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<\/a>When Craig Lancaster was still working on his first novel, which would eventually bear the title \u201c600 Hours of Edward,\u201d I went to hear him do a reading at Off the Leaf coffee shop.<\/p>\n<\/a>When Craig Lancaster was still working on his first novel, which would eventually bear the title \u201c600 Hours of Edward,\u201d I went to hear him do a reading at Off the Leaf coffee shop.<\/p>\n
He was there as part of a writers group, with each of the writers taking a turn to read from his or her work. It was a tough setting. The place was crowded, mostly with teenage girls, and the din of conversation nearly drowned out the readings.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t that the other writers weren\u2019t good; they just couldn\u2019t cut through the crowd noise. Then Lancaster started reading from his work in progress. In the passage he chose, the title character has just awakened in the middle of the night, fretting over what is to be his first date, set up through an online dating service.<\/p>\n
Edward Stanton, who is 39 in the first book, suddenly begins to worry about what might happen if the woman he is supposed to go out with that night wants to have sex.<\/p>\n
Granted, sex sells, and it has a way of making even teenage girls, or maybe particularly teenage girls, stop talking and listen. But it wasn\u2019t just the sex. The scene was flat-out hilarious and grew funnier by the moment.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Ed Kemmick<\/p><\/div>\n
As Lancaster read, a circle of silence slowly spread out around him, until, after a few minutes, everybody\u2014or at least those sitting close enough to hear him\u2014was paying close attention. Lancaster\u2019s only problem at that point was remembering when to pause so he could allow the laughter to subside.<\/p>\n
It was a hell of a triumph and it must have been powerfully encouraging as he neared the finish line of his first novel.<\/p>\n
That was seven years ago and Lancaster has just released his sixth novel. This one is \u201cEdward Unspooled,\u201d which follows the second book in his series, \u201cEdward Adrift.\u201d<\/p>\n
We have watched Edward do a lot of growing in these three books, deepening his experiences and expanding the circle of his relationships, never an easy thing for him because of his Asperger\u2019s syndrome. For those new to the series, rest easy: Lancaster does not use Edward\u2019s condition for cheap laughs.<\/p>\n
Edward is not really so different from the rest of us, the main distinction being that he always says exactly what is on his mind, regardless of the situation. It is his inability to understand why that should be a problem that so frequently gives rise to the humor.<\/p>\n
I have enjoyed all of Lancaster\u2019s books, but the Edward books definitely appeal to me most. Reading this third book in the series, I think I finally understood why that is so.<\/p>\n
Simply put, the Edward books invite Lancaster to deploy all his talents, to make use of all his quirks and inclinations, all the wit that rolls out of him unceasingly, as those of us who worked with him at the Billings Gazette know so well.<\/p>\n
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<\/a><\/div><\/div>In \u201cEdward Unspooled,\u201d most of the narration is delivered in the form of a series of letters that Edward is writing to his unborn child, supplemented by written ripostes from Edward\u2019s wife, Sheila.<\/p>\n