Dare Me
Megan Abbott, 2012
Little Brown & Co.
304 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780316097772
Summary
Addy Hanlon has always been Beth Cassidy's best friend and trusted lieutenant. Beth calls the shots and Addy carries them out, a long-established order of things that has brought them to the pinnacle of their high-school careers. Now they're seniors who rule the intensely competitive cheer squad, feared and followed by the other girls—until the young new coach arrives.
Cool and commanding, an emissary from the adult world just beyond their reach, Coach Colette French draws Addy and the other cheerleaders into her life. Only Beth, unsettled by the new regime, remains outside Coach's golden circle, waging a subtle but vicious campaign to regain her position as "top girl"—both with the team and with Addy herself.
Then a suicide focuses a police investigation on Coach and her squad. After the first wave of shock and grief, Addy tries to uncover the truth behind the death — and learns that the boundary between loyalty and love can be dangerous terrain.
The raw passions of girlhood are brought to life in this taut, unflinching exploration of friendship, ambition, and power. Award-winning novelist Megan Abbott, writing with what Tom Perrotta has hailed as "total authority and an almost desperate intensity," provides a harrowing glimpse into the dark heart of the all-American girl. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1971
• Where—near Detroit, Michigan, USA
• Education—B.A., University of Michigan; Ph.D., New York University
• Awards—Edgar Award for Outstanding Fiction
• Currently—lives in New York City, New York
Megan Abbott is an American author of crime fiction and a non-fiction analyst of hardboiled crime fiction. Her novels and short stories have drawn from and re-worked classic subgenres of crime writing, with a female twist.
Abbott grew up in suburban Detroit and graduated from the University of Michigan. She is married to Joshua Gaylord, a New School professor who writes fiction under his own name and the pseudonym "Alden Bell."
Abbott was influenced by film noir, classic noir fiction, and Jeffrey Eugenides's novel The Virgin Suicides. Two of her novels reference notorious crimes. The Song is You (2007) is based around the disappearance of Jean Spangler in 1949, and Bury Me Deep (2009) is based on the 1931 case of Winnie Ruth Judd, who was dubbed the "Trunk Murderess."
Abbott has won the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award for outstanding fiction. Time named her one of the "23 Authors That We Admire" in 2011.
Works
2005 - Die a Little
2007 - The Song Is You
2007 - Queenpin (2008 Edgar Award; 2008 Barry Award)
2009 - Bury Me Deep
2011 - The End of Everything
2012 - Dare Me
2014 - The Fever
2016 - You Will Know Me
(Author bio from Wikipedia. Retrieved 8/9/2016.)
Book Reviews
Fiction has not been kind to cheerleaders. Maybe this has something to do with the fact that future writers are more likely to be found scowling on the bleachers than doing back handsprings across the gymnasium floor. But now Megan Abbott has put her spirit fingers to the task of writing the Great American Cheerleader Novel, and—stop scowling—it's spectacular…Dare Me…is subversive stuff. It's Heathers meets Fight Club good. Abbott pulls it all off with a fresh, nervy voice, and a plot brimming with the jealousy and betrayal you'd expect from a bunch of teenage girls.
Chelsea Cain - New York Times Book Review
Megan Abbott's chilling new novel...turns the frothy world of high-school cheerleading into something truly menacing.
Wall Street Journal
Three cheers for Megan Abbbott's Dare Me... Its take on the culture of young women is chilling and knowing.... If you think all this is working up, "Glee"-like, to a final cheerleading contest, or to a sports-novel-type ending, you are very wrong.
Newsweek
Make no mistake, this is no pulpy teenage tale: It's a very grown-up look at youth culture and how bad behavior can sometimes be redeemed by a couple of good decisions.
O Magazine
Haunting...If cheerleaders scared you in highschool, you'll finish...Dare Me convinced you were right.”
People
What's exciting about Dare Me is how it makes that traditionally masculine genre [noir] feel distinctly female. It feels groundbreaking when Abbott takes noir conventions — loss of innocence, paranoia, the manipulative sexuality of newly independent women — and suggests that they're rooted in high school, deep in the hearts of all-American girls.
Entertainment Weekly
Mesmerizing...one of the most deftly plotted noir crime novels I've read in a long time. The requisite twists and turns subtly embedded within Abbott's characters' motivations...are the sign of a truly accomplished plotter.”
Independent (UK)
Edgar Award-winner Abbott dives into a gut-churning tale of revenge, power, desire, and friendship in the insular world of high school cheerleading.... [W]hen a new coach flippantly removes Beth from power and takes Abby as her confidante, Beth turns vengeful.... Abbott’s writing in her sixth novel is deliciously slick and dark, matching her characters’ threatening circumstances, and the plot is tight and intense, building a world in which even the perky flip of a cheerleader’s skirt holds menace. “There’s something dangerous about the boredom of teenage girls,” one character says. Indeed.
