No Irish Need Apply to be The Book of the Month (June 2008)

Nice news coming for the Holiday Season.

My Novel - No Irish Need Apply - has been selected as The Book of the Month for June 2009 (Pride Month) for the Book Reading Club sponsored by Booz Allen Hamilton, McClean, Va. There will be over 100 readers, all having read the book and I have accepted an offer to speak, read and sign books via TeleConference in June. I am quite excited about this as it is a corollary to my former roll at Dun & Bradstreet where I was the President of GLISN (The Gay & lesbian Information Support Network) and toured the country speaking about GLBT issues in the workplace. I won the 2000 New Jersey Minority Achievement Award for my work in Corporate Diversity. Anyway, I am thrilled that their organization has selected No Irish Need Apply for such an honor, and that all attendees will have read the book before my speaking gig. I feel like a parent about to watch his child graduate. Well, that's my Holiday news.

Edward C. Patterson
No Irish Need Apply http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1434893952 (Paperback)http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0012NOW44 (Kindle)http://www.mobipocket.com/en/eBooks/BookDetails.asp?BookID=83902 (Mobipocket)http://www.createspace.com/3339176 (Smashwords)

A Fish out of Water – No Pun Intended

I recently had an e-mail from a reader who asked where I get my inspiration for my stories, especially Turning Idolater, which seemed unique to her — genre defying and yet satisfying genre need. In Turning Idolater, I literally take the protagonist, a young internet stripper who is yearning for something indescribable, and beach him in a world that makes him squeamish. The sleaze of the porn world smashed into the preciousness of the literary world creates a tsunami for all the characters. That the two main characters are as noble as Ishmael and Queequeg, taken from Moby Dick, grounds Turning Idolater in a genreless world, despite the echoes of gay-themed and whodunit. Is it a murder mystery? Is it slice of life? Is it a gay romance? Is it a romance, period? Yes. Like tofu in a pot, this novel is meant to appeal to every imagination it infects. A fish out of water in every genre in which it swims.

However, this doesn’t answer the prime question. Where do I get my inspiration? Well, here’s a state secret. I imagine a story that interests me, perhaps topically; perhaps it’s the character development possibilities. I think on that story and its possibilities and then I lay it out in a plank — simple and direct; an anchor for my writing. It stays with me for a long time — years perhaps. THEN, and this is the Patterson family recipe, I add an element diametrically oppose to the simple line; a kettle of fish out of water. Thus, a study of gay activist meetings becomes a satirical comedy on human frailty (Cutting the Cheese). A love story teaming with deceit becomes a super-charged ghost story (Bobby’s Trace). A simple coming out tale becomes a contemporary poster for prejudice (No Irish Need Apply). A memoir of the gay experience in the military in 1967 becomes a marathon run by a fat man (Surviving an American Gulag). A simple porn boy meets snob man romance becomes a high-powered murder mystery (Turning Idolater). A quest story becomes a Dickensian epic (The Jade Owl). A sedate exposition of a Chinese official’s life in the twelfth century becomes an historic epic (The Academician and Swan Cloud – the two parts of Southern Swallow). What happens when you tell a prosaic military tale set in Germany during the 60’s and smash it up again the Brothers Grimm? You get The Road to Grafenwoehr. Mix time travel and alternative worlds with the history of the Cherokee nation and you get Belmundus. How about gay discrimination in the workplace mixed with a cocktail of the biblical triad — Jonathan, David and Saul. That would be Green Folly. And it goes on and on in my works.

Take a fish out of water and let it swim in snow and everyone will want to know whether the snow is cold enough to preserve the fish, or the fish large enough to swallow the snow. Nothing is ever too simple to be riveting or too complex to repel.

Happy reading, dear readers.

Edward C. Patterson

The Jade Owl Legacy Series "a True Winner"

On October 28th, the first book of The Jade Owl Legacy Series was published and has been received by readers intently. In fact, one review from Rainbow Reviews states:

"The Jade Owl is a nonstop, don't miss page turner and only the first in a quintology, The Jade Owl Legacy series. Readers, run, do not walk to your nearest book outlet and grab this intriguing gay mystery with its fully realized characters, gay and straight and bi, roller-coaster plotting, and paranormal fantasy elements. The Jade Owl is a true winner."

The series consists of five books, all about 600-700 pages in length, the second book (The Third Peregrination) due for release in mid-February 2009. The third book (The Dragon's Pool) will hit the boards in late Spring 2009. The last two works will be released in 2010-11 (The People's Treasure and In the Shadow of Her Hem). The sweep of the work embeds a modern adventure story in the mystical aspects of China's five major religions - Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, Naturalism and Legalism. Step that up with a Tolkienesque fantasy tale and old Chinese legends, then add a dash of modern societal issues and a host of sizzling characters, and you get an eclectic ride down Mount T'ai.

As a Sinologist (a specialist in Chinese History and Culture), I have attempted to engrave China's deeper cultural trends with easy and enjoyable access for my readers. In addition to the five book series, another two book series will be released in 2009 — the fictionalized biography of a 12th Century scholar-official during a period of social and political upheaval. The series is called Southern Swallow. The first book, The Academician, will be available in late January 2009. The second book, Swan Cloud should be available mid-Summer 2009. This series parallels The Jade Owl legend, but from a purely Chinese point of view. In fact, I utilize many traditional Chinese novel techniques. Taken together, the two series covers a universe that should not disappoint.

I'll keep my readers updated on the progress of each book. I know of one "reader discussion forum" forming for The Jade Owl . There's a great deal to discuss in this series and it's my great joy to fire up my reader's imagination in a world that has been with me for over three decades.

Edward C. Patterson

Picking at an Old Chestnut – Moby Dick Lives

Ever since I picked up Herman Melville’s tale of the Whale, that great leviathan of beauty and destruction, I have been struck by the sheer poetry of Moby Dick. It teams with detail, buoyed up by a natural elegance that truly makes it a literary treasure. In my novel, Turning Idolater, the title of which comes from Melville’s work and intones the ability (or inability) to compromise, I blend unlikely elements using Melville’s basic theme that each life is a journey that needs to come to terms with earth’s organic unity. The sea is prominent in the work, but instead of Melvillian detail — nine hundred shades of white and every knot that can be tied for any reason, I developed the characters along a different course – a Dickens course. Smashing Dickensian characters into Melvillian amplitude gives the work a unique feel. Add to that the juxtaposition of romance and mystery, a good, old fashion whodunit (here a herring, there a herring – mostly red, but some a shade of pink), and the reader is provided with a memorable experience. The dichotomies are further maintained by placing the sleazy world of Internet porn beside the hoity-toity universe of literary circles.

Finding the balance between many diverse elements is the shell surrounding this nut, but at its heart is Melville and the sea. Young Philip Flaxen’s voyage across an uncharted ocean in a vessel that leaks like the Dickens and flags in bad weather provides the reader with a hero’s journey. Philip is taxed by the many anomalies that he cannot digest, yet somehow he remains afloat. In hindsight, I have achieved what I wanted to achieve. Besides my usual attention to the reader’s needs, I sought in Turning Idolater to fire up old Melville, who is sometimes more admired than read — to reach down and scrape off the Pequod’s barnacles — bring it ashore for a modern day inspection. I am happiest when a reader tells me, as they have, "Now that I have read about Philip and Tdye and Sprakie and Old Charlotte, I think I’ll pick up Moby Dick again and give it another try." For every chapter in Melville that drones on about the nine hundred shade of the color white, there are others that sing:

"Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can."

