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Guest Post & Giveaway with Michael Baron, Author of When You Went Away
October 28th, 2009
Hello everyone! I’m very pleased to have Michael Baron, author of When You Went Away guest posting on Peeking Between the Pages today. Because of the events of the past month and a half at my house I’m behind on some of the reading I needed to have done so I’m just starting When You Went Away but I have to say I’m already hooked and my review should be up sometime early November. The best thing is that Michael is a ‘foodie’ like many of us and his guest post is all about Why Food and Fiction Mix so settle in for a great guest post!
I’m a fairly serious foodie. I think about food a great deal. Far more often, to be honest, than a healthy person probably should. For instance, just now, when I should have been focusing on this piece, my mind drifted to what I was making for dinner. For the longest time, this didn’t have much of an impact on my writing career. I wrote nonfiction books, they weren’t cookbooks, and therefore food rarely entered into the equation. However, when I sat down to write my first novel, When You Went Away, the food references exploded on the page. I edited out several of these (it is not, after all, a food novel; I’ll get to one of those eventually), but those I left all have symbolic value. An early cooking scene shows my protagonist Gerry trying to do this normal thing in the face of hardship and even though he is only cooking for himself. A later one allows Gerry’s sister-in-law to care for him in a way that sends echoes of a now-lost home. Still another hints at renewal. Even the very first present-day scene in the novel involves food, though it’s a baby bottle (Gerry is a widow with an infant son).
Obviously, I write about food so often in my fiction because I care about it. But I think I do it for another reason as well. I think I do it because it is essential. Food represents sustenance at one level and sensual pleasure at another — both things that we all need. In any piece of character-driven fiction (the only kind I write; I don’t have the plotting chops to attempt a plot-driven novel), the “things of life” are central. Therefore food serves as a fundamental metaphor for living and being alive. Interestingly, in my next novel, Crossing the Bridge, food plays a much smaller role, but for precisely the same reason. My protagonist there, Hugh, is untethered. A tragedy ten years earlier has left him feeling lost. I make very few references to food in the first act of this novel, and when I do, it is purely as fuel. Then, in the second act, Hugh makes an effort to reach out to the woman who has been haunting him, and he discovers a roadside diner that brings his taste buds alive. When he cooks for this woman, even though he’s a stranger to kitchens, it’s an announcement that he’s moving forward with purpose.
In my next novel, cooking has a central place in the story of one of the main characters. He will make several dishes right on the page. This, of course, has driven me to take the food-as-life metaphor even further. I’m trying to determine the specific symbolic qualities that different ingredients have. What message does a tomato send? What about pork? Does the shoulder have a different emblematic function from the loin? These mysteries still lay in front of me. But I will make it my mission to uncover them. And I’ll get started on it as soon as I decide on a side dish for tonight’s meal.
~~~~~~~
Fantastic guest post Michael! Thank you so much for joining us at Peeking Between the Pages and sharing with us today.
GIVEAWAY DETAILS
I’m pleased to say that I have 2 copies of When You Went Away available for giveaway courtesy of Joy and the publisher-thanks so much! What do you need to do to enter…
- For 1 entry leave me a comment with a way to contact you.
- For 2 entries follow my blog. If you do, many thanks and let me know please so I can make sure you get the extra entry.
- For 3 entries blog or tweet this giveaway to spread the word.
This giveaway will be open to US & Canadian residents only (no PO boxes) and I will be drawing for the winners on Saturday, November 21, 2009. Good luck to all!
The review is very good on this
book, please count me in.
I follow by google reader.
cenya2 at hotmail dot com
I'd be interested in winning this book.
reneesuz82(at)msn(d0t)com
I follow on blogger dashboard.
reneesuz82(at)msn(d0t)com
Hooked already and you're just starting … sounds good to me.
Great guest post with Michael Baron, Crossing the Bridge sounds like it's gonna be a great read too!
I follow and will add this to my Up For Grabs post.
wanda_waiting[@]hotmail[.]com
I would like to enter.
kiris089[at]gmail[dot]com
I'm a follower.
kiris089[at]gmail[dot]com
The book sounds great, and the guest post about food was actually a bit thought-provoking. Thanks for the giveaway.
And I follow through Google Reader.
I love food references in novels – I find it really helps me to figure out what kind of person the character is: adventurous? average? It also, for me, plays a big part in novels set elsewhere to help learn about the culture, flavour of a country.
melacan at hotmail dot com
I'm a follower too.
melacan at hotmail dot com
Awesome post! I just added this book to my amazon wish list yesterday, so I would love for a chance to win it!
