Antoinette May Herndon 1953 words

toni@antoinettemay.com

Are Writers “Different”?

What Do You Think?

By Antoinette May Herndon

I’m always surprised at how turned on people get about writing. The idea of writing, that is.

Non writers imagine it as some kind of dream job. Women see themselves on big TV screens sharing their success secrets with an appreciative world. Men imagine a tweedy, pipe-smoking version of themselves surrounded by admiring women who hang on every word. Why not, they’re best selling authors. Right?

Did I say dream job? That’s exactly what it is—a dream. In reality, writing is a lonely business. If you’re ever going to finish what you write—much less publish it—you have to be tough and tenacious. It’s a “take no prisoners” kind of business that leaves little time for picnicking with your spouse, fishing with your guy friends or shopping expeditions with the ladies. Forget all that.

At the same time, the isolation necessary to spend hours, days, weeks, years clicking out one word after another makes connection with other writers an essential part of the business. Who else is going to recognize the satisfaction of cradling a completed manuscript in one’s arms, (an experience only transcended by the marvel of holding your own published book). The reverse is true as well. Only another writer can understand (and sympathize with) the full impact of that dreadful nine-letter word: rejection.

For myself at least, such associations are essential to creative growth. Speaking practically, feedback from an organized critique group of working colleagues is crucial if one is ever to progress as a writer—much less sell that writing.

Three excellent groups are ongoing and open to comers. They are: Writers Unlimited in Calaveras County, the Sonora Writers Group and the Amador Fiction Writers Critique Group.

It was at just such a gathering that I chanced to meet Jackson’s Helen Bonner. What a lucky break for me! Helen’s writing talent and the knowledge she has acquired as a college professor mid-wifed my transition from a non-fiction writer to a novelist. Though I’d written several biographies and travel guides, I found it difficult to move beyond a journalist’s “just the facts, Ma’am” mind set. I owe the sale and subsequent success of my first novel, “Pilate’s Wife,” to Helen Bonner.

Helen’s own track record is impressive by any standards. Her publishing company, Starthistle Press, is celebrating its first year and Helen is upbeat about its future. “A lot of people who want to write are disappointed that so much of what is happening in publishing today is independent,” she admits, but adds: “I’m not. This is the first time that people who aren’t part of the New York crowd are publishing.

“The days when self publishing meant vanity press are long gone,” Helen says. “Think ‘indie’—as in independent films. This is the wave of the future and writers need to know about that.”

Independent publishing is shaking up the writing world and Helen is part of the vanguard. Currently she’s concentrating on publishing her own books—“I need to make my own mistakes first”—but will soon be looking for talented local novelists and memoirists to publish.”

Helen has published two memoirs, “The Laid Daughter” and “First Love Last.” In 2010, her first novel, “Cry Dance,” was published to critical acclaim. It’s a sweeping saga that catapults the reader from the sacred rituals of a Sierra Paiute tribe to the luxurious penthouse of a Hollywood drug lord and finally to the beleaguered sands of Baghdad. “Cry Dance” is packed with both surprises and insights.

Helen’s new novel is equally provocative but with an entirely different spin. “Dolphin Papers” brings science fiction to a new level. How’s this for a plot:

Dr. Al Waller, a brilliant marine biologist, saves

the life of a newborn infant by adapting her to live in seawater. Unable to tell the world what he’s done—less they think him a Frankenstein—he transfers the baby to a pool with a dolphin as her only playmate. How long can Dr. Waller keep his terrible secret? And what will become of this water child, entirely human, yet physically shaped by water and socialized by a dolphin?

Helen admits to being fascinated by dolphins. “They were originally land animals,” she points out. “Why did they go back to the sea? We try to communicate with animals by getting them to talk like us. But what if we learned to talk like them? Animals are different from us but does that make them less?”

Retired judge Dick Tuttle shares Helen’s enthusiasm for writing but comes from a different place. No flights of fancy are allowed in a memoir, the judge’s chosen medium for expression. Fortunately, Dick Tuttle has no need of them.

