RE: Writing

Meet the new blog...

2012-02-04T09:52:00.000-08:00

This is a quick note for anyone who's stumbled to the Blogspot page here that the blog/webpage can now be found at
http://www.ryanforsythe.com

We'll hope you see us there.

Kickstarter campaign for DCSP

2011-05-23T14:56:00.000-07:00

The novel is being finalized, but the Kickstarter.com campaign for Dick Cheney Saves Paris has just begun. Because Love Earth Publications is a small press, I'm trying to help out by raising funds and awareness. My hope is to raise enough to produce numerous books for submission to various reviewers, and even to have some free giveaways on goodreads.com and librarything.com.

On the kickstarter page you can learn more about the novel, view the first book trailer, and find out about some of the unique rewards for backers (such as a soundtrack for the novel).

In other news, I received notice today that the proof is in the mail. I should have it within the week.

Dick Cheney Saves Paris on Facebook

2011-05-08T19:51:00.000-07:00

Quick update to note that there is now a facebook page for my pending novel/memoir, available August 30, the same day the world welcomes Dick Cheney's own novel/memoir comes out, In My Time: A Personal & Political Memoir. Mine is tentatively titled Dick Cheney Saves Paris: A Personal & Political Madcap Sci-Fi Meta- Anti- Novel.

For more information, visit facebook.com/dickcheneysavesparis. This will be the main landing spot for updates, trivia, miscellany, and probably some giveaways. So if you aren't too worried about people connecting you to a quasi-liberal meta- anti- novel, please consider "liking" the book, to help get the word out.

I'll also post updates via twitter: twitter.com/ryanaforsythe. Please follow, forward, retweet, whatever it is the kids are doing these days.

Reading with Brian Evenson, April 11

2011-04-07T08:44:00.000-07:00

This very coming Monday, I'll be reading at San Diego State University, as part of their Polyphonic Reading Series. I'll be something of a warm-up act before author (and director of Brown's Literary Arts program) Brian Evenson. Laura L. Mays Hoopes will also be reading, I believe from her brand new memoir, Breaking Through the Spiral Ceiling. The reading will take place at 7pm at Scripps Cottage.

I'm also looking forward to a workshop with him the day before, focusing on character development and first sentences. More on both events here.

Update from MFA-land

2011-02-12T11:10:00.000-08:00

Now into my second semester of San Diego State's MFA in creative writing, perhaps it's time for an update on classes, teaching and volunteer work, publication news, etc.:

I'm serving as a Teaching Assistant for English 220, Introduction to Literature. This is not your mother's literature course (with a theme like Robotic, Erotic, Electric, you know it's not a review of dead white guy lit). The lecture is taught by Professor Bill Nericcio, while twice a week I teach a "breakout" discussion class. Professor Nericcio is all over the map with his high energy act--teaching students to understand literary concepts by analyzing everything from classics like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to the realist surrealist art of Magritte to contemporary film and music (click on the link above to get a taste). I'm given pretty much complete freedom with it, so I'm trying to keep it fun--everything from playing a round of "exquisite corpse" while discussing how Magritte titled some of his paintings, to sharing clips of Pat Boone singing "Speedy Gonzales" during a discussion of Prof. Nericcio's chapter on the cartoon mouse (from his book Tex{t}-Mex: Seductive Hallucinations of the "Mexican" in America).

In addition to reading all the work for the Literature class (so I can try to speak intelligently about everything), I'm also taking three classes. One is a "form and theory of fiction" course with Professor Stephen-Paul Martin. I had him last year for a contemporary literature course. Whereas last semester we mostly discussed the content or "story" of the books, this semester the focus is more on the approach and decisions of the authors--why did they choose this strategy over that in telling the story? For a busy grad student, I appreciate that we spend two weeks covering each book, as opposed to last semester's "book-a-week."

My second class is a creative nonfiction class with Professor Hal Jaffe. The focus is on the stories that society overlooks, ignores, or oppresses (for example, the mentally ill, the politically oppressed, outsider artists). We're not just looking at ways of telling a story through words, but through other means (such as film). I'm also doing something of an independent study with Prof. Jaffe. Hopefully I'll be able to post later on the project that I hope will grow out of that, but my goal is a fairly heavy revision of a rough novel I wrote a few years back (something of a political satire, perhaps owing a debt to Vonnegut).

