Storied Charlotte

Take Back the Block: Chrystal D. Giles’s Middle-Grade Novel about the Making of a Young Activist

February 14, 2022 by Mark West

Chrystal D. Giles’s debut novel, Take Back the Block, takes on the timely issue of gentrification and its impact on Black neighborhoods. As Chrystal makes clear in her “Author’s Note” at the end of the novel, the “story is loosely based on my hometown of Charlotte. … Charlotte is experiencing an affordable-housing crisis brought on, in part, by gentrification.” Chrystal provides more information about her background and her Charlotte connections on her website: https://www.chrystaldgiles.com/

In her novel, a sixth-grade boy named Wes Henderson learns that his neighborhood of Kensington Oaks (which is based on several Black neighborhoods in Charlotte) is on the verge of being purchased by a real estate developer. If the deal goes through, Wes’s family and his neighborhood friends would all have to leave their homes. This news troubles Wes. “There is no way I could leave,” he says. “The Oaks is my home. I’ve done everything here—met my best friends, learned how to ride a bike, made my first three-pointer on the court at the park. … How could I leave all of that?” Although he would rather spend his time playing video games, Wes speaks up on behalf of his neighborhood. He gradually takes on the role of a community activist, and he succeeds in winning over others to his cause.

I recently contacted Chrystal and asked her how she came to write Take Back the Block. Here is her response:

I wouldn’t consider my path to publication a traditional one. In fact, I never even considered writing professionally as a path for myself until just several years ago. That said, I have always been a lover of books and the art of storytelling, so maybe my real journey starts with my childhood.

As a young child, I was happiest in a corner by myself reading. One of my favorite things was returning from the local public library with a stack of books; I’d spend hours sinking into a new world. Books were my first friends. That love of books did continue throughout my teenage years but I ultimately chose a career in accounting and finance and books took a backseat to my job, my family, and life in general.

That love of books did come rushing back when my husband and I started preparations for my son’s birth in 2015. We began collecting books for his library; we bought all the classics and some new stories. Then I started looking for very specific books—books that reflected my Black family—stories of us just living, learning, and being champions of our own worlds.

I was saddened that those books didn’t exist in the way I pictured them in my mind. After doing some research, I was even more saddened by the statistics on diversity in children’s literature and I set out on a path to write stories with Black children at the center.

After writing, editing, querying, and receiving rejections on several picture books, I decided to take a topic from a story I was working on and expand it into a middle-grade novel. That topic was gentrification and the displacement of people from marginalized communities. My hometown of Charlotte—like many other American cities—is experiencing rapid gentrification, and I wanted to provide an up-close view of a community fighting to remain whole. Take Back the Block was born.

It is incredibly hard to debut a novel during a pandemic but I am thrilled at all the recognition it has received. Perhaps, I am most proud it has been selected as a featured title for this year’s Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library’s Community Read program under the theme of urban renewal and gentrification. What a great way to get books directly into the hands of local readers and continue some needed conversations.

Be on the lookout for my next novel, it is set to publish in early 2023 from Random House Books for Young Readers.

In writing Take Back the Block, Chrystal shows how political activism often grows out of a simple decision to speak up. When Wes speaks up for his neighborhood, he begins forging a new identity as a community activist. As we celebrate Black History Month, it is important to remember that Charlotte’s most famous civil rights leaders all spoke up, called attention to injustice, and advocated for marginalized peoples. They made their voices heard, and in the process, they helped shape the history of Storied Charlotte.

Tags: gentrification novel

Gail Z. Martin and Larry N. Martin: Charlotte’s Writing Duo

February 07, 2022 by Mark West

The art of writing fiction does not lend itself to collaboration. It is hard for two people to write in the same voice and share the same vision for the unfolding of a story. Every once in a long while, however, two fiction writers are so in synch with each other that they are able to create stories together. Such is the case with Gail Z. Martin and Larry N. Martin. This married couple collaborates on every aspect of fiction writing, from constructing initial plotlines and envisioning central characters all the way down to revising individual sentences.

Known for their fantasy adventures novels, Gail and Larry are among Charlotte’s most prolific writers. Together or separately, they have published in the neighborhood of fifty books. Both Gail and Larry have written successful novels on their own. Gail Martin’s first big success came in 2007 with the publication of the epic fantasy novel The Summoner, the first of the four novels in the Chronicles of the Necromancer series. She then went on to write many more fantasy novels, novellas, and short stories. Larry is the author of Salvage Rat, a science fiction novel published in 2018 as well as other works. Together, however, they have written dozens of fantasy books, including the recently released Wasteland Marshals: Volume One, a collection of four related novellas set in a post-apocalyptic world.

