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ARTS & CULTURE
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KANSAN.COM | MONDAY, SEP. 14, 2015
HOROSCOPES »
WHAT'S YOUR SIGN?
Aries (March 21-April 19)
Begin a 21-month phase
(until 12/19/17) of educational revelation as Saturn re-enters Sagittarius. Boldly explore the unknown. Leave old paradigms for new possibilities. Apply discipline toward discovery through studies, research and
Taurus (April 20-May 20)
Handle legal and business matters from a big.picture, long-term perspective. Begin a
tent action.
phase of disciplined financial management as Saturn re-enters Sagittarius (until 2017). Expand your family's net worth through bold and consis-
freedom, commitment and responsibility in your
Gemini (May 21-June 20)
Saturn re-enters Sagittarius until 12/19/17. Redefine freedom, commitment
partnerships. Release old patterns, and cherish valued qualities. Apply dedicated, persistent actions to maintain the ties that bind. Nurture love.
Cancer (June 21-July22)
With Saturn in Sagittarius
(until 2017), redefine your
work to balance service
with health. Disciplined
practices provide results
for fitness as well as pro-
fessional goals. Maintain
scheduled practices for
steady growth
Leo (July 23-Aug. 22)
Apply discipline to your
favorite game. Explore
your talents, skills and
passions, with Saturn in
Sagittarius (until 2017).
You're back on track to
win. Re-kindle the romance. Go for mastery.
steady growth.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept.22) Focus efforts for home and family over the next phase, with Saturn in Sagittarius until 12/19/17. Renovations, organization
Bnd domestic projects thrive with disciplined action. Take care of family matters. Bring the bacon.
Libra (sept. 23-Oct. 22)
Redefine paradigms,
especially around communications,
as Saturn re-enters Sagittarius
until 12/19/17. Release old practices, and connect in new ways. Grow your audience. Speak out for the world you want to create.
Get started now.
Get the word out.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov.21)
Cultivate practical avenues. Meditate on the desired result. Discipline reaps financial rewards, with Saturn in Sagittarius (again, until 12/19/17). It could be an especially profitable period, with persistence and dedication
Sagittarius(Nov.22-Dec.21)
Sagittarius(Nov.22-Dec.21)
Practice your skills.
Saturn re-enters your sign until 12/19/17. True your path to your heart,
and increase time with the work, activities and people you love. Use your strengths and talents for
inspiring projects.
Capricorn(Dec. 22-Jan.19)
Contemplation, review and research produce valuable results as Saturn re-enters Sagittarius (until 12/19/17). Make long-term plans, and chart your course. Guard your mental, physical and spiritual health with dedication to exercise, meditation and good food.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb.18)
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb.18) Friends provide the motivation, inspiration and teamwork to make the changes you want. Collaboration with your network and connections produces results, with Saturn back in Sagittarius
Saturn back in Sagittarius (until 12/19/17).
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
Stick to practical strategies. Committed discipline at work raises your career to new levels, with Saturn in Sagittarius again (post retrograde). This professional phase reveals hidden truths and rewards responsible leadership
Milward's first story, "The Burning of Lawrence," was the springboard for "I Was a Revolutionary: Stories."
Lawrence author Andrew Milward says book of stories is a 'love letter' to his home state's complex history
MYSHA PHELPS
@KansanNews
Kansas may seem like a quiet place and when most people think of it, "Wizard of Oz" is often their point of reference.
However, for Lawrence native and 2012 Juniper Prize winner, Andrew Milward, Kansas has political intrigue, interesting historical characters and a spring of inspiration, which led to his most recent work, "I Was A Revolutionary: Stories"
The book is a collection of short stories that was released this August that takes on these various historical topics peculiar to Kansas and gives them new life for today's readers. "I Was A Revolutionary: Stories" pairs Kansas history with a fictional narrative, blending the two to create moving prose of the human experience.
