Well, it's Wednesday, and I spent a half-hour this morning on the
Louie Free Radio Show that airs in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and surrounding states. Louie is a cool guy who actually read
The Last Season, so we had a nice, unscripted two-sided conversation during which he admitted he is a sort of "aging hippy" and, as such, could relate to a few of the characters in the book. But one of the nicest things a reader (or a talk-show host) can tell a writer is that a book "delivers." Thanks, Louie, for broadcasting that across the airwaves.
On the subject of "delivery" (how's that for a seamless transition?), I know I built up the whole Beaver Incident and I really wanted to share with you the first (and noticeably so) assigned article that I wrote for TransWorld SNOWboarding magazine back in 1993. But apparently it's buried too deeply in the archives of my garage ? and, by the way, I narrowly escaped a horrible plight while searching for it. I was rummaging through my magazine collection, which is stored in dozens of stacked plastic bins, when my wife, Lorien (named after Lothlorien, the elf forest in The Lord of the Rings ? yes, her parents were hippies, too, but what a lovely name, no?) ducked her head through the door and said, "No way! You're cleaning the garage?"
I leapt straight in the air like a goosed cat and recovered, barely, with "No, no, just, whew, would you look at the time? I gotta go make this deadline." Sliding past her into the hall (no easy feat these days, considering the size of her pregnant belly), I escaped back to my office.
"That was a close one," I whispered to Jonesy, who promptly settled in my lap.
Anyway, I apologize for not having the actual beaver story, but I will tell you the context: I was doing a profile on pro snowboarder Neal Drake, and when I interviewed him, it was summertime and he was working on the Big Bear Lake boat dock. That morning he'd gone fishing, and a beaver had made after his bait, actually latched onto it. I swear that the first words out of his mouth when I turned on the recorder were "almost caught a beaver this morning."
So with all due respect to Farley Mowat, author of one of my favorite books, Never Cry Wolf, I seem to have cried "beaver."
While I was hunting for beaver shots on-line, I decided to "stalk" my book which is something every author does. There have been a few discussions going on, one of the more popular being the forum in the community section of the Backpacker magazine Web site. After watching it for almost a year, I decided to join in on the discussion a few weeks back. This particular The Last Season forum/discussion began back in April 2006 by somebody going by the handle "Strez." Currently, 40 people have responded and 1,100 unique visitors have viewed it. Everybody's favorite question is always: So, what exactly, does that mean for actual sales? To which I respond, "I have no freaking idea."
Other discussions are going on at High Sierra Topix. This one entitled Another Epic Tale from the Sierra is my current favorite.
The Whitney Portal Store Message Board has an interesting related topic about the controversial naming of a peak in the park after Randy Morgenson. A hiker named Richard Piotrowski started this Mount Morgenson discussion and provided a photo of the proposed peak, shown dead center in this photo.
The discussion talks about rogue rangers taking it upon themselves to name the peak. Nice photos and links here for those of you looking to procrastinate further while surfing the net, avoiding chores around the house, etc. (or perhaps you're reading this at work, on the clock, in which case, please carry on with my blessing).
Okay, I just got off the phone with Steve Fast and Beth Whisman, who host "The Drive" radio show in Bloomington, Illinois. Another fun conversation that Annie Rohrs, my amazing publicist at HarperCollins, set up for me. Thanks, Annie. And thanks, Steve and Beth.
But the most exciting thing has to be something I received today from Andy Brown at ATB Entertainment in Hollywood: the screenplay adaptation of The Last Season. ATB optioned my book last May, and producers Andy and Jen promised to have an actual screenplay for me to read by end of year or January at the latest. Talk about "delivery." Now it's in my hands and I'm jonzing to read it. A little scared as well... you know what Hollywood is capable of when it comes to book adaptation, right? If I find some reading time tonight, I'll give you feedback on it for the last day of my guest bloggership at Powell's.
And I know I still have one more heated topic to discuss as well. I'll deliver. Promise.