Happy Sunday, Everyone! Today, I have another interview with Steve Wiegenstein. You may remember the last time we spoke, but if you are a recent follower or would like to read it again to refresh your memory, you can find it here (July 22, 2012). Before we begin, if you’d like to read an excerpt from his first book, Slant of Light, to familiarize yourself with the story, you can find it here.
Hi, Steve! Thanks for joining me again! Before we talk about your sequel, please tell us how Slant of Light has been received. Of all the reviews you’ve received, which one is your favorite?
The reviews have been so gratifying! Not a negative one in the bunch, and only a couple that I would even describe as lukewarm. I have two favorites. One was from Sarah Johnson, whose work with the Historical Novel Society is something I admire greatly. She’s the book review editor for Historical Novels Review and maintains her own blog, Reading the Past. She wrote, “A thoroughly American story with more than regional appeal, Slant of Light is intellectually involving from the outset, and its flawed characters have a way of latching onto readers’ emotions.” I loved that description. My other favorite was from a historian, Stephen Rockenbach, who reviewed it in Nola Diaspora. He praised the book’s “flawless research and relentless attention to detail.” And coming from a historian, that’s high praise! Here are links to those reviews: http://readingthepast.blogspot.com/2012/05/book-review-slant-of-light-by-steve.html
That’s high praise indeed! Congratulations! 🙂
How has life changed for you since Slant of Light was published?
Well, I’ve been going to a lot more fairs and festivals! I believe in this book so much that I spend lots of weekends doing speaking appearances and promotional gigs of one sort or another. Thank goodness, my wife has been a trouper and accompanied me on most of them.
What was your most thrilling moment since having Slant of Light published?
Two moments come to mind. First is the launch event, when we completely packed Subterranean Books in St. Louis and sold the place out. The clerks had to take names and promise to send people books as soon as they got in a new shipment! The second was when I came home one day and found a letter telling me that the book had come in second for the Langum Prize for American Historical Fiction.
Fantastic! 🙂
I noticed a new section on your website – ‘For Teachers’. Please tell us about it.
Some university instructors have started using the book in their English classes and I’ve had comments from secondary school teachers that they’d like to add it as an option to their students’ reading lists. So I asked a friend to create a teachers’ guide to the novel, and she did a marvelous job! It’s freely available for teachers to use in their lesson planning.
I’m glad they are studying it in the schools. 🙂
Do you know, yet, when the sequel to Slant of Light will be coming out in print?
I’m hoping for a fall release. The manuscript is at the publisher’s, now, and I’m waiting to hear if there are any changes requested. I’m eager for people to get their hands on it.
Would you like to tell us a little about it?
The working title is This Old World, from a hymn of the same name. Slant of Light ended with the dispersal of the men of the community with the outbreak of the American Civil War. This Old World begins with the end of that war and the return of the surviving men. In the interim, the women have been running the community for four years, so some tension will be evident. And in actuality, all of American society changed during that period. Pre-war beliefs and attitudes vanished forever, and everyone had to face a new reality of life in a society that was more mechanized, more impersonal, and in many ways harsher. This Old World explores those themes. A lot of readers’ favorite characters are back, but there’s a whole new crew as well.
I love anything historical. This sounds wonderful! 🙂
Are there any links you’d like to share?
mywithershins 
I have often enjoyed reading about this period in history. Sounds like an interesting book. The sequel should be as well!
I’ve read lots about the civil war period and his stories has a different take on it. They should be quite interesting. 🙂
Thanks for the vote of confidence, you two! I’m eager to get some reactions from readers once the second book comes out. I do my best not to make the story predictable, so I’m hoping that will find the second book to be full of unexpected events and situations that are nonetheless appropriate for the characters. We shall see!
Great to read a success story and I wish Steve all the best and very many congratulations having his book used in schools, that must feel great. – Diane
I’m sure he feels like I do, that it is very cool to have your books accepted and studied in the schools. 🙂
Thanks, Diane! Yes, it was pretty cool to talk about my book with a roomful of students. Some of them had rather odd questions, but that was part of the fun.