The Pearlsong Letter

Authors & Publisher to Chat About Creating & Publishing Fat Friendly Fiction

Join me (Peggy Elam) and several Pearlsong Press authors in two free teleconference calls at noon Eastern/11 a.m. Central Wednesday, July 8 & Wednesday, August 12, 2009 as we discuss creating and publishing fat friendly fiction.

We'd love to hear from YOU as well! This is your chance to let us know what YOU want to read.

Featured Conversationalists will include:

Lynne Murray, author of the Josephine Fuller mystery series, whose new book Bride of the Living Dead will be published by Pearlsong Press; Pat Ballard, Queen of Rubenesque Romances and author of 10 Steps to Loving Your Body (No Matter What Size You Are); Frannie Zellman, author of FatLand and editor and co-author of Fat Poets Speak: Voices of the Fat Poets' Society; Charlie Lovett, author of The Program; and Ellen Frankel, author of Beyond Measure: A Memoir About Short Stature & Inner Growth and co-author of The Diet Survivors' Handbook & Beyond A Shadow of A Diet.

Topics to be discussed will include why these authors decided to write about fat characters, any challenges in writing fat characters, and reactions from readers.

 If you don't feel comfortable speaking up during the teleconference―which will be recorded―then email your questions or comments to me at peggyelam@pearlsong.com.

Email pearlsongconversations@pearlsong.com for the details (teleconference phone number & access code) and call the teleconference line at noon Eastern (11 a.m. Central) to listen and/or participate in the hour-long Conversations. You can participate in one or both calls.

The line will handle up to 96 participants―first come, first served. There's no cost for the calls other than your usual long distance charges.

We are recording these Pearlsong Conversations and making them available for listening online or downloading after the calls. You can find links to the previous Conversation recordings on the Pearlsong Conversations webpage.

See http://www.pearlsong.com/pearlsongconversations.htm for more info. Request the call-in number & access code (which will be the same for both calls) by emailing pearlsongconversations@pearlsong.com.

I hope I'll hear your voice―or at least you'll hear ours―on July 8 & August 12!

In Joy,

Peggy Elam, Ph.D.

Psychologist,
Editor & Publisher,
Pearlsong Press

"A book, too, can be a star, 'explosive material, capable of stirring up fresh life endlessly.'"

Madeline L'Engle
in her acceptance speech for the Newberry Award for
A Wrinkle in Time,
quoting astronomer Fred Hoyle.

Rebecca Fox & William Sherman interviewed on BlogCritics Radio

Measure By Measure authors Rebecca Fox & William Sherman were interviewed on  BlogCritics Radio earlier today.

Listen to or download the show (while the mp3 link is up) at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/bcradio ... they'rein the second half of the show, following the interview with members of the band Sugarwall.

Linda C. Wisniewski interviewed at Sheila Bender's Writing It Real

Linda C. Wisniewski, author of Off Kilter: A Woman's Journey to Peace with Scoliosis, Her Mother, & Her Polish Heritage, has an interview by Sheila Bender at the Writing It Real magazine & writing resource center.

Read the first portion of the interview here. (A login or subscription is required to read the entire interview.)

Update 7-5-2009: Sheila Bender & Writing It Real have kindly provided a link to the full interview that is accessible by nonsubscribers. Real the full interview here.

Lynne Murray's new book to be published by Pearlsong Press

Pearlsong Press is pleased to announce that we are publishing Lynne Murray's new book Bride of the Living Dead. The publication date hasn't been set yet -- this is brand spanking new news.

Lynne Murray is the author of the Josephine Fuller mysteries. Bride of the Living Dead is a departure from the series featuring the "sleuth of size who doesn't apologize," a romantic comedy starring indie film critic Daria MacClellan. From Lynne's website:

Big, beautiful and rebellious, Daria, who is most comfortable in a monster movie poster T-shirt and blue jeans, finds that her wedding is hijacked by family drama. How did she sign on for a formal wedding planned by Sky, her perfectionist anorexic older sister? Daria adores her fiance and she loves horror films, but her wedding seems to be turning into one. Will a picture perfect pink wedding turn her into the Bride of the Living Dead?

Welcome to Pearlsong Press, Lynne and Daria!

New $5-per-retail-order shipping within the U.S. at the Pearlsong Press online store

Now, no matter how many books you buy from the Pearlsong Press retail store, shipping within the U.S. will be only $5 for the entire order!

At least that's the case up to 24 books -- that's the highest quantity discount we programmed into the pearlsong.com website shopping cart. If you want to purchase more than 24 books at retail rates, send us an email (sales @ pearlsong.com) and we'll ship them within the U.S. for free. (Heck, for an order that size we'd be tempted to hand-deliver them out of appreciation.)

