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One bright and sunny morning in August,
over frittatas at Cafe Flore, Daniel Handler told me what he's up to.
The short answer: Handler - a native San Franciscan with a wicked sense
of humor, innumerable talents, and many, many irons in the fire - will
see the release of a book and two movies within four months. He's on
a nationwide tour for the book, writing another, putting final edits
on yet another, co-writing a movie musical, making appearances around
the City, promoting his new band and keeping up with his year-old son,
Otto.
For those not in the know, the affable Handler is known in younger
circles as Lemony Snicket, the elusive author of the immensely popular Series
of Unfortunate Events books for children; Book the Eleventh:
The Grim Grotto
was released in September, and a movie based on the first three books
is raking it in at the box office. He's at work on the 12th book
of 13, and, when asked for a hint as to the fate of the Baudelaire
orphans, he casts Snicket's trademark gloom over the end of the series: "I
guess my hope for it is that I'm not faced with some sort of angry
mob."
* * * * * * * *
What could be more entertaining than
spending a Saturday afternoon in a bookstore bursting with children?
Hundreds
of kids, ranging in age from about three to fourteen, had dragged
their parents to A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books hoping to catch
a
glimpse
of
Lemony Snicket, who was scheduled to read from The Grim Grotto,
the newest installment in the Unfortunate Events series.
Unfortunately, their patience was rewarded by the arrival of a rather
timid man in
a suit - Handler - who informed them that Mr. Snicket had been delayed
and would not be appearing as scheduled. Posing as Snicket's representative,
he went on to engage the throng of captivated children with interactive
stories and songs, funny noises and, of course, moral lessons. Some
of the parents in attendance seemed either bemused or wishing they
could hire this strange man to entertain their children daily.
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Adults know Handler as the author of two
"grown-up" novels, The Basic Eight, about a high-school
murder, and Watch Your Mouth, an "incest comedy."
His third novel for adults, Adverbs, is expected late next
year.
In September, Handler participated in an onstage conversation with author
Dave Eggers at the Herbst Theatre, as part of a series of fortunate
events benefiting 826 Valencia, Eggers' nonprofit tutoring center. The
two told stories about their early writing endeavors, and Handler talked
about his first foray into publishing: a short-lived magazine called
American Chickens.
"We took an ordinary sheet of paper and folded it [4 times], so
it was [1/4 page]," he explained. "The idea was that it could
be printed on one sheet of paper. And we had a theme every issue: Julian
Sands was one of our themes, marriage, jail, very small things, the
breakup of Geena Davis and Jeff Goldblum ..."
The two writers also read passages from two of their favorite books:
Jim Shepard's Love and Hydrogen, and Anagrams by Lorrie
Moore. Handler revealed how much his writing has been influenced by
Moore, especially by Anagrams.
"The most embarrassing thing about rereading Anagrams
for this evening was realizing that I'd stolen from her again,"
he said. "I stole from her in The Basic Eight and I stole
from her in Watch Your Mouth." (Note: Handler told me
he also borrowed something from Moore's Birds of America for
the second Unfortunate Events book.) "It's a short book,"
he said. "There's only, like, five words left that I could steal.
And I've written a new novel, which will be out next year, that is stolen
completely from Anagrams."
"And what is the name of the new novel?" Eggers asked.
Handler, after a long pause: "Adverbs." (Crowd erupts
into laughter.)
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