From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #92 Reply-To: aml-list Sender: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk aml-list-digest Thursday, July 6 2000 Volume 01 : Number 092 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 04 Jul 2000 16:58:44 -0700 From: Barbara@techvoice.com (Barbara R. Hume) Subject: [AML] Defending the Romance Genre (was: Selling Your Writing) Katrina Duvalois wrote: >Since Romance is my genre, I have been reading a variety of mainstream >Romance novels (bodice rippers--if you will) and there aren't too many good >writers out there writing Romance. I must differ with you on several points. First, please do not judge the romance genre by mainstream romances. Because they are mainstream, they do not fulfill the expectations of most romance readers. Mainstream writers do not satisfy the requirement that romance readers want: the HEA (happily ever after) ending. There is a difference between romances and women's fiction, which casually violates that requirement by killing off the hero or heroine or otherwise creating a story that is not ultimately satisfying or uplifting. Second, please do not use the outdated term "bodice rippers." I don't think it ever applied to mainstream, but came about because of a trend that appeared in the mid-70s with Kathleen Woodiwiss' THE FLAME AND THE FLOWER. In this horrible book, the hero actually raped the heroine, but then redeemed himself. Ha. For a while the industry churned out tons of copycat books with this kind of storyline, but it didn't hold the romance readers for long. We don't want rapists; we want heroes. Third, it is inaccurate to say there are few good romance writers. Part of the problem here seems to be that you are reading contemporary romances and women's fiction. I don't like these, either, but that doesn't mean none of the writers are good. Danielle Steele is not a romance writer--she writes mainstream books called "big, sexy novels." LaVryl Spencer writes interesting books, but they are more women's fiction than romance. I agree with you about Nora Roberts in that she writes the same story over and over, and I don't like the story--mainly because her characters have the modern attitude that sex is for fun and entertainment and it's okay to hop in bed with anyone who looks interesting--but a writer with something like 70 million books in print must know something we don't. I don't see how you can say romance is your genre when your exposure to it seems limited to a certain type, and that not truly representative. May I suggest a few authors for you to try, and then see if your opinion changes? Mary Jo Putney (her books are almost always about redemption) Mary Balogh Judith Lansdowne Diane Farr Jo Beverley Debra Dier Julie Garwood Stephanie Laurens Kathy Maxwell Carla Kelly Barbara Metzger Malia Martin (Malia is LDS, BTW) Read a few of these writers. Analyze what they are doing in terms of characterization, theme, and structure. Then tell me they're not good. You can't do it. barbara hume [MOD: I know of at least one other LDS historical romance writer: Elizabeth Lane, whom I worked with at Wicat. I know she published several novels with various publishers that went out of print, and is now in the middle of a three-novel contract (I think) with Harlequin. I read only a few small selections of one of her books--romance *isn't* my genre, I'm afraid--but she was a very bright person, a good and imaginative writer of educational software materials (I was her editor at times), and I rather imagine that she's good at the type of writing she does.] - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Jul 2000 05:24:03 -0600 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] Pioneer Stories Andrew Hall wrote: > Today, however, while The Work and the > Glory and The Storm Testament have been big sellers, our better authors seem > have avoided writing prose fiction set in the past. I wonder if this has to > do with a more general literary trend of looking down on historical fiction, > regulating it to lesser, pot-boiler type authors. I can't speak for anyone else, but for me, the idea of writing historical fiction is daunting. One of two things will happen: either it will be laughingly inaccurate garbage, or I will be faced with a monumental research project to get it right. - -- D. Michael Martindale dmichael@wwno.com ================================== Check out Worldsmiths, the new online LDS writers group, at http://www.wwno.com/worldsmiths Sponsored by Worlds Without Number http://www.wwno.com ================================== - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Jul 2000 12:06:35 JST From: "Andrew Hall" Subject: Re: [AML] Non-Utah Culture Stories >Jason Steed and I are trying to put together a list >of short stories written by LDS members which do _not_ reflect that >culture. Okay, here goes. Most of these are written by people from "the culture", while being about things outside the culture. First start out with Margaret Blair Young and Michael Fillerup's stories. Young, Margaret Blair. _Love Chains_, Signature, 1997. One group of stories is about Indian members of the Church in Guatemala, where Young lived for a while. Some are told through the eyes of an American visitor, but some are told through the Indians' POV. Then there are at least two stories on Mormon Whites and their non-Mormon Black friends, both told from the POV of the White Mormon. Although her stories in _Elegies and Love Songs_. U. of Idaho, 1992, tend to stress Mormon themes less, there are some stories that would fit your bill in there, too. One about Cambodian-Americans. Fillerup, Michael, _Visions and Other Stories_. Signature, 1990. There is a section of stories about Mormons and Navajos, mostly told from the White Mormon POV, I think. I haven't read it yet, but I bet his "The Last Code Talker" Dialogue, 1999 is about Navajos, too. The only other story about African-Americans and the Church that I can think of is the one by Jack Weyland in _Turning Hearts: Short Stories on Family Life_, ed. by Orson Scott Card and David Dollahite, Bookcraft, 1994. I forget the name of the story, but it is from the POV of a young Black girl who investigates the Church, sticking with it in spite of the insulting reaction she gets from a white member. An OK story. Also, there was a play at BYU in 1996 by Scott Livingston called "Free at Last", about missionaries and black investigators in Tennessee in 1978. Now, there are several stories about missionaries, usually from the Intermountain West, who are serving in foreign countries. For example Elouise Bell's "A Generous Heart." in _Christmas for the World_, Aspen 1991, a very good Christmas story set in France. Tom Rogers has a similar one in the same collection. Also that great Levi Peterson story about the missionaries in France who convert a woman (who has a crush on one of the missionaries) and try to convert her existential brother. Told from the brother's POV. I forget what it is called, but I think it might be in his anthology of stories _Greening Wheat: Fifteen Mormon Short Stories_, Orion, 1983. Solomon, Michael Ray. "The Sheet of Our True Lord Jesus." Sunstone 10:1, 1985. A wrenching story about a branch in a poor village in Latin America after the missionaries have left. It was the 1st place winner in the Sunstone contest that year. I was looking through the stories on the Inscape (BYU literary journal) web page a few months ago. A ton of them are about missionaries serving in foreign countries. The one I liked the most was "Wrestling Esau" by Jonathon Penny. Inscape, 18:2, 1999. Bela Petsco's _Nothing Very Important and Other Stories_, Orion, 1979, is a great collection of connected missionary short stories. The main character is a Hungarian-American from New York City, who is serving a mission in California. Homosexuality is a theme in a couple of the stories. Gladys Clark Farmer, _Elders and Sisters_. Seagull Books, 1977. Connected short stories about missionaries in France. There are a ton of "nontraditional" stories in _In Our Lovely Deseret: Mormon Fictions_ ed. by Robert Raleigh. Signature, 1998. Several are set in foreign countries, one I remember is set in Hong Kong. Three stories have homosexual themes, two of them involving missionaries. One of the missionary stories was pretty good, I think it was called "Milk," the other two stunk. There were a lot of the stories in this collection that were weak. There is a very good story about an Indian girl who is placed with a white Mormon family. It has a great scene at the end where her father comes to the church, gets up to speak, and pelts the congregation with marshmallows, telling them that they are like the marshmallows, sweet and fluffy, but with no substance. Outside of the short story genre, Sharlee Glenn wrote that novel about Indian placement, _Circle Dance_. Bookcraft, 1998. And Helen Sekaquaptewa and Louise Udall wrote _Me and Mine_, an autobiography of a Hopi Mormon convert, which is widely studied in Native American Lit. classes. Several of Walter Kirn's stories in _My Hard Bargain_, Knopf 1990, which won the 1990 AML Short story award, are about a young convert living in the Midwest, reflecting Kirn's own past. Also his "Mormon Eden" New Yorker, June 1997, about the young convert visiting Nauvoo. It is part of his recent novel _Thumbsucker"_. Julie Nichols' story "The Fifth Element". Sunstone, Nov. 1997 was about a new-agey pair of single sisters who have an impact on a young girl. The new-agey-ness makes it non-traditional. Then there are the speculative fiction stories. OSC's "West" from _Folk of the Fringe_ is a good one, with a Mormon character and Indians in Brazil. [MOD: I believe this is actually "America," in the same volume.] Most of the rest are pretty irrelevant to Mormonism. But I like Russell Asplund's "Rabbi Leitsch" stories. Asplund was editor of Leading Edge for a while. His stories are: "The Unhappy Golem of Rabbi Leitsch" Writers of the Future XII 1996. "Ascension," Amazing Fall 1999. "The Dybbuk in the Bottle," in _Silver Birch, Blood Moon_, Avon, 1999. "Balkan Siege." Realms of Fantasy (August 1997). "Der Ring des Niebelungen." Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy, no. 35 (spring 1997), and "The Rabbi and the Sorcerer." Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine (October 1998). M. Shayne Bell has several stories set in Africa, like "Dry Niger." Bright Angels and Familiars, 1992. "The Sound of the River" Asimov Dec '92. "The King's Kiss." Asimov's March 1993. "The Moon Girl," Asimov Jun '98. and "To See the World End." War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches. Bantam, '96. Again, it is out of the Short Story genre, but Timothy Liu has made a name for himself as a poet. His books are _Vox Angelica_, 1992. _Burnt Offerings_, 1995. _Say Goodnight_, 1998. Lots of poems about his homosexuality, apostacy, and allienation as a gay, Asian-American growing up in a Mormon home. Also in poetry, Isn't Alex Caldiero (_Various atmospheres : poems and drawings_, Signature, 1998) Italian? Andrew Hall ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Jul 2000 05:34:16 -0600 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: [AML] Glossary (was: Writing About Religion) Deborah Wager wrote: > Ack! Michael! I'm speaking from my gut here, as a reader, so maybe I'm all wet, > but the only books I see that have glossaries are books with constructed (i.e., not > real) universes (science fiction and fantasy) and instructional books. If your > writing is strong enough the reader will work through the unfamiliar jargon. Couldn't I do both? Write strong enough so the reader doesn't have to access the glossary with every unfamiliar term, but let those who are interested look up exact definitions? - -- D. Michael Martindale dmichael@wwno.com ================================== Check out Worldsmiths, the new online LDS writers group, at http://www.wwno.com/worldsmiths Sponsored by Worlds Without Number http://www.wwno.com ================================== - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 10:19:04 EDT From: KGrant100@aol.com Subject: [AML] Call for Anecdotes (_Ensign_ Article on Singles) Dear friends, Just want to say thanks to all who responded to my last post with thoughts about being single in a family ward. A friend on the AML list read my manuscript last night, and he made a valuable suggestion: I need more anecdotes. The current draft shares quotes offering abstract reflections and advice, but very few anecdotes--and right now the article seems to lack life and warmth. If any of you can share personal anecdotes that deal with 1) being single in a family ward 2) as a married member, getting to know/understand singles in your ward better that would be very helpful for the article. I'm supposed to e-mail the article to the Ensign editor this Friday, so I would love to get any feeback in the next day or so. Please e-mail me directly at kgrant100@aol.com. Thanks again! Kathy - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Jul 2000 09:41:33 -0700 From: "Christopher Bigelow" Subject: [AML] Two Utah County Dinners I am willing to coordinate two Utah County dinners this summer, tied to events that might bring some of our out-of-state friends to town: Thursday, July 21, during the children's writers conference Thursday, August 10, during the CES conference If you are interested in either or both dinners, let me know and I will coordinate arrangements. Even if it's all local Utah County people, that would be great. Seems like someone up in Salt Lake should piggy-back a dinner on the Sunstone symposium and/or the LDS Bookseller Convention. I know I would probably drive up for one or both if my schedule was free. Chris Bigelow * * * * * * Interested in novels, stories, poems, plays, and films by, for, or about Mormons? Check out IRREANTUM magazine at www.xmission.com/~aml/irreantum.htm. - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 09:56:45 -0600 From: "Terry L Jeffress" Subject: Re: [AML] Writing About Religion Barbara wrote: > Yeah. I still don't know what "sitting on the gospel side" means in the > Episcopelian Church. The miracle of the internet. http://www.holycross.net/anonline.htm#gospel_side Gospel Side An older usage for designating the interior of a church. The gospel side is on the right-hand side of the priest, as determined by where he/she is facing when celebrating the Holy Communion. The Gospel side is thus dependant on whether the altar is located against the wall or