Literary musings, and news you can use, with Amye Archer   Sal Pane returns to Scranton for reading As some of you may know, I host a local reading series called Prose in Pubs alongside the fabulous Andrea McGuigan and Mr. Jim Warner. This month, we are excited to welcome — as our feature — Scranton’s own Sal Pane, whose debut novel, Last Call in the...

Literary musings, and news you can use, with Amye Archer   A Writer’s Thanksgiving This Thanksgiving I thought I’d break from my usual tradition of talking about how grateful I am for friends and family, and let the side of me that is solely a writer talk about what I am grateful for in my writing life this year. I am thankful for local venues that...

 Literary musings, and news you can use, with Amye Archer   Broken Ground: Teen Poets Slam the Vintage Theater There are times in my writing life when the well is dry, the sun doesn’t shine for weeks, and the skies hang over me like a bubble, pregnant with something that I cannot yet reach. It is during those times that I forget about the power of the...

Books to thrill and chill When I was young (read: probably not age appropriate), I read Stephen King’s The Shining from cover to cover in two days. I remember the fear living at the base of my spine growing with each turn of the page. Through the years, my love of the horror genre, as well as my respect for Stephen King, has grown. Even now, as a teacher, I...

Literary musings, and news you can use, with Amye Archer     Why your book won’t sell and why you shouldn’t care Perhaps the easiest way to tell this story is to tell it backwards. This is the reverse story of my book, Fat Girl, Skinny. August 2012 — My agent told me that almost every publisher she knows is “sick of memoir where nothing...

LITERARY MUSINGS, AND NEWS YOU CAN USE, WITH AMYE ARCHER   Open mics give local writers a voice Last Wednesday night I had the pleasure of once again attending the open mic series at Library Express. Library Express, for those of you who have never been there, is a hybrid bookstore and branch of the Lackawanna County Library System  located in the...

Literary musings, and news you can use, with Amye Archer Remembering Karen Blomain This week the writing community of northeastern Pennsylvania mourns the loss of Karen Blomain, a true artist and poet. I first met Karen through my involvement with the Mulberry Poets and Writers Association, a wonderfully warm and talented group of people who embraced me and...

The Midwife of Hope River By Patricia Harman Patricia Harman, whose first two memoirs, The Blue Cotton Gown and Arms Wide Open, were both met with critical acclaim, has written her first novel, a fictional account of a midwife’s life in Appalachia during the 1930’s. Meet The Midwife of Hope River. Patience Murphy is the new midwife of Hope River, although...

Literary musings, and news you can use, with Amye Archer   Into This World By Sybil Baker As Reviews Editor for PANK Magazine, I am fortunate to have exposure to many independent presses. These are presses that operate outside the “big six,” which is a term that refers to those large conglomerate publishing houses in New York that have managed to...

 Literary musings, and news you can use, with amye archer Local author, comedienne brings Wartz to life Comedienne Jeannine Luby has a lot to smile about. After the success of her first book, He’s Not Prince Charming When…, she’s now written a brand new children’s book, Wartz and All. I spoke with Scranton’s favorite funny woman about the new...