THE WARREN-WATCHUNG CONNECTION PAGE 80 NOV 2023-JAN 2024 theconnectionsnj.com theconnectionsnj.com THE CONNECTION Magazines Visit theconnectionsnj.com to sign up for your FREE Digital Subscription Instant access - anytime, anywhere! Specify which magazine(s) you would like to read and we will deliver the digital version straight to your inbox 5 times a year You may have seen the ad in this magazine promoting my debut novel, Elusive Links, with a QR code taking you to my website, danarosenberg.com. Elusive Links is about fictional connections while this column has always been about real connections. It didn’t take long for my work of fiction to collide with my real-world. Let me explain. Elusive Links blends real and imaginary characters into a medieval saga, 1492 -1513, that connects to a modern story from 2002-2003. While both eras have their own drama and relationships (romantic and platonic) golf is played in both. Different from most other major sports where referees and umpires call penalties, in golf you call infractions on yourself. And so, golf is a powerful metaphor in the novel. Since the formal launch of Elusive Links in March of 2023, I have done many book talk events and participated in several book club discussions. This past summer I was contacted by an acquaintance, Tony, with some questions about the book. I was introduced to him by my college roommate, Matt, over fifty years ago when we all attended Syracuse University. I hadn’t spoken RANDOM CONNECTIONS Connecting Through My Hometown By Dan Rosenberg to Tony since college until we reconnected at the wedding of Matt’s daughter before the pandemic. Tony had selected my book to present at a dinner gathering at the Port Huron Golf Club in Port Huron, Michigan, where he lives and grew up with my roommate, Matt. I answered Tony’s questions and provided him with some short “author remarks” as I would not be attending the event virtually or in-person. Months went by until the event transpired this past August. Tony reported that his presentation went well. In the weeks that followed Tony continued his enthusiasm for the book. We had over ten email exchanges. They went something like this – Tony would send me an image of an old painting or book relating to the novel, mostly but not always, about the medieval golf plotlines. Tony would preface the attachment asking me if I knew about it or found it in my research. I would respond and comment when appropriate. Then I received the following note from Tony with some photo attachments, “These are from the Olman’s store. They ran a rare bookstore in Cincinnati for years from the 1960s-90s, specializing in golf. I show off this one because Mort signed it for me in their store.” [The late Morton Olman had two sons, the late James and John]. My reply sums up the connection. “Small world. I grew up with John Olman. We were practically neighbors and played as children. For twenty years, John was my brother-in-law. I was in their shop many times.”
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