From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #381 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 Monday, July 2 2001 Volume 01 : Number 381 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2001 02:03:43 -0600 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] Fiction in Church Mags mjames_laurel wrote: > I think we're going a little far when we extrapolate from this > administrative policy decision that the General Authorities are denouncing > fiction. And I think we're making a far too sweeping generalization when we > assume they'd have any objection to a non-church subsidized effort to make a > different type of literature available to the LDS market. I don't think anyone here believes the General Authorities are against fiction. We're afraid members of the church will interpret their decision as an indication that they are against fiction. The evidence is already showing up that members will interpret it that way! - -- 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: Sat, 30 Jun 2001 07:32:26 -0600 From: "Paris ANDERSON" Subject: Re: [AML] Midstream Mormon Publisher Personally, I think having iUniverse print books for Irreantum would be a mistake. I don't think anyone has much respect for books that are printed as cheaply as possible. Besides, iUniverse keeps the bulk of the revenues generated by the sale of the book. Only a percentage goes to the author. That fine for the first book, but if there is going to be a second there must be greater rewards than a persentage. Beside, why would an author go to Irreantum book if all they are going to do is go to iUniverse? Why shouldn't he go to iUniverse himself? Raising seed money for the project should be no problem. If everyone contributed five bucks . . . what are there? four or five billion people in the world? That's more than enough. [Paris Anderson] - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2001 11:01:47 -0600 From: "Brown" Subject: Re: [AML] Where to Advertise? Have fun on your vacation, Terry! The whole reason the church doesn't advertise in periodicals is a legal one. Years ago they did, but sometime in the 60s (I think, or 50s) they stopped because the U.S. legislature ruled they would no longer have CHURCH status (taxes, etc.) but be considered a commercial organization. I was crestfallen, too, loving the book advertisements. Anyway, that's the reason. Marilyn Brown - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2001 18:05:36 -0600 From: Melissa Proffitt Subject: [AML] re: Fiction in Church Mags (was: Institutional Art) On Thu, 28 Jun 2001 21:29:07 -0700, Elizabeth Hatch wrote: >Jacob Proffitt wrote: > >> Melissa had a conversation recently where her Church superior (i.e. >> Primary President) actually *said* that "there must be something wrong >> with fiction if the brethren removed it from the Friend." =20 > >Boy, we knew that was coming! It brings back nightmare memories of that= =20 >Young Women president in Utah who told her Young Women that reading=20 >fiction was wrong. Yikes!! I told Jacob I reserved the right to correct him on this if it was = brought up again...so I will. I am the Primary chorister, which proves that God has a sense of humor. = Of the WEEKLY meetings the Primary presidency holds, I only have to attend = one of them a month. I have no idea what they find to talk about the rest of the time. At any rate, last Wednesday was that meeting. As background, I should say that we use the Friend extensively as a = teaching resource. The question of whether or not it contains fiction is in this absolute sense irrelevant, because what we're looking at is the page of Sharing Time Ideas printed in very small letters somewhere in the = magazine. But this is what started the discussion. When everyone pulled out their magazines, I remembered 1) they stopped sending it to me this month, probably because I hadn't paid for it, so I didn't have mine; and 2) the thing about No More Fiction. So I asked if anyone had heard about this. They hadn't; sure enough, there's no fiction in the July issue. I = expressed my disappointment and concern that this decision might have been prompted= by an editorial distrust of fiction. This is something that as far as I know has not yet been mentioned in = this discussion. In the past few years, the articles and stories that appear = in the Friend have been labeled according to type: fiction, "based on a true story," etc. This is how it is possible to flip quickly through the magazine and see whether or not there is any fiction in it. I found this trend VERY disturbing. What's the purpose of this labeling? Why would = they need to explain "this story about a girl befriending a handicapped person really happened, but this almost identical story is fiction"? There has also been an increased emphasis on the True Stories; in addition to the monthly highlight of a family from around the world, there is a section called "Trying to Be Like Jesus" or something like that, which contains short anecdotes of children who have met challenges by following gospel principles. As far as I can tell, the sole appeal of these anecdotes--I can't call them stories--is that they Really Happened. To Real People. = In Real Life. In other words, stories that really happened are more = valuable than the made-up kind. And the decision to stop printing fiction didn't happen as quickly as it seemed; I think it's been coming for a long time now. So basically I said that while it didn't ultimately bother me if they = chose to print more doctrine from the GA's, more pioneer stories, or other non-fiction instead of fiction, I was worried about the possible anti-fiction motive and what it said about people's general = misunderstanding of what fiction is *for*. Here is a summary of the Primary president's various responses as I tried to express this opinion: 1. Of course we want real-life stories; the Gospel teaches we should = seek after truth. 