It’s a fine clear day, mateys, and the dolphins are calling, the gulls leading the way. You only need to be Turning Idolater to see your way clear through this damp, drizzly November.

Edward C. Patterson
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1440422109 (Paperback)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001FWZ92Q (Kindle)

The Jade Owl is Now Available at Amazon.com

The Jade Owl, the 1st Installment of The Jade Owl Legacy Series, is now available in paperback (on the Kindle also).

Description: "In China they whisper about the Jade Owl and its awful power. This ancient stone, commissioned by the Empress Wu and crafted by a mineral charmer, long haunted the folk of the Middle Kingdom until it vanished into an enigma of legend and lore. Now the Jade Owl is found. It wakes to steal the day from day. Its power to enchant and distort rises again. Its horror is revealed to a band of five, who must return it to the Valley of the Dead before the laws of ch’i are set aside in favor of destruction’s dance. Five China Hands, each drawn through time’s thin fabric by the bird, discover enchantment on the secret garland. Five China Hands, and one holds the key to the world’s fate. Five China Hands. Only one Jade Owl - but it’s awake and in China, they whisper again. Professor Rowden Gray has come to San Francisco following a new opportunity at the East Asian Arts and Culture Museum, only to find that the opportunity has evaporated. Desperate, he means to end his career in a muddle of pity and Scotch, but then things happen. He latches on to a fascinating young man who is pursuing a lost relic that Professor Gray has in fact been seeking. Be careful for what you seek - you may just find it. Thus begins a journey that takes the professor and his companions on a spirited adventure across three-thousand miles of Chinese culture and mystery - a quest to fulfill a warrant long set out to ignite the world in myth and legend. The Jade Owl is the beginning of a series - a legacy that fulfills a terrible truth; and in China, they whisper again."

An Early review: "Brilliantly written fantasy for people who don't read fantasy"5 stars Review By L. Cone "reconexegete" (Philadelphia, PA USA)

"Sinologist Rowden Gray, reeling from his failure to get a San Francisco museum post, falls in with a seemingly unlikely group of people bent upon achieving a strange coition of sorts of Chinese objets d'art. After taking up with one of the scions of his prolific (in more ways than one) intellectual mentor, John Battle, he joins a one-eyed Native American artist, a Chinese-American martial arts expert, and the scion's faithful drag-queen lover, as they embark on a wild chase to reach their objective. Much of the action takes place in a lovingly-described China. This is fantasy for people who don't read fantasy, adventure for those who avoid adventure books. The little bits of surrealism are a seasoning for the great writing, rather than a substitute for it, as is often the case in so many works of this type. A very enjoyable book."

Enjoy this one, my dear readers.Edward C. Patterson

Three Links that Could Change Your Writing Life

Simply put, the world of Publishing is radically changing (has changed). Publishers cannot provide the services to authors that they once could. After 7 published books on Amazon.com in under a year and almost $1,200.00 in physical sales e-Book and Paperback and at $0 cost, I offer my fellow bloggers -

THREE LINKS THAT COULD CHANGE YOUR WRITING LIFE

Digitalpublications (Amazon.com)
http://dtp.amazon.com/mn/signin

CreateSpace (an Amazon company)
http://www.createspace.com/

Amazon Forum:Have You Published a Book on the Kindle - Tell Us About It - Amazon Forum (some 6,000 posts from nearly 200 participants)
http://www.amazon.com/Have-you-published-book-Kindle/forum/FxBVKST06PWP9B/Tx3IZAKD22TKOQ0/1/ref=cm_cd_dp_tft_tp?%5Fencoding=UTF8&asin=B000FI73MA&store=fiona-hardware

If the first 2 links mystify, go to the third and wallow in the world of the Indie-Author and . . . find some courage and get some readers - real readers.

Edward C. Patterson
Paperback
Turning Idolater http://www.amazon.com/dp/1440422109Bobby's Trace http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1434893960Cutting the Cheese http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1434893847No Irish Need Apply http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1434893952The Closet Clandestine http://www.amazon.com/dp/1438220502Come,Wewoka http://www.amazon.com/dp/1438227639/Surviving an American Gulag http://www.amazon.com/dp/1438247230
Kindle
Turning Idolater http://www.amazon.com/Turning-Idolater/dp/B001FWZ92Q/Cutting the Cheese http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0010K2ER6Bobby's Trace http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00150Z5HCNo Irish Need Apply http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0012NOW44The Closet Clandestine http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0018V3WBOCome, Wewoka http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001A7HMT4Surviving an American Gulag http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001BOST1G

Distributive Characterization – Luke Oliver Manifested

There are many ways to develop a character, the most accepted, through the heroic arc, where the protagonist journeys and experiences events, people and obstacles. Thus, the protagonist grows. Another way is through stunted fermentation, where the character has grown and is at a frustrating impasse that is never overcome. Finally, there is distributive characterization, a method I use in my ribald comic novel Cutting the Cheese.

In Cutting the Cheese, the protagonist is a newly emerging gay man, Luke Oliver, still clinging to his ideals and somewhat fearful of every step he takes. He is thrust (self-thrusted) into a frolicsome gay envionment where various stages of his possible future development are portrayed by other characters. There is the over-the-top hustler, the pedantic, ambitious playwright, the snobby child psychologist, the nosey busy body, the wealthy sugar daddy, the jousting couple, the nubile gym bunny and the old, jaded queen. Call it the seven ages of gay men, if you will, but the hierarchy of possibility that stretches before Luke Oliver’s feet are like the doors of Bluebeard’s Castle. Luke is alive to them all. That he flees the scene (and not in terror) and survives by dint of his ideals (and the gym bunny), never precludes that he still might become a cloying playwright or steel tushied old art dealer. The only character that he could never become is the bulldog lesbian that drapes herself in cellophane and storms down the spiral staircase. (See previous post : The Case of Bambi Stern).

Distributive characterization does deprive some characters of their anticipated arc, but since they are possibilities and not final realities, it’s an acceptable literary gamble. It also serves comedy better than high drama, because comedy is as ethereal as life, while drama pounds the square pegs into round holes and disregards the sawdust. In fact, Cutting the Cheese, the dicing of sharp-cheddar into distributive pieces is just the thing for tickling the funny bone. It’s not until the cheese platter is dumped into the trashcan that the air clears for serious probing.

Cutting the Cheese http://www.amazon.com/gp/1434893847

Edward C. Patterson

http://www.dancaster.com/

Halloween Read - "M. Night Shyamalen Beware"

Here's a Hallowen read for you
Bobby's Trace
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1434893960 (Paperback)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00150Z5HC(Kindle)

"Do ghosts mourn the living? Perry Chaplin is in mourning for his life partner, Bobby - a time of stress, notwithstanding. The more he drifts, the more he becomes unhinged until he's one room short of a rubber one. "Get a grip, Perry." So he takes his chances on a blind date, which further plunges him along the nightmare highway. He gets an unsought lesson in life-after-death that turns his bereavement into a horrific adventure. Come peek through Perry Chaplin's mysterious window. See what there is to see. Enter Our Lady of Perpetual Grace, where the holy water boils and the confessionals whisper. What lurks in the rectory's attic? What lies beneath the surface of life and death? What comes in Bobby's - in Bobby's trace? Do ghosts mourn the living? Perry Chaplin knows. Will you? "



Do the Dead Mourn the Living? The Case of Bobby's Trace
================================================
Haunting, my novel, Bobby’s Trace, is a most unusual ghost story. Readers have contacted me with questions concerning the title spook, because they have never encountered anything like him before. Traditionally, literary ghosts are either vengeful, ethereal, wise, or desperately trapped. Bobby may have all these attributes, but his most pronounced characteristic is that he is in mourning — mourning for his lover and for his life. While he is the antagonist to Perry Chaplin’s stressed-out protagonist, Bobby is also a protagonist, trying to figure out the new world that has engulfed him.

