"Oh, Kaye!" has a little surprise for everyone today - - -

I've invited someone quite special to step in today as my guest, and the invitation was graciously accepted.  I think you're all going to be tickled pink. 

Suffice to say, you all know by now what a Fan Girl I tend to be.  I have said many times that writers are my rock stars.  That's not to say I wouldn't squeal like an 18 year old if I were to meet some of my rock star idols.  While that hasn't happened (yet!  I'm still hoping for a ride on Willie Nelson's bus), I have been lucky enough to meet many of my literary idols. 

I have been a fan of Phillip DePoy's work for a very long time. 

And when I read that he was going to be attending Malice, I was over the moon.

When I introduced myself to him, I was happy as a pig in mud when he was every bit as charming as I had hoped.  He did not cover his ears when I squealed, and was a perfect gentleman while I fawned over him.  He's a total delight!

Then serendipity stepped in (don't you adore serendipity!?) and brought him to Boone for the second annual High Country Festival of the Book and I was able to spend a little time with him.  Not nearly as much as I would have liked.  Phillip DePoy is a fascinating man.  I could sit and listen to him tell stories forever.

I've pulled some of the interesting stuff off his webpage ( http://www.phillipdepoy.com/index.htm ), but he's leaving out a lot, believe me! 

 

Phillip DePoy began his professional career in 1965 with the Actors and Writers Workshop. He achieved a masters degree in performance art before becoming a writer in residence for the Georgia Council for the Arts and a nationally reviewed performance artist. In the 1980s he became the composer in residence for the Academy Theatre and in the 1990s he was the Artistic Director of Theatrical Outfit when it was first reviewed internationally. (Beowulf, which he directed, received review in London’s Plays and Players.) Beginning in the early 2000s he created the theatre major program for Clayton State University and became its first director.

 

DePoy is the author of the Flap Tucker mysteries (Shamus finalist) and the Fever Devilin novels, as well as thirty-seven produced plays. He has written plays and music for performance venues throughout the United States. He is a recipient of the Edgar Award, given in 2002 for the best mystery play in the nation.
 

MURDER'S HARP is the title of the upcoming Fever Devilin novel, but in the meantime, you can read a cool new Fever Devilin short story in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.  A bullet riddled mandolin and a terrifying family secret combine to threaten Fever's sanity, and his life in The Deadman's Daughter.

 

 

His most recent published work includes, DECEMBER'S THORN, the seventh in the Fever Devilin series, this one takes on the Tristan/Isolde mythology.

 

 

 

 

 

and non-fiction, THE TAO AND THE BARD, a conversation between Shakespeare and Lao Tzu in their own words.

 

 

 

 

 

and now, here he is -

 

ta, DA - take it away, Phillip . . .

 

 



 

            I found the following screed crumpled in a coat pocket of  the dead man claiming to be Dr. Bishop. It was scrawled wildly, almost unreadable. At first alarming, I eventually found it to be a sincere statement of Bishop’s philosophy at the time he died. He was, of course, insane.  But he wasn’t wrong.

***

DREAMING IN PUBLIC

Why Mythology is Important Now

            Making the word myth synonymous with the word false is the most dangerous irony of the current age. Mythology is, in fact, the deepest truth of humankind. The irony is dangerous because human beings are taking an increasingly accelerated path toward self destruction. Technologies, and the economics of the technological world, leech our humanity while distracting us from the process of being bled to death.

            Superficial mechanical communication, gossip masquerading as news, lies proffered as information, and the pornography of advertising occupy the majority of human thought. The eventual end of this process is the total surrender of everything that makes us human, and that makes us real.

            Mythology is our species’ greatest mooring. In its stories, songs, explanations, symbols, and spiritual lessons, we learn, and remember, who we are.

            D. H. Lawrence believed myth to be “an attempt to narrate a whole human experience, of which the purpose is too deep for mental explanation or description.”

            According to Joseph Campbell, arguably the Twentieth Century’s greatest exponent of the power of myth, “
Mythology is the womb of mankind’s initiation to life and death.”

            Before him, Carl Jung traced  “the origin of dreams back to age-old mythological influences.” Campbell’s response to this link between myth and the unconscious was unequivocal. “Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths.”

