Tumble Dodie

Rising Moon

Here’s a pic of Lara Parker—or, as I know her, Lamar—last night at Borderlands, the sci-fi/horror bookstore on Valencia—signing a copy of her new and third Dark Shadows book, Wolf Moon Rising, just one stop on a multi-city book tour.For those who need to be told, she played the fiery witch Angelique in the original Dark Shadows soap opera.

The Borderlands reading space was overflowing with eager fans, and the book sold out early in the evening.  Lamar is an amazing reader of her work and expert at engaging an audience.  Much of the evening was simply her walking around the room, talking with folks about her book, the Dark Shadows show, the Johnny Depp film adaptation.  (Tim Burton seemed to be left out of the discussion; it seems like everybody considers this Johnny Depp’s movie.)  Lamar is such a talented writer—and she seems to ooze terror plots from her pores, she juggles them with such ease.

Several years ago, Lamar got her MFA at a low residency program where I teach, so that’s how we became friends.  I love working with students who are writing genre novels. In general, it’s the experimentalists who respect genre writing, and steal its tropes.  In MFA programs, genre writers are positioned similarly to students doing experimental fiction—there’s always an oddball like myself who will appreciate what they’re doing, but often they’re tolerated, at best, and sometimes oppressed in maddening ways. (I’ve taught in a number of MFA programs, so I’m generalizing here, not pointing the finger at any given program. )

Last night I was so impressed by the audience.  They really understood what Lamar was doing and could “get” every little nuance.  They were smart and articulate and totally devoted.  Lamar talked about how she’s come to accept that her writing isn’t for a general audience; it’s for her fans, and she’s fine with that.  I related to what she was saying, for I too at a certain point accepted that I’m writing for a very specific and pretty small group of people, and I was fine with that.  And like the Dark Shadows fans, those who read/write experimental fiction and poetry are devoted and well informed and understand what I’m doing.  It’s a privilege to be so well read, I think.