Had a great time at Mark Jarman's reading on Friday. He's a wonderful reader; very relaxed and natural, added plenty of interesting asides about the piece he read, "A Nation Plays Chopsticks", from his new collection My White Planet. So far I've only read the first story, "Night March in the Territory", which I also read when it was published in The Malahat Review. I can only say that it's a strong, affecting story, one I felt I couldn't tear myself away from. It was also great to go for a beer afterwards and get a bit of chance to talk to the man in person. He's a nice guy, very interesting. He seems to me to be someone who leads a rich life, reflected in his work. Makes a girl think, or ought to, anyway.
So after toting the book around with me all weekend to show to my writer buds, I'm bonding with the little sucker. Have to say my emotions when I first opened the package Friday were mixed -- I was excited, yeah, but kind of afraid of it, too. This is IT. This is the final form. But I'm feeling better now. I've even got past my aversion to reading it yet AGAIN and am now going through it. Why, I'm not really sure. Maybe to prove to myself that it's not a dream.
Pretty sure now that it isn't.
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