In fact, the highest compliment I can give Jamie Redford after my interview with him is that he reminds me of my husband, who is my benchmark for measuring integrity, intelligence, and selflessness in men. (And they’re both from the west coast of the U.S. They grow ‘em real good out here ─ must be all the sunshine.)

If you have any interest in the Redford family and their doings, you’ll want to listen to this podcast, or even if you just in the mood to hear an inspiring story about a courageous, remarkable human being. For those who can’t access the audio, the gist of the Jamie’s story goes like this:

After suffering severe stomach problems from the age of 15, and being continually misdiagnosed, he finally learned that he had ulcerative colitis. Nonetheless, he managed to play guitar, be physically active, eventually go off to college and earn his Bachelor’s degree in creative writing and film from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a Master’s degree in literature from Northwestern University. However, in a rare complication of the colitis,one much deadlier than the original disease itself, he developed primary sclerosing cholangitus ─ the blocking of the liver’s bile ducts ─ and was told his liver would eventually fail. Jame’s condition deteriorated rapidly, and he was admitted to the University of Nebraska Medical Center to deal with horrific pain and dangerous infection while waiting for a new liver. All of this happening to him at the ripe old age of 25.

A liver at last became available, but not long after the transplant it also began to fail, and James was readmitted to the hospital to wait yet again, closer to death every day, for another donor liver. Thankfully, a second one was found, and this time the transplant was a success.

It was during this ordeal that James starting thinking about the donor families and the courage and selflessness it took for them to be cognizant of their opportunity to give another person – a stranger – a second chance at life, while their own loved ones lay dying. He wanted to educate the public about the urgent need for donors, and erase the “Frankenstein image” attached, in addition to honoring donor families with the tribute they so richly deserved. And so, he established The James Redford Institute for Transplant Awareness (JRI), a nonprofit dedicated to educating the public about the need for organ and tissue donation through film, educational outreach and the web. Through the JRI, he produced The Kindness of Strangers, an award-winning HBO documentary film, and Flow, a short drama targeted to high schools and community-based youth programs.

As a liver transplant recipient, James thinks it is “natural” for him to continue to speak to audiences about the miracle of organ donation. “Anybody would do it,” is what he says in our interview. Somehow, I don’t think that switching out someone’s internal organs would drastically change that person’s intrinsic generosity and/or self-centeredness. Especially as James, who calls himself “just a white boy” is also working on The Forgotten, a documentary about the Iroquois Confederacy and its impact upon the democratic ideals of the Founding Fathers of The United States of America, and Mann V. Ford, an HBO documentary about the Ramapough Indians of New Jersey and their fight against the toxic legacy of the Ford Motor Corporation. These for no reason other than that James thinks their stories should be told.

Other more mainstream credits include adapting and directing Spin, starring Stanley Tucci, Dana Delany, and Ruben Blades. James also wrote the original screenplays for Cowboy Up, starring Kiefer Sutherland and Darryl Hannah, as well as Skinwalkers, a PBS/Mystery! film which was the highest rated PBS program of 2002. James has also just completed writing and directing Quality Time, a short comedy starring Jason Patric, which will be premiering at the L.A. Film Festival in late July 2010. James filmed Quality Time in Marin County, California, where he lives with his devoted and beloved wife, Kyle, and their two children, Dylan and Lena. Two liver transplants have also not put James off from his long-held passion for music─ he plays his home town local music scene as a guitarist and songwriter with the Phat Barbees.

Note: I am honored to be speaking at the same charity conference where James will be keynote speaker, (along with Peter S. Beagle, author of The Last Unicorn.) The First Annual Capitol City Young Writers Conference will be held here in Marin County on July 17, 2010, from 9-5 at San Domenico School in San Anselmo. Other speakers are (in alphabetical order) Peter Beren, David Corbett, Verna Dreisbach, Jane Friedman, Leah Garchik, Deborah Grabien, Seth Harwood, Paul Kaufman, Michael Krasny, Kay Kostopoulos, Vicki Larson, Gil Mansergh, Nick Petrulakis, Jeannette Sears, Huntington Sharp, Ransom Stephens, Bob Yehling, and Jeromy Zajonc. For info on this conference, click here.

Scott James, bestselling author of SoMa and The Sower, New York Times columnist, and three-time Emmy Award winner, falls into the first category. From our introduction, Scott James has been…well, the only way I can describe him is, ‘an old-world gentleman.’ He’s gracious, helpful, available, and respectful. For example, it’s not only that he agreed to give me a quote for my book cover, he actually said, “I’d be honored to.” Now tell me ─ what bestselling author would you expect to say something like that? And when I pressed my luck further asking him for this interview, he said, “Thank you so much for thinking of me.”

