Nigeria RPCV Andy Oliver writes "Missing What's-Her-Name,"
Local author plans book signing Sept 20 in Albany
Published Thursday, September 18, 2003 12:32:12 PM Central Time
By Brian Gray
of the Times
ALBANY -- Andy Oliver and his latest book, "Missing What's-Her-Name," have something in common: Both share a light-hearted and satirical subtitle.
Andy Oliver, Albany, reads a selection from his second book, "Missing What's-Her-Name." It's about a man who is trying to live his own life and not be controlled by others. Oliver uses humor and satire to tell the story.
Times photo: Brian Gray
Oliver recently completed his second book after spending about a year writing, editing and reworking it. His first book, "Beyond the Enchanted Bridge," took about three years to write because it was entirely in verse. The second book, written in prose, was much easier, he said.
Oliver said he would write for anywhere from an hour to five hours at a time, losing himself in his characters and the settings.
"When I'm writing I lose all sense of time," he said. "The world I'm creating gets real enough that I get drawn into it."
He's hoping readers will do the same while reading the book.
Oliver worked again with Catherine Blakemore and Adams-Pomeroy Press of Albany. One reviewer said Oliver, in his second book, has "given us a modern-day parable full of gentle wit and gracious good humor."
The book in many ways is a reflection of the author -- sometimes funny, sometimes melancholy but always interesting and always ready for a good joke or a new way of looking at things. The book follows the story of Milton Mole, a fictional character who has problems remembering large pieces of his life and it's troubling him.
"He feels as if somebody is running his life," Oliver explained.
People are, in many ways. His parents had dreams of Mole becoming an author. And an author is writing scripts for Mole's life, deleting whatever he wants from Mole's past. Mole not only wants to take control of his own life, he wants to find a girl the author removed from his past. The author even deleted the girl's name from Mole's memory, which provides the basis for the book. Oliver said the book is a fantasy that requires readers to suspend any sense of realism. Along the way Oliver pokes fun at small towns and small-town institutions, but always without malice. Oliver said Milton Mole and he go back about 30 years.
"If something happened to me, I would recreate the situation in my mind with Milton Mole and come up with a different ending. I jotted a few of the stories down and some friends enjoyed reading them but that was as far as I got with them. I still have a couple laying around the house someplace," he said.
In some ways, Mole is Oliver's alter-ego. He's the part of his life Oliver doesn't take seriously. But he doesn't want readers to confuse him and Mole. "I want him to emerge as his own person," he said.
But Mole is really more than just a reflection of Oliver. He's like most people who try, in Oliver's words, "to take charge of their own lives and be whoever they choose to be."
Oliver, who taught English in Wisconsin and, as a Peace Corps volunteer, in Nigeria, lives in Albany. He will have a book signing from 10 a.m. to noon and again from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 20 at Sugar River Books, 200 Oak St., Albany. More information about the book signing is available by calling (608) 862-3645 or (608) 862-1676.