Publishers Weekly
Abbott has a keen sense for the beauty, danger, and vulnerability of teenage girls; her spare, elegant prose cuts straight to the heart of the high school pecking order and brings the girls' world to life. Recommended for readers who enjoy dramatic stories about female relationships; it may also appeal to mature young adult readers. —Amy Hoseth, Colorado State Univ. Lib., Fort Collins
Library Journal
(Starred review.) This terrific novel, Abbott takes a plot that seems torn from the headlines and transforms it into Shakespearean tragedy... This is cheerleading as blood sport, Bring It On meets Fight Club—just try putting it down.
Booklist
Edgar winner Abbott again delivers an unsettling look at the inner life of adolescent girls in the guise of a crime story. The setting is an unnamed, frighteningly familiar town that could be found anywhere in contemporary America. Narrator Addy has been lifelong best friend to Beth, now the powerful captain of Sutton Grove High School's cheerleading squad. The cheerleaders are popular mean girls, and Beth is the meanest and most popular. Then a new coach, young and pretty Colette French, arrives. She immediately asserts her authority.... A battle of wills ensues between Coach and Beth.... [T]he question of who is emotional victim versus who is predator becomes murkier and more disturbing than any detective puzzle. Compelling, claustrophobic and slightly creepy in a can't-put-it-down way.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also, consider these LitLovers talking points to get a discussion started for Dare Me:
1. Talk about Addy, the narrator. How would you describe her? Is she merely a "tool" of Beth or Coach—pliable and submissive? Or is she someone with a will of her own who simply wants to avoid confrontation?
2. Talk about Beth. What kind of character is she? What happened at summer camp with Addy, Beth and Jaycee? What was going on?
3. Describe the relationship between Addy and Beth. What connects them—what draws the two together and holds them together despite set backs and fights. Who is the needy one in the relationship? Did the dynamics (or how you understood the dynamics) between the two change over the course of the story? Comment on the sexual element between them. Does it shock you...or do you understand it?
4. What was your experience during high school with cheerleaders? Were you a cheerleader? What was the status of cheerleaders in your school? Did you envy them...dismiss them, resent them...like them...or were they not even on your radar?
5. A follow-up to Question 4: The girls in Dare Me are exclusive, mean, and arrogant. At the same time, they're extremely committed, highly disciplined and willing to subject themselves to pain. Do you find them admirable...despicable...or something in between?
6. A follow-up to Questions 4 and 5: Has your attitude toward cheerleading changed after reading Dare Me? Do you consider cheerleading a sport...or performance art? Should it be an Olympic sport?
7. How does author Megan Abbott use cheerleading and their formations, especially the pyramid, as a symbol for adolescent relationships?
8. What do you think of Coach? How did your understanding of her change throughout the novel...or did it? What do you think of her relationship with Addy? Is their friendship appropriate? What draws Addy to Coach? Does Coach use Addy?
9. What is the nature of Coach's personal life? What about her marriage to Matt French? What kind of a mother is she? Is she unhappy, astonishingly selfish...or what? What do we know of her background?
10. Talk about the whole culture of cheerleading. Is it healthy...unhealty...a combination of the two? What do you find disturbing—as well as admirable—about cheerleading? Does the cheerleading culture refelct teen culture in general?
11. Why does Beth do what she does at the end?
12. What do you think of the ending of the novel? Addy now stands before the young, future cheerleaders. What do you think of her message to the younger girls? Has she become Beth? Or is she the New and Improved Beth?
13. How do you view cheerleading performance? Is it too dangerous? Or is it no different than the dangers boys face who play football?
The Chalice
Nancy Bilyeau, 2013
Simon & Schuster
485 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781476708669
Summary
In the midst of England’s Reformation, a young novice will risk everything to defy the most powerful men of her era.
In 1538, England’s bloody power struggle between crown and cross threatens to tear the country apart. Novice Joanna Stafford has tasted the wrath of the royal court, discovered what lies within the king’s torture rooms, and escaped death at the hands of those desperate to possess the power of an ancient relic.
Even with all she has experienced, the quiet life is not for Joanna. Despite the possibilities of arrest and imprisonment, she becomes caught up in a shadowy international plot targeting Henry VIII himself. As the power plays turn vicious, Joanna realizes her role is more critical than she’d ever imagined. She must choose between those she loves most and assuming her part in a prophecy foretold by three seers. Repelled by violence, Joanna seizes a future with a man who loves her. But no matter how hard she tries, she cannot escape the spreading darkness of her destiny.
To learn the final, sinister piece of the prophecy, she flees across Europe with a corrupt spy sent by Spain. As she completes the puzzle in the dungeon of a twelfth-century Belgian fortress, Joanna realizes the life of Henry VIII as well as the future of Christendom are in her hands—hands that must someday hold the chalice that lies at the center of these deadly prophecies. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Born—N/A
• Raised—Livonia, Michigan, USA
• Education—B.A., University of Michigan
• Currently—lives in New York City, New York
Nancy Bilyeau, author of The Crown (2012) and The Chalice (2013), is a writer and magazine editor who has worked on the staffs of InStyle, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, and Good Housekeeping. Her latest position is features editor of Du Jour magazine. A native of the Midwest, she graduated from the University of Michigan. She lives in New York City with her husband and two children. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
( A Top Pick.) The novel is riveting, and provides fascinating insight into the lives of displaced nuns and priests during the tumultuous Tudor period. Bilyeau creates fully realized characters, with complex actions and emotions, driving the machinations of these historic personages.
