The Secret Thread is proud to announce that our very own writer-in-residence Mutt Ploughman will have an essay of his featured in the upcoming issue of the St. Austin Review, a Catholic literary magazine published in both the U.S. and Great Britain! The essay is a tribute of sorts to one of our favorite writers on this site, the California-based novelist (and more recently) Deacon, Ron Hansen.
The timing could not be better on his choice of subjects, since the film version of Hansen's novel The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (starring Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck -- if you haven't seen this trailer yet, go find it on Apple Trailers or wherever, it is worth seeing!) is about to hit theaters, and his newest novel Exiles about the life of Gerard Manley Hopkins is going to be released some time in early 2008.
Interestingly enough, Mutt blogged about finishing this piece on these pages back in May, and here is what he wrote then:
"So I plugged that time with two smaller pieces that I did not expect to write. The first was a tribute to one of my literary heroes, the novelist Ron Hansen. Simply titled, “Ron Hansen: An Appreciation”, I thought the piece turned out well and I tried to sell it to three magazines. But each rejected it. I’m running out of places to send it, but I am glad I tried."
Well, sometimes persistence pays off... and no one knows this better than Mutt, who has been persisting with his writing for many years now. And it is indeed starting to pay off. Mutt has now published essays and book reviews on such diverse writers as Hansen, Stephen Wright, Flannery O'Connor and Philip K. Dick. All of his pieces are exceptionally written and I am very proud that he has sold a few and is continuing to branch out to different periodicals and subject matter.
Congratulations are in order for Mutt on placing this essay in a magazine that has featured the writing of Joseph Pearce, Thomas Howard, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Fr. James Schall and even His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI!
When and if Mutt's essay becomes available online, we will be sure to feature a link to it here... way to go bro!!
1 comment:
My sincere thanks to Duke for this post!!
I completely forgot that I wrote that, so I am glad I said I was 'glad I tried', rather than something cynical, or I'd sure look like an idiot now!
I really wanted this essay to appear in print, only because it gives me a chance to devote a small readership's attention to Hansen's work, and my inclination in this comment is to point to that work again and say to anyone who hasn't checked out Ron Hansen's work that it is well worth your time.
Duke has been a constant and absolutely irreplaceable source of support for my writing efforts and I definitely appreciate his compliments here. Little by little I plan to persist with finding a home in print for my writing.
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