Jude Southerland Kessler has announced that her release party for her book about John Lennon entitled, "Shivering Inside" will be held at Doylestown Bookshop, in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, October 16, 2010, from 7-9pm. Always the perfect Southern Hostess, Ms. Kessler will be offering birthday cake and coffee in John's honor, as well as a book signing and book talk.
Shivering Inside is the second volume in Jude Southerland Kessler's 9-book series on the life of John Lennon. This volume, like the first, (Shoulda Been There), is 800-page narrative but this one picks up where the first left off, covering the years of Dec. 1961-mid-April 1963. Lots of Beatles goodies are promised in this volume, including rare photos supplied by close friends of Lennon.
Richard Langham, who contributed significantly to her book, will be present at the book release party. According to Dave Haber, at Beatlesnews.com, "One of the biggest contributors to Shivering Inside has been Parlophone Second Engineer, Richard Langham. Richard, who has donated a wonderful photo of The Beatles and himself in the control booth at Abbey Road studios (known during the 1961-1963 time frame as "EMI Studios" or "Parlophone Studios" - the "Abbey Road" designation came years later), has been invaluable in proofing and correcting the research for studio sessions in 1962 and 1963.
Ms. Kessler has had her share of frustrations getting this book out, as she initially was to have this book ready for the events at the Cleveland Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame festivities on October 8, in time for John's birthday. When the printer could not meet the deadline at the last minute, other arrangements had to be quickly made. So this party will be well deserved. Before that, she went through a devil of a time trying to find the copyright owner for the photo she wanted to use for the cover.
Ms. Kessler has also suffered some criticism in terms of the fact vs. fiction issue. Since it is technically a novel, some have labeled her work "fiction" but her work is factual in every way except for the conversational style, which makes it "historical fiction". As a genre, this is a legitimate style that is well-respected in the literary field. Done correctly, historical fiction is an engaging and conversational way to bring history to life. Jude's work includes several trips to Liverpool over a 20-year period, interviews with many people who knew John, photos of the actual places he lived and worked (and played.) The result is a way of feeling as though you were there while all this history was taking place.
If you're going to be in Pennsylvania on the 16th, and would like more information on this book party and celebration for John Lennon's birthday, please contact her through her website.
It's more than the dialogue that makes this fiction. She appears to have invented background details which may or may not have ever happened. That makes it an unreliable account and essentially worthless as a historical source.
Here's a sample from her website:
"Paul poked around the meagre establishment, pulling at the thick, musty curtains that were supposed to dampen the sounds from the terminal. The fabric reeked of mould and threatened to disintegrate in his hand. He doubted that the draperies enhanced the sound quality one iota, and on the down side, they made him cough."
In addition to the lousy writing ("and on the down side, they made him cough" - was there an upside?) there must have been some serious factual research done for this. Since McCartney's memory for the minutiae of the group's history is notoriously patchy, I wonder just how Ms Kessler managed to reproduce his unspoken thoughts. It's quite a feat. Otherwise, it's hard not to conclude that this is just a load of fiction, albeit done as a pastiche.
I'm getting bored of this woman anyway. Earlier in the week there was some press release about how "Beatles expert Jude Southerland Kessler is making herself available for interviews when the Lennon albums are reissued". Gee, thanks. What a selfless act.
We would be honored if Ms. Kessler had the New England release party for the book at our BEATexpo in Stamford, CT on November 27-28.
See www.toursandevents.com/BEATexpo.htm.
We already have 2 authors flying in from Liverpool, and we'd love to have Jude join us as well!
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