RT Book Reviews
English history buffs and mystery fans alike will revel in Nancy Bilyeau's richly detailed sequel to The Crown.
Parade
I loved the story, the characters, and the rich detail of the novel, making you feel you are there with Joanna on every page. So much emotion and drama- as well as facts to keep you riveted from the first page. And surprise twists for even the most hard to please mystery fans! I loved it
Bonnie Sommerville - De Jour magazine
Bilyeau sends her plucky former novice back into the intrigue-laden court of Henry VIII.
Entertainment Weekly
Bilyeau paints a moving portrait of Catholicism during the Reformation and of reclusive, spiritual people adjusting to the world outside the cloister. This intriguing and suspenseful historical novel pairs well with C. J. Sansom’s Dissolution (2003) and has the insightful feminine perspective of Brenda Rickman Vantrease’s The Heretic’s Wife (2010).
Booklist
A historical novel set during the time of Henry VIII. It opens in Canterbury in 1528, when the heroine, Joanna Stafford, is only 17 and her mother, worried about her daughter's health, pretends to take her to benefit from healing waters there. In fact, it is her mother's desire to have her daughter meet a woman with the gift of prophecy, a woman who is the first to see the role Joanna is destined to play in the future of the ongoing conflict between the crown and the cross.... [S]he pays attention to the first of what will be three seers who reveal, in progressive parts, her ultimate destiny.... Joanna's interest in weaving tapestries is an appropriate analogy for this layered book of historical suspense.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. What role does prophecy play in The Chalice? How does this idea of prophecy drive much of the book? What are your beliefs regarding seers and prophecies?
2. Why do you think Bilyeau uses a young novice like Joanna Stafford to carry out such important historic weight as to save Henry VIII or destroy him?
3. “Why must this burden fall upon me?” Joanna asks Edmund when they are in Blackfriars, and he answers, “It’s you. You are a woman unlike any other, Sister Joanna. I’ve tried to define this quality that sets you apart. I’ve never quite been able to.” Can you define it? How does Joanna’s character shape and affect the unfolding of the story? In what ways does Joanna’s character change over the course of the novel? In the end, how have the events of the novel changed her forever?
4. Who directs Gertrude Courtenay to find Joanna? Were you surprised by this revelation? How are Joanna and Gertrude’s lives bound up, beyond the fact of their relatedness by marriage? How do their fates become so entwined? And how does it tie back to Katherine of Aragon? Discuss, as well, how Gertrude and Joanna’s lives are directly impacted by the Boleyn family.
5. Joanna resists meeting the seers and hearing the prophecies, and yet Bilyeau writes, “We’d all been forced to abandon our dream. Yet now, because of what I’d revealed, a restoration was possible. Why didn’t I surge forward, snatching at my place in the prophecy, eager to bring back our way of life? But I couldn’t.” Why do you think she isn’t able to? What are the myriad ways in which Joanna resists her fate and why? Discuss the idea of free will versus fate, and fate versus destiny.
6. Geoffrey Scovill appears in several places to warn Joanna or to help her or to persuade her to be with him. He claims he wants only her happiness, and yet when it is time for Joanna to marry Edmund, he prevents it. What was your reaction to his behavior at that moment? Sometimes Joanna wants Geoffrey near her, yet at other times she pushes him away. What is your impression of their relationship? When they meet again in the cemetery, Scovill regrets that he didn’t appreciate his wife, Beatrice, more before her death. What do you think Scovill has learned about love and life? What do you think the future holds for Geoffrey and Joanna’s relationship?
7. When Joanna is alone in Blackfriars with Edmund Sommerville, Bilyeau writes, “I waited, with eyes shut. After I don’t know how long, his lips pressed against mine, but so gently I almost doubted it was happening. I had never felt a touch this tender. I ached for more from him.” How does Bilyeau handle the delicate issue of desire in a work about celibate religious men and women? How does Joanna deal with her own desire?
8. Just as Gardiner once used Joanna’s father to get her to look for the Athelstan crown, now when Jacquard Rolin threatens Edmund’s life to force Joanna to complete the prophecy. When she complies, what does this say about Joanna’s character? Her sense of loyalty? How might you respond in a similar situation?
9. When Joanna meets Ambassador Chapuys in Antwerp, she says, “I know that you and others look to me to put a stop to evil. But in so doing, I am creating evil…The man who spied for Gardiner in Hertfordshire and now Master Adams? God would not have it so – I know in my heart it’s not right.” What do you think about what Joanna says? How do you think Chapuys feels after she’s said this? Have you ever been confronted with such a dilemma in your life?
