James J. Patterson Reads from MELANIE’S SONG on Latest LFTRR
The new mystery novel by ASP's Joanna Biggar is given the Patterson treatment in Episode 11 of Live from the Reading Room
“Melanie’s Song is an unputdownable, riveting feat of storytelling.”
Set in the era of Woodstock and Watergate, Melanie’s Song centers on a young woman’s mysterious disappearance, and on her friend’s determined search for her.
Melanie, who fled her marriage to a straight-laced classical musician in order to hitch-hike to Woodstock and San Francisco, was last seen at a commune in the California hills. Rumors abound: that she took up with a Black radical; that she had his child; that she and her lover, armed, ran a bank heist a la Patty Hearst; that she developed a mystical gift for spiritual healing; that she died in a possible accidental, possibly staged commune fire.
Trying to sift truth from invention pulls her friend, the young reporter, J.J., into the underbelly of the sexual and social revolutions of the 60s and early 70s, where she encounters corrupt cops, paranoid hippies, activists, mystics, drug-runners,and most astonishingly, Melanie’s own parents. Risking her job, her connections, her life, J.J. follows Melanie’s trail, determined to find out what happened to her once-compliant friend now turned, it seems, into a rebel angel.
John Doe of Band X Recalls his Time Studying Under Grace Cavalieri
The punk-rocker, like so many others, discovered poetry through Grace Cavalieri. She offers some sound advice for aspiring readers.
WRITTEN IN ARLINGTON, Katherine E. Young Edits Exciting New Anthology of Poetry
The former Poet Laureate of Arlington, VA, Katherine E. Young, curates this collection of contemporary poetry which shines a light on singular art from outside the big city.
Selected Lucille Clifton and Henry Taylor Reviewed by Rose Solari
In her latest review column, Rose Solari tackles the selected poetry of two stalwarts of American letters, Lucille Clifton and Henry Taylor. Solari looks at the continuing legacy of the late Clifton and a Taylor who has chosen the Winnebago over the academy.