Last night I went to the celebratory reading of the 11th issue of Water-Stone Review: A Literary Annual published by Hamline University. A good event over all, but there is nothing like party to remind me that I’m a misanthrope and feel devastatingly awkward in any group situation with no structure.I shared a couple of weak glances and head bobs with the few people that I know from the program. I even said hi to rising star David Oppegaard, author of the upcoming debut novel, The Suicide Collectors, available in December 2008 (check out my interview). Then I got the hell out there, but not before someone, someone whose name I didn’t bother to remember made a straight line for me. I did the chin-up, “What’s up,” and ran out the door.
Anyway, the highlight of the evening was hearing the two page novel excerpt by Chan about a boy who is a detective. The boy is on his way to help solve some case, but is called into an emergency by his friends, other fledgling detectives. They all go into a basement filled with regurgitated mice. They spend the night piecing the mice back together.
The story was engaging. I did not want Chan to stop reading. I wanted to know what other mysteries would become apart of this boy. I wanted to know why, after spending all that time on the bones, he would cough up mouse fur. I wanted to know what magic was at work here.
After hearing him read, I’m thinking that I might need to audit one of his classes as an alum of the program.
Chan, David Marshall. "Memoirs of a Boy Detective." Water-Stone Review: A Literary Annual. Ed. Mary Francois Rockcastle, et all. Vol. 11. St Paul: Hamline University, 2008 P. 193 - 194
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