            This concept of relating mythology to the common pool of human dreaming is a generally accepted explanation for why all human cultures from all times and places have nearly identical mythologies. Every civilization has a creation myth, a flood myth, a savior myth, a hero myth, as well as an array of similar supernatural creatures and often identical explanations for natural phenomena.

            Jung also provides, in this regard, the answer to Claude Lévi-Strauss’s conundrum. “On the one hand it would seem that in the course of a myth anything is likely to happen. But on the other hand, this apparent arbitrariness is belied by the astounding similarity between myths collected in widely different regions. How are we to explain the fact that myths throughout the world are so similar?”

            Joseph Campbell, in The Mythic Image, offers an astonishing mathematical example of this concept. In India the number of years commonly called an kalpa (or eon)  is 4,320,000. In the Icelandic interpretation of Odin’s warrior hall there are 540 doors through which 800 warriors will pass at the ending of the final days, and 800 times 540 equals 432,000. Finally, Mesopotamian belief reports that the time between the crowning of the first earthly king and the coming of the great flood was exactly 432,000 years. Campbell points out the obvious: it is unlikely that such an exact figure would occur simultatneously in India, Iceland, and Babylon. He believes that a Jungian explanation is the only answer.

            Myths all over the world are similar, in short, because they come from our shared beliefs, collective dreams, and unconscious observations of reality. If we lose these connections, we lose ourselves. If we are continually distracted from our deepest selves, our truest past, we will eventually forget who and what we are, and cease to be human.

            So, in an effort to prevent that from happening, let me tell you a story.

***

            After that, all the rest of the pages, a hundred or more, were blank.

Dr. Fever Devilin

as published in

THE JOURNAL OF JUNGIAN FOLKLORE Vol. 176

 

 

"Oh, Kaye!" - Who Do You Love?

Who do we miss?



Thankfully, there are plenty enough books still out there that I haven't discovered yet, along with all the new books being released every day, that I'll never be lacking for new reading material.

But.

There are some series that have come to an end that I mourn.

One I mourned long (and loudly) was Margaret Maron's Sigrid Harald series.  I'll be forever grateful to Margaret for having Sigrid and Deborah meet.  What a treat to have two much loved characters meet and visit in one another's home settings.  (see there, dreams do come true!).

Others I fear may not enjoy a similar comeback include - - -


Reed Farrel Coleman's Moe Prager (one more Moe book to come, THE HOLLOW GIRL, out in early 2014 - Yay!!!)

 

 

Mark de Castrique's Burryin' Barry

 

 

 

 

 

Phillip DePoy's Flap Tucker

Carolyn Hart's Henry O.

 

 

 

Deborah Morgan's Jeff Talbot



Gillian Roberts' Amanda Pepper

Sarah Shankman's Samantha Adams

Sharon Wildwind's Elizabeth Pepperhawk/Avivah Rosen

 

 

 

 

 

and I often wonder what Archie and Nero Wolfe are up to.  And, how things might be with Pierre Chambrun at the Hotel Beaumont.  And what kinds of sandwiches Sgt. Edward Delaney has concocted during the last several years . . .

 

oh, Laws, don't even get me started on Harry Potter!

 

 

How 'bout you, Reds, who do you miss?



 

 

 

 

Oh, Kaye ! "The More That You Learn, The More Places You'll Go"

Oh, Dr. Seuss, the things I am learning.





 One of my favorite books (one of EVERYONE'S favorite books) is "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" by the brilliant and delightful Dr. Seuss, and this is one of my favorite bits -

“And when you're alone there's a very good chance
you'll meet things that scare you right out of your pants
There are some, down the road between hither and yon,
that can scare you so much you won't want to go on.”

No truer words were ever written. They're especially true now that I've published my first novel. Boy, the things I did not know . . . . .

My learning curve during the writing of "Whimsey" was the longest learning curve I had experienced.  Little did I know that there was (and is) still more to come. The promotion learning curve (which is not nearly as much fun as the writing learning curve!), for one. With the promotion stuff comes questions I was truly not prepared for, some of which have been fun and funny. Today I'm going to try to focus on the fun and funny, but you know how I tend to go off on these tangents, so bear with me.  And, you know, I ramble and meander - so just ramble and meander along with me, please, 'cause I can't seem to corral my thoughts today.

For starters, let me just say . . .

Whimsey is fiction – it’s fiction . . . really - - - (and not just the

magic parts).

