Claire Applewhite

A Writer Gambles: Rouge et Noir

Claire Applewhite — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 03:37:43 +0000

Ever heard of a game called Rouge et Noir? It’s a card game, where the odds, stakes and winnings are yours to set. The sky is the limit—boom or bust. Appropriately, Rouge et Noir is featured in A Terribly Strange Bed by Wilke Collins. This short story is included in the anthology, The 50 Greatest Mysteries of All Time, edited by Otto Penzler. Take a fresh look at the Theory of Chances—and chill.

Rouge et Noir and the writer seem to share the same philosophy. Consciously or not, a writer agrees to roll the symbolic dice. The road to publication is rife with rejection, and the stakes, like the success, can hover at heady altitudes. Is this confidence madness or courage?

Well, are you a gambler? Risk requires courage and yes, a little madness, all calculated according to the Theory of Chances. It makes sense to a gambler and the writer. Rouge et Noir– Red and Black, Feast or Famine, the gambler and the writer breathe the same air of the noir.

Speaking of noir, my novel Satin Doll is with a publisher, as I write. Unforgettable, the memoir of St. Louis City Hospital, has been one of my more poignant writing experiences. It has dredged up personal memories from the seventies when my husband attended St. Louis University Medical School. Interestingly enough, an assortment of stories has come my way from likely and not so likely sources. It’s almost finished!

A special request for the City Hospital “veterans” out there. I know you’ve got some stories about the good old days. Would you like to share them? Tell us right here!

Finally, my podcast should be ready for listening soon. Please visit often. I’d love to hear from you.

Nothin’ But A Good Time

Claire Applewhite — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 03:37:05 +0000

New Orleans was the place to be for the Words & Music 2007 Festival, held at the Hotel Monteleone. After suffering the wrath of Katrina, it appeared that New Orleans was in recovery. Their dark cloud had at least one silver lining. We discovered that we could get into any of the famous restaurants with just a day’s notice—a situation that was formerly out of the question. K-Paul’s was one place that we enjoyed.

Author Joyce Carol Oates was the keynote speaker at Washington University’s Fall Literary Event. It was an honor to meet Ms. Oates, as well as Professor Gerald Early, Director of the Center for the Humanities. Ms. Oates recent novels include Blonde, The Gravedigger’s Daughter, and We Were the Mulvaneys.

Finally—I get the chance to meet the face behind those insightful essays! Dr. Jian Leng, Associate Director of The Center for the Humanities, and editor of the Figure in the Carpet, the department’s newsletter.

Night and Day is 2007 Faulkner Finalist

Claire Applewhite — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 03:32:38 +0000

From the St. Louis Writers Guild Members’ Blog… “Claire Applewhite Novel on Short List of Finalists for 2007 Faulker Writing Competition”

Check out wordsandmusic.org – under Bulletin, Claire Applewhite’s novel, Night and Day is on the Short List of Finalists for the 2007 Faulkner Writing Competition.

Here’s the wrap-up on Night and Day…

A case of mistaken identity or delicious deception?

Barbara Lacey, a sultry blonde, saunters into the Night and Day, a St.Louis bar owned by Alfie Greenblatt. She waits with an envelope for a Somebody who never arrives. Minutes after entrusting it to Alfie, she is gunned down in the street. If only Somebody had told Alfie that sexy blondes mean trouble; if only Somebody had told him an envelope would kill him. But, Alfie wouldn’t have listened to Somebody. Besides, the blonde’s name isn’t really Barbara Lacey…

Night and Day is the third book in the detective series featuring the Vietnam vets of the Grapevine Detective Agency. Facing bankruptcy, Elvin Suggs, Dimond “Di” Redding, and ex-sniper Cobra Glynes struggle to uncover identities, unravel lies, deliver an envelope, night and day…before another Somebody dies.