Bedside Matters

(Hardback)

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Virtual events in Palm Springs, New Jersey, and VermontRichard has hired an outside publicist, Julia Drake, who will be securing radio, reviews, and coverageOutreach to LGBT book groupsOutreach to death and dying support groups

Reviews

The vastly talented, ever-versatile Richard Alther has produced a bittersweet beauty of a novel about death and dying. Arch-crank tycoon Walter, one of Althers most complex characters, will remind some readers of the knight in The Seventh Seal playing chess with The Reaper. Except, instead of being back from the Crusades, Walter looks back on a life of too obsessively accumulating wealth and of emotional neglect of his family. His struggles toward redemption and peace are sometimes funny, always fascinating, and in the end profoundly moving.
Richard Stevenson, author of Killer Reunion, the latest Don Strachey detective novel

"Bedside Matters is a special blend of ethereal and spiritual reflection. Richard Alther creates a delightful interplay between various pieces of the end-of-life puzzle."
Diane Donovan, Midwest Book Review

"An introspective tale that offers a beautiful ending..."
Kirkus Reviews

"With honesty and sensitivity, Alther makes this chronicle of a mans choices examined inviting and restorative."
Publishers Weekly

"Many of us imagine, and some even study, what death will be like, not physically, but spiritually. This beautifully-crafted narrative, which I slowly savored as both one who imagines and studies dying, provides a very thoughtful and enlightened awareness of letting go. Walter's process, guided in part by the Persian poet, Rumi, is possibly that of anyone graced with the time and circumstances to reflect on what's real, true, and important.
Brian McNaught, author of Now That Im Out, What Do I Do, Sex Camp, among other books, and veteran educator on LGBTQ issues

Bedside Matters is a rich and articulate example of how truths fall into place towards the end of a life. Richard Alther has written with sensitive insight into the mystery of death.
Governor Madeleine M. Kunin, Former Governor of Vermont, Author of Coming of Age, My Journey to the Eighties

"Richard Alther's Bedside Matters offers readers an insightful and moving end-of-life narrative in the spirit of Paul Harding's Tinkers and William Gaddis's Agap Agape. Challenged by physical decline and family intrigue, Walter transcends his corporeal prison to find larger meaning in art, philosophy, and literature. A work of depth, carefully wrought with nuance and delicately wrapped in wisdom and humor, Bedside Matters serves up a worthy exploration of and an antidote to the shortcomings of our material age."
Jacob M. Appel, author of Millard Salter's Last Day

"More than a story of a man coming to terms with his life in its final chapter, Richard Alther's Bedside Matters provides meaningful insights to anyone interested in the process of letting go. His sensitively drawn main character takes us inside the complex psychological processes that make being in the moment much easier said than done. Even with our best efforts and good support, the myriad attachments we develop over a lifetime, to desire, expectations, people, possessions, and ideas, all keep circling back to clutter the pathway and entangle us. Alther's novel provides an empathic portrait of the struggle to break free and find peace.
Bart Magee, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, Founder and Executive Director of Access Institute for Psychological Services in San Francisco

Author Bio

Richard Alther was born and raised in suburban New Jersey. He graduated as an English major from Cornell University and pursued twin careers as a writer and painter. He is the author of five novels: The Decade of Blind Dates (2008), Siegfried Follies (2010), The Scar Letters (2013), Roxie & Fred (2017), and Bedside Matters, to be released by Rare Bird Books on March 9, 2021

After several years in Manhattan, he moved to Vermont and earned his familys living writing extensively about vegetable gardening and homesteading. His simultaneous career as an exhibiting painter included gallery representation and one-person shows in Montreal, London, Los Angeles, Boston, Dallas, and Florida.

Richard has trained and competed nationally as a Masters Swimmer for several years, reaching the top ten at age 50.

He divides his time between homes in Palm Springs, California and the Lake Champlain area of Vermont, where his grandchildren reside. Follow Richards blogs on Medium: https://richardalther.medium.com.