Salem to Salem: Woodstock

One of the first clues in the book as to the big twist -- that Peddlarson and his Family have time-travelled from the modern era -- is the name of the town. Woodstock. Come on. If a bunch of hippies time-travelled back from 1970, they would definitely name a town at the dawn of American history after a "utopia" from their own era. Woodstock made perfect sense. In the conversation at the end of the book, Peddlarson contrasts the heavenly Woodstock with the damnation, if you will, also from 1969 - Altamont. He and the pilgrims tried to build their perfect society, their very own version of Woodstock -- only without the rock concerts -- in the past, but they only succeeded in creating pandemonium. Given the amount of LSD and sleeping pills and violence (especially the chainsaw violence) Peddlarson was circulating around his "utopia", it's no wonder that what as meant to be a paradise ended up as a Altamont.

I always loved Joni Mitchell's song, "Woodstock". As any Joni fan knows, she never played Woodstock but told the quiet, eerie beauty of her interpretation captured the festival better than any other (it was also the inspiration for The Who classic, "Baba O' Reilly). What makes Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock" so powerful is that, like Peddlarson, it really sees the title festival as a utopia that protects the flower children from the outside world. In Mitchell's interpretation, Woodstock is so powerful with its peace-and-love aura that it is able to transform American military bombers into butterflies (in what must be one of the most astounding verses ever put on record).

My main character's name is Abigail Mitchell not after Joni but after Richard Nixon's attorney, John Mitchell. The coincidence didn't really occur to me until a few chapters in. In an ironic twist, by giving Abigail this surname I am, in a way, giving her the Mark of Cain and contrasting her with all the peace-and-love Peddlarson's Woodstock was meant to conjure.