free-standing. Originally, the priest celebrated communion facing the people and thus the Gospel Side was the north side of the Church building [the left side, when facing the altar]. In medieval times the altar was pushed against the west wall, and the Gospel side then became the right side, when facing the altar. Epistle Side The side of the building from which the Epistle lesson is read. The side depends on whether the altar is located against a wall or free standing, meaning the priest celebrates the Eucharist from behind it. If the altar is against the wall, the Epistle side is the left side of the church building when one is facing the altar. See also http://www.homileticsonline.com/Installments/aug0292.htm http://www.cpats.org/CPATSAnswerDirectory/Answers_to_Questions/Gospel_Side.h tml [Terry Jeffress] - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 11:57:55 EDT From: AEParshall@aol.com Subject: [AML] Glossary (was: Writing About Religion) << I still don't know what "sitting on the gospel side" means in the Episcopelian Church. >> In the Episcopelian tradition, the "gospel side" is the side of the sanctuary that is to the right hand of the priest as he celebrates the Eucharist. Exactly which side of the building this is depends upon whether the altar is fixed against the wall (the priest will face the Eucharist and have his back to the congregation) or is a free-standing table (the priest will stand behind the altar facing both the Eucharist and the congregation). The "epistle side" is by definition whichever side isn't the gospel side; it gets its name from the lectern from where the scriptural (epistle) lesson is read. It's hard to imagine a situation where understanding this distinction would add to understanding a text. (I suppose if the stage has been set correctly, knowing whether the murderer is creeping up from the left or right might enter into it?) Generally I can be satisfied by recognizing the Episcopalian texture without quite grasping the denotation. So I guess we're back to the question of whether LDS terms enhance by adding authentic flavor, or detract by distracting through unfamiliarity. I believe that all depends on the skillfulness of the author, and like some others on the list I think Chaim Potok is THE model. I'm rereading _Asher Lev_ this morning, and it seems that every other line has a Hebrew word or phrase. He doesn't explain overtly, but when it matters he makes sure the meaning is clear. He'll write something like "He addressed the Master of the Universe ..." and then have the character's speech begin with the words of that title; it doesn't take long to easily recognize that phrase when it is repeated. Or he'll have a character "stare at my sidecurls" and have another character tell the first to "stop staring at his payos", and even if you don't understand why they wear their hair that way, it has already been made clear through other subtle references what those sidecurls look like and that they are a distinctive sign of membership in a very conservative sect. A Jewish reader no doubt picks up additional layers of meaning, but this Mormon reader has no trouble following and enjoying. It should be just as possible to write with an authentic Mormon flavor while almost invisibly smoothing out any difficulties without a glossary, without interrupting the natural flow for an awkward explanation, and without preaching. Ardis Parshall AEParshall@aol.com - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: (No, or invalid, date.) From: "Marilyn & William Brown" Subject: Re: [AML] Community Theater I appreciate Neal's comments SO MUCH! Thank you. Bill and I were discussi= ng this as we walked this morning. He asked what I would do as a reviewer= were I able to be "the reviewer" in Utah county. I would find the gracef= ul connections, I told him. Of course coming from a literary background = I am interested in these. Pointing out the symbolism and the connections = gives the patrons more awareness when they attend the play. They become = "educated" and their enjoyment is enhanced. "The lighting in that particu= lar scene empahsized the way that Tevye turned toward reflection" etc. = I could go on and on about connections made in the literature itself (the= script) such as: "The Gift of the food to Perchik echoes the gift of vis= ion he returns to the community." That's not all that good--I am just plucking out of a hat to show the kin= d of thing I enjoy doing as a "critic." (I have written criticism, but = it takes time to do a good job, and I would rather spend that time on cre= ating.) There has not been much of that kind of criticism of literature = or drama yet in our "culture." When Bill asked me about it, I could think= of only a few in our community who can write that kind of criticism. I = think Neal Kramer is one. And Bruce Jorgensen, and Harlow