Explore the Maine Literary Map
My last post spoke of new beginnings in our literary lives and I’m clinging to that spirit with this piece on New Year inspiration. Since many of the online resources on Peaks Island Press’ Maine Author Resources page had evaporated into cyberspace, I have freshened it up. So feed your muse and meander through resources listed there, for example, the Literary Map of Maine.
Consider how one of the many pinpoints on the Maine map features a four-foot tall porcupine:
Hugh Pine
Janwillem Van de Wetering (1931-2008)And if you drive the Sorry road often enough, you will see Hugh Pine too.
He still wears his red hat, and he still walks upright, so chances are you
won’t know he is a porcupine and not a little old man with white whiskers
and a long coat.This 1st title in a series of children’s early readers stars Hugh Pine, a four-foot
tall porcupine, a lovable old codger, and a sage of Sorry Bay. Hugh has many
amusing adventures while looking for the meaning of life. The Dutch born
author was world famous for his adult mystery thrillers and lived in Surry, Maine.
A porcupine who dresses as a man to safely cross the road
Doesn’t that inspire you to either read more about Hugh Pine, create your own character, or drive to Surry, Maine? By the way, Surry’s municipal website provides a helpful tip on how to deter bears from your backyard during their mating season by hanging peanut butter-smeared tinfoil on your electric fence. Really. I don’t think I could make that up.
“There’s a malevolence to a Maine winter, too, the lethal edge of bitter cold and icy water. Go down in the snow on a sub-zero night–injured, drunk, disoriented–and there’s a good chance you won’t get up. Go down in a snowstorm and there’s a good chance you won’t be found, not before April.”
Categories: On Writing, Peaks Island Press
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