Paul Elwork profile picture

Paul Elwork

The girl who would speak for the dead stood alone on the cobblestone drive after the rain.

About Me

I'm a writer in Philadelphia and my first novel THE TEA HOUSE is available October 1, 2007 from Casperian Books. Here's a brief synopsis:
During the summer of 1925, on a riverfront estate in Philadelphia, a twin brother and sister pretend to contact the dead through ghostly knocking sounds (actually created in the sister's ankle). The twins start by fooling the other children in the neighborhood; when adults get involved, the stakes go up, and the game ventures from chills of the unknown into the raw, uncertain territory of human grief. (Based very loosely on the true story of the Fox sisters.)
"In THE TEA HOUSE, Paul Elwork reaches into the past and pulls out a mysterious little gem."
-Dan Pope, author of IN THE CHERRY TREE
"Overall, THE TEA HOUSE is an enchanting, engaging read, and Paul Elwork is a sublimely sensitive storyteller with an ear for character and setting. If this novel is a sign of things to come, we can certainly expect to be both charmed and captivated by Elwork in the future."
-Marc Schuster, SMALL PRESS REVIEWS
"THE TEA HOUSE is a quietly lovely coming-of-age story set in that breathless moment between the two world wars; the veil that Emily draws back with her talent is not so much the one that lies between this world and the next as the one that lies between the oblivious innocence of childhood and the regretful wisdom of adulthood."
-Dru Pagliassotti, THE HARROW
"Beneath the story of the twins lies an amazing story of people... I found myself actually concerned about most of the characters... Several days have passed since I finished this book, and I am still pondering the characters and their personalities, wishing I knew all of their little secrets."
-Wendy Hines, ARMCHAIR INTERVIEWS
Take a closer look at www.casperianbooks.com and check out my Web site for other info on me and story links: www.paulelwork.com
If you've got some time to kill and like backstories, take a look at my blog at LiveJournal: http://paulelwork.livejournal.com/
MySpace Layouts MySpace Layouts
MySpace Codes
MySpace Backgrounds

My Interests

Writing, reading, music (playing guitar, once in a great while), movies, theatre, history, science, mythology, geek culture (sci-fi, super heroes, campy aliens, vampire slayers), the human heart in conflict with itself (thank you, Faulkner), etc., etc

I'd like to meet:

Writers, artists, musicians, pop-culture geeks, character assassins... no prerequisites apply. Anybody trying to puzzle out the human condition and willing to crack wise about it.

Books:

In no particular order:Slaughterhouse Five, My Antonia, The Great Gatsby, Light Years, The World According to Garp, Crime and Punishment, All the King's Men, The God of Small Things, Great Expectations, Of Mice and Men, The Scarlet Letter, The Shining, The Sound and the Fury, Where I'm Calling From, The Sun Also Rises, The Road, etc., etc., etc.

My Blog

Magic words

Last week, my five-year-old son Elias and I found ourselves waiting for his mother and two-year-old brother Gabriel to join us for our nightly ritual of reading stories together. Gabe was still i...
Posted by Paul Elwork on Sat, 26 Jul 2008 10:05:00 PST

Review of Into the Desperate Country by Jeff Vande Zande

Jeff Vande Zande's novel Into the Desperate Country (March Street Press) is a book about a man on the run. The first line introduces a main character trying to locate his place in the w...
Posted by Paul Elwork on Fri, 27 Jun 2008 08:24:00 PST

Sweet, morbid bird of youth

Today, on the way back from a doctor's appointment for my sons Eli and Gabe (five and two), we stopped at a cemetery. My father-in-law had come along to help, and it was his suggestion. Some people in...
Posted by Paul Elwork on Wed, 18 Jun 2008 07:05:00 PST

Getting my geek on and reviewing Iron Man

I'm really just a big kid. Yesterday, my wife and I went out to a movie; it was my birthday, and so I got to pick. Going to the movies is a rare treat, as anyone with young children can tell you. The ...
Posted by Paul Elwork on Tue, 06 May 2008 07:29:00 PST

New story, "Innisfree," posted on Word Riot

The February issue of Word Riot includes a short story I wrote entitled "Innisfree." It's about a non-believing religion professor who creates his own personal resurrection myth. Take a look, if you'r...
Posted by Paul Elwork on Sat, 16 Feb 2008 10:56:00 PST

The Next Novel

I'm on the verge of starting my next novel.* I've been chewing around the edges of it, stalling in actually getting it down on paper. I've been afraid, frankly. Afraid that if I caught any proverbial ...
Posted by Paul Elwork on Sun, 10 Feb 2008 01:27:00 PST

Article in the Northeast Times

A Philadelphia neighborhood paper, the Northeast Times, has published an article about The Tea House and Glen Foerd on the Delaware, the riverfront estate that inspired my fictional one in the novel. ...
Posted by Paul Elwork on Thu, 17 Jan 2008 06:57:00 PST

More positive reviews of The Tea House

January has been a good month for Tea House reviews, so far. Dru Pagliassotti at The Harrow gave it a strong endorsement; Marc Schuster at Small Press Reviews also weighed in heavily on the positive ...
Posted by Paul Elwork on Wed, 16 Jan 2008 06:37:00 PST

Should old acquaintance be forgot...

 At midnight, in the first moments of 2008, I played a version of "Auld Lang Syne" recorded by a band called Die Toten Hosen (an old acquaintance of mine made me familiar with it, years ago). It'...
Posted by Paul Elwork on Tue, 01 Jan 2008 01:11:00 PST

Big Blue Marble Bookstore and Philadelphia Ink at Robin’s Bookstore

I should put a prologue in here about my long absence from this blog, despite two nudges from a close friend (see comments on my last entry). Yes, I need to get better at this. And I me...
Posted by Paul Elwork on Wed, 26 Dec 2007 11:36:00 PST