Clark. I do thi= nk some of the younger reviewers on this list are smart and have written = excellent criticism. In drama, I think Eric Snider is good in some ways, = but he does not have enough of a literary or theatrical background to do = the kind of criticism I would like to see. Also, he is a potboiler gutsy = enough to write the kind of negative stuff that sells newspapers. And tha= t's important. But it does kill audiences. We figure we lost our $2,000 on our wonderful FIDDLER largely because of = the review. And not just the review, but the weekly repeated blurb in the= newspaper that kept giving at C grade. The headlines for the review Eric= wrote (and perhaps he saw one of the less wonderful performances, I don'= t know) read FIDDLER TOO LIGHT HEARTED. I took a different tack with it. = The LIFE in this group was so powerful (60 fabulous singers on stage, and= Eric did say they were talented--and they were) that the strength of the= performance was truly uplifting. Eric talked about the lights, which he = didn't like because they were dark. (I am confused with that one, because= if it's too light-hearted, wouldn't the lights have been too bright?) = At any rate, the lights were dark because of the director's choice, and = after we read the review we did beef them up, which is one good thing abo= ut critics. They can help us make adjustments. However, we still had the = C grade on the Friday schedule throughout the entire run. Our actors may = have made adjustments also but we still had the C and still lost the $2,0= 00. And it was a powerful performance. I guess one must just chalk it up = to the "risk" one takes to work with the theatre. (Although it does hurt = a bit when you spend 12 hours a day and never take a dime out of it.) I think Eric is smart. The newspaper world loves him. He has recieved an = important award, and he has been promoted to City Editor, which merits = congratulations. And I am so grateful he doesn't attend our children's = programs. And may I say that the Villa Theatre has just this last weekend= hosted Margaret Young's I AM JANE. We have talked to people who have com= e away wanting to bring all of their friends this next weekend. They abso= lutely love this show, and when I looked at it, I could just outline the = negative things Eric could have said. Thank goodness he did not attend = to review, but will attend the last performance. However, I must also say= that his tack is a bit political, as I could hear dear Margaret pleading= with him in her blurb on this list. And she did communicate with him = in private about it. Margaret is so talented. But this was not a PROFESSI= ONAL production. She was doing something entirely different from trying = to make Eric sit up and take notice of the perfection of a piece of art. = And what she is doing is so wonderful, it touches all of us. (And also, = Bill and I owe thanks to her for her tribute to us personally. We are SO = grateful for ANY appreciation!) Let me say just one more word. Eric may be a good critic, but I have noti= ced that the up and coming students and journalists think that he is the = perfect example. So they get in there and throw those negative things aro= und, also, practicing their power and killing people. They really think = that's what a critic does. I know they do that in New York, also, so play= ers must just take it on the chin. It's part of being a big boy. But I = do long for the kind of criticism I spoke of above, and I wish Eric Samue= lson and Tim Slover, etc., had the time to be drama critics. Because they= are writers and play wrights, they are so much more sensitive and could = find the connections that would give us all joy to understand. Thank you, Neal, for standing up for community theatre! And ALL of you--= if you miss I AM JANE, you will be impoverished! Sincerely, Marilyn Brown - ---------- > Reviewer/critics must know their communities and adjust their roles > accordingly. In my community--BYU and Provo/Orem--we need help from > reviewers to help our community theaters survive and then get progressi= vely > better. Panning productions only guarantees that the theaters will go = out > of business. > > Neal Kramer - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Jul 2000 09:16:19 PDT From: "Jason Steed" Subject: [AML] Glossary (was: Writing About Religion) >Jason disagrees about jargon causing some problems, and I disagree with >him. >iness suit. > > > When I read Malamud or Singer or Roth, I enjoy > > the uses of "rabbi" or "kaddish" or "seder", because it lends to the > > "Jewishness" of the story--makes it seem true and real, rounds out > > characters, atmospherizes things (a new verb, I think). > >I'm looking at the three page, two-column yiddish glossary in Henry Roth's >MERCY OF A RUDE STREAM. This is necessary, and though Mormons don't speak >Yiddish, we do have