I’ve been holding my tongue for a few months now. Makes for awkward ice cream eating, but a man is supposed to suffer for his art, right? Thankfully, I’ve finally been given the greenlight to Paul Revere it through the cyber-streets hollering: New books are coming! New books are coming!
Joy Peskin of FSG Books for Young Readers has acquired world English rights to Aaron Starmer‘s Riverman trilogy, about a girl who claims she is visiting a parallel universe, where a nefarious being called the Riverman is stealing the souls of children. The first book in the trilogy, The Legend of Fiona Loomis, will be published in winter 2014, followed by The Quest of Alistair Cleary in winter 2015 and The Myth of Charlie Dwyer in winter 2016. Michael Bourret of Dystel & Goderich did the deal.
Of course, I’m ridiculously excited by these developments. And I hope (I’m pretty sure, actually) you will dig these books. I hesitate to tell you much about them right now, but I can say that the first one, titled The Legend of Fiona Loomis, is the most personal and realistic thing I have written, while also being the most fantastical. A contradiction? Maybe not as much as you would think.
Let the record show that a few incredible people are fully responsible for this happening:
Nova Ren Suma, author of the luminous novel Imaginary Girls, was beyond kind when she vouched for me and my writing. As advocates for artists go, Nova is without peer. And good god can she write the breath out of a room.
Michael Bourret of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management is more than an agent. Honest, impossibly well-informed, and unrelenting in his support of his clients, he’s one of the people who’s daring the book industry to live up to its potential. I’m not sure how he treats his mortal enemies, but he’s a great man to have on your side.
And finally there’s Joy Peskin, editorial director of Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers. When I first spoke to her about the project, I was astounded by her contagious enthusiasm and by the way she understood my story better than I did. Her reputation for shepherding projects that are both daring and entertaining cannot be exaggerated, but it’s her uncanny insight into storytelling that will truly guide The Riverman Trilogy from scrappy beginnings to a shiny spot on the bookshelves. Do you have a better editor? I’m not sure that you do.
So there you go. A new day, some new books. I’ll be updating you about the writing and revision progress and with other news as it comes in. In the meantime, to give you an idea of the tone, plot and themes of the first book, The Legend of Fiona Loomis, I ask to listen to Daniel Johnston’s Some Things Last a Long Time, to think about C.S. Lewis’s Narnia series, to read William Maxwell’s So Long, See You Tomorrow, to watch The Wonder Years, and to play some classic video games like The Legend of Zelda and Myst.
Confused? Intrigued? I hope so. Keep an eye out. More to come…
The old refrain: we’ve seen this before and we’ll see it again.
Some disturbed individual buys a bunch of guns and murders a bunch of people. The media falls in love with the story. We endure some rounds of punditry. A few folks change their minds on the issues of gun control and mental healthcare, but most of us stand firm in our opinions. Then, after a few days, we move on, until another wayward soul takes some shots at another awful legacy and we all say, “we’ve seen this before and we’ll see it again.”
I rarely address current events on this blog. I almost never mention my politics. But I feel the need to address the issue of guns and gun violence. Don’t worry, I’m not here with boatloads of links and statistics and I don’t think I’m qualified to offer viable solutions. I’m only going to talk about how this issue relates to my life and my writing.
I’ve never owned a real gun, or even fired one. Although I lived a free-range childhood that involved plenty of squirt, rubber dart, and cap guns, my parents didn’t allow firearms in the house. Even BB guns were off limits. If I wanted to shoot an air rifle, I had to arrange a clandestine meeting in the woods with a friend who owned a pump-action Daisy. During one such meeting, I ended up with a welt on my cheek, the result of poor safety precautions and an opportunistic ricochet. “You’ll shoot your eye out, kid,” indeed.
Six or seven years later, when I was studying in London, a lone Englishman at a party full of Americans approached me and asked me how many of us were carrying guns. I laughed at the absurdity of his question, but he wasn’t joking. Not only did he believe that all Americans owned and carried guns, he also assumed that we did so when we traveled.
A year after that, on New Year’s Eve, I was in a nearly empty pizza parlor on Bleecker Street when a group of teens in puffy coats entered. They didn’t attempt to order. They just stood amid the tables, eyeing up the cashier. When one teen unzipped his coat, I saw a pistol tucked in his waistband. The cashier knew what was about to happen; he placed his hands flat on the counter and didn’t budge. After a tense minute or two, one of the teens finally said, “not worth it,” and they walked out.
