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.
Author, Branka Cubrilo, Talks New Novel, “Dethroned” with James J. Patterson
James J. Patterson sits down with Croatian-born novelist, Branka Cubrilo to talk about her recent geopolitical thriller novel, “Dethroned.” In the course of conversation they touch on feminism in Eastern Europe, the lives of young women, translation, and the merits of different languages for carrying prose.
Elizabeth Hazen’s Poem “Scene from a Horror Movie” Published by The Coachella Review
Elizabeth Hazen talks about the inspiration for her newest published poem “Scene from a Horror Movie.”
Grace Cavalieri’s June 2019 Exemplars of Poetry
Grace Cavalieri rounds up the June poetry standouts from the independent poetry world in the newest edition of her long-running review column.