A monorail over a river connecting three towns in Germany is a thing I didn’t start the day knowing about.. Built in 1901 and still operational. About 80,000 people ride it daily. And architects who dig on the intersection of humans and structures, even moving ones, explain it. You don’t have to listen to them; just watch the 2-minute video and feel how the world you live in isn’t the only way the world can be.
Now I must go there.
Sometimes Wisteria outdoes herself. You never quite know when she’ll show up. And then one morning you step outside to see her gorgeous drapey perfection almost crooking a finger and saying: “Hey, girl, isn’t it cool that I’m smack in the middle of the back gate and ready for my photo shoot? Do get my good side, there’s a dear.”
Yes. Yes I will, Wisteria. Of course all your sides are excellent. Welcome to the yard. The ferns have been longing for you.
The Booker Rebellion came to me as I drove on a two-lane highway somewhere between Alsea and the ocean. I had been thinking about my nieces and nephews in the magic of a temperate rainforest, all rich and dark and riding the steep ridges of the Oregon Coast Range. The kids I adore, the landscape I love merged into a story. It has never let me go.
Those kids are much taller now, and The Booker Rebellion is a real thing, a literary thriller coming from Sibylline Press in November. The Booker siblings — fifteen-year-old Belinda, twelve-year-old Jack and six-year-old Emmy — discover a corpse in the forest near their remote home and are on their own as they uncover a secret militia caching weapons in the woods, see their aunt disappear, and find themselves the target of a deputy who’d rather they disappear too. Their parents may be off fighting wildfires in Alaska, but these free-range kids have operating instructions: Pay attention. Notice what’s right. Notice what’s wrong. Do what must be done.
In coming months I’ll be sharing more news: a cover reveal, an opportunity for early readers, an upcoming writing workshop. I’ll keep you posted.
A note to the nieces and nephews: I swear, kids, it’s fiction. None of the stuff you actually did is in here. Promise.
Susan Palmer's Exquisite Now 