43 ratings | 36 reviews
avg rating: 4.12

(since June 07)

Jim's bookshelves

read (37)
currently-reading (14)
to-read (30)
legion-of-vermin (5)
thc (1)

Jim's friends (167)

	Kirk 149 books 387 friends
	Rusty 1586 books 418 friends
	Darren 20 books 1164 friends
	Jason Pettus 328 books 222 friends
	McKenna 240 books 71 friends
	Otis 327 books 502 friends
	Starlight 103 books 28 friends
	David 73 books 679 friends
	Peter 513 books 114 friends
	Tosh 1657 books 278 friends
	Katherine 411 books 75 friends
	Mary 147 books 17 friends
	Sharon 24 books 76 friends
	Michael 54 books 1485 friends
	Bonnie 678 books 539 friends

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Jim Ruland

author profile

born

July 22, 1968

gender

male

place of birth

United States

website

http://www.vermin.blogs.bl.com

genre

Literature & Fiction, History

influences

Irish drinking songs

about this author

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Jim Ruland's fiction and nonfiction have appeared in a number of newspapers, magazines and journals, including The Barcelona Review, The Believer, Black Warrior Review, Esquire, Hobart, L.A. Weekly, Los Angeles Times, McSweeney's, Opium, Oxford American, Village Voice, and Razorcake -- America's only non-profit punk rock zine.

He is the recipient of numerous awards, including a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the host of Vermin on the Mount, an irreverent reading series in the heart of L.A.'s Chinatown.

Jim lives in San Diego with his wife, Nuvia, and works in an Indian casino.

books by Jim Ruland

combine editions
avg rating: 4.41 | 34 ratings | 1 distinct work

Big Lonesome (Paperback)
by Jim Ruland (goodreads author!)
avg rating 4.41 — 34 ratings — published 2005

my rating:

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, perform a search.

Jim's writing

Bare Knuckle Boxing in the Mississippi Back Woods (Nonfiction)

1 chapters — updated 01/04/2008 01:22PM

description: I've got a short article in the latest Oxford American about my search for the site of the greatest bare knuckle boxing match in American history: John L. Sullivan's epic, 75-round bout with Jake Kilrain in July of 1889, Richburg, Mississippi.

What's Big Lonesome about? (Literature & Fiction)

1 chapters — updated 06/28/2007 12:53PM

description: It's an overstuffed quesadilla of a short story collection. There's some historical fiction that ranges from the Blitz in Belfast to the Chicago Haymarket Riots. There's some crime fiction. At least one sailor story. A stalker's diary from her time in the crawlspace of a stripper's house. Dick Tracy, Popeye the Sailor, and the Big Bad Wolf all make appearances. There's a conflicted catechism about a messed up love triangle. And, in the title story, a 19th century orphan gets mixed up with a clairvoyant school teacher and an Indian named Tonka who may or may not be a robot.

Jim is currently reading

	05/09 Jim is currently reading: Knockemstiff (Hardcover) by Donald Ray Pollock bookshelves: currently-reading	my rating:
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	01/15 Jim is currently reading: Twin Time: Or, How Death Befell Me (Semiotext(e) / Native Agents) by Veronica Gonzalez (Goodreads author!) bookshelves: currently-reading	my rating:
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	12/31 Jim gave to: Supply And Demand: The Art of Shepard Fairey (Hardcover) by Shepard Fairey bookshelves: currently-reading	my rating:
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Jim's recent updates (rss)

July 24

Jim joined the Interviews - New Authors and ¡ POETRY ! groups.

New comment on Richard's review of The Mayor of Casterbridge (Penguin Classics)

Jim wrote: "But why? "

reply to this comment

July 21

Jim read and liked Jennifer's review of The Gentle Axe: A Novel:

"This is very well done. RN Morris manages to recreate a time and place by crafting a modern version of a Russian classic, with the pacing and intrigue of a CSI television show set in St. Petersburg. There are sentences that are so beautifully crafted...more "

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July 09

New comment on Jason Pettus's review of The Resurrectionist

Jim wrote: "Looking forward to your thoughts on this one, Jason! "

reply to this comment

June 13

New comment on Carolyn's review of Girl Factory

Jim wrote: "Nice! "

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Jim read and liked Carolyn's review of Girl Factory:

"Reviewed for the Los Angeles Times, June 1, 2008.
http://www.latimes.com/feature...

