Senior Editor Shana Drehs talks about a new novel that’s close to her heart, To Catch the Lightning by NPR’s Alan Cheuse.

Name and Publisher:
Shana Drehs, Senior Editor, Sourcebooks

How long have you been with the company?
I came to Sourcebooks two years ago after several years at Crown. I’m glad I’ve had the chance to experience publishing from both the conglomerate and independent sides as it’s been quite an education. Sourcebooks is a leading independent publisher and the passion for books and authors is contagious here. Despite these tough times in the economy and industry, fortunately we are producing solid results. Based on recent BookScan data, Sourcebooks’ in-store sales through the register have increased 40% since 2005. And during the first half of 2008, Sourcebooks had the second-highest growth of any large publisher--we outgrew the market three-fold!

What is the book you are most excited by this season, and how did it come to your attention?
I have to say that it’s hard to pick one book out of our fall list as they’re all so compelling. From Nikki Giovanni’s innovative, mixed-media children’s picture book, HIP HOP SPEAKS TO CHILDREN, to the visually stunning coffee-table photography book and audio CD, COUNTRY MUSIC: THE MASTERS, by renowned country music icon Marty Stuart, this fall season is by far Sourcebooks’ strongest fall season to date. But the one title that’s very close to my heart is TO CATCH THE LIGHTNING, by Alan Cheuse. Of course, we’ve had a relationship with Alan for years as he is known as the “voice of books” for NPR, but this is the first book of Alan’s we’ve had the chance to publish, and we’re absolutely delighted. We began talking to Alan about the novel at BEA in 2007, and it’s been a fascinating journey into history ever since.

What can you tell us about the author?
Alan Cheuse has been working on this book for nine years – his focus and drive to craft a poetic novel drawn from the real life of frontier photographer Edward Curtis has made this a layered, intricate story of choice and sacrifice. This is Alan’s ninth book, and I think this is the one he’s been destined to write. His short fiction has appeared in places such as The New Yorker, Ploughshares, and The Antioch Review, among other places. He teaches in the Writing Program at George Mason University and the Squaw Valley Community of Writers. He is a regular contributor to NPR’s “All Things Considered,” which you can listen to online at www.alancheuse.com.

Who will enjoy this book?
Anyone interested in American history and in stories of how obsession can drive us to do great things and make terrible sacrifices. I think anyone who enjoyed the work of Charles Frazier (who called TO CATCH THE LIGHTNING ”compelling fiction that digs deep into the mystery and sacrifice and selfishness of creative vision.”) would love this. Alan has created a masterful portrait of the legendary Edward Curtis and his quest to capture the past, to document and photograph the fading way of life of the American Indian. It’s about a landscape of unparalleled beauty and tradition, about the dreams that haunt us and the spirits who guide us. Women will love the enduring power of the muses that speak to Edward and the unmistakable pull of family, and men will undoubtedly be engrossed by the hardscrabble determination bound up with a drive to do something big, something that leaves a permanent mark on the world.

ForeWord reviewed To Catch the Lightning in this year’s Sept/Oct issue, as well as Cheuse’s 1999 title from Southern Methodist, Lost and Old Rivers.

Interview by Editor-in-Chief Heather Shaw

This week, Heather Lundine, Acquisitions and Editor-in-Chief of University of Nebraska Press, introduces her favorite title of the season.

How long have you been with the company?: Almost 5 years

What is the book you are most excited by this season, and how did it come to your attention?: Corkscrewed by Robert Camuto. This came through an agent as a submission for our At Table series

What can you tell us about the author?: Robert is a freelance writer — he does food and travel writing for Washington Post, Wine Spectator, and other great publications. He, his wife, and son moved from Texas to France a few years ago.

Who will enjoy this book?: Wine enthusiasts, francophiles, people who like travel books; it’s really a great book filled with funny and endearing characters, so I think it’s appeal could exceed its genre and topic

What can you tell us about the excerpt published online?: The excerpt comes from the book’s introduction. While it’s a bit different from the body of the work (which is more focused on these interesting, passionate, independent vintners across France who are making very personal, small batch wines), it is a great welcome to the author’s sensibility, humor, and motives.

Corkscrewed by Robert Camuto is available wherever books are sold or from the University of Nebraska Press 800.755.1105 and on the web at www.nebraskapress.unl.edu. Corkscrewed is copyright 2008 by Robert V. Camuto. All rights reserved.