As a fantasy writer, I realize that our task is to create parallel worlds, but with Bobby’s Trace, it is the trace that concerns us — the wake he creates as he tries to pass into the next world. We see this world only through Perry’s presence. He channel’s it, a doorway that opens only through him. Perry has wandered into a crack between life and death and is as confused as Bobby.

However, while Perry is trying desperately to get on with his life, nothing can nudge Bobby onward to his death — well, not nothing, but no spoilers here. Writing about death and mourning is a writer’s preoccupation. Most writers do it. Even J. K. Rowling’s landmark heptology, Harry Potter, has death as its principle theme. Mourning is something I know about, but I wondered whether the dead mourn the living. Is there a reciprocation between the worlds — a Taoist balance, a feng-shui between life and death. To this I added the notion that a ghost’s mourning is fed by the level of a beloved’s mourning — a lover’s desperate holdfast. Denial on its pinnacle. Of course, to turn this clinical discussion into a novel that touches the heart is another task altogether. Balancing pace in this short work depends on mutual themes — deception, renewal and sleight of hand. Still, I am pleased that so many readers have seen fit to express themselves to me by mail and in reviews that Bobby’s eyes still haunt them beyond the last page."

What Readers say about Bobby's Trace
===============================


"A subtle and wry humor never detracts from the intensity of the characterizations, which rather unfold like the peeling of an onion to reveal unnexpected layers and depths."


"I highly recommend Bobby's Trace and look forward to reading Mr. Patterson's other material."


"Bobby's Trace is a hauntingly beautiful exposition of one man's failing sanity in the face of prolonged grief. Touching and terribly heart wrenching. M. Night Shyamalan Beware."


"WOW ! Well, I'm glad I stumbled across this little treasure!"


"Impressive. Mr. Patterson has mastered the challenge of bringing his characters to life. I had no difficulty visualizing the characters and events, which allows the reader to forget they are reading a book."

"When I finished the book, I was tempted to re-read it just to experience it all over again. This was a great book, a joy to read, and one I'll want to visit again."

"Bobby's Trace is a combination of ghost-story, love-story and mystery novel, held together with the author's trademark black humour. At times bizarre and terrifying yet also beautifully uplifting, Edward C Patterson has crafted a literary jewel."

" . . . fast paced and I couldn't stop reading. Great twist at the end. I never suspected a thing!!"

Amazon Rating: 4 and 1/2 stars (9 reviews - full reviews on site or at http://www.dancaster.com/)

Come read Bobby's Trace
==================


Grab some popcorn, turn on your itty-bitty reading lamps and spook-up your Halloween reading.

Edward C. Patterson, "M. Night Shyamalan Beware."

The Jade Owl is Coming in November and In China, They Whisper Again

After eight years in the making, the first book of The Jade Owl Legacy Series, simply The Jade Owl, will be released for publication on or about the first week in November. Early readers have received this work with enthusiasm, so I look forward to see this fantasy/adventure in full flight. Here's the descriptive blurb:

"In China they whisper about the Jade Owl and its awful power. This ancient stone, commissioned by the Empress Wu and crafted by a mineral charmer, long haunted the folk of the Middle Kingdom until it vanished into an enigma of legend and lore. Now the Jade Owl is found. It wakes to steal the day from day. Its power to enchant and distort rises again. Its horror is revealed to a band of five, who must return it to the Valley of the Dead before the laws of ch’i are set aside in favor of destruction’s dance. Five China Hands, each drawn through time’s thin fabric by the bird, discover enchantment on the secret garland. Five China Hands, and one holds the key to the world’s fate. Five China Hands. Only one Jade Owl — but it’s awake and in China they whisper again.

Professor Rowden Gray has come to San Francisco following a new opportunity at the East Asian Arts and Culture Museum, only to find that the opportunity has evaporated. Desperate, he means to end his career in a muddle of pity and Scotch, but then things happen. He latches on to a fascinating young man who is pursuing a lost relic that Professor Gray has in fact been seeking. Be careful for what you seek — you may just find it. Thus begins a journey that takes the professor and his companions on a spirited adventure across three-thousand miles Chinese culture and mystery — a quest to fulfill a warrant long set out to ignite the world in myth and legend. The Jade Owl is the beginning of a series — a legacy that fulfills a terrible truth; and in China they whisper again."


So mark your calendars, and get set to join the Professor and his eclectic team of adventurers in their quest to solve the enigma of The Jade Owl.


Edward C. Patterson
Dancaster Creative

The Mystery of Mystery Writing - Whodunit and Turning Idolater

Since my novel Turning Idolater showed up on Amazon.com, I have had readers ask me whether it is more difficult to write a whodunit mystery or a run of the mill novel. My answer to that is easy. If the novel is run of the mill, it’s a cinch to write. I don’t believe I can write such novels. A mystery like Turning Idolater or the forthcoming The Jade Owl (which fits better into the fantasy genre) requires forethought that is more logical. I like to engage the reader by putting clues right under their noses, and then write around them so they miss them completely. (The clues, not their noses). This misdirection is fun for a writer and comes easily to me, but I must admit, to make it all work — to make it so that the reader is completely taken off guard, both mentally and emotionally at the end, takes sleight of hand. I love it when a reader tells me they re-read Bobby’s Trace to track the clues they missed on the first read.

Turning Idolater is an unusual mystery. The underlying glue is that nineteenth century classic, Moby Dick. The sea gushes through the work. The problem with Melville, however, is that his work is ponderous, while his themes transcend the page with simple truths. Therefore, I attempted (and hopefully succeeded) in extracting the themes, overlaying them with a Dickensian story set in modern times — a May-December gay romance between an inspired writer and a precocious Internet stripper. I have looked deep into my own experiences as a gay man and placed emphasis on the ripening relationship between these two men and the perils that befall them, much like the crew of the Pequod captained by an obsessive old thumper determined to destroy the swimming eye of God. Now, that would be a tall tale to write, except it is a murder mystery. The difficulty in any work is not its genre, but the development of the characters. In Turning Idolater’s case, we have four contrapuntal forces — a symphony of souls and, like any opus in sonata allegro form, these elements struggle to resolve on an engaging canvas — in this case, New York City and Provincetown on Cape Cod. The mystery of Turning Idolater is that it is a mystery at all. My characters stood by my hand as I sailed this vessel over rough seas — through shoal water and down sewers. While the characters try to resolve their issues, I am resolving the dichotomy of Melville and Dickens, of Pip and Ishmael, of Whales and sea gulls. Yet at the heart of it, lies not a tricky, surprising whodunit (that’s engaging), but the sweet story of a young man at sea with himself and his hopes. The resolution of his inner turmoil is inherent. He must strike the compromise, or in Melville’s words, turn idolater to find his way back to shore. Whodunit? I did. Guilty as charged.