One of the reasons I wanted to attend SDSU was the opportunity to work with Fiction International, San Diego State's journal which they describe as "the only literary journal in the United States emphasizing formal innovation and progressive politics" (two areas right up my alley). I started volunteering with them last semester and now I'm part of the staff, learning the ropes of the assistant editor position.

In publication news, I had a "Santa vs the cockroaches" apocalypse story in Jersey Devil Press's Holiday Half-Issue. Also, my poem "Orange" was selected for the forthcoming San Diego Poetry Annual due out April 2011. This poem previously won "Best in Show" at the Del Norte County Fair but was never published.

All for now.

New story type thing at The Murky Fringe

2010-11-10T15:02:00.000-08:00

I have a new story type thing up at The Murky Fringe.com. I sent my piece over because they noted they like "Pieces created in joy and/or madness, pieces scribbled on the backs of hands, pieces fretted over into the wee hours without consideration for an audience, without that secret hope that “this piece will lead me to success." And surely my piece will not lead me to success.

Check it out here, though please note that easily offended Christians my want to give it a pass (and yes, that may include a goodly portion of my family):
http://themurkyfringe.com/2010/10/an-early-draft-of-genesis/

Check out Duotrope's Digest

2010-10-23T11:24:00.000-07:00

I don't believe I've mentioned this website before (and if I have, it's worth repeating), but for writers aspiring to publish, Duotrope's Digest should be one of your top bookmarks. It's a virtual clearinghouse of information on journals and lit mags. You can search by genres and subgenres (mystery, sci-fi, literary, etc.), styles (realist, experimental, humorous, etc.), payscale, medium (print, online, audio broadcast), submission type (print and/or email submissions accepted), and more.

So before submitting to the Missouri Review, you can learn that they accept less than .25% (and yes I mean that period there) of submissions (and also yes, I know this is a percentage of people who report it on Duotrope's Digest--it's possible that the percentage is much lower--think of all the people who submit and don't even know they can report it on the Digest). So newbie writers might stop and think--hmmm, less than 1 in 400 submissions is accepted. Maybe this isn't the place to send that story you just wrote for your first creative writing class.

Information such as how soon you can expect to hear from a journal (average 2.6 days for Bananafish, average 309 days for McSweeney's Quarterly) and the aforementioned rate of acceptance (.23% for Missouri Review, 91.43% for Daily Bites of Flesh 2011) goes a long way to helping a writer get some publication credits (I know where I'm sending my next horror microfiction "bite of flesh").

Another useful feature is a list of upcoming theme deadlines. This can also be a great place for new writers looking to break in. My guess is that not so many people are writing stories about Australian Vampires, Adopted Chinese girls or What a Woman of 45 Ought to Know (all theme issues currently looking for content). I like to peruse the list and see if there's anything I've written that fits themes. If you're written about aliens, the aftermath of 2012, or the American dream; science, slumber, or secrets; creation, the courtroom, or yes, even cat crimes, there is presently a journal or anthology looking for your work.

There's a lot more worth describing, but it's a fun site to explore, so go take a peek.

It's begun

2010-09-03T19:55:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted anything. Spent the past few months moving a few times, first from Humboldt up to Josephine County, Oregon, for a few months living off-the-grid in a little cabin in the woods on the Illinois River; then slowly making our way all the way down through California to San Diego. Then came searching for a place to live, moving in and getting settled--setting up kindergarten and baby sitters and a writing space and so forth.

Well, I just finished my first week in San Diego State's MFA in Creative Writing. Wednesday was the orientation where I met a number of my first-year colleagues, as well as second and third year students and some faculty. Looks like a good group of people I'll be sharing words with for the next few years.

For Fall semester, I'm taking 3 courses: a fiction workshop with Prof Hal Jaffe, a prose poetry/flash fiction workshop with Prof Marilyn Chin, and a lit class on contemporary American fiction with Prof Stephen-Paul Martin. I read books by all three this past year (Martin's The Possibility of Music, Chin's The Revenge of the Mooncake Vixens, and Jaffe's Guerrilla Writer's Guide to Post-Millenial Culture) and though their styles are quite different from each other (or rather because their styles are so different), I feel I can learn much, so I'm looking forward to each class.

