In Person

My first question -- what's a Galaxy Craze? I didn't know she'd been an actress (Husbands and Wives and Nadja). I didn't know she was a she, or even a person, and when I mentioned the name to friends, they thought I was talking about a band. I can't imagine what attention, good and bad, she received as a child going through the American public school system, but all in all she seems to have done well enough for herself, graduating from the NYU Creative Writing program on scholarship from The New York Times, and her book, By the Shore, is well-written and charming. The novel is narrated by May, a precocious 12-year-old girl who lives with her mother in a girl's-school-turned-hotel on the English seaside. By the Shore is both a love story and a coming-of-age story; it has a bareness which is its beauty.

First, and to dispel any rumors, Craze is a family name, Galaxy her given name, and in person Galaxy Craze, British-born actress-turned-novelist, is completely disarming and rather charming to boot -- it is easy to find May in Craze's translucent skin and guileless gaze. She read well, considering Austin was the first stop on a two-month book tour for her debut novel, and though nervous and shy to begin with, she warmed up to the small but interested crowd and answered their questions and mine articulately and with good humor and insight. She told us that yes, she is working on a new novel, this one about best friends. And no, she does not miss Hollywood.

She may have acted once but she is no Actress, though her reading, I imagine, was improved by her previous work on the screen. No, not an Actress but a writer. A novelist concerned with writing well, and writing about what she knows and what she sees, and just as nervous as any other new writer that her readings will be empty, that no one will come to listen to her story. But, as far as book-reading attendance goes, for anyone who is not Anne Rice and especially for a debut novel, the turnout was fair. There were perhaps 10 of us, some who had read the book and wanted to meet the author. Others came out of simple curiosity, and were rewarded with more than just a name. They found a young, talented writer who seems to be more than a craze. --Manuel Gonzales