Milward decided to write about topics particular to Kansas because he always felt an affinity for his home state. He moved from Lexington, Ky. to Lawrence with his mother and brother after his dad left the family when he was around three-years-old. During the years he spent here, his family had to remake itself.
at the University of Western Connecticut to be a part of their team. During his time there, however, he discovered his passion for writing.
CONTRIBUTED
"In college I ended up in a senior-only English course on the fiction of the Vietnam War by mistake," Milward said. "I was amazed that a voice not too dissimilar from my own could write so deeply."
"Lawrence definitely feels like home to me and I often describe it that way," Milward said. "It's where [my family] had to learn to be a new kind of family — a trio instead of a quartet — that emerged from the trauma un-destroyed. Thankfully we did and my childhood in Lawrence was incredibly happy."
Though he only spent 12 years of his childhood in Lawrence before moving to Connecticut, his hometown inspired his love of basketball and eventual love of history. Throughout high school, he was mostly interested in basketball and went to college
After attending the University of Western Connecticut for a couple of years, Milward transferred to the University of Arizona to obtain his undergraduate degree. He moved back to Lawrence to take a year off before entering graduate school. During that time, he worked a job secured by a family connection at a doctor's office.
"I've always loved Lawrence so it was great to move back, if just for a year," he said.
Milward first started investigating Kansas history at the Iowa Writer's workshop during his graduate career. He was looking for inspiration for short story pieces and found various events that shaped the state's overall character.
"I was shocked by all that I found out and didn't know about Kansas," Milward said. "I knew almost nothing about Kansas history and if it was that way for me having grown up there then I was certain most folks outside Kansas knew even less."
From the early years before Kansas became the 34th state to enter the Union on the eve of civil war, to the ethical controversies that surround certain organizations such as Planned Parenthood and the Westboro Baptist Church today, the state has witnessed its fair share of strife. Quantrill's Raid, a massacre committed right here in Lawrence by pro-Confederate factions in the 1860s, particularly piqued
the author's interest.
Milward decided he wanted to write a short story about this historical moment, which became the first essay to start his collection entitled, "The Burning of Lawrence." That essay was the springboard for his future work.
"The fact that the stories are based in our shared Kansas history is fascinating," University Event Coordinator, Lisa Eitner, said. "That Andrew has received much acclaim and many awards for his writing and is also a respected teacher of writers tells me that he is an ideal speaker to appear at KU.
When Milward first sat down to officially write "I Was A Revolutionary: Stories" back in 2006, he made a conscious decision to stick to the short story form.
"I wanted to do something contradictory: having stories that stood alone but somehow felt epic," he said.
Milward had uncovered narratives that ranged from formation of the Populist Party in the 1890s to radical youth groups in the 1960s; he decided to write these stories into fictional prose.
"One of the challenges of the book was wondering how to engage [Kansas] history," Milward said. "In some stories like 'O Death,' I recreated the history through fiction and dropped the reader into the moment. In other stories, I mediated the history through another character."
In many other narratives in Milward's collection, such as "The Americanist" and "A Defense of History," he employs the use of a storyteller to investigate the events of a particular historical moment. The characters Milward creates in these stories are forced to deal with drama in their own lives outside of the past narrative framed within.
"I had to make the character's storyline as interesting as the history presented. I couldn't make these character's cardboard cut-outs," Milward said.
Milward doesn't shy away from politics in his stories either. The book has a fair share of subtle political commentary, open to interpretation, he said.
"When writing politically, the writing risks coming off as propaganda or didactic, all the arrows point in one direction. [But] in good fiction. [it] points in multiple directions with a lot of gray area." Milward said.
Even though the stories in the collection could be read in
any order the reader chooses, the book was very carefully structured from beginning to end.
"The reader who reads the book all the way through will see how the stories talk to each other," Milward said. "I hope those who read the book could see this conversation and draw their own conclusions as to the message."
Ultimately, the author wanted to honor the state that inspired him to do so much.
