Last night in the Alma van Dusen Room at the Central Branch of the Vancouver Public library, Hal Wake, Artistic Director of the Vancouver Writers Fest and longtime friend of books and writers, hosted another Incite event.
The reading featured three authors. C.P. Boyko of Victoria, whose thumbnail bio on the back of his book cover was laugh-out-loud funny, read from Psychology and other stories.
Boyko introduced Mr. Custard, "who doesn't fit the mould." While sitting in a booth in Rosie's Roadhouse, chatting up two teenage girls, he "humbly" implies that he has won every boxing match he fought.
Although Mr. Custard is seen in a restaurant, our author tells us that he "Doesn't get hungry, but only eats to make it with waitresses." Teen companions notwithstanding, he who "welcomes complications for their entertainment value" speaks to a waitress with "tentative zeal," then begins to masticate the white bread she brings. Instead of swallowing it, he takes it out of his mouth and uses it as raw material for a bizarre sculpture.
Mr. Boyko played his cards close to the chest when questioned by Hal, but he did talk a little about his process. He deliberately avoids too much setting detail, actively trying to "expunge place" and let readers imagine themselves into his scenes. "No book," he reminded us, "is ever read the same way twice, even by the same reader."
Barbara Lambert, mother of novelist Shaena Lambert (is novel writing genetic?), travelled from her current home in the Okanagan to read from The Whirling Girl, her novel about a woman who becomes interested in the ancient Etruscans after unexpectedly inheriting property in Tuscany.
Barbara talked about her writing process, describing the moment the idea struck, and how the story "lodged" in her. Her characters "develop of their own accord," she reported, and she never thinks about theme. I enjoyed hearing about her protagonist, the untruthful Clare, who, finding that she gets rid of one worry only to have another replace it, thinks "there is always something to fear...creeping up from inside."
Bradley Somer of Calgary, who still has a day job as a real estate agent, appeared, as Hal remarked, "in civvies," to read from his novel Imperfections. This story of the male model Richard Trench is a send-up of our preoccupation with beauty and perfection.
Chatting with him at the signing table, I learned that he'd had laser surgery. This was to enable him to see without glasses, and not to perfect his appearance.
Lines I especially enjoyed from Bradley's reading included "the sensuous absence of her touch," and "the horrible pleasure I knew I was about to endure." After reading, Bradley spoke not of his process as much as his theme -- the Western obsession with perfection in the form of youth and beauty.
It was a pleasant evening. The turnout was good, interesting questions were asked and lots of books were sold and signed.
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