Two decades as City Pulse’s resident antiquarian

Wow 20 years. It seems like it was yesterday Berl Schwartz asked if I would be interested in writing for Lansing City Pulse. I want to thank Berl for the opportunity to take my retirement in a totally different direction than I had planned. At first, I wrote about retail openings and closings, but I soon transitioned into writing exclusively about the book industry, new books and authors.

As I look back, it’s been quite a ride. I have interviewed more than 800 authors of all stripes – ranging from Pulitzer, National Book Award and Edgar Award winners to self-published authors.

I also was able to sit in the catbird seat of the publishing industry as it underwent tremendous transformation from brick-and-mortar to Amazon, Kindle, mega bookstores and a digital universe. I was there for the heyday of author tours as Schuler, Barnes & Noble, Wayside Books and Everybody Reads attracted the name brands in the publishing industry. 

It wasn’t unusual to have Dave Eggers, Richard Ford, Jim Harrison, Louise Penny, Doug Stanton, Lee Child, Jeffrey Zaslow, Bonnie Jo Campbell, Tom Lynch, Steve Hamilton, Congressman John Lewis and scores of other best sellers visit Lansing for author readings and signings.

And for me they were only a phone call away as I interviewed them about their new books. As I look back, there were some remarkable events. I remember standing in line at 6 a.m. at Schuler Books in the Eastwood Towne Center for an appearance by Caroline Kennedy and standing alongside comedic writer David Sedaris for a three-hour book signing. I found out that often the audience was the story, as Sedaris chatted patiently with his fans. He was like an author confessor. 

On the other hand, I watched Kennedy patiently listen to readers who wanted to talk about her father and brought mementos to give or show her. Despite signing hundreds of books, she looked sad and said something to me about how she’d rather be at a football tailgate.

Another blockbuster was interviewing Dave Eggers, “A Heart-Breaking Work of Staggering Genius,” and Congressman John Lewis prior to his appearances for Michigan State University’s One Community One Read Program. Eggers was a student favortie; and Lewis, one of the last remaining civil rights movement icons, saw massive crowds for his appearances. 

Lewis was one of my heroes, and when I told him I was a member of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee in high school he warmed up in my interview with him. I took scads of photographs of him when he was in Lansing. He smiled for me in one shot. When he returned later for a community event sponsored by Gov. Jim Blanchard, he asked me if he could have a copy of the photo. He told me he wanted to put it in his office since his staff was always badgering him about not smiling. 

During my time at the Pulse, Capitol Area District Library began a community read program and, along with the Library of Michigan’s Night for Notables and the Michigan Humanities Council’s Big Read program, began attracting top-notch writers like Kevin Boyle, “Arc of Justice”; Emily St. John Mandel, “Station 11”; Jesmyn Ward, “Salvage the Bones”; Julia Alavarez, “How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents”; Michael Moore, “Where’s My Country”; and Gov. William Milliken in one of his last major public appearances.

It almost goes without saying the highlight of 20 years was that I was chosen to be the moderator for a discussion with MSU’s Big Three: Thomas McGuane, Richard Ford and Jim Harrison.  To prepare, I went back and reread all their books, prepared detailed questions and themes and had a stack of index cards with notes. I needn’t have worried. Once the three of them began talking it was rock ‘n’ roll time.

I had reason to be worried. Hours before the event, Harrison said to me: “You know Tom and Richard haven’t talked in a couple years?” WTF? On the way to the event, Jim called to ask if I would pick up a few shooters of vodka for him, which he proceeded to drink onstage in front of a packed Pasant Theatre at the Wharton Center. I still have one of those shooters and gave the other two to the University Archives at MSU and Grand Valley State University.

One event I remember clearly was when first-time mega mystery author Steve Hamilton appeared on a panel with three other mystery writers. He was terrified. Now smooth as silk. he recently co-authored “The Bounty,” with Janet Evanovich.

I’d been reading Detroit mystery author Elmore Leonard for a couple of decades before I got a chance to interview him. At a reading, on a whim I went out outside with him for one of his smokes and he and my book buddy Dan Barber had a jaunty conversation about his book “10 Rules of Writing.” I’m sure they are still arguing about them in heaven.

Finally, I want to thank my handful of editors who over the years have tolerated my bad punctuation and without complaint (at least to me) edited my stories, which always exceeded the 800-word count.

It’s also been a pleasure to watch local authors like Deb Diesen and Ruth McNally Barshaw flourish along with those authors who self-published incredible memoirs, like William Murphy, whose Vietnam memoir stands with the best.

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