As an author, it’s hard for me not to think about Scott and his writing. Innovative and daring, he is an inspiration to all who are not only trying to break into the field, but who have opinions they wish to share that are different and new, and perhaps, not so popular. He is both widely criticized and widely lauded, not only for his bestselling fiction, (which he has written under the name, ‘Kemble Scott’) but for his investigative work at the New York Times.

As you can read on his website, he started writing fiction when he moved to San Francisco in 1997, because he wanted to capture the outrageous behavior he witnessed in his new neighborhood, South of Market (SoMa). After writing dozens of these tales, he created a home for them online by launching the e-zine SoMaLit, SoMa Literary Review, with co-editor Jon Stuber. Some of these short stories later inspired his debut novel, SoMa. Released by Kensington Books in 2007, it was the first novel launched with videos on YouTube. The videos, coupled with the support of independent booksellers in Northern California, helped SoMa hit the San Francisco Chronicle bestsellers list its first week in stores. SoMa also became the number one bestseller in June 2007 in the Doubleday Book Club’s InsightOutBooks division, and in June 2008, SoMa was honored as a finalist for the national Lambda Literary Award for debut fiction.

In May 2009, Scott released his second novel, The Sower, which takes on this provocative premise: What if there was a virus that could cure all diseases known to man, but it could only be spread through sex─ and gay sex ─ at that?

With this foundation, he explores the possible results and calamities, with the underlying themes of what it means to be socially ostracized, the horrific damage to mankind caused by corporate greed, and even a lesson in a tragic history most still want to see shoved under a carpet – The Armenian Genocide.

Scott’s decision to premiere The Sower as an exclusive e-book received media coverage around the world when it became the first novel sold by tech start-up and e-book publisher, Scribd.com. In August 2009, the first print edition became available when Numina Press published The Sower in hardcover. For the print launch of The Sower, Scott daringly restricted in-store sales of the first editions to independent bookstores, because they had been the longtime supporters of his work, and because he believes they are “the cultural curators” of the literary world.

In his podcast interview with me, he talks frankly and endearingly about the detractors of his work, (some who hail from the gay community, interestingly enough) and how California’s Prop 8 affected his own life with his long-time partner, a Stanford University professor. He reads from his latest work, The Sower, and gives us some humorous background into how the story came about.

I challenge anyone who supports Prop 8 to listen to this podcast and not be moved to rethink their position. And I challenge anyone who listens to Scott’s reading to not be curious about how The Sower begins and ends.

Scott James’ books are pictured below, and his new column can be accessed by clicking on the New York Times logo.

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]]> http://www.harlotssauce.com/patricia/2010/03/04/scottjames/feed/ 0 http://www.harlotssauce.com/patricia/2010/02/03/larsenpomada/ http://www.harlotssauce.com/patricia/2010/02/03/larsenpomada/#comments Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:00:42 +0000 Patricia Volonakis Davis http://www.harlotssauce.com/wordpress/?p=425

San Francisco Writers Conference February 2010

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It’s that time of the year again – when San Francisco, CA., hosts one of the best writers conferences in the industry- The San Francisco Writers Conference. It will be held in the beautiful Mark Hopkins Hotel on February 12- 14 and our editor-in-chief, Patricia V. Davis, will be one of the fabulous line up of exciting guest speakers. Her session is titled, Bestseller! What You Need to Know for a Knock-Out Writing Career.

Lots of important information will…

San Francisco Writers Conference February 2010

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It’s that time of the year again – when San Francisco, CA., hosts one of the best writers conferences in the industry- The San Francisco Writers Conference. It will be held in the beautiful Mark Hopkins Hotel on February 12- 14 and our editor-in-chief, Patricia V. Davis, will be one of the fabulous line up of exciting guest speakers. Her session is titled, Bestseller! What You Need to Know for a Knock-Out Writing Career.

Lots of important information will be covered in this session, including working with retail booksellers, getting attendance at your events, how to blog to raise book sales, bad agents vs. good agents, behind the scenes facts about the industry that you must keep up with in order to make decisions about your career, and more.

Patricia is joined by a myriad of other talented speakers including bestselling authors Jacqueline Mitchard, Steve Berry, Tamin Ansary, Kemble Scott, Ransom Stephens, Wendy Nelson Tokunaga and more! The lists of editors and agents is phenomenal, and the workshops/seminars/keynotes are spectacular! All of this surrounded by the beautiful romantic city of San Francisco, on Valentine’s Day weekend no less!

…and Here’s More!

The San Francisco Writers Conference has added a Pre-Conference Day – February 11

These smaller class sizes, and in-depth topics taught by top-rated presenters allow writers to learn even more at one of the Country’s Best Writers Conference!

If you want to start attending the SFWC a day early (or for those who can’t attend the full 3-day main conference), the San Francisco Writers Conference has launched a full day of sessions on the day BEFORE the conference officially starts. For details and online registration: www.SFWriters.org

In honor of this spectacular conference (and our editor-in-chief’s inclusion in the line-up of speakers) HS Radio is rebroadcasting from the home page our June 2008 interview with the hosts of this wonderful conference, literary agents Michael Larsen and Elizabeth Pomada.

