Ann S. Epstein writes novels, short stories, memoir, essays, and poems. Please use the links or site menu to go to the HOME PAGE; learn about her NOVELS, SHORT STORIES, MEMOIR, ESSAYS, and POEMS; find interesting facts in BEHIND THE STORY; read REFLECTIONS on writing; check NEWS for updates on publications and related events; see REVIEWS; learn about her END-OF-LIFE DOULA credentials and services; and CONTACT US to send webmail.
Author: annsepstein@att.net
Ann S. Epstein is an award-winning writer of novels, short stories, memoirs, and essays.
When Spanish flu cases spiked in 1918, then as now, revelers were warned not to trade their health-saving masks for Halloween masks. Street celebrations and indoor parties were prohibited. People were reminded that dancing was nonessential and that blowing horns spread germs and disrupted the sleep of the sick. State and city bans may have curtailed those seeking treats, but the number of tricks rose. Dallas police, for example, reported overturned bread boxes, an absconded horse, and a stolen piano. Read more about the deadly Spanish flu pandemic a century ago in On the Shore (1917-1925), a tale of conflict between generations in a Lower East Side immigrant family (see NOVELS).
Halloween during Spanish flu pandemic a century agoGenerations of immigrant family in conflict
A truism of writing instruction is “Show, don’t tell.” Anton Chekhov admonishes “Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” Ernest Hemingway exhorts “Show readers everything, tell them nothing.” But not every writer agrees with this advice. Alexandra Schwartz, interviewing novelist and playwright Ayad Akhtar (“Making a Scene,” The New Yorker, September 21, 2020), reports “Writers of the show-don’t tell school might worry about didacticism undermining artistry, but Akhtar has a different philosophy. ‘Telling is amazing — some of my best experiences have been being told stuff,’ he told me.” My view is that it depends on the skill and balance with which each form is executed. A skillful teller can be engaging; an endless monologue devoid of interaction. An inventive shower can be enthralling; the relentless hammer of action exhausting. As Francine Prose says of Alice Munro, “Needless to say, many great [writers] combine dramatic showing with long sections of flat-out authorial narration.” More thoughts about writing in REFLECTIONS.
Novelist, playwright, and autodidact Ayad AkhtarWhy writers write: “When I’m asked my advice for people who want to be writers, I say they don’t need advice. They know they want to be writers, and they’re gonna do it.” – R. L. Stine
My Amazon and Goodreads review of A Plan in Case of Morning by Phill Provance (Rating 5) – Master of Intensity. In A Plan in Case of Morning, Phill Provance wields words, minces memories, and excavates emotions with agility. His amalgam of poems, prose, epigrams, and enigmas is filled with dreams and questions about youth, manhood, and the final accounting. Bubbling up from the flow of words is the push-pull of human relationships; anger bumps into love, tough rubs against tender, and hope flickers in the face of disaster. Provance has a gift for imagery. As a writer myself (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I savored creations such as “teeth a perfect replica of Nebraska” and “crow’s feet [that] cinch like drawstring bags.” This collection is intense; take it one entry at a time. Do NOT plan when you’ll read the next piece, just grab and wrestle with this roiling and rollicking volume when you will.
A roiling and rollicking volumeWhy writers read: “The greatest part of a writer’s time is spent in reading; a man will turn over half a library to make one book.” – Samuel Johnson
My Amazon and Goodreads review of Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (Rating 5) – A Father’s Caution and Pride. For years, I felt guilty that I delayed reading Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates after it came out in 2015. Now I’m glad I waited until 2020, when America is confronting its embedded racism with unprecedented intensity. The book’s impact on me was jarringly powerful in the aftermath of the recent deaths of so many Blacks at the hands of police, their disproportionate number of COVID-19 cases and mortality attributable to inadequate health care, the children unable to “attend” school virtually because they lacked access to the necessary technology, and countless other injustices. The statistics are long-standing, but awareness of their enormity by non-Blacks is new. I am among them. As the mother of an adult daughter, I have been especially haunted by the murder of Breonna Taylor. When her mother, Tamika Parker, described Breonna’s death as a slap in the face, I felt the blow. During my forty-year career in early education, I worked with Black children a decade younger than the son who Coates writes to, but I saw the same hope and fear in their faces. As a fiction writer (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I portray characters of diverse backgrounds, including Blacks, imagining the ever-present threats they face. Coates cautions his son, but also imbues him with pride and courage. This honest, painful-to-read book reminds me that I, that we as a society, have barely scratched the surface understanding the insidious effects of racism. We need to dig deep within ourselves and our systems to root it out.
A gap hard to fathom and fillWhy writers read: “No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.” – Confucius
“Writing a book is like moving into an imaginary house. The author, the sole inhabitant, wanders from room to room, choosing furnishings, correcting imperfections, adding new wings” (“Labyrinths,” a profile of author Susanna Clark by Laura Miller, The New Yorker, September 14, 2020). I agree with Miller’s description, save one major modification. The book’s characters are also inhabitants. It’s true that the abode a writer creates is not a democracy; the final choices are made solely by the author. However, sometimes those other inhabitants persuade, insist, or nag the writer to make a different choice. Read more thoughts about writing in REFLECTIONS.