our own peculiarities (i.e. bishop means something >completely different to a Catholic). As you may have seen from another post, I'm not opposed to the glossary idea. But I do think a _foreign_ language is different from _Mormon_ language. If there are too many phrases or terms in, say, French, Russian, or (as you mentioned) Yiddish, then certainly a glossary might be even more appropriate. On the other hand, Cormac McCarthy didn't provide a Spanish glossary (that I recall), and I still found his border trilogy exquisitely written and thoroughly engaging (i.e. not alienating or distracting). > > > As a reader, not knowing a term doesn't distract me, it intrigues > > me--especially if it's pertaining to a culture I'm less familiar with. > >Yeet, goy, shiksa, folentzer, malamut. Do these need explanation? > >Hebrew, gentile, gentile girl, akward person, Hebrew teacher. My focus right now, for my PhD dissertation, is American Jewish literature. I only recently started looking up words like these, for a _more thorough_ understanding of meanings, significances, etc. Before this, however, I always felt I had some sense (often a very accurate idea) of what words like these meant, largely from the context in which they usually appear. I didn't use glossaries (even when they were provided) until I began my "close readings" of certain texts, with the intent to explicate or analyze them. > >Also, when Brian Evenson was combing through my collection, he forbad the >use of what he called "word packets," terms and phrases that are cultural >or >emotional shorthand, which he said undermined my work. It took a lot of >doing to keep the character of the religious moments without falling back >on >things like "still small voice," "greenie," "RM," "deacon," "priest," >"elder," "PEC," "PPI," "AP," "Molly," "Franklin," "pride cycle," "ward," >etc., etc., etc. But these are all such great words! I could make the same appeal to author-ities for my position. While I was doing my MFA at U of Idaho, Mary Clearman Blew and Lance Olsen (each arguably 'more successful' in the writing world than Brian, though neither is Mormon) both often felt that words like these were great, precisely _because_ they could pack so much culture into the story--as I said, authenticating and 'atmospherizing' it. > >Even when we're writing to and for ourselves, we owe it to our readers and >to the development of our culture to try and see things in new ways, which >is going to mean not realying on the jargon and terminology to carry the >cultural touches. That's what Stephen King does: put in a Coke can, and >bingo--it's verisimilitude. It's of course, nothing of the sort. Just >lazy >writing. I agree whole-heartedly with the notion of seeing things in new ways and avoiding lazy writing. And I don't mean to suggest that we should "rely" on jargon to "carry" culture--it _would_ be lazy (and bad) writing if we thought we could convey Mormon culture simply through words like those you list above. But I'm assuming there's a context surrounding these words that, though basically 'human' and comprehensible to the non-Mormon reader, is still thoroughly 'Mormon' in its world view; and most of all, I'm assuming the goal is to just write a darn good story. And if you have a "darn good Mormon story," I don't see why Mormon terminology should not or cannot be a (significant?) part of it. With or without a glossary. Jason ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 05 Jul 2000 15:46:29 EDT From: Larry Jackson Subject: [AML] MN Arts & Entertainment News Summary From: Kent Larsen To: Mormon News Subject: MN Arts & Entertainment News Summary 2Jul00 A1 Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 09:30:00 -0400 [From Mormon-News] Arts & Entertainment News Summary 2Jul00 Compiled by Kent Larsen News Stories: Mormon author makes 'Leap' through artwork Animator Bluth's Status Uncertain as Fox Closes Animation Studio First Edition Book of Mormon sells for $44,000, below expectations Book covers intimacy with LDS perspective LDS Author's Book Tells Truth About Cowboy Clothing Mormon author makes 'Leap' through artwork PHOENIX, ARIZONA -- The Arizona Republic's Yost reviews Terry Tempest Williams' book "Leap," pointing out that the loss of Williams' mother and grandmother to cancer "led her to a new spiritual journey, which became the basis for" the book. The review tells of Williams' trip to Madrid with her father to see the Hieronymus Bosch painting, "The Garden of Earthly Delights," only to discover that the painting was being restored. While her father returned home, Williams tracked down the sisters restoring the painting, talked them into letting her watch them work, and even accepted their invitation to clean a small portion of the painting, giving her a feeling of connection with the work's creator, Bosch. The review also talks about