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Re: Novella  Saturday, 09-Sep-00 22:56:24 Writer:Mekerr13@aol.com but I can tell very very little from a summary plus I'm squeezed for time. No more than half a page, please. mek M.E. Kerr   Re: Re: Novella  Monday, 11-Sep-00 19:19:13 M.E. Kerr, Yea, the more I think about it, an idea isn't going to help you decide what you think about my novella at all. I'll send you the beginning like you originally suggested if that's still okay with you? Just half a page or whatever. Personally, I like the beginning a lot anyway. Just say the word and I'll send it. Thanks for all your help, Writer Writer   Re: Re: Re: Novella  Friday, 15-Sep-00 22:32:03 Sure, I'd like to read it. Mek Mekerr

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Re: dear M.E. Kerr  Saturday, 09-Sep-00 23:08:52 Thanks for your interest,David,but I don't understand your question...I don't have a favorite quote from one of my own books. That's for the reader to decide. Cheers! mek M. E. Kerr

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Re: dear M.E. Kerr  Thursday, 14-Sep-00 12:48:55 hi i am writing a report on dinky hocker shoots smack. it was a good book. i have to write a 5 page literary analisis on it i was wondering if you had any tips thanks- ashly mccray ashy   Re: Re: dear M.E. Kerr  Friday, 15-Sep-00 18:31:05 Ashly- Things you might write about include: what did you think of the main characters? did you like them? did you notice them changing? what was the most interesting relationship in the book to you? did anything in the story surprise you? Best wishes on your assignment! Michelle Webmaster

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Re: Help I need an answer to a question?  Thursday, 07-Sep-00 12:44:34 Kyle- Thanks for visiting the site. The answer to your question is a secret known only to those who have read the book (and to the author of the book). I do not like spoilers (things that give away key plot points) so the best I can say is, you'll find it easily in the book. Good luck! Webmaster

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Re: Hi  Tuesday, 05-Sep-00 11:49:28 M.E. Kerr, I forgot to ask you a question before. I was talking to the Young Adult librarian at my local library and she and I were wondering when Slap Your Sides is going to come out. She especially enjoyed your first book and has bought most of your books as they came out. She and I just wanted to know so that we could look out for it. Thanks, Writer Writer   Re: Re: Hi  Tuesday, 05-Sep-00 16:09:56 Hi, Writer. A long time ago I participated in a chat room, but to work it really has to be organized by a school or some organization which can guarantee participation...I like this way of communicating better. Thanks for the good words about "What Became of Her." I'm glad that you're interested in writing, and could only help you in a small way, because in addition to my writing, I have a workshop where weekly I must keep up with ongoing novels and short stories of members...BUT...Give me an idea of a great opening for either a novel or a short story. A few lines. And maybe a title. I can talk to you a little about writing that way...right here on the message board. Slap Your Sides is not scheduled yet, but will probably be out in 2001. Ciao! M.E. Kerr M.E. Kerr   Re: Re: Re: Hi  Tuesday, 05-Sep-00 18:05:05 Writer- Thanks for visiting the site and your general interest. Yes, I have thought about having a chat because I enjoy chats myself. However, I agree with MEK in that there is not enough traffic on this site at one given time to make a chat worthwhile. At any rate, I appreciate your comments! Michelle  Webmaster

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Re: thanks  Wednesday, 30-Aug-00 16:23:10 Congrats! What was your report on? Michelle Webmaster

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Re: If you weren't a writer, what/who would you be?  Tuesday, 22-Aug-00 17:02:56 You ask good questions, Tom Stone. If I weren't a writer I guess I would be a total failure because that is what I always wanted to be, and what I aimed for when I was young. But aside from that, I would probably have enjoyed being a detective or a psychoanalyst. Something that would allow me to know peoples'secrets. Thanks for being interested, Tom. Ciao! mekerr         M.E. Kerr

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Re: I got goosebumps....  Thursday, 17-Aug-00 19:50:21 Oh, I'm flattered that my writing gave you goosebumps! Thanks for letting me know! Cheers! mek M.E. Kerr

