An email to gladden the writers' hearts

I'm away from home on the slow parental computer, so there are no frills and no pictures today, but I wanted to share this email from poet, novelist and short story writer, Carolyn McCurdie about Elena Bossi's and my collaborative novel, Amigas. (In the interests of keeping the plot from full view, I've abridged the email slightly.)

Just to congratulate you and Elena on this delightful story. I loved the characters, strong, very different voices, the joys and hiccups of their developing relationship. I loved the contrasts between the increasingly harsh realities of Claudia's world, and the almost cottonwool comfort of Jude's, and yet the ordinariness of both, family, the growing of girls to womanhood. I cared about these two. And for that reason I appreciated the integrity of the ending. I wanted a happy ending. I wanted Claudia to be well and happy. Then I just wanted information about her … in its fictional way it honoured the truth of what the people of Argentina endured  during those years …  Humanity shines through this story. The structure, the skipping from country to country, culture to culture, language to language, brought home in the most powerful and subtle way, that a basic humanity is what we all share, linked by that and by shared pain and love.    

Thanks for saying so, Carolyn.

Why publish digital books?

I talked with an interviewer for the NZ Listener a couple of days ago, who's putting together an article about digital publishing. What was it that made me stride out into the unknown and take on something whose outcomes were so uncertain? she asked,

I felt myself firing up as I do when I consider Rosa Mira Books's raison d'être: I am passionate about seeing exceptional writing out into the world, and without needing a huge budget or wasting resources, digital publishing seems to be the best means at present of doing this. With established publishers currently hedging their bets, shortening their lists, and wanting to be sure that every book they publish is a commercial success, some beautiful works of writing are considered too risky to take on. It might be that the author is new or as yet unknown; that the work appeals more to a particular than to a general audience; that the story requires readers to bring their full attention and intelligence to the reading. Or that the form of the work is new. None of these is a compelling reason for strong writing to go unpublished.

I'm also passionate about making as fine a job as possible of the editing, design and presentation of each ebook, and helping it find its way to its readers.

It's apricot violet time here in New Zealand.

There are challenges, of course. Here in NZ we've been slow on the uptake with reading devices. Hard copy is still the preferred reading medium for most. Amazon and the big ebook sellers are often seen by ebook buyers as the only source of ebooks; it's a long, slow job directing buyers straight to Rosa Mira Books, where the books are available formatted for every kind of reading device.

None of us knows what's going to happen to books or the publishing industry over the next few years, or even months. Obstacles and opportunities abound, for publishers and independent authors. I wonder if digital will become the proving ground for paper books. If a digital book is bought, read and loved in sufficient numbers, it might be deemed worthwhile making of it a beautifully designed and bound hard-copy edition. The book will be the longed-for artefect that appears once the work is known and applauded in its digital form.

Speculation. Meanwhile, digital publishing grows both simpler and more sophisticated. It's easier than ever to convert a document to ebook format (or to find someone to do it for a reasonable price), while on the other hand, apps are being made that can make a simple story into a multi-media experience. Still, what matters most to me is that the writing around which this activity centres is all it can be. For now, Rosa Mira Books is keeping it simple, producing well edited, well designed, robust and intelligent work with heart.

Frisky people!

Dorothee's been cooking up a treat.

While writing and researching for The Glass Harmonica, she kept coming across evidence that American forbears weren't the puritanical bunch it's often assumed. She told the Ashland Daily Tidings how she came across some erotic pictures in a history text. "'I was so astonished at how explicit the erotic art of the time was. I started calling rare-book libraries and asking if they had any smutty stuff. And they did.'"

 To make the most of the wealth of infomration, art, poetry and objects that came to light, Dorothee's created a media-enhanced ebook:  Such Were My Temptations: Bawdy Americans 1760-1830. "Loaded with poetry, prose and art, the e-book depicts this country's founding forefathers and foremothers as quite passionate …. It even includes an engraving of Benjamin Franklin and a lady friend having an intimate moment. While graphic in places, the e-book's aim is pleasantly academic rather than pornographic. It's smart, fun and challenges widely held assumptions."

With Such Were My Temptations, Dorothee pushes boundaries in her own right, expanding the definition of the book, adding dimension to the reading experience in ways only recently made possible. Rather than adding content just because it is technically possible to do so, Dorothee finds that sweet spot where content comes alive with new technology. One example is a polyamory poem, dry to read in early English. Such Were My Temptations presents a vivid video of the poem to help readers feel what that old word ‘ribald’ really means.


“Kocks leaves no stone unturned in upsetting today’s definition of 'Puritanical'. From political sex scandals to polyamorous poetry, New England’s first citizens evidently had plenty in common with today’s Americans. Those who think of the 1760s as an era of widespread chastity should brace themselves for surprise before reading Temptations.”  —The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction

To find Such Were My Temptations and more information run to www.DorotheeKocks.com

The Glass Harmonica rocks

Dorothee sent fantastic news: The Glass Harmonica is a finalist in the Utah Book Awards. Although I've always believed in the novel, it's great to have it so publicly affirmed, and this will be a terrific boost for Dorothee as she works on her next writing project. The awards ceremony will be in Salt Lake City in October. We'll keep you posted. Congratulations, Dorothee!

Meanwhile, this morning Ratty shinned up the Delicate Arch in the Arches National Park near Moab, Utah, with the banner that Lily's Thursday evening Sewing and Sipping Circle whipped together last night, on hearing the news.