Edward C. Patterson
Turning Idolater
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1440422109 (Paperback)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001FWZ92Q (Kindle)

The Boy in the Mirror - Kevin Borden in No Irish Need Apply

I have been overwhelmed by the reception of No Irish Need Apply. I guess coming-of-age is something we all do. I dedicated the work to PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbian and Gays) because it deals with coming-to-terms as well. However, feedback from readers say "it is those boys - those two seventeen year old scamps," that have stolen their hearts. So I offer you a sample of Kevin Borden as he does something that author's are warned against - seeing themselves in the mirror. In this case, who can guess what is reflected?

from No Irish Need Apply

"Kevin shut the taps, and then grabbed a towel, giving his hair a lazy dry. He cracked the bathroom door. “Loud and clear,” he shouted. “I hear you loud and clear.” The rush of cool air from the bedroom gave him a chill. His teeth chattered. He continued drying as he emerged into the bedroom like Apollo on the chase. He spied his rental tux spread out on the bed like a warrior’s battle array. It wasn’t the one Sarah wanted — a deep cherry velvet affair, but a plain black contrivance. Kevin had promised Louis to keep it simple; and simple it was. What wasn’t simple was the next thing he spied as he finished drying off. He saw the boy in the full length mirror — a boy grown to manhood, fashioned like a cross channel swimmer, smooth as leotard and as attractive as . . . well, as Apollo on the chase — only his Daphne would be a similar sight with similar appendages.

Kevin dried his legs slowly, and then worked the terrycloth down to the wisp of hazel hair that graced his groin. Thad’s was golden, he thought. The chill warmed his under parts. He knew that if Louis was here right now, the Prom would have been ditched in favor of the sheets.
Apollo smiled as he thought of his Daphne. He thought he heard the distant hastening of his mother’s voice, but she could cool her jets now. He let the towel drop and messaged his chest and stroked his belly.

“My, my Miss Scarlet,” he drawled in a whisper, “your Rhett Butler’s ready for you tonight. Not bad. Except for this little mishap on the knee, quite perfect I would say. In fact, you’re a hunk, Kevin Borden — quite the macho, macho man. A girl in man’s clothing.”

He sighed, his eyes scanning his full form while reaching for his jockeys. “Shame to cover it up,” he said as he stepped in and pulled the elastic band slowly up his legs and thighs and, after an impish squeeze, tucked his assets into the cup. “I’ll unwrap these later. I’m quite excited by the prospects.” Stag, he thought. How I’d like to march in with Louis on my arm. He’d die. I’d die, but it might be worth it. “To see their faces, their hateful sneers,” he sighed. Stag. He proceeded to the tux shirt with its brace of studs. His fingers worked their magic, the holes plugged with faux diamond caps. He inspected the work. It was impressive, this costume in progress. It was a dry run for the wedding — or the funeral. Now for the pants. They were odd things. They looked like pants — a little wider than his jeans, but they defied staying up, until he discovered the side clamps and the suspenders. These were a chore, but when complete, he looked quite the nineteenth century rascal, he did. He slopped his hands into his pockets and flared.

“Look at the boy,” he said, the smile looking back at him through the glass. “Boy, he’s cookin’ tonight. Why that Alison will be drooling when she sees me. And she’d be jealous of Louis, if she knew.” Stag, he thought. Care. “They’d all be madder than hell.” And if they found out — “They’d better leave us alone.” And if they didn’t? “If they hurt him, I’d kill them. I’d rip their fucking throats out.” He snarled and then went for the socks and shoes.

The socks defined the word hose. They kissed his damp feet with silken elegance. It was a new sensation, like a first peck on the lips, but the shoes — those patent leather clamps, felt like electric prods — exciting and ready to go. “Dancing shoes,” he sang. “We’re gonna strut tonight.” He swayed before the mirror. “Dancing shoes.” He imagined he saw Louis beside him. He closed his eyes and saw a room full of men — men on a dark dance floor, the starlight ball casting a galaxy around sweaty chests and scant bottoms. All that hip-hop — all those bodies, undulating gay love. And there was Louis waving in the sparkling beads. Kevin knew where his dancing shoes were taking him. He knew for sure. He knew it was right. He wanted to live on that dance floor forever. I want to dance there for the rest of my life with Louis.

He danced in front of the mirror to imaginary hip-hop, but he heard the beat and the rhythm. How imaginary could it be? He pressed his body to the mirror as if he danced with another boy. “Feet of flames,” he said, sex dripping from his lips. “Fire. On fire. These dancing shoes’ll take me to my man. Steam. Look at the man in the mirror, boy — ready for his love.” He kissed his image."

Edward C. Patterson
Dancaster Creative

Turning Idolater - A Novel of the Internet Age

I am happy to announce the availability of my new novel, Turning Idolater, a work inspired by the spark of change that we all have within us. Sometimes a mite can move us on a course beyond our control, even through passion and sadness and trevail. For my faithful readers (bless you all) and those who would like to dip their toes in my waters, I have provided the Amazon.com link to both the Paperback and the Kindle editions. This one is one from the heart. Let me embrace you with it.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1440422109 Paperback
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001FWZ92Q/ Kindle

Description:

From the author of Surviving an American Gulag comes Turning Idolater.

"Philip Flaxen, who strips past his jockstrap on the Internet for manluv.com, acquires a rare gift — a book that transforms his life. With it, he sparks with a famous author, whittles away at a new craft, swims with an odd circle of new acquaintances and is swept up in mayhem. Philip leaves the world of The Porn Nazi and enters the realm of crisp possibilities - great expectations and dark secrets that unravel over deep waters. Follow this whodunit as Philip Flaxen turns idolater and never looks back — a tale of Internet strippers, backstreet murders, Provincetown glitz, New York City nightlife and a love story for the ages. If you liked No Irish Need Apply and loved Bobby's Trace, you will adore Turning Idolater. Life is filled with serendipity, pleasurable and bracing, but on the fringes and in the heart, life can be a very bloody business. "


Edward C. Patterson
http://www.dancaster.com/

Coming on September 16th - Turning Idolater

I'm proud to announce the upcoming release of my new novel Turning Idolater, a story of intrigue and redemption in the dark recesses of society. Release is scheduled for on or about September 16th in both Kindle and Paperback. Here's the description:

From the author of Surviving an American Gulag comes Turning Idolater.

Philip Flaxen, who strips past his jockstrap on the Internet for manluv.com, acquires a rare gift — a book that transforms his life. With it, he sparks with a famous author, whittles away at a new craft, swims with an odd circle of new acquaintances and is swept up in mayhem. Philip leaves the world of The Porn Nazi and enters the realm of crisp possibilities — great expectations and dark secrets that unravel over deep waters. Follow this whodunit as Philip Flaxen “turns idolater” and never looks back — a tale of Internet strippers, backstreet murders, Provincetown glitz, New York City nightlife and a love story for the ages. If you liked No Irish Need Apply and loved Bobby’s Trace, you will absolutely adore Turning Idolater. Life is filled with serendipity, pleasurable and bracing, but on the fringes and in the heart, Life can be a very bloody business.

Edward C. Patterson
http://www.dancaster.com/

Do the Dead Mourn the Living? The Case of Bobby's Trace

Haunting, my novel, Bobby’s Trace, is a most unusual ghost story. Readers have contacted me with questions concerning the title spook, because they have never encountered anything like him before. Traditionally, literary ghosts are either vengeful, ethereal, wise, or desperately trapped. Bobby may have all these attributes, but his most pronounced characteristic is that he is in mourning — mourning for his lover and for his life. While he is the antagonist to Perry Chaplin’s stressed-out protagonist, Bobby is also a protagonist, trying to figure out the new world that has engulfed him.

As a fantasy writer, I realize that our task is to create parallel worlds, but with Bobby’s Trace, it is the trace that concerns us — the wake he creates as he tries to pass into the next world. We see this world only through Perry’s presence. He channel’s it, a doorway that opens only through him. Perry has wandered into a crack between life and death and is as confused as Bobby. However, while Perry is trying desperately to get on with his life, nothing can nudge Bobby onward to his death — well, not nothing, but no spoilers here.