"In a way the book is a love letter to Kansas and all that is inspiring and troubling in its history," he said.
Former student's novel tackles themes of morality meant to provoke questions
CONTRIBUTED
ner, published
The author of "One World Close," Collin Turner, published his novel through a subsidiary of Amazon.
JARRET ROGERS
@JarretRogers
In the past year, Collin Turner has stayed up late, become a self-described poor college student and made a little money. But it wasn't because he was throwing parties and charging a nickel to get in. Turner was writing his debut novel, "One World Close."
Turner, a 22-year-old from Wichita, put his first novel out to the masses last month. Eager to discuss his work, Turner, who is taking a semester off for financial reasons, is brutally honest and writes with his personal sense of humor.
"I tend to be very dry, very snarky. I don't stay serious
too often," Turner said. "I've already had people say I have a very brazen, breezy writing style. People take themselves too seriously. I think a lot of people's interactions would go a lot smoother if we weren't afraid to swear more in public and call people what they are. And I mean, there's a fine line between that and being an asshole."
The novel, published through a subsidiary of Amazon, follows the story of newly anointed President Malcolm Cobul. A charismatic man, Cobul commits mass murder and has set his sights on taking over the world before anyone catches on to what he's doing.
As a neurolinguistics major, Turner was interested in the
"Everyone's first book is either themselves as Jesus or Satan, and I don't think I get too far away from that," Turner said. "There are a lot of elements of me in the main characters. A lot of elements of my personality are in Malcom, but a lot of my questions about morality are in Callie.
morality of humans and what drives people to make the decisions they do. His questions about these topics seep in through the book's characters.
"I don't think any of the characters are me, and by no means is the book me expose-ing for 214 pages about what I think is right," he said. "But obviously everyone writes their personal experiences."
The thought process for the book began four years ago, but the writing of "One World Close" began a little less than a year ago. It was originally just a "fun story about a guy taking over the world," but Turner wanted to make the book more meaningful.
"I can joke all I want about wanting writing for the money, but I don't want to put something on the shelf I can't be proud of," Turner said. "There is plenty of place for fiction that is mindless, doesn't take any investment. I don't think I can contribute anything to that field, so I might as well make it deep and insightful, even if it's not."
"I don't want to put answers in people's head because I don't have them." Turner said. "Any answers I give are going to be pseudo-philosophical crap, but I think I can ask the questions in a unique and interesting way."
Turner's attempt at sparking a conversation about morality isn't meant to be a serious end-all-be-all stopping point for the morality of the world. He doesn't want to provide answers but, rather, questions.
"There would be nights when I would sit down entirely too late and look up at 4 a.m. and realize I wrote 10,000 words."
at 4 a.m. and realize I wrote 10,000 words."
COLLIN TURNER Author
In the process of writing the novel, Turner started bouncing ideas off of his friend Libby O'Neil.
The balance of classwork and writing a book didn't present an overwhelming challenge to Turner, he said. He didn't have set writing times but started typing when he felt like he should.
"Writing doesn't take that much out of life. I kind of wrote when I felt like I should write," Turner said. "There would be nights when I would sit down entirely too late and look up
"I was intrigued by his description of the novel and where he wanted it to go," O'Neil said. "During his writing process, we discussed the plot and characters of the books several times."
Turner hopes to keep writing and has a few things in the work; while he takes this semester off. But if things begin to catch on, graduation could be on the back burner for good.
"If this started selling like hot cakes, I probably wouldn't go back to school," Turner said. "I feel like I sucked all the useful information out of my major that I wanted."
He said he isn't overly ambitious with where his career is headed, but he knows that writing books is what he wants his life's work to be.
"I don't need to be the next Tom Clancy," he said. "I don't need to be worth $300 million, but I would like to support myself with my writing going forward.
"I love writing. I think I'm genuinely good at it," he said.
- Edited by Scott Chasen
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