"Ordinary Boy" is No Ordinary Read

I've not posted anything on this blog in a very, very, very long time but I thought I'd bring it out of mothballs long enough to share a book review from Goodreads as I think this book is definitely worthy of not just reading but reviewing and recommending!

Ordinary Boy by Stacey Longo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As a rule when I think about Stacey Longo's writing I think of words like "Terrifying and scary!" but the only thing that's terrifyingly scary in her new book is how well she - as an adult female - has managed to get into the mind of a teenage boy. Even though the opening of the book tells us that Curtis Price is dead, Stacey does a terrific job of bringing him to life along with all of the nuances growing up as an outsider in the 80s entailed.

In "Ordinary Boy" you meet ordinary people who lead ordinary lives but they're ordinary people that you like, ordinary people that you don't like, and ordinary people that you've no doubt met in the course of your own ordinary life. Stacey Longo has written an extraordinary story about an ordinary boy who may have led an ordinary life but who is anything but ordinary as there is a little of Curtis Price in all of us.

Curtis is a good kid with a good heart growing up on the wrong side of the tracks (if Osprey Falls, Maine has tracks that is!) with a mother who can't afford to pay the bills, his older sister Sally that he shares a room with even into his late teens, and his beloved Nana who exits the story way too soon. Like a lot of kids from broken homes, Curtis has a dad who fails to pay his child support and barely pays any attention to the kids he left behind leaving Mom to explain about things like wet dreams and other parts of growing up male that should have been answered by dear old Dad. It's in some of Curtis' conversations with his mother that you really have to wonder if Stacey Longo grew up as a boy in another life as she's got male puberty nailed down quite well.

Growing up in The Meadows, Curtis is not one of the popular kids in school nor is he one in his own neighborhood after a brief indiscretion but he doesn't go out of his way to try to become one either. He frequents his local library (good boy!) where some of his best friends are found in the pages of sci-fi and horror novels, makes a real-life best friend in another outsider - Al - whose family has money but a lack of familial warmth, works at a local nursing home where he truly cares about the residents there, and falls in love with a girl who in turn loves Curtis for the sensitive, good guy that he is. Unfortunately though, there are adults in the book who make a lot of bad decisions which end up in Curtis' tragic death which in turn ends up showing Curtis that he was no "ordinary boy" after all.

The true hallmark of a good writer is when you want to reach into the pages of a story and shake or slap a character or two and that's exactly what you'll want to do with several of them in this book. A story that you're going to have a hard time putting down once you pick it up, I highly recommend an "Ordinary Boy" which left me with a few questions but that's good as it meant I cared about the story's characters and I think you will too.


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Gale Martin, Author of "Grace Unexpected", Is Exactly How I Expected Her to Be!

One week ago today, I took some time off from work, picked up my friend Paula who happens to live in my small hometown of Canterbury, Connecticut, and pointed the car north to make the drive to the small town of Canterbury, New Hampshire. We weren't heading that way simply to see another small town named Canterbury - nope, we were on a mission.  A mission to at long last meet a woman whom I first got to know through this very blog way back in the Golden Glory Days of Blogging when memes were all the rage and there were awards for just about anything you could think of!

I can't pinpoint the exact time that I made Gale Martin's acquaintance but I'm guessing it was sometime in early 2007 when this blog was still in its infant stages. At that time Gale wrote a blog titled "Gem-osophy" - for which she won the Post of the Day Award from The Rising Blogger back in April of 2007 - and one of the things that she spoke of was the writing she was doing on a novel that had the working title "Savage Grace".

It was easy to tell that Gale had the chops to be a real bona fide novelist and if the finished product turned out to be anywhere near as witty and snarky and fun as the writing on her blog was, it was sure to be a bestseller.  However, trying to write both a blog and a novel was proving to be a little difficult - something that I have no trouble believing at all as I have problems just writing multiple blogs never mind trying to write a real book!

When Gale got bogged down in her writing, another blogger by the name of Frank (of Foxxfyrre's Honk'n'Holl'r) became the Chief Yell Leader and rallied a group of bloggers to become the Gale Martin Unofficial Cheering Squad  so that we could encourage Gale to keep working on her novel. That encouragement came in the form of a Gem Rocks! visual aid, encouraging posts from the UCS members, and even a "Dark and Stormy Meme" project designed to showcase some truly horrible writing that would hopefully provide Gale with a laugh or two while she showed us how the real writers did it.