10. “Was I indeed a fool not to see that this was the plan from the beginning – for me to kill the king of England?” Bilyeau writes. “I’d hoped, and perhaps it was grossly unrealistic, that in the end I would commit some act, such as the abortive attempt to rescue the body of Thomas Becket, that would turn the tide of history…But how wrong I was, how tragically wrong. This, then, was the prophecy that I’d been intertwined with since I was seventeen. To be a murderess.” Were you surprised by this revelation as well? Were you hoping for a different sort of prophecy as Joanna was? What might it have been?
11. When Bishop Gardiner takes Joanna to see Gertrude in the Tower of London and Joanna asks her if she regrets she entered into conspiracy, given how much she has lost – her husband, her son, her homes and fortune – Gertrude hisses, “Never.” How do you feel about this? Do you find it hard to believe? What sort of a person is Gertrude? How would you feel in her situation?
12. Joanna asks Bishop Gardiner if he has written the article that forbids religious people from marrying with her in mind, and he says, “Did you really think that religious policy for the entire kingdom was written just to strike out at you? Revenge, perhaps, revenge on my part for your failure to secure the Athelstan crown or perhaps for your recent flouting of my will?” Joanna says nothing, and then he finishes by saying, “You have never been a consideration of that import. Not everyone is meant to play a significant part in the affairs of the world, Joanna.” Do you believe him? Does Joanna? What do you think is the truth?
13. In the beginning of The Chalice, John is a madman, running around Dartford spouting scripture about doom. In the end, he turns up at Joanna’s house in Dartford sane, well-dressed, and working as a wood collector. Do you think he is a symbol and/or metaphor for something in the novel? If so, discuss what it might be.
(Questions issued by publisher.)
Beyond the Pond
Jennie Samuel, 2012
Cedar Light Pub.
Kindle only (~273 pp.)
ISBN-13: 9780692018019
Summary
Nothing is Ever What it Seems!
Beyond The Pond takes the young reader on a journey back in time from the Indian Legend of the Cedar tree, to the almost near tragedy that changed Cathryn Price's life forever. Today, Cathryn's great granddaughter, Linda, and her nine year old son, Brady, live in Cathryn's old Victorian home. Brady struggles with changes in his life and finds bringing back his great grandmother's old pond helps to distract him from his own personal tragedies.
But, things have changed with this pond.
What Bradley doesn't know is that the pond and Cedar are in danger due to night prowlers and a Texas drought. The answer is for Olivia, a new fish, to leave the pond in search of a hidden spring and its inhabitants to save the legendary Cedar. And so, a new journey begins deep beneath the earth through an ancient passageway. Olivia's adventure not only encounters danger, but she discovers a secret kept safe by Brady's grandmother for over 50 years.
Brady learns to cope with embarrassment and defeat, and finds that God has a plan for him after all. Beyond The Pond presents an interesting collection of characters, including one who has been around since The Beginning. The gospel message is explained in a simple truth between the most unlikely couple. (From the author.)
Watch the video.
Author Bio
• Birth—December, 1948
• Where—Hollywood, California, USA
• Education—Pierce Jr. College
• Currently—Granada Hills, California
With a 28 year career of writing insurance investigation reports, Jennie decided to take a frog leap from fact to fiction. She has received several awards as Investigator of the Year from her company, Specialized Investigations. Beyond The Pond is a blend of truth, fiction and fantasy, woven with the gospel message. Jennie holds to the central truths of the Christian faith believing that the Bible is God's only word to us today, and that Jesus Christ is Savior. She is a member of Valley Presbyterian Church, (PCA), North Hills, CA, and confirms the Apostle's Creed as her confession of faith.
Jennie's inspiration to write Beyond The Pond came from actual events and visitors to her own backyard pond. When her first grandson was born, Jennie wanted to pass along the secrets of Pinecone Pond to him. After all, she already had most of her characters—she just gave them voices on a page.
Cedar Light Publishing was founded by Jennie Samuel as a way to publish her first children's novel. The company name comes from one of the elements in the story.
Olivia takes a tiny Cedar wood chip with her on a dangerous journey to light her way in a dark world far from the pond. This is a reminder to trust in Christ, the Light of the World, and allow Him to guide you on the right path. Let your light shine at school, in your neighborhood and all around town, reflecting that:
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. —Matthew 5:14.
Jennie lives with her husband Ben and their yellow lab Champ in Granada Hills, California. (From the author. Visit Jennie's website.)
Book Reviews
(The following reviews are all by Amazon Customers.)
I enjoyed this book. It brought me into a lovely family with a lot of history and
the 'intrigue' of a secret place. I want to read the sequel!!!! Thanks for a lovely book.
beautiful tahoe
Wonderful story; engaging enough for kids and adults reading to kids....This is an allegory with a spiritual story underlying the plot and characters; an outstanding work by a first-time author. Enough mystery and fantasy to engage readers of all ages; in part, inspired by a Cherokee legend. I loved the animal characters. Although the story starts in the 1950's, it quickly moves to present day and references contemporary things (like curly fries) that kids will relate to. There is a lot of information about nature, animals and even hydrology subtly woven into the story without making it feel academic. The Beyond the Pond FB page has photos of the characters the story was based on. A great book for Home-Schools, where it could be incorporated into several subject lessons. A great Christmas gift; it's on my list.
