Scott Loring Sanders

scottloringsanders@gmail.com (Mothball's Blog) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:58:00 +0000

I have a new short story published in the December 2008 issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Check it out if you get a chance.

William C. Morris YA Debut Award

scottloringsanders@gmail.com (Mothball's Blog) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:26:00 +0000

A recent article by Michael Cart in Booklist mentions The Hanging Woods as a possible shortlist contender for the 2009 William C. Morris YA Debut Award. You can read the article here: http://www.booklistonline.com/default.aspx?page=show_product&pid=3144297

It's an award for first time writers in the Y/A genre, open to any book written in English. In other words, it's international in scope. As Mr. Cart mentions in his article, I kind of doubt The Hanging Woods will make the shortlist of five titles, mainly because it is so dark, but then again, you never know. I'll keep my fingers crossed. It's certainly an honor to even be mentioned. As my editor just said, "Wow. A plug by Michael Cart is no small thing." So I'll take it. Thanks Michael. I guess we'll see what happens.

Cover for Gray Baby

scottloringsanders@gmail.com (Mothball's Blog) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 20:25:00 +0000

Here is the first prototype for the cover of Gray Baby, which will be released in May/June of 2009.

My New Novel

scottloringsanders@gmail.com (Mothball's Blog) — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 18:02:00 +0000

For those of you interested, my new novel, Gray Baby, is now finished and will be released in the spring of 2009, again by Houghton Mifflin. Once I get the cover mock-up, I'll post it here. I'll say right up front that it's a much different story than The Hanging Woods. It isn't as dark, though there are still some disturbing things that take place (and if you pay close attention, you might just see some references to The Hanging Woods, though I must stress that this isn't a sequel.) It opens with Clifton Carlson, who witnesses a troubling incident between his father (who is black) and two white police officers. From there, the story follows Clifton (who is bi-racial) as he struggles to cope with not only what he's witnessed, but also his own identity as he fights the difficulties of adolescence. He becomes friends with an intriguing, elderly white man, Swamper, in the most unlikely of circumstances, and it is through this relationship (and also because of a violent and troubling mystery that the two become involved with) that Clifton changes. But he isn't the only one who is developing and growing. Though Clifton learns a lot about life from Swamper, the elderly man--who has always been set in his ways--realizes that he isn't too old (or too proud) to evolve as well.

The story is set in the 1980's along the banks of the New River in a rural Virginia town called Crocket's Mill. It is a mystery of sorts, but also a story of overcoming obstacles and learning about the trials and tribulations of what it takes to become a "man."

The Horn Book Review

scottloringsanders@gmail.com (Mothball's Blog) — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 17:59:00 +0000

Here's a nice review of The Hanging Woods

THE HORN BOOK Magazine
July / August 2008

Scott Loring Sanders The Hanging Woods
326 pp. Houghton 3/08 isbn 978-0-618-88125-3 $16.00

You’re probably familiar with the idyllic boyhood coming-of-age story, full of friendship, mischief, and nostalgia. But Sanders’s debut novel is also an excellent example of Southern Gothic, and the heady, macabre mix of secrets and violence is evident from the opening lines: “In 1975, when I was thirteen, I killed a fox. It happened a few weeks after I’d snuck into my mother’s room and read her diary.” In a leisurely but compelling voice, Walter chronicles his friendship with Jimmy and Mothball and their assorted adventures: camping, doorbell ditching, gossiping, smoking, stealing, and swimming—not to mention Mothball’s quest to enter The Guinness Book of World Records with the longest-living decapitated turkey. But another story gradually emerges, a tangled web of jealousy, betrayal, and deceit that entraps the boys, their parents, and this small Alabama town. Eventually Walter discloses his mother’s dark secret, and several of his own, but one final bombshell casts his actions in an especially tragic light. This suspenseful story with its flawed but sympathetic characters and brooding atmosphere marks Sanders as a writer to watch. j.h.