'Girl Factory' by Jim Krusoe
What exact...more Reviewed for the Los Angeles Times, June 1, 2008.
http://www.latimes.com/feature...

'Girl Factory' by Jim Krusoe
What exactly is going on in that frozen yogurt shop?

Frozen-yogurt shop employee Jonathan is oversmart and underemployed, and very early on in the novel "Girl Factory" by Jim Krusoe (Tin House: 196 pp., $14.95 paper) we realize he's also not quite right. After he learns about a hyper-intelligent, military-bred dog at a local shelter, he determines that he will be the one to rescue the animal: "I went back inside to find a jacket, and it was really more as an afterthought than anything that I took along a crowbar, slipping it up my sleeve so as not to alarm anyone."

His trip to the shelter ends in disaster, but Jonathan escapes notice and returns to his quiet routine, doing nothing more exciting than walking to his job at Mister Twisty. His boss, Spinner, is the only person he might (at a stretch) call a friend. Jonathan is a good employee. He doesn't mind not being allowed into the basement, which seems to emit a powerful hum. But one day, alone with the key, he discovers Spinner's secret: young women in a state of suspension, floating in a yogurt-based life-sustaining fluid.

Life-preserving yogurt bacteria? A modern-day Frankenstein selling low-fat desserts? Jonathan, who interprets his surroundings through metaphors that burst unhinged with style -- each suspended woman was "like a helpless museum-goer struck by a paralyzing gas that had been pumped into the ventilation system as part of a million-dollar robbery exactly at the same second she was standing there in front of a painting" -- may be the perfect hero for this surreal world.

But he is hardly a reliable narrator, and there are hints of fissures in Jonathan's tale-telling. When Spinner explains his project, it's with the fullness and detail of a Bond movie supervillain. Each time Jonathan talks to the Captain, a neighbor, he stands silently and hysterically immobile, flashing back to a chronically unlucky past. Jonathan isn't all there, clearly, but what exactly is missing?

Jim Krusoe pulls off a balancing act between science fiction and subjectivity in this playful, funny novel. And he makes sure you'll never look at Pinkberry quite the same way again.
...less "

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June 09

Jim read and liked Beverly's review of Oh Baby:

"Oh Baby is certainly a strange little book. It's taken me awhile to read it because my tiny mind couldn't quite 'get with the program' in the beginning.

This is ostensibly a book of flash fiction and prose poems. But it is like no other that I'v...more "

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May 23

New comment on Katherine's review of Cane

Jim wrote: "And surprisingly sinister! "

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see all 37 of Jim's books »

Jim's groups (recent posts)

Interviews - New Authors — 125 members — last activity 1 hour, 45 min ago
When I'm not working, writing or reading, I interview new authors for my blog--Emerge New Authors.

http://jenniferprado.blogspot....

If ...more

¡ POETRY ! — 872 members — last activity 2 hours, 12 min ago
No pretensions: just poetry.

Stop by, recommend books, offer up poems (excerpted), tempt us, taunt us, tell us what to read and where to go (to re...more

CAT Society — 320 members — last activity 2 days ago, 07:51PM
Who love to LOVE can joy with us. Who love to PLAY can joy with us. Who love to RELAX can joy with us. who love our IDEA can joy with us.
..............more

Flash Fiction — 73 members — last activity 16 days ago, 01:51AM
Flash is a short-short story characterized by brevity and intensity of the language. It borderlines poetry and some people call it “prose poem.” H...more

Hard Case Crime — 79 members — last activity 27 days ago, 08:24PM
"They do write 'em like they used to."
—Publishers Weekly on Fade to Blonde

Look for a similar group on Facebook

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Jim's friend comments

showing 1-3 of 3. (add a comment | view all)

from Kirk

02/27/2008 11:55AM

Hey man:

I was reading your dispatches from the Joyce conference on the Believer website from a few years back---good stuff! You made me want to try to do something similar about a Hemingway conference. Nice work!

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from Jim

06/26/2007 02:06PM

Thanks, Sue! Married life is gloriously strenuous.

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from Susan

06/26/2007 01:49PM

Well, now. You look different since you got married.

Great to see you here!

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