Which brings me to a delicate point. I'm thinking of subletting Ratty's services to help keep the fabric of Rosa Mira Books together. Do you know of an author (or are you one, yourself) who would delight in having their book — ebook or hard copy — represented by the rat in this place or that? He's able to travel and position himself (and the book) pretty much anywhere, as you'll know if you follow this blog. He's willing to handle the author's writing tools, sit in their favourite chair surrounded by their bric-a-brac, or even, for an extra dollar or two, don the author's clothes . . . your imagination and his will show the way. He'll make the resulting images available in either digital or hard copy on firm watercolour card. He can be contacted here or on Rosa Mira's Facebook page where you can leave a message for him in any recent comment stream.

Road Markings remarked

I'm sorry to think that Road Markings might have been momentarily eclipsed here by Amigas. It's just received a terrific little review from author Sofka Zinovieff who lives in Greece.

"Beautiful, clever, moving and funny, Michael Jackson’s Road Markings is like the literary version of a 'road movie'. On the surface, it is one man’s journey back to his New Zealand roots – the search to find out where this 'Accidental Anthropologist' (the title of Jackson’s wonderful earlier memoir) came from. But it is also something much deeper – a musing on how far one man has travelled and how unpredictable yet significant is the influence of our origins. With the insights of a lifetime’s work as an academic, anthropologist, poet, and writer, Road Markings is written with intimacy and lyricism. It displays the fascinating insights of someone who has refused to be confined by one discipline and who has a vast knowledge of history, philosophy and literature. The book tells the story of one trip, with visits to old friends and relations, and to places that are half-forgotten, loved or dreaded, but which come back to life in new ways. Ultimately, this personal story is also something much larger; a book that is unafraid to confront the essential subjects of memory, life and death."



I've recently read Sofka's book Red Princess, an absorbing account of her aristocratic grandmother's life, who fled Russia in 1917 for Europe and joined the communists — a life 'turbulent and often scandalous'. Sofka's debut novel is newly released: The House on Paradise Street, set in Athens from its Nazi occupation until current times. Sofka's brief biography makes for entertaining reading in itself.

And don't forget Road Markings — beautiful, clever, moving . . .

Amigas on the wing

Amigas is launched.

Early this morning there was a little candle-lighting, a little clinking of virtual glasses, a flurry of laughing emoticons between Argentina and New Zealand, and a message from Doug to say that the new website pages are live.

With this celebration of our friendship comes an avalanche of gratitude:

Mine to Elena for being the true and generous friend that she is. Amigas was her idea. She has always said yes to every challenge, has always believed the best of me and my capacities, and made sure — somehow — that everything we did was fun. Beautiful woman, outstanding writer, exceptional friend — gracias.

Thank you to Creative New Zealand who sent me first to Iowa and then to Argentina, and to all involved in the Iowa International Writers' Programme itself. To Christina and Beatriz who translated our texts from one language to the other. To Emma who made a detailed and indispensable assessment. To Pablo for our striking cover, and Caroline for her stirling design work. To Jason for patient file-making, and Doug for meticulous website management. To Coral and her class for marketing plans. To Jane for help with enacting them.

Friends and family have enthused from the very start about Amigas. Several have read it and given invaluable feedback, here and in Argentina: Claire, Christine, Elizabeth, Barbie, Raymond who also proofread, Marcelo, Irène, María Andrea, Raúl, Beatriz, Jorge, Tati, Gigliola y Alejandra. I'm afraid of leaving names off if I list friends who have been always alongside — wings or feathers aiding our flight — so I'm going to make this thanks both general and particular: you know who you are and we embrace you. Without friends, this work would be empty of meaning.

Fly, Amigas.

Remembering Hana

Hana Andronikova          Photo from Radio Prague

Elena and I have dedicated our novel Amigas to friend and fellow writer Hana Andronikova. Hana was in Iowa with us in 2007, a beautiful, fiercely intelligent free-spirit from the Czech Republic whose writing was in full flower when she died four years after we met. She and Elena had an especially close kinship.

When Hana found she was ill a few months after Iowa, and decided to go into the Peruvian Amazon to prepare herself for the ordeal ahead, it is typical of Elena that she made the challenging journey across South America to meet and escort Hana into the jungle, to act as translator, and to see her settled, even though Elena hates camping (a point we established early in our friendship).

A talented playwright and short story writer also, Hana is best known for her epic novel, The Sound of the Sundial, set between Zlín in Moravia, and Calcutta. I found an interesting interview with Hana on the Radio Prague website and quote from it here:  "Her last novel, Bottomless Heaven, which last year won the Readers’ Prize in the Magnesia litera awards went in a very different direction. It was a novel that was in many ways autobiographical, telling the very difficult story of a woman’s coming to terms with having cancer and travelling to Latin America, to the Peruvian jungle, to stay with a shaman, and then eventually coming back to Europe to face conventional medical treatment."

Elena visited Hana again last year and spent some hard but precious hours with her friend. Although dying, Hana entirely lacked self-pity, shedding light and love on all who came within her sphere. "By a sad irony, Hana Andronikova died just two days after Václav Havel (in December 2011) and in the whirlwind that followed Havel’s death many Czech papers devoted only a few lines to her life and work. But the Czech literary scene has lost one of its most gifted writers."

Hana was one of our bright stars, as a writer, a friend, and a strong, courageous woman. Her light shines on.

 

All going well, Amigas will be released tomorrow. In memoria de Hana.