“My brain was famous, but I was not. Not every gifted child invents a pollutant-free fuel, paints a masterpiece, or finds the cure for cancer.” In this novel that reads like a memoir, Jack MacLeod narrates his story from beyond the grave, immersing us in vivid, interconnected tales from a lifetime of intriguing relationships.
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About the AuthorDiane Wald’s novel Gillyflower was published in April 2019 by She Writes Press, and won first place in the novella category from the Next Generation Indie Book Awards, first place in the novella category from American Book Fest, first place in Fiction: Novella from International Book Awards, and a bronze medal from Reader’s Favorite. You can read more about Gillyflower at www.gillyflowernovel.com. Since 1966, Diane has published more than 250 poems in literary magazines. She is the recipient of a two-year fellowship in poetry from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown and has been awarded the Grolier Poetry Prize, The Denny Award, The Open Voice Award, and the Anne Halley Award. She also received a state grant from the Massachusetts Council on the Arts. She has published four chapbooks and won the Green Lake Chapbook Award from Owl Creek Press. An electronic chapbook (Improvisations on Titles of Works by Jean Dubuffet) appears on the Mudlark website. Her four full-length poetry collections are Lucid Suitcase , The Yellow Hotel, Wonderbender, and The Warhol Pillows. My Famous Brain is her second novel.
A Sample Chapter Chapter 2: I'm No Angel
When I realized I had died (it happened in January, 1974), I expected to be privy to a great deal of knowledge, expected to have the mysteries of the universe open up to me like water lilies in the sunlight, but, alas, that isn’t what happened at all. Probably we give much too much attention to our physical bodies. I was alive, and then I was dead. I was the guru of nothing but my own life. That’s saying a lot, though, really, as it included remembering everywhere I’d ever been, everything I’d ever experienced, everyone I’d ever known. Remembering everything feels like this: imagine a photograph of about fifty beautiful sky-blue rowboats floating on a sunny day in a pretty harbor. That’s from one angle. From another angle, you can see the warships floating right next door. Everything depends on where you focus. I couldn’t feel my body anymore. It was just gone. No heaviness, no pain, no hunger or thirst or heat or cold. I was no longer lonely (that may be what is meant by “heaven”). And my entire, absolutely entire, life as John Tilford MacLeod unfolded before me, from the moment of my birth. I’ve tried to remember life before birth in my mother’s womb, but there’s simply nothing there—I suppose one mustn’t be greedy. I found it was as easy to call up a day from my life as a one-year-old as it was to recall Eliza’s face in Thompson Park when we fed the swans, or Don Rath’s funny little laughing cough, or the doctors in St. Sebastian’s as they stood chatting around my father’s death bed, unaware that their words were being recorded on some celestial tape loop for future reference by the deceased son of the nearly deceased. Once in a while I catch sight of my sons, and they seem to be in their thirties. But I could be wrong; my perceptions have altered radically, and, as I’ve told you, I still haven’t learned to understand them too well in terms of earthly time. I now remember things I didn’t even know had happened to me, and I’ve been re-viewing (as I call it) all of it ever since I died. I don’t actually know how long ago I did lose my life, since I can no longer follow the events of living humans with any chronological accuracy, but I suspect it was about fifteen years ago. Incidentally, I don’t think I really “lost” my life; I just experienced a radical shift of some kind. I also suspect that those theories about the flow of time being an illusion, with the past, present, and future existing simultaneously, are probably true. I’d always loved what Lewis Carroll’s Queen said in Through the Looking Glass: “It’s a poor sort of memory that only works backwards.” By the way, I’m no angel. I never was, of course, but I’m certainly not one now. No wings, no halo, no access to Jimmy Stewart. I don’t know what I am. A soul, I suppose. How I can communicate with you this way is not something I understand. All I know is, it’s not a hoax. I know what true means. I’m not going to disguise anybody or make things up. It’s hard enough just to recount everything without doing anything like that. I’ll probably skip around a bit though, since time is such a mystery to me now. I find the big picture more interesting than the details. Bear with me. {{end}} Listen to my interview with the amazing Christina Rasmussen!
http://www.dearlifepodcast.com/episodes/ep127 
Take a few minutes to listen to this wonderful interview with John Busbee on KFMG's The Culture Buzz!
https://bit.ly/3vjEVF3 |
Jack died in 1974. His prodigious memory, which allows him to memorize books, and his penchant for psychic connections give him unusual insights into the events of his past life and make him fiercely curious about his current state of existence. Jack immerses us in interconnected tales of his childhood participation in a research study on the intellectually gifted, his dual career as a clinical psychologist and university professor, his participation in the unmasking of an unscrupulous colleague, his long-term health issues, his brief but life-changing love affair with a student, his deep friendship with another man, and his eventual acceptance and celebration of the circumstances of his fate. How Jack dies, and how he deals with the murder of someone close to him, mirrors how he has lived and grown, and marks the significance of everyone and everything that has brought him to yet another level of brilliance.
Do you love a complex, character-driven story?
Are you curious about life after death? Are you interested in end-of-life decisions? Are you interested in gifted children/adults? Do you like to read stories about college faculties? Do you like to read stories about psychologists? Do you like books about people who love books? My Famous Brain offers all of this and more. 
Praise for My Famous Brain“A compelling, challenging, and utterly gripping tale. . . . Wald’s prose is lush, and she beautifully humanizes her characters.”
―The Prairies Book Review Masterfully combining the human and soul experience in one voice, Diane Wald brings to life a character from the beyond who knows how to be present in his past with the wisdom and insight of the afterlife. A must read for anyone needing a reminder of the preciousness of life. —Christina Rasmussen, best-selling author of Where Did You Go? Diane Wald is a fantastic story teller with the ear of a poet. My Famous Brain is an enthrallingly complex, layered story, where relationships and loves are like feedback loops in a fallen down house of time. Narrator Jack MacLeod shuffles his memories, loves, and fears, searching for communion, connection, and empathy. This is a novel about what it is to be alive or dead, and to experience time as it moves through the body. —Patrick Lawler, author of Rescuers of Skydivers Search Among the Clouds Diane Wald's literary ability lifts the reader into an empathic relationship with each character. Her development of these characters’ relationships, not only with humans, but also with precious animals, gives the reader the ability to feel—something our society desperately needs. This is the story of a most intriguing man, and the plot twists and turns never fail to show how various lives come together to create the fullness of one life. —Annette Daloia Scanlon, Social Worker in Hospice & Palliative Care in Human & Veterinary Medicine Author Diane Wald has crafted a truly intriguing slice of life drama…with vivid details and insight….[R]eaders who enjoy deep literary portrayals of fascinating characters will be sure to adore My Famous Brain. —Five-Star Review from Readers Favorite 
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Also visit https://www.gillyflowernovel.com/ to read about a fascinating, award-winning novella! |
Lovely time chatting with Pat Rullo of the Firebird BookAwards!
https://www.speakuptalkradio.com/diane-wald-firebird-book-award-winner/
https://www.speakuptalkradio.com/diane-wald-firebird-book-award-winner/
- Publisher : She Writes Press (October 5, 2021)
- Language : English
- ISBN-10 : 1647422051
- ISBN-13 : 978-1647422059
