When the winners for the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters announced the fiction category, I admit I asked, “Who is Michael Kardos?” I soon learned that Michael had written a fantastic short story collection, One Last Good Time that many Lemuria employees have since been raving about. I looked him up to see where he is from and saw that he grew up on the Jersey Shore but is now a assistant professor of English and co-director of the creative writing program at Mississippi State. Michael received a degree in music from Princeton and played drums professionally before earning a MFA in fiction from Ohio State University and a Ph.D. from University of Missouri. The more I investigated I became aware that his stories have appeared in a number of literary journals including The Southern Review and have been named notable stories in the 2009, 2010 and 2012 edition of Best American Short Stories. When I met Michael at the MIAL event I also found him to be a really nice guy.
As soon as I found out that Michael was to be published by the relaunched Mysterious Press, I immediately got my hands on an advance copy of The Three-Day Affair. Y’all this is a novel that everyone is going to love. Nine years after graduating from Princeton, Will, a musician, Jeffrey, a dot com success, and Nolan, a state senator, are getting together for a fun and relaxing weekend of drinking and golf. After having dinner, they stop at a convenience store and Jeffery runs in to grab something. All of a sudden, he is back dragging a young woman with him. He shoves her into Will’s car and yells “DRIVE!” which Will does. This is the beginning of a weekend that will change all of their lives forever. Knowing that they are already guilty of kidnapping they have three days to fully understand what else they may be capable of.
After finishing The Three- Day Affair I did wonder what parts of Michael Kardos’ background influenced the story line of this book. My question was answered in the July 30, 2012 issue of Publishers Weekly. Lenny Picker in a PW Talks Q&A with Michael asks the following:
Picker: How did you go from a career as a musician to being a writer?
Kardos: After graduating from college, I played in rock bands for eight years before concluding that the best way for me to keep enjoying music was to stop doing it professionally. By then, I was reading a great deal of fiction and beginning to write regularly. I loved that all I needed to create a story was a pen and paper, or a computer rather than tons of gear and other guys and a beatup van, a belligerent bar owner, and an aloof soundman.
Picker: Did you musical background influence your fiction?
Kardos: A fundamental connection between music and fiction-for me, anyway-has to do with shape and structure. A story or novel has recurring motifs, shifts in dynamics and tempo, staccato and legato passages, introductions, codas, just as a Bach fugue or Beethoven symphony has a narrative quality. The languages are different, but compositionally there are similarities.
We have chosen Michael Kardos’ debut novel, The Three-Day Affair, as Lemuria’s October First Edition Club selection. FEC members you are in for a thrill ride! In fact, I couldn’t agree more with Tom Franklin, author of Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter and will just let him tell you:
I dare you to pick up The Three Day Affair and read a page or two and then put it down. It can’t be done. With a combination of dread and glee I tore through this book and was sorry when it was over. Michael Kardos has written a taut thriller that goes least where you expect it to, but goes there beautifully.
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