2. There must be a difference if the General Authorities say so. 3. Well, if the General Authorities want to stop publishing fiction, I'm not going to argue. I have never been left speechless by illogic before. She never actually said there was anything wrong with fiction, but the implication was there. Jacob stated it in stronger terms because he is = more concerned about that next logical leap than with unquestioning = acceptance. I don't entirely agree with Jacob on this. I don't think very many = people will *change* their minds and decide that fiction is bad based on this editorial stance (though there will probably be some). In fact, I think this might be a subtle enough difference that few readers will even = notice that the Friend doesn't print fiction anymore, at least at first. I do think there are far too many people who will eventually use it to support their existing biases against fiction, and an annoying majority of those will proclaim it in Relief Society as doctrine. For which I am grateful that I'm in the Primary. In any case, sure, I'd buy a magazine containing the kind of children's short fiction the Friend used to publish. But I don't believe for one second that it would receive enough support from the Mormon community to stay afloat. If it lacks the Church's stamp of approval, many members = won't trust it. Besides, if it were really good, the General Authorities would say so. Melissa Proffitt (who would have ended that last sentence with a smiley if it didn't hurt = so much) [MOD: From a later post:] About whether there is fiction in the July issue of the Friend: I said = that I didn't have a copy and that the Primary president looked through it and didn't see any fiction. I got a copy yesterday and was reading it this morning with my child, and discovered that there actually is one piece of fiction in it. My mistake. Melissa Proffitt - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2001 11:13:44 -0600 From: "Brown" Subject: Re: [AML] Midstream Mormon Publisher Interesting, Paris! Do you have any distribution? Marilyn Brown > Paris Anderson parisander@freeport.com wrote: > > Wow--I've been trying to get on this liist for a week and what I finally get > on--boom--the first message is about small time publishing . . . THAT'S MY > GIG, MAN! That's what I do! I'm a stay-at-home dad and a massage > therapist, and in my free time (which isn't nearly enough) I print and > hand-bind (hardcover) my own stuff.. With a hardcover the finished product > is too expensive to sell in bookstores, but you can docutech the books and > have them done in a soft cover with a perfect bind--just like most books in > a bookstore. I'm doing a children's chapter book about the Mormon Battalion > that way, It's coming out this summer (Thank heaven for credit cards). - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2001 11:17:07 -0600 From: "Brown" Subject: Re: [AML] MN Brady Udall's New Novel Looks at an Indian in Mormondom: Salt Lake Tribune Brady writes: "It's high time somebody out there, if not me, wrote about Mormons in a real and honest way." I haven't read the book, but I can guess. And it really scares me. You CAN'T write about the good Mormons. It's boring and sappy. So the question is WHAT'S REAL? Marilyn Brown - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2001 07:08:01 -1000 From: "Randall Larsen" Subject: [AML] Re: TAYLOR, _Nightfall at Nauvoo_ (was: GAs in Church Pubs) Ivan, GA's in pubs is not a rumour to add to our collecton of "faith promoting rumours". The prophet Joseph stopped for a pint a Mossers grocery in Nauvoo on at least one ocassion [see Joseph's Paper's Vol I] Cakes and beer used to be served at church parties in Nauvoo. [the word of wisdom didn't include beer in those days]. I will note for the record that the Prophet Joseph's Nauvoo mansion had a full bar until Emma made Joseph remove it. A fictionalized account of this event is in Sam Taylor's Nightfall at Nauvoo. What do listmembers think of this work? all the best in fiction and non-fiction, Randall Larsen - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ivan Angus Wolfe" > The title worries me - has the church started endorsing the consumption of > alchohol, since we are apparently spotting GAs in apparently church owned pubs? > (I though the rumors about owning Coke and Pepsi were crazy - but the church > owns pubs?) > > ;) > - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2001 