Though elections aren't until the December First Thursday meeting, it looks like John Migacz will continue as Chapter President since he is the only candidate. When asked about running unopposed, the candidate stated: "I still stand a chance to win."

The election for the statewide SCWW Board of Directors also occurs in December, and three of Greenville's stalwarts are tossing their hats into the ring. Bob Strother, Susan Boyer, and Sara Cureton have offered their time and effort to help out down in Columbia. Let's give them our support - please mail in your e-mail ballot when it arrives in late November.

Phil Yanov has landed his first paid writing gig. Phil is a columnist for GSABusiness, a bi-monthly paper with a circulation of 400,000. His column "TECH ADVANTAGE" will focus on computer info and is, of course, written in Phil's unique style.

The SCWW Conference is over, and to improve next year's meeting we need feedback.

If you didn't attend, we'd like to know why you didn't - the cost, the speakers, the tackiness of Myrtle Beach - whatever.

Please drop an e-mail to SCWWconf2005@msn.com

The conference represents our organization and we need to work together to improve this event. Let us know how.

The Foothills Writers Guild will sponsor their 17th Annual Writers Workshop on February 17-18, 2006. Guest speakers will include: Terry Kay, novelist; Kelly Kickell, Writer's Digest editor; Juanita Garrison, columnist; and others.

If you have any questions please contact Ann Wright at wrightwriter@aol.com.

Ray Giddens' Journey of Opposites is a strange journey indeed, carrying us on an unsettling wave of consciousness from the narrator's tonsillectomy at eight years old to the inquisition. In between, we're exposed to the Army's tear gas and the Holocaust's more lethal offering - Zkylon-B. And, oh yes - we're nearly eaten by lions and hacked to death by the great destroyer. Talk about a ticket to ride!

Journey sparked the longest discussion of the evening. Some found the story intense and compelling, others gory and disquieting. It seemed clear that the narrator was revisiting not only his own suffering, but experiencing that of others as well. It was not clear why. Ray explained that it was part of a much longer work and that answers to the questions posed were elsewhere in the text.

Some in the group felt the opening sequences would work better reformatted in chronological order. Others felt the individual "experiences" were too short and should be expanded. Still others felt the opening didn't really work to draw the reader in sufficiently.

Panama was a bit confused by whole piece and would have preferred a more conventional beginning to get the lay of the land before being thrust into this maelstrom of seemingly unrelated visual images.

"Wind Spirit" is the name of John Migacz's latest story. The hero comes upon a ranch with horses for sale. He finds the owner, a pretty woman in jeans, who tries to talk him out of riding Brutus. Brutus is a dangerous agitated horse that she insists he not ride. He jumps the horse and is taken back in time to another era and another horse, Jing Shen.

John had a few tense shifts to clean up. In the part of the story with Brutus, he needs to stay in the present. When he took us back in time to the Moguls, he was in the past with his horse Jing Shen and needed to stay there until he came back to the lady and her horse Brutus.

Another suggestion was to put the second paragraph, "It was a perfect day..." in the beginning. Use "I" instead of "you" when describing the infinite sky. Give us only two gas stations on the corner and a fruit stand instead of a strip mall.

It has the feel of a mystical story that pulls the reader in. It is an intriguing story that I want to hear John finish.

When Marcia advised me I was assigned to do the review on Bob Strother's latest work, I thought to myself, "Oh, boy, it's going to be another one of Bob's perfect stories, and I won't have anything to write about." Well, that was a good call, as evidenced by the comments our group made after Bob read "Midnight Clear," his latest short story. How about, "Your writing is so strong, you leave us very little to comment on." Or this nugget, "You leave us wanting more." Actually, that is very true. Bob sucked in this reader completely, and I experienced genuine frustration when five pages left us hanging right in the middle. I cared about Sergeant O'Shaughnessy, who has recently experienced personal tragedy. I cared about his daughter, Jamie, who is obviously going to be in serious peril. I wanted to hear the rest of the story, and if it is as good as the first part, Bob better send this one out to some contests and magazines. "Midnight Clear" should be a winner.

"What Shall I Do With the Palms?" is Pat Stewart's latest in a series of memoirs. Fatz says it's easy to know what to do with your palms, just bring them together rapidly in a round of applause for a lone woman who would take seven children to live in a foreign country. The trials and tribulations of traveling in France with a brood of kids invoked images of "Home Alone" to many at the table.

