The 2024 Portland Book Fest, presented by Literary Arts, was a huge success with bookstores, authors, publishers, and book lovers.
Think Out Loud: In Too Deep
Andrew Child’s 29th installment in the Jack Reacher series, “In Too Deep,” was presented in the First Congregational United Church of Christ by moderator Dave Miller. The historic church, with its stained glass windows and wooden pews, seemed like the sort of place Jack Reacher would stake out like he did in “Without Fail,” book six of the series.
From the first installment in 1997, “Killing Floor,” Andrew Child took over the Jack Reacher series from his brother Lee Child and continues to bear the heroic torch as he throws the character into yet another adventure filled with danger and turmoil. In the latest conflict, Child warns that readers “jump in with both feet in page one.”
From that point on, Andrew Child continually mixes things up to keep readers engaged and on their toes. When Dave Miller asked how Child keeps up with what he calls “villain inflation,” Child responded with his secret for this. Child says that in order to make the next conflict unique, but still in line with Reacher’s growing skills, is to create a villain with one element that is personally obnoxious. Child says that he wants there to be something about the villain that makes your skin crawl, almost in a bullying way.
The panel was followed by a Q&A, and then an author signing, where attendees got to meet Child and get their new books bought at the festival signed by the author himself.
Good Night Thoughts
The Stage at The Judy was packed with parents, children, and “New Girl” fans alike as Max Greenfield took the stage to talk about his latest children’s book, “Good Night Thoughts.” Moderated by Steph Opitz and her adorable daughter, this panel reached the audience through Greenfield’s shared experiences of teaching his children through the pandemic.
In his new book “Good Night Thoughts,” Greenfield writes of how scary it can be to go to bed when big and scary thoughts like spiders and dentists pop up. Through his excellent storytelling abilities, though, Greenfield sympathizes and calms the mind, leaving the reader ready for sleep.
Greenfield, after his time as Schmidt in the hit show “New Girl” (2011), soon found himself as the teacher of his kids as the pandemic set in. His favorite thing to do with his kids was to read a picture book to his kids at night. He soon decided to write his own, which led to his first book, “I Don’t Want to Read This Book,” a book for kids who don’t like to read, but ultimately read a book by the end of it.
Greenfield talked about how his books combat the various fears that kids face, especially when it comes to learning and reading. He doesn’t want to diminish the fear or say that it’s wrong, but rather, Greenfield says that “maybe we can put it down for now.”
This is exactly what he does in “Good Night Thoughts.” He closed out his panel with a reading, which was followed by a signing where attendees go to meet him.
American Horror Stories
Stephen Graham Jones, “Mongrels” and “I Was A Teenage Slasher” and Brian Evenson “Good Night, Sleep Tight and Last Days” took to the stage at the First Congregational United Church of Christ joined by moderator Theodore C. Van Alst Jr., “Sacred Folks”. The trio of writers sat down in the historic location accompanied by classic Americana rock music, with all three remarking about how it was strange for them to be in a church given the type of content they write about.
Jones and Evenson began their discussion by talking about what aspects of their books they had in common, the horrible web search history that came with being a writer—Jones even remembering specifically that the last thing he Googled was “How to cut off a toe”. Evenson talked about tone in his work and discussed how bleakness may have been a result of his upbringing with the utmost calmness and composure before they moved to talk about their new books and what they were about.
Jones’ “I Was A Teenage Slasher” is a slasher coming of age told from a memoir perspective, following Tolly Driver, a teenager living in a small west Texas town in 1989. Full of twists and turns, this book’s plot is best experienced blindly. Jones explained how going back to West Texas is almost like a meditative experience for his writing and how he finds himself coming back to that location multiple times, as he loves the aesthetic and stories waiting to be told in that area.
Meanwhile Evenson’s “Good Night, Sleep Tight” is a new collection of horror short stories discussing and meditating on the relationships between humans and artificial intelligence. For a moment, the two authors discussed AI, and although Jones admitted he was afraid of it, Evenson spoke about how he uses AI writing prompt generators in his classes to give his students something to start their own stories with if they’re stuck.
The two authors were cheerful and happy to talk about their craft and took questions in a Q&A. Afterward, they closed the panel by having a signing in the basement of the venue where attendees could meet both authors and even take a selfie!
What Haunts Humanity?
This is for all of you who like ghost stories.
At the Portland Book Festival this year, two authors presented their new books during the panel “Hauntings.” Layla Martinez, author of “Woodworm,” spent her first time in America discussing “Woodworm,” a haunted house that takes revenge on the men who controlled their family for generations. The other author Alisa Alering presented her book, “Smothermoss,” a ghost story of two girls who have grown up isolated in a small town in the Appalachians and become tangled in a murder mystery. The authors discussed these haunting books and the real stories behind them.
Layla Martinez comes from a long line of maids in a small town in Spain, which has been run by the same oppressive family for generations. Her family, in particular, has experienced oppression from that family who runs the town throughout the entirety of their time. “Woodworm” is Martinez’ way of fighting back against the oppressors.
In the panel, Martinez discussed the classism and misogyny present in her home. The house in the story that traps the main characters fictionally, is a metaphor for how, in reality, her ancestors were trapped. The cruelty the main characters experience in the story, is representative of the real cruelty that her ancestors have undergone. The difference, she notes, is that, in “Woodworm,” when even the law is against them, they are still able to take revenge.
Alisa Alering also took inspiration from her life growing up. From a small town in the Appalachians herself, she added bits of her life growing up. With no internet, she described how isolated from the outside it is. How a car on the verge of breaking down becomes a lifeline. Even the inciting incident of her book, the murder of two women, is based on a real story from her childhood of a man who murdered a female hiker and then disappeared into the woods for a week before the authorities caught him.
Similar to Martinez, the more enigmatic aspects of the book sometimes come from the desire to take power away from the oppressor. Throughout the book, the mountain has its own perspective. She explained that it started with her trying to find a way to describe the murder of the women without giving the man who murdered them power and control of the scene. In neither story are the mystical elements the true villains. Instead, the villains are the humans who believe they have the right to abuse others. If that’s not the most chilling narrative, I don’t know what is.