by Jeffrey
on April 27, 2014
in Ice Cream Headache, Novels, Oglesby
Although I don’t directly mention Leonard’s Bicycle Shop directly in Ice Cream Headache, the bicycle shop plays an important role in the novella. Looking at this photo, it was probably taken right around the time that the story takes place. Set in a small, industrial town in Illinois in 1968, the lives of […]
by Jeffrey
on May 11, 2013
in Ice Cream Headache, Illinois Valley, Novels, Oglesby
Although there might be some truth to the claim that you can’t go home again, I most certainly did when I wrote Ice Cream Headache. And it’s only fitting, given the number of years that I have lived overseas, that I “return” home a lot in my stories, especially when I am waxing nostalgic about […]
by Jeffrey
on April 23, 2013
in Americana, Ice Cream Headache, Illinois Valley, Oglesby
You know, I had such a wonderful time writing Ice Cream Headache that I thought I would head on back to the Oglesby in the 1960s and see what else was back there to write about. My book in progress was originally a flash fiction piece I wrote back in 2010 while I was writing […]
by Jeffrey
on March 16, 2013
in Ice Cream Headache, Illinois Valley, Oglesby
I only mentioned it briefly in Ice Cream Headache, but Lou’s Super Market has a special place in the novella. I understand that Oglesby has been without a supermarket for fifteen years and that it will soon have a new one, a County Market. That’s great for Oglesby but for all of us who grew […]
by Jeffrey
on January 13, 2013
in Americana, Ice Cream Headache, Illinois Valley, Oglesby
Before it was the Supreme Dairy Bar it was Gambles. In Ice Cream Headache though, there used to be a grocery store on the first floor before it became the dairy bar. Actually, there were a few shelves with some canned and dry goods which were located to the right when you walked in the main […]
by Jeffrey
on December 10, 2012
in Americana, Ice Cream Headache, Illinois Valley, Oglesby
We all scream for Ice Cream Headache. I love this book so much. Okay, so that is what you would expect the writer to say but what I love about this book is the nostalgia that I serve up in the story about the lives of five people intertwining one day in 1968. I do […]
by Jeffrey
on November 15, 2012
in Americana, Ice Cream Headache, Illinois Valley, Oglesby
I was really lucky when I asked my friend Anna Takahashi if she would be interested in doing the book cover design for Ice Cream Headache. Her response: I really wanted to do a cover for you! I’m glad she did. Her design is amazing and really captures the feel of the novella. Check out Anna’s […]
by Jeffrey
on September 12, 2012
in Americana, Culture, History, Ice Cream Headache, Illinois Valley, Oglesby
I don’t recall ever seeing a soda jerk in action, but I do remember as a young child going to a drugstore and having an ice cream soda at the store’s soda fountain. Years later, when I was in high school, I would often go to Ford Hopkin’s drugstore in downtown LaSalle, Illinois which had […]
by Jeffrey
on September 5, 2012
in Americana, History, Ice Cream Headache, Illinois Valley, Oglesby, Writing
Set in a small town in Illinois in 1968, the novella centers on the lives of a community of people whose lives intertwine on one fateful day in May of that year, including: Ray Jackson, isolated and strong in the face of losing his business and wife; Johnny Fitzpatrick, who has decided to run off […]
by Jeffrey
on September 1, 2012
in Illinois Valley, Novels, Oglesby
As the editing of my novella enters its second round, I have started to look for an appropriate cover idea for the book. Originally I wanted to have a photo of a milkshake or a malt in a glass, in the foreground with the background out of focus (I have a photographer back in the […]
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