2009 - 08/2009 Meeting

Page Created: 09/16/10. Last Updated: 110/1/10. Last Google Group Page Update: 10/15/09.

KATHERINE MARSH

Novels:

The Night Tourist

The Twilight Prisoner

Official Author Site: http://www.katherinemarsh.com/

MEETING SUMMARY:

Meeting Date: August 8, 2009.

Meeting Site: Barnes & Noble, The Shops at Riverside, Hackensack, New Jersey.

Official Attendance: 17.

Meeting Program: Talk by YA Fantasy Writer.

Notes:

Meeting Memories:

Newsletter Account:

The Science Fiction Association of Bergen County met at Barnes & Noble in Hackensack, New Jersey on Saturday, August 8, 2009. Author Katherine Marsh was the featured speaker.

This was not a typical meeting. Ms Marsh was the second person to arrive at the store, so the usual pre meeting Ice Nine discussion did not occur. Instead, the early arrivals talked with our guest until it was time to start the meeting.

Things looked very bleak at this point. It was 8:00 PM and there were about six of us present. However, a respectable group arrived over the next 10 minutes.

Katherine Marsh is the author of two YA fantasy novels, THE NIGHT TOURIST and THE TWILIGHT PRISONER. A third book is underway. They are written for ages 10 and up. The author is a New Yorker who moved to the District of Columbia in 2002. In many ways, the books are love letters to Manhattan.

Ms Marsh is an only child who was raised by her mother (who was into astrology) and her grandmother (who ran a bar in New York City). As a child, she spent a lot of time reading fantasy and constructing imaginary worlds. She is a fan of Madeline L' Engle and J K Rowling and holds a Masters degree graduate from Yale. Katherine taught and worked in magazine publishing for ROLLING STONE, GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, and THE NEW REPUBLIC before becoming a full time writer.

THE NIGHT TOURIST begins with brainy, socially awkward Jack Perdu having a near death experience which leaves him with the ability to perceive ghosts. He is ushered into the NYC underworld by Euri, a ghost he encounters in the Whispering Gallery of Grand Central Terminal. The action moves through a series of NYC landmarks: The Chrysler Building, the main library, the theater district, Central Park and more. All the time, Jack and his friends are pursued by Cerberus and the underworld authorities.

The books are retellings of a pair of Greek myths: Orpheus (TOURIST) and Persephone (PRISONER). Both are travels to the New York City Underworld inhabited by ghosts of people who have died in Manhattan but have not yet moved on to the

Elysian Fields (The Hamptons).

Among the memorable scenes in the book are a trip to the Dead Poets Society, populated by the ghosts of James Baldwin, Allen Ginsberg, and Dylan Thomas (among others) and a pass through of The Producers where spectral ushers remind their fellows of theatrical etiquette: "Please do not howl, moan, groan, wail, sing along, rattle chains, or interfere in any way with the living performers in this show. Also please do not use flash."

Katherine Marsh began THE NIGHT TOURIST during her lunch hour after moving to Washington. She does not outline. She starts with a scene and then asks, "What happens next? What happens after that?" She believes that an author should be easy on herself at the beginning of the book, hard at the end, and absolutely fearless in the rewrite process. She says that publishing is a very subjective business and that a rejection may say nothing about the quality of the work, but only the subjective taste of the editor. Her agent is Alex Glass of the Trident Agency, a former high school classmate of hers.

Katherine had to make an early evening of it, so the meeting did not resume after the normal mid meeting bread. We extended the break so that more people could talk to her and buy books. We then held a short Ice Nine discussion before breaking.