On one of my weekly treks to the
Noveltown postal hub where big puffy packages arrive full of books, I opened
Women on the Edge Writing from Los Angeles, edited by
Samantha Dunn and Julianne Ortale. Dunn sent the book of short stories for N.L. Belardes of Noveltown to read and review. Good thing he never got the chance.
The title, W
omen on the Edge, and the Andy Warhol-style pop art faces of the women authors on the book cover called out to me as if they knew what I needed to know: revelations in writing and life from women writers.
I discovered compelling literary stories from women who have experienced hard lives, emotional times, strange events, unexpected turns and twists, and women who were unafraid to face obstacles. After reading such haunting stories I can easily say Belardes is not getting this book back.
Janet Fitch, author of
White Oleander, wrote the foreword for
Women on the Edge.
I pondered one of her quotes:
“Out here on the perimeter, there are no stars. Out here we is stoned, immaculate.”~The Doors, from
L.A. WomanNot a huge Doors fan, I wondered how a rock music quote could encapsulate women on the edge, writing from the edge. With each story I read, the subtle nuances, the profound moments, the hard emotions, and Fitch’s words in the foreword about these stories and women authors echoed true.
Women on the Edge stories were about women at varying stages of life experiencing the beauty of life at its messiest.
I found myself living through the characters as if their experiences were my own. I understood Mrs. Poovey’s need to feel useful and needed again in Julianne Ortale’s
Milk, and Debbie’s ostracization as a school girl in Aimee Bender’s
Debbieland, or having to put a grandmother away in a home in Dylan Landis’
Rose, or wanting to know if love is somewhere in your future in Liz Gonzalez’s
Destiny, and dealing with the loss of a loved one in Jody Hauber’s
Between the Dog and the Wolf. These were stories from the heart about women whom I felt I was or had been at some point in my life.
The characters haunted me. So did the writing. I was just as enthralled with the language, beautiful prose and fine sentences expertly disguised within the hard, dark and emotional circumstances of each story.
In the end, I realize the beauty of
Women on the Edge is the stories within tell a tale of what it is to be a woman. And that story links the contributing women authors and characters to women everywhere out on the edge, which is life.
Samantha Dunn - Photo by: Lupe FernandezYou will want to read these stories!
Women on the Edge Writing from Los AngelesAuthors/Stories:Karen Horn,
Levinium 241Julianne Ortale,
MilkErin Julia McGuire,
CrowfeathersAimee Bender,
DebbielandSamantha Dunn,
Going GreenLindsay Fitzgerald,
HungerDylan Landis,
RoseLisa Teasley,
Magda in Rosarito, BeachedLisa Glatt,
LudlowAbby Mims,
Me and Mr. JonesMichelle Latiolais,
BoysRachel Resnick,
Meat-Eaters of MarrakeshLiz Gonzalez,
DestinyAnita Santiago,
Flying BlindCarol Muske-Dukes,
ContrabandRochelle Low,
Where Angels TreadJody Hauber,
Between the Dog and the WolfMary Rakow,
The Memory RoomRecently, I had the opportunity to talk with Samantha Dunn about
Women on the Edge Writing from Los Angeles and how this wonderful collection of short stories came together.
Read the interview:
Noveltown:
Women on the Edge Writing from Los Angeles are an eclectic collection of short stories. As an editor, how was the process of bringing all of these amazing stories together in one collection?
Samantha Dunn: The process? Like herding cats. Neither Julianne, my good friend and co-editor, nor I are particularly administrative-minded, and trying to wrangle writers—solitary, nonconformist types in general—is never an easy task. We were also working on a tight deadline and a shoestring budget, so we began our calls to writers with lines like, “Hi, we can’t give you hardly any money and we need it tomorrow, but can we print your story, pretty please?” Happily, all the women were really supportive of our idea for the collection and very cooperative. It was truly a joy getting these stories and feeling that we were discovering some great new material, or giving more exposure to incredible stuff that maybe had not been seen as much as it should.
Noveltown: Were the short stories for Women on the Edge handpicked or was there an open submission process?
Samantha Dunn: It wasn’t an open submission process in that we did not print a notice in literary magazines or other such places, and we didn’t have a long lead time that would have allowed us to edit pieces that had potential but weren’t quite “there” yet. We relied on our own email lists and word-of-mouth to attract material; in some instances I asked for specific pieces, like Aimee Bender’s spectacular “Debbieland” and Karen Horn’s beautiful work, “Levinium 241.” I think I called Lisa Glatt and just said “Just give me something,” knowing that anything she did would fall in the spectrum of what Julianne and I had in mind. We had in our heads a certain idea of what we wanted; a tone, if you will, that we were seeking.
Noveltown:
When Women on the Edge Writing from Los Angeles arrived in the mail I saw the title and immediately thought these are I-am-woman-hear-me-roar stories. There was no heavy dose of feminist extremism, though the stories captured womanhood. What I found were very well crafted literary short stories that touched me unexpectedly. How do you think the title of the collection reflects the short stories within?
