In the Spotlight: Eric Poole

[reviews_and_ramblings]

The Book: "Gut-splittingly funny...a deeply moving account of a boy's attempt to control his world with his own brand of magic." --People magazine, 4 stars.

Tracey Ullman once described Eric Poole as "the best undiscovered writer I ever met." Now the world can enjoy his achingly honest wit and gift for capturing real life characters in this memoir about growing up in the 1970's with an obsessive-compulsive mother and a crush on Endora from Bewitched.

Amazon: Where's My Wand?: One Boy's Magical Triumph over Alienation and Shag Carpeting
Reading level: Ages 18 and up
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Berkley Trade; Reprint edition (June 7, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0425241017
ISBN-13: 978-0425241011

The Author: Eric Poole was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a farming and industrial hamlet best known, in the 1960’s, for its Quaker Oats factory (the entire town smelled like oatmeal). There, he excelled in television viewing and falling over the railing of the family’s split level foyer.

Along with his parents and sister Valerie, he moved to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1969 – a move that launched him on a personal and spiritual odyssey that continues to this day, some forty years later. Evidently, he’s a slow learner.

Eric remained in St. Louis from 1969 until 1988, when he moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue a career as a sitcom writer – “pursue” being the operative word, since this career was never actually caught. (It’s a long and ridiculous story, one he’s saving for another memoir.) He has spent his career in advertising and marketing, winning more than thirty pieces of overpriced metal for his efforts. The last twelve years have been spent at a major media company, where he’s VP of Radio Marketing, a title that sounds considerably more important than it actually is.

The first time Eric ever told anyone (outside the family) of his Endora alter ego occurred in the mid-90’s, at a week-long spiritual growth seminar called Insight. Once divulged, the attendees called him Endora for the rest of the week, and an idea was born. It would be a dozen more years, however, before he began to write about this belief in magic and the journey that it prompted.

His first book, Where’s My Wand? One Boy’s Magical Triumph Over Alienation and Shag Carpeting, has just been published by Amy Einhorn Books (an imprint of G.P. Putnam’s Sons, part of Penguin USA).

He lives with his partner of ten years in Los Angeles.

http://www.ericpoole.net/bio/

Top Gay Novels List (*)

First Decade (2000-2009): http://www.elisarolle.com/ramblings/top_100_gay_novels_2.htm

Second Decade (2010-2019): http://www.elisarolle.com/ramblings/top_100_gay_novels_2.2.htm

*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.

Note: I remember to my friends that guest reviews of the above listed books (the top 100 Gay Novels) are welcome, just send them to me and I will post with full credits to the reviewer.

Other titles not in the top 100 list: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top50MM

Comments

[reginaclarejane.livejournal.com]

this book looks amazing! i'm putting it in the queue!
:)
thanks, elisa!

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

you are welcome, it was a huge success 2 years ago, light but not stupid.