William Kennedy

Question: Your last novel, "The Flaming Corsage," appeared in 1996. Have you been working on "Roscoe" since then? Answer: "Roscoe" was my main thrust after that book, and it was very hard to write. My problem was the character of Roscoe himself. It took a long time to feel comfortable with him.

Changó's Beads and Two-Tone Shoes A Novel William Kennedy Viking: 328 pp., $26.95 Before you jump fully into William Kennedy's vibrant new novel, "Changó's Beads and Two-Tone Shoes," it's useful to consider his lengthy literary path. Because Kennedy, 83, never just writes a novel. He sends updates from his imaginary Albany, N.Y.-centric world, and with "Changó's Beads," he's added a few welcome branches to some familiar family trees. Kennedy's first novel was "The Ink Truck," a darkly comedic look at a bitter newspaper strike told from the perspective of a newspaperman (Kennedy began his writing career as a journalist)

William Kennedy, vice president of resident education at Chapman College, died Friday morning, apparently of a heart attack, a college spokesman said. Kennedy, 63, was stricken at his home in Orange, spokesman Jerry Perloshon said. Kennedy had been a vice president at the college since 1974 after retiring from the Air Force.

As exclusive gatherings go, this one was noteworthy, even by the high local standards set by A-list Hollywood, with attendees including a former acting director of the CIA, at least one prime-time TV star and half of Penn & Teller (the smaller, quieter half). That last guest is perhaps the one clue you need to figure out the subject of their mutual interest: magic. Or more specifically, the history of the art, as long-dead prestidigitators, illusionists and "miracle" workers were resurrected for the 10th Los Angeles Conference on Magic History, held Nov. 8-10 in North Hollywood.

The good news about "Very Old Bones"--the latest entry in William Kennedy's justly celebrated Albany cycle, and the third book in what now seems likely to be called his Phelan Trilogy--is that his writing has lost none of its humor and none of its snap; that the Phelan family is back; and that the tidings are juicy. The bad news is that Kennedy has yielded to the most dangerous of modern temptations and written a novel about writing novels.

With "Quinn's Book," William Kennedy moves from the gritty realism of "Ironweed" and the other two books in his Albany trilogy into what might be called the Hudson River School of historical myth. Like Mark Helprin's "Winter's Tale," George Trow's "The Empire City" and T. Coraghessan Boyle's "World's End," "Quinn's Book" elevates portions or approximations of New York history--Dutch, English, Irish--into legend.

Changó's Beads and Two-Tone Shoes A Novel William Kennedy Viking: 328 pp., $26.95 Before you jump fully into William Kennedy's vibrant new novel, "Changó's Beads and Two-Tone Shoes," it's useful to consider his lengthy literary path. Because Kennedy, 83, never just writes a novel. He sends updates from his imaginary Albany, N.Y.-centric world, and with "Changó's Beads," he's added a few welcome branches to some familiar family trees. Kennedy's first novel was "The Ink Truck," a darkly comedic look at a bitter newspaper strike told from the perspective of a newspaperman (Kennedy began his writing career as a journalist)

Why is it that aliens are intelligent and sophisticated enough to know about life on Earth, can travel across the universe to get here, but then can't land their spacecraft without crashing? WILLIAM KENNEDY Loma Linda

A woman who snatched her son and lived underground for 14 years to keep the boy from his father pleaded guilty Monday on the eve of her child-abduction trial, nearly a year after her capture. Ann Kennedy, 46, who now lives in San Bernardino County, was sentenced to nine months in Orange County Jail and placed on informal probation for three years in exchange for admitting that she abducted son David, then 3, from a baby sitter's house in Santa Ana in 1980. David is now 18.

Reading William Kennedy's darkly comic new novel, "Roscoe," makes me suspect that the entire population of Albany, N.Y., once consisted of ward heelers, prostitutes, bagmen and bent cops. It's a town where no vote goes unbought and the police run the rackets themselves; a man's town, in which women matter less than beer or horses.

Question: Your last novel, "The Flaming Corsage," appeared in 1996. Have you been working on "Roscoe" since then? Answer: "Roscoe" was my main thrust after that book, and it was very hard to write. My problem was the character of Roscoe himself. It took a long time to feel comfortable with him.

William Kennedy Smith, the nephew of Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy who was found innocent in 1991 of a rape charge, is considering running for Congress, a political consultant said. Smith, 39, a doctor and adjunct instructor at Northwestern University Medical School and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, is exploring a run for Rep. Rod R. Blagojevich's seat, Democratic consultant David Axelrod said Sunday.

Why is it that aliens are intelligent and sophisticated enough to know about life on Earth, can travel across the universe to get here, but then can't land their spacecraft without crashing? WILLIAM KENNEDY Loma Linda

Alice Frost Kennedy, an authority on trees and gardens who devoted her life to beautification of Pasadena and Los Angeles County, has died. She was 73. Kennedy died Wednesday at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena of complications of surgery, said her son, Eric Douglas. As a director of Pasadena Beautiful, Kennedy instigated a campaign for funds to save or replace many of the older trees lining the city's streets. She also persuaded the city to match the money collected.

The end of a century often evokes images of the end of time. In the face of such an imagined apocalypse, some people begin to change, questioning the ways in which they have lived. Others are adamant about staying the same. In the turmoil, new categories are born. In his new novel, "The Flaming Corsage," William Kennedy appropriately chooses the turn of the 20th century as the setting for his exploration of people who stand on thresholds.

An ex-wife who fled with her son in 1981 and hid from the boy's father for 14 years chose Friday to face trial for child abduction rather than plead guilty and spend nine months in jail. An expected plea agreement involving 45-year-old Ann Kennedy fell apart when the judge indicated the punishment would be harsher than the 60 to 90 days recommended by probation officials, according to the prosecutor in the case. Orange County Superior Court Judge Eileen C. Moore scheduled trial for Feb. 13.

Justice Department officials on Friday denied reports that a White House lawyer had threatened last month to use the Internal Revenue Service to investigate allegations of wrongdoing in the White House travel office. The statements by the justice officials, coupled with a separate denial by the White House on Friday, leaves unanswered the question of what prompted the IRS audit of UltrAir--a Smyrna, Tenn., firm that has handled most of the charter business from the travel office.

A woman who snatched her son and lived underground for 14 years to keep the boy from his father pleaded guilty Monday on the eve of her child-abduction trial, nearly a year after her capture. Ann Kennedy, 46, who now lives in San Bernardino County, was sentenced to nine months in Orange County Jail and placed on informal probation for three years in exchange for admitting that she abducted son David, then 3, from a baby sitter's house in Santa Ana in 1980. David is now 18.

An ex-wife who fled with her son in 1981 and hid from the boy's father for 14 years chose Friday to face trial for child abduction rather than plead guilty and spend nine months in jail. An expected plea agreement involving 45-year-old Ann Kennedy fell apart when the judge indicated the punishment would be harsher than the 60 to 90 days recommended by probation officials, according to the prosecutor in the case. Orange County Superior Court Judge Eileen C. Moore scheduled trial for Feb. 13.