Describe your latest book/project/work. I've been studying the life and work of photographer W. Eugene Smith for 13 years. My first book (Dream...
Continue »
This horror novel is about a young woman named Madeline who has the psychic power to tap into people’s thoughts when she comes in contact with something they have touched. Because of this ability, everyone in the small Montana town where she grew up socially ostracizes her, even her parents. Fortunately, she has met a friend in the form of a new resident, George, and equally fortunate is her future as a college student far away.
Tired of alienation and rejection, she takes a trip to Glacial National Park, where she encounters a monster far more horrible than social stigma. When Madeline was fourteen years old, a serial killer who knew about her psychic abilities killed her best friend in front of her, and Madeline believed that if the killer hadn’t known about her powers, he would have left her friend alone. Ever since then, Madeline has considered her “gift” a curse and has vowed not to ever use it to help detect murders, because she doesn’t want to absorb so many evil memories and thoughts and thus experience similar trauma. However, now that a monster is hunting her and killing others in Glacial National Park, she must use her psychic powers or the monster will continue killing.
Voracious is a gripping and terrifying novel that is character-driven and with a particularly strong female protagonist. It reminds me of Frankenstein, due to the monster chasing Madeline, the threat of others’ deaths, and above all Madeline’s conversations with the monster, which is intelligent and capable of human speech. Full of vivid description, fast-paced action, and suspense, I highly recommend this book.
Abraham Lincoln: a Novel Life is a fun time travel novel in which Abraham Lincoln unintentionally goes forward in time ninety years, to 1955, and meets a woman, Joan Matcham, to whom he accidentally introduces himself as Abraham Lincoln and then proceeds to explain. They spend an entire day together and fall in love…before Lincoln goes back to 1865. The novel is historically educational and brings Abraham Lincoln--and Mary Todd Lincoln--to life. In the back of the book is an engaging list of brief biographies on various historic figures who appear in the novel.
Personal accounts are accompanied by portraits taken by photographer Tara Todras-Whitehill, including pictures of women as famous as Ani DiFranco and Gloria Steinem, wearing the “I had an Abortion” t-shirt. This volume is not about yelling in the streets or holding picket signs; it is not about being confrontational and aggressive toward anti-choice “activists.” It is about presenting the facts of what women went through and showing how necessary abortion is in an imperfect world. As long as we are yelling at each other and threatening each other, rather than listening and talking calmly, we can’t reach an understanding. Abortion & Life has a buddha-like, gentle approach to the subject of abortion, not using the “us and them” mentality that is so common but rather showing why abortion is important, in hopes that abortion’s enemies will make some attempt at tolerance.
The word “radical” does not mean “extreme” but rather “going to the root.” That is, being radical is about going to the root of the problem, the root of our patriarchal a.k.a. dominator society, finding solutions for overthrowing it, and living as much as possible outside of the dominant system. During the same-sex marriage debate, I kept reflecting on how marriage was invented for the purpose of enslaving women. I kept signing petitions in favor of gay marriage while feeling apprehensive and wondering why lesbians, especially, would want to participate in such a patriarchal establishment.
Reading the anthology That’s Revolting was a great relief, because it proves that many people see things the same way I do, from a radical point of view rather than a liberal point of view. That’s Revolting is for those who want a nonviolent revolution, not a white picket fence and a house in suburbia. It is for those who question the American dream rather than gobble up capitalism, respectability, or the nuclear family lifestyle. It is for those who wish to overthrown marriage and the military, not participate in them. This diverse anthology is social criticism, inspiration, words of reassurance that radical activism continues, and a call to action.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(1 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)
The Traveling Death and Resurrection Show is about Frankka, a lapsed Catholic with a rather peculiar psychic ability: while fasting, she can concentrate on her wrists and make them bleed. For seven years she lives on the road with a performance troupe that includes a drag queen who levitates while dressed like a Catholic nun, a fortune teller and former battered wife with a small child, a fire-breather, and a bearded woman. They rarely stay in the same town or city for a week, and satirizing the Christian religion means they sometimes encounter hostility from fundamentalists (including the “God Hates Fags” picketers whom I frequently saw in Kansas). Meanwhile, Frankka has very realistic and moving flashbacks to psychological traumas from her childhood and youth.
Although I normally avoid books that are from a Xian perspective, I decided to read The Traveling Death and Resurrection Show because Ariel Gore impressed me at a couple of author readings. To my relief, this book did not handle Xianity in a way that made me want to hurl chunks: instead, the narrator is very critical of the patriarchy in organized Catholicism and aware that goddesses such as Brigit were taken and turned into saints. The book goes on to show that even Christianity--and dare I saw Catholicism--can involve genuine spirituality, when it is in the mystical tradition rather than the way it is practiced as an organized religion. Frankka has a hobby of writing her own versions of the lives of saints, each a mystical individual. If only they were typical.
This is an excellently written literary novel with strongly developed, believable, and engaging characters.
Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.
Don't Miss
Customer Comments
Susan Wiget has commented on (16) products.