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Re: You ought to be in pictures  Thursday, 17-Aug-00 19:55:35 I love your name! What a great name for a book character. Hmmmm. No I've never written a picture book, though I often though Shoebag by Mary James would have been interesting in Pictures. I asked both Louise Fitzhugh and Arnold Lobel how they felt about illustrating it and both didn't think they'd do cockroaches well. So it was never drawn. I'm just not a good artist, Thanks for your interest. Ciao! Mek M.E. Kerr

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Re: Harry Potter, Shoebag, and....  Thursday, 17-Aug-00 20:02:41 Yes, Mary James wrote fantasy, although the last book of hers, Frankenlouse, began turning into a YA. I think Rowland is a very good writer, and while I think she is a more traditional fantasy writer than James, I'm happy if we're put in any catagory together. She's someone I very much admire, someone who paid her dues and deserves all the privileges of the club! Ciao! Mekerr/Mary James M.E. Kerr

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Re: sports, girls...  Thursday, 10-Aug-00 18:27:43 Yes, you're right. I don't have sports in my books. I've never been a sports fan. My grandniece is a big soccer fan and if you'll tell me the name of your book, I'll recommend it to her. I might even buy it for her. Thanks for reading me, anyway. Cheers! M.E. Kerr M.E. Kerr   Re: Re: sports, girls...  Saturday, 14-Oct-00 01:04:37 Sports clearly have not been a theme in Kerr books. However, while watching Stacy Dragila win the first gold medal in the Women's Pole Vault at the Olympics, I flashed to Chicago's failed attempt to join the track team as a pole vaulter in "Love is a Missing Person". DG   Re: sports, girls...  Thursday, 10-Aug-00 18:37:38 I'm sorry. You said it was a short story. What is the anthology? What is title? Are you writing a book? Are you a professional? Do you write about sports mostly? Curious. Mekerr M.E. Kerr

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Re: Boys, boys, boys  Thursday, 10-Aug-00 18:33:11 Yes, you're right. I always look for the larger audience and early on I was told boys like books from boys point of view, girls care more about a good story than whose pov it is, male or female. I really like writing from both poins of view, as I did in a few books, Little Little, for one. I think I stole that idea from Paul Zindel, one of my favorite YA writers...and the inspiration for my first book. I'd read The Pigman and I wanted to try and write something that good. Thanks for staying interested in M.E. Kerr! M.E. Kerr

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Re: ME,ME,ME,ME & HARRIET THE SPY  Friday, 28-Jul-00 00:18:00 Hi, Tom. Mex5 is being reissued by Harper/Collins in 2001, along with the Fell series,Little Little, and Gentlehands. Every author hopes his backlist will be reprinted but sometimes it's a long wait...sometimes a futile one. I was good friends with Louise and I told her that when I was a kid I called myself Marijane The Spy, had a sign on my door saying that, and went around the neighborhood spying on people and writing down what they did. When I told her that she wasn't yeta writer, and I was writing suspense. I was thinking about writing a murder story in which a kid like me out spying one night witnesses a brutal murder. I was talking alot about it. So Louise swiped that idea for her first YA, a writer's privilege, but Harriet was nothing like me. Harriet WAS Louise. It was her most successful character, therefore. I've never recognized myself in anybody's YA book, though Louise often called me Sport. But I wasn't there. The difference between Kerr and James is that James writes for a younger group,and was originally going to do only fantasy. But Kerr started taking over in Frankenlouse, which I think is really a YA Thanks, Tom, for your interest. Ciao! mek M.E.Kerr

