Patty Templeton won the first-ever Naked Girls Reading Literary Honors Award in 2010. She’s just published her first novel, There Is No Lovely End, and will read from the book on Wednesday, July 16, 7 PM, at Lizard’s Liquid Lounge, 3058 W. Irving Park. We spoke with Templeton about the book’s title, its basis in reality, and what’s next for her:
Geez! The title. I was at least six months into this novel before I had a title. That scared the hell outta me. In my writing process, if I don’t have a solid title day one for the story, poem, or whatever I’m working on, I’m screwed. The piece isn’t going to work. Weird, but it seems to be my routine.
Sarah Winchester did indeed move out west and she did build a very large house. Some say she built it nonstop, day and night, for 38 years. You can still visit the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose. It is over 160 rooms and a glorious tour.
I have two projects going. I’m working on a novella that can most succinctly be described as a lesbian Indiana Jones pastiche set in the rare book world. And I am working on a novel in stories that amounts to Winesburg, Ohio—if the town in Winesburg, Ohio, was a Halloweentown full of beautiful weirdos and oddity shops. Think Gilmore Girls meets Hocus Pocus for grown-ups.
