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A special guest post from Overlook publisher Peter Mayer, on his trip to Arkansas to meet Charles Portis, author of TRUE GRIT (along with other wonderful novels Norwood, Masters of Atlantis, Gringos and Dog of the South). Portis won't be participating in the media coverage surrounding the upcoming release of the Coen Brothers' film adaptation of his 1968 novel True Grit, he's considered one of the great American writers and a fascinating person. Here's Peter's experience meeting the man himself.


Meeting Charles Portis was an unlikely dream that came true. I had never been to Arkansas before, much less Little Rock, but as I found myself having to be there for another reason a couple of years ago, I just took a shot at calling or writing my author, despite having heard from many that Charles Portis was “reclusive.” He certainly over many years had ignored our various blandishments to take part in one or another author promotions, personal appearances, even some not too far from Little Rock.

As it turned out, Portis was anything but reclusive, simply not interested in being part of the publishing machine in which authors, for better or worse – and sometimes of necessity – play a leading role. He wanted his peace and he wanted it in order to write.

When my plane touched down in Little Rock, I didn’t believe he’d be there to meet me, but there he was with an anything-but-a modern pickup, half-ton I think, and before I’d climbed into the cab, hooked up my seat buckle, he asked me whether I was up for a drink. Indeed I was, I even hoped that Arkansas state laws permitted a thirsty man to drink and smoke at the same time. This not being the case, we went to The Capital Hotel. I’m not sure if this was a regular watering hole of his; I wasn’t sure then and after two days in Little Rock I still didn’t know. He certainly knew the clientele, many of the better known Little Rock grandees and good old boys. I quickly came to see that Charlie Portis was, yes, very regional, but also something much more sophisticated, something certainly not apparent in his novels. There probably are good reasons why readers sometimes mistakenly connect him with regional writers but variant purposes like Mark Twain and Cormac McCarthy. The connections have often more to do with a sense of place than anything else.

Frankly, I found mys

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Every once in a while, we come upon a story that is truly inspiring. For us at Overlook, that was the story of Gary Ruffin, whose first book, HOT SHOT, came out last week.

But our tiny "about the author" sections and space-constrained posts here (you might remember Gary from this one) can't possibly describe the full story of how Gary survived a brain tumor and wrote Hot Shot. For that, we have this fantastic profile that recently appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Here's our favorite excerpt from the article, but we definitely encourage you to head over to the AJC website and read the whole thing. Monday mornings can be discouraging--this story is the opposite.

In 2001, Ruffin was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor the size of a plum. Surgery saved his life but left him with a slew of disabilities. For nearly a decade, he has lived with double vision, fainting spells and an inability to swallow properly. He can't eat or drink and must absorb nutrients through a feeding tube.

In addition, he can no longer play guitar or sing in public, a painful reality for a working musician since age 12. But he doesn't complain. That's not his style.

"I miss it, but it's one of those crying-over-spilled-milk deals," he says. "You have to move on and concentrate on the things you can do."

Like writing.

On Sunday, Ruffin will have an informal book-signing of his first novel, "Hot Shot," a detective mystery. Part of a three-book deal with Overlook Press, "Hot Shot" is the story of a man who has had it easy for a long time, then gets slapped in the face with difficult situations. It sounds like Ruffin's life.

In 2002, Debra Rivard, a friend of Ruffin's and an English literature teacher in Indianapolis, told him he had a knack for writing and suggested he pen a book about his brain surgery.

"I just felt that if he started writing about his experience, it would be a catharsis to him and an inspiration to others," Rivard said. "He never groveled in self-pity. He just accepted his fate and even made fun of his Chewbacca voice."

Ruffin wrote a few pages about the surgery, then gave up.

"I realized it was depressing as all hell," he says. "It was difficult to tell my story without sounding like I was complaining."

The full article is definitely worth a read. You can learn more about Gary by checking out the previous coverage here on the Winged Elephant, and coming back for updates. Have a fantastic week!

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Strategic Book Club recently did a 30-minute interview with Dr. Ellen about her children’s book, and the thinking that went into its construction. The name of her book is WILLI GETS A HISTORY LESSON in Virginia’s Historic Triangle.

You can also listen to the actual interview at Blog Talk Radio.

Question: Dr. Ellen, can you talk about your reasons for writing WILLI GETS A HISTORY LESSON in Virginia’s Historic Triangle?

I lived in Virginia’s Historic Triangle region for 35 years, and also photographed it professionally for most of those years.

I wanted children to have a way to experience the region even if they were not able to visit it in person.

Elementary school-aged children (for which the book is geared) study Virginia’s role in the birth of our nation, but rarely with photo-driven books like the WILLI book which uses more than 70 photo illustrations, each of which is worth more than a thousand words as the saying goes.

I selected photos that would resonate with children while building a heart-warming story of friendship around them.

But, photo illustrated books are expensive to publish, which is why you don’t see too many of them. But I wanted to do this kind of book anyway because I know the power of images to evoke learning.

I did the illustrations myself using my graphics skills to import the dog, WILLI, into my professional photographs of the region. That forced me to THINK LIKE A CHILD – which I found important in actually writing the book!

Question: So your book is a history book, then?

No, it is actually classified as juvenile fiction because it is about a small dog that gets lost in the Historic Triangle region and embarks on a search to find her owner. Along the way the dog, Willi, encounters many Virginia animals and historic figures who come to her assistance, and help direct her eventually to the Yorktown Battlefields where she reunites with her owner – but not before many exciting adventures occur, some of which lead the reader to worry that she will never find her owner!

Because the story is set in a very historic region, the photographic plates have considerable educational value in exposing the reader to many historically significant sites in Virginia’s history.

The dog’s journey starts in Jamestown, VA and continues through Williamsburg and Colonial Williamsburg properties, as well as the College of William and Mary campus, and ends in Yorktown where the war for Independence was won. A very historic Byway – the Colonial Parkway – connects all three areas. The dog, Willi, learns in passing about the wildlife that inhabit the parkway and the two major river systems that embrace it (the mighty James and York Rivers).

In addition, the book includes a 23-page appendix of reference material to help parents and teachers answer all those questions that children love to ask! Many adults, including local residents, have told me that they learned things by reading the appendix that they had not known before.

Older children can conduct their own historical research using the appendix.

In addition to the appendix, I established a Companion Website for Young Readers at www.willigetsahistorylesson.com.

At this Internet site children can find book-related puzzles, a history quiz, a pdf download of the book’s appendix, coloring plates, and child-safe Internet links where they can find out even more about Virginia’s role in the founding of this nation.

They also can read about how the book was created using my professional photographic illustrations, find maps and guides including a lar

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