A few years later, in rural upstate New York, I attended a 4th of July party. In lieu of fireworks, the host pulled an Uzi from his impressive gun cabinet and proceeded to shoot a few dozen rounds into the air. I don’t know if he was the legal owner of that Uzi, but I doubt it. I left the party shortly after the entertainment.
Guns haven’t played much of a role in my life of late, except when it comes to my writing. These days, I write books about kids. Because my books are about kids, they’re sold to kids. In my books, some of the characters wield and shoot guns. Those characters are all kids.
During the editorial stages, I have been asked to remove plenty of swearing and kissing from my books. It’s a business decision more than an artistic one. Certain libraries and book-buyers refuse to buy anything in the middle-grade market (i.e. fare for ages 9–12) that features a few hells and a little frenching. And yet, I have never been asked to edit out a gun or an incident of gun violence, even when a 12-year-old character is the perpetrator of that violence. The powers-that-be are okay with all that stuff.
Should they be okay with all that stuff, though? I don’t know. I hope they should be, as long as I’m doing my job as an author, which I believe is to provide an engrossing story with compelling characters whose motivations are relatable and whose actions have consequences. Guns in my stories represent the same thing they represent in life: instant power. Instant power is an appealing and terrifying enticement for many of us, and definitely for those of us in the confusing throes of puberty. To leave those enticements out of a story is fine, but to claim such things have no place in books for kids is to deny a very real part of our world. And our world is their world.
I would rather not live in a world where we are constantly saying, “we’ve seen this before and we’ll see it again.” I would rather not live in a world where instant power comes cheap and easy and at the expense of other people’s lives. But right now, we do live in that world. And in that world, I have chosen to write books for kids. I owe those kids the same thing I owe everyone: honesty and compassion, and the diligence to recognize when I’ve neglected the payments on that debt.
Oh, the mighty mighty Ohi’. It runs from the Alleghen’ to the Mississip’, skirting the edge of West Virginny and good ol’ Ketuck’ along the way. No, I’m not wanting for vowels. This is how I speak when I speak of rivers. Conversely, when I speak of canals, such as my beloved hometown’s Erie Canal, I add vowels (the correct pronunciation is thus ee-rye-ee, my friends). Things have gotten folksy here and you’re just going to have to get used to it.
Where was I? Oh yes, the Ohio River. About halfway along it lies the city of Huntington, West Virginia. Huntington is a special place for me because it’s where my sister and her family have lived for more than a decade. And over that last decade, I have visited for summer idylls and autumn holidays and winter spelunking adventures. This spring, I return for a book festival. The delightful organizers of the Ohio River Festival of Books have been kind enough to invite me to speak at a couple of local middle schools, and to meet readers and sign books. Here are the details:
A few months ago I did a rundown of reviews for The Only Ones, culled from a journey deep into the wild and wooly internet. I even called upon the blogosphere to help me spread the word. Well, the word is spreading and the word, my friends, is the bird. Here are eleven more recent reflections, including some quotable lines. Enjoy:
Easy Reading Damn Hard Writing (vaguely spoilerish): “Starmer’s really accomplished something here, and this book is definitely one of my favorites that I’ve read so far in 2012.” “Such a lovely book.” “A+”
The Allure of Books: “Seriously. The cleverness, originality and imagination of Aaron Starmer staggers me. The Only Ones might be odd. It might be hard to completely process it all. But it is an incredible story.”
Reed Reads Book Reviews: “A book for readers that love the unpredictable. A book for readers that constantly ask themselves questions and make predictions as the story turns and twists in a non-linear way. A book for readers that appreciate beautifully written and lyrical story telling.” “4.5/5″
Evanston Public Library Loft Blog: “Starmer bends convention to explore deeper questions about the nature of fate, time and belief.”
Read Listen Love (includes giveaway!): “It intrigued me from the first page, constantly surprised me and had fantastic characters.”
IMCPL Kids Blog: “This is a tense, gripping novel, in the tradition of other child-centered societies like Lord of the Flies and Ender’s Game, flavored by a Stephen King-like eeriness, but with original characters and twists. Questions are answered by the end, but not in ways that readers will predict.”
Kiss the Book: “The story is unique and captivating and twists and turns in unexpected ways.” ”ESSENTIAL.”
Crunchings and Munchings (spoilers): “Aaron Starmer, I admire your guts.” N.B.This isn’t the most positive review, but it’s an interesting one just the same.
BPLD Teen Blog (spoilers): “And what happens next is simply amazing!”
Northshire Bookstore Reviews: “Truly a gripping story with mysterious elements which are beyond earthly explanation.”