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The Michael Larsen-Elizabeth Pomada Literary Agents is housed in one of San Francisco’s beautiful Victorian homes, called “Painted Ladies.”

If you are interested in learning more about Elizabeth and Michael’s literary agency click here.

If you are interested in learning more about San Francisco’s famous “Painted Ladies,” click on the image below:

Being a writer takes hard work and dedication. But Elizabeth Pomada and Michael Larsen, owners of the oldest literary agency in San Francisco, talk about what a tremendous effect a writer can have on society and politics.

Each year they host the San Francisco Writing for Change Conference, a conference dedicated to activists who seek to change the world, one pen at a time.

For more information about this conference, or Michael and Elizabeth’s San Francisco Writers Conference please view their Guest Writer page by clicking HERE

To read Michael Larsen’s essay on how you can make a difference as a writer click on the link below

Books Can Still Change the World

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Like a number of other wonders now in my life, I came late to appreciating the importance of scientific knowledge for the common person. In high school, my lack of such was stupendously appalling. In 1970, when I was a freshman, I had a crush on a boy who came to class one day in April, quite upset over some astronauts being “stuck” up in space. I didn’t know much about that, so I repeated what I’d assumed was an intelligent remark an adult family member had made about the situation, “What possible reason could the government have for wanting to spend our tax dollars to send people up there?”

The look on that boy’s face after I said that to him was indescribable. But he responded with, “Yeah ─ what possible reason?” I only understood his reply had been contemptuous when he avoided me for the rest of the term, thwarting yet another of my girlish romantic hopes.

Four years later, the only thing keeping me from graduating with a Regents diploma was my dismal scores in Chemistry and Physics. I just couldn’t get my ‘literature-bigoted’ brain to memorize all those formulas involving ‘vectors’ or whatever they were, nor the “boring” Elements symbols on the Periodic Chart . So I stayed after school with my science teacher every day for extra help; not because I thought I really needed to know any of that stuff, but because I wanted that gold seal on my diploma. Even though my teacher was aware of that, he still gifted me with a barely passing grade, and I’ll always wonder if he did so because he felt sorry for me, or because I told him I thought he looked like Robert Redford. Whatever his reasoning, I was grateful. However, he did warn me, “This passes you for my class, but I don’t know how in hell you’re going to get through the Regents exam.”

Believe it or not, I did get my Regents diploma, although not because I passed the state chemistry exam. Those who prefer Magical Thinking would say Fate intervened. And there I was ─ just another American kid holding a credential I hadn’t really earned.

It took twelve long years and the birth of my son, (who was allergic to many medications and had violent reactions to some) before I began to suspect that I’d missed something big by dismissing the lessons taught in that class. And it took another thirteen years after that for my attitude about science in general and space exploration in particular to change dramatically.

It was in 1999, when, while in Greece working for Scholastic International, I met astronaut Scott Parazynski at a reception being given in his honor by the American Community Schools in Athens. Dr. Parazynski was the flight engineer for the 1998 STS-95 Discovery. Scott had a very special crewmate on that mission ─ Senator John Glenn. John Glenn, as many know, was the first astronaut to orbit the earth back in 1962. But he’s also the oldest person to fly in space, because he was 77 years old when he flew on this mission with Scott. [Note: Details of this flight can be found here and videos of this flight can be found here] At this reception I learned with awe that on just this one mission to space, the following were only some of the goals the astronauts aboard achieved:

• They collected data which provided a model system to help scientists in understanding aging. Since the aging process and a space flight experience share a number of similar physiological consequences, which include bone and muscle loss, balance disorders and sleep disturbances, the team’s fact finding (with John Glenn as the willing subject) was sponsored by NASA and the National Institute on Aging. Gerontologists believe more research in these areas will help older people live more active lives, and reduce the number of individuals requiring long-term medical care in their later years.

• They gathered measurements of the solar corona and solar wind. This information lead to a much better understanding of the solar winds that directly influence orbiting satellites and weather conditions on Earth, which in turn impact our television and phone communications.

• They obtained EUV and FUV fluxes from the solar atmosphere, which are required when studying the Earth’s upper atmosphere. Accurate knowledge of this flux is crucial for determining space weather, which in turn can help us forecast severe and destructive weather conditions here on Earth.

• They launched a satellite (PANSAT, developed by the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California) which remains in orbit and tests innovative technologies to capture and transmit radio signals that normally would be lost because the original signals were too weak or contained too much interference. Believe it or not, one of the main uses of this satellite is so that amateur radio ground stations will be able to utilize it for communications. (Via a bulletin-board type user interface. See YouTube video here)

Gee ─ and here I thought astronauts only went up into space so they could float around drinking Tang and coming up with new ways to use velcro. It only took me forty-some-odd years to learn that is not certainly the case.