Writing about death and mourning is a writer’s preoccupation. Most writers do it. Even J. K. Rowling’s landmark heptology, Harry Potter, has death as its principle theme. Mourning is something I know about, but I wondered whether the dead mourn the living. Is there a reciprocation between the worlds — a Taoist balance, a feng-shui between life and death. To this I added the notion that a ghost’s mourning is fed by the level of a beloved’s mourning — a lover’s desperate holdfast. Denial on its pinnacle. Of course, to turn this clinical discussion into a novel that touches the heart is another task altogether. Balancing pace in this short work depends on mutual themes — deception, renewal and sleight of hand. Still, I am pleased that so many readers have seen fit to express themselves to me by mail and in reviews that Bobby’s eyes still haunt them beyond the last page.

Edward C. Patterson

First On-line Book Signing a Success

I want to thank my readers and all those who came to the first-ever On-line Book Signing and Reading of my novel Surviving an American Gulag on August 24th and the encore on August 26th. A complete review of the event can be read at the following link - http://bddesignonline.com/Press/wordpress/

Edward C. Patterson
Dancaster Creative

Edward C. Patterson To Hold First Ever Digital Book Signing Event This Weekend

Edward C. Patterson To Hold First Ever Digital Book Signing Event This Weekend

Author Edward C. Patterson will hold what is believed to be the first ever digital book signing event this Sunday at GotoMeeting.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRLog (Press Release) – Aug 21, 2008 – “Surviving an American Gulag” by Edward C. Patterson will hold the first ever On-line Book Reading and Signing on Sunday August 24, 2008 from 2:00pm – 2:30pm EST. Mr. Patterson is believed to be the first Author to hold an on-line book signing. After a live introduction and short interview, Mr. Patterson will read an excerpt from his seventh novel, “Surviving an American Gulag.” It is a story the military would prefer to remain lost.
complete Press Release

Invitation to On-line Book Signing and Reading

Invitation to all for an On-line Book Signing and Reading

Next Sunday, Aug. 24, 2008 from 2:00pm - 2:30pm EST

Surviving an American Gulag by Edward C. Patterson will be spotlighted in a new Webinar e-book reading and signing.

Go to the following link to reserve your space at the webinar meeting:

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/517031490

Please come and join us for an interview and reading from this author. Questions and answers will be available through live chat or VOIP or telephone connections.

System Requirements:
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

Self-based Protagonists - Truth vs. Dare

In a recent BLOG, a question was raised concerning writing novels based on an author’s direct experience. The crux of the matter was whether an author could remain objective while presenting situations that they had personally lived through. Would an author gloss over darker detailed to obscure their own warts, dimming the truth by shining it up? On that BLOG, I gave a cursory answer that needs elaboration in light of my own direct-experience novel — Surviving an American Gulag.

Early drafts of Gulag were written in the first person, and although I assumed the name of Winslow Gibbs, I set out to express my thoughts directly to the reader through terse narrative — a narrative that I must admit was biased with a gay agenda. This is a case where the author has an axe to grind and does it at the expense of the reader’s enjoyment (it is a novel after all) and an overlay of themes that dull the senses to any compromise or rebuttal. I was marching through Georgia like Sherman, burning the world with my own opinions. I thought I was being objective. I presented myself as a fat slug, who went through an Army hell to survive, but in the end, I lost objectivity — that objectivity being the truth of novel authoring, which is to bend the truth for the sake of characterization and the reader’s pleasure.

In the case of Surviving an American Gulag, I decided to recast the work in the 3rd person and draw the self-based protagonist — Winslow Gibbs, as any character that emerges from my pen. As a result, Winslow observes and experiences far more than I ever did, and without all the gay preaching. "It is what it is." The work is about surviving, not victimization. It presents basic hurdles that all young American men need to face — questions of sexuality, patriotism, loyalty, companionship, and peer pressure. In the 3rd person, I found warts I never knew I had until now — forty years after the fact.

Ultimately, an author needs to distance themselves from personal experience to engage the reader. In my opinion, the creative process is hampered when the author develops a character from the inside out. I must enjoy my characters and the situations that beset them. If I can’t enjoy the landscape, how can I expect my reader to sign on for a really good read? As Private Avila says: "There are white lies, black lies and pink lies." Well, there’s a fourth lie — a highly crafted, premeditated one. It’s called — a novel. Happy reading.
Edward C. Patterson

visit me at Dancaster Creative

The Case of Bambi Stern - Real vs. Stereotype

Lately, there has been some discussion on the character of Bambi Stern in my novel Cutting the Cheese. Bambi is a hefty Lesbian, who smokes cigars, wears a man's suit and fedora, and is motivated by cocktail weenies. She is also the president of the Gay & Lesbian Activists of New Birch and Sipsboro. The character has caused some anxiety (not to say, resentment) in some quarters of the Gay Community. Of course, the novel is my "bad boy" work, which goes out of its way to highlight many of the more outrageous foibles found in the Gay Social order. Without doubt, the various characters are based on people I met when I first emerged from the closet. The community, being mapless otherwise, has created its own clue set for any newbie on the scene, who would need a pink compass for navigation otherwise. So, while some characters like Kelly Rodriguez, the snippy hustler or the even cringing Paddy can be received with wicked laughter, when some confront Bambi Stern, the portrayal cuts just too close to the bone. Harumph. Stereotypes. Truth be told, of all the characters in Cutting the Cheese, Bambi Stern is closest to the real life Lesbian she is based upon.

When I first came out of the closet and took up the mantle of Gay Activism, I was set to my first important task - cutting blocks of cheese into small cubes to be served at an executive board meeting. It was an important task, because it tapped into the heart of gossip and provided my first glimpse into the nelly, campy world. It scared the bejeebers out of me. Then I was comfronted by the president of the group, who roared with her bull-moose voice, slapped all the fairy backs and was famous for having made an entrance at a fabled party by strutting down a staircase wrapped in naught but cellophane. If I left Bambi Stern out of Cutting the Cheese, I might as well scrapped the book. Of course, while most readers find outrageous humor by looking in the mirror, some do not, and had even suggested I withdraw the work from review. One reviewer stated (code) "there were issues with this story that took away from my complete enjoyment." Such reaction only encourages me to step up to the plate and dish out some more. Thin skins beware.

The question here is "what is a stereotype?" I often wonder about this. Is a stereotype a cruel set of crude and rude attributes grafted on scapegoats to make them bigger targets, or are they a collection of traits that communities adopt for identity? It's a fine line, but having caroused at Gay Activist meetings and at the general mayhem of a Gay Pride celebration, my observations record that members of the gay community tend to slip into camp whenever they feel the need. It's the yellow brick road to our own private OZ. Therefore, Bambi Stern and her Edward G. Robinson cigar manner is a living, breathing reminder to my gay friends (and enemies) that we haven't cornered the market on self-righteousness. We need to be proud of identities no matter how much cellophane we wear. 'Nuff said? Not nearly.

Edward C. Patterson

In the Works - Turning Idolater (a Snippet)

For my readers (and, of course, potential readers), I am hard at work on my next offering - Turning Idolater, a mystery novel inspired by Melville's Moby Dick about Gay Internet Twink Strippers and . . . well, there hangs a tale. However, let me share a pargraph from the opening of Chapter Four, where I describe (or rather intone) Greenwich Village at night so you may get the flavor of this stew.