So, yeah. After talking about this for, what, ten years? and having gone through the whole application thing 4 or 5 years ago, it's finally happening. I'm in a space where I can focus on my writing--and worries such as how to pay for it will just have to wait. For now, the writing's the thing.

Movin' South

2010-05-29T21:43:00.000-07:00

Back in February, I posted that my time at the Redwood Hostel was coming to an end, and I was planning on starting an M.F.A. in creative writing--provided I got accepted somewhere, of course. Well, I was 1 for 2 in the admissions game (I guess batting .500 is not so bad--but if I got one less hit, I would have been out of the game entirely). So I will be heading to San Diego State University in the Fall, to start a three-year program (more info on what it is here). I'm excited to work with the faculty there--they seem very open to both experimental and political works.

Also, two weeks ago, I completed Humboldt State's MATW program--Master of Arts in Teaching Writing. All I had to do this semester were two 25-page papers, an 80-page thesis, and read about 20 books. So my brain is a little sore from all that exercise. I enjoyed it, but I'm looking forward to the program in San Diego, as academic writing is not nearly as much fun as short stories and novels and so forth.

In other news, two of my "Slugdalas" (Banana Slug Mandalas) have been published recently. One in Cabrillo College's 25th anniversary issue of Porter Gulch Review (the release party was earlier this evening), and the other online in Mandala Journal's Cosmopolitanism issue.

So yeah, if anyone has a lead on a great cheap apartment in San Diego, please let me know.

Not one, but two stories today...

2010-03-28T20:38:00.000-07:00

Sure, one's only 77 words, but today I have two more stories out there in the world.

I've yet to make a living as a writer, so it functions perhaps more as a hobby. That said, I probably send out 10-30 "things" (stories, poems, essays, artwork, etc.) every year. In a good year, I get maybe 3 acceptances out of those. So I was quite happy over my Spring Break here at Humboldt State to receive 4 acceptances in the span of one week. And two of them went live today.

The first was a short little thing called "Rent." It was just a snippet of an idea, but when I heard that Short, Fast, and Deadly was looking for fiction of no more than 420 characters, I sent it out. And would you believe I was 5 characters over (I didn't realize that line breaks counted as characters). Read it here in Short, Fast, and Deadly, issue 16.

Second was a short story of roughly 1000 words, which had been rejected 12 times before, so 13 was my lucky number with this one. Previously, I'd received some positive feedback on it, with a few editors taking time to tell me they thought it was well-written and made them laugh, though they didn't feel it was quite right for them. Anyhoo, Daniel McDermott, the editor of Bananafish magazine, had some very nice things to say in his email notifying newsletter subscribers of that week's content (they feature one story every Sunday):

This week on Bananafish: "Roommate From Hell" by Ryan Forsythe.

Wallace Stegner said, "Hard writing makes easy reading." And Ryan Forsythe's writing perfectly illustrates this concept. Most readers - those used to professionally written books and articles polished by professional editors - take for granted the ease with which their eyes float from one phrase to the next. But such a feat is not easily accomplished. Take it from someone who reads hundreds of literary submissions each month. Unfortunately, most writers, even good writers, insert a transitional hiccup or two in every paragraph - a tempo-crushing grammatical instance or word choice that causes the reader much brow-bending confusion. Ryan Forythe's work, however, is brilliantly structured and therefore easy on the eyes - genius masquerading as simplicity. Nowhere in reading "Roommate From Hell" do I find myself bogged down or yearning for alternate word choices, and that's saying a lot considering the many esoteric, underworld monikers attributed to Ryan's Hellish characters. Perhaps I'll temper my evil, judgmental mind the next time I see a group of cloaked individuals with red-stained lips.

Thank you for your kind words, Daniel. I guess I'll keep at this writing thing.

By the way, the aforementioned Daniel, who published my story at Bananafish today, was one of the 5 other artists featured with me today in Issue 16 of Short, Fast, and Deadly. Coincidence?

Movin' on...

2010-02-02T22:36:00.000-08:00

A little over four years ago, I finally made up my mind to get that MFA in Creative Writing. Had already been thinking about it for a few years by that point. So I researched 100+ programs, narrowed it down to 6 that I really liked, took the GRE and ordered transcripts and wrote the six different personal statements (250 word, 500 word, 2-page, 4-page--they all wanted something different). Filled out the online applications and picked my writing samples and sent it all out. And then I waited.

