The SCWW Catfish Stew Anthology winners have been announced and the Greeville Chapter is well represented.

Steve Heckman has two stories in the Fiction category, one of which tied for "Best of Issue." He also scored in the poetry category. Congratulations, Steve!

Bob Strother also hit the trifecta with one entry in the Fiction category and two in the Nonfiction category.

Other Greenville winners include Carol Isler and John Migacz in the Fiction category, and Phil Arnold and Pat Stewart in Nonfiction.

Well done all! Visit www.scwriters.com for all the details.

The faculty list for the October 14-16, 2005 SCWW Writers Conference is almost complete, and can be found on the SCWW website (http://www.scwriters.com)

Registration for the conference will open as soon as the faculty is finalized. At that time, you will be able to access a registration form from the SCWW website. To qualify for the early bird discount, registration must be completed on-line with payment via PayPal by August 31st, or your registration accompanied by a check to cover the entire registration fee must be postmarked by August 31st.

The Sunday, June 12, 2005 Greenville News comics features one of our own. Look at the comic strip "Shoe" on the last page of the comics section and see if you recognize our illustrious Quill Editor. When Shoe makes a comment that his muse has broken his heart, it sounds a lot like the reaction Thaleia has on Leland. Check it out. We didn't know that Leland hangs out in a tree, but we recognized him and his muse.

Editor's note:
A copy of the comic can be found on the web at http://www.comicspage.com/shoe. Choose "6/12/05" from the Archive drop down.

Please forward critiques, comments, ideas, and submissions to Printed Matters Editor Marcia Migacz at marciamigacz@prtcnet.com.

The next meetings of the Greenville Chapter of SCWW are as follows:

• Thursday, July 7 - First Thursday Meeting, 6:00 p.m. at The Open Book
• Tuesday, July 19 - Third Tuesday Meeting, 6:00 p.m. at The Open Book

All genres welcome at both meetings. Suggested limit for reading selections is five double-spaced, typed pages, although longer selections may be possible if time permits.

Thanks to Phil Arnold we're getting to be old friends with web logs, or, as they're more frequently called, "blogs." And, more importantly - if you're an Elvis fan - we're staying in touch with the incredibly enduring and far-reaching Elvisworld.

In the May 29th installment, we toured the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, where Elvis was described as the "The Hillbilly Cat," a reference to the King that I'd never heard. That's what is so great about Phil's new passion - you're entertained and informed. I'm going to have to try that website, just to see if Stray Cats, my favorite rockabilly group, is listed.

In the next posting, we learned how two Elvis-related TV shows fared, competing with "notable powerhouses" like "Desperate Housewives" and "American Idol." Thank all that's holy, Elvis was right up there with the current crop of soaps and reality shows. As Phil says, "Dead 28 years, (Elvis) can go up against some of the strongest shows on television and still pull in 12-15 million viewers." Or, as someone else said, "The king is dead. Long live the king."

Other blog news related how the Presley family was shunned by neighbors because Mama Gladys hung her wash out on the clothesline, and, even better, how the 1992 presidential campaign got "all shook up" with Elvis references.

Phil's journalistic prowess is evident in his writing, and comments and suggestions for improvements were minimal. Keep it coming, Phil.

http://elvisblog.myblogsite.com/blog

Kevin Coyle continued reading from his short story. The setting in the era of the House Committee on Un-American Activities centers on a conversation between FBI agent Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan who has just testified before the committee. (In real life Nixon applied, but was not hired by the FBI.)

Kevin's details show how much research he has done for the story. He names Washington names accurately and describes Reagan's clothing so that I can see it.

I especially liked the references Reagan makes to his movies at every opportunity. The chief investigator wanted to know what it was like to co-star with Ann Sheridan. He made a remark about a cadet he played in "Brother Rat."

Reagan lists the men at a party with J. Edgar Hoover, Walt Disney, Jack Warner and other Hollywood greats. Nixon is upset that HE was not invited to this party.

The ultimate insult was that Hoover's assistant was at the party.

"Hoover's assistant, Clyde Tolson. A queer fellow," said Reagan.

Nixon ended the visit hinting for an introduction to Cat Ryan. "She might have some information I could use."

Reagan came back into character by saying, "I worked one picture with her while she was on loan from MGM---Santa Fe Trail. She co-starred with Errol Flynn. I was cast in a supporting role as General Custer. Is she a Red?"

As I re-read my notes, I remembered the image I had of Reagan as President. This dialogue confirmed that image! Keep going Kevin.

Harriet Beam entertained us with the silly-saga of Mary Louise McGillicuty-Stamps. In this story, our messy little protagonist suffers from a case of mistaken identity when her beloved daddy uses her to mop up a mess on the kitchen floor. Based on my own experience reading to children and seeing their reactions, I believe the kiddies will be delighted by the antics of Mary Louise McGillicuty-Stamps and the unexpected but funny things that result.