12:51:17 -0700 From: "Frank Maxwell" Subject: Re: [AML] Literary LCD D. Michael replied to me as follows: > > The gamut of human degradation? Don't you mean the gamut of human > > experience? > > No, because we already have LDS publishers who are willing to depict > that gamut of human niceness. Add the two together and you get all of > human experience. Okay, I understand what you mean. However, I'm not sure that a writer should limit himself or herself by specializing in stories which depict the "gamut of human degradation." But even if I'm wrong about that, I feel more strongly that this kind of niche marketing is the wrong approach for a Mormon publisher to take. I'll elaborate more on this later, but I think a "midstream Mormon publisher" should try to publish a wide range of books, not a narrow range. I wonder why, when we talk about addressing "serious" matters in Mormon literature, some people immediately bring up sexual degradation. I'm not trying to insult any of you, but is there a voyeuristic component in some people's call for an "edgier" Mormon fiction? I think there are lots of serious matters that could be addressed in Mormon lit, which do not fall under the category of "degradation". In an elders quorum lesson I just gave, I asked the group to help me list on the board the kinds of trials and tribulations that had occurred to people whom they personally knew in their families or in the ward. In addition to job loss, family problems, and converts being persecuted by their non-LDS relatives, there were several cases of deaths from cancer or other tragic accidents. Are these matters serious enough for Mormon literature to address? But if I really wanted to read about human degradation, I'd start looking up reports from Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch. The Job-like sufferings of innocent victims around the world seem much more significant to me than the imaginary sexual hangups of fictional Wasatch Frontians. Perhaps if Mormon literature is to become truly mature, it should stop looking inward at its own emotional and psychological troubles, and start looking outward at the world that surrounds it. Regards, Frank Maxwell - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2001 10:47:55 -0700 From: "Jeff Needle" Subject: Re: [AML] Jennie HANSEN, _Macady_ (Review) Thanks for submitting this. I enjoyed your point of view very much. I've adopted something of a George Bush-type attitude toward Mormon fiction. You don't expect much, and you're surprised when the author does well. You make good points, but they didn't detract at all from my enjoyment of the book. I found the mentions of the now-departed characters to be important to the plot. Macady's ex-fiance, for example, is an ongoing influence on how she behaves in various situations. Thanks for the good thoughts. - ----- Original Message ----- From: To: Sent: Friday, June 29, 2001 12:18 PM Subject: Re: [AML] Jennie HANSEN, _Macady_ (Review) > I read Jeff Needle's recent review of this book with interest. I read _Macady_ > a few years ago, and I remembered feeling differently about it. So I pulled > out my notes that I'd made on it, and I thought it would be fun to post my own > review on it. (Note to Jeff and Barbara (Hume): This is not meant to > discredit your positive comments on the book!) > - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2001 02:22:55 -0600 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] Midstream Mormon Publisher Brown wrote: > There are a lot of people who start up publishing companies because they > want to do it their way. They either want to "express themselves" or make a > lot of money. It's not that easy. > Hopefully you can see the wisdom in BUILDING UP some struggling entity > rather than feeling "it's got to be your way." I'm all for doing that, as long as we can find an existing entity who will do it, and do it right, not halfheartedly. I'm wondering if the existing entity might not have to create a new imprint, however, for the "black sheep of the family" midstream stuff, like Disney uses Touchstone and Hollywood Films. - -- 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: Sat, 30 Jun 2001 18:38:02 -0600 From: Scott and Marny Parkin Subject: Re: [AML] Midstream Mormon Publisher D. Michael Martindale wrote: >It's always distribution that gets in the way of good ideas. I think we >need to take a page form the Gospel According to Richard Dutcher and >figure out a way to bypass the traditional distributioon channels. It's >easier to drag a spaghetti noodle with than to push it ahead of you. I'm working on an end-around process that I hope will work. Part of the problem is that I suspect there will end up being several midstream publishers, because there are quite a few different visions of exactly what that market constitutes. Here's my take on it. I've been talking with my friend and local author Russell W. Asplund about creating a new online magazine devoted to expanding the definition of Mormon literature, and facilitating an environment where it can be discussed in the broad category of "Mormon studies." There are few rules about the kind