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Re: Queen  Tuesday, 25-Jul-00 00:32:58 I'm not giving a workshop at Sag Harbor library this summer. I've never given one at The Ross School. The song you want to know about is Bohemian Rhapsody. I love the song. It's from the seventies, I think, and these kids weren't even born then. They had never of Queen. The song has a very poignant story, as well as a sly, mocking quality. You don't really know the whole story, either, so I asked the kids to imagine what had happened to the boy singing. They were to write their thoughts after hearing it...One mother did complain, but others were intrigued. The kids wrote highly different views of what they thought the boy had done. It opened up a lively discussion, and everyone got to know each other a little better...The group was a mixture of Sag Harbor kids and summer kids... If you have never heard Queen singing this, get ahold of Classic Queen and listen! Let me know what you think. M.E. Kerr M.E. Kerr   Re: Re: Queen  Tuesday, 25-Jul-00 12:54:12 FYI: Lyrics to Bohemian Rhapsody written by Freddie Mercury Mama Just killed a man Put a gun against his head Pulled my trigger, now he's dead Mama Life has just begun But now I've gone and thrown it all away Mama, ooh I didn't mean to make you cry If I'm not back again this time tomorrow On, carry on Nothing really matters Too late My time has come Sends shivers down my spine Body's aching all the time Goodbye, everybody I've got to go Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth Mama, ooh I don't want to die I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all On, carry on Nothing really matters I didn't mean to make you cry If I'm not back again this time tomorrow On, carry on Nothing really matters No, I don't want to die I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all On, carry on Nothing really matters So you think you can stop and spit in my eye So you think you can love me and leave me to die Oh, baby  Can't do this, baby Just gotta get right out of here Oh, baby Can't do this, baby Just gotta get right out of here   On, carry on Nothing really matters I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all On, carry on Nothing really matters Nothing really matters Anyone can see Nothing really matters to me Anyway the wind blows     Surfer Girl   Re: Re: Re: Queen  Tuesday, 25-Jul-00 15:30:18 Aha, found better, more complete lyrics:Bohemain Rhapsody By: Queen     Is this the real life?  Is this just fantasy?  Caught in a landslide,  No escape from reality  Open your eyes, Look up to the skies and see,  I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy,  Because I'm easy come, easy go, Little high, little low,  Any way the wind blows doesn't really matter to me, to me  Mama just killed a man,  Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he's dead  Mama, life had just begun,  But now I've gone and thrown it all away  Mama, ooh, Didn't mean to make you cry,  If I'm not back again this time tomorrow,  Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters  Too late, my time has come,  Sends shivers down my spine, body's aching all the time  Goodbye, ev'rybody, I've got to go,  Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth  Mama, ooh, I don't want to die,  I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all  I see a little silhouetto of a man,  Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango  Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very fright'ning me  (Galileo) Galileo (Galileo) Galileo, Galileo figaro  Magnifico I'm just a poor boy and nobody loves me  He's just a poor boy from a poor family,  Spare him his life from this monstrosity  Easy come, easy go, will you let me go  Bismillah! No, we will not let you go  (Let him go!) Bismillah! We will not let you go  (Let him go!) Bismillah! We will not let you go  (Let me go) Will not let you go  (Let me go) Will not let you go (Let me go) Ah  No, no, no, no, no, no, no  (Oh mama mia, mama mia) Mama mia, let me go  Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me, for me  So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye  So you think you can love me and leave me to die  Oh, baby, can't do this to me, baby,  Just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta here  Nothing really matters, Anyone can see,  Nothing really matters,  Nothing really matters to me  Any way the wind blows            Surfer Girl   Re: Re: Re: Re: Queen  Tuesday, 25-Jul-00 17:14:48 Yes, yes, that's the whole thing but it's got to be heard. It goes on for quite a while. The class sat with their eyes wide listening...and then they were asked to imagine a version of what happened. The varying descriptions were fascinating. You cannot get this song from written out lyrics. Run, don't want, to nearest music store and ask for Queen Classic..Pleae.mek M.E. Kerr   Re: Re: Re: Queen  Tuesday, 25-Jul-00 17:07:24 I've never seen the lyrics written out, and I'm delighted to have them, but how I hope it won't stop the curious from listening to Queen. It is a whole different experience hearing them. mek M.E. Kerr   Links to the song  Wednesday, 26-Jul-00 12:21:27 Most certainly, the best thing to do is go to the music store and buy it - it's worth owning! But, you can hear a snippet of it at cdnow.com if you search for it. Also, here is a cute midi version - it's not bad even though midi tends to sound cheesy. I guess it's because the original arrangement is already over the top: Midi version of Bohemian Rhapsody.  I also found a cover of it by a female group called The Braids. It's not the same but it's gives you an idea of it: Real Audio cover of Bohemian Rhapsody by The Braids. Surfer Girl   Re: Links to the song  Thursday, 27-Jul-00 00:47:39 What a fabulous researcher Surfer Girl is! M.E. Kerr

