| Traci Slatton July 12, 2008 |
About Traci Slatton
Traci Slatton was born into a Navy family. She grew up in Great
Lakes, IL; Norfolk, VA; Olathe, KS; Millington, TN; and Groton, CT.
She knew at the age of 6 years old, after reading her first 'big
book,' that she wanted to be a novelist.
Traci has published dozens of poems, short stories, and articles in
magazines and literary journals. She greatly enjoyed researching
Edgar Cayce, quantum physics, and Rupert Sheldrake's morphic
fields for PIERCING TIME & SPACE. For the historical novel
IMMORTAL (Slatton's debut novel, blending alchemy and the
supernatural in an historical novel that sweeps a mysterious
young orphan from Renaissance Florence across nearly two
hundred tumultuous years), she inquired deeply into the art and
life of the Italian Renaissance, a period when thinkers like Pico
della Mirandola, Leonardo da Vinci, and Marsilio Ficino were
engaged in questioning the nature and relationship of science,
art, and the soul.
For more information about Traci Slatton, please visit her website
at www.tracilslatton.com.
Traci Slatton was born into a Navy family. She grew up in Great
Lakes, IL; Norfolk, VA; Olathe, KS; Millington, TN; and Groton, CT.
She knew at the age of 6 years old, after reading her first 'big
book,' that she wanted to be a novelist.
Traci has published dozens of poems, short stories, and articles in
magazines and literary journals. She greatly enjoyed researching
Edgar Cayce, quantum physics, and Rupert Sheldrake's morphic
fields for PIERCING TIME & SPACE. For the historical novel
IMMORTAL (Slatton's debut novel, blending alchemy and the
supernatural in an historical novel that sweeps a mysterious
young orphan from Renaissance Florence across nearly two
hundred tumultuous years), she inquired deeply into the art and
life of the Italian Renaissance, a period when thinkers like Pico
della Mirandola, Leonardo da Vinci, and Marsilio Ficino were
engaged in questioning the nature and relationship of science,
art, and the soul.
For more information about Traci Slatton, please visit her website
at www.tracilslatton.com.
Post Meeting Write-up
As Todd put it, Traci Slatton was Fantastic! Ms. Slatton was
refreshing, honest, animated, and very entertaining. Very
enjoyable speaker and a genuinely nice person.
Ms. Slatton arrived at Borders, set up her beautiful poster, and
then proceeded to shake hands and introduce herself to each
person present, and then did the same as people arrived. She
even had mini-posters for the audience. Her discussion was just
as open and direct, and a lot of fun - you have to thoroughly
enjoy someone who tells a story about taking a tour in the
Vatican, asking the tour-guide if anything ever gets stolen,
finding out you get searched on the way in - but not on the way
out, then thinking about how fun it would be to "borrow" a few
trinkets! Her deciding what would fit under her jacket was
delightful and had us thinking along the same lines.
Traci talked about her personal procedure for writing - in her
own words: "stinky yoga clothes for inspiration, " a quiet
environment, having "rushes of inspiration then moments of (at
this point Ms. Slatton put her finger to her teeth and stared
blankly - too funny), and dealing with the fact that "every page is
agony." Her personal path to publication was discussed, as was
the difficulty writers face in today's market.
Traci then moved on to her book, Immortal. Characters in the
story were discussed at great length, particularly Luca and
DaVinci. Ms. Slatton talked about her penchant for outright
stealing of ideas and how surprised she was that no one has said
anything! Her animated actions while telling this were great.
We learned about the movie deal with Twinstar Entertainment -
any suggestions for casting can be forwarded to Traci - and her
ideas about how she'd like the movie to turn out and not turn
out. Currently in the running for producer: the producer of
Braveheart & the producer of HBO's Rome series - pretty cool.
Ms. Slatton talked about wanting to write intelligent books but
not literature because "literature is the crap nobody reads."
Hysterical and true. This led to a discussion of quality books and
writing, Dan Brown, real vs. "real" in fiction, and educated readers.
Oh, and did I mention how she wants to be an art thief? You
get to wear a black jumpsuit, have cool gadgets and be in
museums alone at night. Gotta love her dark thinking. She's also
a fan of Nikola Tesla.
Continuing on the honest & open path, Ms. Slatton revealed
her strong dislike of "reality TV" and how it is the "beginning of
the end of Western Civilization. " Much applause followed. She
followed this up by stating how it's very sad that no one wants to
make value or judgment calls any more, and if you dare to,
you're labeled. You might be labeled as intolerant, racist,
insensitive or a host of other unfair things simply because you
called a situation for what it is. Everything is excused away and
the only thing still "taboo" in our society is serial killers (and even
some of those are garnering sympathy, case in point - the serial
killer character Dexter is being made "likable and real"). People
do bad things - lie, cheat, steal, and other assorted bad things -
and have people who make up excuses for the bad behavior.
When do people take accountability for their actions any more?
It's sad and destroying our culture. She finished this little side
step by saying, "the end of Western civilization - you heard it here
first."
