Benjamin Whitmer's Blog, page 23

Three things I'm looking forward to

The first being a new memoir from Harry Crews that you can get a taste of in the current Georgia Review. They've published a chapter, "We Are All Of Us Passing Through," of which they've posted a few paragraphs online.

I have never cared what horse a man was riding, only how he rode him. Because that is the pretty and human thing. I got out of the Marine Corps in 1956, and went to the University of Florida and found it full of granite men riding granite horses. Deliver me from men who are without doubt. Doubt makes a man decent. My most steadfast conviction is that every man ought to doubt everything he holds dearest. Not all the time, but now and then. Sometime. With rare exceptions, though, professors treat their disciplines as closed subjects, as though nothing had been written or discovered or reevaluated about their disciplines since the day they were awarded their PhDs. Consequently, universities have become communities of men with answers instead of—as they should be—communities of men with questions.

The rest.

When I started Satan Is Real, Neil Strauss told me the only thing he wanted me to do by way of research was to read great books. Nothing else. And, obviously, one of the books I chose was Harry Crews' A Childhood: The Biography of a Place. If you haven't had the pleasure, it's one of the finest memoirs ever written.

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The second thing I'm looking forward to is Bruce Springsteen's new album, Wrecking Ball. I've been listening to Springsteen since I was twelve years old. At the time I was living with my mother and we were as broke as you can get, but somehow she scraped together a little money for my birthday and gave me a choice between a used bicycle or a copy of Born in the USA. Obviously I picked the Springsteen album, and I've never looked back.

This is the first single, "We Take Care Of Our Own." It's a good bit of rabble-rousing, and I particularly like the play on the word "flown," which besides the obvious meaning with the word "flag," can also indicate the past tense of "flee." Which is pretty damn apt, to my mind.

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The third thing is a lot more personal, and a lot more imminent. That'd be my first Noir at the Bar, to be taking place on Tuesday evening in St. Louis, at the Meshuggah Cafe, 7PM.

I'm very excited about this one, and hope anybody in the neighborhood can make it.

Two-part harmony

The New York Times will be running a review of Satan Is Real in this week's Sunday Book Review. Which you can read right now, should you so desire.

This is the line that got me all happy.

The contributions of his co-author, Benjamin Whitmer, are pretty much invisible, which makes them difficult to praise, and all the more praiseworthy.

The rest.

Hive five

So I was interviewed about Satan Is Real by a guy from MTV for their Hive Five feature. Which I probably find as odd as anyone, but it was pretty damn enjoyable. And, well, here are the results.

Although '50s country stars the Louvin Brothers ostensibly titled their most famous album Satan Is Real to warn people about the demonic influence of the fallen one, it turns out that the older brother, Ira Louvin, had more than a touch of the demon in him. How demonic? Lets just say he's not afraid of a gun, Elvis or worried about being "politically correct" even when in the presence of rockabilly royality. We caught up with Benjamin Whitmer, who co-wrote Charlie Louvin's autobiography – also titled Satan Is Real, naturally – to talk about some of the legendary stories that confirmed that Satan certainly might've had a finger in their career.

The rest.

Quote

From the Author's Credits to a book called Junk Food, for which Harry Crews wrote the essay, "Truckstops, Whores & Gravy." Just found a copy for $.30 on Amazon. (Already ordered it, get back.)

Harry Crews … [p]refers: "Nasty chili dogs you get in a tavern, shack, off the road, and there's a big fat mamma in there sweatin, and kids yellin half in English, half in Spanish. It's the home atmomosphere I love, a few flies buzzin, and their Daddy left in a big pickup truck. This all seems like a good idea at the time, but two-three hours later payback is a motherfucker.'"

The independents

So this is gonna be pretty much nothing but a review dump for Satan Is Real. Meaning, I'll apologize for it right now, and do feel free to skip it. Someday, I'll get back to posting real content, but right now pretty much all my fucking around time is going to press stuff. I'm very protective of the time I have for writing, and hopefully you'll forgive me if I don't cut into that to blog.

