|
Clarion: Writing, Reading, Snacking
Summer 2000
Gavin J. Grant
I went to the Clarion Writing Workshop this summer in Michigan.
But rather than write about that I'd rather mention the readings
by the Clarion instructors. They were a welcome break from writing
and critiquing. If you are in the area or even taking the course
I advise going. You can walk through the lovely Michigan State
U. campus to Archives Bookshop but you need a car to get to
Schuler Books.*
June 15 Our first instructor Suzy McKee Charnas read
her Hugo Award winning novella, "Boobs," first published
in Asimov's in July 1989. It is the not-so-hilarious-and-tender
coming of age story of a girl who discovers that when the moon
becomes full she can revenge herself on classmates who have
been less than kind and understanding about her developing body.
Suzy is an excellent reader. She does good voices, energetic
action and the dialog really comes to life. Perhaps it's the
drama classes. She projected her voice, eye-balled people, really
did everything to bring the listeners into the reading. It helped
that the story was compelling in its own right.
June 22 Next up was Sean Stewart. Sean can hardly be
termed a rising young star, although he is all of the above.
His seventh novel, Galveston, had just recently hit the stores
and I know it was selling well in at least one bookshop in Boston.
He read a scene that is pretty dark but at the same time hilarious.
When he was young, Sean lived part of the year in Texas, and
he can still pull a Texas accent out of the box when required.
He's a natural born story-teller and it was so much fun to listen
to. I've read Galveston -- and recommend it and his others to
readers of modern fiction, slipstream and fantasy -- and I recognized
the scene but it still had me on the edge of my seat. The word
"beef" rang with different meanings for the next couple
of days.
June 27 Tananarive Due read twice in her week here.
All the readings thus far had been at the very enjoyable, spacious
Archives Bookshop. Tananarive's first was on Tuesday night at
Schuler Books. Schuler has a good general stock as well as a
café, comfy chairs and all the expected comforts of a
good bookshop these days. When they served brownies after the
reading they really endeared themselves to me. The audience
here was different from Archives. There were about 20 to 25
people, a handful of Clarionites and rest townspeople. Tananarive
read from The Black Rose her new historical novel on the life
of Madame C.J. Walker, the first black woman millionairess.
She read the prologue and the scene where Sarah Breedlove meets
her husband-to-be. The audience was great, they asked a lot
of questions on Madame Walker's life, to writing, and Tananarive's
two previous novels. (She is almost finished her third and filming
is beginning on her second, My Soul to Keep).
June 29 Her second reading was at Archives on Thursday.
Again most of the Clarion class attended and a few others came
along. Tananarive read her short story, "Patient Zero"
from the August 2000 issue of the Magazine of Fantasy and
Science Fiction. It is a great story to hear read aloud
and Tananarive is a great reader. If she comes to your town,
don't miss her.
July 6 Samuel R. Delany has been a successful writer
for nearly 40 years and has been a teacher at Clarion on and
off for 30 years. He chose to read from a selection of books,
his autobiography, The Motion of Light on Water, his recent
book on New York, Times Square Red, Times Square Blue and from
a novel-in-progress. He made the rather unfortunate choice of
referring to a critique-room discussion on sex and immediately
gave an antagonistic setting to his reading, even for me, who
had been one arguing a specific point in the critique room that
certainly did not apply here. Delany's readings are always interesting
and this was no exception. The direction of the last twenty
years of his writing was apparent here as he began with his
youth and moved into his sexuality. It wasn't until the last
section that he really lost some of the audience. I found it
fun in parts, gross (as expected) and a bit silly, both the
reading and the reactions.
July 11 Maureen McHugh and Gregory Frost read twice,
once together and then separately. The joint reading was at
Schuler Books. It is a lovely shop (and they stock LCRW)
with good sandwiches available at the Chapbook Café.
Maureen McHugh read a near-future short story forthcoming in
the anthology Starlight 3. Greg Frost read the first part of
his novel-in-progress, Shadow Bridge. Shadow Bridge has a fascinating
concept and I am looking forward to reading the novel. No brownies
after this reading, huge chocolate chip cookies instead!
July 13 Greg Frost read alone at Archives. He read a
story that will be published later this year in Dark Terrors,
the UK anthology edited by Stephen Jones. It was a very funny,
not too dark piece that gave him plenty of space to show off
those acting talents picked up in some wonderful films he made
earlier in his career.
July 20 We gathered for the last time at Archives for
Maureen McHugh's second reading. She read from the novel she
is working on, provisionally titled Baby Goth not Necropolis
which is due relatively soon. This is told from two points of
view and Maureen had us all hooked as we saw the action play
out from the two perspectives. The last reading coincided with
a sidewalk sale on Grand River that meant 20% off everything.
Some folk took advantage.
All the authors were gracious and signed as many books as we
could push at them (which in some cases was quite a lot, some
of us had been reading a few of these authors for years and
with Bookfinder.com and such it is easy enough to get copies
of most of their recent work).
The readings were pretty well attended with a few past Clarion
grads who were in the area showing up, including LCRW contributors
Nalo Hopkinson and Chris Barzak.
These were good snacking readings as well. At the first few
readings at Archives I bought Girl Scout Cookies (Mid-Western
flavor) and then there were the brownies and cookies at Schulers.
(Yes, I am easily bribed with chocolate).
Clarion was a strange experience, but the readings leavened
it and gave it another rhythm, calming (yes, people occasionally
nodded off) and inspiring in turns. Books are similar to recorded
music in that when they are performed live they can be richer.
Without the action of reading the eyes are free to roam, the
mind is caught by the rhythms, the tone, pitch, volume and emphasis
of the reader and the story. We were lucky, all six of the instructors
read well, kept us awake, sometimes kept us on the edges of
our seats. We were spoiled. It is not always so good but it
was a reminder and a lesson in what a series of readings can
be. We were grateful. Look in the paper, are any of these six
coming to town? Look again, there must be someone coming who's
worth seeing.
The Archives Book Shop, 517-519 W. Grand River, East Lansing,
MI 48823 517-332-8444
Schuler Books & The Chapbook Café, 2075 W. Grand
River, East Lansing, MI 48864 800-347-8841
Links to the instructor's websites should be here.
*Lori Selke pointed out that, no, you don't need a car.
The bus runs right along the main street from campus to mall.
|