The story title refers to the palm leaves handed out on Palm Sunday. In the Catholic religion, palms are blessed and the proper disposal is burning. There just isn't time as the departure clock ticks down for Pat's family. The process of packing up a home and moving it to France is daunting to say the least, but with a cry of "bring plenty of toilet paper," the family embarks. A series of delays, missed connections, metric system calculations and, of course, dealing with the French makes the trip notable if not pleasant.

The group felt Pat's piece would flow better if she gathered similar subject paragraphs together and cut the duplicate information. Identification of gate numbers and airport names would also smooth the flow.

Fatz says Pat should be awarded the Croix de Guerre for this valiant effort and would like to see an essay about her return to South Carolina and what must have been a ground-kissing moment.

Jim McFarlane read a portion of Chapter Two in his historical fiction, The Widow Dunn. In this excerpt, Laura Ann finds herself in a bad situation: O'Malley holds her, her brother-in-law Jesse, and her children captive in a bushy area near town. With Jesse and the kids tied to trees, O'Malley, who "likes the sound of her voice," makes her talk to him until he decides on a more 'invasive' form of entertainment. Laura Ann resists, and Angus shows up just in time to spoil O'Malley's fun.

I thought the best comments offered by the group had to do with Laura Ann's state of mind and manner in this scene. She comes across as mild and distracted in light of the situation and what we already know about her character. "Batting" at his offending hands, seems less decisive than "slapping," "smacking," or "pounding" on them. Previous excerpts paint Laura Ann's character closer to Scarlett's than Melanie's (re: Gone with the Wind), but I believe even Melanie would have spun his head with a good slap - maybe she would have gotten around to it had Angus not shown up. Laura Ann also spends time in the midst of this crisis wondering what others will think - an idea that would more likely occur to her after the fact, not during.

The rescue scene is followed by some amusing dialogue - a few zingers, compliments of Angus - and closes with a line that pegs Angus as the hero of this tale, despite his unfortunate Yankee origins. And for Jim, another job well done!

Our resident Elvis expert, Phil Arnold, read three installments from his Elvisblog, entitled "Two Elvis Collector Superstars," "Jimmy Velvet: Elvis Fan, Friend, and Collector," and "New Archive Items, Some Odd Websites, and a Tease." The first two installments tell about the adventures of two Elvis memorabilia collectors, while the third does some "housekeeping" for Phil's blog.

This reviewer is not nearly as interested in the minutiae of Elvisworld as some people are, but if I were, I'm sure that Phil's blog would be a valuable resource. In addition, Phil's folksy voice used in providing his information seems appropriate in light of the King's down-home origins. Keep blogging, Phil.

At the November meeting, Kevin Coyle read from his new short story, "Looking for Elves." Right away I was intrigued by its interesting and promising title. Kevin's story is a funny piece about a couple of American tourists who inadvertently find themselves attending Gay Pride Week in Reykjavik, Iceland. Kevin's setting is a bar in which two Americans, Tom and Jeff, seem to be the only heterosexuals present except for one horny old lady that Tom, the viewpoint character, finds offensive. As I read the story I felt as though I was in the bar, and the old lady became clearly pictured in my mind from Kevin's wonderfully unobtrusive descriptions and showing dialogue. For some reason I saw her as Sylvia Browne, the psychic. I appreciated Kevin's descriptive expressions. The old lady was "stuffed into a black cocktail dress that fit her like a sausage casing" and "she started hip-checking me like a hockey player."

I also enjoyed learning the terms, "cow-tipping" and "keggers in the woods." Since I am probably older than the old lady Kevin describes, I had to ask my daughter what Kevin meant. She helped me to understand that after downing a keg or two in the woods, tipping sleeping cows might be the natural outcome.

Another interesting figure in the story is a Viking biker type that Kevin describes as "Hagar the Horrible, whose "dark piercing eyes" made Tom nervous. Hagar adds to Tom's mounting and very humorous discomfort. Even though Tom denies his homophobia, he obviously harbors more than just a touch of it. "I can still remember how horrified I was the first time I saw The Rocky Horror Picture Show." After Kevin's five pages the reader is left curious to find out what happens between Tom and Hagar. Of course there being no trees, the frozen Icelandic tundra could make the scene even more painful than Dickey's comparative picnic beside the wild but warm Chatooga River.