The study of the universe and our expeditions into space have yielded survival gold for mankind. Before the Space Age, we would receive news from around the world weeks after it’d occurred. Life-threatening storms could hit us without any prior warning whatsoever. We wouldn’t have known about the holes in the ozone layer, which led us to study pollution and the Greenhouse Effect. There would be no internet, no high definition TV ─ even something as simple as an overseas telephone call used to take forever to connect, was interrupted by static, and cost way too much for the average person to afford. Not only that, but studies of dust storms on Mars, which sometimes cover that entire planet, creating horrific drops in temperature on its surface, helped our scientists recognize that an ice age could be triggered on Earth by nuclear war ─ the ‘nuclear winter‘ effect. And studies of the atmosphere around Venus gave us crucial evidence of the environmental threats of climate change ─ ‘global warming’ ─ to our own planet, prompting advocacy for conservation and modification of our mining practices and more. Therefore, it has been our quest for knowledge and investigation into the unknown that has allowed us to develop intellectually as a species and raise the quality of life for us all.

Now, when I hear people say, “Why should we spend money on space exploration?” I cringe, because that kind of talk once came from me. I’m thankful I had a science lesson courtesy of a chance meeting with an American hero- an astronaut whom I will never forget. From that meeting forward, I understood that no knowledge that is available to be obtained is “boring” or inconsequential.

However, I know I’m not alone in sensing that there is growing disinterest in our population regarding the pursuit of genuine knowledge, as opposed to allegorical knowledge and party-line propaganda. Too many of us are content to allow these very same advances in technology ─ television, satellite radio, internet ─ to be the vehicles upon which our religious and political leaders, our popular performers tell us what to think, negating the motivation our scientists and engineers had in creating these remarkable inventions in the first place.

That’s why (if I can be excused the irony here) I thank God for Neil deGrasse Tyson. He is another one of my heroes. As an American astrophysicist, director of the Hayden Planetarium, host of PBS’s educational television show, NOVA scienceNOW, and “popularizer of science”, Dr. Tyson’s mission is to alert the general public to the importance of scientific knowledge. Not just so we can get gold seals on our high school diplomas, but because it’s pretty damn vital to our continued existence.

Speaking at conferences, writing a monthly essay for Natural History magazine under the title “Universe,” hosting Star Talk Radio with comedienne Lynne Koplitz, and appearing on programs as diverse as The Daily Show and BBC Horizon, he talks to us with candor and humor. Yes, humor. His laugh and his way of living are as large as his universe. He loves what he does, he loves his family, he loves his impish ‘space theme’ ties, he loves to dance, and ─ bless his heart ─ he loves California wines. He is passionate without being extreme, and brilliant without coming across as a ‘smarty-pants know-it-all’. His Facebook page lists his religious views as “agnostic, though widely claimed by atheists”, a quote I found particularly impressive amongst all the things that impressed about this human being, because to admit to such says to me that he is so smart that he’s smart enough to know he can’t possibly know everything.

In addition to all this, Dr. Tyson has written nine books, his two latest two being the playful and informative Death by Black Hole and Other Cosmic Quandaries, which was a New York Times bestseller, and The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet, chronicling his experience at the center of the controversy over Pluto’s demotion from planet status.

Believe me when I tell you I could have spoken with this man for hours. (And I almost do. You will hear him during our interview, which was supposed to be a half hour, but which he graciously extended, try to politely extricate himself from answering any more questions. And good thing, too, because there was so much more I would have asked.)

We first communicated when I wrote a satirical piece on James Dewey Watson’s assertions suggesting there are biochemical links between skin color and intelligence. [Note: we’ve reprinted this piece in this issue here.] Dr. Tyson’s response was, “Good stuff, Ms. Davis. But I have no comment on Watson. Life is too short to combat the old guard. Would rather educate people the right way to begin with.”

Wow. Can you blame me for wanting to snag an interview with a person of this caliber? And once doing so, being reluctant to let him stop talking? When you listen this podcast, you will see what I mean.

Harlots’ Sauce Radio thanks you for this interview, Dr. Tyson, and for being who you are. Of the (now) eight planets in our solar system, we’re so glad you’re living and teaching on this one. Only do you think we could possibly bribe you to come out to the west coast? We’ll treat you to all the wine you can drink.

Click on the logo to Follow Neil deGrasse Tyson on Twitter

Click on the logo to Follow Scott Parazynski on Twitter

Patricia will be Speaking at the 2010 San Francisco Writers Conference. For info click logo

For info, Click logo

Some of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s favorite California Wines:

For Info and Ordering, Click Logos

Neil deGrasse Tyson on NOVA Science Now.

For info, click logo

Guest Writer, Neil deGrasse Tyson, on Harlots’ Sauce Radio

When you hear our podcast interview, you decide which it is.