Then the dust kinda settled and people sorta lost touch and though Gale continued to work on "Savage Grace", nothing really came of it for awhile. I don't believe that we necessarily stopped cheering for Gale but we did it separately rather than as a group.  I know I always hoped that "Grace" would eventually see the light of day in book form but I figured I was just going to have to be patient. Not one of my strong suits but I can pull it off occasionally!

In the meantime, while I was being patient, Gale had started another novel which turned out to be just as witty and snarky and fun as Grace was going to be except that this one was titled "Don Juan in Hankey, PA" and this one was accepted by a publisher who had the good sense to see what the rest of us already did when it came to Gale - she's a writer who brings her characters to life, who tells a story that you totally enjoy, and who writes dialog like (as my old Gram B would say) nobody's business!

Not only was "Don Juan in Hankey, PA" published but it was named a Finalist in the 2012 National Indie Excellence Awards for New Fiction which I've got to think is pretty darned good for a first novel and the reviews on Amazon.com have been nothing but glowing ...

"Like a fabulous production, DON JUAN IN HANKEY, PA seethes with wild jealousies, convoluted mysteries, wry comic turns, resident ghosts, mysterious assailants, bold intrigues, longing, love, lust, and - of course - plenty of opera. Gale Martin's novel is 'meraviglioso!'" - Lenore Hart, author of BECKY

"Hold onto your libretti! Gale Martin takes opera, and mayhem, to new heights in her laugh-out-loud, rollicking, confection of a novel. One part romance, one part mystery, DON JUAN IN HANKEY, PA will sweep you off your feet. You won't want to put it down!" - Nina Solomon, author of THE SINGLE WIFE

"A lively romp about a dysfunctional, small-town opera guild. Martin writes about the Pennsylvania Dutch and opera fanatics with the same verve that Garrison Keillor writes about Minnesota Lutherans and public radio." - Richard Fellinger, author of THEY HOVER OVER US

Gale had arrived and I couldn't have been happier for her if I tried! I absolutely loved "Don Juan in Hankey, PA" but I had to wonder ... what had happened to "Savage Grace"?  Well, I didn't have to wonder for very long at all for after the success of her first book, it wasn't long before it was decided that "Savage Grace" was finally going to be published only she wasn't savage anymore, she was unexpected.

"Grace Unexpected" - which had started out as an idea after Gale had visited one of the few remaining Shaker Villages in New England with her daughter - the very book that we members of the Unofficial Cheering Squad had chanted "Go Gale Go!" for - was now a reality!  Once again, I couldn't have been happier for Gale if I tried.  To know that all of that hard work and dedication and creativity hadn't gone for naught but had become the book that we always thought it would be just tickled me pink and then some as it validated that which I always knew to be true - that Gale Martin is a woman who can write and write well and make people laugh and take them out of their own worlds and into one that she has created for awhile with that writing.  And isn't that the true hallmark of a good writer? Someone who can tell a story so well that when you look up from the book you think, "Dang ... I've been reading for hours and never even noticed!"

So, anyway ... I have obviously digressed and lost track of my own story!  The reason that my friend Paula and I made the 2-1/2 hour journey from Connecticut to New Hampshire was because I was at long last going to have the opportunity to meet the woman that I had cheered on and admired and I was going to meet her in the very place where Grace had started - at the Canterbury Shaker Village in Canterbury, New Hampshire.

Even though the forecasts had been threatening rain, it turned out to be a beautiful day (though slightly warm at times) but I think the real beauty of the day was in meeting Gale and finding her to be exactly who I always thought she was - a woman with a great sense of humor, a terrific smile, a sharp wit, and just a lot of fun to be around.  The added bonus was that her husband Bill is the perfect partner for her and I could easily see why "Grace Unexpected" is dedicated to him "... with all of her love."  If we were cheering her on ourselves - and we were, we were! - I've got no doubt that Bill has always been Gale's biggest and bestest cheerleader and always will be.  They are the type of couple that when you meet them you think, "Yep, this is what a loving relationship is all about."  And then you go in the corner and cry because you don't have one yourself!  Well, no, not really ... I couldn't find a private corner ... and I didn't have any tissues ...

After introductions and chatting for awhile, Gale, Bill, Paula, and I took the guided tour of the Shaker Village and had a chance to go into the Meetinghouse where Grace has her epiphany (if you can call it that) along with a few of the other buildings that you can only see via guided tour.  Following that, we looked around a little bit and found the very spot that appears on the cover of "Grace Unexpected" - minus the daisies!

