Friday, February 19, 2010

Coffee with a canine: Susan Breen & Tino and Spencer

This weekend's featured trio at Coffee with a Canine: Susan Breen & Tino and Spencer.

Breen, on how they came together and the origin of the dogs' names:
I had a Golden Retriever growing up and knew I wanted one for my family. We got Tino from a breeder. Spencer, I have to confess, I saw in a pet store window. I fell in love with him the moment I saw him.

Tino is named for Tino Martinez, who was a first baseman for the Yankees at the time. Spencer is named for Shane Spencer, who was...[read on]
Susan Breen's novel, The Fiction Class, is the story of a woman's relationship with her ailing mother and the offbeat members of the creative writing workshop she leads. Among the praise for the novel:
“In this poignant, funny novel, a writing teacher, nearly 40 and single, is concerned not with romance or writing, but with her difficult, dying mother—until she teaches her mother to write.”
--MORE magazine, which named The Fiction Class a “Don’t Miss Book.”

“This is a delightful first novel written with genuine wit and personality.”
--
Dennis Lythgoe, Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City, Utah)
Breen's short stories have been published by a number of literary magazines, among them American Literary Review and anderbo (which lists her story “Triplet” as an anderbo classic).

Visit
Susan Breen's website and blog.

Writers Read: Susan Breen.

Read--Coffee with a Canine: Susan Breen & Tino and Spencer.

--Marshal Zeringue