All you want to know about "Revenge of the Star Survivors"

If you're looking for information about my freshly published book, Revenge of the Star Survivors, look no further than merschel.net. You'll find a short bio, a listing of events and even another blog.

If you'd like to interact with me, you can try the Revenge of the Star Survivors Facebook page.

If you've had enough of me, you can also skip straight to my publisher's page.

And if you're wondering whether the book is worth your time, I'll refer you to Publisher's Weekly or the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books.

Mike? Are you still there, Mike?

Yes, although you wouldn't know it from this Archive. So here's a brief update for all my fans. (I know you're out there, I can see you clicking here by accident.)

Anyhow, I'm still at The Dallas Morning News. Still editing book reviews. I write them now and then -- here's one I did of a biography called Sonic Wind, by Craig Ryan, and here's a lovely title called The Secret Life of the American Musical: How Broadway Shows Are Built, by Jack Viertel. I also had time to interview Loving Day author Mat Johnson. And I just had the honor of moderating a panel at the Dallas Book Festival with the excellent Sarah Hepola and Merritt Tierce. You can see all the coverage my colleagues and I pulled together at this site.

  (Atmospheric photo via the Twitter account of my colleague Christopher Wynn.)

I guess that somewhere in there, I also managed to weigh in on that "new" Harper Lee book and even got my out-of-office reply reviewed in The New York Times. Really.

All of which is a prelude to explaining the main reason why I haven't been updating this archive much in the past year: It's because I've been busy writing something else. OK, technically, I have been rewriting. And then rewriting some more. And the result is ...

My first novel, Revenge of the Star Survivors, which was sold last fall to Holiday House books. As of this moment, it is not listed in their catalog, but they have signed papers and let a very good editor spend a whole lot of time thinking about how my manuscript could be better, so I'm hopeful it will actually happen, perhaps by next spring.

When that happens, I'm pretty sure I will not be so quiet about updating you. And everyone else.

Emily St. John Mandel, James Bond, computers and Mr. Spock

Last fall, I talked with Emily St. John Mandel at the Texas Book Festival. Later, I reviewed Walter Isaacson's The Innovators and recently wrote about Goldeneye - Where Bond Was Born: Ian Fleming’s Jamaica, by Matthew Parker.

That was shortly after I said farewell to Leonard Nimoy.

As a reminder, if you're really keen to see how I spend my days (hint: it's not all writing about things I was obsessed with as a teenager), please examine the books pages of The Dallas Morning News or the Healthy Living coverage in the same.

Chatting with Lev Grossman, and becoming a HONY

Earlier this year, I covered BookExpo America, which was the usual blur of activity -- quick chats with authors such as Eula Biss, Jesse Burton and Tom Robbins, plus a particularly enjoyable interview with Lev Grossman, which I turned into this story. As a bonus feature, I shared his advice on how to murder your darlings while self-editing, particularly if it involves Fraggle Rock.

Of course, all anybody wants to talk about was that encounter with the Humans of New York guy. Which I blogged about here. (It's a good tale. Not so good that it should eclipse every other piece of writing I have done in my life. But 150,000 or so Facebook users can't be wrong, can they?)

Let me introduce you to Khaled Hosseini, Timothy Egan and Rick Atkinson – and an amazing young artist

It was a busy season for author events in Dallas. I was a part of three of them: I interviewed Khaled Hosseini as part of the Tate Lecture Series (the SMU student paper did  a nice writeup here.) I also introduced Timothy Egan at the Dallas Museum of Art (and mused about it in this blog post.) And last week, I introduced Rick Atkinson in the same venue. (I interviewed Atkinson about The Guns at Last Light here.)

Away from the books page, I was the conduit for the remarkable work of local artist Sara Stahl, a high school senior who told the story of her adoption through a series of remarkable images. I had worked with her mother, Lori, and conducted a series of interviews and coordinated the efforts of a bunch of really talented designers (Lisa Veigel in print, Paul O'Donnell and John Hancock online) to bring the tale to readers. You can see the finished product here.