Oh wait - wrong book! That sneaky Don Juan just had to get in on the act! 

There we go!  Gale doing her best imitation of Grace - though I made her face forward so that you could see her big smile rather than stand with her back to the camera!  

Bill was nice enough to take a photo of Gale and I (which considering we were squinting into the sun didn't come out too badly!) so someday when Hollywood gets around to making movies of her two books - and they'd better if they know what's good for them! - I have photographic proof that I met Gale and "knew her when"!  Maybe a copy of the photo will get me into the opening night premiere! 

I have to say that over the years, I have been very, very fortunate to have met a lot of people in real life whom I first got to know via blogging and it is always a true pleasure and honor to do so. Gale was certainly no exception to that and I would have happily driven twice the distance to meet her and her wonderful husband but there was certainly something even more special about meeting Gale in the place that inspired Grace. And I'm not just saying that because I am mentioned in the Acknowledgements and there's even a character in the book named after me. Srsly. But I'm not saying anymore about that so you'll just have to get the book and read it to find out who and what my character is! Other than wicked awesome of course!

Thank you, Gale (and Bill!), for driving over from Vermont and getting lost and locking both sets of keys in your car and having to wait for the AAA guy to get there so that you could meet me in Canterbury!  Thank you for writing such a funny, witty, and fantastic book - two of them as a matter of fact!  And thank you not being unexpected at all but exactly the person that I expected you to be - and more!

You are my idol.

Q&A With Gale Martin, Author of "Don Juan in Hankey, PA" and "Grace Unexpected"

Just a few days over five years ago, I wrote a blog post wherein I called for others to help cheer on my blogging friend Gale Martin by joining the The Unofficial Gale Martin Novel Writing Cheering Squad  which was headed up by Frank of Foxxfyree's Honk'n'Holl'r. In order to inspire herself to spend less time blogging and more time diligently working on her novels, Gale told us ""For me blogging is like candy. It's a treat, like the one or two Swedish fish I have when I want to treat myself. In order to make myself finish my book, I'm only posting a blog entry if I've written three pages toward completing one of my two unfinished novels."

Wanting very much to see Gale's novel see the light of a publisher's office, we cheered her on in her endeavours with chants of "Go Gale! Go Gale! Go Gale!" but then it seemed that life got in the way and in spite of our very enthusiastic encouragement and cheering, things slowed down. BUT - and here's the important part - things didn't stop and last year I was overjoyed to learn that Gale's novel "Don Juan in Hankey, PA" was being released.  Granted, we had been cheering on a different novel with a working title of "Savage Grace" but that didn't matter one iota as DJ in HPA (as I've come to call it) was a wonderful read full of characters that came to life, humor, romance, and opera - something I didn't know much about but definitely learned during the course of reading about a small-town opera guild and their efforts to keep their heads above water by staging a production of "Don Giovanni".  DJ in HPA was one of those books that I just hated to see come to an end as I wanted to read more about the characters' adventures and lives and as I closed the book I thought "that couldn't possibly be it, could it??"

Fortunately for me, Gale is now working on a companion book to DJ in HPA but in the meantime, that novel that we were cheering on long ago is finally being published by Booktrope under the title "Grace Unexpected" and I couldn't be happier or more excited if I tried.  Yes, part of it is because there's a very small character in the book named after me (woohoo!) and part of it is because I am listed in the acknowledgments (what a treat!) along with Frank and other members of the unofficial cheering squad but mostly because Grace Savage has been waiting patiently to come to life full of snark and humor and sarcasm (a gal truly after my own heart!) for way too long and I am thrilled to see her finally make her debut.

I am also very, very happy for Gale who I knew was a fantastic writer long before other folks in the publishing world finally figured it out!  I'm so glad that the light finally went on for them and I hope that as more and more people read Gale's novels, they too will see that she was a talent who was undiscovered for way too long!

In the meantime, as part of this week's book launch for "Grace Unexpected", it was my pleasure to ask Gale a few questions about herself and her new novel as well as one about "Don Juan in Hankey, PA".  I hope you'll take the time to read the Q&A but more importantly, I hope you'll take the time to read one of Gale's books.  Afterward feel free to come back and tell me, "You were right, I loved the books and I want more!"