His memoir, “Nevada City & Beyond, an Unscripted Life,” covers a span of 90 years. Whatta life! During WWII, Dick flew 18 missions as a combat radio operator before being shot down on his 19th. He was imprisoned for nearly two years in the infamous German prison camp, Stalag 17.

In 1965 he fought in a different kind of war, this one for racial integration. The battleground was Jackson, Miss.

In his memoir, Dick invites readers to shop around. Incidents are placed at random rather than chronologically. I felt that I’d entered a bazaar of often amazing experiences. An archetypical local boy who made good, the author was born in Nevada City and came of age there.

Upon graduation from high school in 1937, Dick’s father presented him with $25 for a trip to San Francisco. The sum went quite a ways in an era when an okay room could be had for 75 cents, enabling him to enjoy a young man’s rite of passage with a real pro. Apparently “Sex in the City” is merely a replay of an old, old story.

Upon discharge from the army after WWII, Dick entered Stanford Law School, graduated, and was eventually appointed chief counsel for the California Public Utilities Commission. “It was a great job,” he says in retrospect. “I argued cases before both the state and national supreme courts and had 26 lawyers under me. Then it began to bother me that there were no black people working there—not even a PUC lineman.

“I wrote a memorandum asking for this to be addressed. It was defeated 3 to 2. Suddenly the PUC just wasn’t fun any more. Then a friend and mentor, Warren Christopher, suggested: If you want to help black people, go to Mississippi.”

A position as chief counsel for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights under Law was available. Accepting the job meant taking Dick’s wife, Sally, and their five children into the heart of the racial strife

Was the Tuttle family up for the challenge? Yes, it was.

“A whiff of danger is fun,” Dick says in retrospect. “Besides, I never knew a lawyer to get killed—the racists didn’t want to shake up the FBI. It was the ministers that were getting knocked off.”

A year later he received an invitation: How would you like a year at Harvard as a Fellow? “It was a brand new fellowship program,” Dick recalls. “They wanted lawyers who’d been in public service. I qualified for that. The others were mostly Ivy League types. Perhaps someone decided to round it off with a California rustic.”

Reading Dick’s memoir is like racing through history. Imagine parties at “Ken” Galbraith’s house where Tom Lehrer played favorites like “Wernher von Braun” and “The Old Dope Peddler” and Jackie Kennedy made small talk.

Later appointments to serve as special counsel to the State Senate Committee on Utilities and Corporations and attorney member of the State Energy Commission were capped in 1976 when Gov. Jerry Brown appointed Dick to the Sacramento Superior Court.

In 2004,

he retired from this position to manage his son Jeff’s successful campaign for district attorney of Calaveras County.

Dick’s memoir left this reader breathless, but there’s no let-up for the author. After a successful two- day book launch in his native Nevada City, Dick’s busy with plans for another fete Oct. 30 at Jeff’s Union House, the restaurant he owns in Mokelumne Hill. Upcoming plans are for signings and readings in Sacramento and Boston.

“I love writing,” he says. “I just recently took time out to read ‘Nevada City and Beyond’ in the printed form and found it very satisfying—great stuff.”

Linda Field’s writing takes a different tack from Dick’s. Writing is not a culmination for her, it’s an ongoing process. One can easily speculate that she’s a born writer for both Linda’s mother and grandfather were journalists.

A former flight attendant, she knows the world like the back of her hand. Paris, Stockholm and Santiago were once Linda’s stomping grounds but more recently she bought a home in Angels Camp.

At last retired, she is immersing herself in the world of writing and writers. Linda is working on a novel set in the 1860’s. In the course of the narrative, forces set in motion during the Civil War propel the protagonists from Salamonica, NY (Linda’s original home) to the Mother Lode.

Linda’s own “Mother Lode” is the Manzanita Writers Press in San Andreas, where she is an editor and events coordinator. The latest development in Linda’s life is Manzanita Voices, a weekly radio program for writers broadcast on KVGC in Jackson.