At rates like that, you could buy a copy of every book we publish and just pay $5 for shipping. Or just buy copies of the books we have on hand that are autographed by their authors -- all of Pat Ballard's books as well as Anne R. Williams's memoir Unconventional Means: The Dream Down Under. (Pat and Anne live in Nashville, so we're able to easily have them sign a portion of our stock of their books. The autographing session is a great excuse to get together for lunch or coffee.)

But we also have a supply of autographed copies of Charlie Lovett's chick-lit-meets-Stephen-King suspense novel The Program, as well as a few autographed copies of three of Judy Bagshaw's out of print books. And we have some Taking Up Space bookplates autographed by Pattie Thomas and Carl Wilkerson that we include with every retail purchase of their sociological memoir Taking Up Space.

So c'mon -- treat yourself! Or a friend or loved one. Wouldn't Dad like a copy of Splendid Seniors for Father's Day?  (Ooops -- better hurry on that one!)

Listen to a Pearlsong Conversation with Rebecca Fox & William Sherman, authors of the romantic romp Measure By Measure

Click here to listen to a 50-minute mp3 recording of Pearlsong Press publisher Peggy Elam, Ph.D. chatting with Rebecca Fox & William Sherman, authors of the novel Measure By Measure (Pearlsong Press, June 15, 2009).

In this June 10, 2009 Pearlsong Conversation Fox and Sherman discuss their collaborative writing process, the creation of Measure By Measure's many and varied characters (and who they're based on), what it's like to publish a serial storyline (Measure By Measure first came to life in the late 1990s as a serial in Dimensions magazine online), and the importance of fat-positive fiction.

Their robust. comic romance fleshes out the truth about soap opera: It's not just for the rich and slender. Measure By Measure is a Tales of the City for the fat and fabulous!

The Pearlsong Conversations series are monthly free teleconference calls in which Dr. Elam chats with Pearlsong authors and readers. If time and technology permit, participants/callers can ask questions and join in the conversation. Each teleconference is recorded and the recording made available for listening online or downloading at the Pearlsong Press website. (For links to archived recordings of previous Pearlsong Conversations, as well as a schedule of future teleconference calls, visit the Pearlsong Conversations webpage.)

Listen to and/or download the mp3 recording of the Conversation with Becky & Bill here.

Join a Pearlsong Conversation with Rebecca Fox and William Sherman, authors of Measure By Measure

Join Pearlsong Press publisher Peggy Elam, Ph.D. on Wednesday, June 10, 2009 at noon Eastern/11 a.m. Central as she chats with Rebecca Fox & William Sherman, authors of the novel Measure By Measure (Pearlsong Press, June 15, 2009).

When blonde, Rubenesque paralegel Jenny Taylor is coaxed by her boss Lissa to a dance sponsored by the Midwestern chapter of RADFAm, a national fat advocacy organization, this wild new romantic world throws her into a spin. For within the group's gang of full-figured friends and their admirers lies the tantalizing chance for love and betrayal, couplings and contretemps.

The robust, comic romance fleshes out the truth about soap opera: It's not just for the rich and slender. Taken from the online cyber-serial, Measure By Measure is a Tales of the City for the fat & fabulous!
 
To receive the teleconference call details (phone number and access code), send an email to pearlsongconversations @ pearlsong.com. The call details will be automatically emailed to you. There is no cost for participating in the teleconference call, other than any long distance toll charges that might apply.

Pearlsong Conversations are monthly free teleconference calls in which Dr. Elam chats with a Pearlsong author and fans. If time and technology permit, participants/callers can ask questions and join in the conversation. Questions can also be emailed before the event to Dr. Elam at peggyelam @ pearlsong.com (Please put "Pearlsong Conversation question" as the subject of your email.)

Each teleconference is recorded and the recording made availale for listening online or downloading at the Pearlsong Press website after the call. See the Pearlsong Conversations webpage or the Pearlsong Conversations category of this blog for links to archived recordings of previous Conversations.

Update 6-10-2009: Listen to and/or download the 50-minute mp3 recording of the Pearlsong Conversation with Rebecca Fox & William Sherman by clicking here. (Right click on the link and "save as" to download.)

Online serial becomes novel romance for the fat & fabulous

Authors create fat-topian fantasy to entertain and empower

NASHVILLE, TN--In 1997 Rebecca Fox and William Sherman coped with the stress of near-weekly visits to her ailing mother by creating a soap opera set in a size acceptance organization. Their imaginings became a cyber-serial in Dimensions magazine online. Now the couple's sudsy story has been polished and published as the novel Measure By Measure (Pearlsong Press, June 15, 2009), taking on new life as a fat-positive Tales of the City .

