Diane Thomas
IN WILDERNESS - a novel. "In the midst of life's journey I found myself in a dark wood, for the right path was lost." -- Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy
THE YEAR THE MUSIC CHANGED: THE LETTERS OF ACHSA McEACHERN-ISAACS AND ELVIS PRESLEY. "And a woman I used to know/who loved one man from her youth,/against the strength of the fates/fighting in somber pride,/never spoke of this thing,/but hearing his name by chance,/a light would pass over her face." -- From "Those Who Love," by Sara Teasdale, as quoted in "Five Women Jawing About Love," circa 1973, a play by Achsa McEachern-Isaacs.
|
Here's the novel's premise: Katherine has come to the forest to die. Danny, a trained killer, has come so he will not kill again. Inspired by historic Appalachian folk ballads of obsessive love and violence, In Wilderness tells the story of two damaged and isolated individuals who have lost everything that matters and who come together out of an overarching need for love. I read the first chapter at the La Tienda Local Author Series here in Santa Fe, and lots of people asked where they could buy the book. I said, "Nowhere yet, but maybe soon." I hope their interest was a bellwether. ### ***FLASH -- I'M READING on YOUTUBE. Do a YouTube search for "La Tienda Local Author Series - Diane Thomas" and there I am reading from The Year the Music Changed. Toward the end I burst into totally unscripted tears. There's amateurs for you.*** ***CLICK MY BLOG AND READ MY LATEST POSTS - A review of a beautiful memoir by international artist and poet Susan Gardner of Santa Fe, and another review -- of a wonderful debut Southern novel by Gene Wright.*** Enough with the awkward self-aggrandizement. Now it's time to make my manners, as we say back home: Hi. Thanks for visiting my site. I'm a Southern writer recently relocated to Santa Fe, New Mexico. I have just completed my second novel, tentatively titled In Wilderness, which was nominated in an earlier draft for the Pushcart Press Editors Award. You can read the first two chapters now under "BOOKS." My debut novel, The Year the Music Changed: The Letters of Achsa McEachern-Isaacs and Elvis Presley, was published in 2005 by The Toby Press [tobypress.com] and has also been translated into Italian and Japanese and published in Italy and Japan. The reviewer for The Atlanta Journal and Constitution ranked it with Harper Lee's classic, To Kill a Mockingbird, Library Journal gave it a starred review and termed it "highly recommended for all collections," and Booksense named it a "Notable Book" for September 2005. I have just completed my second novel, In Wilderness. I hope you will mouse around the site, that's what it's here for. Thanks for coming. And as we also say back home, "Take good care." -- Diane Thomas |
|