"The early spring chill clung to the evening soul of the East Village, much like a cold harbor waiting for its crew to ring the night bell and slurry out to sea. Never slumbering, the crisscrossed lanes and by-ways sang the song of the alive and the free; of the adrift and the wandering. These were the carols awake and acceptable, no map needed to understand the tidal pull; no liturgy wanted to keep us holy and safe from shoals. Here unfurled art and tangents, fostering fireworks and introspection in the same flare - a place in the sun at midnight, where no clock holds our course to the hour, the month or the year. Only the barkeeps and drag queens parry regulation, keeping such lore under lock and key - hymnals emblematic to sailors holding hands in their hammocks strung by night, never slumbering to the buzz-saw snoring liturgy held fast within the barkeep's ring."

- Turning Idolater

Edward C. Patterson
Dancaster Creative

Surviving an American Gulag - Deep, Dark Secrets

Just why I want to promote or even sell a book that holds some of my deepest, darkest secrets - things that I thought would be interred with my bones, is beyond my understanding. Still, the army experience of a gay man in 1967 is too important to shut away and be lost. Surviving an American Gulag was originally penned as a play in 2000 - a rather curious drama with moving sets and a limited cast. When I approached the material as a novel, I immediately found that I wasn't telling my own story, but fostering a point of view. The first draft was in the 1st person and began with a harangue against the military and five yards of gays in the military history. After several false starts at revision, I decided to get out of the way of my own story, cut the preachy crap and just delve into the deepest pit of recollection. I remembered many more souls - lost ones, and many other incidents. The result was satisfactory to me. So much so, I should have burned it as a catalystic excercise - the kind you expunge to lose weight or to stop bed-wetting. Then I thought about the lack of work revealing just how the military handled its "gay problem," before they opted for that lame don't ask, don't tell business. The publication matter was settled. No matter how poorly you judge me as a person after reading Surviving an American Gulag, the record will stand and no one can ever sweep it under the rug or back to the grave where I had intended it.

Edward C. Patterson

Surviving an American Gulag is now Available

Available in Paperback or
in Kindle format

Private Winslow Gibbs has been drafted in 1967 at the height of the Vietnam war. He is out of shape, two-hundred and seventy pounds and a bundle of nerves. He also has issues of a different nature, but in these days before the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, these are dealt with according to the book. Welcome to the Special Training Unit of Fort Gordon, Georgia, where the misfits are driven in the American Gulag. and then there's Private Gibbs, who opts for survival.

Based on the author's own experiences at Fort Gordon, Surviving an American Gulag is a story that the military would prefer remain lost. But not Private Gibbs. It's never forgotten. Always lurking. Defining a generation. Included with this work is "A Dime a Dip," a tale of the author's grandmother and her efforts on behalf of thousands of migrant worker children.

Coming on June 30th - Surviving an American Gulag - A New Novel by Edward C. Patterson

Private Winslow Gibbs has been drafted in 1967 at the height of the Vietnam war. He is out of shape, two-hundred and seventy pounds and a bundle of nerves. He also has issues of a different nature, but in these days before the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, these are dealt with in a comparatively simpistic manner.

Welcome to the Special Training Unit of Fort Gordon, Georgia, where the misfits are summarily driven to the inevitable Section 8 and a life of self-doubt and failure - The American Gulag. And then there's Winslow Gibbs, who finds in the pressure cooker something few people do - survival.

Surviving an American Gulag is a full length novel by Edward C. Patterson based on his own experiences at Fort Gordon. It's an eye opener - an untold story that most would prefer remain lost in the remote and arcane archives of baby boomers who have sublemated such experiences into spleen. But not this troop. No, not Private Winslow Gibbs. Never forgotten. Always lurking. Forever defining a generation.

Also included as a bonus with this work is a short piece called A Dime a Dip about the author's grandmother and her fundraising efforts on behalf of thousands of migrant worker children. Coming on or about June 30th. Meanwhile . . .

Excerpt from Surviving an American Gulag

East of the City of Augusta, Georgia, on the banks of the willowed Savannah River, Fort Gordon baked, even in the weak February sun. It was a war year — 1967, and the military installation churned out in its flywheel America’s young men to fight the foes of democracy. From city and country, from swamp and high-rise, from volunteer to draftee, they came; or were brought to learn the art of surviving the enemy, so they could destroy the enemy. Lessons old in the craft, Spartan in the womb and centurion in the stance, spun from the mouths of automaton trainers, who had lived to teach these men how to outstrip death’s ultimatum, or not. It was a fruitful task that promised the fatherland ample scope to keep the war fires ablaze.

Fort Gordon, sparse and nearly treeless, except for the occasional copse left to piss on when the authorities were back-turned, was divided into three parts. The permanent corps lived in neatly trimmed greenery, as posh as the Augustan golf courses that flanked the river. Here the officers and their families, and anyone tarred and feathered to be here, made the best of the apparent sameness of a military post and its redundant accommodations.

The training grounds however, were regimental barracks, each two stories high — wooden, cookie cutter, and coal furnace stoked, arrayed in groups of four – Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta. Each array stood adjacent to three, rubber-stamped, squat shanties — a mess hall, a quartermaster’s hut and a commander’s office (the Top’s shack). A small Physical Training course (PT for short) and drill field flanked each training unit, completing the suite; that, and a flagpole. Twenty-four such training units arrayed around a vast parade ground, cuffed by a Post Exchange, a stockade, a motor pool, a chapel and a utility building. A troop churner, indeed.

Finally, there was the wilderness — a camp run-a-muck spread for miles over hill and dale, hard baked in the red Georgia clay beneath the tyrant southern sun. Here the trails were cruel and steeply designed for torment. Here stood the rifle ranges, the confidence courses, the gas warfare shack, the grenade toss, and that terror called the Infiltration course. No matter how much stamina was stored in a man’s gut, the wilderness could pummel it to dust. Those that survived were real men — shaped from longhaired hippies and poor gas pumpers and scrappy street punks and marginal college students, to arise to the standards of war.

Fortune always touted such brigades, but fortune never counted upon failure. That wasn’t prescribed in directives; those official brassy memoranda that shaped all recruits uniformly. What about short falls from the standard? What about those who yearned for home, to be away from the sterile dust bowl of the twenty-four training units. What about the disobedient, the malingerers and the fags? Not covered by instruction until . . . until the focus falls to a far away flank; to an isolated zone — a twenty-fifth unit, whispered about during smoke breaks and mess hall gossip and other such prattling. A place as mythic to the troops as Purgatory and certainly conjured up to make all soldiers toe the line. Yet, every now and then a soldier could look down the road toward that isolation zone and see it; yet, not see it, because it was hidden in plain sight. Still, occasionally at roll call or at evening muster, a fellow troop would be missing, and yet no drill sergeant hysterics accompanied the disappearance. There was just a dash in the line, one closed up by a dress-right and an at-ease. Brief puzzlement. A shrug, and then on to the tortures of the day until, within a few hours, perhaps less, that soldier’s name was forgotten — red Georgia dust in the wind, hidden in plain sight.

copyright 2008, Edward C. Patterson

Bobby's Trace Breaks out of the Triptych

Once upon a time, I wrote a triptych of novels called In the Eyes of the Species. These meant to live together in happy harmony. However, I found, after several revisions that they played better apart than together. Imagined as three coming out stories, these were tri-panels in a gay alterpiece, like the ones seen in great cathedrals. The first was a spunky comedy — Cutting the Cheese. The second was a family story about two widows and their children — No Irish Need Apply. The last was a mystery play, but soon developed into a ghost story of a different color, filled with subtle twists and turns. That became Bobby's Trace.

