Mike Shea on the month’s new releases
Dominic Smith
Atria
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If genius truly skips a generation, what becomes of the moderately stellar offspring of brilliant parents? In his wry and affecting THE BEAUTIFUL MISCELLANEOUS, Austinite DOMINIC SMITH probes the fate of Nathan Nelson, who must suffer his quark-physicist father’s efforts—whiz kid camps, science drills—to mold him into a prodigy. While Mrs. Nelson retreats into obsessive housewifery, the disappointed professor buries himself in work, emerging only to ensure that his son is “still breathing under the auspices of gravity and motion.” When a head injury gives Nathan synesthesia (an inexplicable cross-wiring of the senses), it also confers on him the genius denied at birth, and his father embraces the freakish gift as a second chance. Unlike The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre, Smith’s historical and stylized debut, this novel is bathed in a Midwestern ordinariness that casts the Nelson family’s oddities in stark relief. It’s a world where success is not absolute, failure is not irredeemable, and the distance between the two is quite short indeed.
Jack Valenti
Harmony
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THIS TIME, THIS PLACE: MY LIFE IN WAR, THE WHITE HOUSE, AND HOLLYWOOD hits the shelves barely a month after the death of its author, JACK VALENTI, at the age of 85. Valenti professed to have written this memoir so that his grandchildren might understand his journey from mean circumstances on Houston’s Alamo Street to influential positions as special assistant to President Lyndon Johnson and majordomo of the Motion Picture Association of America. True to his word, this is an amiably self-effacing affair that finds the author pulling himself up by his war-weary bootstraps (he was a bomber pilot in World War II) to find his place in the big world. To his credit, Valenti accepts that his power derived from his proximity to the powerful (mentor LBJ and cabinet) and his fame from the truly famous (every movie-biz A-lister of the twentieth century). Steeped in old-school graciousness, it is a journal of which Valenti’s progeny will surely approve.
Amanda Eyre Ward
Random House
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In AMANDA EYRE WARD’s cinematic third novel, FORGIVE ME, the Austin writer beautifully spans the physical and social divide between Cape Town, in the waning days of apartheid, and Cape Cod, where journalist Nadine Morgan wrestles with the all-consuming ambition that finds her both single and childless but desperately wanting to return as a reporter to South Africa. The tale jumps through time and distance: Flash back to Nadine on assignment in Cape Town, where her lover, Maxim, is killed while photographing a gun battle and an American teacher, Jason Irving, is murdered by a youth mob that includes fifteen-year-old Evelina Malefane. Flash forward to Nadine fleeing Nantucket (and her best chance at settling down) in the hopes of interviewing Jason’s parents at Evelina’s amnesty hearing before South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Ward avoids glib answers, preferring to question the differences between perpetrators and victims—and ask who deserves to be forgiven.
Rick Riordan
Rick Riordan
In 2005, with seven adult mysteries under his belt, the San Antonio writer and teacher launched a series for kids: Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Now Harry Potter producer Chris Columbus has signed on to bring book one, The Lightning Thief, to the screen. Percy’s print adventures continue with book three, The Titan’s Curse.
What inspired you to branch out?
It was a fluke. My nine-year-old son was dyslexic and ADHD, so reading was a horrible chore. He liked Greek mythology, so I started telling him myths. When I ran out, I created a modern boy, Percy Jackson, who is ADHD and dyslexic and finds out that he is the son of Poseidon. The Lightning Thief was the result.
Do you take a different approach with younger readers?
Kids are tougher critics. They have no patience for self-indulgent authors. They want a tight story, sympathetic characters, humor, action, mystery—the whole package.
Have you set any horizon on the Percy Jackson stories (as J.K. Rowling famously did with the Harry Potter books) or are you taking things one book at a time?
It will be a five-book series. That will allow me to cover pretty much all of Greek mythology and wrap things up while the series still feels fresh and vibrant. The story arc for all five books has been more or less in my head since the beginning, but the details develop as I go along. I try to strike a balance between organizing in advance and letting things happen organically. Part of the fun of writing a series is discovering all the little twists and turns I didn’t envision.
Any new adult fiction on the way?
The next Tres Navarre novel, Rebel Island (due August 28), is set on a fictional island near Port Aransas in a hurricane.
Other than your earlier Tres Navarre books, San Antonio seems to be a rare setting for novels. Is there much of a San Antonio fiction-writing community?
San Antonio has a very active writers’ community, and it’s gotten more vibrant over the past decade or so. Jay Brandon writes an excellent series of legal thrillers set in San Antonio. David Liss, who’s written some highly acclaimed historical novels, also lives here. Nationally renowned poet Naomi Shihab Nye is a San Antonio treasure. That’s just to name a few. We also have a fantastic local writers’ group called Gemini Ink, which sponsors workshops and literary events. San Antonio may or may not be the subject for all our local writers, but it definitely provides inspiration. It’s a beautiful setting with a rich cultural heritage.
You seem to be hitting your stride as a writer. Have you set any specific goals for yourself—creatively, commercially, or critically?
I’ve found that things happen when they’re meant to happen. I started writing when I was 13, but I didn’t find the right story to tell until I was 29, when I got the idea for Big Red Tequila. My students had been telling me for years I should write for kids, but I didn’t get the right story until my son needed me to create The Lightning Thief. So sure I have goals and I’m enjoying the success of my books, but at the same time, I’m letting things unfold as they will. My main hope is that the right stories will continue to find me, and I’ll be able to tell them in a way that connects to readers.
Has Hollywood made any overtures toward the Percy Jackson series?
When The Lightning Thief was in manuscript form, it quickly got into the hands of the film scouts, so we had interest from very early on. Fox 2000 optioned the book. A preliminary script was written by Joe Stillman, the screenwriter of Shrek, though the studio is now working on a different script. Just recently, Chris Columbus, who directed the first two Harry Potter films, signed on to direct and produce the movie. No word yet on casting or release date.
How have your book-signing crowds changed?
They’ve increased exponentially and gotten a lot younger!
When you write the fifth—and final—Percy Jackson book, will you be tempted to kill him off?
Perry will go through many dangers, and not all of his friends will go unscathed, but I don’t foresee his imminent demise.
The Lightning Thief: Rick Riordan, published by Hyperion.