And during the wait to hear if I'd get in, something funny happened. A friend called and told me there was this job that might be perfect for my wife and I. Well, I know that writing is pretty subjective, meaning that even if my writing was stupendous, an admissions committee could think "nah--not interested." Could be they just read six first-person stories about a kid stealing milk on the way to Grampa's 90th birthday party and mine is the seventh. And that's it. Rejection.

Knowing the chances were pretty good that I wouldn't get in anywhere, we went ahead and applied for that job--managing a hostel in Redwood National Park. Got an interview and then we were offered the job before I heard from any of the six programs. So we had to make that choice: say no and hold out for grad school, say yes and then back out if I get in, or commit to the job. We took that last choice and packed up that short UHaul for the drive to the Redwoods.

And wouldn't you know, a few weeks later my top two choices called to offer me a spot in their Fall 2006 MFA classes. By that point, we were already here and loving life: free lodging and a salary to boot, to welcome people to a 100-year old pioneer homestead just a 3-minute walk from the Pacific Ocean and minutes from the world's tallest living things. I wondered if I would kick myself later when I had to say no, but our time here has been amazing.

Unfortunately, the hostel is now closing due to the National Park (which owns the building) not being able to put in the estimated $1.6 million it needs (and we're a nonprofit--we barely break even each year, so we don't have any spare change of that magnitude). Even if the hostel wasn't closing, it would still probably be time to move on to a new adventure. It's only for so long that you can answer the same questions with a certain level of enthusiasm that makes the guest feel like they aren't the 1000th person in the past 3 years to ask "What's your favorite trail?" or "So how did you get this job?" (More on the hostel closing here and here.)

While here at the hostel, I started taking classes part-time at nearby Humboldt State in their Master of Arts program in Teaching Writing. Three years later, I'm just about done--should be graduating May 15. But the focus is on teaching, not writing. And even then, the teaching is of basic composition (i.e. English 100), not short stories and novels and screenplays and poems and so on. So I've applied again for the MFA in Creative Writing. This time I only applied to two schools--the programs that I absolutely want to go to. I should be hearing from them sometime in the next 2-to-6 weeks. So, yeah. Wish me luck.

And by the way, I will not be applying for any jobs before I hear back from those two schools.

Super Dog now available

2010-01-18T15:24:00.000-08:00

For a while my son (who's now 4) and I have been writing and illustrating our own books. From this collaboration has emerged classics like "When I Grow Up, I Don't Want to Be President" and "The Zebra Finds the Squirrel and the Giraffe" (for the latter, I thought the title gave a little too much away, but Rory won out on that debate).

He's just completed the first in which he did all the words and illustrations as well (I assisted with the transcribing, as he can only spell a half-dozen words or so right now). We decided we wanted a more professional copy, rather than the stapled-together construction pages of previous efforts. And since we had our copies made through createspace.com, there was that check box where we could make it available to the world.

So, world, join me in congratulating Rory on his fifth book and first available online: Super Dog Super Cat Super Sheep Super Squirrel.

Don't just shop local...Read local

2009-11-25T13:17:00.000-08:00

For those around here looking to give something a bit more unique for the holidays, how about a personally autographed book? Next week, I'll be part of the "Del Norte Authors' Holiday Book Signing and Sales" at the county library in Crescent City. It's put on by many of the fine folks who bring you the annual North Coast Redwoods Writers' Conference (including yours truly), and will include some author readings and free food and drink (likely coffee, tea, cookies--that sort of thing).

It goes down on Thursday, December 3, the same night as the Business Improvement District's annual Miracle on Third Street, in which downtown shops stay open late, offering free goodies, and Santa hangs around for the kids. The Miracle on Third is from 4-7pm, and the book reading/signing/sales will be from 6-8pm (to catch some of the foot traffic from the Miracle). In between readings, we're planning on having some light music and time for people to chat with the authors.

