One more, for the road

I'd like to propose a toast....

It's tough to capture how lovely the wedding was, how lush Reno is or how beautiful Carmen and Tom looked. I was too busy crying (happy tears!) to take many pictures but here's
the get-away car (tom is wearing a sear-sucker suit and carmen's wearing this cute get-away dress). Then there's the church. The hotel. The town. And of course, the lovely couple....

So here's to Carmen and Tom and love. I never was good at toasts--somebody help me out...

Back in Brooklyn. Much culture shock. Certainly not San Marcos and not Sewanee,TN. I've taken on two more classes at Queensborough Community College. That's three classes for the fall including the one at the King's College--the one in the ESB-- and I think that'll do it for me. I have to see how the load is while trying to finish the novel.

Books by people I met--some new friends.

Currently out is Emily Mitchell's The Last Summer of the World. Check it out. Turns out she'd friends with Stacy Swann out in Cali and went to school at Brooklyn College with my new boss at the King's College.

Next up is a guy I did quite a bit of hanging around with, Jeff Parker. His book comes out this month on Tin House Press and is called Ovenman. This is some funny sh*t. If you like Tom McGuane, Hannah, et al. check it out. Plus, he's a super cool fellow and deserves to be read. I saw a glowing review over on Emerging Writers.

Next is Joshua Furst, another late-night pal from Sewanee. Josh was known to request Replacement songs from yours truly as well as Townes Van Zandt's Poncho and Lefty. He's extremely intellgent and his writing is heartbreaking. Currently, I'm reading his collection Short People. He has a novel--The Sabotage Cafe--coming out at the end of the month on Knopf. If you like smart fiction that plays around with pov check out this book. He read a portion of it at the conference and I was duly impressed.

Finally, a guy names Derik Nikitas has a book called Pyres coming out in October. It falls into the literary genre camp-- a personal favorite--and sounds like Ellroy going for cool style. Derik read on day one. I immediately made a note to buy this book when it comes out and now I encourage you to do the same.

I realized how important it is for US to support new writers. If we don't who's going support us when our books come out?

Ok, that's it for now. I promise not to mention Sewanee again, except to perhaps post a picture of me and Diane Johnson, who I have to say I'm very fond of. Who'd haver thought?

Redividing

My story "La Maison du Fada" will appear in the fall issue of Redivider.
Yip skip, I'm announcing.

holy freshmen, batman!

congrats to bc, who just got word he'll be teaching in the empire fucking state building!

writing conference update.

more great writers here than you think should be possible. most of those writers are your age. after the initial shock of this, you settle in and are inspired, challenged.

favorite moments so far. seeing barry, richard bausch on the the commandments of writing, rockin some stones front porch style till the wee wee hours, your truly on guitar, james wood, critic and senior editor at the new republic on drums made from trashcans, ashtrays, coffee cans. and oh yes, mr wood seemed to enjoy honky tonk women so much he asked for an encore performance.

making some friends. making new friends who live in NYC. that's real cool.

as for my work, tony e. has upped the anty on my novel. i realize what the novel i'm working on could be and what it is now.

let's see. it seems we are constantly having cocktail parties.

oh, carmen, jill mccorkle seems real cool. i've seen here singing on the porch drinking lite beer. i have a feeling the two of you would be good friends. her reading was excellent.

more later.

i am henry sugar

carmen is right about kevin brockmeier. i finished the brief history of the dead before i even opened it. because it is so good. i liked the truth about celia, but i devoured the brief history of the dead, and it was like being near a good friend who didn't say anything wrong, ever, or tell me that i'm over reacting, or try to open-mouth kiss me.

which hasn't happened in a long time, but still.

this is the best book i've read in a long, long time.

Happy, Happy, and Bittersweet

First the Happy:
Jack and Amelia both have upcomming or current publications. But what these demure young Masters wont say is that they also have recently encountered editors who have communicated either privately or publically that they are honored to publish their stories.

Kaulfus' "Analog is Warmer" will appear in e-mag 10 x 10 x 10. Details and links to follow.

Gray's "The Movement" is now online at STORYGLOSSIA! It was blurbed by Steven J. McDermott on his blog.

And now the bittersweet:
Coleman leaves tomorrow for the Sewanee Writers Conference and then joins Laura in NYC where she will pursue her phD in Social Work. Fiction Faculty at Sewanee this year are Richard Bausch, John Casey, Tony Earley, Diane Johnson, Randall Kenan, Alison Lurie, Jill McCorkle, and Claire Messud. Bearden will be rocking it with Tony Earley.

Buy that for a dollar

Found these two great books at Savers today for $2.50 all-told. The C.K. Williams was twenty-nine cents. I've been looking for that Shirley Jackson book for years (it includes uncollected and early unpublished stories) but I could never find it below $25. Sweet!

Also found the blazers I'll need for work. I have to wear a blazer to work? Really?

Props to Ms. Gray

This was in The Onion this week.

Writing Your Place

I'm reading Joy Williams' Honored Guest at Molfe's suggestion, and while the first four were transcendent, intense, unforgettable stories--particularly "Congress"--I'm finding the stories about Tucson are falling a little flat with me. Maybe I'm distracted by the details of my hometown, but these stories seem so much more in love with place than the first stories, which focussed more on her great, strange characters.

I've long been of the opinion that Arizona doesn't yet have its novel (recommend me one, if you disagree, probably Ed Abbey has one, though I'm thinking less along the lines of natural or social writing). Something about our non-regional dialect and a heat that's oppressive enough to keep us in climate control also keeps us from having much of a regional identity. I've read a couple good tries that attempt to crack open that non-identity identity, but nothing that sticks with me. I've certainly never tried to write Arizona--not lately, anyway.

What are the signs of a great regional story? How does it feel to read your own hometown? Is it easier to write your old home after you've left it? Many of you are already great at this stuff.

My story series work continues, working through a week-long bad-story snag I hit when I was presented with the idea that flash fiction operates on "punchline" endings--an idea I don't wholly disagree with, though that's for another post. Looks like the rain will keep us from pointing fire at the sky, cheers to that.

two links

The trailer for Feast of Love
and
a contest for the worst first sentence of a novel

now that's a happy monday

joyce help

it's shameful, but this is my first time through "Dubliners." really. i mean, i'd read a couple of the stories, but this is my first time to read them for real. does anyone have any leftover notes and/or suggestions for good outside resources for me? There's a ton of stuff out there on the net, but i'm not so into sparknotes, and TSU's library sucks.

i'm also reading Yeats for the first time.

also, i got all the way through a masters in english without ever taking a class in shakespearian lit. also, i've never read moby dick. or the crucible.