Coeur d’Alene’s Marlo Faulkner spotlights novelist Jack London and his soulmate in new manuscript

Someday, Coeur d’Alene native Marlo Faulkner plans to write a book about Coeur d’Alene in the 1950s and 1960s. And your columnist will be first in line to read it.

They used to say of Marlo’s mother that she knew where the bodies were buried in Coeur d’Alene. Who did the digging. And who sold the shovel that dug the hole to bury the bodies. Some would say the same about Marlo.

Now, however, Marlo is using her journalistic and sleuthing ability to write a historical fiction about an older woman who meets and falls in love with a younger man in San Francisco, in 1900. The woman becomes the man’s secretary, his editor, his lover, his sparring partner, and his wife. The woman was Charmian Kittredge. The young man was Jack London. Yeah, that one.

Marlo has become an expert on their relationship after gaining access to Charmian’s diaries, their letters and ephemera from Huntington College in San Marino, California. Last week, Marlo sent a re-write of her book to an agent – 400 pages, 121,550 words.

Marlo won’t be twiddling her thumbs while awaiting word on her book. Now, she’s working for Coeur d’Alene Magazine on a mini-memoir of her life growing up in Coeur d’Alene’s historic Fort Grounds.

No grass grows under her feet.

Big reveal coming

Washington poet laureate Tod Marshall provides the latest on the labor of love he’s completing at Gonzaga U – a book of poetry by the late Tom Wobker, The Bard of Sherman Avenue. He tells Huckleberries: “We’ve finished editing a draft of the book. We’re working on design right now. The printer will print a galley copy (this) week. We’ll proof it, and then we’ll do a small press run for the event.” The event of which Tod speaks will be Blogfest 2017, the annual gathering of bloggers, commenters and blurkers who hang out at Huckleberries Online. We will have the big reveal for Tom’s book at the blogfest, scheduled for 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11, at the Fort Ground Grill in Coeur d’Alene. Stay tuned.

Huckleberries

Tongue firmly cheeked, Dave Keyes of Sandpoint notes that the cost of first-class stamps rose from 47 cents to 49 cents Sunday. “Thanks a lot, Obama,” he Facebooks, pausing: “Oh, I mean Trump” … Huckleberries re-learns how to spell “inauguration” every four years. That second “u” would KO Huckleberries from any Spelling Bee … A HucksOnline wag admits he inadvertently participated in the women’s march Saturday: “Yeah, my wife marched me through three different stores: Natural Food, Pilgrims, and Fred Meyer.” Badabump. Onward … Item: Hayden’s Mr. Christmas claims religious bias in suit against HOA for objecting to Christmas light extravaganza. My 2 Cents? Attorney Jeremy Morris, founder of the mega-light show, should move on from the Christmas story in his Bible to the Golden Rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” And if that doesn’t work? WWJD?

Parting Shot

How slick was it out there last week? In Pinehurst, Sherry Krulitz’s hubby, Art, headed down the driveway to fetch the Shoshone News Press. He almost fell. So he immediately turned back and waited a few hours for the driveway to thaw. No luck. Undeterred, Art jumped in his 4-by-4 pickup, backed up and slid sideways down the driveway. He maneuvered the vehicle back into the garage and gave up his quest. All of this could have been avoided, of course, had he simply stayed inside, clicked on Huckleberries Online – and avoided Jack Frost altogether.

You can contact D.F. Oliveria at daveo@spokesman.com. Or view Huckleberries Online at www.spokesman.com/blogs/hbo. Or follow him on Twitter @HucksOnline.