Joe Tigan

Joe Redden Tigan


MP3 File

 

 



Read interview with author on ReaderViews.com


Joe Redden Tigan was born in DeKalb, IL, the youngest of seven children. Shortly after he was born, the family relocated to Valle, CA, where Tigan spent most of his childhood until he was 12 years old. The family then returned to the northern Illinois area, settling in St. Charles, which is now considered a western suburb of Chicago .

After attending several colleges that included University of St. Francis, Northern Illinois University, and University of Copehagen, Denmark, Tigan eventually graduated with a B.A. degree from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. He focused on literature and journalism, and later attended Illinois State University, where he received a fellowship to study creative writing in the graduate Creative Writing Program. At that time, the creative writing faculty at ISU included David Foster Wallace, Curtis White, and C.S. Giscombe. Tigan has had poetry published in The High Plains Literary Review and other literary journals. His first novel, “Waggle,” was recently published in March, 2007. He currently lives in Chicagoland.

 

Waggle

Joe Redden Tigan
iUniverse (2007)
ISBN 0595416195
Reviewed by Cherie Fisher for Reader Views (4/07)

Synopsis: An inordinately beautiful day surprises Chicagoland in July, 2003. No searing heat. No humid haze. Perfect. The new fresh breeze has injected real estate appraiser Conny Bromenn with unprecedented personal awareness.

Conny's ready for a serious change. He needs to confront his long-standing lethargy in the community and search for deeper meaning in his life but can he let his regular Saturday morning foursome know his intentions without being laughed off the course? His newfound clarity tells him maybe. Risking their friendship, Conny proposes a new wager to replace their standard $5 Nassau, one in which the losers must adhere to certain pacts.

Intended to initiate some sense of social responsibility within this group of 40-year-olds, these pacts quickly take on a life of their own with each passing hole. Conny and his friends start out just hoping to get a tee time in this unexpected weather, but end up turning a funhouse mirror on suburbia, their places in it, and what needs to be done.