So Gale, let's get to it, shall we?

Which came first? The Shaker Plan or the main character?

The character Grace Savage preceded the Shaker Plan. It’s her essential nature - fun-loving and earthy (okay, too fun-loving) - that drives the conflict, that ramps up the stakes of the story. If there had been no need for Grace to reform - to change her ways - the Shaker Plan would’ve have been unnecessary.

How much like Grace Savage are you?

That’s a fair question. I think there’s a bit of yourself in every character and even more of you when you have a single protagonist through which you filter a tale. In some ways, Grace is my wish fulfillment. I always wanted to travel broadly, so I made Grace a great traveler though I myself am not well traveled. Same thing goes for boobs. Grace has great ones, and I . . . well . . . *author mumbles incoherently into her shirt sleeve.*

Besides grade-A tatas, you also can endow your characters with qualities you wish you exhibited more often. For instance, Grace is braver than me - I never would’ve abandoned someone like Lacy in the Nutshell. Grace is also more quick witted. Let me rephrase. I may think witty things, but I am not often inclined to share them for a myriad of reasons - job, family, decorum, hang-ups. By the way, I’m very funny when I do puppetry, too. Speaking through another persona in literature or through the medium of a hand puppet is liberating for me. These conventions allow me to let my hair down, so to speak.

Compared to most people, I believe I had an unusual reaction when I visited Shaker Village at Canterbury. While I was inspired by the order and the ingenuity of the Shakers, I thought it was a shame that generations of women bought into the myth that they couldn’t be the equal of men without sacrificing intimacy with them. Take that reaction and torque it up a few degrees for someone in her thirties who is in the prime of her mating and baby-making years, and you have a Grace Savage-scale response to the Canterbury settlement tour.

In terms of Grace’s libidinous character, well, I’ve been married for at least two decades—to the same person. So, I was relying on anecdotal information about the sex and mating habits of unattached young people. I am always surprised when women presenters at writing conferences say things like, “Oh, I’m just so glad I didn’t have to put any *looks around nervously* s-e-x in my book for it to be published,” like sex is evil or degrades fiction automatically with its inclusion. Why sex makes for such objectionable content in fiction written by women, other than in bodice rippers, is beyond me. It’s an important part of life. And if I were young and attractive and also unattached like Grace, it would be an important part of my life, too.

Did you know a lot about anthropology before you wrote the book?

Nada. Ah, and this is one of the things I love about writing fiction. I knew nothing about anthropology. Never even took a course in college. Only ever watched Indiana Jones movies. However, I have lots more interest in things like anthropology as I get older than I did when I was younger. Believe it or not, even for writing contemporary fiction, you have to do research. I have two big fat three-ring binders full of articles I used to do research for GRACE U. I even researched hot air ballooning and romantic hot air balloon getaways to write the book. Also things like weirdo freaky car shut downs on highways, and, of course, more Shakespeare. Even English majors can study more Shakespeare.

I probably couldn't write good dialogue if my life depended upon it so how did you get so good at writing dialogue?

Thank you for noticing that. I had a contest judge tell me my dialogue was the best of any entrant’s which was nice to hear since I didn’t win the contest. My first novel had no virtually no dialogue in it - that’s the truth. It was autobiographical fiction, and I was afraid to let my characters talk -- that I wouldn’t reproduce the conversations with enough authenticity. (And now they won’t keep quiet.) Actually, I read Gloria Kempton’s book on how to write dialogue called Dialogue  (from the Writer’s Digest Write Great Fiction series), did all the exercises, and rewrote that first book. Gloria’s handbook made all the difference for me. Then I took a class from her (online) and showed her everything I learned. Now, I like dialogue so much, I think I should write plays or something. I also LISTEN to how people really talk wherever I go. I’m a huge eavesdropper, just trying to catch the authentic flavor of casual conversation.

I also learned to write other stories besides things that have actually happened to me because fictionalizing your own life can be very limiting. Often, you can’t let go of such a limiting perspective in trying (too faithfully) to record what really happened and what was said. I honestly think my best dialogue and my best stories are yet to come.

What was the hardest part about writing your new book?

I wanted Grace to be a sympathetic character but I didn’t want her to be pathetic. Or too perfect. I honestly hate too-perfect women - like all the heroines in Mary Higgins Clark’s books. (Yes, I read them because she has an effortless writing style that I admire. Yes, I hated her protagonists.) Yet, you can’t give a character too hard of an edge or your reader might not like her. Striking that balance is difficult.