I believe I'm on deck to go second in the book reading. I'll read some from my children's book for adults, The Little Veal Cutlet That Couldn't about the happy cow that ends up at the slaughterhouse. Or I might surprise and read from something more festive (though I'm pretty sure I will not read from "Blitzenkrieg," my Santa Claus vs. The Cockroaches apocalypse story--I don't think it will be the right crowd)

If you're in the area, stop by, say hi, and support local authors.

Book recycling

2009-11-19T10:33:00.000-08:00

I just registered yesterday for my final semester in Humboldt State's Teaching Writing program (graduation is May 15!). And it reminded me to start looking for books. For a few years, I've been using this useful website, www.paperbackswap.com. The concept is simple: you send people the books you no longer want, you receive new books that you do want.

Basically you post a list of what you have. If someone else sees something they like, they request it. You pay for postage to ship to them (generally around $2.50 or so via media mail) and then you get a credit. You can use the credit to request any of the millions of books other people have listed. And they ship it to you for free (well, free to you).

One of the best features is that you can create a Wish List for books that aren't posted as of yet. Then at the moment someone does list the book, they send you an email asking if you want it (provided you're at the top of the waitlist). You have 48 hours to claim it, or they ask the next person on the list.

I've found it a great place to get the books for my classes. Of course, it works best for literature classes, as every fifth person has a Charles Dickens or George Eliot novel they want to part with. But I've been able to get a few textbooks for other classes out of it too. So right about now is when I should email the professor to ask for a reading list (because if I wait until I get the syllabus on the first day, it may be too late to get a book in time for the first assigned reading).

Check it out at www.paperbackswap.com.

Miss Snark (and Dick Cheney)

2009-11-04T12:25:00.000-08:00

Doing the ol' Google of myself (I know you do it too), I discovered something I wrote at Miss Snark's blog. Miss Snark is a literary agent who disbursed wisdom for writers wanting to get their foot in the door with agents and publishers (she has since stopped writing the blog). She would hold an occasional (annual?) Crap-O-Meter extravaganza in which writers could submit their "hooks" for a book proposal. She would then comment on whether it was any good from a literary agent point of view. For the few she liked, the writer could then send the first 750 words or so. And she would comment on those.

For kicks, I submitted a synopsis/hook type thing for one of my National Novel Writing Month novels, Dick Cheney Saves Paris. It's definitely not your father's literary fiction, but I'm happy to report she liked the the hook. And that meant I got to send the first chapter or two for a response.

Interesting side note about Dick Cheney Saves Paris: I used to work for an on-demand publishing company (they make DVDs and books when there is an order for them, so there is no need for struggling artists to buy a huge inventory that might take a garage to store and forever to sell). In doing a beta-test of their book service, I ordered a copy of my Dick Cheney book as well as two other books. I wasn't planning on self-publishing these books, but since it was really just a one-time printing for myself, and since I was told it could not go live, I figured what the heck. I mean, it's not like printing one book for myself could stop me from finding a publisher some day, right? And plus, I was getting paid to test the system. So I tried it out.

But did I mention that Amazon.com had bought the company? And that when I tested out the book process, there was a bug that allowed my books to be listed on Amazon.com? I let the tech people know and they fixed the bug (good thing we were doing that testing). The books were never actually for sale--I hadn't yet approved the proofs for them--and I was told they would no longer show up on Amazon. But lo and behold, one of the three was still there when next I checked.

I thought of complaining again, but I kind of like the idea that people doing a search for "Dick Cheney" on Amazon.com may stumble across this. So maybe this will stop a publishing company from picking this up--the fact that it looks like it has been self-published. Sure, it says "Out of Print--Limited Availability"--I have the only copy, after all--but if any publishing company wants to see the book regarding which Miss Snark said "I"d read this" (and yes, she also said "I doubt I could sell it"), let me know. I swear it hasn't been self-published.

Read Zeitoun

2009-10-20T22:55:00.000-07:00

I just finished Dave Egger’s latest, a nonfiction book called Zeitoun. I usually don’t get so into the nonfiction books (which may be weird because I read tons and tons of nonfiction magazine articles, but there you go), but it looked lonely there at the Crescent City library with no date stamps on it (yes, they still do things the old fashioned way here—hand-stamping the date). So to break in the book, I picked it up and carted it off.

