Small world

[rhienelleth]

So, one of Mark's students for the past, oh, year, "T" was sitting at out kitchen table having a meal with us the other night.  (Actually, we really call him T.  His name is a little odd and it took us awhile to get it down.  By the time we did, he was already "T".)  He's a young guy, 19, I think, and he spent a last year in Japan as an exchange student. 

By "one of Mark's students" I mean martial arts students.  Since he teaches high school English, too, I suppose I should be specific. 

Anyway, he's sitting there, and something comes up about Writer's Weekend, and then Mark asked about the NaNo project, and how close I was to being done, and T gets this shocked look on his face.

T: You write?  Like books?
Me: Um, yeah.  You didn't know that?  So does Mark.
T: Seriously?  I never knew that.  Hey, my grandmother's like a famous author!
Me: Really?  Who?
T: Jean Auel
Me and Mark: ...
T: You know, Clan of the Cave Bear?
Me: Yeah, I know.  She's your grandmother?
T: Yeah! 

And he went on to tell us about the fabulous condo she has that's like a museum with all this artwork and one of a kind artifact type pieces she owns, and how she gave each of her grandchildren a  college fund, which is how he's currently paying for college, and how he's read the draft of her final book. 

Me: Um, final book?  I thought Shelters of Stone was it?
T: Nope.  Ayla has more stuff in store for her.  It's a good book, the last one.  Hey, if you have them, I can get your copies signed for you!  She loves it when her grandkids visit and ask to have stuff signed for their friends.

Apparently she lives like, right here in the Pacific Northwest.  I never knew that, either.

Small world, people.  Small world. 

Comments

[quiet-rebel.livejournal.com]

Nice! Connections!

Are you going to have her sign a book? ;)

[rhienelleth.livejournal.com]

LOL - if I can find my copies! I haven't read them in years, and they're buried somewhere on one of our bookshelves.

Truthfully, I like Diana Gabaldon much better, for historical fiction, but Jean Auel was sort of "the first", you know?

[madlori.livejournal.com]

Knowing that my grandmother wrote caveman porn would be a little bit of an odd experience.

[rhienelleth.livejournal.com]

LMAO! I know! Actually, I asked him about that. I was like "You've read them? And...the more explicit stuff didn't bother you, knowing your grandmother wrote it?"

T's reply: "Naw, cause it's all a natural thing, you know, part of life. Actually, most of my views on relationships and sex have come from things my grandmother has said."

Ok. Not the relationship I have with MY grandmother, but then, she doesn't write caveman porn. Also, his parents are REALLY hippie-ish and a little...I don't know. Different from my parents, is all.

[crankylex.livejournal.com]

I think that's kind of cool, though.

GRANDMA'S YE OLDE CAVEMAN PORN SHOPPE

LOLOLOL.

[kimarama.livejournal.com]

Jean Auel. I read Clan of the Cave Bear years and years ago and cried like a bay at the ending. Very cool to meet her grandson.

[rhienelleth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, very cool. I, too, loved the first book....I read it in middle school, can't remember which grade I was in.

[voleuse.livejournal.com]

Wacky! But neat. I feel compelled to dig out my own copy for a re-read.

[rhienelleth.livejournal.com]

I know, me too! It's been years since I read that first book...but first I'd have to find it. *sigh* I've been needing to organize my bookshelves, anyway.

[aka-paloma.livejournal.com]

and how he's read the draft of her final book.

Well, as a bookseller this is good to know. I occasionally get pestered as to when a new book by her will be available. Mind you, I still get pestered by customers who want to know when a new book by James Clavell will be out, because "he hasn't written one in such a long time." Um, yeah, that's because he's dead. Is it wrong to take a kind of perverse pleasure in shocking people with that reply? Of course, death doesn't stop the likes of V.C. Andrews or Robert Ludlum from "writing" new books.

[the-monkey-king.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking about Jean Auel the other day, because at the bookstore, she got her own section labelled "Prehistoric Fiction". :)

[shellyinseattle.livejournal.com]

That is so neat.

[kistha.livejournal.com]

That is pretty darn cool.

I really like her stories, mostly for her research. Of course the Goddess angle comes from the original(and now much disputed) theories from the first Catalhoyuk dig in Turkey. For current & on going info you can check out the website here: http://www.catalhoyuk.com/ and for an excellent read on the history of the site: http://www.amazon.com/Goddess-Bull-Catalhoyuk-Archaeological-Civilization/dp/0743243609

And her herbalism is really on. Which is excellent - I'm pretty sure that it could double as a survival guide in a pinch. :)