UPCOMING APPEARANCES

scottloringsanders@gmail.com (Mothball's Blog) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 19:11:00 +0000

UPDATED UPCOMING APPEARANCES

Check Back Often As Things Sometimes Change

October 24th
Friday, 1:30-2:30 at Hotel Roanoke, Roanoke, Virginia
Virginia Association of Teachers of English Conference
Guest Speaker on topic of "Truth in Fiction--Fiction in Truth"

April 2nd, 2009
Hollins University
Roanoke, Virginia
8:15 pm in Green Drawing Room
Guest Speaker for the University's Reading and Lecture Series

Great Review about The Hanging Woods

scottloringsanders@gmail.com (Mothball's Blog) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:30:00 +0000

Here's the link to a blog called Perpetual Folly. http://perpetualfolly.blogspot.com/
Fiction writer Clifford Garstang just gave The Hanging Woods a glowing review. Check it out. Besides the review, his blogspot has lots of other info. helpful to writers.

RADIO INTERVIEW on WVTF Public Radio--NPR

scottloringsanders@gmail.com (Mothball's Blog) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 04:25:00 +0000

Here is the link to the complete interview I did with Gene Marrano on Studio Virginia. Just scroll down to 3-27-08 and then click 'listen.' Takes a couple of minutes to download.
http://www.wvtf.org/studiovirginia/index.php

FEATURE ARTICLE IN THE ROANOKE TIMES

scottloringsanders@gmail.com (Mothball's Blog) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:13:00 +0000

There is a good article about The Hanging Woods in today's (March 21st) issue of The Roanoke Times. The writer, Pete Dybdahl, did a great job. The link is below.

http://www.roanoke.com/entertainment/wb/155330

RECENT REVIEWS OF THE HANGING WOODS

scottloringsanders@gmail.com (Mothball's Blog) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 04:14:00 +0000

Bulletin Starred Review for The Hanging Woods--March 1st, 2008

In what initially seems like one of those small-town boyhood friendships, Walter is virtually inseparable from his pals Jimmy and Mothball; the trio roams through the Alabama woods and engages in some of the traditional mischief of young teenage boys, such as spinning stories about "the Troll," a veteran of the recently concluded Vietnam War, who's camping by the river. As events progress, however, the darker notes in Walter's narration, foreshadowed by his initial mention of finding a family secret, become more prominent, and the erstwhile friends dip increasingly into abusive bullying of one another. Dark then turns disastrous in a sequence of intertwined lethal events that recalls Greek tragedy even as it suggests a cursed reconfiguration of To Kill a Mockingbird. Sanders handles Walter's narration deftly, seeding it with clues to the upcoming wreck but masterfully camouflaging the story as an atmospheric period buddy tale, complete with the lacerating unchallenged racism of the place and time, until the corruption becomes inescapably overt. Readers accustomed to literary morality setting like concrete from the get-go will find this bracingly unsettling as well as enticingly mysterious, and it is sure to provoke discussion if used in the classroom as well as absorption as an independent read. DS

Publisher’s Weekly—Week of 3-10-08
The Hanging Woods Scott Loring Sanders. Houghton, $16 (336p) ISBN 978-0-618-88125-3

Squeamish readers might steer clear of this potent first novel, which begins with the 13-year-old narrator savagely bludgeoning a trapped fox to death in the Alabama woods. The brutal opening scene sets the tone for an increasingly disturbing tale centered on the narrator, Walter, and his two best friends, Jimmy and Raymond, nicknamed Mothball. As Walter tells readers, he has just discovered a devastating family secret in his mother’s diary (it is not revealed until close to the end), and a deep anger grows inside of him. The people around him, overcome by a sense of powerlessness, seem gripped by fury, too, and immune to violence. Mothball, for example, decides he will break the Guinness record for keeping alive a headless chicken; Sanders builds in the gruesome scenes with ax and chopping block, later with eye dropper and corn slurry, creating a horrifying metaphor for the blind cruelty that increasingly governs Walter’s actions. The tone only darkens, while the novel stays suspenseful from start to finish. (Mar.)