TV Interview Pt 1 and 2

Here is Part 1 and Part 2

Colonie Library Reading

On December 9, at 7pm, I'll be reading at the William K. Sanford Library in Colonie. Hope to see you there.

Lovely Review from the Worrall Newspaper Group

Click here to read the pdf.

Readings, Where to Buy, & News

So the Maplewood reading for Comeback Love is this Saturday, Nov. 13, at 7:30 @ the Words bookstore. (179 Maplewood Ave., Maplewood, NJ 07040) Hope to see you there.

Thank you for all of the e-mails regarding the slight delay in getting Comeback Love to the stores and at online sellers. My publisher assures me that it should be taken care of over the next week or two. Amazon will have it next week, and soon after that the novel will be at the wonderful Independent bookstore site, Indiebound. The distributor Ingram should have it, which means you'll be able to order the novel just about anywhere, and it's already with another distributor, Bookazine, so many of you can order the novel at your local indie bookstore.

Another review of sorts has come in: Comeback Love was one of the Roundtable Weekly Book Picks at WAMC—Northeast Public Radio.
 
Last Saturday, we had a reading up here: a hundred people showed up, and it was quite a party. Here are a few pictures. The first is the window display.

Next up is shot of me and the author, James Howard Kunstler.

 Here I am signing.

And finally reading.

Thanks to everyone for coming out.

First Review Is In

Well, the first review is in, from Chronogram, and it's short and sweet:

Comeback Love
Peter Golden
Staff Picks Press, 2010, $16.95




Can long-lost love reignite? Thirty-five years after a low draft lottery number changed his fortunes, Gordon Meyers reconnects with the woman he left behind. He’s divorced, she’s widowed, and both are blindsided by “memory’s guile, its sad and evil magic.” Journalist Golden skillfully interweaves present and past in this heartfelt first novel. Reading 11/6 at 4:30pm, BookHouse, Stuyvesant Plaza, Albany.

The Last Will and Testament of Silverdene Emblem O'Neill:

Paul, a former classmate of mine, and his family, just lost their golden retriever, Maggie, after 14 years. He posted about it on Facebook, and a number of our former classmates sent along their condolences. It's remarkable the power that pets have on us, and one of most touching accounts of this loss was written by the playwright, Eugene O'Neill.

Here is an excerpt--for Paul and his family: The Last Will and Testament of Silverdene Emblem O'Neill:


I, SILVERDENE EMBLEM O'NEILL (familiarly known to my family, friends, and acquaintances as Blemie), because the burden of my years and infirmities is heavy upon me, and I realize the end of my life is near, do hereby bury my last will and testament in the mind of my Master. He will not know it is there until after I am dead. Then, remembering me in his loneliness, he will suddenly know of this testament, and I ask him then to inscribe it as a memorial to me.

I have little in the way of material things to leave. Dogs are wiser than men. They do not set great store upon things. They do not waste their days hoarding property. They do not ruin their sleep worrying about how to keep the objects they have, and to obtain the objects they have not. There is nothing of value I have to bequeath except my love and my faith. These I leave to all those who have loved me, to my Master and Mistress, who I know will mourn me most, to Freeman who has been so good to me, to Cyn and Roy and Willie and Naomi and -- But if I should list all those who have loved me, it would force my Master to write a book. Perhaps it is vain of me to boast when I am so near death, which returns all beasts and vanities to dust, but I have always been an extremely lovable dog.

I ask my Master and Mistress to remember me always, but not to grieve for me too long. In my life I have tried to be a comfort to them in time of sorrow, and a reason for added joy in their happiness. It is painful for me to think that even in death I should cause them pain. Let them remember that while no dog has ever had a happier life (and this I owe to their love and care for me). . .

What may come after death, who knows? I would like to believe with those of my fellow Dalmatians. . . that there is a Paradise where one is always young and full-bladdered. . . where each blissful hour is mealtime; where in long evenings there are a million fireplaces with logs forever burning, and one curls oneself up and blinks into the flames and nods and dreams, remembering the old brave days on earth, and the love of one's Master and Mistress. . . .

One last word of farewell, Dear Master and Mistress. Whenever you visit my grave, say to yourselves with regret but also with happiness in your hearts at the remembrance of my long happy life with you: "Here lies one who loved us and whom we loved." No matter how deep my sleep I shall hear you, and not all the power of death can keep my spirit from wagging a grateful tail.


FULL TEXT CAN BE FOUND AT http://www.eoneill.com/texts/blemie/contents.htm

Book Groups and a Chat with Richard Nixon

So here is what I’ve been doing: talking to reading groups about Comeback Love. A couple of groups are considering reading it, and I’ve promised to show up for the discussion. Sounds fascinating, and any other groups interested please be in touch. One group even talks to authors over Skype.

I’ve also been working on my Web site. Over the years people have asked to listen to some of the interviews I’ve done with world leaders, and so now the interviews are up and easier to find.

Each interview has a story surrounding it, but I’ve never written about that, saving those tales for the memoir I’ll probably never write. But here’s one from the Nixon interview.

At the time—June of 1989—I’d heard that the former president did not allow his interviews to be taped—an understandable aversion given the Watergate scandal. Still, I wanted a record of our conversation and figured bringing my tape recorder was a worth a shot. So the door to his office opens, and I stand up, go in, shake his hand, and say hello, and as I’m asking if he’d mind my taping our talk, I dropped my tape recorder—one of those clunky cassette machines—on his foot. Smooth, right? I picked up the recorder, and he smiled at me and said taping would be fine. All in all, he gave me an hour, most of it recorded, but oddly enough, a couple of weeks after the interview, Nixon began to write to me. And that’s a story for another time.

