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Mel Sanders
Owner of Cover to Cover Books and Espresso
“First Families of Vancouver's African Elder American Wulff Community,” Jane
“Beyond Confusion,” Sheila Simon son
Johnson “Awakened,” Kriston
“You pay me to lie to you!” is how novelist Lilith Saintcrow, center, summed up the fiction writer's task — to the amusement of fellow writers Carolyn J. Rose, right, and Karen Gilb.
“The Iron Wyrm Affair,” Lilith Saintcrow
Carolyn “No Substitute J. Rose for Murder,”
“Nameless, A Tale of Beauty and Madness,” Lili St. Crow
Photos by GREG WAHL-STEPHENS/for The Columbian
Sheila Simonson, center, describes how her characters take control of her stories. At left is Jane Elder Wulff, and at right is Kriston Johnson.
GREG WAHL-STEPHENS/for The Columbian
When bookseller Mel Sanders of Cover to Cover Books was asked to recommend her favorite local authors, this is the group she assembled. They are, from left, Carolyn J. Rose, Jane Elder Wulff, Kriston Johnson, Lilith Saintcrow, Sheila Simonson and Karen Gilb. Lisa Nowak, who's not in the picture, is also recom
Any dedicated reader will tell you that quality fiction -- like life itself -- twists and zigzags in vital and unpredictable ways. Before that becomes true for readers, it's got to be true for the writers.
"There's a point when your characters surprise you. They take control of the book and you've got to let them. You've got to follow them," said Vancouver novelist Carolyn J. Rose.
"Your characters go off and do things while you're not there," warned Vancouver novelist Sheila Simonson, who once assigned newborn twins to a couple in one book -- and realized, years later, that the stick-figure tykes had grown into full-fledged people who demanded exploration in their own right.
Rose, Simonson and some peers gathered recently at Cover to Cover Books and Espresso to mingle and discuss their work. Cover to Cover is the labor of love of irrepressible bookseller Mel Sanders -- who zigzagged her store back to life at 6300 N.E. St. James Road after a fire in a neighboring downtown site smoked Cover to Cover out of its original Main Street home.
Sanders sells only local authors she believes in. When The Columbian asked for her cream-of-the-crop picks, this is the group she assembled. Their works...