It Doesn't Have To Be That Way

Hello and welcome to an absolutely gorgeous October Saturday here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is October 10th and my fancy-smelling toilet paper is no longer the sweet-scented novelty I had initially thought it was.

This past week, I delighted in celebrating a book launch with author friend Mary Rowen, who has just
released her third novel It Doesn't Have To Be That Way. On her website, Mary explains that this isn't a book about racial injustice, global warming, or contagious illness. "It is, however, filled with flawed characters facing serious challenges, and it delves into themes like sexual assault, sexual harassment in the workplace, mental illness, the invisible scars of war, intergenerational friendships, and feelings of isolation in elderly Americans."

Mary and I met in 2013 when we were both running crowdfunding campaigns to publish our first books. While we have yet to meet in person, we have a connection that reminds me of the one Elizbeth Gilbert describes having with Ann Patchett in her book, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, which is basically freakishly cosmic, yet delightfully rich and rewarding.

Mary's forte is blending musical themes into her fiction. Her latest book is a hat tip to both Mary's father and to Jim Croce, an American folk and rock singer-songwriter. Her first book, Leaving the Beach, "is the story of a lonely bulimic woman named Erin who’s obsessed with musical icons like Jim Morrison, David Bowie, Elvis Costello, and Bruce Springsteen. But Erin’s entire life changes when she has a chance encounter with a grunge rocker desperately in need of help."

Her second book, Living by Ear, is about "a singer-songwriter, who gave up her career to marry and start a family sixteen years ago, files for divorce and tries to resurrect both her professional life and her love life."

At the book launch, she gave an endearing shout-out to Brett Milano, a Boston rock journalist who has cameo appearances in Rowen's books as well. If this guy is as tough and curmudgeonly as his fiction counterparts, take it to heart when he says this about Rowen's books: “Mary Rowen has written one of the truest novels ever about Boston’s indie rock world. Full of sharp details and vivid characters… It beautifully explores the question of what drives an artist and how that can or can’t be reconciled with the straight world.”

As a writer, I love Mary's prose. I often feel clunky while crafting and composing my own and marvel at how Mary's flows like water. (Yes, I know it's not fair to compare a draft with the polished final, but...) This might sound weird, but, as an artist, sometimes I imagine myself walking a road of creation. I know there are others traveling this same road. Some are behind me, some are ahead of me. In 2013, Mary Rowen was a writer who I considered farther down the road than me. She has a complexity and grace in her storytelling with a hand for wit and clear-eyed honesty in her writing style that still inspires me. Today, I like to think that we are holding hands as we traverse the writerly path together.

Mary did a book giveaway at her book launch, gifting, not only copies of her books but those of her author friends. So many authors and good books get lost in the shadow of the bestsellers, so I'm providing the list of titles here for your perusing pleasure. (Please note, all book descriptions are taken from the authors' provided text.)

Willful Avoidance, JT Twissel, Inspired by a true story. . . Maya Bethany awakes as though from a seventeen-year coma to find herself in bed with a stranger—her husband—who is on a course that will ruin not only her life but those of her children as well unless she does something. But what and how and who will help her? 

The Passion Thief, Anne McCarthy Strauss, The tumble between the sheets can get a little stale and infrequent in some marriages. At least that’s what Betty Boomer tells herself at night, while Stan, her husband of two decades, snores upright on the couch. 

A Medical Affair, Anne McCarthy Strauss, When a life-threatening asthma attack induced by the fumes in her newly-painted apartment lands Heather Morrison in a New York City emergency room, her life will never be the same. She opens her eyes to a handsome man whom she perceives to be the knight in hospital scrubs who saved her life.

Ferry to Cooperation Island, Carol Newman Cronin, Loner James Malloy is a ferry captain--or used to be until he was unceremoniously fired and replaced by a girl named Courtney Farris. Now, instead of piloting Brenton Island's daily lifeline to the glitzy docks of Newport, Rhode Island, James spends his days beached, bitter, and bored. When he discovers a private golf course staked out across wilderness sacred to his dying best friend, a Narragansett Indian, James is determined to stop such "improvements." 

The Shape of Us, Jacqueline Cioffa, The Shape of Us celebrates all the complexities and authentic beauty of real, everyday women. Cioffa’s essays and poems are intimate and relatable, a deep dive into the roles of being female. 

All the Tomorrows, Nillu Nassar, Akash Choudry wants a love for all time, not an arranged marriage. Still, under the weight of parental hopes, he agrees to one. He and Jaya marry in a cloud of color and spice in Bombay. Their marriage has barely begun when Akash embarks on an affair.

Secrets and Lies, Julie Anderson, Julie Anderson’s debut collection is a brave, vulnerable look into the truest parts of her desires, her longings, her shame all while struggling to understand who she is, a beautiful, powerful, soul.

Feminine Collective: Raw and Unfiltered Vol 1: Selected Essays and Poems on Relationships with Self and Others, by Feminine Collective, Feminine Collective: Raw & Unfiltered is a collection of poems and essays about relationships with self and others. Authentic, honest, at times self-deprecating and humorous. First published on FeminineCollective.com from 2014 to 2015, the women (and a few men) bravely share their unfiltered realities.

Love Notes From Humanity: The Lust, Love & Loss Collection, by Feminine Collective, The writers of these poems are award-winning Authors, Journalists, Bloggers, and Activists, while others are previously unknown artists. The poems are a collective made of a global community.

And Mary even gave a copy of Elevator Girl by yours truly. Congratulations to the winner and I look forward to sending her the book!

On This Day

Historic Highlights (credits)

2010 - The Country of Netherlands Antilles is Dissolved

The Caribbean Dutch dependency, also sometimes known as the Dutch Antilles, was formed in 1954. The dissolution came after a series of referendums to become independent states within the Kingdom of the Netherlands were passed on the Islands of Curaçao, St Maarten, Bonaire, and Saba.

1970 - Fijian independence

The South Pacific Ocean island country had been ruled by the British since 1874. Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara became the first prime minister of independent Fiji.

1967 - Outer Space Treaty is Enforced

Also known as the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, it regulated the exploration and use of outer space and created the field of international space law. The treaty declared that outer space and all celestial bodies were the common heritage of mankind and could not be claimed by any one nation.

1964 - The Tokyo Summer Olympics Begin

93 countries participated in the first Olympics to be held in Asia. As a tribute to the horrors of the Second World War, Yoshinori Sakai, who was born in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, the day an atomic bomb destroyed the city, was chosen as the torchbearer to light the Olympic flame during the opening. The Tokyo Olympics was also the first Olympic Games that used satellites - Syncom 3 in the United States and Relay 1 in Europe - to telecast the games. Some of the games were also broadcasted in color for the first time.

1933 - United Airlines Boeing 247 explosion

In one of the oldest unsolved cases in aviation history, the airplane which was flying from Newark, New Jersey to Oakland California exploded mid-air and crashed near Chesterton, Indiana. All 7 passengers and crew members died in the incident. To this day, it is not known what and who caused the explosion.

Happy Birthday to You!🎶 

1979 - Mýa, American singer-songwriter, producer, dancer, actress

1969 - Brett Favre, American football player

1930 - Harold Pinter, English playwright, screenwriter, director, actor, Nobel Prize laureate

1861 - Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian, Nobel Prize laureate

1813 - Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer

Remembering You

2010 - Solomon Burke, American singer-songwriter

2009 - Stephen Gately, Irish singer-songwriter, dancer, actor

2004 - Christopher Reeve, American actor

1985 - Orson Welles, American actor, director, producer, screenwriter

1875 - Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Russian poet, author, playwright

Love a good book and make it a great Saturday!

Kim