The presentation ended with Traci giving us some details on the
upcoming sequel to Immortal and how a recently viewed
movie, Lars and the Real Girl, gave her some inspiration for the
sequel. The audience is looking forward to both the sequel to
Immortal and the movie Immortal! Great fun. (Ann-Marie)
We started the Whispers portion with Master Todd reading a
scene from Drinking Midnight Wine by Simon R. Green. Master
Gene then read a Shakespearian sonnet. I read the opening
passage from our guest speaker Traci Slatton's novel
IMMORTAL, Todd then followed with a scene from a new book
he had, Jhegala by Stephen Brust, then I finished up with a scene
from
HARRY POTTER & THE SORCERER'S STONE (in honor of this
month's theme-Pottermania!!!). We took a little break after that
during which our speaker arrived with her husband and a visual
aid in tow. After waiting a bit for some late arrivals, I started the
meeting proper & introduced Traci, who told us about her
background as a physics student, then a healer, which led her to
write her non-fiction book, Piercing Time & Space, which is
about Morphic fields of intelligence that surround us. She spent
most of the rest of the time talking about her first novel
Immortal, which is about an street orphan named Luca
Bastardo who comes to work with the young Leonardo DaVinci
and finds love at the same time. She also discussed her writing
process as well as her experiences with publishing & getting the
book optioned as a movie. Along the way she made some "rants"
against Reality TV & the Lost art of Storytelling.
She finished up just before 10:00 p.m. and signed some books &
posed for pictures. It was a fun night & I assume the fun
continued at the Stateline Diner in Mahwah. (Steve)
Next month, Face The Fiction welcomes mystery author, Dave
White as he discusses his books When One Man Dies and
The Evil That Men Do.
As Todd put it, Traci Slatton was Fantastic! Ms. Slatton was
refreshing, honest, animated, and very entertaining. Very
enjoyable speaker and a genuinely nice person.
Ms. Slatton arrived at Borders, set up her beautiful poster, and
then proceeded to shake hands and introduce herself to each
person present, and then did the same as people arrived. She
even had mini-posters for the audience. Her discussion was just
as open and direct, and a lot of fun - you have to thoroughly
enjoy someone who tells a story about taking a tour in the
Vatican, asking the tour-guide if anything ever gets stolen,
finding out you get searched on the way in - but not on the way
out, then thinking about how fun it would be to "borrow" a few
trinkets! Her deciding what would fit under her jacket was
delightful and had us thinking along the same lines.
Traci talked about her personal procedure for writing - in her
own words: "stinky yoga clothes for inspiration, " a quiet
environment, having "rushes of inspiration then moments of (at
this point Ms. Slatton put her finger to her teeth and stared
blankly - too funny), and dealing with the fact that "every page is
agony." Her personal path to publication was discussed, as was
the difficulty writers face in today's market.
Traci then moved on to her book, Immortal. Characters in the
story were discussed at great length, particularly Luca and
DaVinci. Ms. Slatton talked about her penchant for outright
stealing of ideas and how surprised she was that no one has said
anything! Her animated actions while telling this were great.
We learned about the movie deal with Twinstar Entertainment -
any suggestions for casting can be forwarded to Traci - and her
ideas about how she'd like the movie to turn out and not turn
out. Currently in the running for producer: the producer of
Braveheart & the producer of HBO's Rome series - pretty cool.
Ms. Slatton talked about wanting to write intelligent books but
not literature because "literature is the crap nobody reads."
Hysterical and true. This led to a discussion of quality books and
writing, Dan Brown, real vs. "real" in fiction, and educated readers.
Oh, and did I mention how she wants to be an art thief? You
get to wear a black jumpsuit, have cool gadgets and be in
museums alone at night. Gotta love her dark thinking. She's also
a fan of Nikola Tesla.
Continuing on the honest & open path, Ms. Slatton revealed
her strong dislike of "reality TV" and how it is the "beginning of
the end of Western Civilization. " Much applause followed. She
followed this up by stating how it's very sad that no one wants to
make value or judgment calls any more, and if you dare to,
you're labeled. You might be labeled as intolerant, racist,
insensitive or a host of other unfair things simply because you
called a situation for what it is. Everything is excused away and
the only thing still "taboo" in our society is serial killers (and even
some of those are garnering sympathy, case in point - the serial
killer character Dexter is being made "likable and real"). People
do bad things - lie, cheat, steal, and other assorted bad things -
and have people who make up excuses for the bad behavior.
When do people take accountability for their actions any more?
It's sad and destroying our culture. She finished this little side
step by saying, "the end of Western civilization - you heard it here
first."
The presentation ended with Traci giving us some details on the
upcoming sequel to Immortal and how a recently viewed
movie, Lars and the Real Girl, gave her some inspiration for the
sequel. The audience is looking forward to both the sequel to
Immortal and the movie Immortal! Great fun. (Ann-Marie)
We started the Whispers portion with Master Todd reading a
scene from Drinking Midnight Wine by Simon R. Green. Master
Gene then read a Shakespearian sonnet. I read the opening
passage from our guest speaker Traci Slatton's novel
IMMORTAL, Todd then followed with a scene from a new book
he had, Jhegala by Stephen Brust, then I finished up with a scene
from
HARRY POTTER & THE SORCERER'S STONE (in honor of this
month's theme-Pottermania!!!). We took a little break after that
during which our speaker arrived with her husband and a visual
aid in tow. After waiting a bit for some late arrivals, I started the
meeting proper & introduced Traci, who told us about her
background as a physics student, then a healer, which led her to
write her non-fiction book, Piercing Time & Space, which is
about Morphic fields of intelligence that surround us. She spent
most of the rest of the time talking about her first novel
Immortal, which is about an street orphan named Luca
Bastardo who comes to work with the young Leonardo DaVinci
and finds love at the same time. She also discussed her writing
process as well as her experiences with publishing & getting the
book optioned as a movie. Along the way she made some "rants"
against Reality TV & the Lost art of Storytelling.
She finished up just before 10:00 p.m. and signed some books &
posed for pictures. It was a fun night & I assume the fun
continued at the Stateline Diner in Mahwah. (Steve)
Next month, Face The Fiction welcomes mystery author, Dave
White as he discusses his books When One Man Dies and
The Evil That Men Do.
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