I also stumbled upon a couple of discussions about the cover of The Only Ones, which was created by my longtime friend Lisa Ericson. I couldn’t be happier with the cover and dozens of people have told me how much it intrigues them. Similar feelings are shared here:
Uncovered Cover Art: “The best kinds of covers make you curious, and make you wonder what sort of story it’s trying to tell. Such is the case for The Only Ones’ cover art.”
The Windy Pages: “You know you want to know more about it. I don’t blame you.”
That’s it for now. If you’ve written or found a review of The Only Ones online, go ahead and send it my way. I’ll include it in the next roundup!
A couple of weeks ago I sat down and treated myself to an impromptu double-feature. I started with Take Shelter, the Jeff Nichol’s film starring Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain. It’s a brilliant little ode to paranoia. Not for everyone, but if you like your fare ambiguous, slow-burning and with a dash of doomsday prepping, then this one is for you. Since I figured my nightmares could benefit from a little more bleakness, I followed it up with John Hillcoat’s adaptation of The Road. Of course, the book is better. There’s no point in engaging in such arguments. But the film, I believe, was unjustly overlooked. Heartbreaking performances, impeccable art direction–a carefully realized and complete vision of Earth in its death throes. The pacing is a bit off. Some poetry is lost in the translation, but I can’t really complain. After all we live in a world where films starring Kevin James exist.
The double-feature was not really a calculated choice, but when it was over, it felt as though the two films belonged together. It was as if The Road was a spiritual sequel to Take Shelter. It didn’t follow connected characters necessarily, but it was a progression of the themes and time period. And it got me thinking…
What if I could create a grand list of movies that line up thematically and are arranged chronologically. When I say chronologically, I don’t mean by production date. I mean by the time in which they’re set. It is an ambitious task, I know, but I am a man of ambition. Need I remind you that I’ve read at least five Choose Your Own Adventure novels front to back?
I shall dub this fool’s errand The Great and Ridiculous Movie Timeline and I will make a pledge to revisit this project over the next few weeks or months until I have covered the entire scope of history, or until I have reached the limits of my interest. Let’s begin:
Sure, I could start with some dinosaur fare, some Land Before Time perhaps. I could even climb Malick’s Tree of Life or throw Kubrick’s 2001 apes a bone. But I’d prefer to kick things off with the beginnings of man and I’d prefer not to take in the entire history of the cosmos while I’m at it. Which leads me to The Missing Link. I saw this strange little film sometime in the early 90s. It’s the story of a lone hominid wandering the deserts and savannas of Africa. He’s not quite a monkey, not quite a man. That ain’t the tagline, but might as well be. Or better yet, let’s pretend the tagline is: “The only thing that’s missing is the future of his species!”
Because this guy is one of anthropology’s Last of the Mohicans. His species (paranthropus robustus) is being replaced by a smarter, more violent one. Namely our forefathers. And we are allowed to witness poor Link’s final days and homo-sapiens’ early ones. The film is done in a quasi-nature documentary style, much like the Walking With series that Discovery Channel cooked up over ten years after this film. The directors were a husband and wife team known for their nature documentaries and the wildlife footage is the film’s major strength. Or at least that’s how I remember it. Like I said, it’s been about 20 years since I’ve seen this. I can’t imagine it made any money back then and today’s audiences might have not much tolerance for its ponderous qualities. However, it is narrated by Michael Gambon (Dumbledore, kids, Dumbledore) and while you can’t get it on DVD, you can watch the entire film on Youtube (click on the video above). The picture quality is quite poor, and a fur-bikinied Raquel Welch is nowhere in sight, but you’d be hard pressed to find a better depiction of our world one million years ago.
Flash-forward about 920,000 years to the tail end of an ice-age. The world is still a savage place. A tribe of neanderthals bumbles through a series of trials and tribulations, all in the name of finding and maintaining their eternal flame. Again, this is a film that pits species against species: Neanderthals versus homo-sapiens. Homo-sapiens versus mammoths. Everyone versus cave bears and wolves and saber-toothed tigers and grammar. Still, there’s room left over for some inter-species romance and plenty of good old fashioned caveman noggin floggin’. It’s also been at least 20 years since I’ve seen this film and I’m sure it’s a bit loose with the facts and science, but I remember how it felt so much more authentic than the Clan of the Cave Bear books and movie that were all the rage in the 80s. Not to mention the fact that Quest for Fire had Ron Perlman and Evertt McGill (of Twin Peaks fame) in the cast, while Clan of the Cave Bear had Daryl Hannah and Curtis Armstrong (that’s right: Booger). Case closed.