of work we would like to offer, but these two requirements would underpin the concept: 1) There is a god, and he does care about what happens to us. 2) The Mormon religion is a valid spiritual mindset and its ultimate correctness is not a fair topic of discussion. The goal would be to create a magazine of fiction and criticism that brought both Mormons and non-Mormons together to discuss the literary phenomenon of Mormon fiction, not the cultural or doctrinal validity of the church. Just as a study of the Jewish or Catholic literature fails to focus on the ultimate truth of either of those religions. Accept that the characters believe in it, and move on the literary discussion. My personal bias with fiction would be towards stories with high literary values (aka, well written and presented) that focused on human issues explored from within a Mormon mindset but not necessarily from within a heavily Mormon cultural setting, and told from a "faithful" perspective. There would be few guidelines regarding explicit language, sex, or other content except that all elements have value within the story and are offered to deepen the story, not titillate the silly-minded. Such fiction could range from stories that never offer a single explicitly Mormon element to stories that are set fully within a Mormon cultural setting. The coordinating elements are the Mormonness of either the author of the subject matter. Personally, I believe that the time has come to write more stories containing explicitly Mormon elements, but that are not about "The Church." There is much of the spiritual minds of Mormons that I think will have interest to a limited national audience--maybe not bestseller stuff, but enough to create and feed a niche market. Mormon publishers need not be our only outlets, though I would like to see them expand their offerings and their target audience to reach outside the Mormon community. (What I'd really like to see is an imprint from DB or Covenant devoted to this "midstream" concept, and I would like to become an acquisitions editor for that line. DB thinks it's done that with their Shadow Mountain line, but you have to be a pretty much guaranteed big seller to even touch it; it's not accessible to most of us ordinary types.) Once this new online literary magazine had been in existence for a little while, I would hope to collect an anthology of short fiction from it and present it to an existing Mormon publisher as a proven quantity with a known national appeal. I would hope that such a venture would help validate a larger market for Mormon fiction and help expand our own home market. >I was very eager to read _Disoriented_ when it came out, specifically >because it was an LDS science fiction book. So there's your existence >proof of the market. I think the market is known to exist, but what can we do to expand it so that titles like this reach a larger audience? Right now I suspect the numbers are pretty small, and lie on the borderline of acceptable return. We need to do more to develop the reading public as well as provide more outlets for different kinds of stories. >"The Orson Scott Card Book Club of LDS Science Fiction." Card's own efforts to build something like this have been sporadic and of limited success so far. If he'll licence his name to someone with more passion to create an LDSF market, I think it could work. And while this is only one person's opinion, I would also like to see such a market develop independent of Card. He creates an awfully deep wake for the rest of us to follow in, and his powerful persona tends to limit what people try to do. IMO. Scott Parkin - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2001 17:16:31 -0500 From: "REWIGHT" Subject: Re: [AML] LDS and World Religions > > Also that only 1 in 7 LDS live in the United States. Interesting. Is > anyone aware if there is "LDS literature" other than offical church > publications in any country other than the US? > > Just wondering, > > Steve > I live in Canada, and there isn't any LDS publishing here that I know of. And I haven't seen an LDS book that comes from anywhere but the states. Anna Wight - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2001 17:25:27 -0500 From: "REWIGHT" Subject: Re: [AML] Manipulative Endings > > I write about bad people and try to help the audience *understand* them. Well that's fine. But what's wrong with writing about good people. They're interesting too. > > > > But, to bring this back to a literary angle. It is so stultifyingly > easy to make a Mormon audience cry that the display of tears during a > play or book is hardly a sign that the Spirit is also present. But it doesn't mean that the Spirit isn't present either. And the spirit could be present for one person crying and not for another person crying. They could be watching the same thing and be crying for different reasons. The Spirit doesn't always present himself to the whole, more often he presents himself to individuals. And often that happens when their hearts are opened up. If you're heart is soft because of something that you're watching, the Spirit can take that moment and use it to whisper something to you. Who's to