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AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win: Goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader
Dear Reader,
Welcome Melissa Falcon Field, today's guest columnist, to the book club. Melissa earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Texas State University and worked for nearly a decade as an inner city school teacher in New York, Boston and San Francisco. She now lives in Madison, Wisconsin with her young son, her husband and three hens.
What Burns Away, Melissa's debut novel, is a study of a new mother's complicated feelings about herself, her child, and her partner, depicting a dramatic suspense that weaves the anatomy of a marriage through a tale of loyalty, family, and the past's inevitable collision with the future.
I couldn't put the book down. You'll love it. Please welcome Melissa Falcon Field to the book club and I hope you win a copy of her new book, What Burns Away. There are five books waiting for readers.
Contact and email: http://www.melissafalconfield.com/contact/
Take it away, Melissa...
"I"--the tiger
My love of fiction can be traced back to the summer afternoons of my youth, when at age six on the stoop of Foster Heights Drugstore, a pharmacy on the corner of New Britain Avenue in Hartford, Connecticut, I was left unsupervised, under the discerning stare of a stuffed Bengal tiger.
The pharmacy itself was a survivor, a static storefront in the crumbling and ever changing element of our neighborhood, black barred windows fortressing the place, the glass frosted white in artificial snow, even in August, with a life-sized tiger held captive behind the pane. The predator was one I both loved and feared, and the first protagonist I chose to portray, in my own imagined first-person narrative.
Past that store front, running up the steps with a fist-full of change, I glanced at the beast, fascinated by the mere size of the thing, as I moved beyond a circle of teenaged boys, where they stood hunched in a circle, smoking cigarettes and playing cards.
Inside, a cranky pharmacist, who wore a white jacket and curly mop of silver hair, rang up my sweets. With his crooked finger in my face, he warned me not to loiter.
"Remember, the tiger is watching," he said. "It likes to be alone. And, it stalks its prey."
But because my parents were juggling overtime shifts and our babysitter, Rita, ran perpetually late, there was nothing to do but linger, jumping over the dandelions blooming yellow between the sidewalk cracks, passing the time while my popsicle melted into a sticky orange trickle, running the length of my arm.
I tried not to look its way, but, even so, I could feel the tiger's hungry gaze and my heart panged. Yet, somehow, the longer I waited, the braver I became, musing, that I--a six year-old girl in pigtails--could take over that tiger's post, which I first attempted by glaring at the willowy teenagers, who blew smoke rings toward the sky. Then, I snarled at the smaller boys shadow-boxing in the street. Loud and wild, I roared at the lovers, who spoke Spanish and necked up against the brick wall of the storefront. I howled at the rats, running the length of a dumpster. I became the tiger, then, stalking and sniffing out summer, the spoiled fruit and turned milk, the exhaust of the trucks rumbling past.
In my bones, I felt the muggy summer heat of August, the way, I imagined, a tiger would, preying upon her city, consuming its stories, and learning the bravery required to stalk them out and render them as her own.
Thank you so much for taking this time to remember with me, Dear Readers. I learn so much from this column, and from you, Suzanne, and from all of us reading together.
Fondly,
Melissa Falcon Field
Say hello, and you could win a copy of What Burns Away. You can contact Melissa at: http://www.melissafalconfield.com/contact/
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
* This month's Penguin Classics book is A PRINCE OF SWINDLERS, by Guy Boothby. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin tote bag: http://www.supportlibrary.com/bc/v.cfm?L=drclassqqxqQ1AFE3FA722E&c=CLASSICS
AUTHORBUZZ: EASY WITH YOU (Fiction) by Kristen Proby
It's been two and a half years since we were all introduced to the WITH ME IN SEATTLE gang! It's hard to believe the series is finished, but before we leave them for good, I thought it would be fun to check in with Matt Montgomery's super sexy partner, Asher. Asher has moved himself and his adorable daughter, Casey, to the Big Easy, where a serial killer is on the loose! Keeping the woman he loves safe is his top priority. I hope you love Asher and Lila's story as much as I do!
Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on EASY WITH YOU to read more and to email author Kristen Proby, you'll get a reply.
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