I first met Joyce Maynard when I signed up for one of her writing critique classes which she conducts here in the Bay Area of California. I’d written my first full-length work ─ a memoir ─ and had signed with a literary agent within six months of actively looking for one. But I was having misgivings about that agent, and with the changes that she’d made to my manuscript. That’s why when I heard about Maynard’s classes, I decided it might be worth the investment to see what someone who is one of our best living female authors, I’d been told, had to say about my writing.

Interestingly enough, when I mentioned to my agent that I was planning to attend this workshop, she warned me to be wary of any advice I received, because Maynard was known in the industry for being “a little wacky.”

“She had an affair with J.D Salinger, you know,” Ms. Agent informed me, as though this added credence to her contention, “and she wrote about it in a tell-all exposé.”

Hmmm. That last comment should have rung another mental bell for me, since said agent was in fact representing me for what some have said is my own “tell-all”. But I was still at the stage in my career where I believed that any agent was better than none, so I went off to Maynard’s workshop prepared to be ‘on my guard.’

It was a good thing I was braced. Joyce critiqued my pages, sentence by sentence, without mercy or delicacy. And although I agreed with much of what she said, (my reason for going to see her in the first place), it was panic that made me argue defensively when she said this last, “I seriously question your agent’s abilities.”

And an astonishing thing happened when I disputed what she said. She set that elfin jaw of hers resolutely, those illustrious, Lady-the-Cocker-Spaniel brown-eyes chilled over, and she argued right back!

However, I got the very clear impression that she was not arguing to win a point, but rather to save my work, work that I remembered later on she’d also said “held promise”. And perhaps because she believed it did, or simply because she’s been paid to do the job, she was going to evaluate my writing honestly and fully, to the best of her ability, and with her knowledge of the craft to back her, even if it cost her a pupil.

I left that workshop not sure if I was furious or frightened. Did she think agents were queuing up to represent me? As an unknown, I didn’t dare to be too choosy. Yet one month later, my agent and I had parted ways, and I’d rewritten my manuscript almost precisely to Maynard’s recommendations. Less than a year after that, my book was published. To this day I credit her for setting me on that path.

In between, she sent me an email in which she wrote, “I worried that I’d been too harsh on you.”

And this is precisely the sort of deportment Maynard is famous for. Instantaneous emotional involvement in any given circumstance, brutal candor in her response to that circumstance, and painful self-censure of her reactions upon reflection.

She not only conducts herself in this manner personally, she reproduces this behavior for us in her writing. She writes about things that most women only talk about hesitantly, in low voices, amongst intimate friends, if at all. When in that so-called “tell-all” memoir, At Home in the World, she writes bluntly about a fight she had with her 18-year-old daughter over a college entry essay that had them wrestling each other to the floor, I didn’t know if I wanted to cringe at her meticulous descriptions of her bad behaviors, or cheer because she admitted them, thus allowing the rest of us, who have inadvertently alienated our children now and again by being overly involved in their lives, to know that we are not alone.

I read a great deal more of Joyce’s work to prepare for our interview, and I am now firmly convinced that she does not write to be admired or influential, she writes to understand herself and others. She writes because it was first a habit born of enforced practice at her mother’s insistence, and later because it became her way of recording both the ‘beauty and beast’ sides of human relationships. By her documented admissions of her limitations as daughter, sister, student, writer, lover, wife, and mother, Joyce Maynard lets her readers know that it’s okay to fall short, to sometimes be ‘ugly’ in our insecurities, neediness, selfishness, anxiousness, fearfulness, anger, and more, because from those negative feelings come our fumbles, and from our fumbles, we gain wisdom. And if we don’t, well then, at the very least, we’ll have a good story to share.

Many of the “Literati” disagree. When 23 years after the fact, she wrote in intimate detail about that affair with Salinger, an affair which took place when she was only 18 and a freshman in college, and he was 53 and the venerated author who’d created the much-loved Holden Caulfield, her revelations were regarded as heresy. The press, angered that Maynard had dared to make public the unpleasant particulars of Salinger’s predilection for 18-year-old girls who looked like 12–year-old girls, subjected her to a literary witch burning, through a distortion of facts that smeared her reputation and continue to taint the world’s perception of her to this day.

Maureen Dowd of The New York Times, in likening Maynard to Monica Lewinsky, was particularly vicious and inaccurate. So much so that Jules Siegel questioned Dowd’s media ethics and accountability, and called for support of ‘truth in journalism’ laws. Nonetheless, Dowd continues to be highly regarded, and won a Pulitzer for her writing the year after her column on Maynard.  However, only recently she admitted to “inadvertently” plagiarizing TPM’s Josh Marshall. That fact somehow fell under the radar, yet the hatchet job Dowd did on Joyce has stuck in everyone’s consciousness. Is it any wonder that people are now trusting Wikipedia more than they do their time-honored newspapers?