say that the way you experience the spirit is the way someone else does? And just because the Spirit is not whispering to you doesn't mean he's not whispering to someone else. Anna Wight - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 01 Jul 2001 20:02:32 -0600 From: "Travis Manning" Subject: Re: [AML] Institutional Art Craig-- That's it: Ebooks! An LDS online fiction library -- written by us, members of AML, and other future members. Or, just Members. We could start out submitting books, short stories, poems even, critiqued by AML members perhaps. But how do we advertise for Ebooks? How do we get people to read Ebooks? Who would hold the copyrights? Answer: The AML, a non-profit organization that could "use" these texts however they see fit, electronically or in hard copy form? Hmm. Intriguing. Perhaps you could market Ebooks by creating deals with LDS booksellers whereby they receive a free Ebook with the purchase of another book, whatever that may be (by one, get one free, online, ready to download into a palm pilot, or even a book read online, akin to the books-on-tape idea where online books will not only sell the text, but also the spoken performed version for consuming by the audio listener. Hmm. Audio listeners. You know, my wife belongs to a book club and several of the ladies in her group really enjoy books on tape. Listening to audio books is great for LDS women because they can do it while doing dishes, while nursing a child, gardening, driving kids to soccer, und so weiter. Hmm. Our first Ebook audience niche? Just some thoughts. Travis Manning *************** >From: Craig Huls >3. Paper is never going to go away, but please realize that the digital age >is taking over in many arenas. I have been involved in computer science >since we wired boards to take impulses from one counter to another. E-books >are not moving as fast as the Industry wants, but they will. I sit in PEC >meeting and all but the Bishop has a PDA (Palm Pilot or a look alike) going >as the meeting is progressing. One HP in my group flips to chapter and >verse on his PDA faster than we can find it in the scriptures, soon it will >speak to you too! In fact does for the right amount of $. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 02 Jul 2001 18:03:08 -0500 From: "Travis Manning" (by way of Jonathan Langford ) Subject: [AML] Re: _Testament_ Eric Snider wrote: > > >Apparently, I need to go see this "Testaments" thing. I've been putting it >off for a while because of the reasons that have been discussed on this >List: It seems like it's probably a bit manipulative, hokey, or whatever >else, though probably rather touching, too. I don't look forward to it, and >since no one's MAKING me watch it, I haven't done it yet. Eric, The film touches some, not others. It touched me in places, in some places it did not. I did think it was cool to have BoM characters on the big screen. All I really know about BoM characters from a visual sense is those Living Scriptures videos and this cartoon-depicted book I read as a kid. But I want to see Enos, man. He's pretty cool. And Alma the Younger. What about Samuel the Lamanite, Ammon, Abinadi, Moroni -- live, on stage or in film? All studs! > > For all you playwrights and musical-ites (and all other manner of artistic "ites") out there: We've got "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" making it on and off Broadway . . . but what about "Nephi and His Amazing Journey to America?" Or, "Alma the Younger and his Brush with Death," or, "Ammon and his Amazing Sword." Somebody stop me! Or, or, I'll just stop myself. I guess we have the "Hill Cumorah Pageant" and the "Manti Pageant" and other manner of pageants that depict BoM characters, but let's see some plays/musicals/screenplays that really develop the characters of these men and women of the BoM. > > Eric, I'm officially MAKING you watch "Testaments!" Besides, if you never go see it on the big screen, the Church will replace it with something else in a few years and you'll have to watch it eventually on video or DVD -- on the "small screen." Another "besides," if you don't see it, we will be missing your masterful critique of it! If we don't critique stuff now, who will help make our church films "better"? You got to see it. > > Travis K. Manning "Men and women die; philosophers falter in wisdom, and Christians in goodness: if any one you know has suffered and erred, let him look higher than his equals for strength to amend, and solace to heal." (Jane Eyre) _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 02 Jul 2001 19:06:45 -0000 From: "Andrew Hall" Subject: [AML] UDALL, "The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint" (Deseret News) Deseret News, Sunday, July 01, 2001 Udall finds writing a magical process By Dennis Lythgoe Deseret News book editor Born into the political Udall Arizona clan (his great-uncles are Stewart and Morris Udall), Brady Udall chose quite a different direction. Not that he had any idea growing up on a farm in St. Johns that he would be a writer =97 but he knew he didn't want to farm. "I wanted to sit in a room with air conditioning and type on a computer," Udall said during