Category Archives: Tacoma Books

Five Question Friday With Creative Colloquy’s Jackie Fender (Casella)

Posted on February 10, 2023 | Leave a comment

Hello and welcome again to Five Question Friday. Each Friday we find someone doing something interesting in Tacoma and ask them five questions.

Today’s guest was technically my boss for the past couple of years. I worked as one of her editors at Creative Colloquy. When I decided to bring back Five Question Friday, Jackie was the first person I contacted. She’s not just a founder of Creative Colloquy, but also a good friend and an all around awesome person. And Creative Colloquy is one of my favorite things about Tacoma.

Creative Colloquy is a local literary group that has monthly readings every third Monday of the month. They also maintain a website and regularly publish paperback anthologies, the latest of which, volume 9, is coming out later this year.

Here’s Jackie:

1. How did Creative Colloquy deal with the pandemic?

We were initially hesitant but really leaned into virtual gatherings. The world shut down on the day that would have been our 6 year anniversary celebration. We chose to continue connecting via zoom because it felt as though, especially in the beginning days that people were hungry for connection. During the days of quarantine a break in seclusion was welcome. After a time we introduced workshops to our programming to amplify our offerings and curate opportunities to hone our craft and connect with like minded creatives in a time that many of us weren’t working and may have been afforded the luxury of time to spend with the written word since the world had shut down.We witnessed some valuable connections take place – even if the zoom applause was silent. 

2. What’s the best part about doing in-person readings again?

The collective stillness in the air, a shared chuckle, an in person round of applause, those things are unmatched and cannot be replicated with virtual events. 

3. Besides the website and monthly readings, what else is Creative Colloquy up to?

We’re in the midst of editing and accepting accompanying visual art pieces for our 9th print anthology due to launch this year. We’re also hosting regular writers workshops throughout the year for writers of all genres and experience levels AND hosting a semi regular writer’s social hours called Pens n’ Pies. The idea is to connect as writers and tour local pizza joints. We talk all things writing, life, publishing and more. In October we plan to gather for the Creative Colloquy Crawl, in person, proper crawl like for the first time in 2019. Like past years you can expect community collaborator curated readings, poetry, short stories, music, live art – a true choose your own adventure literary journey. And of course this summer we will be making our rounds with the CC Book Bike Pop Ups at local parks to distribute free books to the masses. This February we’ll be distributing another round of found art with our CC Message in a Bottle series. This time we were inspired by Tacoma Monkeyshines and used the Year of the Water Rabbit as a call for submissions prompt with stories centering around themes of peace, hope and longevity. 

4.  How can people help support Creative Colloquy?

CC is fiscally sponsored by Shunpike and functions as a non profit so tax deductible donations can be made from our website. We also have a Patreon page with fun membership perks. All funds help us keep events accessible, almost always free to the public, plus general admin fees, website hosting, publishing costs, etc. AND of course spreading the word! We are always accepting poetry, short stories, essays and novel excerpts for online publication which results in an invite to appear as a feature reader. Showing up to support our fellow writerly friends and neighbors is the very best support. Writing is a solitary action, making space for community and connection nourishes us in so many ways. 

5. What’s next for Creative Colloquy?

We have some fun things in the works – aside from what we have on the calendar we are really looking forward to expanding our programming to showcase local writer’s more and more. From now to 2024 things we’re building towards include more gatherings centering around a dialogue, a podcast and a summer lit fest we’ve been day dreaming about for ages. We’re always exploring ways to support local storytellers so who knows how things will evolve. 

Thank you to Jackie Fender (Casella) for participating in Five Question Friday. You can find Jackie on Twitter @jacksfender and Creative Colloquy is at https://creativecolloquy.com.

If you think you or someone you know might make a good participant for Five Question Friday let me know at jackcameronis@gmail.com.
– Jack Cameron

TacomaStories is always free. If you’d like to support our work, you can donate at this link. Thank you.

Leave a comment

Posted in 5 Question Fridays, Tacoma Books, Tacoma stuff, Writing

Tagged , , ,

5 Question Friday With Richard Wiley

Posted on February 15, 2019 | 2 comments

51+c8PCUlrL._SX332_BO1,204,203,200_

When I originally registered the domain name TacomaStories.com years ago I was glad it was not already taken. It’s simple and easy to remember. Despite this I was still surprised when I learned a few months ago that Richard Wiley’s new book was called Tacoma Stories. My first thought was that I did not want people coming to this site and learning nothing about the book even if I had nothing to do with the book. My next thought was that I did not want people thinking the book was connected to the website since it isn’t.

I decided the best way to deal with this potential confusion was to contact Richard Wiley and see if he would be interested in participating in a 5 Question Friday. This way if you end up here because of the book, you get a quick interview with the author. And if you’re a regular reader of this site, you get introduced to a new author with a book you should really check out.