As the parent of these three works, of course I highly recommend them (a parent's perrogtive), but it seems that the paying reading public, although more than kind to the first two works, have showered Bobby's Trace with the most praise. As pleased as I am with this reception, my money would have been on Cutting the Cheese with its biting gay satire and bitchy humor. But that's me. As a parent, I favor my Peck's Bad Boy. Still, the ghost of Bobby has taken off as the elder brother. Perhaps it's the keep them guessing style I employed — a style I use in my fantasy genre works like The Jade Owl and Belmundus. While the gay world of Cutting the Cheese may seem a fantasy to straight readers, and the childhood dilemma of Kevin Borden and Louis Lonnegan in No Irish Need Apply pivotal to everyone's coming of age, it's Bobby's phantasmagoria that has tickled the fancy.

I want to thank the readers and beta-readers of all my works, but especially those thoughtful enough to leave reviews, which I welcome, and paticularly to the Bobby's Trace crowd. It gives me great joy to share my art with those in search of a quick read (true in Bobby's case). Without readers, would authors exist? We would in the short run, but it takes hungry readers to complete our work. From my mind to your imagination, and from there a short detour to your heart and then . . . your soul. My, my, my . . .

Edward C. Patterson
visit Dancaster Creative

Now Available - Come Wewoka & Diary of Medicine Flower

I am happy to announce that Come, Wewoka: Poems on the Trail of Tears has been released with its companion piece, Diary of Medicine Flow: Cherokee Aphorisms in both paperback (ISBN: 1438227639) and kindle (ASIN: B001A7HMT4) formats.

The Trail of Tears left a deep mark on the Cherokee nation, a mark that still ripples through the descendants of that culture. It should also leave an indelible mark on the current conscience. Come, Wewoka: Poems on the Trail of Tears is a collection of heartfelt reflections on Cherokee culture during those days and after. Diary of Medicine Flower - Cherokee Aphorisms is prose-poetry reflecting Cherokee views on modern life. Together, these two works provide a sense of the vibrancy of Cherokee culture that is far from faded, but in well worth the sampling.

excerpt from Come, Wewoka

Old Man Tokorei

They gave old man Tokorei
A blanket and a bottle.
The bottle made him warmer than the blanket,
But they also robbed him of his woman.
She would make him warmer still.

To Carlisle, they sent his children,
To make him colder when they came to know him not.
But now, this desert sun in Arizona
Burns his skin warmest yet.

Thank the hawk he still has the warm bottle.

excerpt from Diary of Medicine Flower

Prairie Courting

Fair is the maiden I pursue on the knoll. Just ahead of me she stays, knowing I watch, but keeping her distant. I stop and gaze, tilting my head to catch the breeze, my crow feather shown best when blown apart. I feel her smile, although I only see her back. I know she has etched me in her heart. I take a step backwards. She one forward, and I know that tomorrow on this knoll we will be within touching distance, although we will not touch.

Edward C. Patterson

Coming Soon from the Pen of E.C. Patterson

Late May 2008

In preparation, for release on Kindle and Paperback in late May is my new volume of poems and aphorisms inspired by my Cherokee experience.

Come, Wewoka: Poems on the Trail of Tears, is a poetic recounting of the forced removal of the Cherokee from Georgia to Oklahoma Territory.

The Diary of Medicine Flower: Cherokee Aphorisms is a suite of daily thoughts from a modern man with a Native retrospective.

Together, in a single volume, these form my tribute to my Cherokee heritage.

Medicine Flower
Nv-wo-di A-gi-lv-s-gi

Late June 2008

Surviving an American Gulag is a first-hand look at the treatment of gay men in the military during the Viet-nam era, as presented by a soldier who lived through every torturous, life-shaping moment of it.

Private Winslow Gibbs learns the hard way that the draft has brought him in conflict with more than Uncle Sam's enemies. Having failed to get with the program during training, he is removed to the Special Training Unit, a place designed to break and chuck out those who do not come up to the Army's standard for cannon fodder. It proves to be a reckoning point for those deemed misfits. What Gibbs finds here, however is beyond anyone's reckoning.

I'll keep my readers posted on its progress.

Also, I have been doing a Guest Blog spot on Writer's Help Blog. Come Visit. The topic is:
Some Thoughts on Revising a Novel

Edward C. Patterson

Step up to the Counter for another Sample

I know you can sample the Kindle version on my poetry collection, The Closet Clandestine, and soon you will be able to Search Inside the Book for the paperback version, but with so many morsels within this work, and it being a sunny Wednesday in May, I thought I'd toss another free sample on the counter to be tasted. This tidbit is from one of the seven books in the collection - from The Festival at Thebes, but was published in a poetry anthology The Poet back in 1976. I mention that because . . . well, that will be self-evident:

Atop the Twin Towers

From the top of the world of man
Steel arched and graced by girder,
I see the river race,
The placid calm of the market of mammon,
Coming afar about the island’s tip,
Seeking trade in cargos gold,
For precious agate, amber rare,
Through old Palmyra’s gates,
Dawning over Hecatompolis.
Mighty mistress on the flow,
Raising high the towers two,
Receive the caravans of man.
Bactria sends the dragon steeds;
Silken skeins from Serica come,
Glass as precious as your steel
Weighed in balance oft’ maintained
By the greatness of your name.
Honor in the holy trade
In unhampered, commerce free,
Has now come to they scepter’s twain
And past unto your dynasty.

Note: This Poem was written in 1976 and published in the Poet

Poetry is Not Your Cup of Tea, you Say? Then imbibe some Moonshine!

It always surprises me how author's can attract readership with novels and non-fiction, and chase that readership away with poetry. Yet, at the core of every good writer, stands The Poet. Now, I don't want to flatter myself by saying that my core is poetic and, ergo I am a good writer. That is a task for others. What I do have, like every author, is one or two volumes of poetry that flicker beneath a bushel, yearning to burn through.

In my case, I have seven such volumes, collected into The Clandestine Closet: a queer steps out; a gay man's rutter to strive in this world of differences. This collection is now available for consumption (desert or side-dish - your choice), as fickle verses and lyric pieces that have always hounded my heels like a fox in autumn; the little niptails. As for being tea - I don't think so. Strong coffee mayhap, or a blend of sasparilla and moonshine. Some of these little pepperills are a roustabout lot, with bold statements and a call to arms, Hallelujah. Others are reflections or sensual flesh portraits, hot sizzle and ou la la. In any case, not one of them portends to the Darjeeling.

Here's a sample from Volume Seven: Songs - Not Just Survival:

**********

Cultural Warriors

We are culture’s warriors,
Raising our voices through the land;
Teaching with our measures,

And our hearts tied to songs;
Hymns that wrap the people
In heaven’s coverlet.

We are the beacons for the century,
To the youth and fiery angels,
Leading our pavilions
Into the world’s pavilions.
We follow the drum bangers,
The locust-eaters and prophets;
Beyond the tabernacles,
Into the hearth places,
The fountain places
Where the sanctuary stones weep
To understand our strains.

The frost heart melts.
The statue head quivers.
The ignorant understand
As we, the cultural warriors
Bring the beacons of truth to the night’s cold misery
Leaving in our wake
A clear and starry dawn.

**********

There's 180 more like that, if your soul can sustain them. Still, it never ceases to puzzle me why prose writers are ashamed to display their marrow . . . every once in a while. Naked I will stand, if your soul can sustain it.