I recently contacted Gail and asked her for more information about her collaborative writing with Larry. Here is what she sent to me:

Larry N. Martin and I are a married writing team. I have been writing all my life and Larry has always been a very important behind-the-scenes part of the writing process since before my first book, The Summoner, was published in 2007. We’ve been “officially” co-authoring series since Iron & Blood in 2015. He took on a full-time role in 2011 when he left his corporate job, and since then writing and publishing is the Martin family business. We now have four series under the Gail Z. Martin/Larry N. Martin flag.

Regardless of the name on the cover, the process is the same for all the books. I usually do the first draft, and then send it to him for revisions, questions, ideas, and refinement. We trade the manuscript back and forth until it’s in the final format (which can be a dozen or more revisions) and then on our self-published books he handles the formatting while I contract the editing and cover art, and handle the marketing/advertising. Since we average publishing a book a month among the differing cover names (Gail Z. Martin/Morgan Brice/Gail Z. Martin & Larry N. Martin), that keeps us pretty busy! We have 12 active series that span epic and urban fantasy, steampunk, post-apocalyptic adventure, portal fantasy, space opera, and MM paranormal romance.

The Wasteland Marshals series is “Boondock Saints meets The Walking Dead” with a dash of Supernatural (only oddly enough, a bit more hopeful). It’s an action-packed near-future post-apocalyptic thriller full of grim ghosts, legendary creatures, shifters and elemental spirits, brave survivors, loyal friends, and found family.

Shane Collins and Lucas Maddox are the last two US Marshals after a global cataclysm that destroyed most of modern civilization. They’re still on the job, fighting the good fight, although they’re no longer fully human and maybe not entirely sane. Their territory is primarily Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Maryland. The books frequently happen in places where Larry and I grew up, so it’s fun to work in those familiar spots with a whole new twist.

Wasteland Marshals: Volume One came out on February 1 and includes the first four novellas: Wasteland Marshals, Witch of the Woods, Ghost of the Past, and Shutdown Crew. Each of those novellas was originally published individually in ebook and paperback. The omnibus is available in ebook, paperback, hardcover, and–hopefully in the near future–audiobook, from Falstaff Books. We have a new contract with Falstaff for two longer books in the Wasteland Marshals series in 2022-2023.

For readers who want to know more about Gail and Larry and their various books, please click on the following link: https://ascendantkingdoms.com/ For a guided tour of the places used in the Wasteland Marshals series, please click on the following link: https://youtu.be/ni-4uvsOuIU Larry talked about the Wasteland Marshals series on a panel discussion as part of the ConTinual online convention. To hear his comments, click on this link: https://www.facebook.com/1340269512/videos/419561259954889/

The collaborative work of Gail and Larry Martin is one of the reasons why Storied Charlotte is known as a center for fantasy and science fiction writing.

Tags: fantasy adventure novels fiction writing

Kicking Off Black History Month with a Talk by Historian Dr. Erika Denise Edwards

January 31, 2022 by Mark West

February is Black History Month, so it is fitting that Dr. Erika Denise Edwards will be talking about her award-winning book titled Hiding in Plain Sight: Black Women, the Law, and the Making of a White Argentine Republic in February as part of UNC Charlotte’s Personally Speaking Series. Her virtual presentation/conversation will take place at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2022. This free virtual event is open to the public. Register to join the conversation.

Dr. Edwards is an Associate Professor in UNC Charlotte’s History Department, where she has been teaching since 2012. An expert on the history of the Black experience in Argentina, she draws on this expertise in Hiding in Plain Sight, which the University of Alabama Press published in 2020. In discussing her book on the Women’s History Network blog, Dr. Edwards wrote:

Set during the eighteenth and early nineteenth century, my book, Hiding in Plain Sight: Black Women, the Law and the Making of a White Argentine Republic, focuses on women … who took matters into their own hands and sought to better their lives and the lives of their children by escaping their blackness. By examining the household as the epicenter for this transformation my book intentionally makes black women, enslaved or free, the protagonists of the whitening. Moreover, the exploration of the household activities such as domestic chores, daily interactions, and raising children created various forms of intimacy and emotional attachments that created the spaces for African descended women to maneuver and transform into Spanish women in Argentina.