And while we’re pondering that, we might also want to think about what we would do if a very famous, much adored writer in his fifties, started sending letters to our daughter her first year away at college. (Maybe Maureen Dowd didn’t have any kids.) We’re not talking about a daughter who’d lost her virginity at age thirteen in the back seat of somebody’s Chevy, either, and certainly not one who had the attentiveness to hold onto a sex-stained dress, “just in case”. We’re talking about a naive girl, who desperately wanted to please her mother, and who’d loved literature since she was a child. If you add into that mix that she looked like she could still be wearing a training bra and pigtails, it occurs to me that someone should have stood up and protected Joyce Maynard. If not when she finally understood what had been done to her and decided to tell her story, than certainly when she was an ingénue.

There are too many of us who have felt that desperate need to please a parent, to reach that expected point of perfection that we too late realize is unattainable. I say, ‘too late’ because by the time we see how that compulsion to please has distorted our sense of self and our attitudes about what it means to love and be loved, we are inwardly fuming about it on a constant basis, or it becomes our only method of interaction with everyone we hold dear, be it our parents, our lovers, or even our children.

Joyce has done both seething and pleasing in her life, particularly during and after her stint with Salinger. Partly because by the time she realized that she’d been sold to Salinger (my words, not hers; Maynard is forthright about her own maternal missteps, but as you will hear in our interview, she would not, even when pressed, place any culpability directly on her mother) she no longer looked like an ingénue, so the world found it much easier to discount her, just as Salinger did once he was through with her.

Despite this, and other lessons hard-learned, Joyce Maynard is a lot less bitter than you might expect, especially these days. In our interview she talks about some -- two, in fact ─ astonishing new changes which will be taking place in her life shortly, and her wonderful new novel, Labor Day, which was released in late July. She talks about moving forward, and as always, is as plainspoken as only she dares to be. She shows us her scars, and in doing so, let’s us know we shouldn’t be ashamed to show ours.

There will probably always be some who are made very uncomfortable by that.

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Joyce Maynard will be reading from Labor Day, her new novel, at Book Passage in Corte Madera, CA., on July 29.  Listen to Joyce’s podcast interview and read her article on our Guest Writer’s Page. Joyce’s latest book, Labor Day, as well as her other novels and memoirs, are available online and in all fine bookshops. Visit Joyce’s fun website at www.joycemaynard.com and listen to live storytelling performances at www.themoth.org

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Joyce Maynard

Joyce Maynard has been a reporter for the New York Times, a magazine journalist, radio commentator, and syndicated columnist, as well as the author of six novels, including To Die For. Her best-selling memoir, At Home in the World, has been translated into nine languages. She appears regularly as a storyteller with The Moth in New York City. Joyce’s new novel, Labor Day, will be in stores July 2009.

David Harris

David Victor Harris is an American journalist and author. He is known widely for his role as an anti-war protester during the Vietnam War, most notably as a leading opponent of the Draft. In 2004, Mr. Harris published The Crisis: The President, the Prophet, and the Shah – 1979 and the Coming of Militant Islam. He is an accomplished speaker and dedicated civil rights advocate.

Tanya Egan Gibson

Tanya Egan Gibson’s brilliant debut novel, How To Buy A Love of Reading, was published in May 2009. She is an alum of Squaw Valley Community of Writers, one of the founders of the California Writers Club (Marin Branch) the mother to two adorable children, and the wife of the “most patient man in the world.”

Enjoy your summer!

"Powerhouse Brewery" by Lydia Selk

Maybe it’s because they finish each other’s sentences and often speak in stereo.  Maybe it’s because when they refer to each other as ‘Bro’, as in, “Bro said …”

Or, maybe it’s because they’re identical twins, like my own twin stepsons, and that, also like my twin stepsons, the only way one can tell them apart is that one has a ‘beauty spot’ on his left cheek. (That would be Logan.)

Or it could be because, just to be kind to a middle-aged lady who works out at their gym, (that would be me) they graciously accepted an invitation to dinner at which they raved about my cooking. They also listened enthusiastically to all my husband’s poker and baseball stories, which he liked so much that now, when I mention something that “the twins” did, he asks, “Which ones ─ ours, or the Millers?”

Or perhaps it’s because, despite their fabulous accomplishments, such as their award-winning film Touching Home, and their upcoming book, they remain the same caring, kind, and down-to-earth young gentlemen they’ve always been.

Probably all of those things play a part. But mostly, I think it’s because of their personal story. You see, Noah and Logan turned what could have easily been a life-draining, personal tragedy into a triumph. Their dad died in prison, a homeless alcoholic. Nonetheless, they loved him so much that they made a vow to turn his story and theirs into a film, and to do it within one year. And they kept that vow. With no connections in Hollywood, no family money, in one year, they managed to obtain backing, produce, direct, act in, and even get Ed Harris and Robert Forster to star in their film. The details of how they accomplished this are all outlined in their book, Either You’re In, or You’re In the Way, which hits the bookshops and online retailers on April 28. (With the book’s launch at Book Passage in Corte Madera.)