Thoughts About a 40th High School Reunion

As I was getting ready to leave for Providence, RI, for another gathering of independent booksellers, I received an e-mail about something I'd written about attending a 40th high school reunion. It's up on a Web site (http://www.chs1971.com/reunioninfo), but now I've added it here. I don't think it matters particularly where you went to high school: the reasons for going back are all pretty much the same. This reunion is for Columbia High School in Maplewood, NJ.

So I was asked to write something to encourage the Class of 1971 to show up at our 40th reunion. Fact is, I’m not too clear on that, and the reunion committee is doing just fine without me: I hear they’ve signed up nearly three hundred people who hope to attend.

I used to think that the best reason to attend a high-school reunion was to see how much progress everyone had made recovering from being teenagers. But that was before Facebook made it possible to feel like you’re spending eternity in your neighbor’s living room, complete with family photos and digitized accounts of summer vacations.

Of course, there is always the standard reason to attend a 40th reunion—to remember a simpler time when your knees were in good working order, and you worried about having enough money for Don’s instead of wringing your hands over the trade imbalance with China.

But here’s my reason for going—at least one of them. I want to be in a room crowded with people who know precisely what I know of a time and place that is becoming more difficult to remember in detail. Many of us have known each other since grammar school or junior high, and I want to be in a room with people who recall exactly how it looked when the street lamps came on during a November afternoon—who remember the rainbow glimmer of Christmas lights along South Orange Avenue, and the happiness of Saturdays watching a double feature at the Maplewood, and how exciting it was to be in school the day after the Beatles first appeared on Ed Sullivan.

I find the idea of that room comforting and joyous. I hope you do as well.

And here’s a final thought: Like many of you, I suspect, I’ve discovered that the wisdom ascribed to middle age is wildly overrated; life can still be just plain confusing; but this much I can say with some certainty. Live long enough to make it to your 40th high-school reunion and along the way you will find your portion of joy and sorrow, and the joy is sweeter if you can share it with old friends, and the sorrows are less burdensome.

I never thought about this so many years ago when my memories were being created. I do think about it now.

Reading For A Good Cause

On Saturday, November 13, at 7:30 p.m., I will be reading from my novel, Comeback Love, at the [words] Bookstore in Maplewood Village.

The bookstore is a remarkable place, and I hope people come out to support it. The owners of [words], Ellen and Jonah Zimiles, rescued the bookstore two years ago when it was about to go out of business. They now not only sell books, but use the store as a training facility to help people with autism learn retail job skills and move on to larger companies.

The Zimiles felt strongly about their cause: they have an autistic 14-year-old son. You can read more about their work at http://www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/entrepreneur/2010/may/206060.html

So please join us if you can. The store is located at 179 Maplewood Avenue. Hope to see you there.

Atlantic City Book Lunch

I just returned from Atlantic City, where the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association was holding a meeting. Along with a group of authors, I was invited to participate in NAIBA’s Movable Feast luncheon, where the writers move from table to table and talk about their books—in my case, my novel Comeback Love—with buyers and sellers from independent bookstores.

Of course, this speed-dating stuff was new to me, since I started dating before it was invented, and all speed-dating meant in my day was that your date turned to you not long after the evening was underway and said: “Take me home. Now!”

Talking to book buyers and booksellers was a lot more fun than that experience, and having a chance to talk to so many remarkable writers at the pre-luncheon and hearing about the books they were about to publish was a blast.

There was Adam Gopnik, T.J. English, M.T. Anderson, Chandra Hoffman, Jim Murphy, Téa Obreht, Lincoln Peirce, Darrin Strauss, Jay Varner, Larry Levin, Joyce Hinnefeld, Hazel Rowley, and probably some I'm leaving out—with regret—because I enjoyed hearing about their books.

All in all I felt lucky to be there, and I was certainly luckier than usual because I won a whole $29 playing blackjack—mainly because I had the good sense to leave the table after playing just three hands.

Joe Dee & the Starliters

Several years ago, I wrote a story about this NJ group, which enjoyed a brief popularity, but was remarkably influential. A couple of people have e-mailed to ask about the story so click here or the picture above if you'd like to read it.
Enjoy.

Old Friends

Been running around today, and in the middle of it all I re-learned one of the pleasures of publishing a new book: you hear from a lot of old friends. It was great. Hope to hear from more of them.

My Novel, Comeback Love

Comeback Love will be available on November 6! Read about it right here.

A New Look

So now there is a new look for my blog, which you can read here or on my Web site, petergolden.com. Also, if you'd like to e-mail, just click on this link.

Time is getting close for the publication of my new novel, Comeback Love. Over the next couple of weeks I'll be going to Atlantic City and Providence, Rhode Island, to talk with groups of booksellers. Sounds like an adventure.

It's been a busy few weeks, and I got some other good news as well. Final plans for publication in the fall of 2011 for O Powerful Western Star, a history I wrote of the Cold War. Took me over five years. Glad it's done. Glad it's being published.

I've recently completed another novel about the New Jersey suburbs, which is waiting patiently to be rewritten, but first I have to finish a book proposal for my agent. Interesting topic, but who knows if anyone will be interested. We shall see.