Continuing their 'Tales'
Continuing tales of The Tale for Three Counties authors and what they
have been doing since their books were featured in the Tale community
reading program:
Chapter 1: March 27-29, 2003
THE AUTHOR: Leif Enger of Atkin, Minn.
THE BOOK: Peace Like a River.
THE STORY: An adult Ruben Land recalls a turbulent few months in his
family's life that began when his older brother, Davy, is accused of
murder for shooting two neighborhood bullies.
SECOND NOVEL: Enger's follow-up to Peace, "So Brave,
Young and Handsome" (Atlantic Monthly Press), was published
in May 2008. "I'm glad to finally get another book out," Enger
says, acknowledging a couple of false starts before "finally settling
on this character that appeared to me sort of out of the mist."
"So Brave ..." is a story of redemption, love and
a chase, as an old train robber is confronted by his conscience and
tries to reconcile with the wife he left decades ago. But when he comes
out of hiding, his old nemesis - a character based on a real-life Pinkerton
detective - is in pursuit. The book kept Enger on tour for a large part
of the year. By year's end it had made numerous best book of the year
lists, including those of the Christian Science Monitor and the Washington
Post and was finalist for the Christinity Tody Book award for fiction.
So Brave... was also a 2008 Midwest Booksellers' Choice Award Honor
Book for fiction.
GONE HOLLYWOOD: A film adaptation of Peace Like a River remains in production.
Chapter 2: March 26-28, 2004
THE AUTHOR: Howard Frank Mosher of Irasburg, Vt.
THE BOOK: Northern Borders.
THE STORY: A coming-of-age tale set in rural Vermont in the 1940s finds
an adult Austen Kittredge taking a nostalgic look back at a childhood
spent on his grandparents farm in fictional Kingdom County.
RETURN TO KINGDOM COUNTY: Mosher went back to Kingdom County for his
most recent novel, "On Kingdom Mountain," which was published
in July
2007. It introduces readers to Miss Jane Hubbell Kinneson, the last
remaining resident of a wild mountain on the U.S.-Canadian border. She's
trying to stop a proposed highway and finds another adventure when a
mysterious aviator crashes on the frozen lake at the foot of her mountain,
bringing with him a riddle containing clues to the whereabouts of stolen
Civil War-era gold.
RETURN TO GENESEE COUNTY: In October,2008 the author returned to Richmond
Memorial Library, Batavia, to talk about his latest book and introduce
the 2008 Tale selection. Earlier in the summer, Mosher was in Buffalo
and Brockport as part of a summer book tour that made more than 100
stops in 100 days.
NEW PROJECTS: Mosher is at work on a non-fiction book about last summer’s
marathon book tour.The non-fiction travel memoir, “The Great American
Book Tour,” chronicles Mosher’s 100-city book tour to promote
his latest novel, "On
Kingdom Mountain." It will also include some Northeast Kingdom
memoir material from his life in northern Vermont interspersed throughout
the book.
UP NEXT: "Walking to Gatlinburg" focuses on Morgan
Kinneson, Miss Jane Kinneson's father. It is the story of Morgan's trip
from Vermont to the Civil War ravaged South to track down and eliminate
six psychopaths who have been killing conductors of the Underground
Railroad, including his parents. The novel includes scenes
along the Erie Canal from near Albany to Utica and at the Union prison
camp in Elmira. Walking to Gatlinburg was released March 2,
2010. It debuted at no. 23 on the Indie list and was a notable pick
for March 2010 by the American Booksellers Association. This year also
finds Mosher with a new publisher, Random House, that reunites him with
Shaye Areheart, editor to A Stranger in the Kingdom.
Chapter 3: March 10-12, 2005
THE AUTHOR: Julia Spencer-Fleming of Buxton, Maine.
THE BOOK: In the Bleak Midwinter.
THE STORY: Spencer-Fleming's debut novel introduces readers to Clare
Fergusson, a well-intentioned Episcopal priest and former Army helicopter
pilot, who moves to the fictional Adirondack town of Millers
Kill. When a baby is discovered abandoned in a church stairwell, mother
and later investigate a murder. As events unfold, Fergusson must navigate
the silence and secrets of a small town and her own delicate relationship
with the police chief.