Known as a “white” country today, my book examines how African descended women contributed to the making of a white Argentina (1776-1840). It focuses on the city of Córdoba, in order to expand our understanding of race relations beyond Buenos Aires. A contrast in many ways to Buenos Aires, Córdoba served as a good case study because of its small size. I was able to cross-reference various sources which detailed the lives of various African- descended women. …

At its core, this book is about resistance. In general, rebellions and revolutions have encapsulated black resistance, but this book engages “everyday forms of resistance.” African descended women adapted to the choices they were given, signifying that they did not passively rely on others to secure their social advancement. Instead, while remaining hidden in plain sight, they adapted not only to the rules of the household but also forged their own experiences.

For readers who are interested in learning more about Hiding in Plain Sight, the publisher has additional information on its website: http://www.uapress.ua.edu/product/Hiding-in-Plain-Sight,7299.aspx For readers who want to know more about Dr. Edwards, please click on the following link: https://www.erika-denise-edwards.com/

Through her work as a historian who specializes in Afro-Latin America, Dr. Edwards helps us better understand that Black history extends well beyond the borders of the United States. Her Hiding in Plain Sight adds an international dimension to the ever-expanding library of books that make up Storied Charlotte.

Amber Smith’s Transformation from Art Curator to Author of Books for Young People

January 25, 2022 by Mark West

I met Amber Smith a few weeks ago at Park Road Books, where she was signing copies of her just-released, middle-grade novel titled Code Name: Serendipity. I bought a copy of her book and talked with her about her experiences as a Charlotte author while she was signing the book. She told me that she moved to Charlotte from Buffalo, New York, and that she launched her writing career after moving to Charlotte. I was going to ask her about her three young adult novels, but then some actual young adults (previously known as teenagers) showed up, so I said goodbye to Amber and headed home with my new book in hand.

Since meeting Amber, I have done a little research into her career, and I was surprised to learn that she worked as an art curator before becoming a full-time author. She published her debut young adult novel, The Way I Used to Be, in 2016, and the book went on to become a New York Times bestseller. She then wrote two more critically acclaimed YA novels: The Last to Let Go, which came out in 2018, and Something Like Gravity, which appeared in 2019. Her three YA novels deal with serious and sometimes troubling topics, such as gendered violence, but her new middle-grade novel is more upbeat in tone. For readers who want to know more about Amber and her books, please click on the following link: https://ambersmithauthor.com/

Code Name: Serendipity is about the special relationship between an eleven-year-old girl named Sadie and a stray dog named Dewey. The story is also about Sadie’s family, which includes her two moms, her older brother, and her grandfather. The plot, however, revolves around Sadie’s mission to rescue Dewey. In some ways, the book reminds me of Charlotte’s Web in which a girl named Fern sets out to rescue a pig named Wilbur. In both cases, there is a magical bond between the girls with the animals they set out to save.

Code Name: Serendipity is already receiving very positive reviews. For example, the reviewer for Publishers Weekly wrote, “Smith creates three-dimensional characters and a warm family dynamic, sensitively portraying learning differences and a beloved grandparent with dementia, and exploring difficult feelings without offering easy answers. Sadie’s struggles with friendship and being taken seriously ring true, as do her sympathetic voice and heartfelt love of dogs.”

I contacted Amber and asked her for more information about her writing career and her latest book. Here is what she sent to me:

While I’ve always been involved with the arts and creative writing, it wasn’t until I moved to Charlotte nearly thirteen years ago that I began seriously writing fiction. I grew up in Buffalo, New York, and also went to college there (I have my BFA in Painting and my Master’s in Art History). I moved down to Charlotte after grad school in 2009 (joining the huge Western New York contingent that lives here) to work at The Mint Museum, where I spent six years in its modern and contemporary art department, honing my nonfiction writing skills.

Spending so much time with visual artists, writing about their lives and work, helping to tell their stories…I eventually felt inspired to start telling my own, which led me to begin writing what would become my debut young adult novel. After I sold that book, I made the difficult/scary/rewarding decision to leave the museum world to be a full-time writer. I think a huge part of that decision was knowing that there is such a strong literary community here in Charlotte, from its indie bookstores and libraries, and all the amazing writing groups, I have connected with so many fantastic writers who live here. Honestly, their counsel and friendship has been life-changing.