Elizabeth L. Silver, Bill Bryson, Terry Teachout and Jennifer duBois

In recent months, I got to chat with a couple of exceptional young writers, meet some masters of history and biography, and get paid to think long and hard about Muppets.

I am reminded that my job could be a lot worse.

Anyhow, here's my interview with Elizabeth L. Silver, author of "The Execution of Noa P. Singleton."

And this is my interview with Jennifer duBois, author of "Cartwheel" and "A Partial History of Lost Causes."

I spoke with Bill Bryson about "One Summer: America, 1927."

Terry Teachout and I discussed his newest, "Duke." 

And here's a review of "Jim Henson: The Biography," by Brian Jay Jones. 

Philipp Meyer, Khaled Hosseini and everyone else in publishing

In recent weeks, I've pushed the ever-encroaching piles of papers to the edge of my desk for just enough time to chat by phone with Philipp Meyer and Khaled Hosseini. 

I also ran away from my desk long enough to cover Book ExpoAmerica. (Chris Vognar teamed up with me on the story. Also led me to a good Indian restaurant, for which I am grateful.) 

Michael Merschel on "Gun Guys," by Dan Baum

Last month, I reviewed Dan Baum's Gun Guys for The Dallas Morning News.

If you can't get access to that, you should be able to read the blog post about my own personal encounter with a gun guy.


UPDATE Feb. 18, 2019: The blog post linked above is dead. But you can find the text about that encounter below.

 

So while I was reading Dan Baum's Gun Guys in preparation for this review, I had an encounter with an apparent gun enthusiast that seemed to embody everything that anti-gun people hate about gun enthusiasts.

It was at a local sporting goods store. I was roaming the fishing aisle, looking for lead weights for an ultimately unsuccessful Pinewood Derby project (and probably daydreaming about how much I'd rather be drowning some flies in a Montana lake or something) when I drifted over to the hunting aisle. Now, I don't hunt, but I'm not opposed to venison, either. So I probably would have drifted right back if I hadn't overheard the clerk behind the counter explaining a product to a customer. The product looked something like this:

[image of large, black shotgun] 

Now, that's a weapon that will get your attention. But -- we are in Texas. And I was in a sporting goods store. So, thus far -- not much of a story.

Then I heard what the clerk was saying: He was explaining how this particular shotgun was excellent for home defense -- because you could blast right through a wall if somebody were hiding on the other side.

And then, he pointed the weapon at a doorway at the end of the gun counter. I think he was aiming above the door -- I was at an awkward angle, and caught the motion out of the corner of my eye, and I don't want to accuse someone of being reckless when I did not have a chance to ask him about it later. (OK, to be honest -- I could have gone back but did not want to confront a guy who was holding a wicked black shotgun.) So call this a casual observation. Although I distinctly heard the boast about being able to shoot someone through a wall.

And what went through my mind was:

a) Exactly how many of the Cardinal Rules of Gun Safety were being violated, at least in spirit, at the moment, because

b) Moments before, I had been on the opposite side of that door, potentially in the line of fire.

The Cardinal Rules of Gun Safety come up a lot in Gun Guys. They are: 1) Treat all firearms as though they are loaded. 2) Never allow your muzzle to cross anything you are not willing to destroy and pay for. 3) Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target and you are ready to fire. 4) Be sure of your target and what is around and behind it. 5) Maintain control of your firearm.

Baum drives home that if gun-rights advocates preached about gun safety with the same enthusiasm that some use to talk about the sanctity of the Second Amendment, it would go a long way toward providing solutions about gun violence.

I happen to agree. I'm no gun collector, but I've never been afraid of owners, either -- because the owners I know are people who know the Cardinal Rules.

And this probably helps explain why I liked Baum's book. Baum is able to show respect and admiration for firearms and their owners while also being willing to point out irrational behavior on all sides.

I like that he isn't shy about how much fun guns can be. For years, I proudly displayed a framed target that showed a rather impressive grouping (I thought) from my trip to a firing range. And many years ago, I had a good time reporting a story from a Soldier of Fortune convention in Las Vegas. Shooting at stuff in the desert is a LOT of fun.

