David Rodeback, Author

A reader of my Christmas collection e-mailed me today, said my stories reminded him of a story he read years ago by Ron Carlson, who happens to be a Utah native. I'm especially flattered, because I happen to love Ron Carlson's fiction. If you decide you want to love it too, I recommend a collection called *A Kind of Flying.* Amazon can help you with that, or, better yet, Powell's Books.

He sent me a link, which I'm pasting here, so you can read the "The H Street Sledding Record" too.

I dare you not to love it.

The H Street Sledding Record | The Saturday Evening Post For a truly magical Christmas, you just need snow, a Flexible Flyer, 
and a few shovelfuls of genuine reindeer droppings.

I’m at the beautiful Springville Library for Utah Authors Day with about two dozen more authors, some of whom are way more famous than I am, including Charlie N Holmberg and Beth Brower. Come by if you’re in the neighborhood. We’re here from noon to 2 PM. If you’re somewhere else in Utah, there may be an Utah Authors Day event near you. 

Tomorrow--which looks to be a gorgeous fall day--the Local Artisans Collective in Ogden is throwing a birthday party. Part of that is a local authors event from 1 to 3 p.m. It's also a Utah Humanities Book Festival event. A bunch of local authors will be there, including me, chatting, selling and signing books, doing readings and Q&A, etc.

The whole party, with other events, runs from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Pro tip: By the time BYU vs. Utah kicks off tomorrow, you could have a good chunk of your Christmas shopping done, just by taking part of a sunny day to visit downtown Ogden. Or you could have some new books to read, including (wink, wink) some Christmas stories. Or both.

And there's always some free stuff at authors events, like colorful bookmarks to use with books already in your reading-them-next stack.

I've been busy accumulating fun things to report here, and I hope to catch up soon, but here's something current.

Tomorrow evening's meeting (October 16) of Celebrate Writers, the Eagle Mountain chapter of the League of Utah Writers, features a presentation by me: "Defamiliarization: Making It Strange."

Here's what it's about, from publicity materials I conjured myself:

Defamiliarization slows reader perception and helps readers to see things differently or see things they’ve learned not to see. It’s what art does inherently, but it’s also a useful tool in our toolbox, and sometimes we can use it to change the world. We'll define it, learn to see and analyze it, and practice doing it in a low-pressure exercise or two.

Here's a presenter bio which is actual nonfiction:

Before arriving in American Fork, where he has lived since 1998, David Rodeback spent about a decade each in Boulder, Colorado (his birthplace); rural southeast Idaho; and upstate New York. He serves on the board of the League of Utah Writers and is the League's 2025 Writer of the Year. His two self-published collections of short fiction won Silver and Bronze Quill awards in 2024 and were named Notable Reads by the 2025 Utah Book Awards. He writes most contemporary, realistic fiction. His first novel, a contemporary coming-of-age story, is scheduled for release later in 2025.

This presentation was well received in Denver a couple of weeks ago, but if you come, listen and participate, and then decide it genuinely sucked, there will be a Q&A period for such questions as, "Seriously? They let YOU be Writer of the Year?"

We meet at 7:30 p.m. at Ryan Hacking's home at 1762 Revere Way in Eagle Mountain. You don't have to be a member of Celebrate Writers or the League of Utah Writers to attend, but you're welcome to ask me why you should join.

Admission is free. A couple of books will be free. Bookmarks and a few of my "STEAM not STEM" buttons will also be free.

(Photo by Dan Chiras)