I already follow your blog, and will post about your giveaway in my sidebar.
Thanks, Dar!
k9kutter64(at)yahoo(dot)com
I've been mesmerized by this book since I first heard about it. Please include me in the drawing. Thanks! Indigo
ravensquietscreams@gmail.com
I'm also a follower. Thanks! Indigo
ravensquietscreams@gmail.com
He shouldn't have cut out any of the food passages – I love to read about food! Please enter me in your great giveaway. milou2ster(at)gmail.com
I love books where food plays an important part. Loved this guest post and I'm putting this book on my wish list!
jgbeads(at)gmail(dot)com
I am a follower
jgbeads(at)gmail(dot)com
I posted this in my right sidebar at:
http://janelsjumble.blogspot.com
Thank you for the entries.
freda.mans[at]sympatico.ca
I follow your blog via Google connect.
freda.mans[at]sympatico.ca
I blogged: http://fredamans.blogspot.com/2009/10/contests_28.html
freda.mans[at]sympatico.ca
I would love to enter – rae_sunshine4(AT)yahoo.com
I'm also a follower.
Please enter me to win. thanks
kalynnick AT yahoo DOT com
No need to enter me, although I love a man as food obsessed as we are over here.
I'm dropping in on my usual mission: to let you know I've posted this at Win a Book.
This sounds like an interesting book. Please count me in.
+1 I'm a loyal follower.
gaby317nyc at gmail dot com
Thanks for the chance to win!!
areallibrarian[at]gmail[dot]com
i also follow you!!
areallibrarian[at]gmail[dot]com
Would love to win, it sounds like a great story, please count me in!
Thanks.
JHolden955(at)gmail(dot)com
I follow you.
Thanks.
JHolden955(at)gmail(dot)com
I love foodie books, so Michael sounds like a writer I should definitely read! Please enter me in this giveaway, and thanks so much for hosting it!
zibilee(at)figearo(dot)net
I am also a follower of your blog.
Ah this sounds like a good read. Enter me please
behapppppppy(at)hotmail(dot)com
I follow!
behapppppppy(at)hotmail(dot)com
Great guest post, this sounds like a good book!
I wonder what Michael decided as a side dish with his dinner?
http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/
What a fun post! Please count me in!
delilah0180(at)yahoo(dot)com
Follower!
delilah0180(at)yahoo(dot)com
This sounds good. Please enter me!
I follow via google reader.
lag110@mchsi.com
I'd love to have this.
fourkidsrgreat(at)gmail.com
I'm a follower.
fourkidsrgreat(at)gmail.com
I'd also like to win this book!
I just put your blog on my Favorites list!
mtakala1 AT yahoo DOT com
No need to enter me, but I'll post the giveaway on my sidebar. I really enjoyed this novel and read it in one day.
sounds good,need some winter reading,thx for contest..
thehighflyer3(at)hotmail(dot)com
would love to read this one
copperllama at yahoo dot com
+2 already a follower
copperllama at yahoo dot com
Count me in!
thanks
dcf_beth at verizon dot net
I'm at follower – google reader!
thanks
dcf_beth at verizon dot net
Sounds great. Please include me.
dlodden at frontiernet dot net
I follow with Google Reader.
dlodden at frontiernet dot net
Sounds like a great read..
mlawson17 at hotmail dot com
I'm a google follower.
mlawson17 at hotmail dot com
I'm an already friend follower.
mitzihinkey at sbcglobal dot net
Thank you for the giveaway contest!!
Mitzi H.
I read the description, sounds like an interesting book.
Jolynn_Reads at yahoo.com
I follow with google reader.
Jolynn_Reads at yahoo.com
This looks great! Please enter me!
BethsBookReviewBlog AT gmail DOT com
I'm a follower.
BethsBookReviewBlog AT gmail DOT com
I think about food way too often as well. Count me in this drawing, please.
booklogged at gmail dot com
I'm a follower.
booklogged at gmail dot com
This sounds like a really good read! I would love to be entered to win! Thanks for the great giveaway!
imsosweepy { at } gmail { dot } com
I follow your blog!
imsosweepy { at } gmail { dot } com
I'd love to win this
readingatthebeach at gmail dot com
I already follow
readingatthebeach at gmail dot com
TWEET
readingatthebeach at gmail dot com
I am a follower
pk4290@comcast.net
Sounds good!
rhoneygtn at yahoo dot com
Great interview…please put me in for a chance to win. Thanks
anjamie4 AT gmail (dot) com
+1 I would love this book! you can contact me at kimmery4(at)yahoo(dot)com.