A BIG YEAR: The fifth book in the series, "All Mortal Flesh,"
was released in October 2006 but it was 2007 that proved to be a big
year for the author. The novel, which put Russ as the chief suspect
in a murder investigation, was nominated for best mystery in many major
awards categories. She won a Gumshore Award from Mystery Ink, a popular
online destination for mystery fans, and capped the year by winning
the Nero Award for best mystery from The Wolfe Pack, a society of admirers
of mystery writer Nero Wolfe.
THE STORY CONTINUES: "I Shall Not Want" (St. Martin's Minotaur,
June 2008), the sixth book in the series, finds Russ and Clare dealing
with their relationship as they investigate the deaths of several Hispanic
immigrants. Spencer-Fleming has completed the seventhk in the series,
One was a Soldier. One was a Soldier is scheduled
for release in April 2011. Specer-Fleming is now planning an eigth book
in this popular series and promises that she is "determined to
finish this one in less than a year!" Spencer is also planning
a new novel set around the closing of Maine State Prison in Thomaston,
Maine. It will be her first story set in Maine.
Chapter 4: March 23-25, 2006
THE AUTHOR: Jennifer Donnelly of Brooklyn
THE BOOK: A Northern Light.
THE STORY: Historical fiction story blends a real-life 1906 murder
with the coming of age story of 16-year-old Mattie Gokey working her
summer job at a resort on Big Moose Lake in the Adirondacks.
'LIGHT' STILL BRIGHT: Known as "A Gathering Light" in the
United Kingdom, where it won a Carnegie Medal in 2003 for best children's
novel, Donnelly's book was among 10 finalists for 2007's Carnegie of
Carnegie. The award celebrated the 70-year history of the Carnegie Medal
(the winner was Philip Pullman's "Northern Lights," the novel
that prompted the title change of Donnelly's book.).
NEXT OUT: "The Winter Rose" (Hyperion), the second book in
a planned
trilogy, reunites readers with the Finnegan family. Beginning where
"The
Tea Rose" left off on the river Thames, the new novel follows the
story
of Charlie Finnegan - now notorious East London crime loard Sid Malone
-
and a new character, the crusading woman doctor Indian Selwyn Jones
who
saves Malone's life.
WHAT'S NEXT: Donnelly is working on a new young adult novel and "The
Wild Rose," the last book of her Rose trilogy."I can't be
away from the Finnegans for too long," Donnelly says. "I miss
them and want to catch up with them, and most of all, I want to find
out what happens next."
Chapter 5: March 8 to 10, 2007
THE AUTHOR: Mark Spragg of Cody, Wyo.
THE BOOK: An Unfinished Life.
THE STORY: A woman, running with her young daughter from an abusive
relationship, tries to make amends with a bitter Wyoming rancher after
causing a car accident that killed his son and her husband.
HIGHS AND LOWS: In 2007, Spragg did a number of one-book reading
programs, including several days in Fort Collins, Colo.
One place he didn't go was Salt Lake City, Utah, where a program run
by the Salt Lake County Library System rescinded its invitation when
the system's director said a staffer "jumped the gun" by inviting
Spragg before an ad hoc committee could make the selection. The panel
decided against choosing the author because the library system promoted
his book the previous year under a reader's choice program, the director
said.
WHAT'S NEXT: Bone Fire: A Novel was published on March 9, 2010.
Bonefire takes place many years after An Unfinished Life
and is once again set in Ishawoa, Wyoming. It continues the story of
Einar Gilkyon, now 80 and taking stock of his life.
Chapter 6: March 13 to 15, 2008
THE AUTHOR: Thomas Mullen of Washington, D.C.
THE BOOK: The Last Town on Earth
THE STORY: An uninfected town votes to quarantine itself against a deadly
epidemic and two young friends are asked to guard the entrance and keep
strangers out.
SECOND NOVEL: The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers was published
in January 2010. Set against the bleak backdrop of Depression-era America,
this is the story of Jason and Whit Fireson, a fictionl pair of bank-robbing
siblings and their flirtation with immortaility.
Chapter 7: March 12 to 14, 2009
THE AUTHOR:P.L. Gaus of Wooster, Ohio
THE BOOK:Separate from the World
THE STORY:The story of a rift between two Amish factions, one that favors
the use of medicine and that participates in a college study of genetic
traits particulr to the Amish Community and the other that rejects any
outside influence.
Updated May. 20, 2010