The Anarchist Cookbook Memory

Skyping with my old writing mate, who now lives in Vienna, brought up not just discussions of her soon to be published short story collection or my next novel, but memories. When we finished with her great review, her progress on her Ph.D., her reaffirmation that Running from the Puppet Master was her favourite novel of those I wrote, my contract negotiations and newsletters we delved back into the days when we worked in organizations across the street. Lunches were for discussions about plot, character, description, where this could be stronger and when to switch the order of events.

However, tonight she brought up the best memory of sitting in the lunchroom at the very full convention center near our respective offices with The Anarchist Cookbook in front of us. As I said ‘I don’t want to kill him that way?’ or she said, ‘Try killing him that way…’ we realised that people were giving us wide berth.

It is not a discussion I would have today in public and I am not sure I would even dare carry the book around. It is a reminder of how far we have come in our writing careers.