Code Name: Serendipity is my fourth novel, but it is my first for middle-grade readers (age 8-12). After writing three young adult novels that dealt with pretty serious, hard-hitting topics, I felt like I needed to give myself a bit of a break, and so this book is a departure into new territory for me. It’s about a lonely eleven-year-old girl who meets a stray dog and discovers they have a deep, magical connection. Like all of my books, this one stemmed out of something from my life. I started writing Code Name: Serendipity not long after I had to say goodbye to my sweet dog, Darwin. He was with me for twelve wonderful years, a constant source of love and companionship through all of life’s ups and downs.

Ever since I was a little kid, a huge part of my heart has been reserved for animals. I’m especially passionate about rescuing those misunderstood animals who either have behavioral or health issues that make second chances hard to come by (my wife and I currently have seven of these rescues—two dogs and five cats). This book was inspired by Darwin, and each of these beautiful misfit souls who just needed to be shown a little love and patience. I firmly believe that animals are here to show us humans how to be the best versions of ourselves – and that’s really the message at the heart of Code Name: Serendipity.

Amber is participating in a virtual event titled “Writing Younger Characters” with Paula Martinac. Hosted by Charlotte Readers Podcast, this event will take place on Wednesday, January 26, 2022, from 5:30 to 6:30. For more information about this event, please click on the following link: FACEBOOK LIVE with AMBER SMITH & PAULA MARTINAC

As a lover of words, I like Amber’s use of the word “serendipity” in the title of her book, for I think that “serendipity” is a cool word. My dictionary defines the word as “the gift of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for.” Serendipity is involved when Sadie finds Dewey in the woods near her home. I think that serendipity was also involved when Amber found her voice as a writer after making Storied Charlotte her home.

Tags: middle-grade novel

Charlotte Mecklenburg Library’s New Bookmobile

January 18, 2022 by Mark West

When I heard about Charlotte Mecklenburg Library’s new bookmobile, I immediately flashed back to my first visit to a bookmobile. I grew up in the mountains of Colorado where the closest public library was many miles away from my home. However, every month the county sent a bookmobile to the Inter-Canyon Fire Department, where both of my parents served as volunteer firefighters. My mother would bring my brother, sister, and me to the bookmobile, and we each got to take home a book or two. The first book I checked out was Curious George. I was about six at the time, but I felt very grown-up when I checked out the book all by myself. Our bookmobile had once been a bus from the 1940s before being converted into a bookmobile, but we loved it despite its run-down appearance. We always looked forward to our bookmobile day.

Like the bookmobile from my childhood, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library’s new Mobile Library is intended to serve patrons who cannot easily visit one of the library’s branch locations. The new Mobile Library, however, is not a converted old bus. It is a state-of-the-art, 33-foot-long vehicle with its own generator and solar panels. It has an ADA-compatible wheelchair lift, a speaker system, free Wi-Fi, eight public-use Chromebooks, and sufficient shelf space for 2,400 books, audiobooks, magazines, CDs and DVDs. For more information about the Mobile Library, please click on the following link: https://www.cmlibrary.org/mobilelibrary

The Mobile Library will begin serving the community on January 18, 2022. Saul Hernandez, the Mobile Library Coordinator, is looking forward to the launching of this new outreach service. I contacted Saul and asked him for his thoughts on the Mobile Library and the role that it will play in the Charlotte community. Here is what he sent to me:

The Mobile Library—which we’ve nicknamed MoLi around here—offers the opportunity for people to embrace library services in their collective backyard, even those who might not enjoy convenient access to brick-and-mortar locations. As MoLi begins its first voyages into the community, we’re excited to connect to people who are already passionate about library services as well as those who might be unfamiliar with the amazing services that are available through the golden ticket that is a Charlotte Mecklenburg Library card.

Some Mecklenburg residents might experience limitations in connecting to these services. Some who might otherwise be a passionate library customer may find themselves experiencing barriers to our services, only needing an opportunity to avail themselves of these golden opportunities. That’s where MoLi shines; we aim to provide opportunities to connect to the library throughout Mecklenburg County, to act on the principle of equitable access to information, and to deepen our existing connection to the community through the opportunities that MoLi provides us.