an interview in the Deseret News offices. "So I went to BYU and declared myself a sociology major and indicated I was going to do something important with my life." For the first time, he was surrounded by writers =97 Darrell Spencer, John Bennion and Bruce Jorgensen, among others. That was when he first considered make a living writing. Following graduation, Udall attended the celebrated Writer's Workshop at the University of Iowa, said to be the best in the country, where he was awarded a master of fine arts degree. Udall said it didn't add significantly to his education "because I learned everything I needed at BYU." Udall was "discovered" as a writer at Salt Lake City's own Writers at Work program. Carol Houck Smith, an editor for Norton's, was given a sample of Udall's work =97 a short story. "She called me and I thought it was just some crazy lady who read one of my stories. I kept trying to hang up. Finally, I heard her name, and she said to send her some more stories. About a month later, she offered me a book contract on the basis of three stories." Udall is the father of two young sons, and his wife is expecting. For three years he has taught writing at Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania, but he recently accepted a position with Southern Illinois University, which will begin in the fall. "The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint," Udall's novel, focuses on a young Apache boy whose head is run over by a mailman. "This actually happened to my wife's ex-boyfriend. She was seeing him at the same time she was seeing me. She finally broke up with him. I was curious about this guy, because he was presumed dead, and the mailman had a breakdown and disappeared. I was intrigued by this. I went to this guy's apartment and he told me the whole story. I knew I would write a book about that." Udall grew up only 50 miles from the San Carlos Indian Reservation, where=20 there was a boarding school. "While in junior high, I went to this school to play a football game on the parade grounds. It's the old Fort Apache. It made a deep impression on me. These kids were orphans or castaways. We beat them badly, and afterward they began pelting our bus with bricks. I looked up and saw one boy looking at me, and I could see he hated me, and I didn't know why. I knew I'd write a story about it." Edgar Mint, the little Apache boy who was run over by a mailman, became=20 Udall's central character. His life as an orphan is grim, but a series of miracles keep saving him. Except for the common geography, Udall is not being autobiographical. "I grew up in a stable, loving home. Too many writers believe that writing is a way of talking about yourself. To me it's a way of imagining the opposite of myself, to step in a stranger's shoes and try to understand their world. That's what excites me. To write about me and my experience bores me." While some writers outline their entire story before they start to write, Udall resists rigid programming. "My outline was, 'Boy gets run over by mailman. At the end, he finds mailman. Maybe he doesn't. What happens in the middle? I don't know.' "The way I think of writing a novel is you just keep gathering things and putting them in a bag. Then some things don't fit, so you pull them out. One day you open it up and a rabbit comes out. It's sort of magical. Things just start to come together. I'm not sure how it happens. Supposedly, since I've written one novel, I should be able to write another one =97 but it seems just as daunting as before." When Udall neared the end of writing his novel, it came to him what would happen. "That was great. I'd write from midnight to 8 a.m. some nights. You know it's going well when you're thinking about it all the time =97 in the shower or driving somewhere =97 instead of thinking about your bills or your car problems, you're thinking about this little imaginary kid and what he's going through." Udall wrote 400-500 pages in the first couple of years but threw away the first 400 pages. "I was trying to figure out how to do it. I'd never written a novel before. Then I wrote the last 250 pages in three months." Generally, Udall writes from midnight to 3 or 4 a.m. Teaching and family takes up the rest of his time. Some critics have said his work reminds them of Charles Dickens, but Udall scoffs at that. "There's an orphan in it =97 and the way the plot ends, it could seem like 'Great Expectations' because something is revealed. "It was really Mark Twain who influenced me, because he had the ability to= =20 be funny and profound. Writers who are funny are considered shallow. Most of the time comedy is considered a low art. But=20 Twain's art was of a very high order." Although a practicing Mormon, Udall does not consider himself a "Mormon=20 writer." "I would never write a book that was meant exclusively for Mormons.