AuthorFest! will be
held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Cultural and Civic Center, 2007 N.
Civic Center Way, (south of the Meijer store off Rte. 83) in Round Lake
Beach, IL. (The fun of events like this is getting to find out about all
kinds of different books you might not have found otherwise!)
Sponsored by This Old Book, the event features
25+ authors of all genres, free kid's activities, music and more! Come
spend the day!! (Check out the fest info and authors here.)
** Here are some highlights from the pre-fest author panel moderated by
author/organizer Robb Chase that was held on Wednesday. Featured authors
included:
* Mark Spreyer, executive director of the 80-acre Stillman Nature Center, South Barrington, Ill. and author of Natural Digressions: Natural
History for the 21st Century. The book features essays on raptors,
insects and nature. Book sale proceeds are donated to the center, which offers
classes, environmental education and sanctuary to injured raptors, animals and
feathered friends.
Some Fun Q&A's (moderated by Robb Chase):
*What
person would you liked to have talked to or
learned more about?
Watkins: "Meriwether Lewis so he could tell me how he really died. He may
have killed himself, or he may have been murdered." (Lewis finished the
first American expedition across the West with William Clark in 1806 at age 32.
He was dead at age 35, shot twice, once in the head.)
Wasik: "I would have liked to
communicate with Tesla. He came over from Europe. (Thomas) Edison put him to
work as a repairman. He completely redesigned Edison's power plant. He was
promised a $50,000 bonus and Edison said he was 'just kidding. You don't
understand American humor.' Edison refused to see Tesla had the superior
technology."
*
What would you say is more important, character or plot?
Watkins: "If you don't have complex characters, I don't think people will
read far in the book."
Larsen: "What draws me into a story isn't so much what's happening as
(being able to have) identification with the people in the story."
Chase: "Long John Silver comes to mind."
*
What scares you?
Larsen: "I'm kind of difficult to scare. I was 11 years old and saw Return of the Living Dead. I
didn't stop hearing those zombies for six years."
Wasik: "The scariest thing to me are editors. You can submit a book you
spent a year on it, and they'll say this is not what they want."
Watkins: "I think the scariest things
are the things that can really happen. I was miles away in this cabin, I picked
up a book to read. It was Deliverance."
Chase: "I remember the movie, Willard.
I was a little boy when I saw it."
Cox: "I saw the movie, The
Exorcist when I was 15. It
took me about eight years to get over that thing."
*
What one word would you say is most important to your readers?
Watkins: "Escape. I write because I
want you to take a glass of wine, sit in the sun for an hour and escape."
Spreyer: "Curiosity. I want them to be curious about things around
them."
Wasik: "Insight. Even the best novels provoke you to think in a different
way."
Larsen: "Kinship. I want readers to experience stories through the
characters' eyes."
Cox: "Intrigue. I like readers to come away really wanting to know what
happens in the book."
Chase: "Acceptance. All too often we focus on the dust of our differences
instead of how we're all the same."
** Be sure to come out Saturday to check out their books and meet all 29
authors (including me!)