As we begin using MoLi to serve our communities, we are looking for opportunities to collaborate with customers to learn how we can improve our library. I’m reminded of a young man I met recently who expressed interest in starting a small business and borrowed related reading material. The privilege of being allowed these little glimpses into people’s goals, into their lives, and to help connect them to the tools they need for self-actualization is the engine that drives MoLi. I hope to meet this young man again, to learn where his book has taken him, and to deepen the service MoLi provides by offering resources and workshops related to his goals. The Mobile Library is in its infancy, but like our entrepreneur friend, we have long-term goals and passion to make our home, Mecklenburg County, that much stronger.

When you see MoLi on the road, give us a wave! Come aboard and take advantage of the services and resources that the Mobile Library offers. Share a story about some of your personal goals; we may have just what you need to help you achieve your life goals. We are looking forward to growing alongside you!

The Charlotte Mecklenburg Library will hold a special ribbon-cutting event to mark the arrival of MoLi. Billed as the Mobile Library Community Celebration, this event will take place on January 29, 2022, from 10 a.m. to noon at the Eastway Regional Recreation Center, 150 Eastway Park Drive. The arrival of MoLi is indeed a cause for celebration, for the new Mobile Library will undoubtedly enrich Storied Charlotte by bringing books to readers and by providing library services to residents who might not be able to visit one of the library’s branch locations.

Authors Assemble: Writing Organizations and Groups in Charlotte

January 10, 2022 by Mark West

One of my former students recently sent me an email about her resolution for the new year. “I have one big goal for 2022,” she wrote, “and that’s to finish the YA novel that I started while I was a graduate student at UNC Charlotte.” She asked me if I had any advice for her related to her goal. I gave her the same advice that I often give to Charlotte writers who are looking for help or support with their writing. I advised her to join one of Charlotte’s organizations for writers. Such organizations can provide writers with support, encouragement, and a needed break from the solitude of a study. Charlotte is home to several organizations and groups for writers, but for the purposes of this blog post, I will focus on three of them.

Charlotte Lit – The Charlotte Center for Literary Arts, more commonly known as Charlotte Lit, is a nonprofit arts center that holds more than 100 events annually. Founded in 2015 by Kathie Collins and Paul Reali, Charlotte Lit declares on its website that its mission “is to celebrate the literary arts by educating and engaging writers through classes, conversation, and community.” Charlotte Lit offers a wide variety of writing classes and workshops. For example, this month Kathie Collins and Larry Sorkin are co-teaching a course called “Mythology and Depth Psychology: A Crash Course for Writers.” Charlotte Lit also publishes a literary journal titled Litmosphere, sponsors or co-sponsors lectures and readings by writers, and holds writing contests. For more information about Charlotte Lit, please click on the following link: https://www.charlottelit.org/

Charlotte Writers Club – Founded in 1922, the Charlotte Writers Club (CWC) has a long history of supporting Charlotte-area writers by offering workshops, helping writers find critique groups, and sponsoring contests. The CWC meets monthly, and usually, a prominent writer gives a presentation at the meeting. The next meeting will take place on Tuesday, January 18, at 6:30 p.m. via Zoom. At this meeting author, Megan Miranda will give a presentation titled “Finding the Right Way to Tell Your Story.” For more information about the Charlotte Writers Club, please click on the following link: https://charlottewritersclub.org/home

Charlotte Mecklenburg Library’s Writing Groups – The Charlotte Mecklenburg Library sponsors a variety of writing groups, all of which are currently meeting online. Some of these groups are intended for adults while others are for children or teenagers. For example, on Wednesday, January 19, the Independence Regional Branch is sponsoring its “Adult Poetry Club” from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Also on January 19, the ImaginOn Preteen Writing Group meets from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. For more information about the public library’s writing groups, please click on the following link: https://cmlibrary.bibliocommons.com/events/search/q=writing%20group

The ready availability of writing organizations and groups is one of the reasons why Charlotte is home to so many successful writers. Aspiring Charlotte writers, such as my former graduate student, can easily find the help and encouragement they need to achieve their writing goals and make their own contributions to Storied Charlotte’s ever-expanding library.

Meredith Ritchie’s Poster Girls: A Historical Novel Set in Charlotte During WWII

December 20, 2021 by Mark West

During World War II, the name Rosie the Riveter was often used when referring to the women who played such a crucial role in the production of war-related materials. Norman Rockwell created an iconic image of Rosie the Riveter that ran on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post in 1943 and then was reproduced as a popular poster. This image of Rosie the Riveter serves as a touchstone for Meredith Ritchie’s Poster Girls, a historical novel that deals with the women who worked at Charlotte’s Shell Plant where they manufactured ammunition for the war effort. Meredith tells the story from the perspectives of two military wives—one black and the other white—who both find employment at the Shell Plant. The novel delves into the nature of life on the home front, but it is also a story about an unlikely friendship.

