A Charmed Life? Howlin’ Wolf, Michael Moorcock, Amy Guth and a whole lot of great books.

A charmed life? Days like these make me wonder. Today I drove to the birthplace of one of my favorite Blues musicians, Howlin’ Wolf, and had lunch with one of my longtime literary idols: Michael Moorcock. He and his lovely wife Linda were passing through, and graciously extended an offer to me to meet them for a bite to eat and a couple of hours of good conversation. Truly, I’ve never met two nicer people. Mr. Moorcock is an incredibly kind person, approachable and humble, and he tells great stories – I could listen to him for hours! Mrs. Moorcock has a great sense of humor and is extremely sharp; one of those people to whom you take an instant liking. Although I only spent a few hours with them both, I already feel like we’re old friends. I do hope our paths shall cross again. Oh, and he signed my Elric Books – I always feel awkward asking writers to sign their work. I don’t want to come across as some sort of fawning idiot. Happily, he was very nice about the entire thing.

After I had lunch with the Moorcocks I raced back down the old country highway that connects the Delta with Jackson and got back in town just in time to meet Chicago author and Piltcrow Lit Fest founder Amy Guth for dinner. By coincidence, Amy was passing through town today as well! She’s hilarious, and a huge inspiration to me. Amy’s lived everywhere: Boston, Austin, New York, New Orleans, you name it, and is making things happen as a freelance editor, writer, website designer and all-around literary mover and shaker. She was nice enough to give me a copy of her book “Three Fallen Women,” which I’ve wanted to read for a long while.

After that, I raced back home to walk my dog and check my mail, only to find that copies of Martin Millar’s new novel “Suzy, Led Zeppelin and Me” and Jeffrey Ford’s collection “The Drowned Live” in my mailbox! Happily, Mr. Ford signed his book, as well! I’m thrilled about this – I know, I’m a geek.

It’s been a great day for me, one full of books and conversations with people who write them. If only every day could be like this.

Oh, and you might remember me raving about this incredible vampire calendar I got from Borders. Well, imagine my surprise to come home and find the other three calendars on my doorstep! Karen Korte, the associate Marketing Manager at MeadWestvaco – the company that produces the “BoogeyManuals” calendar line -saw that I had mentioned not being able to find the other three calendars and was kind enough to send them to me. The other three – and yes, they’re just as cool as the vampires one – are:  “BoogeyManuals: Madame Swindler’s Handbook of Seance Etiquette,” “BoogeyManuals: The Zombie Field Guide,” and “BoogeyManuals: Missing Links: Detour to Terror.” Thank you Karen! Look out for these this year at your local BORDERS – oh – and Karen tells me that the “Zombie Field Guide” calendar is also available at Hot Topic.

Here’s some more information about the books that I mentioned:

“Three Fallen Women,” by Amy Guth. (Published by So New Media)

Amy Guth’s violent and shimmering debut novel is the story of three women caught in the vortex of breaking down. For Helen,a painter reawakening after a long period of self-destruction, peace is the choice between the love of her life and her new-found freedom. For Carmen, addiction will define the final throes of her broken heart. And for Frieda, the perfect housewife, catharsis is defined by sex and murder.

Three Fallen Women unapologetically weaves graphic adventure with heartbreak and sweetness to fashion a new brand of fiction. Equal parts feminist battle cry, anti-love story, and twisted metamorphosis, this is a novel that refuses conventional storytelling and lands a hard suckerpunch in the gut of the patriarchy.

Amy Guth has garnered a solid reputation in indie-lit circles as a consistently dynamic and entertaining live performer. Her readings are nothing short of performance art spectacles, including audience participation, props, and a punk rock energy that always attracts a large and enthusiastic crowd. Her debut novel brings that same energy to print.

“Suzy, Led Zeppelin and Me,” by Martin Millar. (Published by Soft Skull Press)

Glasgow, Scotland, 1972. To the utter astonishment of the narrator, Martin Millar, and his friends in the Scottish boondocks—Glasgow seeming to them pretty much as out of the way and provincial as it could get, and hardly likely to attract a band that elsewhere filled stadiums—Led Zeppelin, the mighty Lords of Asgard, are coming to Glasgow.

Martin and his equally nerdy best friend Greg have overactive imaginations. When they aren’t fighting the monstrous hordes of Xotha, they are competing for the attentions of Suzy. But she’s not likely to ditch Zed, the hippest boy in the school, for the likes of them, is she? Overhead, a Zeppelin approaches. Its passengers, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Hank Williams, think it’s worth leaving heaven to see the greatest rock band in the world. Even the fairies are fans.

Meanwhile, twenty years later, Martin is trying to keep body and soul together in London, watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, pretending to judge a literary competition and telling his friend, depressed single mother Manx, about the of his new book Suzy, Led Zeppelin, and Me, realizing what a stupid boy he was to have been chasing Suzy, when the sweet if rather plain girl Cherry is besotted with him.

Still, with Plant and Page on the way, anything can happen. Suzy may break your heart, but Led Zeppelin will never let you down…

“The Drowned Life,” by Jeffrey Ford. (Published by Harper Perennial)

Following close upon the release of The Shadow Year, Edgar-winner Ford’s third collection leads readers down dark and subtle passageways onto some very strange turf. In the title story, people drown and end up in a submerged city whose inhabitants are scornful of anyone wanting to return to the surface; a man named Hatch is compelled to escape Drowned Town in order to uphold a promise to his son. Similar metaphors of submersion are applied to drastically different effect in “The Manticore Spell,” “The Dismantled Invention of Fate” and “In the House of Four Seasons.” In “Night Whiskey,” the book’s strangest tale, two men must roust slumbering drunks from trees after an annual festival; in addition to sending celebrants literally up a tree, the special once-a-year bash also features visitations with dead relatives, and what begins as near-slapstick ends with disturbing revelations and a loss of innocence. Throughout these 16 stories, Ford covers much stylistic terrain, weaving between science fiction, realistic stories with fantastic elements and even some nearly straight-up (and successful) comedy. Readers of all stripes should be able to find something here to love.

And by the way, get out and pick up Volume One and Volume Two of the Chronicles of the Last Emperor of Melnibone (”Elric: The Stealer of Souls” and “Elric: To Rescule Tanelorn“) as well as “The Metatemporal Detective” from Michael Moorcock!