Voracious by Alice Henderson
Susan Wiget, December 27, 2009
This horror novel is about a young woman named Madeline who has the psychic power to tap into people’s thoughts when she comes in contact with something they have touched. Because of this ability, everyone in the small Montana town where she grew up socially ostracizes her, even her parents. Fortunately, she has met a friend in the form of a new resident, George, and equally fortunate is her future as a college student far away.
Tired of alienation and rejection, she takes a trip to Glacial National Park, where she encounters a monster far more horrible than social stigma. When Madeline was fourteen years old, a serial killer who knew about her psychic abilities killed her best friend in front of her, and Madeline believed that if the killer hadn’t known about her powers, he would have left her friend alone. Ever since then, Madeline has considered her “gift” a curse and has vowed not to ever use it to help detect murders, because she doesn’t want to absorb so many evil memories and thoughts and thus experience similar trauma. However, now that a monster is hunting her and killing others in Glacial National Park, she must use her psychic powers or the monster will continue killing.
Voracious is a gripping and terrifying novel that is character-driven and with a particularly strong female protagonist. It reminds me of Frankenstein, due to the monster chasing Madeline, the threat of others’ deaths, and above all Madeline’s conversations with the monster, which is intelligent and capable of human speech. Full of vivid description, fast-paced action, and suspense, I highly recommend this book.
Abraham Lincoln: A Novel Life by Tony Wolk
Susan Wiget, November 26, 2009
Abraham Lincoln: a Novel Life is a fun time travel novel in which Abraham Lincoln unintentionally goes forward in time ninety years, to 1955, and meets a woman, Joan Matcham, to whom he accidentally introduces himself as Abraham Lincoln and then proceeds to explain. They spend an entire day together and fall in love…before Lincoln goes back to 1865. The novel is historically educational and brings Abraham Lincoln--and Mary Todd Lincoln--to life. In the back of the book is an engaging list of brief biographies on various historic figures who appear in the novel.Abortion & Life by Jennifer Baumgardner
Susan Wiget, November 12, 2009
Personal accounts are accompanied by portraits taken by photographer Tara Todras-Whitehill, including pictures of women as famous as Ani DiFranco and Gloria Steinem, wearing the “I had an Abortion” t-shirt. This volume is not about yelling in the streets or holding picket signs; it is not about being confrontational and aggressive toward anti-choice “activists.” It is about presenting the facts of what women went through and showing how necessary abortion is in an imperfect world. As long as we are yelling at each other and threatening each other, rather than listening and talking calmly, we can’t reach an understanding. Abortion & Life has a buddha-like, gentle approach to the subject of abortion, not using the “us and them” mentality that is so common but rather showing why abortion is important, in hopes that abortion’s enemies will make some attempt at tolerance.That's Revolting!: Queer Strategies for Resisting Assimilation by Mattilda Sycamore
Susan Wiget, November 12, 2009
The word “radical” does not mean “extreme” but rather “going to the root.” That is, being radical is about going to the root of the problem, the root of our patriarchal a.k.a. dominator society, finding solutions for overthrowing it, and living as much as possible outside of the dominant system. During the same-sex marriage debate, I kept reflecting on how marriage was invented for the purpose of enslaving women. I kept signing petitions in favor of gay marriage while feeling apprehensive and wondering why lesbians, especially, would want to participate in such a patriarchal establishment.Reading the anthology That’s Revolting was a great relief, because it proves that many people see things the same way I do, from a radical point of view rather than a liberal point of view. That’s Revolting is for those who want a nonviolent revolution, not a white picket fence and a house in suburbia. It is for those who question the American dream rather than gobble up capitalism, respectability, or the nuclear family lifestyle. It is for those who wish to overthrown marriage and the military, not participate in them. This diverse anthology is social criticism, inspiration, words of reassurance that radical activism continues, and a call to action.
(1 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)
The Traveling Death and Resurrection Show: by Ariel Gore
Susan Wiget, November 12, 2009
The Traveling Death and Resurrection Show is about Frankka, a lapsed Catholic with a rather peculiar psychic ability: while fasting, she can concentrate on her wrists and make them bleed. For seven years she lives on the road with a performance troupe that includes a drag queen who levitates while dressed like a Catholic nun, a fortune teller and former battered wife with a small child, a fire-breather, and a bearded woman. They rarely stay in the same town or city for a week, and satirizing the Christian religion means they sometimes encounter hostility from fundamentalists (including the “God Hates Fags” picketers whom I frequently saw in Kansas). Meanwhile, Frankka has very realistic and moving flashbacks to psychological traumas from her childhood and youth.Although I normally avoid books that are from a Xian perspective, I decided to read The Traveling Death and Resurrection Show because Ariel Gore impressed me at a couple of author readings. To my relief, this book did not handle Xianity in a way that made me want to hurl chunks: instead, the narrator is very critical of the patriarchy in organized Catholicism and aware that goddesses such as Brigit were taken and turned into saints. The book goes on to show that even Christianity--and dare I saw Catholicism--can involve genuine spirituality, when it is in the mystical tradition rather than the way it is practiced as an organized religion. Frankka has a hobby of writing her own versions of the lives of saints, each a mystical individual. If only they were typical.
This is an excellently written literary novel with strongly developed, believable, and engaging characters.
1-5 of 16next