That said, I really wanna point to Nathan Singer, if you haven't heard of him. I've been blessed to get an advance copy of his latest, blackchurchfurnace, and it's one of the most amazing books I've ever read. I actually haven't read the book that it's a sequel to, A Prayer for Dawn, but I will be picking up a copy just about immediately after I'm done with this one, and I suggest you do the same. He's the kind of writer who'll just destroy you, in all the right ways.

Satan Is Real has been making the rounds of the independent weeklies, and they've been very kind to Charlie and I. Since the last update, we've had reviews in The Portland Mercury, the Nashville Scene, the Baltimore City Paper, and the Columbia Free Times. We've also had some more luck in the dailies, namely the Louisville Courier-Journal and the Buffalo News.

There's also been some other great press. Including an article in TV Weekly that argues that the Louvin Brothers should be recognized by the Grammys as Lifetime Achievement Honorees based on Satan Is Real. (To which I say: fuck yes.) And also, a wonderful feature on the book in Garden & Gun that was written by none other than novelist Clyde Edgerton.

Last, Rolling Stone has a review in its February 16th issue.

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It's not online yet, but, man, it's a good one. Four stars. I will, of course, post a link as soon as I get one. For some reason that one was really a lot of fun.

There's more big stuff coming. Thanks for bearing with me.

From enchantment to down

From Thomas Czarnecki.

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Twitter

I waffle on this, I know, but I've added my Twitter feed to the sidebar again. Meaning, I'll probably stop doing the Guns, Books, Etc. stuff for now, just because it's so much easier to post random links over there.

So, anyway, hopefully you see something worthwhile. And if not, hell, I'll probably change my mind in a couple of weeks, anyway.

Happiness is a kind review

Especially when it comes from Tamara Keel, who, in my humble opinion, is the most knowledgeable and eloquent gun writer working. I'm pretty new to the world of gun enthusiasts, and nobody has been more helpful than she as I've been learning the 1911 platform and the basics of armed self defense.

It's been a good run of press lately, but this one really makes me happy.

Reviews of Satan Is Real, a new interview, Cormac McCarthy, Waylon Jennings, and Bob Dylan, Pike in French, details for Noir at the Bar, Dove Season, Frank Sinatra in a Blender

So, news. Well, I'm still busier'n hell. Satan Is Real continues to get really nice reviews. Including one from my favorite newspaper, The Onion, and this really perceptive piece from novelist Jake Hinkson. And there's a great review from my hometown paper, The Dayton Daily News – meaning, there's a couple of high school teachers who I really hope have a subscription. Also, Otis Ryan interviewed me for Dirty Roots Radio, which was a ball, and you can find me rambling about Cormac McCarthy, Waylon Jennings, Charlie Louvin and all kinds of shit over at Criminal Complex. And here's the designer of Satan Is Real's cover talking about the process at The Huffington Post.

And, in kind of the oddest and coolest news I got, if you listen right here, you can hear Bob Dylan introducing the Louvin Brothers song "Satan Is Real" on his radio show. Which is very cool, of course. But even cooler is that Mr. Dylan has requested a copy of the book Satan Is Real. I don't know what that means, but I love that he has a copy in his hands.

Also, in Pike news, it looks like the French edition from Editions Gallmeister will be available in September. I won't pretend I'm not blown away by joining an author list that includes Ed Abbey, Craig Johnson, Larry McMurtry, Tim O'Brien, and Tom Robbins.

We've also got some details on Noir at the Bar, which I'll be attending in about three weeks. This from Mr. Bar, Jedidiah Ayres:

Oky-doke kiddos, here's the official lineup for the N@B double header coming your way late in February. Two nights of walking on the dark side in St. Louis. First up, February 21st, Robert Randisi has been added to the the lineup alongside Benjamin Whitmer, Sonia Coney and Jason Makansi, so that's fantastic. How many people do you know who've read over five hundred books, let alone written that many, let alone published that many? Sure, somebody in the near future will probably take a big ol' dump all over the internets with their self-published titles and get up into the hundreds like that, but Randisi has done it the hard way, the ultimate pulp writer kids. That cat goes through keyboards faster than I go through underwear, and tossing 'em when he's worn the letters off the keys. Take that, James Patterson.

