Padme's Library: 12/13/19

Friday, December 13, 2019

📘🎥Friday's Film Adaptation🎥📘: The Day they Gave Babies Away by Dave Eunson

Summary:
Based on a true story, this book tells the tale of a 12-year-old boy who, after the death of his parents, gives his five younger brothers and sisters away to carefully chosen families on Christmas Day.

Pioneer children fight to build a new family after their parents die.

Release Date: November 13, 1957
Release Time: 103 minutes

Cast:
Glynis Johns as Mamie
Cameron Mitchell as Robert
Rex Thompson as Robbie
Patty McCormack as Annabelle
Ernest Truex as Doctor Delbert
Hope Emerson as Mrs. Pugmire
Alan Hale, Jr. as Tom Cullen
Sylvia Field as Lelia Delbert
Royal Dano as Howard Tyler
Reta Shaw as Mrs. Runyon
Stephen Wootton as Jimmy
Butch Bernard as Kirk
Yolanda White as Elizabeth
Rita Johnson as Katie Tyler
Ellen Corby as Mrs. Raiden
Rosalyn Boulter as Mrs. Stephens
Francis De Sales as Mr. Stephens
Jon Provost as Robbie Eunson - age 6

Author Bio:
From the NY Times obituary March 9, 2002:
Dale Eunson, a prolific writer whose career spanned seven decades of scripts for movies, television and the theater, died on Feb. 20 at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in the San Fernando Valley. He was 97.

Mr. Eunson's gift for writing emerged in his childhood, when he transcribed the true story of his father, who, as a newly orphaned son of Scottish immigrants, traveled through the Wisconsin snow on Christmas Eve in 1868 to find homes for his five younger siblings. The story, ''The Day They Gave Babies Away,'' was published in a magazine and was later turned into a film and a children's novel.

Mr. Eunson moved to Los Angeles with his family in the early 1920's and attended the University of Southern California for a year. He then worked as a movie studio publicist before becoming a secretary to the novelist Rupert Hughes.

Hughes later referred him to Ray Long, editor of Cosmopolitan magazine; he was hired and quickly ascended the company ranks, becoming associate editor in 1933.

Mr. Eunson married another writer, Katherine Albert, in 1931 and collaborated with her on Broadway plays in the 1940's; she died in 1970. They also wrote the 1950's movie scripts ''On the Loose,'' starring their daughter, Joan Evans; and ''The Star,'' featuring Bette Davis.

Among the couple's television scripts were several episodes of ''Leave It to Beaver'' and ''Little House on the Prairie.''

IMDB / B&N / AMAZON

INDIE BOUND / GOODREADS

Unfortunately many online booksellers such as Amazon were from 3rd party sellers

asking unreasonably high prices that I could not in good faith include the links here.

I suggest your best bet would be local used bookstores and/or libraries

INDIE BOUND / GOODREADS TBR

Film

AMAZON US / AMAZON UK / B&N / AFI

ALL MOVIE / WIKI / IMDB / TCM

Blog Tour: We Still Live by Sara Dobie Bauer

Title: We Still Live

Author: Sara Dobie Bauer

Genre: M/M Romance

Release Date: December 9, 2019

Publisher: NineStar Press

Cover Design: Natasha Snow

Summary:
To escape the past, accept it.

Running from a scandal that ruined his life, Isaac Twain accepts a teaching position at Hambden University where, three months prior, Professor John Conlon stopped a campus nightmare by stepping in front of an active shooter.

When John and Isaac become faculty advisors for the school's literary magazine, their professional relationship evolves. Despite the strict code of conduct forbidding faculty fraternization, they delve into a secret affair—until Simon arrives.

Isaac's violent ex threatens not only their careers, but also John's life. His PTSD triggered, John must come to terms with that bloody day on College Green while Isaac must accept the heartbreak his secrets have wrought.

***WE STILL LIVE is a standalone M/M friends-to-lovers romance featuring detailed adult content, graphic violence, hurt/comfort, and mental illness.***

Close as they were to the foyer, Isaac was the first to notice the front door opening. A student walked inside. The kid dragged a heavy-looking suitcase behind him. Dressed as he was in a slim-fitting button-down, Isaac immediately assumed preppy, although that assumption altered and changed when taking into account the tight black jeans, Converse sneakers, and shaggy hair the color of caramel and chocolate—a mass of waves and curls that fell down the back of his neck but not quite to his shoulders.

The kid pushed his hair out of the way and looked up, eyes finding Isaac and flashing a moment of panicked nonrecognition before seeing Tommy.

“Um.” Isaac pointed toward the new arrival.

Tommy turned and shouted, “John! My man!”

Not a student, then.

Tommy wrapped John in a hug that actually lifted his feet off the ground. Isaac imagined it wouldn’t be difficult. The new guy might have been average height, but he was gangly, skin and bones.

Tommy ruffled his hair. “Have you lost weight?”

John grumbled and scratched his face with his middle finger. “What are you freeloaders doing in my house?” His voice was surprisingly resonant for someone Isaac considered “pretty.” At John’s pronouncement, crows of approval rang from every direction.

