RARA-AVIS: Re: Lehane & coming of age stories

From: Richard Moore ( moorich@aol.com)
Date: 19 Mar 2007


To expand on my last post, James W. Hall, like Lehane, does hold a degree from Eckhert College where Sterling Watson is a professor. I briefly met Hall at the PWI awards in Las Vegas and Watson came up in the conversation because of a mutual friend but I needed to verify the specifics about Eckhert.

One novel by Watson that would be of interest to this list is THE CALLING (1986) which features a character clearly and distinctly modeled on his mentor Harry Crews. Crews told an interviewer "All I did to Watson was try to teach him as much as he could learn. I bought his whisky, I got him his agent. I even wrote a blurb for his first novel. Then he wrote that book. Not only did he have me in there but my ex-wife..." When Watson called him after the book came out, Crews told him "it was a blood offence he'd committed, one that only blood can satisfy."

I understand Crews' anger but it didn't keep me from thoroughly enjoying THE CALLING.

Richard Moore

--- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Moore" <moorich@...> wrote:
>
> --- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Bookbitch" <BookBitch@>
> wrote:
> >
> has anyone read Sweet Dream Baby by Sterling Watson? It's
> > a coming of age story set in small town Florida in the 1950's
and
> is very
> > chilling. It was my understanding that it was supposed to be
the
> first book
> > of a trilogy, but that was like 2003 or so and nothing since. I
> really
> > liked this book but it was one of those that really flew under
the
> wire.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Stacy
> >
> > I am the BookBitch
>
> I have not read that particular book but Sterling Watson is a good
> writer. If I have my Florida writer's tree correctly, Watson was
a
> student of Harry Crews and I believe Dennis Lehane was a student
of
> Watson's. Lehane received a degree from the Eckert College where
> Watson teaches and they have written together. I also think James
> W. Hall was another student of Watson's students.
>
> Richard Moore
>



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 19 Mar 2007 EDT