March was a little ridiculous, but I’m looking forward to April as a sort of reprieve. I only have one reading on the docket, and it’s one that I’m really excited about. On Friday night, I’ll be a part of Chris Bower’s Fuck Storms: Imaginary Weather Phenomena, featuring stories/poems/monsoons inspired by made-up weather (I wrote a couple of “fact-sheets” for Miyagi’s Revenge and Suddenly Everything Turns to Glass). I had been working on a story about a guy who gets swept up into a tornado, only to discover an entire town living inside that tornado, but I think that’s been abandoned for something stranger. The show’s at a bar I’ve never heard of, Ray’s, at 3049 N. Kimball Ave. Here’s an awesome image by Susie Kirkwood to entice you:
The book isn’t in trouble, it’s that everyone who takes some of the money that a consumer pays for an author’s content need to re-justify their share and not assume that because they used to get that % they still in fact deserve that %. And I sense too many people hiding behind the notion that this has something to do with grandiose cultural notions about the life and death of the book rather than more quotidien concerns about the vision and competence of individuals populating this business.
Big ups to my buddy Pat Somerville, who celebrated the release of his new novel, The Cradle last night at the Book Cellar. Colleen O’Brien, whose mini-book will be up on the featherproof site later this month read, and I had a ton of fun reading. My pal Eamon Daly lifted a bucket of rocks with his beard for charity, raising $155 for Chicago’s oldest Boys & Girls Club, the Off the Street Club. Just a blast in one of the country’s greatest bookstores. Check out Pat’s book, which the New York Timesloved despite itself.
Last night was also crazy for basketball, with the Bulls and Heat hitting two overtimes, before Dwyane Wade stuck a ridiculous three at the buzzer. I checked the box scores last night, and was happy for my boy Ben Gordon, who went 8 for 11 from beyond the arc, racking up 43 points to D-Wade’s 48.
Then I watched the highlights on ESPN.com. Incredible. You would think that no one on the court had a good game except for Wade. It’s such an annoying ESPN move, the persistent need to create these mythical tales around a select few players. In a double-overtime game there are only two Bulls possessions featured. It’s hilarious. Check out ESPN’s highlights, then MaxaMillion711 (this YouTube genius who turns NBA games into NFL Films). Are they even taken from the same game?
Featherproof has really been rolling of late, so posts here have been a little infrequent. AWP was very good to us—just such a great experience meeting so many folks with whom we’ve chatted online, and getting to see what great work so many presses are doing right now. Very energizing, particularly given all the doom-saying about publishing. I simply didn’t feel it.
Lots going on with the ‘proof. To wit:
• Grow is now out and about. If you like children, you’ll like giving them a copy. Even if they’re strangers.
• Paper Egg, our new subscription imprint is soaking up subscribers like crazy. Currently working on Christian TeBordo’sThe Awful Possibilities, our first title. And if you haven’t already, subscribe, and get a free copy of Amelia Gray’s AM/PM!
• The Featherproof Remix idea has generated some buzz, as has the contest attached to it. We’re remixing Scorch Atlas, Blake Butler’s novel-in-stories that arrives this fall.
• Reading tonight in Hyde Park at Series A. Planning on reading a new and an old piece.
• Release party for Patrick Somerville’s The Cradle on Monday night, with another mini-book release, and a beard-lift. It’s going to be some action.
After all of that, more posting here, not much going on until May, more sleep till Brooklyn.
Been away, largely because I’ve had loads of writing assignments over the past few weeks. One of them came to fruition last night at The Encyclopedia Show, a very cool show put on by Robbie Q. Telfer and Young Chicago Authors. I think it may be the first time I’ve read to someone in high school since the tour. A great night.
Monday night is the famed No Love for Love, which I’m hosting, and which Peter Sagal is headlining. A couple of years back, I performed there, and did a quiz show called “Guess the Context”, in which I recounted the many terrible things girls have said to me over my lifetime, and the audience had to guess the context of those statements. This time, it’ll likely just be a story, because now I’m married, and my wife is really nice.
After that, it’s all AWP, all the time. We have a big release party planned for AM/PM on Friday the 13th, and The Dollar Store will be a part of that. Here’s the poster, below (click (maybe twice) to make it bigger). Michael Renaud made it. It’s incredible. More soon!
