Global chatcasts: ‘The Gate House’ in June and ‘The Solomon Scandals’ in July
Update: The Scandals discussion has been rescheduled for 8 p.m., July 28.
Stuck in the middle of nowhere—without a bookstore or library near by with good book discussion groups?
You might check out the OPAL global chatcasts, which mix audio and text and encourage audience participation. The main host is Tom Peters of TAP Information Services.
Tom—an academic librarian well regarded for his work with public libraries—spends hours and hours preparing for these programs. They should be of interest to many, but writers in particular, given Tom’s detailed analyses of characters, plots and literary styles.
On June 23 at 9 p.m. Eastern Time, Tom will examine The Gate House by Nelson DeMille, the author of such lively bestsellers as The Gold Coast. Aiding him in his examination of the book will be librarian David Fauxcheau, the guy behind the Blind Chance blog.
At the same time on July 21, I’ll participate in Tom’s discussion of my own novel, The Solomon Scandals (about which Paula Berinstein interviewed me yesterday for a one-hour Writing Show segment going online in June).
OPAL summaries of The Gate House and Scandals follow.
The Gatehouse
“In this sequel to The Gold Coast (1990), which in turn harkens back to The Great Gatsby, John Sutter returns to the Gold Coast on Long Island after sailing around the world and reconstructing his life in London.
“John takes up residence in the small gatehouse that is part of his ex-wife’s palatial family estate. He soon runs into Susan, his ex-wife, and the next-door neighbour, Anthony Bellarosa, son of the Mafia don with whom Susan had an extramarital affair and eventually murdered, as chronicled in The Gold Coast. Then Anthony asks John to serve as his consigliere!”
The Solomon Scandals
“The author, David Rothman, plans to participate in this book discussion! The Solomon Scandals focuses on scandal and newspaper reporting in DC. Ted Scheinman, in a book review published in the Washington City Paper, noted, ‘Tracing the conscientious reportage of hard-nosed Washington Telegram correspondent Jon Stone, Rothman’s thriller weaves together society gossip, zoning reportage, and union grumblings into a pulp-ish web of international intrigue. Stone is the Cassandra of the D.C. press corps–his hunches mocked, his scoops unpublished until it’s too late. In the meantime, we get to relish his chatty first-person narrator spinning characterizations of D.C. with the same dark zeal Hammett held for Frisco or Chandler had for Los Angeles.’”
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