Conventional kiddie-lit (if you can call any kiddie-lit "conventional") tends to put dramatic emphasis on subtleties in physical motion and sound - children pay attention to these things - and Little Miss McGillicuty doesn't disappoint, descending the stairs on "tippy toes" with a finger on her lips to hold herself quiet. The sudden noises when she knocks over the mop and the absurdly funny events that follow should get a giggle from the kiddies. (It got one from this one!) I would avoid the word "horror" in this genre - enough time for that later in life - perhaps she can be "surprised" into "shock," instead of "shocked" into "horror."

The group gave some feedback on punctuation, appropriate emphasis, and whether or not Daddy should be talking to the ceiling. The group likes the way Harriet engages the senses. This reader likes the way she engages the imagination and the lively, outlandish way she teaches life lessons. As soon as I got home, I told my teenage son to go bathe before I used him to mop up the kitchen floor. It worked. Go figure.

Der Tubemeister has the rare privelege of reviewing two of our newer members this month, neither of whom has seemed at any point like a neophyte.

Bob Strother, like many of us, started writing late -- just shortly, he says, before joining SCWW. Unlike most of us, he seems to have avoided that early period of over-writing, with overblown prose and big words and over-hyped situations. He just tells the story, and that's what the reader really wants. This month, the story is the second installment of "Baby Don't Say Don't", a coming-of-age tale. Fourteen-year-old Zelma is full of raging hormones, but not so many as to overwhelm her feminine guile. She has been treating twelve-year-old Jeff to "kissing practice" while their parents are at choir practice, but her boobs "were never part of the deal." Then, when Reggie moves to town with his cashmire scarf and his driver's license, Jeff is left in the dust, and the only place he can use his new-found skills is in games of Seven Minutes In Heaven at seventh grade parties. Bob mixes wry observations with memories of what it was like to be a teenager that are much keener than DT's, and keeps the story moving steadily, but unhurriedly toward a brewing confrontation on a haywagon. Stay tuned.

An even newer member, but obviously not a new writer, is Sarah Cureton. Sarah read a few pages of her allegory, Finding God Under the Rock, and her confidence is striking. A non-standard form such as this one can be full of minefields of inconsistency, unclear voice, and meanings that are clear only to the writer, but Sarah manages to be obscure and perfectly clear at the same time, hiding her message in layers of story and legend and asides, but with a consistent voice and a strong delivery. Granted, DT and, perhaps, another befuddled old man or two in the group, may have trouble grasping what an allegory is all about, but he has no sense that the fault is in the writing, but rather in his own inability to apprehend any genre that doesn't have a dead body in the first three pages. And one thing that even DT can understand is dialog like this:

"Your version is short."

"Which makes it beautiful. Simplicity proves that it is real."

"Simplicity makes it easy," he countered. "The truth is what makes it beautiful, but truth is not always simple."

Oh, yeah! And Sarah's a food critic, too.

Limerick O' the Month:

There is a Norwegian named Lars
He likes his fast girls and fast cars
But Brunhilde gets wise
And the fryin' pan flies
And now all he sees are fast stars

In the latest installment of John Migacz's novel, entitled A Second Chance, we learn what happens after Jolly's final confrontation with Aunt Selma, a Midwestern spinster who took him in after his adoptive parents, the Skyes, died in an auto accident. With Selma off to fetch the sheriff, Jolly packs his bags, wondering where he'll go now. Fortuitously (perhaps a little too much so), a Japanese businessman from California named Imuro happens to pull up outside the house just as Jolly is about to leave. Imuro explains that his friend Tyler Skye had, before his death, asked Imuro to look in on Jolly from time to time. This implies that Tyler was at least suspicious of Selma's ability or willingness to properly care for the boy (suspicions that prove all too prophetic). Jolly decides to confide in Imuro about his big secret (see previous reviews for an explanation) and, without further ado, the pair drive off together on a road trip to Connecticut.

John's book is speculative fiction, so he should be given a little leeway in the plausibility department. Nevertheless, the group asked a few good questions. If Tyler didn't trust Selma to care for Jolly, why didn't he make other arrangements? Did the Skyes have no other living relatives? Why would Imuro hop in a car in California and drive halfway across the country to drop in on Jolly unannounced? What if Selma had decided to take Jolly on a month-long trip to Disneyland (assuming the park was open back then)? Why didn't Imuro fly the friendly skies (no pun intended)? And why is Imuro so willing to take a road trip with young Jolly and assume that everything will be fine? Hasn't Imuro ever heard of kidnapping before? Maybe these questions will be answered in future installments.

