While I’m smitten with the shroud of mystery surrounding As Simple As Snow‘s Anna Cayne, a second reading of the book left me wanting to know more about the man behind the intrigue – author Gregory Galloway. Who is this Gregory Galloway? What has he done since dropping this mystery in our laps and when, oh when, will he return with book number 2? I was initially disappointed in how little biographical information there was to be found but ended up finding the process of piecing together tiny snippets more rewarding than accessing the information neatly filed into one Wikipedia entry. In fact, you can say my search mirrored that of our unnamed narrator whose name also happens to be a double dactyl beginning with G, though not by coincidence according to this thread.

In typical Galloway fashion, I won’t try to neatly tie everything together for you. I’ll just share what there is to know and you can assemble the pieces.

Gregory Galloway grew up in a small Iowa town on the Mississippi River. He attended nearby University of Iowa where he obtained both his BA and MA in English Literature and went on to pursue poetry at the esteemed Iowa Writer’s Workshop, receiving his MFA in 1989. He spent several years in New York City where he landed himself a job with Putnam Publishing working in School and Library Marketing. He also delved into internet consulting during a brief stint in Chicago. However, after returning east he and his wife have made Hoboken, NJ their home. This is where he wrote As Simple As Snow, recipient of the 2006 Alex Award and the illustrious “Best American First Sentences of Novels of 2005″ as bestowed by series editor Dave Eggers in The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2006. Gregory Galloway has also contributed to Egger’s literary humor website, McSweeney’s, further linking the two.

Since writing As Simple As Snow Galloway has been published in collections such as Rush Hour: Reckless and It’s Not Me, It’s You: The Ultimate Breakup Book as well as The Iowa Review. Galloway reveals that he shares Anna’s love of music and mix tapes in this article from Pop Matters. If you’d like to know what this former record store clerk is listening to now, you can find out on his MySpace page. In fact, if you delve deep enough while you’re there you can find out a lot about who and what inspires him. You can even find a short description of his eagerly anticipated sophomore novel, tentatively titled The Teeth of Invisible Dogs, in his comment to this MySpace friend.

Perhaps most revealing, Galloway kept an Amazon blog for almost a year until November 2006. Here you can read his musings about topics ranging from Bill Muray and John Berger to telephones and reckless behavior. You’ll also have an opportunity to see his dabblings with collage in University of Iowa’s cARTalog project, one of which is pictured above.

Enjoy your research and feel free to add any additional pertinent information, either about the man or the book, in the comments.

I remember my first Sweet Valley High book.  I was a bored 10 year old who tended to absolutely devour any book I could get my hands on.  My parents were pretty strict about my media diet, but I was pretty much allowed to bring home anything I wanted from the library.  So it was a fateful day when I finally decided to grab one of those 70s looking pastel books to supplement my steady diet of Christopher Pike and RL Stine.  Sad as it may be, it also introduced me to some of my first impressions of dating, makeup, and relationships.

Of course, now I can look back with utter horror and analyze the Wakefield twins and their ilk with near total contempt.  To be anything other than rich, white, thin, and beautiful was totally outside of their Southern California universe.  The girls were constantly dealing with the tragedies of kidnapping, rape, murder, amnesia, and stalking, but the managed to maintain their generally virginal and optimistic outlooks.  And “the perfect size six”.

After years being out of print, Sweet Valley has returned with a vengeance. The updates have the same titles, but include references to email and cell phones, updated hair styles, and in a shocking twist the girls are now a perfect size four instead of a perfect size six.  Sigh.

In 2008, and in what many are calling the golden age of YA Lit, it seems a little ridiculous to reissue these books.  Despite whatever warm feelings of nostalgia I might have, Sweet Valley High reinforced all of the stereotypes I was exposed to in the 80s and 90s.  Its from another time in teen literature’s history – full of problem novels and heavy handed morality tales.  Even the world of paperback fiction is a little better now.  Gossip Girl and The Clique, descendents of the Sweet Valley of yesteryear, have a lot more to say about today’s teen.

However, if your nostalgia has gotten the better of you and you’re wanting to indulge your childhood reading habits a bit, try checking out The Dairi Burger, a tongue in cheek blog (named after the favorite hangout of those Wakefield twins) analyzing the literary tradition of Sweet Valley, The Babysitters Club, Sleepover Friends, and more.