KAXE, Grand Rapids, MN
Wednesday afternoon. My left arm and shoulder are killing me and I can barely keep my eyes open and on the road. I’m driving northwest on US Highway No. 2 to attend a pot luck and discussion of my latest novel, Laman’s River at one of northern Minnesota’s beloved cultural icons. Duluth has KUMD. Ely has WELY. And the great north woods, from Crow Wing County to the boondocks north of Bemidji has KAXE, or, as the station likes to label itself, “Northern Community Radio”. I’m on my way to eat with and talk to the KAXE Bookclub which selected my latest murder mystery as their October read. Though I am dog tired and weary, I didn’t think of letting the fine folks in Itasca County down. They’ve been alongside me for nearly every step of my journey as a writer and I wouldn’t want to disappoint such loyal fans.
In 2001, shortly after the release of my first novel, The Legacy, I got wind of a radio show run by a perky little blond gal, Heidi Holtan, in the Grand Rapids area. I’m not sure how we connected but Heidi had me on Realgoodwords with that first book and has had me back on her show with every book thereafter. She was even nice enough to drive down to Duluth with a friend and MC the book launch of Laman’s River this past spring for the price of a good dinner at the Zeitgeist Cafe’. And, sometime after connecting, Heidi also introduced me to serial reader and all around good guy, Randy McCarty. Randy then convinced his pals to select Suomalaiset as a read for their book club. Anyway, Randy is also the culprit who convinced the KAXE Book Club to read my latest and it was Randy who enticed me to take the long drive from Duluth to ‘Rapids to share a meal and talk writing at KAXE.
Bleary eyed and dragging after a day of conciliation court, I pull into a convenience store in Floodwood for a restroom break and a cup of coffee. With my arm in a sling post-shoulder surgery, getting in and out of a seat belt and my Pacifica is a challenge, but nothing near what many disabled folks face every day. My impairment is a temporary inconvenience, nothing more. Back in the van, coffee steams from a Styrofoam cup as I roar out of the station back onto No. 2. I tune the FM dial to KAXE (91.7) and listen to news as I make my way west.
Once in town, I pull into Village Books, the local independent bookstore in Grand Rapids, to see whether or not the store has Laman’s River in stock . It does. I spy a copy of the latest novel from Hibbing writer Pat McGauley, A Passage of Redemption, and, after confirming that it’s a signed copy, I purchase it. Supporting brother and sister authors and poets (along with independent bookstores) is a mission of mine. Hopefully, my fellow authors return the favor! I confirm with the clerk that I’ll be back at Village Books for a book signing on November 30th and then, I head to the radio station.
Fortuitously, Randy pulls up just as I park the Pacifica in front of KAXE. After hauling in a steaming pot of goose stew, he helps me lug books to the conference room where we will gather. I set up a small display of my work, complete with credit card imprinter and signage, and mingle with book club members as they arrive singularly or in couples. Soon, the smell of hot food and the garbled conversation of book lovers fills the small room. Heidi is there, seemingly no worse the wear from her stint as a blocker on the local roller derby team. We sit down to a smorgasbord of great food and lively conversation. Not everyone in attendance loves Laman’s River but the discussion is engaging and enlightening for me, the author, as I listen to thoughtful questions and comments and try to respond without stepping over my tongue. I sip a glass of wine, sell and sign a few books, read from my novel-in-progress, Sukulaiset: The Kindred, and then, far too soon, it is time to pack it all in and hit the road.
Not too far out of town, with the sky blackened and moonless, a shooting star; not one of those fleeting, little dashes of light one usually catches out of the corner of an eye, but a brilliant, white ball of fire with a matching tail, plummeted to Earth just ahead of the Prairie River. Don’t know what it means, as a metaphor against the evening with my friends at KAXE, but it sure was cool!
If you want to catch me at an event in the near future, check out the calendar on the upper right hand side of this blog. Click on any date in red to see where I’ll be that particular day.
Thanks, Randy, Heidi, and all of the KAXE Book Club for making my short visit memorable and worthwhile. See you on November 30th from 5-8 at the Village Bookstore!
Peace.
Mark