But since I was driving home, my wife started perusing it. Two days later when she had finished it, I was finally able to read it. And I too read it in two days. Zeitoun tells the story of the Zeitoun family living in New Orleans as Hurricane Katrina is about to hit. While his wife Kathy flees with their four kids, Syrian-born Abdulrahman stays behind to keep an eye on their home and business. He begins helping others where he can, feeding dogs and picking up the elderly in the canoe he uses to traverse the city streets. All the way, calling his wife each day to say how he is safe and well. Until the day when the phone calls stop and she has no idea where he is or what happened to him. It doesn't lesson the heartbreak for the reader to know that he was arrested for looting his own home and accused of being part of Al Qaeda. And things get worse.

Eggers’ style is pretty spare. Not much in the way of flowery passages or any of the literary hijinks he’s known for. He gets to the point, detailing Zeitoun’s story in a straightforward manner. But the story is the thing. On one level it's about a man working hard and trying to do his best yet beat up by the injustice of a broken system. But on another level it's an indictment of the Bush administration and "Heckuva Job" Brownie and all that went wrong in New Orleans. Though I should note that Eggers rightfully lets their actions and/or inactions speak for themselves. This is no polemic.

Zeitoun is an important work, and should be read by anyone who thinks the problems of Katrina are all behind us now.

The Big Book Sale

2009-10-06T11:23:00.000-07:00

Well, I missed the Big Book Sale in San Francisco for the first time in 5 years or so, but I had a good excuse. Each year around the last weekend in September, the San Fran Public Library holds a book sale at Fort Mason, and even though it’s a 7 hour drive, I try to be there. What other library book sale can say they have over 200,000 books for sale? Yes, you read that right—it has to be the biggest library book sale in the country. And on Sunday, everything is $1 or less. So for an avid reader such as moi, this is an event (especially considering the dearth of quality book stores in Del Norte county--it ends up being roughly a year's worth of book browsing for me, unfortunately).

A few years ago, I went down with about $60 in hostel petty cash, with plans to start a book exchange (I believe the slick venture kids call that “seed money”). And I came back with about 50 great books. Or at least ones that I think are great. I don’t know if it says something about my tastes that many of them are still here, three years later. Right next to our Laundry area is the sign for “Need a Book, Take a Book; Have a Book, Leave a Book." And right below the sign are the books.

Sure, I came home from that trip with some of the stuff the popular kids are reading—Grisham and Harry Potter and so forth. And they disappeared pretty quick. But each time I pass by the book swap, I see those books that I know are great—The Contortionist’s Handbook and The Tetherballs of Bougainville and others. Ones that I had read and loved and couldn’t pass up for a mere $1 and bought figuring sure, maybe no one has heard of the authors, but if they at least open to the first page and start reading, then they’d be hooked. They would “take a book.” And they do take a book. But it’ the latest Sue Grafton, Y is for Why are these other strange books here?

Oh—my excuse for missing this year? My wife and I were in the middle of giving birth. But hey—there’s always next year.

Best in Show?

2009-09-03T12:58:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention some good news from last month: I had submitted a few poems for the 2009 Del Norte County Fair (theme "Cowboy Boots and Country Roots"). Yes, it's not just bunnies and cows and apple pies--you can submit poetry to the good ol' county fair. And yes, I do say on my website somewhere that "I don't do poetry." But you just can't submit novels or travel stories or children's book (for adults) to the county fair. So I took a few really short stories and re-formatted them to add more line breaks. And off they went.

Well, I may need to change that note about whether I do poetry (in fact, it might be gone now), because in the adult poetry section, I received the Best in Show and First Place ribbons, for my submissions "Orange" and "Noodles." And just to be clear, when I say "adult poetry" I don't mean poetry of an adult nature. They had a division of poetry by adults and another for poetry by kids. Though it might be more fun if they did have an adult adult poetry division. But then the kids might think it's unfair because you can't have a children's adult poetry division. That just wouldn't be cool.

In other fair news, I also received a first place in the digital photography division for one of my banana slug mandalas ("Slugdala #3"). So whaddaya know--an award winning poet and artist.

But will anyone buy my novel?

Free writin'

2009-08-23T11:34:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to say that this coming week, we will celebrate 100 years of Hostelling International and 75 years of HI-USA (formerly HI-AYH). Here at the Redwood Hostel, Kaci and I will have a series of activities to commemorate the big occasion. But since she and I are both writers, one evening we will be sponsoring a travel writing free write. If anyone is in the area and wants to stop in, it will be Tuesday, August 25, at 8pm. For a full description, go here.

