How THE VERY LEAST Came to Be, by Ken Kuhlken
I was writing feature stories regularly for the San Diego Reader, a major weekly. As one
assignment, the publisher sent me to spend a few days with Mother Teresa's
seminarians in Tijuana, and I found them to be among the kindest and happiest
people I could imagine. One fellow, especially bright, gracious, and unique, was
Dean McFalls. Even now, though he's had some troubles, I think of him as an
honest image of Christ in the real world, much like the hero of Graham Greene's
The Power and the Glory.
Soon after I wrote the seminary story, my cousin Patti's
friend Dale, who helped in the nursery of an Evangelical megachurch, got
accused of exposing himself to children. The accusation landed him in jail for
over two years with no provision for bail. When therapists interviewed the
nursery children, all kinds of wild stories came out. Bizarre and ridiculous tales
about Satanic ritual abuse went public. The church became a subject of daily
ridicule in local and even national media.
My Reader editor
suggested an article about the church, Faith Chapel. I attended a service,
decided to stick around, met lots of people, and found them nothing like the
vicious whackos the media portrayed.
From those two experiences came a novel I named The Fat Lady, an allusion to a character
in J.D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey, in
which a quite unappealing character is revealed as what Mother Teresa called
"Christ in his distressing disguise."
Barbara Peters, my excellent editor at Poisoned Pen Press,
insisted she would not publish a book entitled The Fat Lady. I put it aside and later considered calling it The Fat Lady, A Love Story. But my wise sixteen-year-old
Zoe suggested I find a less potentially offensive title. So, now it's The
Very Least.
The Reader stories mentioned above, you should find here:
Bio:
Some of Ken’s favorites are
early mornings, the desert in spring, kind and honest people, baseball and
other sports played by those who don’t take themselves too seriously, most
kids, and films he and his Zoe can enjoy together.
He reads classic novels,
philosophy, theology, and all sorts of mysteries. On his blog, he offers
some hard truths and encouragement about living as a writer.
He has long been the
author of novels, stories, articles, poems, and essays. Lots of honors have
come his way, including a National Endowment for the Arts Literature
Fellowship; Poets, Essayists and Novelist’s Ernest Hemingway
Award; Private Eye Writers of America Best First Novel and Shamus
Best Novel; and several San Diego and Los Angeles Book Awards.
Buy links:
Midheaven
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