Williams' connection with the LDS Church. She declares that she still remains an LDS Church member, but not an orthodox one, "I have not been excommunicated. I'm not trying to change the church. I have no axe to grind. My upbringing is Mormon, and that is the lens I see the world through..." But she acknowledges that the Church-owned Deseret News hasn't reviewed "Leap," which Williams says is about "faith, what happens when our institutions no longer feed us." Mormon author makes 'Leap' through artwork (Phoenix) AZ Republic 30Jun00 A2 http://www.azcentral.com/rep/books/articles/0702williams.html By Barbara Yost: The Arizona Republic See also: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0679432922/mormonnews More about "Leap: A Traveler in the Garden of Delights " at Amazon.com Animator Bluth's Status Uncertain as Fox Closes Animation Studio PHOENIX, ARIZONA -- The final status of LDS animator Don Bluth is uncertain in the wake of 20th Century Fox's decision to shut down its Phoenix animation studio. The move comes just days after Fox's movie boss Bill Mechanic left the studio (or was forced out as some claim). It also comes after Bluth's most recent film, "Titan A.E.," performed poorly in its box-office debut. Bluth and colleague Gary Goldman opened Fox's studio six years ago, planing to produce a film every 18 months to compete with animation titan Disney. But during that time, the studio has produced just three movies, "Anastasia." its direct-to-video prequel "Bartok the Magnificent," and "Titan A.E." It is also starting production this week on "Ice Age," which will not be affected by the decision to shutter the studio. Fox Shuts Down Animation HQ Excite News (E! Online) 27Jun00 A2 http://news.excite.com:80/news/eonline/000627/12/fox-shuts-down First Edition Book of Mormon sells for $44,000, below expectations FAIRMONT, WEST VIRGINIA -- A first edition of the Book of Mormon was sold at auction Thursday at an estate auction in West Virginia by a local auction house. The book brought $44,000, reportedly from a Rockville, Maryland man. The sale was for a lower amount than some recent sales, including a purchase for $58,000 last November at the National Historical Artifacts &Paper Money Show in Salt Lake City. In an interview with the Fairmont Times-West Virginian, BYU emeritus religion professor Dean Larsen said that he thought the price was low, saying that the cheapest a first edition Book of Mormon should ever sell for is $50,000. The Times-West Virginian reported that less than six bidders at the auction were interested in the book, and that bidding quickly settled to just two bidders. 'Book of Mormon' sells for $44,000 Fairmont WV Times West Virginian 30Jun00 B6 http://www.timeswv.com/archive/jun/0630001.html By Marc G. Auber: Times West Virginian Staff Writer Book covers intimacy with LDS perspective SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- "Between Husband and Wife - Gospel Perspectives on Marital Intimacy," a new book by BYU professor of Church history and doctrine Douglas E. Brinley and Salt Lake obstetrician-gynecologist Stephen E. Lamb, is proving very popular since it went on sale in March. The book already has sold 26,000 copies, 20,000 of them in the past two weeks, and publisher Covenant Communications is going back to press for another 20,000 copies. Both of the book's authors are former LDS bishops. They wrote the book specifically for an LDS audience because they saw a need for a reference book for couples that approached them for counseling. "This is not a sex manual," Brinley said. "We're simply saying here are some ideas to help married couples and couples planning marriage. We wrote about some medical situations that come up and how to be closer to each other. Marital intimacy is such a big part of life." Book covers intimacy with LDS perspective Deseret News 29Jun00 A4 http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,175015763,00.html By Marilyn Karras: Deseret News staff writer Married couples and engaged are given advice on relations See also: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1577346092/mormonnews More about "Between Husband and Wife: Gospel Perspectives on Marital Intimacy" at Amazon.com LDS Author's Book Tells Truth About Cowboy Clothing SOUTH PASS CITY, WYOMING -- LDS author Steve Mount and co-author Tom Lindmier's book "I See By Your Outfit," takes on the stereotype of cowboy clothing and come away with a very different picture of cowboys. Floppy hats instead of ten-gallon hats, hippie-length hair and goatees and wool trousers instead of Levi's. And if these differences aren't enough, cowboys even wore pink underwear. The two authors got the idea for the book when a group of costumed western enthusiasts walked out of a presentation they were making in a Los Angeles museum. The two have a great fondness for Western