What's going on here

2009-07-03T11:15:00.000-07:00

I posted this on my Facebook page a month or so back, but since not everyone is a "friend," I thought I'd post a note here. It's not about writing, but for anyone interested in what Kaci and I are doing in Redwood National Park, the Medford news ran a segment on our little hostel by the sea. Check it out here. (And no, you won't see me in the video--I had school that day.)

Percival Everett does it again

2009-06-29T22:30:00.000-07:00

Several years back author Percival Everett was on the cover of Poets & Writers magazine, about the time I was trying to see how many books I could read in a year (answer: 72 if I don’t have a job for a few of those 12 months). While perusing the library looking for slim books to up my count, I found a book with his name on it. I don’t think it was all that thin of a book, but I thought “Hey—this is the guy from the magazine” and I took it home. And I’m glad I did because I found my new favorite author.

I had never heard of him before that P&W cover story, and to this day, I'm fairly certain none of my friends know who he is. Which means, of course, I’m not doing my job in convincing them to read his books. Or maybe I just know that his writing is not for everyone. Sure, his novels are some of the smartest funniest works out there. But not everyone likes smart and funny. No offense.

My first Everett novel was Erasure, about Thelonius “Monk” Ellison, a writer of experimental novels that don’t sell. His editor begs him to write something that will sell, focused on black life. So Ellison writes a joke, a parody of what the editor wants, basically as his way of saying “screw you.” Of course, it’s not taken that way. Rather, everyone thinks it’s a shocking and realistic portrayal of the African-American experience. And so it does become a bestseller. Everett’s novel is a critical examination of the state of both publishing and race relations. And it’s very funny.

Since that time (I’m guessing early 2004), I’ve been reading two or three of his books each year. Which means I’m about halfway through, as he’s written somewhere in the neighborhood of 20-25. Usually I don’t read them new because I’m cheap (or maybe poor). So I get them at the library. But I had a gift certificate to my favorite northcoast bookstore (Northtown Books in Arcata), which I’d been saving for a special occasion (saving the certificate, not the bookstore). And when I heard that Everett had a new novel out, there was the occasion presented.

His latest is called I am Not Sidney Poitier after the lead character in the book. No, the character is not Sidney Poitier—he’s Not Sidney Poitier. Due to his mother’ death, Not Sidney ends up with a huge number of shares in TBS, Ted Turner’s company. In fact, without parents, Not Sidney ends up living with Ted Turner. Well, not exactly. He lives on the same estate, but rarely sees Ted. He’s mostly left to his own devices, though Ted often provides random non sequiturs to the young Not. The novel follows Not’s travels as he confronts racism, wealth, and more, and his life somehow parallels the scenes from Sidney Poitier movies (though at one point Not Sidney has a few interesting meetings with a college professor named Percival Everett).

I won’t say much more about this work, but I’m not sure why Everett isn’t more well known. I feel he’s just as good at bending genre conventions as someone like Jonathan Lethem. Don’t get me wrong—I love Lethem’s works, they're brilliant (though maybe I’ll save that for another post). But for his wide range of styles and content, for his humor, and for his biting satire, I’ll take a Percival Everett novel any day

Noodles

2009-04-14T11:29:00.000-07:00

Returning from our weekend (took off to the tiny wood cabin we have up on the Illinois River in Oregon), I found a letter inviting me to read my poem "Noodles" at the College of Redwoods Poets & Writers release party on May 1. So now I may be reading two times that weekend. Friday night at the College of the Redwoods and Sunday afternoon at Humboldt State University for the Toyon release party. Their reading is by sign-up that day (rather than invitation), so I may sign up to read from the short play I wrote that appears in this year's journal (though it will make more sense if I have a few readers join me--there are 3 characters, after all).

In other College of the Redwoods news, I've been part of the steering committee putting together this year's Redwoods Writers' Conference, which promises to be one of the best yet. September 18 and 19 in Crescent City.

