| 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. |
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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