But as Baum's wife points out -- "You can project idiocy a long ways with a gun."

Put another way -- I don't mind living in a world where people collect machine guns, attend country clubs where they run and shoot at stuff, or even walk the mean streets of Boulder, Colo. armed and ready to shoot, to cite some examples from the book. I'm pretty sure I am more likely to be taken out by a reckless Mini driver on the way home, or maybe by a stray banana peel in my kitchen, as I am to be injured by anyone engaged in such activity.

But I'm not sure I feel safer knowing that somewhere out there is a gun owner looking for an excuse to test the idea that his shotgun could take out someone on the other side of his door. That strange rustling might be a burglar, sure. But it might be a book critic, just looking for some fishing weights, glad he made it home safely to deliver them to his son.

More Ian Frazier, Marc Brown, and other bits of literature

Hello, people interested in Michael Merschel. He is still around, busy doing stuff besides updating his archive.

He is usually kept occupied editing the books pages and Healthy Living at The Dallas Morning News. 

Now and then he leaves his desk to do something besides brew coffee or shelve books. For example, here's his report from Marc Brown's visit to Dallas in April 2012.

From the 2012 Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference, you can read his posts about Roy Peter Clark, Isabel Wilkerson and a roundup that  cleverly got "sex" in a web headline about narrative nonfiction.

From October, here's his Storify compilation of tweets from the Texas Book Festival in Austin. Among the events that got extended blog coverage: Simon Sebag Montefiore, Jami Attenberg/Elizabeth Crane/Maria Semple,  Tim O'Brien,  Ben Fountain/David Abrams and the Literary Death Match.

Ian Frazier was there. Here's Mike's review of the excellent Cursing Mommy's Book of Days.

We're not sure why Mike is not writing in the first person today, but we will ask him next time we see him.

Judy Blume and more

Not much has been added to the archive these past months because my employer has this crazy idea that people should have to pay for journalists' work. Let me just say -- I am for that concept 100 percent.
But there are a few things I can show you for free, still.


I've been blogging over at The Dallas Morning News Arts Blog. Most beloved post: An evening with Judy Blume.  Most popular, or at least attention-getting, because it was decidedly not popular with some sports fans: A post about the SMU Press.  (Here's the follow-up.)


I also recently blogged about some appearances by Norton Juster, author of The Phantom Tollbooth, the greatest children's book ever written, according to me. That post links back to my 2011 interview with him, which is available for free.


Of course, if reading a blog post takes too much time, you might try my Twitter feed. Or even this Storify compilation of my coverage of the 2011 Texas Book Festival, with links to appearances by or short interviews with Lev Grossman, James W. Pennebaker and Colson Whitehead. 

Sometimes I write longer than that, of course. If you're a Dallas Morning News subscriber or have not used up your secret allotment of free clicks, you can also read my interviews with Ernie Cline and Bruce Machart (whose book I reviewed here.)

And finally, here's my review of Charles J.Shields' Kurt Vonnegut: A Life. 

Happy Thanksgiving, belatedly

The back story on this column, which appeared on Thanksgiving Day, 2010, is that one day in a meeting, it was realized that we had no stories to post for Thanksgiving Day.

I had a day off that week, and decided to see what I could cook up.

Here's what came out. I received several nice notes from strangers who enjoyed the laugh.

Texas Pages blog posts

A change in strategies at The Dallas Morning News means that the Texas Pages blog soon will be folded into a new product.

So I'm preserving some of my favorite posts from the past several years here. (Most of this content never appeared in print.)

They would include some coverage from the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference, the Texas Book Festival and Book Expo America; a couple of online-only reviews; and, of course, the interview with William Shatner.

Interview with Ian Frazier

Earlier this year, I spoke with Ian Frazier about his new book, Travels in Siberia. Here is the story that ran in The Dallas Morning News, shortly before his appearance at the Texas Book Festival.

