Video trailer for Voices from the Snake River Plain

Check out the trailer for Voices from the Snake River Plain here.

Thank you, Magic Valley

On November 6, Pat, Dixie and I enjoyed reading excerpts from Voices from the Snake River Plain to a standing-room-only crowd in Twin Falls, Idaho. A heartfelt thanks goes out to everyone who helped celebrate the launch of our new book. If you missed the event, copies are still available at the Magic Valley Arts Council, 132 Main Avenue South, Twin Falls, Idaho. They are also available at the Log Cabin Literary Center, 801 S. Capitol Boulevard in Boise, Idaho.

Three writers with stories to tell

Check out this review by Judi Baxter.  Article reprinted courtesy of the Times-News, www.magicvalley.com

BOOKCHAT: Three ‘writers with stories to tell’

It is always thrilling to hold a treasured book in my hands – rediscovering a childhood favorite, inhaling the scent of an old, leather-bound tome, perusing glorious pictures from a beloved illustrator or gently opening a much-anticipated title for the first time.

The thrill was certainly there when I received a copy of “Voices From The Snake River Plain,” the collection of essays, short stories and poetry from three talented local writers, Bonnie Dodge, Dixie Thomas Reale and Patricia Santos Marcantonio.

The lawn mowing, leaf raking and sidewalk sweeping went by the wayside as I sat on my deck and immersed myself in their worlds. I laughed, sighed, held my breath for a few moments and even cried while reading of families and friends, journeys and jealousies.

Marcantonio’s “The Hitch,” an engaging short story about a camping trip gone bad, left me giggling and nodding my head in agreement: Been there, done that! Forget the spectacular Stanley Basin scenery, mountain air and sparkling Salmon River; a lost trailer hitch leads to pointed fingers, heated words and thoughts of divorce. But her wise old character, Earl, quickly snaps everything back into focus: “Earl pulled up his welding mask. ‘You folks should have a good time once this is fixed. You can hike the trails, cook over a campfire, fish a bit. See the stars together. That’s the only way to see the stars, with someone you love so you know you aren’t dreaming.’” Beautiful!

In the chapter “Remembrances,” Reale captured my heart with “Mush.” Anyone who grew up having to eat oatmeal-the-texture-of-wallpaper-paste for breakfast every morning will immediately identify with the feisty, stubborn little girl. Her mother said she would eat it. Period. She was determined not to. Period. It became a royal battle of wills and more than a little ingenuity on young Dixie’s part: feeding it to the dog, tossing it out the window, dribbling large spoonfuls around her bowl. Since she didn’t have to eat the slopped part, that maneuver became her answer:

“I decorated the room. The entire bowl was drizzled and splattered one spoonful at a time across the mahogany tabletop, the wall, the bench and onto the floor. There was so much of it that gray puddles ran into one another making small lakes. Once Mama saw the mess she scraped it back into the dish and slung it in front of me. Now it was cold and slimy, had a faint flavor of English wood oil, and smelled a bit like floor polish. ‘You will eat this,’ she said.”

At this point, I was chuckling, but it was nothing compared with the laugher that erupted when I came to her final solution. What a creative little girl!

After reading Dodge’s “Surviving the Storm,” set a few days after the attack on the World Trade Center, I barely moved for many long minutes, reflecting on her words, recalling the overwhelming feelings of those haunting days as our nation sat in stultified silence and pain.

The women debate their plans to attend a bookfest in Boise and a trip to Idaho City for their annual mini-retreat, struggling with their own fears and doubts about leaving home and families so soon. “It’s what they want,” writes Dodge. “They want to terrorize us into inaction. I think we should go.” And so they do.

They spend hours exploring the former mining town, picking wildflowers, spontaneously attending a Catholic Mass, sharing homemade peach cobbler at Trudy’s Diner.

Dodge writes: “Heading for the car, we stop when we see an area of the cemetery marked with weathered boards, each etched with only one word: Unknown. Like rubber bands, we’re snapped back into reality as we think of the many new graves in New York City, some of which will soon be marked: Unknown. We exchange glances and, unembarrassed by our tears, embrace, holding onto each other longer than usual.

“We pass tissues like candy. Our hearts hurt. We have no words, no stories to define our nation’s massive devastation. As we travel the road that will take us back to our families, smiles chase away sadness and the desperate need to be home … Even in this troubled time, when our nation is stunned and nothing much is moving, we are. Because we’re still writers with stories to tell.”

And our lives are richer because these three writers have gathered and shared those stories with us.

Judi Baxter owned and operated Judi’s Bookstore in downtown Twin Falls from 1978 to 1992. From 2000 to 2004 she wrote a twice-weekly column for Publisher’s Weekly’s online edition called “Reviews in the News.”

Posted in Books-and-literature, Entertainment on Friday, October 23, 2009 1:00 am Updated: 6:30 pm.

Voices from the Snake River Plain is here!

Voices from the Snake River Plain is a collection of short stories, essays, and poems written by Bonnie Dodge, Dixie Thomas Reale, and Patricia Santos Marcantonio. Edited by Jennifer Sandmann, the anthology includes tales that range from humorous to haunting, poignant to tragic. Sometimes the stories rise out of the landscape and from dreams. Sometimes they reach into the past, or into the future, but mostly, the stories echo the human heart. Many of the selections have been printed in other publications or have won writing awards. With a foreword by Diane Josephy Peavey, author of Bitterbrush Country: Living on the Edge of the Land, this is a book you will want to add to your collection.

