If you like this photo as much as I do, be sure to click through and go give the photog some love!
Yesterday when I was feeling a little bit sorry for myself for not having gotten much done in 2011, I started making a list. What all HAD I accomplished? What had I left behind that I loved best? And the ... Continue Reading
Rebecca’s essay when “Barbara Jean was Missing,” a follow up to “What We Lost When We Lost Barbara Jean” is up over on The Rumpus.
Where do you start when someone has been missing a half a century, when all the major players have taken their certainties to the grave? I suppose that question answers itself, you start with a headstone.
Tom Chandler over on The Writer Underground posts an honest and at times humorous interview with Rebecca about publishing, writing and the writing life.
After publishing a novel and a handful of informational books about birds, Rebecca O’Connor wrote an award-winning falconry memoir titled Lift, which married jaw-dropping honesty to a soaring narrative about falconry.
Despite excellent reviews and critical acclaim, Lift didn’t sell very well, suggesting it represents the classic “lost” book; it crossed several genres (memoir, falconry, chick lit), defies easy classification, and as a result, sales suffered.
Rebecca O’Connor wrote an eye-opening blog post detailing her difficult path to publication — and her book’s relatively low sales.
Barbara Jean
“What We Lost When We Lost Barbara Jean”, Rebecca’s newest essay over at The Rumpus was listed in the Top 5 reads of the week on Longreads.com. It’s a piece about her grandmother’s suicide (murder?) and the multitude of ways the loss effects a family. Check it out!
“This is mostly the truth.
“It was 1958 and Barbara Jean was 27 years-old. In Seattle, just before midnight she had a fight with my grandfather after returning from a summer party. Her three daughters all less than 8 years-old, were in bed when she retreated into the closet and as my copy of her death certificate simply states, “shot self in head with .22 rifle.” The girls heard nothing and for a while did not know their mother was dead, only that their world changed when they moved in with Barbara Jean’s brother. Their aunt and uncle said very little about the whereabouts of their father, except to say that he would be coming for them soon.”
Waiting for the next read from Rebecca?
Wait no longer.
Love, friendship, heartbreak and tigers. When two teenage boys in the Netherlands find themselves promoted from roustabout to apprentice tiger trainers, the possibilities are immense, but also treacherous. And as they become men, the friends discover that the biggest danger is not the tigers.
Check out this short story on Amazon Kindle:
Rebecca’s essay “Home for Thanksgiving” which was published in The Coachella Review has been selected for inclusion in the New California Writing 2012 anthology.
This second annual anthology is due to be published in the spring by HeyDay Books.
This is the second year in a row she has been included! You can read an excerpt of Lift in the 2011 anthology which has been garnering lovely reviews.
Available NOW!
UPDATE: As of September RISE is now FREE!!
Click and download now!
In celebration of the Kindle version release of LIFT, an award-winning falconry memoir, author Rebecca K. O’Connor shares a complementary collection of essays, short stories and poetry that further examines life in the shadow of a raptor’s wings.
LIFT, Rebecca K. O’Connor’s arresting memoir of love, loss, relationships and one impossible peregrine falcon is further illuminated with this collection of writings on the world of falconry. The opening short story, “A Good Falconer Lets Go,” about a teenage boy and his red-tailed hawk is a classic coming-of-age tale with a falconry twist. If you are a dog lover, “Heart to Tear” and “About a Dog”, essays which read like O’Connor’s love songs to the dogs of falconry will resonate with you, if not evoke a few tears. In short essays such as “The Knife” and “Storytelling” O’Connor explores early moments in falconry in the icy-clear voice readers grew to love in LIFT. The collection also includes a glossary on falconry and a bonus excerpt of her novel in progress, a post-apocalyptic wilderness adventure. If you have read LIFT and loved it, this short collection will add to your experience. If you’ve yet to read O’Connor’s writing, RISE may encourage you to read more.
I hate you Dave Grohl...
Rebecca writes about the Foo Fighters and the complicated relationship we have with “home.”
Check out her piece over at The Rumpus and turn it up to 11!
Available Now!
In preparation for releasing my eBook, RISE on July 1, 2011 a little bit of practice couldn’t hurt. So I thought it would be a good idea to do a “practice” eBook. Please download the short story FOR FREE for your Kindle, Nook or whatever application you prefer to read on your smart phone or computer. If you would rather, you can get it on Amazon for .99, to throw a little change my way or download it for free on Smashwords. Either way, share with your friends, spread the word and please let me know what you think!
From an unexpected review on Amazon.com by a reader:
“California’s ephemeral Mystic Lake is both the setting of this story and a metaphor for her theme–the way all things come and go. We each, inevitably, must let go of people, jobs, dogs, moments in time, life itself: All things are transient. This beautifully-written piece is about both the pain of our own losses and compassion for the suffering of others. It is not a depressing story, however, for with letting go comes the lightness of meeting life on life’s terms.”
UPDATE: As of September One More Winter is FREE!
An excerpt of Lift has been included in New California Writing 2011
Every piece in New California Writing 2011 was selected to engage and challenge the reader–to move beyond the stale repetition of the daily news into the realm of literature that can ignite the imagination and enlarge the vision. Included among the contributors are well-known writers such as Rebecca Solnit, Mark Arax, Susan Straight, Mike Davis, William Vollman, and Michael Chabon as well as emerging voices. New California Writing 2011 isn’t just the start of a visionary new series, it marks the beginning of a new decade for California
Check out the gorgeous inaugural issue of Inlandia , a journal that highlights writing and writers connected to the Inland Empire in California. It includes Rebecca’s short story “Home Coming”, a piece about choices, freedom and flight.