history, Mount as an enthusiast and Lindmier as a professor of history at the University of Wyoming. Mount is descended from Mormon pioneers that crossed the plains and ended up homesteading in Wyoming's Star Valley. BOOK REVIEW: Underneath, cowboys wore pink Modesto CA Bee (AP) 2Jul00 A4 http://www.nandotimes.com/24hour/modbee/entertainment/story/0,1661,500223366-500320089-501770422-0,00.html By Elisabeth A. Wright: Associated Press See also: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0931271339/mormonnews More about "I See by Your Outfit: Historic Cowboy Gear of the Northern Plains" at Amazon.com Book of Women Writers on American Frontier Includes Mormon SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- "A Sweet, Separate Intimacy: Woman Writers of the American Frontier, 1800-1922", just released by the University of Utah Press includes stories by 34 American women writers, including Mormon Ina Donna Coolbrith, widow of Don Carlos Smith, brother of Mormon Church founder Joseph Smith. The book puts Coolbrith in the company of writers like Willa Cather and Mary Hallock Foote. The book, edited by Susan Cummins Miller, isn't meant to be a 'best of' compilation or suggest that the women writers were ignored or discriminated against. Instead, its simply an anthology of work from Western women writers, including those known more for the fame of their husbands, such as Jessie Fremont, wife of explorer John Fremont, and Elizabeth Clift Bacon Custer, widow of General George Armstrong Custer. 'Sweet, Separate Intimacy' Lets Women Speak for Themselves Salt Lake Tribune 2Jul00 A6 http://www.sltrib.com:80/07022000/arts/63658.htm By Martin Naparsteck: Special to the Tribune See also: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0874806372/ mormonnews More about "A Sweet, Separate Intimacy: Woman Writers of the American Frontier, 1800-1922" at Amazon.com >From Mormon-News: Mormon News and Events Forwarding is permitted as long as this footer is included Mormon News items may not be posted to the World Wide Web sites without permission. Please link to our pages instead. For more information see http://www.MormonsToday.com/ Send join and remove commands to: majordomo@MormonsToday.com Put appropriate commands in body of the message: To join: subscribe mormon-news To leave: unsubscribe mormon-news To join digest: subscribe mormon-news-digest - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 13:50:01 -0600 From: "Rachel Ann Nunes" Subject: Re: [AML] Andrew's Poll [MOD: Let me simply clarify that this poll has nothing to do with the AML awards, which are, I believe, decided upon by a selected jury/judges. This poll is designed only to reflect the opinions of those willing to cast a vote on AML-List.] As a full-time writer and best-selling novelist in the Mormon market, I have watched this poll with some interest (and, I have to admit, some amusement). While I have read most everything that has been nominated or mentioned on this list, I get the distinct feeling that this is not true with many of the voters. How then can we compare novels and choose one to represent us if we have not read what is out there? When Valerie Holladay said: >It does seem that this poll hasn't generated the >response of earlier polls. Some time ago someone made >the remark that it seemed like people wanted to >publish in the LDS market, but they weren't reading >what was out there. I'm wondering if that's still the >case and if that's why the response seems so meagre. What we seem to have is a nomination of the only novel we've read in that genre, or no vote at all because we haven't read enough to know what's out there. (I apologize to those who are the exception to this statement.) How then can it be possible to determine the "best" novel? Hey, a few phone calls from an author to friends to get them to vote could mean that a mediocre novel is given credit, and thus the whole point of the poll is moot. Wouldn't it be better to find a list of novels and have EVERYBODY who wants to vote read them ALL (not just to see where they're going)? And then to perhaps discuss BOTH the bad and the good, and finally vote on the novel? This way we are getting a true picture of the novel or novels that represent our entire group. I don't know about you, but if I see a book with a sticker on it that proclaims, "Voted best Mormon novel in the 1990's by the Association for Mormon Letters" then I want to have the confidence of knowing it's indeed a great novel and one certainly worth reading. That can't happen if the novel has only two or three votes. Just a thought, Rachel ________________________________ Rachel Ann Nunes Author of the best-selling novel To Love and to Promise E-mail: rachel@ranunes.com Web page: http://www.ranunes.com - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V1 #92 *****************************