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After approximately three decades together, and varying successful independent projects, members of The Phantom Writers Guild, a group of East End-based writers and artists, have collaborated on their first-ever publication together: “Amongst Us All,” a collection of stories, essays, poems and cartoons.
The members first came together about 30 years ago as an informal group of young people with a love of telling stories and sharing opinions, according to author Edward Vinski. The Phantom Writers are all native Long Islanders of varying backgrounds and professions who to this day still get together about once a month.
“The Phantom Writers Guild grew out of friendship,” Mr. Vinski, who also spearheaded “Amongst Us All,” said during a telephone interview last month.
The electronic book includes short fiction stories involving unorthodox cleaning methods and an account of a job interview, essay tributes to Hubert Selby and Levon Helm, poetry, illustrations and a novella about a man who finds himself on the wrong side of a scavenger hunt.
Rick Conklin, who has been part of the group from the beginning, described members of The Phantom Writers Guild during a telephone interview last month as “lifelong friends, who share the same hobby.”
According to him, they first called themselves “The Re-Inklings,” referring to Oxford University’s literary discussion group from the 1930s, which included J.R.R. Tolkien, among other famous authors.
The name “The Phantom Writers Guild” was first used by member Thomas Kopka during a trip to New York City, according to Mr. Vinski.
“Tom said that he never wanted to move away from the East End, because of this phantom writers guild we have here,” Mr. Vinski reported. “It soon became the group’s official name.”
Though Mr. Kopka died in 2008, his impact on the group included more than giving it a name. According to Mr. Vinski, members would often came together for readings at Mr. Kopka’s East End home.
“He was the one who would hold our group together,” he said. “After he died, we didn’t know what to do with ourselves.”
Then, the idea for a collaborative publication came up this past January.
“We were kicking some ideas around,” Mr. Vinski said, adding that the group was immediately enthusiastic about the idea.
Matt Bodkin, an award-winning cartoonist who grew up on the North Fork and has since moved away though he remains an active guild member, said during a telephone interview last month that everyone in The Phantom Writers Guild had been working on their own projects over the years. But, he said that everyone jumped at the chance to contribute.
“Eventually, Ed suggested that we could do something together,” Mr. Bodkin, who has three illustrations in the electronic book, recalled.
The publication is not only the culmination of nearly three decades of work, but also a chance “to give honor to Thomas Kopka,” Mr. Vinski emphasized. The book is titled the same as one of Mr. Kopka’s poem’s, “Amongst Us All,” which is the last entry in the collection.
All the guild’s members have a personal connection to the Hamptons. Among the native East Enders are Mr. Vinski, whose non-fiction pieces “The Rock of Woodstock” and “The Death of Fairies” are included; and his sister, Susan Vinski, whose “The Lucky Strike Diet of 1928” and “A Job Interview” are included; and Ms. Vinski’s boyfriend, Rick Conklin, whose “Imogene and Mr. Clean” is included.
Mr. Vinski lives with his family in the same house he and his sister grew up in Bridgehampton. Ms. Vinski and Mr. Conklin live in Noyac.
Another author, Christopher Benedict, whose three non-fiction stories—“song for cubby,” “losing my train of thought” and “the sound of silents”—is included, was raised in Hampton Bays. Growing up in the hamlet had a significant influence on his interest in literature, he said.
“I lived right around the corner from the Hampton Bays Public Library and went there all the time,” Mr. Benedict said during a telephone interview last month.
Just as the library is mentioned in one of his stories, readers can find East End references throughout the book, which makes it especially interesting for local readers.
One example is in the short non-fiction story “The Death of Fairies,” in which Mr. Vinski writes about changes he has noticed in the Hamptons over the last 40 years. That story focuses on a lack of the supernatural here on the East End.
“It’s the number of people, the traffic, the contractors, not as many open fields, that changed over the years,” he explained.
As for his sister, Ms. Vinski said during a telephone interview last month that the East End inspires her, especially when she writes non-fiction stories. But for this collaboration, she chose to mix it up a bit.
“It’s great that I can keep my unique writing style, and at the same time learn from constructive criticism,” Ms. Vinski, who became part of The Phantom Writers Guild last year. said. “But for “Amongst Us All” I wanted to try something outside of my comfort zone.”
For this project, she submitted two short fiction pieces.
For members of The Phantom Writers Guild, “Amongst Us All,” which is available for purchase exclusively for Amazon’s e-book reader Kindle, is just the beginning of their collaboration.
“We’re waiting how it goes with the e-book, before we decide about publishing it in print,” Mr. Vinski said. But according to Mr. Conklin, the publication is like “a trial test, to get our feet wet.”
On the cover of the book, the title “Amongst Us All: The posthumous papers of the Phantom Writers Guild” is followed by the add-on “Volume 1.” According to Mr. Vinski, that means that there will certainly be more stories to come.
“Amongst Us All” is available for purchase at amazon.com. For more information, visit phantomwritersguild.com.
on Aug 30, 2012