First Howl: Tangled Up in Blue

What some -- i.e., me -- might call the Greatest American Song ever written, First Howl was very much an attempt to write a book that would have the feel of a jaunty, upbeat song much like Tangled Up in Blue or, at a push, the things written by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. That's the reason for the Wally character and his mandolin, his songs lightening the mood and guiding us along this medieval world. The book contains many echoes of Tangled Up in Blue while, obviously, its story is completely different; the feeling of constantly being on the road while ending up exactly at the place you started. In many ways, Tangled is the perfect graduate song, and that was exactly who I was when I wrote this book: this graduate heading out into the world.