For this month’s podcast, I had the honor and pleasure to talk to Logan and Noah about all of the above and more, and it was one of the most uplifting and motivating conversations I’ve had yet.

Listen, and be amazed, moved and inspired.

For those who live in the area, I also encourage you to attend the Miller Brothers BOOKSTOCK 2009, which takes place on June 6, at Giants Stadium in San Francisco. Bookstock is a summer celebration of the arts for the entire family. Attendees will enjoy an evening of live music provided by top Bay Area bands, an art show featuring over 25 renowned artists, and an advanced screening of their film Touching Home.

For more information on The Miller Brothers and their work, visit the following online sites:

Facebook Event Page
Facebook Fan Page
Touching Home Movie Official Site

To buy their book Either You’re In or You’re In the Way please click here

Jane Friedman is the Publisher & Editorial Director at F+W Media, which is the parent company of Writers Digest. Intelligent, dedicated, hard-working, and charming, she’s right on the pulse of everything that’s happening in the chaotic and transforming cosmos that the publishing industry has become.

And because Jane is all she is, she’s a big part of what’s keeping her division of F&W thriving, while other publishing giants are being felled by Web 2.0 and new publishing technologies in the same way that David sucker-punched Goliath.

Those of us who read books, and those of us who write them, will be equally enthralled with her interview on Harlots’ Sauce Radio this month. You’ll find her savvy in her assessments of the industry’s ‘buzziest’ new toys, such as Authonomy, Smashwords, and Kindle 2, and frank in her judgments of trade dinosaurs like Publishers Weekly.

Listen to Jane’s interview, and then check out her Guest Writer’s Page. She also writes a dynamite blog filled with more tasty tidbits guaranteed to nourish the career of any fledging writer. For information on her webinars, (another educational tool on the up for which we can thank the internet), visit her site at: www.janefriedman.com And, of course, being the networking sophisticate that Jane is, she doesn’t mind a little Twitter from a stranger now and then, either.

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Jane’s Guest Writer’s Page

Guest Writer, Jane Friedman, on Harlots’ Sauce Radio

Articles by Jane

To Succeed at Your Art, Know How to Play Well in Business

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I left Kay Andreas after our interview for this month’s podcast feeling the way you might when a delivery of flowers shows up unexpectedly and the card is written out to you ─ surprised, delighted, and rather special.

It’s hard to explain why talking with Kay made me feel all these things, but that’s part of her charm. Another part of Kay’s appeal is her very evident enthusiasm for simply being alive, something that most people never think about. Nothing prevents this delightful human being from doing the things she wants to do ─ tragedy, professional setbacks, family issues, worries about finances, time constraints, age, or any number of other excuses we all make from time to time, for not being all we wish to be.

That Kay does “all she wants, when she wants,” by no means makes her one of those ‘determined, pushy woman’ stereotypes. On the contrary, she is at once relaxed and soothing, bubbly and vibrant. She doesn’t come across as though she’s working very hard to make her life happen, she comes across as though it just happens, and that she is enchanted, yet somehow not at all surprised, by that magical fact.

And Kay is enchanted for sure ─ by the people who come into her life, by her family, by her work at Stanford University where she teaches, and by her discovery, eight years ago at the age of fifty, that she has a three-octave singing voice to knock the collective socks off her audiences’ feet.

Upon that discovery, many of us might have said, “Too bad I’m too old to do anything about it.”

But not Kay. No, at fifty years young, she embarked upon a singing career. It was tough, but we are ever so glad she did. Because not only is Kay’s voice glorious, but by her decision to let us all hear her perform, she becomes a testament to the fact that it’s never too late to follow our dreams.

Listen to Kay’s podcast, and then enjoy watching her sing. And if you write about your dream, or your most thought-provoking comment about Kay’s interview at the end of this article, and leave us your email address, you could win one of Kay’s CDs.

For those of you who are in the Bay Area of California:

Kay will be performing in a Valentine’s Cabaret and Dance with her band, Black Olive Jazz, featuring Kay on vocals, Larry Vuckovich on piano, and the Eurotrash Latin & Swing Band, to celebrate the launch of her newest CD, Blue Valentine.

SATURDAY, February 14th, 2008,
7:30 – 10:30pm
All Saint’s Episcopal Church
555 Waverly Street, Palo Alto, CA 94301
advance tickets: $18.50
at the door: $25.00

More information on the website: www.blackolivejazz.com

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The first word that comes to my mind to describe David Corbett is, “depth.” That shows through in his writing and in the man himself.