A native of Charlotte, Meredith has many years of experience in the area of business communications. She has worked for some of Charlotte’s leading financial institutions, but there is a big difference between business writing and writing a work of historical fiction. For Meredith, the decision to try her hand at writing a historical novel was tied to her experience as a mother of triplets. When her three kids headed all off to college, she decided that the time had come for her to pursue her dream of writing fiction. I recently contacted Meredith and asked her for more information about this decision. Here is what she sent to me:

Going from zero to three kids overnight in 2000 was scary, but not as scary as going from three to zero in 2018. I still had my career, but in anticipation of this dramatic cessation of “noise” in my house, I did some self-reflection to figure out what I wanted to do next (rather than “helicopter parent” my kids on three separate campuses). In those busy years, whenever I could grab a few moments, I loved to read historical fiction and a good HF book would often make me want to research more about that time and place. I have always been a good business writer, thanks to my jobs in banking. Creative writing offered the steep learning curve I was looking for to occupy my time after my kids graduated.

My story idea of a women’s empowerment book and the forgotten Shell Plant as its setting came to me at the dawn of the #metoo movement. Then I wrote the story through the Black Lives Matter movement. Every time I Googled something out of curiosity, another piece of the puzzle fell into place. It is a story about my character’s awakening that mirrored my own. To borrow a quote from the amazing Toni Morrison, I wrote my first novel because I wanted to read it. I had the story idea and the drive, I just needed to hone my skills to get it done. So I started reaching out to local authors like Sarah Creech and Kathy Izard. They were gracious enough to meet with me and share their journeys. They told me about Author’s Lab and I was accepted into the 2019 class. I have always loved a school setting, and I like to think I got my “MFA” from A-Lab. For twelve months, we met all day on Saturday once a month. Paula Martinac was my A-Lab writing coach and she guided me through the completion of my first draft by April of 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic lockdown. By completing my manuscript, I learned I was part of only 3% of all people who try to write a book. I also learned that the hardest part was yet to come. The revision process and the submission process were grueling, but by that time I was determined to honor my story and my characters and see this thing through. My kids were watching me too. Would mom quit or finish what she started?

I have always loved puzzles of any kind. The editing and revision process is a lot like a 100,000-word puzzle that I was determined to solve. I used many local editor resources like Kim Wright and Betsy Thorpe and Warren Publishing to mold the story into its current form.

I’m not the kind of writer who journals every day or has to write every thought and feeling down in order to process it. There’s just not enough time in the day, as I am still employed full time by one of the major banks in town. Before I began this journey, I admired writers and learned something from every book I read. So my goal in writing was always this: I wanted to offer my story to the reader with the high minded pursuit of letting them see themselves, so they don’t feel as alone. This is especially important for women, including women of color, to see stories where they are empowered to make positive change through their own unique style.

This is what I’ve tried to do. It’s not perfect. It’s my first novel, but I learned so much about Charlotte and about myself from writing it. I can only hope the characters might teach others as well. I’m already starting to craft my second novel, also a women’s empowerment story told through historical fiction, and based on my husband’s family living in Tombstone, Arizona.

For readers who want to know more about Meredith and Poster Girls, please click on the following link: https://www.meredithritchie.com/

Charlotte’s gleaming skyscrapers and countless new condominium projects reflect Charlotte’s status as a quintessential New South city. Charlotte might give the appearance of being brand new, but the city actually has a long and rich history. One chapter in that history relates Charlotte’s role as a center for the production of naval ammunition shells during World Warr II. Meredith Ritchie’s Poster Girls does an excellent job of showing how the Shell Plant shaped life in Storied Charlotte in the early 1940s.

Tags: fiction historical novel Shell Plant

Derick Wilder’s Poignant Picture Book about a Dog and His Child Friend

December 13, 2021 by Mark West

I grew up on the side of a mountain where I had something of a feral childhood. I spent much of my early childhood wandering around the mountain, but I was usually not alone. We had an old collie named Gypsy, and she almost always stayed at my side or rested nearby, always keeping an eye on me. My parents used to say that they had me but Gypsy raised me. I thought about Gypsy as I read Derick Wilder’s touching debut picture book titled The Longest Letsgoboy. Gypsy is long gone, but I have a feeling that she would identify with the dog in this book.