M. Watanabe "Booklady"
Great Book.... This is a good book, I am eleven years old and I enjoyed reading this creative book. If you like mystical creatures and animals this is a good book for you. I am looking forward to the sequel.
Kid's Review
A very fun and enjoyable read.... I thoroughly enjoyed Beyond The Pond. The colorful animal characters are reminiscent of those in the timeless story of Charlotte's Web and the more recent favorite Finding Nemo. The technique the author used to weave together the human story and the animal story and the interactions between the two produced an intriguing tale that both older kids and adults will enjoy. I can't wait to read the sequel.
Donna
Finished your book today—you are a very creative and descriptive writer! I really liked the way you brought it all together at the end—looking forward to the sequel.
Chris
Discussion Questions
1. Why would Cathryn not share the secret about Murdoch with her husband or children, yet she felt it was okay to tell her granddaughter, Rosalie, about him?
2. Why do you suppose Murdoch saved Cathryn when he had let others drown before her?
3. Who did you think the tall figure behind the fence was when this character was first introduced in the story?
4. There were several "fears" or "uncertainties" mentioned in the story that happened to Brady and Olivia. Discuss those fears and how best to get through them.
5. Thalia had been given a special roll by the Creator to protect the land surrounding her. What other historical events do you think she may have seen standing in one place all those years since the 1800s (besides the ones mentioned in the book?)
6. Who was your favorite character in the book and why?
7. Both Brady, Olivia and Murdoch had to make changes when they moved from their family home to a new one. Do you think the other characters in the story helped or made matters worse for them?
8. Do you think it was a good idea that Gaspar and Coyote teamed up together? Why?
9. What does it mean to you to "Rest in God?" Do you think Brady ever put his trust in God? When?
10. There are several times in the story in which rules are broken. Cathryn, Olivia and Murdoch was known not to follow certain rules. What were the results of breaking rules?
11. We don't always understand why bad things happen, or that God may have a reason when he puts trials in our life. How did losing the baseball game affect Brady's relationship with God at the time....then later?
12. Both Brady and Olivia had to make new friends at their new homes, then they both lost the new friend they had made. How did they react to this loss?
13. Compare Olivia's trust in the Cedar light to trusting in Christ. What does light do? Why did some of the characters in the story turn away from the light? Why do people turn away from knowing Christ as their savior? What are some "light" Bible scriptures?
14. Why do you suppose that Coyote would trust Gaspar again?
15. At first, Olivia was insulted that she would be asked to take a dangerous trip. What changed her mind and what gave her the courage to make that trip.
16. Olivia was told that whenever she felt like giving up to trust in the light and it would give her something she needed to continue to move on. What was it ? How did that affect Charlie? How does that affect you? Where do you put your trust?
17. What did Cathryn do to save herself from drowning? Discuss the similarities between Murdoch saving Cathryn and Christ saving us?
18. What kind of friendship did Sterling and Murdoch have? How did Sterling help Murdoch to endure his lonliness and depression at the spring?
19. Discuss Artesia's view of herself. Was she right or wrong?
20. The gospel message was discussed between several of the characters in the book. Recall how each situation came about for Linda and Brady; Cathryn and Murdoch; and Artesia and Murdoch to talk about God with someone they knew. Do you think you could look for opportunities to bring up the gospel to others in the simple way that it was mentioned in the book?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)
top of page (summary)
Edge of Dark Water
Joe R. Lansdale, 2012
Little, Brown & Co.
292 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780316188425
Summary
Mark Twain meets classic Stephen King—a bold new direction for widely acclaimed Edgar Award winner Joe R. Lansdale.
May Lynn was once a pretty girl who dreamed of becoming a Hollywood star. Now she's dead, her body dredged up from the Sabine River.
Sue Ellen, May Lynn's strong-willed teenage friend, sets out to dig up May Lynn's body, burn it to ash, and take those ashes to Hollywood to spread around. If May Lynn can't become a star, then at least her ashes will end up in the land of her dreams.
Along with her friends Terry and Jinx and her alcoholic mother, Sue Ellen steals a raft and heads downriver to carry May Lynn's remains to Hollywood.
Only problem is, Sue Ellen has some stolen money that her enemies will do anything to get back. And what looks like a prime opportunity to escape from a worthless life will instead lead to disastrous consequences. In the end, Sue Ellen will learn a harsh lesson on just how hard growing up can really be. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—October 28, 1951
• Where—Gladewater, Texas, USA
• Education—N/A
• Awards—8 Bram Stoker Awards; Grinzani Cavour Prize
for Literature; American Horror Award; (see more below)
• Currently—lives in Nacogdoches, Texas
Joe Richard Lansdale is an American author and martial-arts expert. He has written novels and stories in many genres, including Western, horror, science fiction, mystery, and suspense. He has also written for comics as well as Batman: The Animated Series.