Which I covered on the Texas Pages blog, and in a story co-written with Chris Vognar. Oh, and in a series of tweets as well.

Stuff I didn't write

Over the past year, I've been lucky enough to work with some of the best writers in Dallas on a series of  essays for The Dallas Morning News.  Tom Huang has been overall series editor. Some of those pieces we've collaborated on have included:

• Ben Fountain on What Haiti Means to Dallas' Soul and on Dallas poet Robert Trammell. 
• Willard Spiegelman on  Thanksgiving and the Booker T. Washington Magnet School for the Arts.
• Alex Lemon on creativity and fatherhood. (Alex has become a regular contributor to the books pages as well. Here's his latest review, of Antonya Nelson's "Bound.")

Meanwhile, News editor Bob Mong has graciously mentioned me in his weekly column to readers for my work with the books pages and for my work as health editor. Thanks, Bob.

Interview with David Wroblewski

I spoke with author David Wroblewski for this story, which ran in January 2010. You can click on the jump or see it on the website of  The Dallas Morning News.

Food writer? Ummm...

Some friends recently recalled this 2005 story, which involved my eating gourmet food and drinking wine with Fess Parker. Looking back, I can think of about half a dozen ways to make this a better story. But I post it here for their enjoyment. And in case anybody else needs a story that involves me eating steak and drinking wine with kindly TV stars.

Recent reviews and coverage

In print, I recently reviewed Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans, by A.J. Baime.

On the Texas Pages blog, I offered mini-reviews of Art in America, by Ron McLarty, and The Gerbil Farmer's Daughter, by Holly Robinson.

And I attended the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference in Grapevine, which I covered via Twitter. (Sadly, Twitter is no longer displaying the Tweet from the audience member who mistook me for being a member of Ira Glass' "posse.")

NEA Arts Journalism fellowship

I recently completed a fellowship with the NEA Arts Institute in Theater and Musical Theater at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Journalism. While there, my fellow fellows and I studied with the likes of Dominic Papatola, Robert Christgau and Douglas McLennan. We also had sessions with the likes of Kay Cole, Jack Viertel, Ken Brecher and many more, including John Fleck, who put on a particularly memorable performance.

You can read about my fine group of fellows here.

If you are considering applying to the program, by all means do so. It may change your outlook on the future of journalism. Full details are posted here. Tell Sasha that Mike sent you.

Narrative work

From early 2002 until late 2006, I edited the Sunday features section of The Dallas Morning News. I was fortunate to be surrounded by phenomenal talent -- our staff included a Pulitzer finalist, a Poynter lecturer, a Nieman fellow and many people of equal caliber. The department won a Missouri Lifestyles Award and was ranked among America's top features sections by the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors.

We all were students of the narrative form, and one of the best pieces I worked on was a four-part series called "Call of the River," about life along the Rio Grande, written by Beatriz Terrazas and photographed by Erich Schlegel.

I also worked with Bryan Woolley on "A Writer Begins," his serial memoir of his early days in journalism in 1950s El Paso.

I worked with talented young writers as well, such as Katharine Goodloe, who spun a narrative about the opening of a Nobu restaurant in Dallas (with contributions from veteran writer Michael Granberry.)

For a period, each week I was editing full-length Sunday features of this nature along with a feature-length profile. (I can't find any of them online still, but will update with links if possible.)

And thanks to a team of great designers and photographers, I also learned a lot about visual journalism. I can't take credit for the award-winning design work and photography that they created. But I'm pleased to have had a role as their enabler.

Getting personal

Over the years, now and then, I've contributed a handful of first-person columns for the features pages. Each one seemed like a good idea at the time. Among the hard-hitting topics I have tackled:

How to travel like a Dad.

Halloween horrors in Dallas.

A newcomers' guide to the Dallas-Fort Worth area (written before the widespread use of GPS, but possibly still valid.)

Probably the one that got the most reaction ran on New Year's Eve 2002. Apparently, a lot of married couples feel this way. I'm reprinting it below.