While it’s easy to make a 24-year-old guy appealing, how do you make your reader believe that Grace might be attracted to a 60-something man, who is more than 20 years her senior? There is a prototype for True from real-life. When I was 34, I did a benefit with a man in his sixties. Developed a total crush on him. Yes, I was married. It was one of those crushes-from-afar type attractions. But he was so talented and suave and confident that (unbeknownst to him) he became a character in a book I wrote fifteen years later. I attempted to tap into some of the feelings I experienced upon meeting and befriending this older gentleman all those years ago. Some people you never forget.

If you could take one character from “Don Juan in Hankey, PA” and one character from “Savage Grace” and combine the two as subjects for your next novel, which ones would it be and why?

Now there’s a doozy of a question. I think I would have Arnaud meet Goody. Perhaps Arnaud would hire Goody to run the balloon store since he’s so busy with his volunteer work with the guild. It would also be tempting to put Leandro Vasquez together with Lacy McBride. The man might meet his match in that vixen. Surely such a pairing would make for steamy scenes (except that I’m not a great steamy scene writer—more like funny and steamy - with the promise of sex fizzling out by the end of the scene for one reason or another.)

Gale Martin’s humorous backstage novel Don Juan in Hankey, PA was published by Booktrope Editions in 2011. She has a master of arts in creative writing from Wilkes University. She has worked in higher education marketing for ten years and lives in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, a rich source of inspiration for her writing. Her blog “Scrivengale” can be found on her website at http://galemartin.me.

An online book launch for GRACE UNEXPECTED continues through July 20 at Gale Martin’s website: http://galemartin.squarespace.com/grace-unexpected/. Win one of 30 different ebooks from dozens of authors, copies of GRACE UNEXPECTED, or the grand prize - a big bag of paperback books by stopping in during that week and signing the guestbook.

In addition, there are a limited number of print review copies available and numerous ebooks for early readers on a first-come, first-served basis. Simply email galemartin (dot) writer (at) gmail (dot) com to request one.

You can find Gale at:
Website: http://galemartin.me
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Gale_Martin (@Gale_Martin)
Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/GaleMartinAuthor
Email: galemartin (dot) writer (at) gmail (dot) com

Author! Author!

When I went in search of some history from the American Revolution in Lexington and Concord last week I stumbled upon another type of history that I'm sure I would have remembered if I didn't have a brain that resembles a large chunk of Swiss cheese these days.  I had completely and totally forgotten that Concord was home to some of our more famous American authors - Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathanial Hawthorne, and Louisa May Alcott.  Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that but it hadn't even registered until I found myself driving past the house where Louisa May Alcott lived in 1868 when she penned one of my very favorite books - Little Women.  Unfortunately I wasn't going to have time to tour the house but that sure the heck didn't stop me from turning around at the first available opportunity and taking some pictures!

Orchard House

Situated on the historic road that runs from Concord to Lexington, the first permanent home of Amos Bronson Alcott, a teacher, writer and philosopher who left a legacy of forward-thinking social ideas, and his family was named the Orchard House in honor of the forty apple trees that were part of the 12-acre parcel of land that he bought in 1857 for $945. The farmhouse that was on the land when Alcott bought it was built sometime between 1690-1720 and even though many improvements were made to the home at the time it was purchased, there have been very few renovations since then which leaves the house in almost the exact same condition it was in when Louisa May and her family resided there from 1858 to 1877.

According to their website:  "A guided tour of Orchard House introduces visitors both to objects which were important to the family and to the family members themselves: Amos Bronson Alcott ("Mr. March" in Little Women), a teacher and Transcendental philosopher; Abigail May Alcott ("Marmee" in Little Women), an independent-minded 19th century woman who was one of the first paid social workers in Massachusetts; Anna Alcott Pratt ("Meg" in Little Women), who had a flair for acting; Louisa May Alcott ("Jo" in Little Women), well-known author and advocate for social reform; Elizabeth Sewall Alcott ("Beth" in Little Women), the "Angel in the House" who died shortly before the family moved to Orchard House; and May Alcott Nieriker, ("Amy" in Little Women), a very talented artist.

That settles it, I'm going to have to go back when I have time to actually tour the house!  Luckily for me the house is open even during the winter months so I'm sure that at some point I'll be able to combine a visit to see Amanda with a tour of Orchard House.  After all, it's been said that Amanda and Louisa May look somewhat alike!