*smiles*
+2 I am a follower our your blog!
*Smiles*
Sounds like an interesting book to read.
Please eneter me.
RJB
loki304[at]tds[dot]net
This sounds like a very good book, emotionally intense but satisfying…in a few different ways! Please include me in your contest.
Amy
Aimala127[at]gmail[dot]com
I follow your blog!
Aimala127[at]gmail[dot]com
OOO please include me
allygotts567 at hotmail dot com
Also a follower
allygotts567 at hotmail dot com
Sounds like a good one. I can definitely understand food as being both sustenance and sensual.
thebookfaeryreviews AT gmail DOT com
I am a google follower.
Sounds like a great read… Please accept this as my entry. Thank you!
Aliya D.
aliyadaya(at)shaw(dot)ca
Please count me in.
I follow.
simplystacieblog at gmail dot com
Please enter me.
shaneen at easilink dot com
I would absolutely love to read this book. Thanks for the possibility.
bgcchs(at)yahoo(dot)com
I would love to read this.
I am a follower.
marielay@gmail.com
book sounds great-I'd love to read this
tiramisu392 (at) yahoo.com
Count me in for this one. Thanks for the giveaway.
Dutchlvr1(at)aol(dot)com
I'm a follower
Dutchlvr1(at)aol(dot)com
I would love to win a copy of this book. I am a follower of your blog
cherylbaryl@hotmail.com
Please enter me. Thanks for the giveaway.
lizzi0915 at aol dot com
I like to read books with food in them. I am a great reader and good eater, too.
JWIsley(at)aol(dot)com
This book sounds very interesting and I truly would love to read it. Please enter me in the giveaway.
bstilwell12 at comcast dot net
Enter me in the drawing and I'm a follower.
Would love a chance to read this one!
ksg_amg(at)yahoo,com
I'm a follower
Please enter me…it sounds very good.
pippirose59 at gmail dot com
I am a follower.
)
pippirose59 at gmail dot com
I'm hooked. polo-puppy-fluffyAThotmail *dot* com I need to know how Baron integrates food into his novels. Would love to read this.
Hi. I'm a follower. polo-puppy-fluffyAThotmail *dot* com Would love this book. Cheers
This looks like a great book! Thanks for the Giveaway.
nancyecdavis AT bellsouth DOT net
Already a loyal Follower
nancyecdavis AT bellsouth DOT net
Entry #1
Already a loyal Follower
nancyecdavis AT bellsouth DOT net
Entry #2
Tweet! Tweet!
http://twitter.com/NancyeDavis/status/5757138239
nancyecdavis AT bellsouth DOT net
Entry #1
Tweet! Tweet!
http://twitter.com/NancyeDavis/status/5757138239
nancyecdavis AT bellsouth DOT net
Entry #2
Tweet! Tweet!
http://twitter.com/NancyeDavis/status/5757138239
nancyecdavis AT bellsouth DOT net
Entry #3
Thanks for this wonderful giveaway. It sounds great. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com
A food novel…my kind of reading.
RJB
loki304[at]tds[dot]net
I would like to be entered.
I also added the giveaway to my blog.
kristinemarie7 at gmail.com
Thanks!
This sounds great!! Thanks for the chance!!
christinbanda at yahoo dot com
I would love to read this.
rsgrandinetti@yahoo(dot)com
If food is involved-count me in.
thanks
chocolate and croissants at yahoo dot com
I follow by google reader
chocolate and croissants at yahoo dot com
cococroissants
peekingbetweenthepages.blogspot.com/2009/10/guest-post-giveaway-with-michael-baron.html When you went away giveaway
chocolate and croissants at yahoo dot com
Please enter me!
allygotts567 at hotmail dot com
I'm a follower!
allygotts567 at hotmail dot com
Unfortunately, I'm too late for the giveaway, but I've been excited about this book ever since Susan Elizabeth Phillips mentioned it on her Facebook page. It sounds like a winner. Hard to believe this is your first, Michael. I really like the thoughts on your post and will look for the vignettes you mentioned. Yes, food is essential to our livess. Thanks. jld