Kip Gayden

(Lacey G. and Kip Gayden)

Tonight's Evening with an Author featuring Kip Gayden, author of Miscarriage of Justice, was great. Kip delighted us with stories and old clipping from The Nashville Banner which inspired the book. If you would like to hear Kip speak about the book, check out the audio file dated 3/30/08 from John Seigenthaler's A Word on Words.

On a personal note, it was a particularly fun to see so many friends from different parts of my life including school, WNBA, Breakfast Club and church come out to support the series. How fortunate we are to live in a community that values books and discussion. I hope you will be able to join us for the next event.

The event was also a Critics Pick in Nashville Scene (see below).

By Joel Rice

published: November 20, 2008

Kip Gayden's novel, Miscarriage of Justice, is a work of fiction. However, any resemblance to persons living or dead is not entirely coincidental. Though the book's plot--an early-20th century love triangle gone awry--sounds like a racy installment of Masterpiece Theatre, it has a strong basis in scandalous historical fact. The tale begins in 1896 with the courtship of Walter Dotson and Anna Dennis. He is a Vanderbilt medical student and counselor at a Christian camp in Boiling Springs, Tenn. She is a vivacious 16-year-old camper. They eventually marry and have two children. Yet as his medical practice becomes all-consuming, marital doldrums ensue. Enter town barber Charlie Cobb. It was vintage Tennessean articles about a slaying in Gallatin that first suggested the story to Gayden. Apparently the author's day job as a Davidson County Circuit Court Judge did not provide enough drama, but it's apparent that he has found plenty.
Thu., Nov. 20, 6 p.m., 2008 http://www.nashvillescene.com/2008-11-20/arts/kip-gayden-at-martha-s-at-the-plantation/

--Ginna F.

Lecture Series: Madison Smartt Bell and William Lishman

Is it too early to plan for Monday night? Maybe, but these are two great lectures. As part of their Cay Harris Lecture Series, Montgomery Bell Academy is hosting author Madison Smart Bell and William Lishman. Both events are free and open to the public. Bell is appearing this Monday, November 17th at 5:30 pm in the Pfeffer Auditorium on the MBA campus. Lishman's lecture takes place the following week on Monday, November 24th at 5:30pm in Pfeffer Auditorium.

Bell is a Nashville native and the author of 12 novels including All Soul's Rising, Master of the Crossroads, and his latest, Charm City. Lishman is an artist of varied talents, among them sculptor, filmmaker,inventor, and naturalist. The movie Fly Away Home was based on his 1993 experiment leading a migration of geese from Ontario to Virginia, and he lives in a 2700 square foot earth integrated dome home. (I'm hoping for a slide show.)

Again, these lectures are FREE and all are welcome. Intellectual and entertaining? Definitely should be fun.

Sherlock's Books Loves Its Tennessee Authors

I have yet to check out Sherlock's Book Emporium and Curiosities over in Lebanon, TN, but I hope to soon. Real soon. Truly independent bookstores are rare around here, and Sherlock's claim to be the "largest independent book sellers in Tennessee." I believe them. Just check out the website at www.sherlocksbooks.com. They will order anything you can think to ask for and they carry everything: books, classic movies, vintage games, comics, model cars, model planes, and the list goes on. There's even a private theater where they screen free classic movies. I can't wait to visit.

They're big dreamers and big supporters of local authors. This Saturday, November 8th, from 1:00-4:00pm, Sherlock's is hosting a true author extravaganza--the Tennessee Literary Women's Convention. Sherrilyn Kenyon (she of the celebrated Dark Hunter series)--along with 10 other authors--is the featured author, and yes, that is 11 authors on the schedule.

A listing of the authors is as follows:

Shannon Dauphin, Carolina Hurricane
Elizabeth Haley Garwood, The Warrior Queen Series
Sherrilyn Kenyon, One Silent Night
Alethea Kontis, Beauty and Dynamite
Dianna Love, Phantom in the Night
Missy Lyons, 39 and Holding Him
Ellie Marvel, Secrets 22-Dark Whispers
Trish Milburn, A Firefighter in the Family
Ramona Richards, The Face of Deceit
Marie-Nicole Ryan, Love on the Run
Annie Solomon, Dead Shot

Frances Hodgson Burnett was an East Tennessean?

Why did none of you tell me that Frances Hogdson Burnett once lived in Tennessee? Why am I just now finding this out? How strange that the the author of The Little Princess, The Secret Garden and Little Lord Fauntleroy (along with so many more novels and plays) lived in East Tennessee!

I put myself through grade school, high school and college with money made from babysitting and I was not afraid to call out my charges as Little Lord Fauntleroys. Example:

Me: "Sweet___ (insert name of child), please take your dishes to the sink."
Child: "I don't want to."
Me: "I don't want to, either."
Child: "I can't walk."
Me: "I didn't sign up for Little Lord Fauntleroy. There are lame children in Africa cooking over a fire pit for six siblings and herding goats at the same time. Please take your dishes to the sink."

Born Frances Hodgson outside Manchester, England, her father died when she was young. Burnett was a teenager when, in 1865, the family moved to New Market, Tennessee (outside Knoxville) on the advice of her mother's uncle. Two years later, her mother died, and Burnett was left to care for her siblings. She turned to writing to make money.

In 1873, she married Dr. Swan Burnett. Wikipedia says he was from Washington, DC while the Carson-Newman College library states his parents were neighbors to the Hodgson family in New Market and that only later did Dr. Burnett and Frances move to Washington. (They later divorced.)

A longer profile of Burnett is available here on Answers.com. I'm sure there are more scholarly articles, and I'd love to learn more. Oh, what trivia I've added to my Tennessee lore.