In co-creating what became their 384-page novel, Fox and Sherman were inspired by both Armistead Maupin's San Francisco tales and their local chapter of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance.

The couple are longtime NAAFA supporters and had established a chapter of the fat advocacy organization in Central Illinois in the 1990s. They created a fictional NAAFA in RADFAm (Respect And Dignity for Fat Americans). Memories of friends and conventions fleshed out their fictional characters with a Windy City flair.

The novel's opening scenes revolve around a RADFAm-sponsored dance. But there's more to Measure By Measure--and its size-accepting milieu--than frothy fun.

Fox's mother's childhood size issues had seeded a quarter-century of body hatred in Fox. After she and Sherman met at a wedding in 1982 and ultimately married, both embraced size acceptance. In subsequent years Fox and Sherman have jointly and individually authored romantic and fantasy fiction as well as critical essays and reviews on body esteem and pop culture. Fox has also spoken on size acceptance to college students and younger children.

The cross-generational transmission of fat fears and poor esteem that Fox experienced and transcended plays a role in Measure By Measure. "I pray now that, in reading this story, mothers and daughters can break the chain of self-loathing and embrace their unique personal power," Fox says.

Measure By Measure ($25, original trade paperback, ISBN 9781597190176) is available from Amazon.com and other online retailers, as well as directly from the publisher at www.pearlsong.com.

Fox and Sherman will chat with Pearlsong Press publisher Peggy Elam, Ph.D. in a free teleconference call (one of a series of Pearlsong Conversations) at noon Eastern/11 a.m. Central on Wednesday, June 10, 2009. Email pearlsongconversations @ pearlsong.com or go to www.pearlsong.com/pearlsongconversations.htm for details.

Fat poetry, fat pride, & the Fat Poets' Society -- A Pearlsong Conversation with the authors of Fat Poets Speak

Hear the five co-authors of Fat Poets Speak: Voices of the Fat Poets' Society share the poetry and process of fat embodiment in this hour-long Pearlsong Conversation with publisher/psychologist Peggy Elam, Ph.D.

The teleconference call featuring Kathy Barron, Anne S. Kaplan, Corinna Makris, Lesleigh J. Owen & Frannie Zellman was held May 13, 2009 as one of a monthly series in which Elam chats with Pearlsong authors and fans have the opportunity to listen live, comment and ask questions. (For more on the series, including archived recordings of previous Conversations, click here.)

In a sociocultural climate in which fat bodies are considered diseased and blamed for everything from rising medical costs to global warming, it takes courage for fat women, especially, to express anything but shame about their bodies. Fat Poets Speak is part of and intended for the growing movement reclaiming "fat" as a valid way to exist in the world.

The Fat Poets' Society was born during the 2006 annual convention of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA), a civil rights organization. The authors are donating the royalties from Fat Poets Speak to NAAFA.

Join a Pearlsong Conversation with the Fat Poets Society

In a sociocultural climate in which fat bodies are considered diseased and blamed for everything from rising medical costs to global warming, it takes courage for fat women, especially, to express anything but shame about their bodies. Fat Poets Speak: Voices of the Fat Poets' Society, just published by Pearlsong Press, is part of and intended for the growing movement reclaiming "fat" as a valid way to exist in the world.

At noon (Eastern) on Wednesday, May 13, 2009 you can join a Pearlsong Conversation with the authors of Fat Poets Speak: Kathy Barron, Anne S. Kaplan, Corinna Makris, Lesleigh J. Owens, & Frannie Zellman. Participation in the hour-long teleconference call is free. To receive teleconference details (phone number & access code), send an email to pearlsongconversations@pearlsong.com.

The Fat Poets' Society was born during the 2006 annual convention of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA), a civil rights organization. The authors are donating the royalties from Fat Poets Speak to NAAFA.

To whet your appetite for the Conversation, read these interviews with the Fat Poets just published at More of Me to Love.

Pearlsong publisher Peggy Elam, Ph.D. began the monthly Pearlsong Conversations in January 2009. On the second Wednesday of each month, she chats with a Pearlsong author (and other interested readers/participants) in a free teleconference call. Each teleconference is recorded and the recording made available for online listening or downloading at the Pearlsong Press website. Links to the archived Conversations can be found here.

Update May 14, 2009: Listen to and/or download the Fat Poets' Society Pearlsong Conversation mp3 recording here. (Right click on the link and "save as" to download.)