In Bob Strother's Love Among the Greeks, hero Johnny, who has decided to transfer to another school, takes one last spin around the UC campus as it comes to life in September. He attends his last fraternity chapter meeting, and learns that Rivers didn't return to UC. With a friend, he waxes poetic about the reason things didn't work out with Randy, ending with "Love among the Greeks, right?" The next week, he starts classes at the University of Georgia, and although he stops by the local fraternity chapter, he ends up not affiliating with them.

Ray Giddens read a piece, called "The Dog, the Cat and the Astronaut," intended as a 5-minute children's story for radio. The story describes Zobie Zlo from the planet Zumeria, who lands on Earth and meets Goldie, the Golden Retriever, and Ali, the Persian Poet (a cat.) Communicating telepathically, Zobie explains that his people are being persecuted by Zilob the Hungry Giant and he is hoping to relocate his people to live peacefully with Earthlings. The dog and cat show how they get everything they want from their humans without ever letting them know who runs the show. Zobie decides to go back home to fight the giant, and Ali the Persian Poet says, "Zobie thinks we've enslaved mankind in a way they don't even mind. He fears sharing the human fate, if Zumerians were to relocate. But Zobie's people must stand their ground if their freedom is to be found."

Jim McFarlane's novel, The Widow Dunn continued with the Scottish Angus McFarlane rescuing Laura Ann Dunn from the lecherous hands of the Irishman O'Malley. O'Malley offers to share "the spoils of war" with Angus, who replies, "Spoiling your war is good enow for me." Together, they tie up O'Malley and free Laura Ann's children Will and Dora, and her brother-in-law Jesse. Finally, they sit in the shade, get acquainted, and discuss O'Malley's fate.

Elysabeth Eldering read her submission to another Armchair Interviews Mystery Fan writing contest. "The Krumkake Kaper" features characters named Mr. and Mrs. Santa, who are not related to the renowned Kris of Kringle fame, and Mrs. Santa's mouthwatering Krumkakes (pronounced Krum-kah-kays.) Mrs. Santa makes dozens of her celebrated Krumkakes every year for the Christmas block party, but this year someone steals every last one of them and the block party has to go without. It turns out that Rudolf, a professional gift wrapper at Mr. Santa's store, gave Mrs. Santa a new Chef's Choice International Krumkake Express, and took the already-made Krumkakes in order to save Mrs. Santa the embarrassment of serving poor quality Krumkakes (made on the old, worn out Krumkake iron) to her friends and neighbors.

John Kingsbury read more from his novel Pedophile of the Mind. My apologies, John - I didn't keep a copy of your piece for this report.

Susan Boyer presented a personal essay titled "First Night in Purgatory", about the night her teenage son was arrested and spent the night in jail. The arresting officer suggested to Susan and Jim that they let the boy spend the weekend in jail, "to let him get a taste of what it's like." But Susan had heard horror stories about "the hellish conditions in Greenville County Detention Center" and could not bring herself to leave him there. Upon returning home, her son was subdued and penitent for a few hours, but in the months and years that follow it appears that he didn't learn much from his trip to jail. Susan ends by stating, "I saw to it that he had everything he needed and much of what he wanted. Maybe too much of what he wanted."

John Migacz closed the meeting with his reworked prologue and first chapter from The Dieya Chronicles: The Battle for Ravar. In the prologue, the aging Baron, who seems to be chronically chilled, is awakened in the night by an assailant who forces something foreign deep into his brain. "As consciousness slipped into oblivion, his last thought was that he was finally warm." Chapter One takes us to an inn, where Padek the innkeeper worries about his wet firewood and Molli the barmaid tries to reassure him. Suddenly Tonkin and three of his cronies come crashing in. After quickly serving the thugs their wine, Padek observes that being around Tonkin is "like being around a mix that's gone terribly wrong."

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

• Thursday, December 1 - First Thursday Meeting, 6:00 p.m. at The Open Book
• Tuesday, December 20 - 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.

The Open Book, 110 S Pleasantburg Drive, Greenville, SC

Printed Matters is the newsletter of the Greenville Chapter of South Carolina Writers Workshop.

Thanks to our contributing writers and news reporters: Bob Strother, Pat Stewart, Phil Arnold, Jim McFarlane, John Migacz, Sarah Cureton, Kevin Coyle, and Ray Giddens. Special thanks to SC Fatz for helping me put together this newsletter.

Copyright 2006 by Marcia Migacz, Editor. Contributing writers retain all rights to their work.

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