OCTOBER 1996
Haven't heard from your favorite author in a while? Curious to know if another book is on the way? Send us a note (email and snail mail address below) and we'll see what we can find out for you. Each month the BookPage Burning Questions staff goes to the ends of the Earth and back again to find the answers to our readers' most burning questions. The answers are printed each month, both online as well as in our print edition. Go ahead, try to stump us!
Our intrepid readers help us out
Dear Burning Questions:
A recent Burning Question inquired about Breece Pancake having embedded D'J into his name. The reason is described in the afterword (by John Casey) of Pancake's book The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake. Here's the excerpt:
"When he sold his first story to the Atlantic he scarcely took a breath. (He did do one thing by way of celebration. The galley proofs came back with the middle initials of his name set up oddly: Breece D'J Pancake. He said fine, let it stay that way. It made him laugh, and, I think, it eased his sense of strain -- the strain of trying to get things perfect -- to adopt an oddity committed by a fancy magazine.)"
I bought my first copy of The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake in 1984. I thought it was the best book of short stories I had ever read -- still do. I have given my own copy away many times but have always been lucky enough to find a replacement.
Dan Reedy
Newton, Massachusetts
. . . and a Pancake endorsement
Dear Burning Questions:
. . . Your suggestion that readers with too much sunlight in their lives might benefit from the writings of Breece Pancake is certainly a helpful warning. However, the realities of life in the part of West Virginia that is the setting for his stories might be far too intense for Tipsy Winkle, whose inquiry to you prompted this reply. There are no magnolias in the moonlight in Pancake's writing. But as a native of the dark and brooding hills of West Virginia, I can assure you that your understanding of Southern culture will be woefully incomplete unless you take a deep breath and plunge into the pungent, gut-wrenching writings of Breece D'J Pancake.
Jay Humphreys
Gainesville, Florida
Well put, Mr. Humphreys. We suspect that Tipsy Winkle needs all the protection he or she can get.
Meanwhile, on vaguely sunnier shores
Hello, BQ!
I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of Sue Grafton's latest alphabet mystery. Any more recent news on when to expect it in the stores? Thanks for all your help.
Jackie Monroe
via the Internet
"M" Is for Malice is coming in November from Henry Holt. We'll be reviewing it, so keep your eyes peeled.
And back to the not so sunny
Dear Burning Questions:
Does Michael Dibdin have more Aurelio Zen mysteries in the works, and, if so, are they set in Venice or Rome?
Andrew Pearson
via the Internet
In May 1997, Pantheon will publish another Aurelio Zen mystery from Michael Dibdin. This time Zen travels to Naples.
Dibdin's book Birth of a Nation'hood has been postponed and will be published next spring as a paperback original.
One-hit wonder? You heard him, Donna;
them's fightin' words
Dear Burning Questions:
Donna Tartt's The Secret History is one of my favorite books of the past five years. When is she going to publish her follow-up to this blockbuster novel!!?? I have been waiting for a couple of years now.
I am beginning to think that perhaps Ms. Tartt was a "one-hit wonder." Any information you have would be appreciated.
Michael Buchheit
Atlanta, Georgia
Regarding a new book, Donna Tartt's editor at Knopf said simply, "She's working hard, and we expect to publish end of '97 or early '98."
Wondering why your favorite writer doesn't call, doesn't write anymore? Inquire with us, and we'll try to find out what's up: Burning Questions, 2501 21st Ave. South, Suite 5, Nashville, TN 37212. Or better yet, e-mail us at Burning_Questions@bookpage.com.
Alas, we regret that personal replies are not possible.
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