Linda is hardly stranger to radio. She made her air waves debut at age 13. It happened that the first day of broadcasting for a new radio station was the last day of school. Surely this was fate; Linda was certain of it. “I went right in and offered to work for nothing,” she recalls. “How could they refuse? I wanted to be a disk jockey but soon became the weather girl and finally a news reporter— tearing the latest happenings off the teletype. Pretty soon I was working five days a week.”

Manzanita Voices is an hour long show in which Linda reads work sent in by listeners during the Morning Workout segment and then converses with a writer or writers on their craft. This is a new show and most of the writers have been local, but Linda is building a nation-wide listening base. As the four-month old program gains popularity, she looks forward to doing interviews with writers from all over the country.

The show’s main objective is to inform and motivate would-be writers to begin as well as to provide a forum for those who are already writing where they can communicate and learn from each other. She gives a variety of information such as the ins and out of traditional publishing vs. the eBook process and provides a platform for writers to talk about their own journeys and to share their work with a wide audience.

Manzanita Voice comes on at 9 a.m. Sunday mornings at AM 1340 but people can also listen on the internet by going to www.kygcradio.com. “It’s international show,” Linda says. “You can hear me whether you’re in Jackson or Japan.”

Editor’s Note: Helen Bonner’s books are available at amazon.com, Lulu.com or www.hbonnerbooks.com Dick Tuttle’s book is available from the publisher, Comstock Bonanza Press, or at amazon.com. Antoinette May Herndon is the author of two novels, “Pilate’s Wife” and “The Sacred Well” both published by HarperCollins. She is the founding director of the annual Gold Rush Writers Conference. The 2012 conference will be held May 4, 5, and 6 at the Hotel Leger in Mokelumne Hill.

Caption:

Jackson’s Helen Bonner is a publisher as well as a novelist and memoirist

Dick Tuttle’s memoir is living history. He resides with his wife, Sally, Mokelumne Hill.

Linda Field, herself a novelist, hosts a radio show by and for writers. She is a newcomer to Angels Camp.

FOOTHILL FLAVORS 1517 words

The Ghosts Who Come for Dinner

By Antoinette May Herndon

Oh, the days grow shorter . . . September . . . September’s gone! October slipping away. Cold, brown November lumbering toward us like Frankenstein.

Halloween hovers close, the cauldron bubbles as the Great Pumpkin casts his shadow. Isn’t it time to lay at least one ghost to rest once and for all? What better way than to dine at some of the area’s best restaurants, restaurants that also happen to be haunted.

I don’t just think there’s a ghost lurking the hallways of Mokelumne Hill’s Hotel Leger, I know there is.

Picture this: Charles and I were having dinner on the hotel’s balcony with out of town friends, Mark and Marlo Falkner. Marlo was sitting across from me in the doorway. Behind her, slightly to the right, was a service table.

Nothing else. Get it, there was nobody there. Except suddenly, Marlo gave out a loud yelp. Someone or something had grabbed her by the shoulder.

That’s one story. The hotel has many. One of the most historic hostelries in the Mother Lode, the Leger (pronounced “luh zhay”) has always been the center of town activity. A hotel has existed on the corner of Lafayette and Main since 1851. Up until 1866, the building included the county courthouse with a convenient downstairs dungeon and a hanging tree out back.

Since “the Hill” was the biggest, baddest, most important mining camp in Calaveras County (according to the records, 17 people killed there in 17 weeks, then five more shot the following weekend), it scarcely seems surprising that such riotous goings on would inspire a legion of restless spirits.

One evening Jane Canty, a former Leger owner, cleaned up the dining room after a party. Jane used three keys to lock three doors before leaving late at that night. She returned the next morning and unlocked the doors only to find the room in total disarray. Tables were shoved together. Dishes, glasses and silver used.

“A hoax seems unlikely,” she says in retrospect. “The mess was so elaborate—a lot of trouble to execute and difficult to conceal.”

Then there’s the afternoon that a former hotel manager, Shana Molotch, leaned against the ice machine in the cellar chatting with a plumber. “Is this place haunted?” he asked.

Shana shrugged. “People believe what they want to believe.”

The next moment Shana became an instant believer when something shoved hard enough to knock her forward. Red marks remained on her shoulder for two days.

