 Red Room Writer Profile
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Blair Kilpatrick's Blog
June 25, 2009
- I was checking the listing for Accordion Dreams on Amazon a couple of days ago. I was shocked to discover a little notice that it's now available on Kindle.I followed the link and, sure enough, there I was. Kindled.My first reaction was to wonder how this happened. Then I figured it must have been the publisher's decision. It's probably a good thing. Right? I guess so. I don't own ...
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June 5, 2009
- More bad news this week about the struggles of two Berkeley institutions, Black Oak Books and--the shocker--the Monterey Market, the locally famous produce market around the corner from my house.It wasn't a surprise to read that Black Oak finally closed the store on North Shattuck over the weekend. The new owner seems to have made valiant efforts to keep it going. Every time I've wandered in, ...
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April 24, 2009
- Just back from the closest thing I'll ever have to a "book tour" for Accordion Dreams: ten wonderful days in Louisiana. Traveling with my fiddler husband. The book events always included Cajun-Creole music. A couple of bookstore events, another big presentation at LSU. An interview on a local pubic radio station, by a Cajun woman musician who was as penetrating as Terry Gross. Two ...
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April 13, 2009
- It's bittersweet to be back in New Orleans. Our last visit was in 2005, a few months before Katrina.I'm writing from the funky guesthouse in the Lower Garden District where we'd stayed several times in the past, when our boys were young. It's the same--and not. I can still see signs of storm damage. Ruby, an older African American woman who presided over the breakfast (good, though ...
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April 7, 2009
- Earlier today, I was thrilled to discover the first newspaper review for Accordion Dreams. The review is by New Orleans Times-Picayune book editor Susan Larson. It's a wonderful review, and It comes at an ideal time, just as I get ready for a week long book tour in Louisiana. (It starts on Monday, at Octavia Books in New Orleans.) The review is here. When I discovered it, I was ...
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March 31, 2009
- Are bloggers permanently changing the landscape of the review?This is the question posed by a blogger who goes by the name of devi, on a recent post to "bookish," her book review community on livejournal. The trigger for her essay was a post I wrote on another Internet writing site. I had written about my reaction to the first review of Accordion Dreams. (It was similar to my Red ...
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March 25, 2009
- I've been profiled in this week's East Bay Express, in connection with Friday's upcoming Accordion Dreams reading and concert at Mrs. Dalloway's in Berkeley. It's a wonderful piece by Anneli Rufus. It's also my first profile/review in a real newspaper! Let's see if I can post the link:www.eastbayexpress.com/artsculture/let_the_good_times_roll/Content?oid=950297 So it's little ...
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March 22, 2009
- I just got my first official review for Accordion Dreams.It's a good one, though a little quirky. (But consider my book!)The review is by an accordion aficionado who goes by the name of Mr. Anchovy. He won a copy of Accordion Dreams through another site, called Let's Polka, that has been writing some nice things about the book. Mr. Anchovy writes for a book review site called The Bookworm ...
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March 11, 2009
- Well, it's been an exciting six weeks, following the release of Accordion Dreams in late January.It began on January 23, with the official book launch at Booksmith in San Francisco. Then it was on to Clayton Books. After that, a big celebration at local Berkeley folk club, Ashkenaz (with help from Mrs. Dalloway's.) That was quite an evening: a reception, a reading, and then my band Sauce ...
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February 17, 2009
- A very interesting experience, doing a book reading at a music club. Especially when it's just before your band plays. I wondered if people would stop to listen. Or if it would feel odd, being in two different roles, band leader and very new author. Or if I'd feel so drained after the reading, it would be hard to face a three hour Sauce Piquante gig. At first, it did feel odd. This was my ...
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February 10, 2009
- I had my second book signing on Sunday. Just like the first one, at Booksmith in San Francisco, it was a wonderful experience. Once again, so much of the credit goes to the events coordinator. The lovely and gracious Vinitha put me at ease and completely charmed my mother, who came along with us. (So I had an added reason to be anxious!) The crowd was interested and attentive. A woman ...
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January 26, 2009
- The official book launch for Accordion Dreams was Friday, at The Booksmith in San Francisco. I survived! I even enjoyed it.I was making myself a little crazy with the preparations, I now realize. Re-read my book over 2 days, earlier in the week. That part was smart. (To my great surprise, it didn't seem half bad!) Put little stickies by likely passages to read out loud. But then I had too ...
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January 21, 2009
- ACCORDION DREAMS is finally here!It's hard to know when a book is officially out. When the publisher starts shipping? When Amazon says it's in stock? For me, it wasn't real until I got my box of author copies yesterday. What a week! My birthday on Monday, that amazing Inauguration on Tuesday morning, and then I came home from work and discovered my book. In the flesh, so to speak.It looks ...
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January 9, 2009
- That's what the marketing director at my publisher wrote in an e-mail this morning. So it's official! Accordion Dreams is out. Which means simply this: it's starting to ship. To bookstores, to Amazon, to anyone who has pre-ordered. Even to me! In about a week, I'll hold the final, hard bound copy in my hands. (I've only got the advance review copy, in paper.) But since today ...
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January 7, 2009
- The lead story in this morning's Bay Area section of the Chronicle trumpeted the bad news: www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/06/BAFN154UV2.DTL&tsp=1 "Landmark Stacey's Closing Its Books." The loss of another independent bookstore is so painful. This one hits home for a personal reason, too. My first book, Accordion Dreams, comes out this month. I am ...
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