Donigan Merritt is a man of the world and a man who has worn many hats, which is certainly reflected in his writing. He was raised in the southern town of Magnolia, Arkansas but he didn’t stay put for long when wanderlust took him to Hawaii, Iowa, Bratislava, Slovakia, and Berlin, Germany, among other locales. Since leaving his hometown, Don worked such diverse jobs as airport cargo loader to paratrooper in the Army to philosophy professor. Lucky for us, he’s also a writer. The Common Bond draws on some of Don’s own experiences when he lived in Hawaii working as a deckhand on a sport fishing boat and then as a captain after he received his Coast Guard Captain’s license. You can read a little about his days living in Kona on Don’s blog and also keep up with his latest news at http://doniganmerritt.typepad.com

This week, Candlewick President and Publisher Karen Lotz and Editorial Director and Associate Publisher Liz Bicknell talk about their favorite picks for fall. Gorgeous full-color excerpts of Our White House and Sword are available for download for one week.

“Our White House: Looking in, Looking Out, created by 108 renowned authors and illustrators and the National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance, is one of the most exceptional projects I’ve ever been involved in,” said Karen Lotz, President and Publisher of Candlewick Press. “A treasury of personal essays, nonfiction, short stories, poetry, humor, primary source materials, and an extraordinary range of illustration, it is an entirely fresh and engaging presentation that serves as a gateway for looking at two hundred years of American history with new eyes. The subtitle of the book captures its essence; it is designed to explore the dwelling at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue through multiple perspectives, including the views of those who built it, of those who have lived and made history there, and of those who keep its integrity as the center of our democracy by electing the leaders who will serve in it every four years.”

“We believe this is the most exceptional roster of authors in any fundraising collection of its kind. Their dedication to the book has been profound, with all contributing not only their writing and artwork, but also significant original research, and, most importantly, their personal thoughts and philosophies on our democracy: why it works, and how it could work even better. All agree on one important principle: the engagement of young people in learning about history and participating in the political process is vital to our collective future.”

“Swords: An Artist’s Devotion is a 96-page, full-color celebration of swordsmanship,” said Liz Bicknell, Editorial Director and Associate Publisher of Candlewick Press.

“Agent Rosemary Stimola sent me three sample spreads of the chapter “Kings” back in July 2005 and I immediately took them home to my two sons, Rowan and Corin, who at the time were 14 and 11 and big into things medieval. Rowan said reverently, ‘Mom, you have to get this book!’ and that pretty much convinced me there was going to be a market.”

“Ben Boos is an incredible artist, as you can see from the sample, and his detailed illustrations took two years to complete, a true ‘artist’s devotion.’ Before this book, he worked as an illustrator on the Diablo computer game franchise. I think we’ve successfully lured him away, though, as we are signed up for another book, which Ben is working on now.”

Dali-Roo’s troubles began in the last year of the drought that spanned the millennium and sucked the green from the countryside.

So begins our short story offering of the week, “Aibo or Love at First Sight” by Eleanor Bluestein, winner of the G.S. Sharat Chandra Prize for Short Fiction.

Because of the drought, Dali-Roo trades farm work for factory work, riding off on his motorbike each morning to the Sony plant and leaving his ox to stand idly on the cracked earth of his front yard.

As if this forced life change wasn’t bad enough, Dali-Roo goes on to make the awful discovery that he’s a thief. “[P]owerless even though he understood he was gambling his family’s future, even though he believed that a thief in this life returns as a worm in the next.”

This collection of stories, Tea & Other Ayama Na Tales (BkMk Press, 978-1-886157-64-4), takes place in a small country in South East Asia. Like many small countries of the day, it struggles with peace after war and returning to the old versus embracing the new. What is different is that this particular country does not physically exist. Yet Bluestein’s canny storytelling, her perfectly imagined dialogue, her vibrant characters, both native and foreign, create a place familiar, intimate, and utterly believable. Tea & Other Ayama Na Tales is a wry and thoughtful reckoning of the human condition.

Eleanor Bluestein’s work appears in the GSU Review (Georgia State University) and other magazines. She lives in La Jolla, California, with her husband. For thirteen years, she co-edited a magazine called Crawl Out Your Window featuring the work of local writers and photographers. Tea & Other Ayama Na Tales is her first book.

“Auntie Kadrajan” is the story of a lonely spinster who pines for a lost love who will never come. It takes place in Saudi Arabia, a country on the other side of the world which most of us will never see; the names are unfamiliar to Western readers, as is the concept of arranged marriage. However, the themes of loss and hope are recognizable, and it is the Miss Havisham-like qualities of Auntie Kadrajan that highlight the similarities between our cultures. Although we are thousands of miles apart and our language, clothes, and gods may be different, emotions are the same around the world, as is the gradual understanding of the world that we gain as we grow up.

