DON’T FORGET APRIL IS NATIONAL POETRY MONTH
The Baum Plan for Financial Independence and Other Stories marks John Kessel’s first collection of short fiction since 1997’s The Pure Product — but that 10-year “absence” from booksellers’ shelves has hardly been downtime.
The earliest of the stories in this new offering was published in Fantasy & Science Fiction just a year after The Pure Product, showing Kessel right back at work. The most recent was published in the same magazine earlier this year, making the new collection as up-to-date as possible, and the stories in between have graced some of the genre’s finest magazines. The novella-length “Stories for Men” won the 2002 James Tiptree Jr. Award as a work that “expands or explores our understanding of gender.” In 2006, Kessel co-edited Feeling Very Strange: The Slipstream Anthology, gathering works that cross the boundaries between so-called mainstream fiction and science fiction. In 2007, he co-edited Rewired: The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology, and 2007 saw one of his stories, “A Clean Escape,” adapted for the premiere episode of ABC’s Masters of Science Fiction series. If all that wasn’t enough, Kessel also spearheaded the development of the MFA Program in Creative Writing at North Carolina State University, which he now directs with fellow writer and professor Wilton Barnhardt.
Fans of Kessel’s work will find themselves on somewhat familiar ground in the new collection. As in earlier stories, he engages explicitly with so-called high literature: “Every Angel Is Terrifying” literally picks up where Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” leaves off; “Pride and Prometheus” melds the worlds of Jane Austen and Mary Shelley; and the title story finds resonance with The Wizard of Oz.
“I am a man who has lived much of his life in the world of stories: fictional stories, historical ones,” said Kessel in an interview on the eve of The Baum Plan’s publication. “I believe that stories and story-making are among the most remarkable and transformative things human beings do. John Gardner said that ‘Nothing in the world has greater power to enslave than does fiction.’ I suppose you might say that I have been both enslaved and liberated by stories. So I think it’s not surprising that my mind might reach for other stories as a kind of metaphor for the magic of great undeserved wealth, as I did in The Baum Plan (though I had no idea as I wrote it that Oz would function that way in my story), or that I might find the collision of Pride and Prejudice and Frankenstein a good way to think about marriage, among other things. What starts me on such projects is a fascination with the materials, the desire to explore corners of these worlds that might not have been explored in their initial visions, to seize some of the power of those almost archetypal themes and characters and turn it to new purposes, or simply to play in someone else’s garden.”
Such play has both its challenges — “you have to work within the strictures set up by the original narratives” — and its risks: “I do have to admit that writing a sequel to Flannery O’Connor’s ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find’ — in my opinion one of the greatest short stories ever written — is an act of hubris that I would not blame anyone for condemning.” But Kessel also stresses that his own thematic concerns are predominant “whether I’m doing pastiche or metafiction or independent fiction.”
Here, as in Kessel’s earlier fiction, those themes often reveal the author’s political astuteness and social awareness, and the resulting stories prove provocative in their observations and commentaries — using alternative histories or future worlds to offer startling perspectives on our own present one. Nowhere is this clearer than in the linked stories about the Society of Cousins, a group of humans who have fled Earth and its troubles to set up an alternative society on the far side of the moon.
“I seem to have gone through a period of thinking about male/female issues that has most obviously shown up in the Society of Cousins stories, but that also is apparent in most of the other stories in this collection,” said Kessel. “The initial idea for the Society of Cousins came from reading about bonobos, the so-called ‘pygmy chimpanzees.’ But whereas chimps are patriarchal, and indulge in murder and infanticide, for instance, bonobos are matriarchal and less violent. Men in the Cousins society basically give up political power for sexual and social privilege.”
While the Society of Cousins may seem both figuratively and literally a world apart from 2008 American society, Kessel drew some inspiration from US history in writing these stories. “I set their society on the far side of the moon in analogy to early utopian alternative societies in North America,” he explained. “There was a tradition of oddball social groups, with different sexual mores — the Shakers, the Oneida Community, the Mormons — moving out into the wilderness to get away from interference of ‘normal’ society.”
