Unexpected news today! Woodland Press released the above image of its latest forthcoming publication, "Fed From the Blade," due to be released in a couple of weeks (I'm guessing). This book is special to me for several reasons.
"Fed From the Blade" contains my short story "Bringing Home the Bacon." The unnamed narrator is a crone instructing a young person on the finer aspects of, well, bringing home the bacon (in the realest sense of that phrase's meaning). I wanted to preserve a traditional procedure, and I experimented with how best to disturb the reader without being at all graphic.
I believe I succeeded wildly, in both regards.
My mentor Cat Pleska edited the book. She also designed the composition of the cover, arranged the apples, chose a special knife from her daddy's collection, and created the photograph for "Fed From the Blade."
Co-editor Michael Knost sat across a table from me not two months ago over Mexican food in the Barboursville Mall and issued a challenge for me to begin writing again. He urged me not to let the chaos in my private life rob the world of my gifts and talents. He demanded that I attend my readers.
Cat has supported me in so many ways over the past couple of years that words are inadequate. Suffice it to say that there are portions of my walk down Life's Beach where the single set of footprints belong to her and not me and I mean that in the most respectful way. I am eternally grateful, Cat.
Close to a dozen of my colleagues and friends are also involved in this wonderful anthology. My friend since first grade, Marion Kee, has her poem "On Hearing Bill Withers in the Ninth Grade" in "Fed From the Blade." I am tickled that fifty years after we first met, two of our word babies have likewise met on the pages of this book and will march hand-in-hand together throughout Time for future readers to enjoy. And if that sounds corny, well, that's how I roll tonight.
Thank you for your loyalty and love, from the bottom of my heart, and from the little girl version of me -- the one who inspires and encourages me to be who I am and to have the courage to share it with you.~~GHC
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