Why writers write: “You can make anything by writing.” – C. S. Lewis
I’m doffing my writer’s hat and donning my fiber artist’s cap (hence my social media handle ase.wovenwords) to announce that this is SPINNING AND WEAVING WEEK. Celebrated the first week every October, the event showcases the beautiful and utilitarian creations made on looms, wheels, and spindles. Cloth-making skills have been practiced for thousands of years using plant and animal fibers. Woven baskets date as far back as 27,000 BCE. Take time this week to appreciate the many types of cloth that adorn and protect our bodies, homes, places of work and entertainment, and havens of comfort and renewal. “I regard spinning and weaving as a necessary part of any national system of education.” – Mahatma Gandhi
Spinning and weaving are universal practices, dating back tens of thousands of yearsGandhi believed that learning to spin and weave were essential
My Amazon and Goodreads review of Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler (Rating 4) – Methodical Man Edges Toward Human Mess. Meet methodical, meticulous Micah Mortimer, the protagonist of Anne Tyler’s Redhead by the Side of the Road. Tyler has a knack for making off-putting and slightly off-kilter characters sympathetic. Micah is not unlikeable, just not particularly endearing, until you find yourself liking this earnest but clueless forty-something computer tech a lot. Micah is the neat, reserved member of a large, messy, and affectionate family. His search for the right woman is plagued by bugs he cannot detect, let alone solve. Tyler is herself meticulous rendering Micah’s routine-driven life from his early morning runs to which day of the week he assigns to each housekeeping chore. She assigns him quirky traits: an imaginary internal traffic cop (rather like a lonely child’s imaginary friend) who pats him on the back for nicely executed driving maneuvers; talking to himself using “zee Franch acksant” when he cooks his simple meals. As a fiction writer myself (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I admire Tyler’s ability to create a total life for her characters. I suspect that she, like me, moves in with them while she settles them on the page. Above all, Tyler is adept at taking a small life and finding its universal measure, in Micah’s case the search for human connection. At a time when readers are satiated on Zoom and hungry for in-person contact, Redhead by the Side of Road is a satisfying and lively companion.
A methodical rendering of a methodical manWhy writers read: “Reading brings us unknown friends.” – Honoré de Balzac
In May 2020, after a series of posts about quack cures for the 1918 Spanish flu, I posted a recap of my favorites. I thought I was done with the series, but like COVID-19 itself, recurring spikes led me to investigate more. Finding plenty, I began a new series. Here’s (another) recap of the most outlandish ones: Powerful electric light (touted by a Swedish physician); Dr. Oddbody’s Cure All Elixir (the name says it all);and Creophos (a tonic that was 16% alcohol). Read about these bogus fixes and others in posts beginning August 14, 2020. Read more about the deadly Spanish flu pandemic a century ago in On the Shore, a tale of conflict between generations in a Lower East Side immigrant family (see NOVELS).
An “electrifying cure” for the Spanish fluAn “odd cure” for the Spanish fluAn alcohol-laden tonic for the Spanish fluGenerations of immigrant family in conflict
My Amazon and Goodreads review of Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir by Natasha Trethewey (Rating 5) – Re-Dreaming a Nightmare in Order to Awake.Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir did not initially draw me in. Author Natasha Trethewey employs her skills as a Pulitzer prize-winning poet to circle at a distance rather than directly confront her mother’s death at the hands of Trethewey’s abusive stepfather, three decades ago, when Trethewey was nineteen. As a prose writer (see my Amazon author page) and Goodreads author page), I craved more narrative. Yet, once the story became more personal and engaging, I realized the style of writing mirrored the author’s reluctant journey into the past, finally summoning the courage to face a horror she long avoided. Only by re-dreaming the nightmare can she wake up to her loss. More moving than the facts of the murder itself are Trethewey’s reminiscences of her bond with her mother. Although these held special resonance for me, any reader can relate to the push and pull, longing and guilt, that passed between them. Having seen, Trethewey can never unsee, but she can remain awake.
Excavating a long-buried pastWhy writers read: “Why are we reading, if not in hope of beauty laid bare, life heightened and its deepest mystery probed?” – Annie Dillard
Quack cures purchased to treat the 1918 Spanish flu varied with income. Wampole’s Paraformic Lozenges, only 25 cents a bottle, “protects you in public places.” Johnson’s Anodyne Liniment, equally cheap, was “an enemy to germs.” Rich folks could rent an electro-therapy Violet Ray Machine for $4 a week, also good for acne and kidney stones. Shoe stores stressed keeping feet dry with new foot ware; grocers touted onions; and druggists declared hot water bottles “assistant flu chasers.” Read more about the deadly Spanish flu pandemic a century ago in On the Shore, a WWI tale of conflict between generations in a Lower East Side immigrant family (see NOVELS).
A twenty-five cent treatment for Spanish flu a century agoOnions were said to ward off the deadly Spanish fluGenerations of immigrant family in conflict