Even though Little Women was based around the Alcott family, the setting wasn't the Orchard House but a home they referred to as "Hillside" when they lived in it from 1845 to 1852.  As it turns out, Hillside, which is now known as The Wayside, is a short walk from Orchard House on the same historic road to Lexington.

The Wayside

In 1717, the property and house belonged to Minuteman Samuel Whitney and from 1775-1776, during the nine months that Harvard was relocated to Concord, the house was occupied by John Winthrop who was one of the most renowned scientists in the country.  In 1845 Amos Bronson Alcott and his family took up residency in the house and named it Hillside.  When the Alcotts moved to Boston in 1848, the home was rented out for a time until it was bought by another author, Nathanial Hawthorne, in 1852 for $1500.

Before purchasing the only home that he would ever actually own, the acclaimed author of The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven Gables, and Twice-Told Tales, had lived in The Old Manse in Concord with his wife, Sophia, shortly after they were married and then at a rented home in Lenox, Massachusetts.  The house that he and Sophia would be moving into along with their three young children, Una, Julian, and Rose was only about two miles away from where they began their married life together.

The Old Manse

Hawthorne renamed the house The Wayside as it stood so close to the road he said that it could be mistaken for a coach stop.  Alcott never accepted the name change but considering it wasn't his house anymore, he didn't have any say in what it was called - though he continued to call it Hillside when they moved back from Boston and into the Orchard House.

While the Hawthornes were in Europe after Nathaniel was appointed United States counsel at Liverpool, the house was leased and rented to members of their family, including Sophia's sister, Mary Peabody (Mrs.Horace) Mann. Upon their return, Hawthorne spent the last four years of his life in the house with his family from 1860-1864.

Following several other sales of the home, in 1883 it was bought by Boston publisher Daniel Lothrop and his wife, Harriett, who wrote The Five Little Peppers (another of my favorite childhood books) and other children's books under her pen name Margaret Sidney. The Lothrops greatly admired Hawthorne's writing and wanted to make as few changes as possible to his only home and they even bought some of the Hawthorne's old furniture to put back in the house.  After Margaret Sidney's death in 1924, the home was inherited by her daughter, aslo named Margaret, who opened the home to the public in 1927.

In 1963 the house was designated a National Historic Landmark and stayed in the family until 1965 when Margaret Sidney donated it to be part of Minute Man National Historical Park as the very first literary site to be acquired by the National Park Service. After extensive restoration, the house was opened to the public in 1971 and in 1985 it was designated a National Historic Landmark for the second time. Just why it was designated that twice I'm not sure but I'll have to find out if/when I get the chance to tour the house.

Again having a brain of total Swiss cheese, I completely neglected to get any pictures of Ralph Waldo Emerson's home which was just about a half mile up the road from Orchard House and The Wayside but I guess that just gives me yet another reason to get myself back up to Concord at some point.  I did, however, remember that the cemetery where Emerson, Hawthorne, Thoreau, and Alcott are all buried was close by so it was then off to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and Author's Ridge.

Not to be confused with the cemetery of the same name in Tarrytown, New York, Concord's Sleepy Hollow Cemetery was dedicated on September 29th, 1855 in a ceremony wherein Ralph Waldo Emerson gave a speech.  With that, I guess it's only right that he was buried there after his death in 1882.  The land itself had been known as Sleepy Hollow for a good twenty years before it became a cemetery and it was left pretty much as is rather than becoming more park-like as a lot of cemeteries are.

On a northwest hill overlooking the cemetery is Author's Ridge where, after a short climb, one can find the graves of Concord's famous authors, thinkers, and members of the Transcendentalist movement.  The graves are very modest as are the tributes that people leave there - mostly pine cones and a few other tokens to show that they were there and paid their respects.

Individual grave markers of Hawthorne, Thoreau, LM Alcott, and the plague on Emerson's grave which reads
"The passive master lent his hand, To the vast Soul which o'er him planned."

The Thoreau Family Gravestone

The Hawthorne Family Gravesite

The Alcott Family Gravestone

Gravestones of Ralph Waldo Emerson and his wife, Lidian

All in all, it was an interesting little side-trip in my search for things historic and it definitely gives me good reason to go back up to Concord one of these days. Not that I need a good reason, mind you!