{"product_id":"the-complete-writings-of-art-smith-the-bird-boy-of-fort-wayne-edited-by-michael-martone-paperback","title":"The Complete Writings of Art Smith, the Bird Boy of Fort Wayne, Edited by Michael Martone - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eMichael Martone\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFictitious biographical snippets that celebrate the sky-written words of early aviation and the life of the man behind them.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMichael Martone was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he learned at a very early age, about flight. His mother, a high school English teacher, read to him of the adventures of Daedalus and Icarus from the book \u003ci\u003eMythology\u003c\/i\u003e written by Edith Hamilton, who was born in Dresden, Germany, but who also grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Martone remembers being taken by his father to Baer Field, the commercial airport and Air National Guard base, to watch the air traffic there. He was blown backward on the observation deck by the prop-wash of the four-engine, aluminum-skinned Lockheed Constellation with its elegant three-tailed rudder turning away from the gates. At the same time, the jungle-camouflaged Phantom F-4s did touch-and-goes on the long runway, the ignition of their after-burners sounding as if the sky was being torn like blue silk. As a child growing up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Martone heard many stories about Art Smith, \"The Bird Boy of Fort Wayne,\" and the adventures of this early aviation pioneer. In the air above the city, Martone, as a boy, imagined, \"The Bird Boy of Fort Wayne\" accomplishing, for the first time, the nearly impossible outside loop and then a barrel-roll back into a loop-to-loop in his fragile cotton canvas and baling wire flying machine he built in his own backyard in Fort Wayne, Indiana, whose sky above was the first sky, anywhere, to be written on, written on by Art Smith, \"The Bird Boy of Fort Wayne,\" the letters hanging there long enough to be read but then smeared, erased by the high altitude wind, turning into a dissipating front of fogged memories, cloudy recollection.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eMichael Martone's recent books are \u003ci\u003eThe Moon Over Wapakoneta\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eBrooding\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eWinesburg, \u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eIndiana; Four for a Quarter\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eNot Normal, Illinois: Peculiar Fiction from the Flyover\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eRacing in Place: Collages, Fragments, Postcards, Ruins\u003c\/i\u003e, a collection of essays; and \u003ci\u003eDouble-wide\u003c\/i\u003e, his collected early stories. \u003ci\u003eMichael Martone\u003c\/i\u003e, is a memoir in contributor's notes. \u003ci\u003eUnconventions: \u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eWriting on Writing\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eRules of Thumb\u003c\/i\u003e, edited with Susan Neville, are craft books. He is also the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Blue Guide to Indiana\u003c\/i\u003e, published by FC2. The University of Georgia Press published his book of essays, \u003ci\u003eThe Flatness and Other Landscapes\u003c\/i\u003e, winner of the AWP Award for Nonfiction, in 2000. With Robin Hemley, he edited \u003ci\u003eExtreme Fiction\u003c\/i\u003e. With Lex Williford, he edited \u003ci\u003eThe Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e The Touchstone Anthology of Contemporary Creative Nonfiction\u003c\/i\u003e. Martone is the author of five other books of short fiction including \u003ci\u003eSeeing Eye\u003c\/i\u003e; Pensées\u003ci\u003e: The Thoughts of Dan Quayle\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eFort Wayne Is Seventh on Hitler's List\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eSafety Patrol\u003c\/i\u003e; and \u003ci\u003eAlive and Dead in Indiana\u003c\/i\u003e. He has edited two collections of essays about the Midwest: \u003ci\u003eA Place of Sense: Essays in Search of the Midwest\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eTownships: Pieces of the Midwest\u003c\/i\u003e. His stories and essays have appeared in \u003ci\u003eHarper's\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eEsquire\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eStory\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eAntaeus\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNorth American Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eBenzene\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eEpoch\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eDenver Quarterly\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eIowa Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThird Coast\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eShenandoah, Bomb\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eStory Quarterly\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eAmerican Short Fiction\u003c\/i\u003e and other magazines.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eMartone was born and grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He attended Butler University and graduated from Indiana University. He holds an MA from The Writing Seminars of The Johns Hopkins University.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eMartone has won two Fellowships from the NEA and a grant from the Ingram Merrill Foundation. His stories have won awards in the \u003ci\u003eItalian Americana\u003c\/i\u003e fiction contest, the \u003ci\u003eFlorida Review\u003c\/i\u003e Short Story Contest, the \u003ci\u003eStory\u003c\/i\u003e magazine Short, Short Story Contest, the Margaret Jones Fiction Prize of \u003ci\u003eBlack Ice Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e, and the first World's Best Short, Short Story Contest. His stories and essays have appeared and been cited in the \u003ci\u003ePushcart Prize\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Best American Stories\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Best American Essays\u003c\/i\u003e anthologies. In 2013 he received the national Indiana Authors Award, and in 2016, the Mark Twain Award for Distinguished Contribution to Midwestern Literature.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eMichael Martone is currently a Professor at the University of Alabama where he has been teaching since 1996. He has been a faculty member of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College since 1988. He has taught at Iowa State University, Harvard University, and Syracuse University.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 224\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.9 x 9 x 6.9 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 13, 2020\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44315946778726,"sku":"9781950774210","price":24.68,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0599\/7255\/0758\/files\/WWN1N0ljQU1lZGdhUEtxemJFZmRkUT09.webp?v=1767973844","url":"https:\/\/infinitylightwa.com\/products\/the-complete-writings-of-art-smith-the-bird-boy-of-fort-wayne-edited-by-michael-martone-paperback","provider":"Infinity Light","version":"1.0","type":"link"}