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Re: SHOEBAG RETURNS  Wednesday, 19-Jul-00 16:10:18 Hi, Pam. I doubt that Shoebag Returns will make it to paperback. My editor at Scholastic retired and since then I haven't been favored there. Such things happen. But I'm delighted you like it, and thanks for visiting the website. Mekerr M. E. Kerr

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Re: Ever since DINKY HOCKER SHOOTS SMACK  Monday, 17-Jul-00 11:41:36 I'm not going upstate this year. My only NY date is in Levittown in Sept. But thanks for asking. Ciao!mek M. E. Kerr

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Re: Latest Book?  Monday, 17-Jul-00 11:47:55 Hi Martha! My very latest book is about a Conscientious Objector in WWII. It's called Slap Your Sides. But it won't be out until 2001. Latest published is called What Became of Her. It's about a young girl who was bullied in her hometown and years later returns seeking revenge, accompanied by her three foot leather dummy, Peele. There is a subplot involving three kids who become friends until this woman intercedes. Thanks for asking! Mekerr M. E. Kerr

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Re: Ann Aldrich/Vin Packer???  Thursday, 13-Jul-00 11:31:52 First of all, thanks for visiting the site and sharing your comments. To be honest, I have not read any Vin Packer or Ann Aldrich books. But my understanding of them is that they were part of the pulp fiction genre which consisted of a certain schlock factor that appealed to fans of that genre. So there was most likely a big marketing factor. Also, as she wrote under pen names, I don't think one could surmise that she was necessarily "out" to her readers. And regarding her current writing being "too little, too late," since she began writing YA novels in the early 1970's, she has had gay characters throughout her books. Also, when Night Kites was published in 1986, this book about a character with AIDS was the first of its kind. Yes, I am biased, but I think M.E. Kerr is very admirable. And I hope that you will continue to keep your mind open to her writing! Michelle   Re: Re: Ann Aldrich/Vin Packer???  Thursday, 13-Jul-00 13:35:47 Michelle, I appreciated your response to my message. I'd really like to hear what you have to say after you've read "The Evil Friendship" and/or "We Too Must Love" (the latter is one of about five faux pyschological/sociological studies by Ann Aldrich). They're not too hard to find, especially via internet bookstores. (I first picked "We Too Must Love" up in a small-town Goodwill and I recognized it right away as her writing because it concludes with a scene from "Is That You, Miss Blue?") As an ME Kerr aficionada, I think you'd find them interesting, because she has some of the same characters and scenes in her early pulp fiction reworked in her y.a. novels 20 years later.  It isn't so much a matter of portraying gays/lesbians, though, as it is the manner in which they're portrayed. As Ann Aldrich and Vin Packer, Marijane Meaker portrayed gays as sick, mentally ill, criminals, etc. etc. Not all pulp fiction writers presented negative images of lesbians in the 1950s. Check out Ann Bannon's work, for example ("I Am a Woman," "Journey to a Woman," and "Beebo Brinker"). Ann Aldrich's work was considered so notoriously hateful in its time that lesbians formed support groups to assure each other they weren't as bad as she made them out to be.  And until Nancy Garden published "Annie on My Mind," the unwritten rule in ya books was that gay characters had to be punished before the book's end, either by dying or committing suicide, by being raped or killed, or by losing their jobs, families, loved ones, whatever. So while ME Kerr may have had gay characters in earlier books, they fall into punishable offense category.  I think probably the closest she's come to writing an honest book is "Shockproof Sidney Skate," which provided an interesting transition between Ann Aldrich/Vin Packer and M.E. Kerr. It seems to me that serious students of her work should look at the full range of her writing because there's an interesting evolution there. So I don't think you can dismiss her early work as "pulp fiction" just as you can't dismiss her current work as "kiddie lit."  Just my two cents, from a reader who has read it all. Just Another Queer Re: Re: Re: Ann Aldrich/Vin Packer???  