He also sees these stories as commentary on American politics and society today. “I do think that too much of what is wrong with the world is connected to the degree to which various human societies are patriarchal,” he said. “In the current primary competition between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, for instance, I read a quote from a steelworker in Ohio, a Clinton supporter who had to hide his support for her from his co-workers because, he said, ‘People don’t want to speak out against Obama because of the fear of being seen as racist … [but] you can call a woman anything.’ I think that’s funny and appalling.”
Lest it seem from these excerpts that the collection is all pastiche or gender politics, I should stress that The Baum Plan offers a wide range of stories: a time-traveling filmmaker who steps back into the Golden Age of Hollywood; a college romance that takes a surprising twist; and even a pair of playful and humorous short-shorts about dating in the future. And throughout the collection, Kessel proves himself again a master not just of science fiction, but also of the modern short story, crafting compelling characters and following them through plots that never fail to please — or to defy prediction.
Ten years has definitely been too long between books, but good news for us: These stories were worth the wait.
Kessel will be reading from The Baum Plan for Financial Independence at several Triangle locations: on Wednesday evening, April 16, at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh; on Tuesday evening, April 22, at the Regulator Bookshop in Durham; and on Friday afternoon, May 16, with author Gregory Frost at McIntyre’s Books in Fearrington Village.
NATIONAL POETRY MONTH
April is National Poetry Month, and Raleigh’s Quail Ridge Books and Durham’s Regulator Bookshop are celebrating accordingly. The Regulator has scheduled a full series of poetry readings, beginning on Thursday evening, April 3, with Joanna Catherine Scott reading from her prose poetry collection, Night Huntress, inspired by a drunk-driving death; preceding Scott’s reading is a presentation by the Black Socks Poets, a group from Carrboro, Chapel Hill and Durham.
Additional events throughout the Triangle include:
• Ken Eill, author of Variations on a Theme: Poems of Jazz, on Wednesday evening, April 9, at the Regulator.
• Janie Fink, author of Bubble Opera, and NCSU professor Jon Thompson, author of The Book of the Floating World, on Friday evening, April 11, at Raleigh’s Quail Ridge Books.
• Michael Chitwood, author of Spill, on Wednesday evening, April 16, at the Regulator.
• Richard Krawiec, author of Breakdown: A Father’s Journey, and Maureen Sherbondy, author of Praying at Coffee Shops, on Thursday evening, April 24, at the Regulator; the event also features a performance by Fleur de Lisas, an a capella group performing original songs based on poems by the North Carolina Haiku Society.
• Betty Adcock, author of Slantwise, and Elizabeth Seydel Morgan, author of Without a Philosophy, on Sunday afternoon, April 27, at Quail Ridge Books.
• Gerald Barrax, Richard Krawiec and other contributors to Living in Storms: Contemporary Poetry and the Moods of Manic-Depression, on Tuesday evening, April 29, at the Regulator, and again on Wednesday evening, April 30, at Quail Ridge Books; the Quail Ridge event also features a performance by the a cappella group Fleur de Lisas.
NEW AND NOTEWORTHY
Beyond the poetry readings, a wide range of additional literary events is scheduled this month throughout Eastern North Carolina. Perhaps the most noteworthy event is a presentation by Shirin Ebadi, the first Muslim woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Ebadi will speak and sign copies of her book, Iran Awakening: One Woman’s Journey to Reclaim Her Life and Country, on Friday, April 11, at 5:30 p.m. in the Richard White Auditorium on Duke University’s East Campus. The event is sponsored by the Duke Human Rights Center and the Regulator Bookshop.
Additional events this month include:
• Gary Gallagher, author of Causes Won, Lost, And Forgotten: How Hollywood and Popular Art Shape What We Know About The Civil War, on Tuesday evening, April 1, at Raleigh’s Quail Ridge Books.
• Charlotte author Kevin Keck, author of the memoir Are You There, God? It’s Me. Kevin, on Tuesday evening, April 1, at Durham’s Regulator Bookshop.