Oranges in the Sun: Short Stories From the Arabian Gulf (Lynne Rienner, 978-0-89410-869-3), from which this story is taken, is an appealing collection because of the glimpses at a distant world that it offers. The unfamiliar settings are imbued with a surprising familiarity that crosses borders. Look for other short stories from foreign lands in the upcoming September/October issue of ForeWord.

It’s not that we don’t love “treeware,” but if the purpose of our book club is to introduce authors to new audiences, then we need to find a way to reach as many people as possible. Up until now, we (and the publishers) have been offering free downloads of a chapter or so of every book we read. The publishers have also kindly sent our office promotional copies of the chosen books so that everyone in our office can participate in the conversation. It goes without saying however, that the publisher can’t send free copies to everyone. While the author might appreciate the coverage, a publisher who did this on a regular basis would ultimately find himself ruined.

The funny thing is that publishers do send out free paper copies, hundreds of them, hoping to snag someone’s attention. What we propose to do here is digitally promote the books that have snagged our attention. Digital is cool, it’s handy—and here it’s free. But if you love the book, we’re sure you’ll go out and by that paper copy that’s been so lovingly designed from cover to cover.

ForeWord’s first digital Book Club book is the result of a happy convergence. I subscribe to textonphone.com (free), a service for the iPhone and Touch that allows readers to download and read (free) from its library of 30,000 books. I’ve read books and stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Wilkie Collins, Haruki Murakami, Anton Chekov, etc., etc. It’s a fantastic service and I can’t believe people don’t talk about it more often. Sure, you can have your Kindle, but I’ve got a phone, the internet, a camera, my contacts, AND a library in my pocket.

So, one afternoon not too long ago, I was sorting books and reading emails, and the two crossed paths and made a star: I received a notice from textonphone that Soft Skull was adding a series of books to its library, and I opened a package with a great new book from Richard Nash, Soft Skull and Counterpoint publisher.

The book’s called The Customer Is Always Wrong: The Retail Chronicles, and really it’s a series of stories from guys who sold (yes, they’ve grown up and moved on) hearing aids, worked in hardware stores, and gone door to door with knives. We’ve all been there, we’ve all got stories, these stories will make you wince and laugh. Most of the storytellers are authors in real life.

The Customer Is Always Wrong, edited and compiled by Jeff Martin, won’t appear in stores until mid-October, but publisher Richard Nash has generously allowed us to promote this wonderful book. Free downloads will be available from this site until August 14 in several different formats. We hope that you’ll take a few minutes this summer to sit in a swing and remember the good old days. We’d love to hear your stories.

Heather Shaw

Editor-in-Chief

This month we’re reading The Trapeze Diaries by Marie Carter (Hanging Loose). Some people visit shrinks to get to the bottom of things—Marie Carter climbs a ladder, wraps her hands around a bar, and pushes off.

Marie Carter: If you have told me five years ago that I would be an avid student of trapeze and learning all kinds of crazy tricks like foot hangs, ankle hangs and one-knee hangs, that I’d become obsessed with yoga and standing on my head and doing handstands on a daily basis I would have told you to go back to drinking your moonshine. Five years ago I was a couch potato/bookworm with no interest in going to the gym or taking up sports. In high school I was the physical dunce, the last person you would pick for your team. I was also terrified of heights. Nonetheless I was fascinated by circus artists and would find myself crying every time I watched trapeze artists perform and when I finally took a chance and went to my first trapeze lesson, in spite of the humiliation and the difficulties of learning trapeze, I fell madly in love.

But it wasn’t just my physical form that trapeze changed. By confronting the physical specter of fear I began to confront emotional fears that I’d been harboring all my life. The Trapeze Diaries is a book based on my experiences of learning the trapeze and the personal transformation that took place.

“Marie Carter’s The Trapeze Diaries is a tour de force performance —this is a writer transforming the things of daily life, the fears and struggles and unexpected glories, into weightless prose. Carter gets at the question we’re all trying to get at in one way or another: how, in this heavy world, against our own mortality and terror, can we break loose and fly? How can we get around the troubles in our own hearts and make our way toward joy? Carter finds the answer, both metaphorically and physically.”
— Maria Dahvana Headley, author of The Year of Yes

“Not only the lyrical tale of one woman’s love affair with the trapeze, but a powerful story on becoming brave and letting go.”
— Carolyn Turgeon, author of Rain Village

“A quiet meditation on loss and recovery…the narrator’s poignant voice has great clarity as she explores a new life far away from home while recovering from the death of her father. This is a brave and heartwarming book.”
—Donald Breckenridge, author of 6/2/95 and fiction editor of The Brooklyn Rail