Nobody likes a ghost story better than I do, I could go on and on about the Leger’s haunted history, but this is supposed to be a dining column. The Leger has new owners, Tracy and Daryl Zellers, who have posted an exciting new menu.

There are lots of selections from which to choose but I favor the fish and chips. The fish, usually cod, is light, fresh and tender, hand-breaded and dipped in egg yolk—it just couldn’t be better. The fresh yummy chips

are wrapped in paper. Ok, so it isn’t the London Times but can the Lodestar be far behind?

(The Hotel Leger, 8304 Main, Mokelumne Hill. Phone: 286-1401.)

Jamestown’s picturesque Willow Steakhouse also has a story to tell. Kim Lorensen, a member of the wait staff, has been singled out for ghostly manifestations. “Someone— something call—calls my name when there’s nobody there,” she told me. “And that’s not all. Many the staff have seen cups and silverware move through the air of their own volition.”

None of this seems too surprising since the Willow has enough history to stir up a legion restless shades. First off, the original 1862 structure was built on the site of a collapsed mineshaft that took the lives of 24 men. A series of devastating fires followed, then a succession of lynchings and murders.

One might surmise that such a collection of tragedies would leave a dark aura about the place. Au contrair! The Willow Steakhouse oozes gilded Gold Rush glamour. Think oak wainscoting topped with flowered wallpaper and cozy oak booths flanking a row of tables with high-backed chairs.

It’s easy to imagine the illustrious celebrities of the past who are said to have dined there: the gracious Mrs. Robert E. Lee, the gunslinger Bat Masterson, and the illustrious President William McKinley. A fun surprise at the Willow is the fondue served in lieu of bread and butter. It’s a thick, lush fondue with a strong cheddar flavour. A favourite entree of mine is the pepper steak which comes covered with green peppercorns and a to die for brandy cream sauce.

(The Willow Steakhouse. 18723 Main St., Jamestown. 984-3998.)

“Twas the sad tale of floating Flo that lured me to another Jamestown bistro, the National Hotel Restaurant.

How’s this for a classic ghost story:

More than 100 years ago, Flo, 19 and pretty, checked into the National Hotel with a story to tell. A New York heiress, she’d met Henry, a handsome young lawyer, while traveling by train to San Francisco.

It was love at first sight, Flo confided to the other hotel guests. Henry proposed marriage, but knowing her relatives would be outraged, the couple planned to meet six weeks later in Jamestown where Henry was to travel on business.

Flo kept her rendezvous with Henry at the National—separate rooms of course. A wedding was planned, only days away. Flo hired a local dressmaker to sew a lovely lace-trimmed wedding gown. On Christmas morning Henry presented Flo with a diamond ring.

The day after Christmas Flo sat in the dining room waiting for Henry to come down when a shot rang out. The story goes that a drunkard stumbled into the doorway of the hotel and shot Henry as he descended the stairs. Flo found him at the bottom lying in a pool of blood.

The hotel staff heard uncontrollable sobs throughout that day and night, and the next night and the one after that. On New Year’s Eve they heard nothing. Alarmed, the manager entered Flo’s room to find her seated by the open window dressed in her wedding gown. She was dead.

“Heart failure,” the doctor said, but those

who’d come to know Flo bore witness that her heart had not failed—it had broken.

That night revellers passing by the hotel were startled by the apparition of a “woman in white” floating at an upstairs window.

There are those who believe that Flo still floats—mainly through the National Hotel’s dining room.

Even if you come up short on a Flo sighting, you’re certain of enjoying a splendid dinner at the National. The restaurant has received Triple A’s coveted 3-Diamond Award for thirty years.

The dining room of the 1859 hotel is warm and comfortable with lots of charming old paintings and photographs. There’s a sense of history everywhere you look. Think 19th century elegance transformed to 21st century comfort.

Try the National’s signature dish, scampi etoufflee—prawns sautéed Cajun style with scallions, and tomatoes, mushrooms with white wine and herbs.

(National Hotel, 18183 Main St., Jamestown. Phone: 084-3446.)