Samantha Dunn: This is trenchant question and one I appreciate, but it’s hard for me to answer succinctly. OK, first let me say I find that writing labeled “feminist” is often lugubrious in nature, limited, stale, and reflects nothing of the concerns and attitudes of myself or the women I know. Julianne and I were looking for stories that somehow captured the essence of our experience of life itself—off kilter, messy, beautiful, uplifting, heartbreaking, at times transcendent and other times just plain weird.
Noveltown: While reading Women on the Edge I found common themes within the stories. Was there a particular theme or themes you looked for as an editor while choosing stories?
Samantha Dunn: Uhm…you did? Did they have anything to do with what I just said in the last question? Hope so.
Noveltown: Do you have a favorite short story from Women on the Edge? Can you reveal your favorite? If so, what about the story moves you most?
Samantha Dunn: This is the “Mother, which child do you like the best?” question. And of course I will admit to nothing other than to say I love them all for different reason, while the savvy reader will suspect I do have my favorites. I will tell you that the story “Levinium 241” is the reason for the whole collection. Years and years ago I had been in a workshop, which the writer Karen Horn was a part of, and I had been so taken with the story. I really had never gotten it out of my head, I guess because it combined all the elements that make an interesting story for me—a deep emotional stake, breathtaking insights, no easy answers, and all of it wrapped in beautiful language. Anyway, Karen, for whatever reason, never pursued publication and so the story had stayed in the drawer all these years. I always thought that was a shame.
Well, along comes a phone call from Matthew Miller, publisher of the Toby Press, the small, independent publisher who put out my novel Failing Paris, asking if I would be interested in putting together a collection of my short stories. I didn’t have enough for my own collection at the time, but I thought about Karen, and my friend Julianne, who is truly an incredible, undervalued literary talent, and that led me to think about putting together a collection that would highlight these kinds of difficult, offbeat but generally brilliant stories. Matthew, bless him, was totally up for it. Thankfully Julianne was game to be my co-editor, because as a graduate of the University of California at Irvine’s MFA program, I knew she’d seen a lot of talent I didn’t know about, and I knew we shared the same literary tastes.
Noveltown: Do you feel like you’re writing from the edge as Janet Fitch’s forward suggests?
Samantha Dunn: Oh hell yes.
Noveltown: As a woman writer and the editor of this collection of stories what advice would you give other women writers striving to achieve the quality and style of writing within Women on the Edge?
Samantha Dunn: Alas, all I can impart is bumper-sticker wisdom…you know, the whole “dance like no one is watching,” “lead with your heart” thing. But, honestly, all cornball catch phrases aside, I think good writing is like that. Most every one of the writers in this collection has toiled a long time, alone in a room, writing not because she was making any money, attracting big readerships or becoming famous, but because she felt compelled to this form of expression. And because she loved literature. These writers also have apprenticed themselves to the process of becoming writers, studying, putting ego and everything else on the line just for that one satisfying (often transitent) sentence, or a scene well rendered, or sometimes merely the joy of finding the perfect word.
Noveltown: Would you ever edit another collection of short stories?
Samantha Dunn: I would if the stars were aligned again, if I had the same kind of control I had in this one, sure. Of course I would also skydive, motorcycle without a helmet, drink the water in Mexico and tattoo my husband’s name on my holiest of holy, so I’m maybe not the best person to ask about appropriate behavior.
Noveltown: Are you working on any projects now? What’s on the horizon for Samantha Dunn?
Samantha Dunn: I’m writing something now but I don’t quite know what it is yet. I just want to get back to language and ideas. I’m in screenplay recovery. My last book was purchased by Lifetime for an original movie and I got the job to co-write with a professional screenwriter. I went in with no small amount of hubris, thinking that since I have put out six books—two ghostwritten for other people—and umpteen magazine pieces I could just slip into the screenwriting world. What actually happened was kind of like the artistic equivalent of a smackdown on Saturday night wrestling.
Noveltown: Thanks for hanging out with Noveltown and discussing Women on the Edge.
Samantha Dunn: Thank you all so much. Bakersfield, literary hotbed. I love it! Y’all are on your own edge…
********
Samantha Dunn - Photo by: Lupe FernandezSamantha Dunn is the author of
Failing Paris (Toby Press), a finalist for the PEN West Fiction Award in 2000, and the memoir,
Not By Accident: Reconstructing a Careless Life (Henry Holt& Co.), a BookSense 76 pick. Her most recent memoir,
Faith in Carlos Gomez: A Memoir of Salsa, Sex and Salvation, is published by Henry Holt & Co. Her work is anthologized in a number of places, including the short story anthology,
Women on the Edge: Writing from Los Angeles (Toby Press), which Dunn co-edited with writer Julianne Ortale. Dunn's essays have appeared in numerous national publications.
Labels: literary fiction, Los Angeles, Noveltown, Samantha Dunn, short stories, The Doors, women on the edge, Women on the Edge Writing from Los Angeles, women's fiction, Writing, writing from the edge
