Tuesday, July 19, 2011

July 12th Press Release Article

SUNAPEE: Listening to Diane Caron talk about Sunapee harbor, it is easy to see why some of the stories in her book take place there. “Someone once told me I should be a spokesperson for Sunapee,” says the author of Clams in Cups: Legends of the Heart.

Originally from northeastern Vermont, Diane relocated to Lake Sunapee in May of 2004. “Someone sent me photos [of the harbor] in an e-mail, and I knew I had to see this place,” she says. Within a year, she moved. “I have a sense of peace here I haven’t felt anywhere ever…I feel a connection to this place, it feels like home.”

Diane describes her book as “a collection of short stories that are based on memories.” And as with any fiction writing, she acknowledges that some of it is based on fact. However, “usually the ending [of the story] is the ending I’d like to have in real life.” While she doesn’t name any places, Diane does say that several stories in her book take place in the area in general, and in her harbor specifically.

Diane has been writing forever, starting with a science fiction story in grade school. “Over the years I’ve written different things…the first real story was Clams in Cups, the title story,” she says. Though it was written about a childhood event, the back cover of the book explains that Clams in Cups is also a metaphor for a larger picture: “Every event in our lives is a cup that holds a different clam; an experience that touches our hearts. Like clams, we create barriers to protect ourselves from sadness, though these barriers are like brittle shells that often can be easily broken.”

Aside from being the title story, Clams in Cups was also the one that prompted her to write the rest of the stories in her book. “The first year I was here I met someone, who said, ‘you need to write more of these,’ No one had ever said that before.” She also remembers a writing group giving her very positive feedback on the same story, even though she hadn’t been present for the meeting.

Though the self-published book is in itself a complete volume, with distinct sections, Diane is quick to point out that she is by no means done writing. Two other books sharing the same title are also being planned. Diane hopes that Clams in Cups: Legends of Angels will be on the shelves by spring. And though there has been only one story penned for it so far, Clams in Cups: Legends of Heroes is certainly on the horizon.

The book is divided into sections (Beginnings, First Love, Discovery, New Love, and Truth). But even within the sections, each story is very different. Volumes of short stories are always good, because one can open them in the middle and just start reading. Also, the variety found lends itself well to the marketplace—there is something for everybody. In the dedication at the beginning, there is a quote that reads: Life is an endless journey of the heart. It is this that has been Diane’s theme throughout the book; it is her wish that the reader will identify with the stories and that one will reflect not only upon the memories written, but on personal ones too. “I hope there’s something in each story that fits that,” she says.

Clams in Cups: Legends of the Heart, by D.C. Legendre, is available at the Wild Goose Country Store in Sunapee harbor, as well as at Morgan Hill Bookstore in New London.

Adam Whittier/Intertown Record News Service