Frequent features of Lansdale's writing are usually deeply ironic, strange or absurd situations or characters, such as Elvis and JFK battling a soul-sucking Egyptian mummy in a nursing home (the plot of his Bram Stoker Award-nominated novella, Bubba Ho-Tep, which was made into a movie by Don Coscarelli).
He is perhaps best known for his Hap and Leonard series of novels which feature two friends, Hap Collins and Leonard Pine, who live in the fictional town of Laborde, in East Texas, and find themselves solving a variety of often unpleasant crimes. The characters themselves are an unlikely pairing; Hap is a white working class laborer in his mid forties who once protested against the war in Vietnam, and Leonard is a gay black Vietnam vet. Both of them are accomplished fighters, and the stories (told from Hap's narrative point of view) feature a great deal of violence, profanity and sex. Lansdale paints a picture of East Texas which is essentially "good" but blighted by racism, ignorance, urban and rural deprivation and corruption in public officials. Some of the subject matter is extremely dark, and includes scenes of brutal violence. These novels are also characterized by sharp humor and "wisecracking" dialogue.
His current new release publisher is Mulholland Books, which in 2012 released Edge of Dark Water. About four friends who journey down the Sabine River in East Texas with the ashes of their dead friend and a stolen cache of money, the novel has inspired comparisons to Twain's Huck Finn and Dickey's Deliverence.
Lansdale, who was born in Gladewater, Texas, now lives in Nacogdoches and is the writer in residence at Stephen F. Austin State University. He also teaches at his own Shen Chuan martial arts school and is a member of both the United States Martial Arts Hall of Fame and Soke and the International Martial Arts Hall of Fame. He is the father of actress and musician Kasey Lansdale.
Awards
Joe Lansdale has won eight Bram Stoker Awards over the course of his long career—in the Short Fiction, Long Fiction (incl. novellas), Anthology, and Other Media (incl. comics) categories.
1988 - Night They Missed the Horror Show"- short story
1989 - On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert With Dead Folks - novella
1992 - The Events Concerning a Nude Fold-Out Found in a Harlequin Romance"- short story
1993 - Jonah Hex: Two Gun Mojo - Comic Book
1997 - The Big Blow - novel
1999 - Mad Dog Summer (tied) - short story
2006 - Retro Pulp Tales (tied) Anthology
Lansdale was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award nine other times.
Other awards include:
1990 - British Fantasy Award, Best Short Story - "On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert With Dead Folks"
2000 - Edgar Award, Best Novel - The Bottoms
2000 - Herodotus Award, Best Historical Mystery - The Bottoms
Lansdale is also frequently cited as winning the American Mystery Award, the Horror Critics Award, the Shot in the Dark International Crime Writer’s award, the Booklist Editor’s Award, and the Critic’s Choice Award. The specifics are difficult to track down at present, but it is likely that at least some of these were awarded to The Bottoms, which is by far his most acclaimed novel.
The Horror Writers Association gave him the Lifetime Achievement Award for 2011, which he received at the Bram Stoker Awards Banquet in Salt Lake City, Utah on March 31, 2012.
On 19 October 2012 he was inducted into The Texas Literary Hall of Fame. (Bio and awards adapted from Wikiipedia.)
Book Reviews
Joe R. Lansdale slips into his folksy storyteller persona…to spin a charming Gothic tale narrated by a feisty schoolgirl…an adventure as funny and frightening as anything that could have been dreamed up by the Brothers Grimm—or Mark Twain.
Marilyn Stasio - New York Times Book Review
A coming of age story peopled with original and fascinating blood-and-bones characters. A chillingly atmospheric tale of good and evil and adolescent angst. Edge of Dark Water has all the potential of becoming a classic, read by generations to come.
New York Journal of Books
Edgar-winner Lansdale channels Mark Twain in this chillingly atmospheric stand-alone set in Depression-era East Texas.... Lansdale's perfect ear for regional dialogue and ability to create palpable suspense lift this above the pack.
Washington Examiner
A storyteller in the great American tradition of Ambrose Bierce and Mark Twain.
Boston Globe
For those new to Lansdale's work, this novel will serve as a good intro: entertaining, eerie and soaked with the East Texas period atmosphere Lansdale owns like no other writer.... Along the river chase, readers will pick up on nods to homer, Dickey, Twain and others, but the brooding East Texas atmosphere is all Lansdale: the specter of Skunk is like something out of a horror movie; man and nature both provide plenty of thrills and chills; the mystery of who killed May Lynn is given just enough attention; and Sue Ellen's precocious teen wisdom and bumpkin delivery provides the laughs.... Joe R. Lansdale could fall into the Sabine River at its filthiest point and still come up dripping nothing but storytelling mojo.
Dallas Morning News
A doozy of a read, the kind of book we call an "all nighter".... It's that kind of great, and it's pure-blood Lansdale, crammed to bursting with plot twists that recall the snaky bends of the Sabine River.... This sucker moves.... It's our favorite book of the year so far, and one of Lansdale's best, ever.