Time doesn’t stand still at Amador City’s Imperial Hotel but it does slow down a bit. Things happen here . . . sometimes before your very eyes.

The hotel, bar and restaurant, built in 1879, has seen enough action to draw any number of spirits. Mary Ann McCamant, who, with her husband Jim, owns the Imperial, claims to have seen at least one.

She tells of a gunslinger who met his end at the hotel. Sometimes the one-time bad man forgets his place in the cosmic scheme of things. That’s when Mary Ann placates his restless shade with a shot of whiskey left in the room where the bad guy met his maker.

The Imperial’s dining room has frontier elegance. Picture exposed brick, silk hangings and vivid paintings. Whimsy is the operative word and it makes for a fun evening.

For a delicious seasonal treat, try the pumpkin ravioli served with butter, garlic, wine and sage sauce. But be certain to save plenty of space because desserts are a specialty at the Imperial.

Each is a creation of the celebrated Ingrid Fraser, a Culinary Institute star known throughout Northern California for her elegant and delicious cakes. Sunset Magazine features Fraser’s desserts and recipes and she teaches pastry classes through the Amador County Learning Network. Faced with such temptation, who wants to be strong? The season offers a ready excuse. Just say: “The devil made me do it.”

(Imperial Hotel. 14202 Old Highway 49, Amador City. Phone: 267-9172.)

Antoinette’s Note: My ghostly guide, “Haunted Houses of California” (Wide World Publications) is available at any bookstore or can be ordered from Amazon.com. Buy one, drop by the house and I’ll sign it for you. Did you know that our place in Mokelumne Hill is haunted? Come see, we welcome trick or treaters come Halloween.

Pictures:

Lovebirds, Brenda Nasser and Ed Cline originated the popular Martini Night at the Hotel Leger. They welcome spirits of all kinds.

The usual suspects at the Hotel Leger enjoy all kinds of spirits. Photos by Bob Pynenburg

518 words

A Fairy Tale Medium for Mountain Ranch Author

To say that Rachel—known professionally as R.M.—ArceJaeger leads a fairytale life is to say it like it is.

Still in her early 20s, the Mountain Ranch resident may be the youngest addition to the Foothill’s professional writing scene, but she is definitely making an impact.

Rachel’s upcoming novel, “Robin: Lady of Legend,” is a fresh and engaging reinvention of the classic tale of Robin Hood which offers readers a unique twist. Rachel’s Robin Hood is a female.

“The book,” she says, “provides girls with an empowering heroine of their very own while still thrilling audiences of both genders.” It will debut Nov. 1.

Several of Rachel’s short stories follow similar themes. Traditional fairytales are transformed in manners that are both revolutionary and compelling. “There is something about fairytales that resonates with each of us,” Rachel believes. “Maybe because we grew up with them, they have a nostalgic quality, or maybe because they speak

to deeper truths about humanity: good should (and shall!) triumph over evil, etc.

“As a result, we tend to know these stories so well that it is difficult to imagine a truly new way of presenting them. That's what I love about spinning these classic tales. I not only get to work with and contribute to the legacy of a story I love, but I get to make readers stand back from the tales they thought they knew so well and completely re- imagine them in an entirely unique way. When you're dealing with stories that range between hundreds to several thousand years old, that's saying something!

Rachel’s own life underwent a transformation in 2005. While a student at Bret Harte High, she was named a California Arts Scholar in Creative Writing. Surprisingly, upon graduation the following year, Rachel’s path took a new direction. She went on to obtain a BS degree in computer science at Harvey Mudd College.

Asked why she opted to pursue a science curriculum rather than one in literature or writing, Rachel had a ready answer. “I didn’t want to limit myself.

I knew that if I got a degree in writing, then all I could really do was write, but if I got a degree in a STEM field, my options would be much broader.”

In just a few short years Rachel has put her talent and training in science to good use, freelancing as a website designer, manuscript editor, and ebook formatter, in addition to running her own publishing company, Platypus Press.

Platypus Press produces both traditional (printed) and electronic publications, but specializes in publishing books onto Kindle, Nook, and iPad.