Thursday, 13-Jul-00 16:56:26 Well, I have read Shockproof Sidney Skate and agree with you that elements of her YA writing are evident in this book that was probably marketed as a work of adult rather than YA fiction. (Did you see that this book is currently in development to become a movie?) I will definitely take a look at some of the earlier work you are referencing. Thanks for the suggestion! Michelle   Re: Re: Re: Ann Aldrich/Vin Packer???  Monday, 11-Sep-00 16:43:26 I was just re-reading this thread and wanted to point out that I don't think the descriptors of "pulp fiction" or "kiddie lit" are dismissals. To me they just suggest a genre - almost as broadly as "fiction" and "non-fiction" and just give an idea of the audience and general appeal.  Michelle   Re: Ann Aldrich/Vin Packer???  Friday, 14-Jul-00 21:07:13 Interesting that you come along now, just as I finished addressing this very subject at American Library Association in Chicago last week...One problem writers of paperbacks faced in the '50's (and hardcover publishers were not interested in gay material, at all!)was that the books had to go through the mails. If one was censorable, the whole lot was withdrawn, a loss no publisher could bear. My first book, SPRING FIRE (Packer) had to end unhappily. That was the rule. And the publisher, Gold Medal, predicted he'd lose his shirt, anyway, because of the subject matter. He even called the book that (I'd called it Sorority Girl) because he hoped people would confuse it with James Michner's Fires of Spring...Well,my book not only outsold God's Little Acre that year, but literally hundreds of lesbians wrote. The publisher could not believe the mail. Among those who wrote was a woman called Ann Bannon. I introduced her to my publsiher. I think you know the result....The Ann Aldrich books reported the lesbian scene in NYC. They were honest and unique, and they, too, made the publisher realize what an audience there was for lesbian literature. I answered every letter, advising women of The Ladder and other informational options...The Evil Friendship was a true murder case. Pauline Parker, the character in the trials who interested me most, turned out to be the writer Anne Perry in her later years...I was fascinated by these two girls who handled the threat of separation by matricide. I wanted to call the book Why Not Mother? since Perry's comrade wrote in her diary, "Thousands die every day. Why not mother?" I don't apologize for anything I've ever written. The time to come out, to my way of thinking, is when you've amounted to something. I came out right after winning The Margaret Edwards Award. Otherwise, who'd care what I was? Who'd know me. As for pretending I had boyfriends, I had several. In those days you covered your tracks, but I found myself in love with a Hungarian student/teacher, plus really liking to spend time with two hometown guys. You know, you didn't really have sex a lot in those days (the 40's), and I've always loved male companions. Should I say my best friends are males? It's true...I don't consider myself a bisexual because ultimately I was only compelled by females...but what a lovely youth I had, with my secret...and my boyfriends. Thanks for your imput. If you've got more to say, e-mail me...or come back here where everyone can join in. Ciao! MEkerr M.E. Kerr   Re: Ann Aldrich/Vin Packer???  Friday, 14-Jul-00 21:13:30 P.S. I admire Nancy Garden, too. We were on the same panel at ALA, talking about getting gay books into libraries...Since I was the oldest person there, I thought they'd be interested in how impossible it was to write gay in the fifties...I lived then with Patricia Highsmith, who wrote her own novel on the subject. You must know it. Ciao! M.E. Kerr   Re: Ann Aldrich/Vin Packer???  Friday, 14-Jul-00 21:20:26 I am also a marathon mouth. But I did want to plug Shockproof Sydney Skate, written under my own name in 1970 (Marijane Meaker). Little Brown published. And we hope that finally Fox will make it into a movie. It's been under option since 1972...It's about a mother and son who love the same Bryn Mawr girl. Not a kid's book...Lastly, The Shuteyes by Mary James, is considered a metaphor for queers. Try it.mek. I promise to stop now, unlikely as that seems. M.E. Kerr

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New Guestbook up and running(Michelle) (13-Jul-00 11:16:14)

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