Austin Chronicle
Edgar-winner Lansdale channels Mark Twain in this chillingly atmospheric stand-alone set in Depression-era East Texas. When 16-year-old Sue Ellen Wilson finds the body of her friend May Lynn Baxter in the Sabine River, ...[she] and her two best friends...hatch an elaborate plan: burn May Lynn’s body and take her ashes to California.... When the trio discover money squirreled away...they decide to take it with them on a raft down the Sabine en route to California. Soon they must contend with more than just the current. Lansdale’s perfect ear for regional dialogue and ability to create palpable suspense lift this above the pack.
Publishers Weekly
...[N]ear the dark, snake-infested Sabine River during the Depression years... [o]nly the beautiful May Lynn has thought much about the future, and her plans to run away to Hollywood die with her at the bottom of the Sabine River. Determined that May Lynn will achieve her dream, ...three friends...cremate her body, nab money and a raft, and set out...down the river to Gladewater, where they can catch a bus to Hollywood. Like Huck Finn, each time they leave the river, the friends experience tragedy.... Verdict: Lansdale crafts a perfect noir mood using time, place, and culture for a novel that pits the pretty good against pure evil. —Thomas L. Kilpatrick, formerly with Southern Illinois Univ. Lib. at Carbondale
Library Journal
[A] distaff Huck and Jim. Paddling a makeshift raft down the Sabine River, they flee East Texas, a New York minute ahead of their pursuers. There are four of them.... Flagrantly ill-treated, consistently undervalued, they've been brought together by a murder.... It's an event that provides the restless four with both a mission and a pretext. May Lynn always wanted to go to Hollywood.... The river, the raft, a stash of money coveted by bad guys, nonstop adventures that edify, terrify.... A highly entertaining tour de force.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Many reviewers have praised Edge of Dark Water by comparing it to classic works of American fction. What is it about the book that draws these comparisons? Which novels did Edge of Dark Water remind you of?
2. What would you say are the larger themes of Edge of Dark Water? What does this ragtag group’s attempts to preserve May Lynn’s dream of Hollywood stardom suggest about America’s ideals of success?
3. Who was your favorite character in Edge of Dark Water and why?
4. What did you think of the way Lansdale portrays East Texas during the Great Depression? Does his portrayal of the dangers of the road seem accurate to you? What about the state of race relations in the region? No year is ever mentioned outright in the novel—what do you make of Lansdale’s decision not to pin down the story with a specifc date?
5. What did you think of the author’s use of oral storytelling inEdge of Dark Water?
6. Why do you think Lansdale chose the Sabine River for the group’s journey? Would another means of transportation, such as a highway or trail, evoke a different mood or perspective?
7. What role does freedom play in Edge of Dark Water, especially in regard to Sue Ellen’s coming-of-age adventure story? If you were Sue Ellen, do you think you would have set out on the same journey away from home, or wanted to?
8. Which villain in Edge of Dark Water did you fnd most frighten-ing and why—Skunk, Constable Sy, or Uncle Gene?
9. What do you think Edge of Dark Water says about gender roles during the Depression?
10. What did you think of the role Terry played in May Lynn’s death? Do you blame him for the crime or for withholding information from Sue Ellen, Jinx, and Sue Ellen’s mother?
The Silver Linings Playbook
Matthew Quick, 2008
Farrar, Strauss and Giroux
304 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780374532284
Summary
For Pat Peoples, despair is not an option.
Recently released from a neural health facility and still recovering from a traumatic event that has been blocked from his memory, Pat is sure that he can find a silver lining in even the most challenging situation. He also believes that his life is a movie produced by God, and that if he can get himself in tip-top shape physically and emotionally, he will reunited with the love of his life, his estranged wife, Nikki.
Keeping Pat on the road to recovery is an unconventional therapist named Cliff Patel, whose obsession with the Philadelphia Eagles rivals Pat’s. Along the way, Pat tries to understand why his family seems to be hiding something from him, why Kenny G’s “Songbird” is one of the few things that makes him want to hit something, and why his new friend Tiffany thinks she can lure Pat away from Nikki. Tragically widowed and clinically depressed, Tiffany challenges Pat’s view of the world, raising poignant questions about hope and love. (From the publisher.)
The book became a 2012 film starring Bradley Cooper, Robert Di Nero, Jennifer Lawrence, and Chris Tucker.
Author Bio
• Birth—October 23, 1972
• Raised—Oaklyn, New Jersey, USA
• Education—B.A., LaSalle University; M.F.A, Goddard College
• Currently—lives in Holden, Massachusetts
Matthew Quick is an American author of young adult and fiction novels. His debut novel, The Silver Linings Playbook, was adapted into a movie, starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, with Robert De Niro, Jackie Weaver, and Chris Tucker.
His other novels include Sorta Like a Rockstar (2010), Boy21 (2012), Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock (2013) and The Good Luck for Right Now (2014). Quick was finalist for a 2009 PEN/Hemingway Award, and his work has been translated into several languages.
Quick grew up in Oaklyn, New Jersey. He has a degree in English literature from La Salle University and an MFA from Goddard College. He left his job as a tenured English teacher in Haddonfield, New Jersey, to write his first novel while living in Collingswood, New Jersey. He now lives in Holden, Massachusetts with his wife, novelist Alicia Bessette. (From Wikipedia. Retrieved 02/17/2014.)