Published in October by Chronicle Books, The Longest Letsgoboy tells the story of an old dog and a young girl going for one last walk in the woods together. Narrated in the voice of the dog, the story beautifully captures the special relationship between a dog and a child. The dog has a unique way of talking. He has his own words for the things that are important to him. He calls trees tallsticks, refers to squirrels as branchjumpers, and uses the name Little when talking about his girl. The dog’s love of Little shines through on every page. He cares deeply about Little, and he wants to make sure that she is going to be okay. Cátia Chien’s mixed-media illustrations are in perfect synch with the strong emotions that the story evokes.

With the publication of The Longest Letsgoboy, Derick now joins the ranks of picture book authors and illustrators who call the Charlotte area home. However, Derick took a long and winding road on his journey to becoming a published picture book author. I asked him about how he came to write this book, and here is what he sent to me:

I’ve been writing since I was a kid—journaling vacations, penning poetic birthday cards, and scribbling silly stories. And after one career in technology and another working with children, I’ve sort of come full circle, initially falling in love with picture books after spending endless hours sitting on the floor of our library and local bookstores with my little girl. Once hooked, I began scribbling silly stories again, this time for an audience of one.

Fast forward almost a decade and that little girl has magically become a teen. Meanwhile, one of those silly stories turned into an actual book, as The Longest Letsgoboy, illustrated by Cátia Chien, was released in October. It’s a circle-of-life tale told through the eyes of an aging dog, and sprinkled with his own dog-speak, taking a final walk with his best friend, a little girl.

This book was actually inspired by a real-life event. I write on the back patio quite a bit, and my huskies at the time, Lakota and Kaya, would often sit by my feet. One morning, Lakota, then an elderly boy, got up and slowly strolled around our yard. I followed him, and it felt like he was saying farewell to the surrounding flora and fauna. So I substituted my daughter and imagined them walking through the woods, with the dog knowing it would be his last day on Earth. I wrote a (very bad) first draft that morning, then spent time in the forests of our local greenway, trying to figure out how a dog might refer to the natural elements. I’d watch squirrels, lie under trees and stare at their canopies, speak to flowers, and listen to streams. Next, I started trying combinations of small words to create dog-speak that made sense and, just as importantly, could be easily pronounced when read aloud. Finally, after about 50 revisions and multiple rejections, Jenna Pocius, my agent, found the perfect home for the story at Chronicle Books.

My next picture book, illustrated by K-Fai Steele and also published by Chronicle, is slated for May. This one will be very different, as it’s titled Does a Bulldozer Have a Butt? and is written in rhyme. But one common thread is that it was also inspired by a real-life event—my young daughter was in the back seat as we stopped behind a school bus and blurted out, “Look Daddy, the school bus has a butt!” It was a brilliant, childlike perspective that I would never have thought of… she wants royalties.

For readers who want to know more about Derick, please click on the following link: https://www.derickwilder.com/

The Charlotte area is home to a number of remarkable picture book authors and illustrators, including Vanessa Brantley-Newton, Gail Haley, Brandon Reese, and Alicia D. Williams. I am pleased to add Derick Wilder’s name to my list of Storied Charlotte picture book authors.

Tags: dog picture book

Experiencing New York’s 19th-Century Theater Scene with Paula Martinac

December 05, 2021 by Mark West

Novelist Paula Martinac has established herself as one of Charlotte’s leading lesbian writers, but she is also known for her well-researched historical fiction. Over the course of her career, she has written several novels set during the middle decades of the 20^th century, such as Testimony, a novel about a professor who teaches at a private college for women in rural Virginia in the early 1960s. However, Paula’s most recent novel, Dear Miss Cushman (Bywater Books), is her first work of historical fiction that is set during the 19^th century.

Dear Miss Cushman takes place in New York City during the 1850s. It is told from the point of view of Georgiana “Georgie” Cartwright, a young woman who aspires to be a professional actress. Georgie’s role model is Charlotte Cushman, who was a real 19^th-century American actress. In Paula’s novel, Georgie initiates correspondence with Charlotte Cushman, which explains the title of the novel. In many ways, this novel is a coming-of-age story in which a young woman forges an identity that transcends the confines of traditional, 19^th-century gender roles. It is also, however, an immersion into the colorful theater scene as it existed in antebellum America.