I’ve been surprised at how many people have asked me which character in the novel is me. Even more surprised by the people who have said, “and, of course, I picked you out right away.” Or, “I just know the character so and so was really our friend so and so.”And then, they don’t believe me when I say, “well, no, actually, it’s fiction.”


And that’s true. It's fiction . . . really - - - (not just the magic parts . . . ).

There’s a little of me in every single character in the book – including Fred the Corgi and Pyewacket the Cat. Either the real me, or the me I might aspire to be. I have a mouth like a sailor like Sarah Kate, I love Willie Nelson and the colors red and pink like Emma, I tend to tell friends exactly how I feel like Olivia tends to do, I’m enthusiastic about things like Maggie and I’m a bit introspective like Alexandria.

What I am not is tall, thin, gorgeous, and artistically gifted. (sigh)  Nor am I as young as The Wicked Women.

I’m not wise and sophisticated like Zoe and I’m not a great cook like Zelda (nor do I even like to cook).

Earlene is a pixie, so I can't be her . . .

Madeline is a make-believe person, and I'm pretty sure I not make-believe . . .

None of the characters in the book are people I know in real life. I do, however, know these characters well in my mind, and they all now have a special place in my heart. I cannot get them to stop talking and telling me what they want to do next. Sometimes they make me laugh out loud when I'm all by myself. And sometimes even when I'm not all by myself.
 

It’s life we have all, at some time, dreamed.  Who wouldn't want to live on a magical island? But truth be told – our own lives do have magic, I think. It’s just up to us to discover it. And Whimsey seems to be helping some readers remember that. I am prouder of that than I can say.

But okay, yes (I told you I tend to wander off course . . . ) – there is a scene that is based on a true happening. It happened when I was a little girl in the apartment I grew up in. In the fictional version, while Emma is having lunch with her family in what they refer to as “the big house” she spies faded images on the walls. Images of some surprisingly familiar faces . . . . 

But wait! 

 

I've learned more. 

 

I've learned my name must be near impossible for some people. 

 

Really.

Kaye becomes Kay (actually, I'm used to that). When I asked my mom why she put that "e" on the end she said it was because she named me after her sister Kaye. If I wanted to know any more than that I should ask my grandmother. My grandmother was a woman who, IF she had a reason for doing many of the things she did, you were better off not questioning . . . . So, I never asked (and I promise you, Reds, if you had known my grandmother you wouldn't have asked either. Another story for another day . . . ).

Wilkinson becomes Wilkerson. sigh. I find this painful. Can't even talk about it.

Barley becomes Bailey. Or Barkley. Or Barney. Why??

Why, dear Reds, are names so hard for some people to get right? Especially when there's say, a book, with the name right there on the cover? Right there? Right in front of them?

And, Red writers, do you get asked the same questions about characters being based on yourself or people you know?

Red readers, does your mind tell you that the characters are based on real people? Either the author or people the author knows? 

I have found this to be very interesting because I don't think I have ever considered that the characters in the novels I read were ever anything other than imaginary people who lived in the writer's very own imagination. Now, I'm going to be really paying attention to some characters! Thinking how much I might really love hanging out with a particular character, or how much I would really hate having to spend time with another. I mean, I've always felt this way on a certain level anyway, but now it will have an extra little layer of interest.

I have one more bit of news to share because I won't "see" you here again until after this event has taken place, and well - I'm excited!

I'm getting ready to participate in my very first ever "writerly event" as a writer instead of as a fan. 

 

The High Country Festival of the Book" right here in Boone, North Carolina, on June 21 and 22, which you can read about here - http://www.highcountryfestivalofthebook.com/

 

I'll be one of "exhibiting authors," and I'll be sharing a table signing books with my good friend and mentor, Celia Miles.  Several other local writers will be exhibiting - including many members of The High Country Writers group.  The "presenting authors" include Sharyn McCrumb, Cathy Pickens, Patricia Sprinkle, Phillip DePoy (I love him!), Ann Hite, Erika Marks, and loads more

along with friends Kay Byer (former North Carolina Poet Laureate), Larissa Reinhart, Gayle Trent and lots of others terrific writers I read and enjoy and admire - the list is long and impressive.  If you're in the area, I hope you'll come by!  And if you can't make it this year, think about attending, and possibly participating, next year.  Contact person is Suzanne Thompson

 

“So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!”

 

Wish me luck, everyone!!!