A reader will get the sense from his descriptions of complex characters in his three crime drama novels, The Devil’s Redhead, Done for a Dime, and Blood of Paradise, that he isn’t just telling stories ─ somehow he knows that the gradations between what makes a human being a law-abiding citizen, a convict, or a villain, can be very thin.

And know that, he does. Because for a decade and a half, Mr. Corbett worked for a private investigative firm, taking part in many drug, murder, and fraud litigations, including The Cotton Club Murder Case, The People’s Temple Trial, the first Michael Jackson child molestation case, and a RICO civil litigation brought by the Teamsters against former union leaders associated with organized crime.

One would think that having slogged about in the muck of the crime world for fifteen years, in the same way the characters in his novels slog about in assorted crack dealings, arsons, assassinations and gruesome murders throughout Las Vegas, El Salvador, San Francisco and more, should have made David cold and cynical. But it hasn’t. Mr. Corbett, in his writing, let’s us know that all of us are capable of committing crime, but he is keenly aware of what qualities it takes inside us to ignore those urges, or to fulfill them.

Nonetheless, he writes with a unexpected caring about the misguided, the foolhardy, and the self-destructive. And because he is so clearly concerned for them, his readers are, too.

When interviewing David Corbett, after having met him at a Mystery Writers Conference at Book Passage in Corte Madera, California, I thought that perhaps his depth of character grew off the fact that he was one half of the whole of a very poignant love story. David’s wife, Terri, died of ovarian cancer only a little more than a month after his first novel was sold.

Of her, David wrote:

“[My first novel] The Devil’s Redhead would not exist if not for Terri’s continuous devotion, encouragement, editorial advice and technical assistance. The sight of her bundled up in our lamp-lit bed, surrounded by the dogs as she pored through the manuscript, making her notations—I’ll treasure that memory long after any praise the book garners fades away. Her ear for pacing, her contempt for pretense, her big strong heart, her constant reminders to, “tell the love story”… they resonate on every page. It feels like a curse, the fact that the book now has a place in this world, but she does not.”

Naturally, David dedicated The Devil’s Redhead to Terri. But, he’s done more than that for his wife—he has immortalized her in his essay of her life, Cesidia and in the love story of wildcat smuggler, Dan Abatangelo and his redhead, Shel Beaudry, a woman who, to my mind, bears a remarkable resemblance, in many ways, to the very complex and compassionate woman who was David’s beloved wife, Cesidia Therese “Terri” Tessicini.

Having never been an avid reader of ‘crime drama,’ I read The Devil’s Redhead to prepare for this interview. But when I was through with that, I picked up Done for a Dime and Blood of Paradise, and read both of those, as well. I recommend all three.

David’s fun to talk, too. Trust me, baby, it’s not going feel like you’re in for ‘a hard ten,’ when you listen to the author of The Devil’s Redhead, get interviewed by me, “The Italian Brunette.”

…You know how to listen to a podcast, don’t you? You just put your finger on that mouse and click.

More on David Corbett

More on David Corbett

More on David Corbett

More on David Corbett

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David’s Guest Writer’s Page

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Guest Writer, David Corbett, on Harlots’ Sauce Radio

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Articles Written by David

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The Fortieth Day, then The Forty-First

Excerpts from the Author’s Note on Blood of Paradise

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www.davidcorbett.com

More Articles by Patricia Volonakis Davis

• A Girl, a Boy, and a Fountain - July 1st, 2010
• Podcast Interview with James Redford: “I Ask Myself ─ Even if Nothing Comes of It, Will it Enrich My Life by My Having Spent Time on It?’" - June 24th, 2010
• Podcast Interview with author Scott James: “People Don’t Want the Government in their Bedrooms” - March 4th, 2010
• Catching Up with Some of Our Previous Podcast Interviewees - March 3rd, 2010
• Interview with Michael Larsen & Elizabeth Pomada - February 3rd, 2010
• Menopause and Melanin - November 30th, 2009
• Podcast Interview with Neil deGrasse Tyson: “We are Living in a Time of Scientific Illiteracy” - November 29th, 2009
• Harlots’ Sauce Radio is proud to announce the winner of this year’s Gregory Randall Prize - Vicola England! - September 16th, 2009
• Podcast Interview with Joyce Maynard: “I Don’t Have to be The Good Girl Anymore” - August 28th, 2009
• How to Tell if You’re in Menopause - July 29th, 2009
• Harlots’ Sauce Radio Podcasts is on Holiday Until August! - July 25th, 2009
• Either You’re In or You’re In the Way: Podcast Interview with Logan and Noah Miller - June 10th, 2009
• Jane Friedman Talks: How the Internet Has Got Publishing by its Tail - May 9th, 2009
• Curtis, Will You Please Shut-Up? - March 11th, 2009
• “You’re Never Too Old to Live” An Interview With Kay Andreas Kostopoulos - February 3rd, 2009