"The Perturbation of O"

Joseph G. Peterson is the author of several works of fiction and poetry. He grew up in Wheeling, Illinois, received his B.A. from the University of Chicago, and his MA. from Roosevelt University. The Des Plaines River and the forest preserves surrounding it winds through the town of Wheeling, and through the imaginary territory of many of his books. He currently lives with his family in the Chicago neighborhood, Hyde Park, on the southern shore of Lake Michigan.

Peterson applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, The Perturbation of O, and reported the following:

The Page 69 Test works for The Perturbation of O.

My latest book is a conversation between two people who are meeting each other for the first time in seventeen years. They encounter each other in a cafe by accident and Regina Blast introduces herself to Gideon Anderson who wrote a famous memoir called, Gideon's Confession. In the memoir, Gideon writes a couple of pages about Regina's art-work, because Regina is a painter, and he describes the brief sexual encounter that they shared. When the book becomes famous, partly because of a revealing episode Gideon had when he appeared on Oprah Winfrey's show, Regina becomes famous as that person in his book with whom Gideon had sex. She also becomes famous for her paintings when Oprah visits Regina's studio and in the encounter with Regina alters forever the trajectory of Regina's art career. The conversation between Gideon and Regina takes place in alternating chapters where each character in a pyrotechnic of speech responds to the other's speech. Page 69 of The Perturbation of O takes place at a new chapter break, and Gideon is responding to Regina trying to explain why he thinks both of their lives were changed forever by their encounter with Oprah Winfrey. He says to Regina, "Shall we call it, I asked Regina, The Perturbation of Oprah Winfrey? She is an irresistible force unto herself, and one falls into her orbit by accident or will to be changed forever by the encounter." Later, Gideon refines his concept by asking if this force of Oprah which is a benevolent force should quite simply be called, The Perturbation of O? He thus names the title of the memoir of his new encounter with Regina that he will go on to write in an act of betrayal to Regina who swore Gideon to secrecy making him pledge that what happens between them stays between them.

Visit Joseph G. Peterson's website.

The Page 69 Test: Beautiful Piece.

Writers Read: Joseph G. Peterson.

--Marshal Zeringue