Book Reviews
[C]ompelling and fascinating ... a tour de force.... From the beer-soaked Bacchanalian tailgating to the black holes of despair into which Iggles fans plunge themselves after a defeat, Quick is dead-on.
Bill Lyon - Philadelphia Inquirer
[C]harming debut novel...it is hard not to be moved by the fate of a man who, despite many ordeals, tries to believe in hope and fidelity, not to mention getting through another day with his sanity intact.
Stephen Barbara - Wall Street Journal
It's a charmingly nerve-wracking combination...The book is cinematic, but the writing still shimmers. This nimble, funny read is spiked with enough perception to allow the reader to enjoy Pat's blindly hopeful philosophy without irony.
Barrie Hardymon - NPR
Quick fills the pages with so much absurd wit and true feeling that it's impossible not to cheer for his unlikely hero.
Allison Lynn - People
Pat Peoples, the endearing narrator of this touching and funny debut, is down on his luck. The former high school history teacher has just been released from a mental institution and placed in the care of his mother. Not one to be discouraged, Pat believes he has only been on the inside for a few months—rather than four years—and plans on reconciling with his estranged wife. Refusing to accept that their apart time is actually a permanent separation, Pat spends his days and nights feverishly trying to become the man she had always desired. Our hapless hero makes a friend in Tiffany, the mentally unstable, widowed sister-in-law of his best friend, Ronnie. Each day as Pat heads out for his 10-mile run, Tiffany silently trails him, refusing to be shaken off by the object of her affection. The odd pair try to navigate a timid friendship, but as Pat is unable to discern friend from foe and reality from deranged optimism, every day proves to be a cringe-worthy adventure. Pat is as sweet as a puppy, and his offbeat story has all the markings of a crowd-pleaser.
Publishers Weekly
[I]mmensely likable debut novel.... Pat [Peoples] has returned home to live with his parents in a New Jersey suburb following a stay in a Baltimore mental institution, whence he was committed after reacting irrationally to a breakup with his beloved wife Nikki.... Deftly timed surprises stimulate crucial revelations, and the full truth of both Pat's sufferings and his own egregious contributions to them expand the novel's basically simple comic-domestic texture into something far more disturbing, complex and, eventually, quite moving. If the novel were 50 or so pages shorter, it might have been terrific.... Still, its judicious blending of pop-culture experience with richly persuasive characterizations...make the book a winner.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. How does the book redefine happy endings? What makes Pat so determined to believe that every cloud has a silver lining?
2. As Pat heals from his brain injuries and trauma, in what ways is he sometimes more mentally stable than his family and friends? Is his optimism—combined with his belief that God is a filmmaker—a sign of his sanity? How was your reading affected by the fact that the “bad place” was a neural health facility rather than a psychiatric hospital?
3. Discuss the relationships Pat and Jake have with their father, Patrick Senior. What does their father teach them about being a man? Why is it so hard for him to show emotion?
4. How does Cliff use the Eagles’ playbook to teach Pat about the real world? How do the Eagles bring unity to Pat’s family? What makes Hank Baskett the ideal rookie to serve as Pat’s inspiration?
5. In “A Hive Full of Green Bees,” what does Pat discover about himself during the violent incident with the Giants fan (Steve)? How did you feel about Jake while he was taunting Steve?
6. What keeps Pat’s obsession with Nikki alive? What does Cliff ultimately help him understand about the nature of love and attraction?
7. Tiffany and Pat’s mother, Jeanie, have different approaches to his recovery. Tiffany believes that direct confrontation is best; Jeanie wants to protect Pat from anything that might upset him, including his brother’s marriage to Caitlin. Which approach is better?
8. How did your impressions of Nikki and Tiffany shift throughout the novel?
9. Did Dance Away Depression have any healing effect on Pat? What did Tiffany want him to hear when she chose “Total Eclipse of the Heart” as their song?
10. What role does Danny play, along with Aunt Jasmine, in rescuing Pat emotionally on Christmas Day? When have you had a similar encounter with a friend who appeared at exactly the right moment?
11. How did you react when Pat finally remembers why Kenny G pushes him over the edge? What does his trauma have in common with Tiffany’s?
12. Discuss Pat’s take on literature, particularly The Scarlet Letter, The Bell Jar, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and The Catcher in the Rye. How does his approach to literature change as his worldview changes? What would it be like to have Pat as a member of your book club?
13. In “An Acceptable Form of Coping,” Cliff and Pat disagree about whether sad books should be required reading for students. Pat says that such books teach kids to be pessimistic. Cliff says, "Life is hard, Pat, and children have to be told how hard life can be...so they will be sympathetic to others.” What’s your opinion? What books were you drawn to when you were younger?
14. Discuss the book’s closing scene. How has The Silver Linings Playbook inspired you in your life?
15. Watch the movie or play favorite scenes from it. How does the film compare to the book? Were the actors the ones you would have chosen?
(Questions issued by publisher.)