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THE INDEPENDENT BOOK SHELF: New Writing and New Voices in Independent Publishing

This Month: Seattle's SEAL PRESS releases the latest in their

by Susan Denning

YOUNG WIVES' TALES is about getting married, not getting married, being
gay, being heterosexual, having kids, and not having kids. It's about
"Generation X" women trying to figure out the kind of relationships they
want to have, although some of them would find even the word "relationship"
inadequate. Feminist bell hooks sets the tone in the introduction when she
writes, "Militantly mapping new directions and relentlessly soul searching,
the women in this anthology eagerly share their struggle to create
revolutionary bonds of love". In other words, there are no surrendered wives
in this book and no Saran Wrap.

One of the most engaging essays in this book is "Sex and the Shacked-up
Girl" by Stacy Berlein. The author has a tongue-in-cheek attitude about
the whole boy problem that is refreshing. Her advice includes "live five
hundred miles from his mother", "love the energy of love", and "above all,
keep it hot". She also advises couples to create new rituals, and at the
end of the work day to "race to the bed, peel your clothes off as fast as
you can, jump under the sheets and take turns on top as you discuss your
days". Clearly this advice may not work so well if you have kids, but the
reader can't help but appreciate the writer's enthusiasm and cheeky tone,
especially in light of other essays in the book that seem to take all this
relationship stuff pretty darn seriously.

Jervis said she and Corral came up with the idea for the book in November
of 1998, and if she had it to do over again she would "plan ahead for the
amount of time it would take". She went on to say, "Most of my editorial
experience is in more analytical, less personal styles of writing, so it
was a big challenge for me not to be a control freak and just step back and
let people tell their stories. Finding the right mix of voices and stories
was also really difficult." The mix of voices is most all Generation X
women, and this book should have lots of appeal for them.

Seal Press's Senior Editor Leslie Miller reminds perspective authors of the old Catch-22 of publishing, "Writers who have published
before are more attractive to publishers", but she goes on to point out the value of first getting published in op-ed pieces; community papers; anything that proves a writer can handle deadlines and editorial comments.

She also discusses the importance of researching publishers before sending them a query; as she says, "a small amount of research saves everyone's time, and a few trees as well." She also mentions that small publishers "are interested in self-motivated authors who actively publicize their books. Given smaller budgets and regional audiences, small press author participation and innovation in publicity and marketing can be extremely helpful."

Sourcebooks stepped into the fiction fray with its fiction imprint, Sourcebooks Landmark. Their first title is MAN AND BOY, a first novel by British TV producer and journalist Tony Parsons, and like many first novels, it is a somewhat autobiographical coming-of-age novel. Harry
Silver, however, is not a typical protagonist in a roman a clef; he's a
grown man who thought he had his life neatly arranged and ordered for him.
When his wife leaves him, Harry must deal with his failings as a husband
and figure out how to be a father to his son.

Not surprisingly, MAN AND BOY has been compared to the film "Kramer vs.
Kramer", and Meryl Streep-like, Harry's estranged wife reappears halfway
through the novel and decides she wants to be a mom again. Although the
conflict between the two parents has a few forays into the overly
sentimental, Parsons manages to pull off an engaging story that deals with
what it means to be a father in a time when so many families are coming
apart. In one chapter, Harry considers the different parenting types
offered by the movie "Star Wars": his father, he decides, was the Obi Wan
Kenobi type, and Harry decides that's what he aspires to, although he
believes most fathers today are more like Darth Vader - "an absent father,
a neglectful dad, a selfish old man who puts his own wishes before any
parental responsibility".

MAN AND BOY was originally published in England, where it sold more than
600,000 copies. Parsons' writing style is more straightforward than fellow
countrymen Martin Amis or Julian Barnes; there are no linguistic pyrotechnics at work here, and he is less witty than Nick Hornsby, who he
has been compared to. Parsons' strength is in his storytelling and in his
characters' ability to analyze their weaknesses without appearing
self-obsessed. The ending is a bit of surprise, and those who have grown
to love Harry by the end of the novel appreciate his conclusion that "what
has truly messed up the lousy world are all the people who always want one
more chance."

See also:
Interview with Tony Parsons.
Publishers Weekly tinted review.

****************

Susan Denning edits the online magazine CAFFEINE DESTINY (www.caffeinedestiny.com) from her home in
Portland, Oregon. Her book reviews and poetry have
appeared in publications like THE OREGONIAN, EUGENE
WEEKLY, LITERAL LATTE, SEATTLE REVIEW, FIREWEED and
elsewhere. She can be contacted by e-mail at
editor@caffeinedestiny.com.