Edward C. Patterson

Ch'i Lin and the Cup - A Flash Story

The following story (500 words) won 2nd Prize in a Flash Contest at Whim's Place in 2006. I thought I would share it with my readers:

Ch'i Lin and the Cup

SHE REACHED OUT and took the cup, her eyes closing, shutting the world out. She would not see the edge as it touched her lips and made bitter the sweetened rice brew that sealed this pact. Her red veil was raised, but her heart was far from the moment. As the acrid cooling brew washed bitter over her tongue, she recalled her childhood—a recollection that had ended with that brutal cup and this heartless pact.

“Ch’i-lin,” came the voice. “Are you here Ch’i-lin?”

She was here. She felt the gentle breeze of the kitchen on her cheek, although she stood in the parlor surrounded by guests. She had left her father at the door with the many gifts for Master K’ung—gifts that matched the family’s expectations. She had left her mother down the road, peering over the wall, tears of mixed-joy standing in eyes like water bags on a mule’s back, stubborn to flood her arroyo cheeks. Ch’i-lin was content behind her father’s walls, content to be just a girl, flowering and useful to mother’s chores, her sister’s games and her father’s doting. Life for those who have the misfortune to be born bereft of testicles are distracted by those who had them; and those that had them had cash and good connections.

Ch’i-lin felt the kitchen’s breeze and she knew that her new mother stood in the portal planning the life of her new charge. Life for a childless woman was set, even at the age of thirteen; and childless Ch’i-lin would be. They all knew that. She heard that voice again—Ch’i-lin, but instead she heard the call of the kettles and woks, the buckets and the carry-poles. She had a strong back—her gift to the union as no issue would be coming. She shuddered and for a moment she wanted to answer the voice.

“I am not here. I am in my father’s gardens sewing daisies to my mother’s skirts. I am singing to the willow and making my erh-hu sigh to the west wind. I am watching the rain kiss the bean fields and praying to the radishes as they quake from the soil. I am there, but never here. Never here.”
The kitchen breeze and her new mother’s voice cawed. “Drink and make it so.”

Ch’i-lin opened her eyes and swallowed. It was a hollow choke—a bitter vision. Beyond the toil of her new life, her husband sat slumped in a muddle beside his mother. The rice wine slurped to his chapped, blackening lips; the drops beading down his sallow cheeks like grease from a roasting duck.

The corpse wore crimson raiment, silks much finer than its skin. Soon it would wear white funeral robes hosting another ceremonial. But first—this one; the one bonding two properties in peace and civility. Ch’i-lin shuddered and her childhood and maidenhood passed along with the cup—the cup that made her the widow K’ung and a mule to her new mother.

Edward C. Patterson

Cherokee "Talking Leaves"

To me, readers and writers are a single unit. My motto has been "From my mind to your imagination." Reason: My work is not complete until it connects to a reader, and the reader needs to invest themselves in the book to complete it. My writing, like Koontz's writing, and King's, and Dicken's and Twain's, and Thucidides' . . . is a time capsuled communique.

I am Cherokee and my people call such things (the written word), "talking leaves" because they surplant the human voice and quietly whispers their messages across time. They are alive beyond the writer. Perhaps that is why the Cherokee were the only Native American nation to create a writing system, so they could convey the unspoken like new leaves in the wind.

Despite the economics of success or failure, as long as I have committed worthy stories on those eternal leaves, and as long as a reader picks one up and completes the process, my creative circle can be closed. We all dream of selling books like hotcakes. I still have that dream about my epic work, The Jade Owl Legacy, but in the end, everything that I deem worthy from my pen will be released (published, if you will), so they can seek a reader's imagination to complete them. I need no longer exist to do it. Our written children take on a life of their own and graduate to new care through adoption.

Edward C. Patterson
A-wu-di A-gv-lv-s-gi (Medicine Flower)
Bobby's Trace http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1434893960Cutting the Cheese http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1434893847No Irish Need Apply http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1434893952

Rainbow Reviews Gives No Irish Need Apply 5 Stars

Rainbow Reviews Give No Irish Need Apply 5 Stars

The following is from Rainbow Reviews on my novel No Irish Need Apply:

"No Irish Need Apply by Edward C. Patterson is light homoerotic contemporary romance.
Kevin and Louis may know what prejudice feels like, but otherwise their childhoods are vastly different. Kevin has always gotten along fine at school where as Louis has always been treated with disdain and thought of as gay. They saw each other at school, but never really met until Louis is assigned as Kevin’s study partner. Louis has always known that he is different and he hopes that Kevin is that way too. Kevin has always done what is expected until he meets Louis and begins to have strange feelings for Louis.

As Kevin begins to explore these feelings, they both realize that slogan No Irish Need Apply relates to their situation more than they care for. Neither Louis or Kevin are truly out of the closet about how they feel for one another or their sexuality. Will they find the strength of will to acknowledge their feelings out in the open or will they like many people be doomed to deny their true selves?

Mr. Patterson has created an incredible story by linking it with prejudices that happened earlier in the century. By using this analogy that many understand from their study of history, it allows the reader to see how modern day prejudice effects people in the same manner it did years ago. I think that Kevin and Louis were very brave to stand up for themselves and in doing so they may have helped other young people in their same situation. I find this story very compelling and a must read for anyone who doesn’t understand how bigotry can effect people. I will be looking for other stories by Mr. Patterson.

Review by Teresa"
Rainbow Reviews
http://rainbow-reviews.com/?p=209

No Irish Need Apply
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1434893952

Bobby's Trace Reviewed by Rainbow Reviews

The following review of Bobby's Trace was posted at Rainbow Reviews: (4 stars)

"Perry suffers unending grief at the untimely loss of his lover, who isn't quite as gone away as Perry believes.

Bobby's gone: bright, sparkly, creative, lovable, never-miss-a-trick Bobby, and Perry, Bobby's survivor, cannot cope. He's not sure whether the odd experiences he's encountering, which constantly remind him of his loss, are positive or negative. He just knows the grieving won't end. Some experiences aren't accountable for by the natural laws of physics, and while those around Perry scoff and attribute them to troublemakers, deep down Perry knows better. His beloved is still reaching out to him in love. However, the living seem able to still anger the dead, and a deceased spirit can wreak job havoc for a computer programmer. Poor Perry: trapped between the unyielding, unforgiving rock of grief and the hard place of exorcism of a spirit whom he loved in life.

A subtle and wry humor never detracts from the intensity of the characterizations, which rather unfold like the peeling of an onion to reveal unexpected layers and depths. The characters belong in the category of "more here than meets the eye at first" and indeed, so does this story, which left me happy I had chosen to read it.

I was also left with a quote that quite blew my mind and provoked thought: "The fiction is never gone when you're in the closet." What an encouragement to do as Socrates recommended and be true to ourselves!"
Review by Frost's Fancy Rainbow Reviews http://rainbow-reviews.com/?p=206
Bobby's Trace is at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1434893960

Three Novels Published on Amazon.com

Come visit your friendly on-line bookstore for a copy of one of three of my latest titles. Follow the yellow brick road:


Bobby's Trace (Kindle Edition) http://www.amazon.com/Bobbys-Trace/dp/B00150Z5HC(Paperback) http://www.amazon.com/Bobbys-Trace-Edward-C-Patterson/dp/1434893960/
No Irish Need Apply (Kindle Edition) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0012NOW44(Paperback) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1434893952/
Cutting the Cheese(Kindle Edition) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0010K2ER6(Paperback) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1434893847/