and stir until well-chilled. Strain into a rocks glass over one large ice cube.

 

*****

 

READ MORE ABOUT THIS AUTHOR: www.timwendel.com

 

 

ORDER THIS BOOK FOR YOUR OWN TBR STACK:

https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501774881/rebel-falls/#bookTabs=1

 

 

READ AN EXCERPT FROM THIS BOOK:

https://www.timwendel.com/works.htm

 

TBR: Splice of Life: A Memoir in 13 Film Genres by Charles Jensen

TBR [to be read], a semi-regular, invitation-only interview series with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books. 

 

Give us your elevator pitch: what’s your book about in 2-3 sentences?

 

Movies and memory intertwine in Splice of Life. Each chapter hybridizes traditional memoir storytelling with discussion of a single film whose plot, symbols, or themes resonate with my lived experiences.

 

What boundaries did you break in the writing of this book? Where does that sort of courage come from?

 

This is a nontraditional memoir, first because it is episodic and thematic, and second because I braided traditional memoir conventions with film analysis. Movies have always been so important to my life. If I weren’t a writer, I’d be a filmmaker. I wasn’t sure this was a book people would want to read, but the book as “product” is not something I think a lot about until it’s all done. Writing is always an exploration for me. Can I do this? Can I extend it and keep it interesting? Can I surprise myself along the way? I majored in film studies as an undergrad and film theory and form have inspired how I write poetry. For this book, I wondered what would happen if I leaned all the way in that. If I put movies into my book. If, by doing so, I could create a web of connections between them and me, between them and the reader, and between the reader and me.

 

Tell us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s road to publication.

 

This was the fastest I’ve ever published a book. I started writing it in 2018 and dove into the first draft of the last essay in late 2020. I took classes at UCLA Extension with Shawna Kenney and Gordon Grice to help me revise a few chapters. A literary agent who visited Shawna’s class suggested I look to an indie or university press for this, so while I queried agents for a traditional publishing route, I also queried academic presses and submitted to indie presses, mostly through competitions. The queries weren’t successful, but then I got an email from Andrew Gifford at Santa Fe Writers’ Project telling me my manuscript was a finalist for their annual prize and that they wanted to publish it. That was October 2022. I had convinced myself somehow that this book was unpublishable and unreadable, so it was really surprising to me. I’m still trying to get comfortable with the idea people might enjoy reading this—a good reminder that publication doesn’t cure your insecurities! The way my mind works, I just don’t let positivity in for more than a few seconds. The high in the publishing process were those few seconds after I got Andrew’s email, and the lows were almost every other moment, when I was certain the book would never come together.

 

What’s your favorite piece of writing advice?

 

It’s not really advice, but it’s Louise Glück’s introduction to her collection The First Four Books of Poems. It’s a brief meditation on the books gathered there, but what she wrote fundamentally changed how I write. She catalogs how, after publishing each collection, she looked back at what she seemed focused on, and what she had avoided. Her first book used a lot of sentence fragments, so in the second she challenged herself to write complete sentences. She noticed she resisted using question marks in another, so pushed herself to let questions occupy poems in the next book. If I could distill it down into actual advice, I’d say something like be sure you know where you’ve been so next time you can set out for somewhere new.

 

My favorite writing advice is “write until something surprises you.” What surprised you in the writing of this book?

 

My editor Adam al-Sirgany actually pointed this out to me. There’s a weird mirroring of the chapters in the book, with the seventh chapter serving as a hinge. The first chapter and last chapter concern competitions (prom court and Jeopardy, respectively). The second and twelfth are deeply internal meditations on gender and sexuality. The third and eleventh are about dangerous seductions and how we are broken by them. And so on. I didn’t plan that, but it’s present, and I’m obsessed with it!

 

How did you find the title of your book?

 

Titles are really important to me, and they usually make themselves known to me early on. Since I didn’t know I was working on a book until I had several chapters written, though, it wasn’t until I was done that I reached for a title. The idea of the cutting room floor was on my mind from the jump—the idea that in the process of putting together a story, there’s a lot we leave behind—and when I published the earliest essays, I titled them “Spliced: [essay title] / [film title].” That naturally evolved into the book title, which plays on the vignette nature of the chapters—slices of life—but spliced to include these other narratives. The subtitle changed several times and I owe the final version to Shawna’s class, where I realized genre was one of the unifying elements of my lived experience and the films I selected to pair with them.

 

*****

READ MORE ABOUT THIS AUTHOR: https://charles-jensen.com

 

ORDER THIS BOOK FOR YOUR OWN TBR STACK: https://www.amazon.com/Splice-Life-Memoir-Film-Genres/dp/1951631331

 

READ A SELECTION FROM THIS BOOK, “Psychological Thriller”:

https://expositionreview.com/issues/vol-vii-flux/psychological-thriller/