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Interview: Kathryn Johnson, author of The Gentleman Poet

September 6, 2010

Kathryn Johnson’s new novel, The Gentleman Poet: A Novel of Love, Danger, and Shakespeare’s The Tempest, starts from an intriguing premise: Scholars have long cited a real-life shipwreck saga as one of the inspirations for the Bard’s late great play, but what if instead of simply reading about it, Shakespeare had himself been a passenger on the ill-fated voyage of the Sea Venture? The ship, en route from England to the Jamestown in the New World, encountered a strong storm and was ultimately steered into the reefs of Bermuda, where 150 passengers (including John Rolfe, who would later wed Pocahantas) disembarked and tried to make a home for nine months until two ships could be built for the survivors to continue the journey. Dramatizing this already suspenseful tale — and injecting the possibility that Shakespeare might have been on board —  Johnson’s novel works on a number of levels: as minutely researched historical drama, as speculative fiction, as literary homage and gamesmanship, and even as romance, since the book’s focus is as much on a young servant girl named Elizabeth Person and her budding relationship with the ship’s cook as it is on that distinguished title character.

The Gentleman Poet hits bookstores on Tuesday, September 7, and Johnson has a full schedule of events ahead, including an appearance at George Mason University’s Fairfax, VA Campus as part of the upcoming Fall for the Book Festival; she’ll be speaking there on Monday, September 20, at 1:30 p.m. in the Sandy Springs Bank Tent, just outside the Johnson Center.

In advance of her tour, Johnson indulged a few questions about the new novel, and I’m glad to share our chat here.

Art Taylor: A simple question to begin with: What inspired you to write a novel about Shakespeare? Are you a longtime fan of the Bard’s work? Of The Tempest in particular?

Kathryn Johnson

Kathryn Johnson: Actually, my interest in writing The Gentleman Poet began in just the opposite way. I felt that I’d read far too few of Shakespeare’s plays in college. I wanted to learn more about him and what has made his poetry and plays so enduring. But as a working writer it’s very hard to find time for exhaustive reading and study unless it’s devoted to producing something. I think that’s why I so appreciate Bill Bryson and his books. He finds something that interests him, like hiking the Appalachian Trail or sampling historical high points (A Short History of Nearly Everything), and feeds his curiosity by going off to research until he has enough for a book. Before I could write anything, I needed to read not just from the plays but also some of the excellent nonfiction works that have recently been written, like Marjorie Garber’s Shakespeare After All, Ron Rosenbaum’s The Shakespeare Wars, and Stephen Greenblatt’s wonderful, Will in the World. At first, just writing a story with Shakespeare somehow involved, something like the film, Shakespeare in Love, that was all I had in mind. Focusing on The Tempest came later.

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Review: Dale Brown’s Executive Intent

September 1, 2010

The Washington Post today published my review of Dale Brown‘s latest techno-thriller, Executive Intent. Here’s the start of my take on the book:

There’s a lot of baggage to be checked before the real story takes off in the 22nd book from ace techno-thriller writer Dale Brown: a four-page cast of characters, a four-page glossary of weapons, five pages of acronyms and terminology and 13 pages of “Real-World News Excerpts” from sources like Aviation Week, Defense Technology Internationaland sinodefence.com. And that just brings you to the prologue….

Get the feeling that there’s a bumpy ride ahead? Check out the full review here.

New Website

And while I’ve got you on the line, a quick extra bit of blatant self-promotion. I’ve just recently debuted a new personal webpage, separate from the blog here, focussed on my own writing. Hope you might pay a visit there at www.arttaylorwriter.com. Thanks to web wizard Alison Strub and to illustrator Brandon Wicks (a fine writer in his own right!) for their fine work in developing the look of the site.

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Best Stories of the South — 25 Years!

August 18, 2010

One of my favorite series of anthologies is the annual New Stories from the South — always a treasure trove of great fiction and a perfect late-summer treat. This year marks the 25th anniversary edition of the series, and this latest collection, edited by Amy Hempel, features some of the best names in the business, from veteran writers to some of the newest talents bursting onto the scene: Dorothy Allison, Rick Bass, Wendell Berry, Tim Gautreaux, Ron Rash, George Singleton, Elizabeth Spencer, Wells Tower, Brad Watson, and Kevin Wilson, among others. The only shame in all this? I haven’t had a chance to read the milestone-year collection yet! (It’s sitting on the side of my desk, staring scornfully at me — as are the blank pages that will soon become my syllabi for the semester that starts a little over a week from now.) But that shouldn’t prevent others from getting in on the fun, so instead of a review, a quick news announcement: Algonquin Books is giving away copies of the new collection on their own book blog this week — and also featuring interviews with Amy Hempel and Wells Tower as well as with series editor Kathy Pories and founding editor Shannon Ravenel, both among the best in the business. Check it out here! And try to manage your time better than mine when it comes to stuff like this….

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NC News: Prime Number Debuts

July 20, 2010

Prime Number Magazine — a new online literary journal from Press 53, the indie publishing house based in Winston-Salem, NC — made its debut this week with Issue #2 (and if you don’t understand why they’re starting with #2, go revisit your grade school math textbooks). The premiere issue looks fine, and some fine talent (by invitation only for the first issue) is gracing these webpages. I’ve already checked out “Another Little Piece” by Kevin Wilson and “The Pawn” by Scott Loring Sanders (a regular contributor to Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, which I also frequently call home) and am looking forward to the rest of the issue. So just a quick urge here for folks to check it out themselves. (And for more on Press 53, also check out my interview with founder Kevin Watson here.)

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NC News: North Carolina Literary Review Releases 2010 Issue

July 19, 2010

I was extremely pleased to find in my mailbox this afternoon a couple of advance copies of the North Carolina Literary Review‘s latest issue, focused primarily on the literature — and the art — of the state’s Appalachian region. I emphasize that last word because the first, fine impression of the new issue is the cover art: 1943′s Cabin Scene in North Carolina by Southern modernist master Will Henry Stevens. What’s inside the covers is, of course, equally impressive, beginning with an extensive section on N.C. novelist John Ehle, including selections from his novels The Land Breakers and Lion on the Hearth and an essay and review of Ehle’s work. Also included in the special section is poetry by Robert Morgan, Michael McFee and Kathryn Stripling Byer (as well as a short story by Byer); interviews with Pamela Duncan and Wayne Caldwell; and a variety of reviews of works from the region. While the emphasis here is on one end of the state, the North Carolina Miscellany in the latter half of the issue turns its eyes easterly, beginning with five poems by James Applewhite and ending with an interview with Wilmington-based mystery novelist Wanda Canada (conducted by yours truly, I should add). Click here for the full contents of the new issue.

Sounds like plenty to read? Yep. And I should get started now.

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