• Susan Kelly, author of Now You Know, on Tuesday evening, April 1, at the Greenville Barnes & Noble.
• Carolyn Hart, author of Death Walked In, on Tuesday evening, April 1, at the Country Bookshop in Southern Pines; and again on Wednesday evening, April 2, at Quail Ridge Books.
• Stephanie Grant, author of Map of Ireland, on Wednesday evening, April 2, at the Regulator.
• Karen Joy Fowler, author of Wit’s End, on Thursday evening, April 3, at Quail Ridge Books.
• Kris Radish, author of Searching for Paradise in Parker, PA, on Sunday afternoon, April 6, at the Regulator.
• Durham native Kate Torgovnick, author of Cheer!: Three Teams on a Quest for College Cheerleading’s Ultimate Prize, on Tuesday evening, April 8, at the Regulator.
• Ida Lynch, author of North Carolina State Parks: A Niche Guide, on Wednesday evening, April 9, at Quail Ridge Books; and on Thursday evening, April 17, at the Regulator.
• Lynne Rossetto Kasper, author of The Splendid Table’s How To Eat Supper, on Thursday afternoon, April 10, at McIntyre’s Books in Fearrington Village.
• Virginia Ironside, author of No, I Don’t Want to Join a Book Club, on Saturday morning, April 12, at McIntye’s.
• Ann B. Ross, author of Miss Julia Paints the Town, on Sunday afternoon, April 13, at the Country Bookshop.
• Sarah Hall, author of Daughters of the North, on Tuesday evening, April 15, at the Regulator; and on Wednesday afternoon, April 16, at McIntyre’s.
• Dorothea Benton Frank, author of Bulls Island, at an author tea on Thursday afternoon, April 17, at McIntyre’s Books. (Tickets are $40 and include a signed copy of the book; purchase by April 10 by contacting McIntyre’s at 919-542-3030.)
• Rob Christensen, News & Observer columnist and author of The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics: The Personalities, Elections, and Events that Shaped Modern North Carolina, on Thursday evening, April 10, at Quail Ridge Books; on Saturday morning, April 19, at McIntyre’s; and on Monday evening, April 28, at the Regulator.
• William Link, author of Righteous Warrior: Jesse Helms and the Rise of Modern Conservatism, on Saturday afternoon, April 12, at the Regulator.
• Nancy Peacock, author of A Broom of One’s Own: Words on Writing, Housecleaning, and Life, on Thursday evening, April 17, at Quail Ridge Books; on Saturday morning, April 26, at McIntyre’s; and on Thursday evening, May 1, at the Regulator.
• Food Network Host Robin Miller, author of Robin to the Rescue: 200 Quick & Simple Recipes for Delicious Home Cooking, on Sunday afternoon, April 20, at the Cary Barnes & Noble.
• Chapel Hill novelist Sarah Dessen, author of Lock and Key, on Monday evening, April 21, at the Regulator.
• Elizabeth Strout, author of Olive Kitteridge, on Tuesday evening, April 22, at Quail Ridge Books; and on Wednesday evening, April 23, at McIntyre’s.
• Frances Richey, author of the verse-memoir The Warrior, on Wednesday evening, April 23, at Quail Ridge Books.
• Katie Crouch, author of Girls in Trucks, on Wednesday evening, April 23, at the Cary Barnes & Noble; and again on Thursday evening, April 24, at McIntyre’s.
• Julia Spencer-Fleming, author of All Mortal Flesh, on Thursday evening, April 24, at Quail Ridge Books.
• Brad Land, author of Pilgrims Upon the Earth, on Thursday evening, April 24, at Pomegranate Books in Wilmington.
• Durham author Melissa Delbridge, author of the memoir Family Bible, on Friday evening, April 25, at the Regulator.
• Katherine Hall Page, author of The Body in the Ivy, on Tuesday afternoon, April 29, at McIntyre’s; later that evening at Quail Ridge Books; and again on Wednesday afternoon, April 30, at the Country Bookshop.