Santa Cruz Sentinel from Santa Cruz, California • Page 43

Tag team fiction Can three writers work together and still respect each other in the morning? -i Bookends Preview "'si WHAT: Melanie Rawn. Jennifer Roberton and Kate EHiott, author of The GoWen Re WHERE: Capitela Book-Cafe, 1475 41 Ave Capitota a WHEN: Monday, 7d0 pm. COST: free INFORMATION: 4U-44I5 A 171 ChrisWatson 11 nj-fiffti From left: Jennifer Roberson, Melanie Rawn and Kate Elliott, authors of The Golden Books tole Broyard at the New School, is the author of the novel "The Stone Humpers" and two volumes of poetry. Dr. Walter Bortz, author of "Dare to Be 100," will be at the Capitola Book Cafe at 7:30 p.m.

Thursday. A leading expert on longevity and health, Bortz has also written "We Live Too Short and Die Too Long" and teaches at Stanford Medical School. Kevin J. Anderson, author of "Ground Zero," the first X-Files adventure, will be at the Capitola Book Cafe at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday to talk about his new book "Ruins," a novel based on the hit Fox television series created by Chris Carter.

Newberry Award winner, will read from "The Ballad of Lucy Whipple" as well as talk about the craft of writing at Bookshop Santa Cruz, 1520 Pacific Santa Cruz, at 1 p.m. Saturday. Cushman's newest novel describes a family's six-year stay in a small mining town during the Gold Rush all told by daughter California Morning Whipple. Erica Lann Clark and Donald Marsh will be at Bookshop Santa Cruz at 8 p.m. Tuesday, sponsored by the local chapter of the National Writers' Union and the Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County.

Clark, a local free-lance storyteller, writer and radio broadcaster, will tell stories and talk about the art of storytelling. Marsh, who studied with Ana- tian word for the Minoans of Crete. It'll be not quite historical and not quite fantasy." Then Rawn paused and laughed, considering the common perception that readers have about fantasy writers. "It won't have any elves or pixies. I don't do elves and I don't do pixies, dwarves or unicorns." Cathleen Rountree, author of "The Heart of Marriage," will be at the Capitola Book Cafe, 1475 41st Capitola, at 7:30 p.m.

today to read from her book of interviews. Karen Cushman, this year's text, complete with ancient enemies, ethnic prejudice, and a physical disability that strikes down certain members of the Grijalva tribe. There is also a dense layer of desire: the desires of the flesh, the desire for power, the desire for art and the desire to survive no matter what Fantasy readers may know the authors from previous works: Rawn for her six "Dragon Prince" novels, Elliott for her "Jaran" novels and Roberson for her "Chronicles of Cheysuli" and "Sword-Dancer" saga. Luckily, the three authors' style complemented each other, Rawn said. In the end, the collaboration proved a success that each hopes to extend with two prequels and one sequel written separately.

"My prequel will be 300 years in the past and' will look at the ancient empire of the Tza'ab. Jennifer will take up the birth of Tira Virte as a nation and Alice will do a sequel about a young artist who, a hundred years into the future, goes on a quest to be a normal human being unafQicted by the Grijalva curse." Not only was the novel a success, but Rawn says she gained some personal insight from the collaboration. "I learned that I have progressed since kindergarten. I learned that I can share and I learned that I can defer to others when they have a better idea." Still, Rawn says she has no plans to collaborate again. She likes working alone.

Likes researching alone. For example, she spoke about her next novel for which she's already amassed an entire bookcase of research material on the ancient world of the Mediterranean. "It'll be called the Egyp- Starting a new business? Need to build your client base? 0 Reach over 92 of Santa Cruz County THANK GOD for the fax machine. Otherwise, Melanie Rawn, Jennifer Roberson and Kate Elliott (pseudonymn of Alice Ras-mussen) would never have Finished their 770-page collaborative fantasy novel, "The Golden Key." Well, they might have, but it would have taken a lot longer. And it would have been a great deal more difficult to mesh their disparate ideas into a successful literary whole.

As it was, with the three already-published authors living in three separate states (Roberson in Arizona, Rawn in California and Elliott in Pennsylvania), the fax machine proved a godsend for the project. Then again, there were those three days they spent together brainstorming the outline, choosing a plot, constructing characters, deciding on place, time, scene, etc. Could be they prepared so well, the actual writing was easy as pie. "First we wrote the outline which was a new experience for all of us since we're all very instinctual type writers," Rawn spoke recently from the Arizona home she moved to soon after her section of the book was written. "We worked on the plot, on world-building, social mores, dress codes, drew a map, decided on architecture and language all the things you have to do to write fantasy.

We were all liberal arts majors in college, so it worked well: for fantasy you have to know a little bit about everything." It was a synergistic three days at Roberson's house back in January of 1994. Three days of clashing ideas and egos, three over-stimulated days during which three imaginative writers gained perspective into how other imaginative writers work. At the end, they knew who would write what. Interestingly enough, Rawn, responsible for the middle section of the book that takes place from 1262-1286, finished her section first. Roberson was responsible for the beginning section, 943-950, and Elliott wrapped up the story from 1315-1316.

The three authors will be at the Capitola Book Cafe this Monday to talk about their collaboration and read from the novel. "The Golden Key" is a multi-generational novel that features a family of artists who use their art to manipulate those around them. Their secret art is part of the magic of the novel, but there is more to the book than that. There is also a well-drawn cultural con- for as little as $3.20 a day with an ad In the Sentinel's Business Service Directory Sun. insertion plus County Marketplace and Neighbors Call your advertising representative today! (408) 426-8000 Santa Cruz County Sentinel Mb Pa Friday, Sept.

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