JMF: That is a great gift. I don't know how many young kids I've seen who have been told, "You can't write. Don't even try."
AD: Or don't paint. Or don't dance. Don't act.
JMF: A lot of "don'ts."
AD: Yeah. This culture is interesting. We elevate artists. Once artists have some success we celebrate them. I think we actually over celebrate them. But, we don't give them any support on the way up. We relegate what they are doing to the status of a hobby.

Something to do on the side.

JMF: Looking at universities around here and their continuing education programs, there is a lot for older folks and there are a lot of opportunities for writers.
AD: That is good to hear.

JMF: I won't take more of your time. I know you have been on a tight schedule with two reading today. I appreciate your taking the time to talk with me.
AD: I've enjoyed it.

JMF: It was a book that was instantly interesting. It held me throughout, and I read a lot. I'm going to say that in the review.
AD: Do you have a book that I can sign?

JMF: We review on a 5-point scale, and I've never given anybody a five. Even panned Jimmy Carter.
AD: And you're going to give this a 5?

JMF: I'm going to give it a 5.
AD: (Turns to Michael and gives him a high-five) You've got to send that to me.

(Dubus signed my books and took the time to ensure that my copy of House of Sand and Fog was a true first; it was. I kept the tape running and this interesting literary anecdote came up as we just talked.)

Michael Fain: My father did some work with Scott Fitzgerald many years ago and failed to get any of his books signed.

But, he was in his later years.
AD: F. Scott Fitzgerald? Who worked with him?

MF: My father. His wife was in Asheville in the hospital. Fitzgerald didn't particularly like to stay in Asheville so when he would go visit her, he'd sometimes stay in a hotel in Hendersonville, which is where my family was living. Occasionally he'd go all the way down to Tryon which was just on the other side. Dad, being a newspaper man, of course, made it his business to introduce himself to this well-known writer in town. They got on - I wouldn't say they were friends - but they certainly got on friendly terms for no other reason than Dad knew where to get the hooch. (All laugh.)

JMF: That was important because the whole state was likely dry in those times.

MF: So Dad and Scott Fitzgerald would sit in his hotel room and get drunk.
AD: No, shit. That's good stuff.

MF: My Dad and my brother George lived nearby. Now, here is the bad part. He wrote in longhand, and Dad and my brother George would type it for him. They didn't keep the damn manuscripts. They threw them away. Dad was a very practical guy and they didn't have this cult of celebrity like you have now. And Fitzgerald then was kind of a has-been. He was writing pulp fiction for "Esquire" trying to pay bills.
AD: It obviously wasn't The Great Gatsby or Last Tycoon.

MF: No. But even handwritten manuscripts, his average short story would have been pretty nice to have.
AD: That's a great story.

MF: He was quoted in one biography of Fitzgerald written by a guy named Andrew Turnbull.
AD: What was your dad's name?

MF: Jimmy. Jimmy Fain.

(The session ended with a discussion of family surnames, all of us with some connection to France, and this tidbit from Dubus.)

AD: This stuff is so rich. My grandmother was researching it years ago and discovered, got real definitive proof, that our great, great whatever - great all the way up - was the Dubus family crest, actually du Bu in French. Actually, we are more Irish than French it turns out. And, there is a family motto: Well, first let me tell you that my great, great whatever grandfather was good friends with Alexandre Dumas Senior. And the du Bu family motto was un pour tous, tous pour un, all for one and one for all. They took it from my family and gave it to d'Artagnan and the boys!