Voices from the Snake River Plain was made possible in part by the Embodiment Grant of Boise.

ISBN 978-0-9627690-1-6

$15 plus tax, shipping & handling

To order contact Bonnie.

Question of the Month

I have a recurring nightmare. In this dream I am all dressed up in my Sunday best and am in the barnyard. There are no people around, only farm animals and me. I am slopping the hogs and scattering grain to the chickens while spouting my beautiful words. I am ridiculous in the dream and always wake feeling useless, unappreciated and depressed. It is a horrible feeling.

I don’t know what the dream means. Maybe I am afraid that I am out of touch with or a misfit in my surroundings. Maybe I feel out of touch with my readers. Maybe I am afraid that if I do not get my words into the hands of a reading public that I will never have an audience. I do not know but I do not want the dream to come true.

So I have vowed to do something every day related to writing or marketing my words. Some days I might only mail a letter or post card, other days I sit at the computer and pound the keys all day long. Or I might pick through words and delete or replace more than I started with. But I do try to do something everyday related to writing or marketing my stories. And I am determined to get my words to a reading human audience.

We, The Other Bunch, are in the middle of preparing a collection of stories, poems and essays for publication. The collection is called Voices From The Snake River Plain. Watch for it this fall, it is almost ready to go to the printer.

Dixie Thomas Reale

The Other Bunch will be at Live History Days

The Other Bunch will have a booth at Jerome’s Live History Days, June 13, 2009. Live History Day is the second Saturday in June each year with many people portraying life at the turn of the century in Jerome County, Idaho.  There will be people making soap and butter, flint knapping, tractor pulls, and wagon rides, to mention only a few of the scheduled activities. After watching the live demonstrations, tour some of the original Jerome County buildings, see a real traveling wagon train and what life was like at the Minidoka Relocation Center. Then stop by and browse our books, and make a miniature one of your own. Or just stop by and say, “Hello.” We hope to see you there!

Dixie Thomas Reale’s fiction included in national anthology

Dixie Thomas Reale’s short story “Earth’s Song” is included in Dan River Anthology 2009. Writers Digest named Dan River Anthology among the top 50 fiction markets in the United States.

Dan River Anthology 2009 is available from Dan River Press, Ordering Department, P.O. Box 298, Thomaston, Me. 04861 for $16.95 plus $3.95 shipping. Or you can order online at www.Amazon.com, at www.bestbargainbooks.com, www.barnesandnoble.com or order through your favorite bookstore.  The ISBN number for Dan River Anthology 2009 is 978-897540-233-3.

Book edited by Jennifer Sandmann now available

A FOREST OF WORMWOOD: Sagebrush, Water and Idaho’s Twin Falls Canal Company written by Idaho writer, Niels Nokkentved and edited by Jennifer Sandmann is now available. A softcover book of 240 pages, the book contains maps and photos as well as relates the history of the Twin Falls Canal Comany. Copies may be obtained from the Idaho State Historical Museum Store, 610 N. Julia Davis Dr., Boise, the Twin Falls Canal Co., P.O. Box 326, Twin Falls, ID 83303, or direct from the author at N.S. Nokkentved, 2812 N. Grandee St., Boise ID 83704. You can also reach Niels at nokkentved@olynet.com.

QUESTION OF THE MONTH: WORKING THAT BRAIN

Every year, our Other Bunch of writers tries to go on at least one retreat. One year, it was to a book fest, another to see ghost towns. But my favorite is simply camping out at the cool cabin of one of our members. Amidst the golden leaves and mountains of central Idaho, we reflect, whine, bitch and of above all, work our brains. You might think, “Hey, wait a minute. I’m writing. I’m working my brain.”"
That is certainly true, but sometimes we need to try different exercises or we‘re only running in the same place. Recently at one of those annual retreats, we gathered in the warm cabin, while it rained fall outside. With cups of coffee and hot chocolate, we participated in wonderful exercises from the book, “The Virginia Woolf Writers’ Workshop– Seven Lessons to Inspire Great Writers” by Danell Jones and published by Bantam. Our brains got a workout, sweated with ideas and exertion from pushing our minds in a whole new way.
The book is written as if Woolf is teaching a group of young writers, and uses her words. “She” breaks those lessons into practicing, working, creating, walking, reading, publishing and doubting. Within those lessons are writing exercises that Jones called “Writing Sparks,” which also delve into character, setting, dialogue, poetry, essays and more. There were so many sparks, and they were so good that out brains were tired as we went through them that weekend.
For example, we were challenged to write a scene portraying mood, but using very little dialogue. Or to write scenes from the view of someone older, or of the opposite sex. Or, write a scene where the first person narrator misreads a situation.
We were worn out and got so many good ideas that we talked about doing an anthology of writings based on these sparks. We even have a title “Virginia Woolf on the Snake River Plain.” In one short weekend, we came away with dozens of stories to tell with fresh writing perspectives.
So my advice is to check out that book and work it hard. Or go on a retreat or to a writing conference and learn something new, try something different. You may be writing, but you also need to stretch those writing muscles beyond what you are used to. Sure, you might be frustrated and exhausted by the time these exercises, retreats, or writing conferences are over, but like working out your body, working out your brain will result in building a better and stronger writer in you.
Patricia Santos Marcantonio

There are some great people in Magic Valley!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by to say “Hello” at the Thousand Springs Festival. The weather was gorgeous. Special thanks to Dan Lee of Hagerman, who helped fix a flat tire so we could show up Sunday. Dan, we really appreciated your help.