What Gwendolen Harleth Can Teach Us About Sarah Palin

2009-03-25T07:53:00.000-07:00

This coming weekend is the annual North Coast Student Research Conference and Graduate Fair at Humboldt State. For the most part this means presentations about scientific data, such as estimates of salmon populations or the dispersal dynamics of bullfrogs. But each year there are a handful of us from the Humanities presenting our work. This year I'll be presenting from the paper I wrote last Fall for English 546, a literature class focusing on Victorians and Benevolence. We read Jane Austen' Sense & Sensibility, Gaskell's North and South, Trollope's The Warden, Eliot's Daniel Deronda, and Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens. And we watched The Muppet Christmas Carol.

In reading Daniel Deronda, I saw some similarities between one of the main characters and someone I'd been hearing about nonstop during the then-ongoing presidential campaign. Honest, I tried to write a normal literature paper. But Sarah Palin kept creeping in. (As an interesting side note, one other student in that lit. class decided to examine modern-day politics in light of the Victorian literature we were reading. Jimmy will also be presenting at the conference, on "Obama’s Argument: Neighborliness and Benevolence as Elements of Public Policy.")

Here then is my abstract, direct from the conference program:

What Gwendolen Harleth and Ideas of Morality Can Teach Us About Sarah Palin

ABSTRACT

“Was she beautiful or not beautiful? and what was the secret of form or expression which gave the dynamic quality to her glance? Was the good or the evil genius dominant in those beams?”
—George Eliot, Daniel Deronda

So begins George Eliot’s last completed novel, Daniel Deronda. With its publication in 1876, Victorian England was introduced to the woman in question, Gwendolen Harleth. She is presented as a “beautiful, spirited, but spoilt” woman (Oxford 80) who goes from financial ruin to become the marriage partner of a rich aristocrat, attending parties and constantly in the eye of society. Of course, that is until her husband drowns in a boating incident for which she blames herself. During the presidential election in 2008, the United States was introduced to the character of Sarah Palin, Alaska Governor and Republican nominee for Vice President. She—or perhaps the media’s representation of her—mirrors the character of the beautiful and spirited Gwendolen. With her beauty-queen good looks, her spirited political rallies, and her “marriage” to a wealthy senator, the formerly small-town mayor was suddenly cast in the public spotlight and constantly a source of discussion. That is, until her partner’s campaign “sinks,” for which she receives much of the blame.

This presentation examines the position of Sarah Palin today, in light of Eliot’s Gwendolen Harleth. The purposes of this examination are two-fold. First, to consider the similarities and differences between the position of a woman in Victorian times—in our case, almost-governess Harleth—and the position of a similar woman of today’s world—here Governor Palin. While the place of women in our modern nation is certainly different from Victorian-era London, a comparison between the two is be justified by an examination of the commonalities between the two women in four different areas: beauty, education, non-traditional interests, and relationships.

The second purpose is to determine if and how the ideas of morality and benevolence represented in Daniel Deronda compare with those in today’s world. Within each of the four areas noted above, the moral component of their respective actions is examined. What can we learn about ourselves and the morality of our society, by viewing our actions in relation to those represented in Victorian literature? What can Gwendolen’s ideas of morality teach us about Sarah Palin’s own moral responses?

As will be demonstrated, it is my thesis that Sarah Palin is a modern-day Gwendolen Harleth, and that the comparison grounds the moral actions of Sarah Palin in a historical precedent.

Mom will be so proud

2009-01-28T16:44:00.000-08:00

Just got word that one of my "slugdalas" won the Staff Art Award for the upcoming volume of Toyon, the literary magazine of Humboldt State University. If this year is anything like last, the 2009 edition should be out by early May. A short play I wrote was also selected for inclusion, as well as a couple photographs (Crater Lake in July, Tree Man, and Foot Bridge). Yes, with 5 total items, this year's Toyon is sure to be one my parents will want to keep!

Buy nothing. No really.

2008-11-28T13:00:00.000-08:00

Well, today is Buy Nothing Day, and so I thought this would be the perfect day to release into the wild my children's book that's not for children--The Little Veal Cutlet That Couldn't. I encourage everyone to not buy my book today. No, really. I strongly encourage you to take this opportunity, on the busiest shopping day of the year, to refrain from rushing out to support your favorite struggling writer. Instead, spend some time with your family. Do something fun. Don't stare at your computer and spend money. More information on the book is here.