“Come meet Isaac,” Tommy said.

John wiped his palms on his jeans before reaching out to shake, and Isaac’s large hand dwarfed his.

“Isaac Twain is the newest addition to our special corner of Hambden hell. Isaac, this is John Conlon.”

John brushed more hair out of his face. “Nice to—”

“John Conlon?”

John and Tommy froze.

Isaac jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “The books on the shelf. Those are yours?”

John’s face, immobile in what looked like dread a moment before, melted into relief, tinged with a bit of blush. “Oh, yeah. You’ve read?”

“No, but I should. You’ve published a lot of books. You must be good.”

John’s nose wrinkled, and he looked away.

Tommy shook him by the shoulders. “John is an amazing writer. He had a story published in The New Yorker when he was, like, five. Are you working on anything right now?”

John glanced at the bookshelf. “Not lately.”

“You need a drink,” Tommy said.

John’s eyes widened on a big breath. “God, yes, I do.”

“Nice to meet you,” Isaac said, but John just nodded quickly, smile thin, before allowing himself to be herded farther into the house toward the sound of quiet laughter and clinking bottles.

Isaac felt it then—an outsider’s emptiness. He became a nervous-looking coat rack in the corner, a terrified tree waiting for the ax. As the party doubled in auditory volume, he bemoaned his spilled wine. Was it okay for him to leave? It wasn’t like he was supposed to make a speech. He was only there because he figured it was the easiest way to meet everyone before the first official faculty meeting, but he’d been standing around too long. He wanted to run.

Out of curiosity, he reopened John’s book from earlier and read the front flap. It was a coming-of-age story about a gay kid in the Midwest. He flipped to the back, and a picture of John stared back at him. He’d assumed the guy was tired when they first met, but no; apparently, John had perpetual bedroom eyes, and his hair was always an artful mess. He skimmed…creative writing professor at Hambden University…gay rights activist…Converse-wearer and “old-people music” enthusiast.

All arrows pointed to John’s probable sexual preference for men. A spark of interest flickered but quickly went out. True, John Conlon was what most people would consider beautiful, but he wasn’t Isaac’s type. John was the kind of man butch guys fought over in gay clubs, but he was too small for Isaac, too fragile-looking, girly. After all he’d been through, the last thing Isaac wanted was someone feminine.

A thin figure ducked into the library and literally hid against the doorframe. He took a long drink of something brown and leaned his head back. “It’s not good when you want to hide in your own house.”

“Library is the best place for it,” Isaac said.

John kicked away from the wall. “Tommy mentioned you just moved here? I’ve been in Lothos forever, so if you need anything…” He examined Isaac from his brown boat shoes to the top of his blond head. John’s large eyes, dark green, seemed bottomless—drowning pools of intellect and soul—only slightly overshadowed by his thick eyebrows.

What is the biggest influence/interest that brought you to this genre?
I fell deeply in love with MM romance thanks to BBC Sherlock fan fiction. There was so much sexual tension between John and Sherlock on that show, so when nothing ever came of it, I was … well, TENSE. I ran right to Archive of Our Own and found the Johnlock romance and sexy times I craved! It was thrilling to realize there were so many people like me looking for exactly the same thing, so I started writing Sherlock fan fiction of my own and eventually moved on to original fiction like We Still Live.

When writing a book, what is your favorite part of the creative process (outline, plot, character names, editing, etc)?
Since I don’t outline, I really love when characters surprise me—and it happens all the time. When I start writing a new novel, I have a general idea of where it’s going to go, and I know my characters as well as I know my oldest friends. Then, while innocently writing my heart out, some character will do something completely mad and take things in a different direction. I love that. It’s like that first big drop on a rollercoaster, and once it happens, I’m like Sherlock freaking Holmes trying to solve the mystery of Where To Go Now.

When reading a book, what genre do you find most interesting/intriguing?
Tough one. I read so many books in so many genres. I think my answer has less to do with genre and more to do with character. For instance, I love anti-heroes and likeable villains. If you can give me a protagonist who’s kind of a bad person and an antagonist who’s interesting (think Hannibal Lecter), I’m sold.

If you could co-author with any author, past or present, who would you choose?
Rainbow Rowell. We have a very similar quirky sense of humor. She never fails to make me laugh out loud. She also creates amusing, sympathetic, and relatable characters. Yeah, I would love to work with her.

Have you always wanted to write or did it come to you "later in life"?

I wrote my first short story when I was elementary school, so writing is a lifelong thing. I have abandoned it before. I took short breaks in college because, frankly, I wrote so much for class, I didn’t want to keep writing post-homework. Then, I bartended and didn’t write during that strange period of my life. Now, I can’t imagine not writing. I write something every day. It’s my joy; it’s my therapy; it’s my art.

Author Bio:
Sara Dobie Bauer is a bestselling author, model, and mental health / LGBTQ advocate with a creative writing degree from Ohio University. She lives with her hottie husband and two precious pups in Northeast Ohio, although she’d really like to live in a Tim Burton film. She is author of the paranormal rom-com Bite Somebody series and Escape Trilogy.