The OF Blog: Namechecked!

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Namechecked!

I was reading Brian Francis Slattery's new book, Liberation, earlier today (finished it in one sitting; excellent, shall review in the next few weeks) when I read this passage on p. 17:

We posted bail, climbed into a 1976 Gremlin with the top sawed off, bought some fake IDs, and turned onto the first curve of a two-week bender through the motels, roadside bars, and convenience stores between Dickson, Tennessee and Monroeville, Alabama.
That is the first time, either in mimetic or speculative fiction, that I've read a wide-release fiction novel that referenced my hometown. Although today I live in little more than an outer suburb/exurb of Nashville, I still find it quite cool whenever my quaint little hometown is mentioned anywhere. It's an added bonus when it's part of a very good (and relevant to today's economic climate) novel. I'd love to know how Slattery came to choose my hometown (among the many other towns he mentions in this novel) to use as a reference.

4 comments:

Elena said...

it's always awesome when your home town comes up. lucinda williams mentions mine in one of her songs...it's like the only way anyone has ever heard of it, outside frontier history buffs who know it as having historic significance.

totally can't help you with why he chose to mention yours though :)

Larry Nolen said...

Yeah, that last bit was more of a plea to authorial ego surfing to lead to the author explaining it :P

But yes, always cool to see one's hometown mentioned anywhere, especially in a positive sense!

J m mcdermott said...

Oddly enough, *my* hometown was name-checked as well, though Fort Worth isn't such an odd thing to see.

Larry Nolen said...

True. I wonder how New Yorkers feel like seeing their city not mentioned in a novel?

 
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