Available at the Apple Book Store, too!
Find me on Goodreads!
“Like, whatever. If you wanna obsess, let’s obsess over David Bowie, or Billy Idol or some shit. Something I can sink my teeth into...What a bod on that guy. I’d like to rub it with coconut oil—...Well, why not? Let’s talk about Billy Idol’s hot bod. I think it’s a great topic.”
Karen. Stuart’s best friend. Likes vintage hats. Listens to The Cure. Drives a Chevy Chevette. Calls out Stuart’s shit.
“We’re leaving the house as soon as I hang up this phone. Okay? Capiche? Please pull yourself together. Splash a little of your dad’s Canoe on your face, and put some clean clothes on, okay? For me? Please? My mother still remembers how you wouldn’t wear your goddamn cumber bun at prom. She’s still pissed off. You could have at least worn it for the photos. It was prom. So, this is what’s happening. We’re going to swing by and pick you up and stick you in the back seat and you’ll look like you’re in a goddamn Don Henley video.”
Susan Collins lives on the other side of The Wall. She’s Stuart’s high school ex. She’s best friends with Cammie.
’Hold Me Now,’ by Thompson Twins, was her and Stuart’s song.
What am I currently reading? Good question! I’m reading a novel by Emma Jane Unsworth called Grown Ups. And I am enjoying it (recommended). SHE’S FUNNY! Unsworth is a British writer, and I plan to read her 2014 release, Animals, next. Note: apparently Unsworth is a Frank O’Hara fan (see the Other Work note on her Wiki page)! Something we have in common.
My digital novel, Your Silent Face, is available in three formats:
PDF format (here at this website, see content link below)
EPUB format (at the Apple Book Store for your Apple Book app or here at this website, see content link below)
Kindle format (at the Amazon Kindle Store, see the Amazon link below)
I would absolutely love it if you could read YSF and leave a review at Goodreads or Amazon or simply email me at inlovewithplaid@comcast.net. Whether you loved or hated it, I will feature your review in a blog post. So far I have two positive reviews at Amazon.
Content link ^^^ (yes, right above this text) Amazon link vvv (yes, right below this text)
I’ve always entertained the question, If you could go back in time, then who would you have lunch with? Aside from family members and ancestors, I’d have lunch with Albert Camus. I think I would have enjoyed bullshitting with AC in cafes, listening to his ideas. He’s always been my favorite philosopher.
Who would you have lunch with? For a long time, my answer was Jasper Johns.
I’ve also gone through a Frank O’Hara period.
Grace Kelly.
A couple friends have decided that it would be fun to imagine which 80s actors might have played the main characters of Your Silent Face if the novel had come out back then. A young Tom Cruise, maybe, or Andrew McCarthy? Molly Ringwald or Cyndi Lauper (yes, I know, she wasn’t an actor)?
Anyway, it’s been fun to entertain, and here’s what they’ve come up with so far.
Stuart: John Cusack
The Viking: Val Kilmer
Nigel:
Karen: Molly Ringwald
Brenda:
Susan:
Cammie:
Phil: Timothy Hutton
J Dog:
James:
The Body Builder:
Uncle Charles:
Grandpa Norcross:
Your Silent Face is also available at the Apple Book Store for your apple devices.
“I used to think that life was like being a passenger on the Titanic, and love was a life boat. But then one night I heard this horrifying screeching. It was chilling and unmistakable. Clearly, an animal was dying in the street. I came out of the house and saw love lying under the streetlight. It had just been run over by a car. Blood was squirting everywhere. It wasn’t pretty, but it was real. I forced myself to watch love die.”
Nigel Ritter
Brenda’s son. A Flint East-sider, like Stuart. A chess player with an official ranking of an expert. Favorite band: Joy Division. Favorite poet: André Breton. Favorite book: Surrealist Manifesto, by André Breton. Likes: Surrealist poetry, Stroh’s beer, The Crucifucks.
Your Silent Face is available at the Apple Book Store for your Apple Book app, as well.
I’m going to post tiny introductions this week to some of the characters from Your Silent Face (which is also now available at the Apple Book Store).
Obviously, gotta start with the narrator, since it’s his “cassette.”
“I found it interesting how select shit like sending a wet bathing suit down the clothes chute or picking the stewed tomatoes out of the spaghetti sauce was unthinkable in this house but allowing the neighborhood kids to press their gross noses against the screen while we tried to eat dinner in peace was acceptable.”
Stuart Page is a first gen college student who grew up in the 70s and 80s on the East Side of Flint, Michigan. Generally speaking, Flint’s reputation of being a tough, hard-drinking, blue-collar General Motors town precedes any discussion of its history and contributions to American cultural.
Stuart is perhaps first and foremost a New Wave music geek, but he’s been influenced by others and has other areas of interest, as well. Like chess.
He’s a product of working class people and a Catholic school education.
He obsesses upon the artistry and suicide of Ian Curtis, the leader singer of defunct British post punk band, Joy Division.
Stuart is the cassette upon which the story of Your Silent Face has been recorded. He’s home, back on the East Side, after his freshman year of college. The whole story unspools from his head. The ghosts of his memories compete for just as much air time as his current observations.
Love my debut novel, hate it, couldn’t finish it, need to give me a high five, need to drive by and scream at me as I’m walking down Michigan Avenue—leave a review at my Amazon page! Or email me; I’ll feature it in a blog post.
email: inlovewithplaid@comcast.net
Grab the novel at Amazon, the Apple Book Store, or here at the website.
And be sure to check out and follow the companion playlist (it’s free)!
#YourSilentFace, #80smusic, #GenX, #ComingOfAge, #NativeAmerican, #RustBelt, #FlintMichigan
Today I'm excited to be releasing a Spotify playlist as a companion to my soon-to-be-self-published novel, Your Silent Face. My hope is that readers will not only be able to enjoy the playlist, but will also be able to use it as 1.) a guide to the musical references within the novel, as well as 2.)
author pic, #YourSilentFace, #80smusic, #GenX, #ComingOfAge, #NativeAmerican, #RustBelt, #FlintMichigan
