"Everybody Reads" author to visit county libraries

Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter | Nov 02, 20170

A prison guard, a riot, a one-motel Montana town, an only child in north Spokane.

They all come together in Colfax Tuesday, Nov. 7, with a visit from author S.M. Hulse and her “Everybody Reads” selection “Black River.”

The 12 p.m. luncheon at Colfax library is part of four days of events from Nez Perce to Pullman for the program in which people read the same book in the tri-county area. One title is featured each year.

For 2017, it is Hulse’s debut novel (2015), written as part of graduate work in Creative Writing at the University of Oregon. She grew up in Spokane, finishing at St. George’s High School in 2002.

“Black River” is the story of Wes Carver, an ex-prison guard, injured in a long-ago riot who hears of his tormenter’s pending release. The book earned strong reviews from the Washington Post to the Boston Globe to Publishers Weekly. It was named a 2016 PEN/Hemingway Finalist and a 2016 American Library Association Notable Book.

“You try not to have expectations,” Hulse said. “I’m certainly pleased with the reaction.”

Before all of this, she went to the University of Montana, getting her degree in English, with a teaching concentration.

“I was trying to be practical,” she said, whose first name is Sarah.

Her parents are a retired English teacher mother and a journalist father.

“With that pedigree it was not a huge surprise they got a novelist,” said Hulse.

Spark

The initial idea for “Black River” came from the land.

Hulse competed on the college equestrian team at Montana.

“You would see things, and notice things,” she said. “In Deer Lodge, the juxtaposition of the prison walls, fences and the big sky Montana landscape. I’m very interested in place and setting in fiction.”

She learned to play fiddle for the book but otherwise her research was minimal.

“I followed around a horse shoer for a day,” Hulse said. “As a horse owner, it was just about what my horse needs, as a writer, how heavy are the tools, what color is the forge in the fire?”

During the writing of the book, certain music played, including Bob Dylan singing “Every Grain of Sand” (1981).

The manuscript was sold in summer 2013, just as Hulse was finishing a year as a fiction fellow at the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing.

Education

She always loved horses and began riding lessons in Colbert at age 12. In high school, Hulse spent a year as a page in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C.

“I was that kid that wrote a draft of a novel in high school,” said Hulse, who is now in her second year teaching creative writing at University of Nevada-Reno.

Her first semester of college was at Georgetown, in the School of Foreign Service, planning for an International Politics major.

“I realized, maybe I’m more interested in the people involved then I am the charts and the policies,” Hulse said.

Agent

contacts her

After finishing at Montana, she worked at Moscow High School for a year, teaching English and American Literature. Next was U. of O. and a fully-paid three years; teaching classes with a stipend.

It was there that “Black River” came to be, Hulse writing it without a distinct outline.

“I don’t like everything sorted out,” she said. “I tend to write to a point of decision for a character. I knew Wes would face off with Bobby Williams. By the time I got there, I knew him well enough I knew what he would do.”

The first draft was 125,000 words. The published book is 80,000.

What about the leap of all leaps – to get an agent?

“He read a short story of mine and contacted me,” said Hulse.

The story, called “Sine Die,” was her first published story – in the Eastern Washington University journal Willow Springs.

She later sent query letters and looked for other agents, before settling on her first option, signing a two-book contract with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Fruition

For Hulse’s appearance in Colfax, and the Uniontown library (Monday, 1 p.m.) and Neill Public Library (7 p.m. Monday) in Pullman, she will read some from the book and talk about the process.

“I really love the Q&A part,” she said.

Along with teaching, she is now refining what will be her second book, with a working title of “Eden Mine.” Also a Western Montana story, it is about a woman whose brother is caught in anti-government extremism.

What most surprised Hulse about this process? Submission, publication and success?

“How many people really want your book to succeed,” she said.

When did she first know she could really do this?

“Some of it is knowing that I wanted it more than being good enough,” she said. “That I loved the not-as-fun parts.”

All are invited for the Colfax event. Bring a sack lunch or RSVP to order lunch for $13 by calling 397-4366.