Thankfully, Richard agreed to do it. Here’s Richard:

1. Can you give us a bit of background on your writing for those who are unaware?

I started writing more than 40 years ago.  My first novel, Soldiers in Hiding, was set in Japan during World War II.  It was lucky enough to win the PEN/Faulkner Award for best American fiction in 1987.  After that there were seven more novels, almost all set abroad, in Korea, in Japan again, in Nigeria, Kenya, and in 1899 Alaska.  A novel of mine entitled, Bob Stevenson, was set in New York City and came out in 2016.

2. What is your history with Tacoma?

I grew up in Tacoma, at Brown’s Point.  I went to school there, and then, after my family moved to North Jackson Street, went to Wilson High School.  I graduated from UPS, in 1967, then left Tacoma for a decade, came back to work at Tacoma Public Schools – both of my children were born in Tacoma – then left again for a few years in Africa and a twenty-six year stint as an English professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.  My wife and I moved back to Tacoma in mid-2015.

3. Can you tell us about your latest book, Tacoma Stories?

The stories are linked, but can also stand alone.  All of the characters meet up at Pat’s Tavern on North 21st Street (now Magoo’s Annex) on St. Patrick’s Day, 1968, in the first story.  Over the course of the next thirteen stories, not in chronological order, we follow one or another of those who were in Pat’s that night, into their pasts and also into their futures.

4. You’re going a bit of a book tour at the moment, where can people catch you?

I will be reading at Elliott Bay Book Company, in Seattle, on Friday, February 15, at 7 p.m.  After that, I’ll be at the Tacoma Public Library’s Brown’s Point branch at 2:30 on March 2; at King’s Books, in Tacoma, at 7 p.m. on March 7, and signing books at The Pacific Northwest Shop on Proctor Street, on March 9 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

And if anyone is in Las Vegas on April 11, I’ll be reading at the Writer’s Block Bookstore at 7 p.m.

5. What is your next project?

I am just now completing a third “Japan” novel, entitled “Cornelius, on Love.”  It is set in Kyoto in 1972.

I’d like to thank Richard Wiley for joining me for 5 Question Friday and for writing a book set in Tacoma. I know I am biased, but I am of the opinion that this city is ripe for storytelling. If you think you or someone you know might be a good guest for 5 Question Friday, let me know at jackcameronis@gmail.com

  • Jack Cameron

2 Comments

Posted in 5 Question Fridays, Tacoma Books, Uncategorized

Tagged , ,

Tacoma Pill Junkies, A Review

Posted on February 25, 2014 | Leave a comment

FrontCoverLast night I watched an old episode of the Chris Carter show, Millennium. The episode started with a church in Tacoma and a priest being burned at the stake. Of course it wasn’t really filmed in Tacoma. And the only reason I could see that they set it in Tacoma was due to its proximity to the main character who lives in Seattle (though the whole show was filmed in Vancouver). My point here is that the episode could have started just about anywhere and nothing would be different. This isn’t true with Joshua Swainston’s debut novel, Tacoma Pill Junkies. Tacoma Pill Junkies has Tacoma in its veins.

I first became aware of Tacoma Pill Junkies when I saw a poster downtown for it months ago. I’m someone who enjoys reading and writing crime novels and this site can attest to the fact that I love Tacoma. So a crime novel set in Tacoma is really something I have no choice but to purchase.

If you’ve spent enough time in Tacoma, you’ve met people like the characters in Tacoma Pill Junkies. There’s the hard working single mother. There’s the working man who gets high from time to time. There are the scheming junkies. And the loser with delusions of grandeur. If nothing else, Tacoma Pill Junkies is populated with authentic characters.

It’s difficult to pin down the plot of Tacoma Pill Junkies as it actually has about three or four inter-connected plot lines with overlapping characters and events. This too, feels so much like Tacoma to me that I can’t help but enjoy it. A woman gets robbed in the Tacoma Mall Parking lot. A guy starts selling his grandmother’s pain pills. A serial killer is strangely stalking and killing janitors. These unrelated things drift through the novel occasionally bumping into each other along with a few other subplots.

Tacoma Pill Junkies is a meandering crime thriller with a lot of humor. It’s less an edge of your seat nail biter and more like hanging out with some strange and occasionally dangerous people. (I don’t want to spoil too much so I’m deliberately being vague.)

Swainston’s writing is conversational and inviting. He doesn’t spend too much time on being overly descriptive. His dialog is witty and full of humor. He also manages to convey the thrill of the high along with the underlying desperation of being a pill addict. It’s never glamorous.

For locals who enjoy a good novel, Tacoma Pill Junkies belongs on the shelf next to Mark Lindquist’s King of Methlehem. For those outside of Tacoma, I recommend it as a glimpse at part of the underbelly of our fair gritty city.

You can find out more about Tacoma Pill Junkies and read a sample chapter at http://tacomapilljunkies.com

–          Jack Cameron

Leave a comment

Posted in Books, Tacoma Books

Tagged , ,