I'm always happy when I get selected to do the review of something written by Steve Heckman, because I know it will always be a good piece. Such is the case with "Standing On Plastic." Steve read us the first half of this new short story, and everyone is dying to know how it ends. In fact, if Steve read the second half at the 3rd Tuesday meeting, I'm going to be bummed. (Steve: bring a copy to the next Thursday meeting, okay?)

It would be difficult for anyone to write a more interesting story about suicide than this one. Steve's trick is to have not one, but two, suicidal characters. While Donnie tries to do the deed, he is interrupted by a slight acquaintance named Theresa, with the same idea. This reviewer particularly liked Donnie's interior monologue lines: "What was I, a consultant?" and "Because we're such good friends."

Some of the group had a problem with how Theresa got Donnie's phone number and why the folks at the Internet Café would think Donnie a hero for committing suicide. Other areas to rework a bit were the fighting neighbors upstairs and Donnie's strange concern about the apartment deposit when he didn't plan to be around to collect it. Minor stuff Steve will easily clear up. The second half may be a tougher assignment, but I can't wait to read it.

Forget the Gallup survey, forget exit polling, forget black and white smoke - if you want to know how your candidate will do in an election just see who Pat Stewart favors. Pat has voted for every losing presidential candidate since 1956 and in her latest essay she extends her inverted soothsaying to the field of papal elections.

Was her support of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergogilo his kiss of death? Did the leadership of millions of Catholics swerve from a tango-loving, bus riding Argentinean to a brainy German theologian due to Pat? Fatz hopes Pat doesn't have that power 'cause otherwise she has a lot to answer for (Nixon, Regan, the Bushes, etc…) and he hopes the flow of history doesn't depend on a sweet elderly lady from South Carolina.

But you never know.

Pat's essay cleverly expressed her personal thoughts and feelings about events of world importance, giving it a twist the group found delightful. There were few comments on the actual piece - more discussion fell on AP style, the spelling out of numbers, and the Wall Street Journal as an unlikely news source. Several suggestions were made to tighten up the piece but altogether the essay was another winner about a loser from Pat Stewart.

Wow - there's never a dull moment at the Third Tuesday meetings. This month, women outnumbered the men three to one. The visitors were almost as numerous and certainly as vocal and insightful as the regulars. We had seven readers out of twelve attendees.

Bob Strother had the honor of kicking off the meeting with another selection from his novel Love Among the Greeks. Hero Johnny Chase runs into some rough waters as his girlfriend Randy gets a little too friendly with the graduate assistant in the Psych Department who is tutoring her.

Harriet Beam came next with a rewrite of her essay "Reflections" and an addition called "Reflections Part Two." Both essays dealt with the influence of parents on her innocent free spirit - the first involved her father's unceremonious delivery of her first bra when she was ten, and the second explored her relationship with her mother and the possible reasons for her mother's own loss of innocence.

Newcomer Marie Newman shared a short story called "Desperate.com," which humorously described a number of the guys she had dated in her "fifty-something-single gal attempts to attract the male species." She did find happiness in the end, but it took a trip to Pet-Finders.com to accomplish it.

Sarah Cureton read a poem (soon to be a children's book), titled "The Bird and the Flower," about the different kinds of love and care required by two entities with disparate needs, such as a bird and a flower, or two siblings.

Susan Boyer presented a newly written prologue for her book Low Country Boil. The prologue shows heroine Liz's acquisition of a Golden Retriever puppy on the same night that she splits with her husband, about two years before the main action of the book.

"Collected Stories" is a literary fiction piece written by visitor Beth Sager. Beth introduces us to the central characters of three separate but interwoven stories: Henry Crawford, a man of uncertain mental stability; 80-year-old Hazel, who lives below Henry and rents him a room; and Judy, stricken with polio six months ago on her thirteenth birthday and watching her neighbors Hazel and Henry from her bedroom window.

Finally, John Migacz continued his novel Second Chance. Jolly and his adoptive father's Japanese business partner drive from Iowa to Connecticut and discuss the paradoxes of time travel as they apply to Jolly. In the end, they decide that they probably can't change the world, but they may be able to benefit financially from Jolly's foreknowledge of economic trends and world events.

I recently sent out an e-mail request to verify Greenville chapter members' names and addresses against the statewide list. If you received the e-mail and have not already responded, please do so. Just click on one of the handy links in the mail message to indicate if the information is correct, incorrect, or if you would like to be removed from the list.

It's as easy as that.

Thanks!

Printed Matters is the newsletter of the Greenville Chapter, SCWW, which meets on the first Thursday and third Tuesday of each month at 6:00 p.m. at The Open Book, 110 S Pleasantburg Drive, Greenville, SC.

Thanks to our contributing writers and news reporters:
Bob Strother, Pat Stewart, Sarah Cureton, Steve Heckman, Kevin Coyle, Phil Arnold, John Migacz, and Leland Beaudrot

Copyright 2005 by Marcia Migacz, Editor. Contributing writers retain all rights to their work.