For more information about this novel, please click on the following link: https://www.bywaterbooks.com/product/dear-miss-cushman-by-paula-martinac/ For readers who would like to learn more about Paula and her publications, please click on the following link: http://paulamartinac.com/

I contacted Paula and asked her how she went about researching and writing Dear Miss Cushman. Here is what she sent to me:

Dear Miss Cushman grew out of my awe for people of the distant past who pursued same-sex relationships or presented as physically different from the sex assigned them at birth—even though there wasn’t any queer identity as we now know it. The self-awareness and self-reliance they must have had amazes me. For example, real-life American actress Charlotte Cushman (1816-1876) not only forged her career playing roles written for men, like Romeo and Hamlet, but engaged in long-term romantic relationships with equally accomplished women. How were these women able to discover who they were?

I’ve always loved theater and I’ve had some plays produced, so Cushman seemed like a ripe topic for my fiction. Even so, I didn’t want to be confined by her biography. When I read that she had a following of adoring young female fans, including aspiring actresses, my character Georgiana “Georgie” Cartwright was born, along with the idea that Georgie might write Cushman letters asking for advice.

I’d never written a novel set in the 19th century, and it required a daunting amount of research. As I wrote, I kept having to go back and do even more research, digging up little details to make Georgie’s world feel real. Still, the process went quickly and was a lot of fun, aided by a 2019-2020 Creative Renewal Fellowship from the Arts and Science Council. The fellowship allowed me to turn down a few teaching gigs, giving me time to devote to the project. I was also able to make a research trip to Wilmington to visit Thalian Hall, one of the only remaining mid-19th-century theaters in the country, which still has its original painted curtain and a “thunder roll” once used to simulate storms. Standing center stage, I could imagine what Georgie saw and felt when she looked out over the footlights and that added texture to the book.

Toward the beginning of Dear Miss Cushman, Georgie writes her first letter to Charlotte Cushman. In her letter, she writes, “I had the pleasure of accompanying my uncle to The Broadway last night to see your performance of Romeo. All I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you!” Well, following Georgie’s lead, all I can say to Paula is thank you, thank you, thank you for the memorable contributions to Storied Charlotte’s ever-expanding library.

Tags: 19th century historical fiction lesbian writers

Theatre Charlotte’s 15th Annual Production of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol

November 29, 2021 by Mark West

The holiday season is all about reconnecting with the stories that we associate with the holidays. For Theatre Charlotte, this involves staging a production of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. Since 2006, Theatre Charlotte has brought Dickens’s 1843 Christmas classic to the Queen City, and Theatre Charlotte is keeping this tradition alive. Directed by Jill Bloede, this year’s production stars Hank West as Ebenezer Scrooge.

There were some difficult logistical issues that needed to be addressed in order to make this production a reality. Theatre Charlotte’s home auditorium was damaged by a fire on December 28, 2020, and the building is still in the process of being repaired. For this reason, Theatre Charlotte is staging all of the productions for its 94^th season at various locations throughout the Charlotte area, which is why they are billing it as the Road Trip Season Tour. The production of A Christmas Carol will take place at The Halton Theatre at CPCC from December 16 through December 19. Of course, the pandemic also presents logistical problems, and Theatre Charlotte is responding to this concern by requiring proof of vaccination or a recent COVID-19 test in order to attend this production. For more information about Theatre Charlotte’s production of A Christmas Carol, please click on the following link: https://www.simpletix.com/e/a-christmas-carol-tickets-75178

Theatre Charlotte’s annual production of A Christmas Carol has a special meaning for me, for it evokes one of my favorite childhood memories. Throughout my childhood, my father read aloud to my brother, sister, and me every night after we finished our homework. We had no television, so listening to Dad read was our main form of evening entertainment. One of my father’s favorite authors was Charles Dickens, and he read to us a number of Dickens’s novels. One Christmas Eve, he took Dickens’s A Christmas Carol off the shelf and read it to us. Mom didn’t usually listen to Dad read aloud, but that night she joined us in the living room. The reading of A Christmas Carol became an annual ritual. I still cherish the memory of our entire family sitting in the living room, gazing at our Christmas tree, and listening to Dad once again relate the story of Scrooge’s reformation.

The sharing of stories is one of the reasons the holiday season resonates with meaning for so many people, and one such story of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. By staging a production of this classic tale every December, Theatre Charlotte has added something special to Storied Charlotte’s holiday traditions.

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