Rachel credits her computer science education with the success of the Press. “I can handle anything my clients want, because I understand the technology I’m dealing it. That is a huge advantage over a lot of other publishers.”

To learn more about Robin: Lady of Legend or to pre-order the book, readers may visit the book’s website at: www.ladyoflegend.com. To read more about the emergent R.M. ArceJaeger, visit Rachel’s website at: www.rmarcejaeger.com.

Caption:

Rachel (R.M.)ArceJaeger’s are becoming a living legend.

413 words

OLD LETTERS SPARK NEW BOOK

Charity Maness of Copperopolis is the author of a recently released non -fiction book, “It’s Lonely Here in Hell” Love Letters from Nam.

The story begins with a letter sent from PFC Jim Piper to his bride, Michelle.

On April 9, 1969 the young soldier writes, “I thank God each night for my wife and my life and also enjoy each breath that I take . . .”

Two days later he is killed in action while serving in Vietnam.

Maness has carefully transcribed and historically documented Piper’s handwritten letters. By cross referencing data from unclassified CIA documents, Pentagon papers and the unrestricted use of Weider History Group archives, the author has re-created a profound personal journey through eight months of the Vietnam War in the context of historic events.

The chronological

juxtaposition of Piper’s tender letters to his bride with war documents affords the reader an intimate and compelling glimpse of a crucial turning point in national history.

The project began when Maness was contacted by Jim Piper’s widow, Michelle Piper Phillips, who asked if she would be interested in writing a story based on love letters from the Vietnam War era.

Though Charity’s work at that time leaned toward romance novels, her interest was piqued. When Michelle revealed that the letters had in fact been written to her, the author’s heart melted.

On April 4, 2011, almost 44 years to the date of Jim’s passing, Charity received a battered shoebox filled with Jim’s handwritten letters. “I felt that I was holding history in my hands,” she says today.

Charity will be feted at a book launch at 4 p.m. , Sunday. The venue will be

Micki & Larry’s Sports Pub in Copperoplis. The event will be both a celebration and a memorial as Micki is Michelle Piper Phillips, Jim’s widow. The war hero’s brothers will be present with their daughters.

Charity has written five other books: two romances, two collections of humor columns and a memoir. She is currently at work on a non-fiction book, “In Our Words,” a collection of stories from “boots on the ground” men who served in the Middle East, Vietnam, Korea and WW11.

Charity resides with her husband of 24 years, John Maness, and the youngest of their four children, 14-year-old Marshall.

“It’s Lonely in Hell” is available at https://www.createspace.com/36273 13 or amazon.com. Additional information can be obtained from the author at 743-1259 or maness@caltel.com

Caption:

Charity Maness is a novelist turned war historian

231 words

What We’re Reading

Does it come as any surprise that Foothills readers are gobbling up Kathryn Stockett’s “The Help”? This telling tale of one young woman and two black maids has topped the New York Times list for 34 weeks. Book sellers in Tuolomne, Calaveras and Amador counties claim they just can’t keep it in stock.

Kate Dowden at Martell’s Well Read Books suggests that “Sarah’s Key” by Tatiana de Rosnay is creeping toward the top.

She also reports that young adults can’t get enough of Rick Riordin’s “Son of Neptune.” “It sells faster than I can get it out of the box.”

Rick Riodin is also a favorite at Books and More in Angels Camp. Owner Sherrilyn Kenyon favors the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series in which children of the gods battle monsters. Sherrilyn’s adult pick is “Daisy Buchannon’s Daughter” by Tom Carson. Sherrilyn predicts that “Daisy” will be the next big thing.

Donna Stuhmer at Glad Tidings, also in Angels Camps, recommends Todd Burpo’s “Heaven is for Real,” a boy’s encounter with Jesus and the angels which has led the New York Times nonfiction list for 46 weeks.

Charles Marangio of Charlie’s Books in Jamestown says that “A Game of Thrones” by George R.R. Martin is the current adult novel of choice but “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen continues to sell well. Kids favor “Waddle” by Rufus Butler Cedar.

A.M.H