= =20 Mormonism is only one aspect of this book." Udall describes his writing like this: "It's like driving really fast on a road you've never been on before, but you make it. You go off the edge sometimes, and maybe you blow a tire, but you get there. It's making decisions on the run. Sometimes, you go down the wrong road. You have to fix things and make it right. If the writer is surprised, the reader will be, too." Udall knows he will create some controversy. He doesn't mind. "I hope it arouses interest or even passion in people. The fact that I use Native American characters is politically incorrect, so some people will get upset about that. Things are brutal at the school he goes to. The book is about poverty. It is not about race. It's about dislocation." The Mormon family he depicts has problems, but it is not dysfunctional.=20 "They're normal. They have secrets and regrets. In our Mormon culture, we're a little afraid of letting people of the world know that. Their problems come from the loss of their child, but they're very strong, good people." Udall deals with moral issues and violence constantly. "We forget about the violence that occurs sometimes in supposedly normal situations. My grandmother said, 'I wish you wouldn't use all those bad words.' But to be true to the people I'm portraying, I have to use bad words, and even depict evil, because it's there. We have to be mature enough to know when something is true despite=20 being difficult." E-mail: dennis@desnews.com =A9 2001 Deseret News Publishing Company _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 02 Jul 2001 19:13:14 -0000 From: "Andrew Hall" Subject: [AML] UDALL, _The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint_ (DN review) Deseret News, Sunday, July 01, 2001 'Mint' orphan's tale has humor, realism By Dennis Lythgoe Deseret News book editor THE MIRACLE LIFE OF EDGAR MINT; by Brady Udall; Norton, 423 pages; $24.95. The first comparison that comes to mind is Mark Twain telling the classic story of "Huckleberry Finn." The second is J. D. Salinger, who wrote "Catcher in the Rye," published in 1951, the quirky and= =20 honest story of a young man named Holden Caulfield. Let's hope the strange and imaginative story of "The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint," Brady Udall's first book, is not his last. Udall has an unmistakable gift for language, wit and a rich imagination that= =20 should make him a highly acclaimed novelist for years to come. The book is the sad story of Edgar Mint, the son of an Apache teenager and a wannabe cowboy from Connecticut who is destined to end up an orphan =97 an abused orphan, by just about everybody he encounters. The defining moment of his life is getting his head smashed at the age of 7 by a mailman's truck. Left for dead by family and others on the reservation, Edgar's life is miraculously saved by an unorthodox doctor named Barry Pinkley. After a lengthy hospitalization, during which it is discovered that the accident has left him with dysgraphia, the inability to write, he becomes addicted to the typewriter. Edgar is shunted to a miserable school, appropriately named for the bloody general of the Civil War, William Tecumseh Sherman. There, he endures unimaginable= =20 harassment, both emotional and physical, forcing him to sneak, spy and steal in return for protection. It is as if he is confined in a strange little prison. Surprisingly, he is rescued by Mormon missionaries who consider him a perfect match for the church's Indian placement program. With encouragement of the missionaries, Edgar repents of his sins and is baptized a Mormon. Then, he is sent to be part of the troubled Madsen family, which has taken in children since the tragic loss of a baby boy in a bizarre crib accident. At first, Edgar is deliriously happy sleeping in a soft, clean bed, enjoying a new wardrobe and eating a variety of wonderful food. But the teenage daughter and younger son are angry about his presence. Moreover, the death of the baby has made the parents terribly distant from each other. In the meantime, people who harassed Edgar in his early years refuse to disappear from his life, including the doctor-turned-con-artist-and-drug addict who saved his life when Edgar was 7. Besides, Edgar has never lost the incessant desire to find the mailman who ran over his head and tell him he is "all right." When he leaves the Madsen family, Edgar continues on that intriguing quest, until it leads to fruition. In some circles, this book may seem controversial =97 for its depiction of American Indian culture, for various acts of violence inflicted on Edgar or even for the portrayal of an imperfect Mormon family that takes Edgar in. Some may wish the occasionally graphic language had been left out. But Udall is writing real life here. Most readers are likely to find a fascinating tale of a young boy facing unusual vicissitudes, told by a truly gifted storyteller. Udall deals with realism mixed generously with humor. One of the funniest incidents in the book describes two men from Edgar's=20 past posing as Mormon missionaries so they can get into his new Mormon home to see him. The central beauty of the book is that tragedy and humor are so naturally intertwined =97 just as they are in real life. E-mail: dennis@desnews.com =A9 2001 Deseret News Publishing Company _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.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 #381 ******************************