HoCoPoLitSo welcomes all to the May edition of the Wilde Readings Series, with Eric D. Goodman and Charles Rammelkamp, hosted by Linda Joy Burke. Join us at the Columbia Art Center on Tuesday, May 14th at 7 p.m., at 6100 Foreland Garth, Columbia, MD 21045. Please spread the word— bring your friends, family and students! Light refreshments will be served and books by the readers available for sale.

An open mic follows the featured authors and we encourage you to participate. Please prepare no more than five minutes of performance time, about two poems. Sign up when you arrive, or in advance by calling the Columbia Arts Center at (410)-730-0075.

Below, get to know Eric and Charles!

Who is the person in your life (past or present) that shows up most often in your writing?

Eric: That’s a hard question to answer because rather than base characters or situations on a specific person, I tend to base them on aspects of different people or occurrences. For example, a character may be inspired by traits or reactions or situations of a number of different people. Friends and family have certainly recognized themselves (or certain situations) in my fiction and poetry before.

Charles: My wife, Abby.

Where is your favorite place to write?

Eric: There have been times that I’ve written on the fly, in a cafe or bar, park or restaurant. But my favorite place to write (unless I’m on a writing retreat) is at my own desk in my own home. Portions of all my books have been written at the same simple, pine desk that used to belong to my father, although most of my writing now takes place at the desk in my home office where my computer awaits.

Charles: At the computer.

Do you have any consistent pre-writing rituals?

Eric: I do my best writing in the morning, after a cup (or two) of coffee. When I’m submerged in a project, I tend to do a little reading or research for an hour or so before jumping into the writing.

Charles: Not particularly.

Who always gets a first read?

Eric: I have a small group of about half a dozen writer friends who always get gifted (or burdened) with a first read— but not until I feel my first draft is reader-ready. I’ve come to depend on these beta readers because I do believe writing in isolation without a sounding board can make for less clear writing. If three or four readers independently think something isn’t working, it probably isn’t working no matter how much I may want it to.

Charles: Of my writing? I have a few penpals I try things out on, writers/poets themselves.

What is a book you’ve read more than twice (and would read again)?

Eric: There are many. I’m a big fan of Steinbeck and have read The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, and East of Eden several times. I’m also a fan of George Saunders and have read Pastoralia and Tenth of December more than once. And some of the books of Alice Monroe, Jonathan Franzen, and David Mitchell. Reading a book that you loved again is like comfort food. Even though my list of new books to read never gets shorter, I still take time to read old books again.

Charles: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.

What is the most memorable reading you have attended?

Eric: I once participated in an anthology reading that had a negative audience-to-reader ratio. There were more readers than there were members in the audience. That was memorable, although not necessarily in a good way. We still had a fun time.

Charles: T.C. Boyle at AWP Minneapolis, 2015.

• Eric D. Goodman is author of seven books, including Faraway Tables (Yorkshire Publishing, forthcoming), Wrecks and Ruins (Loyola University’s Apprentice House Press, 2022), The Color of Jadeite (Apprentice House, 2020), Setting the Family Free (Apprentice House, 2019), Womb: a novel in utero (Merge Publishing, 2017), Tracks: A Novel in Stories (Atticus Books, 2011), and Flightless Goose (Writer’s Lair, 2008) and more than 100 published travel stories, short stories and articles. He’s also co-founder and curator of Baltimore’s Lit and Art Reading Series.

You can learn more about Eric and his writing at ericdgoodman.com, and on Facebook as edgewriter and Twitter @edgewrite.

• Charles Rammelkamp is Prose Editor for BrickHouse Books in Baltimore. His poetry collection, A
Magician Among the Spirits, poems about Harry Houdini, is a 2022 Blue Light Press Poetry winner. Another
poetry collection entitled Transcendence has also recently been published by BlazeVOX Books and a
collection of flash fiction, Presto, has just been published by Bamboo Dart Press. A collection of poems and flash called See What I Mean? will be published later this year by Kelsay Books.

Keeping it old-school, Charles does not maintain a personal website, but his books are available through Amazon and independent sellers, and a search for his name will turn up results in numerous online and print journals.