As I understand it, we'll be meeting at the Meshuggah Cafe in St. Louis. Again, cannot wait.

And I think that brings me up to date on my doings. At least for the most part.

On the non-career related side, I've been getting back to doing a little shooting. 3×5 cards up at Left Hand Canyon. And I know I keep saying this, but I can't get over how solid my 1911 has been since I put in the Ed Brown Hardcore extractor and tensioned it. I haven't had a problem of any kind, not one, and it's been well north of 1,000 rounds. (Probably more than 2,000.) I clean it about every 300-400 rounds, keep it oiled, and it just keeps banging along. I'm having so much fun.

And, of course, I'm reading and writing. I finally read Johnny Shaw's Dove Season and highly recommend it. This is crime fiction the way I dig crime fiction: a strong, individual voice rooted in place and character. I loved it. And I gotta post the cover, because it's just as great as the writing inside:

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I also want to give a huge shout out to Matthew McBride, whose Frank Sinatra in a Blender was picked up by New Pulp Press this week. He gives the lowdown here in a wonderfully titled post, "How To Get A Book Deal In 3,285 Days."

That's all I got.

Reviews of Satan Is Real, a new interview, Cormac McCarthy, Waylon Jennings and Bob Dylan, Pike in French, details for Noir at the Bar, Dove Season, Frank Sinatra in a Blender

So, news. Well, I'm still busier'n hell. Satan Is Real continues to get really nice reviews. Including one from my favorite newspaper, The Onion, and this really perceptive piece from novelist Jake Hinkson. And there's a great review from my hometown paper, The Dayton Daily News – meaning, there's a couple of high school teachers who I really hope have a subscription. Also, Otis Ryan interviewed me for Dirty Roots Radio, which was a ball, and you can find me rambling about Cormac McCarthy, Waylon Jennings, Charlie Louvin and all kinds of shit over at Criminal Complex. And here's the designer of Satan Is Real's cover talking about the process at The Huffington Post.

And, in kind of the oddest and coolest news I got, if you listen right here, you can hear Bob Dylan introducing the Louvin Brothers song "Satan Is Real" on his radio show. Which is very cool, of course. But even cooler is that Mr. Dylan has requested a copy of the book Satan Is Real. I don't know what that means, but I love that he has a copy in his hands.

Also, in new Pike news, it looks like the French edition from Editions Gallmeister will be available in September.  I won't pretend I'm not blown away by joining an author list that includes Ed Abbey, Craig Johnson, Larry McMurtry, Tim O'Brien, and Tom Robbins.

We've also got some details on Noir at the Bar, which I'll be attending in about three weeks. This from Mr. Bar, Jedidiah Ayres:

Oky-doke kiddos, here's the official lineup for the N@B double header coming your way late in February. Two nights of walking on the dark side in St. Louis. First up, February 21st, Robert Randisi has been added to the the lineup alongside Benjamin Whitmer, Sonia Coney and Jason Makansi, so that's fantastic. How many people do you know who've read over five hundred books, let alone written that many, let alone published that many? Sure, somebody in the near future will probably take a big ol' dump all over the internets with their self-published titles and get up into the hundreds like that, but Randisi has done it the hard way, the ultimate pulp writer kids. That cat goes through keyboards faster than I go through underwear, and tossing 'em when he's worn the letters off the keys. Take that, James Patterson.

As I understand it, we'll be meeting at the Meshuggah Cafe in St. Louis. Again, cannot wait.

And I think that brings me up to date on my doings. At least for the most part.

On the non-career related side, I've been getting back to doing a little shooting. 3×5 cards up at Left Hand Canyon. And I know I keep saying this, but I can't get over how solid my 1911 has been since I put in the Ed Brown Hardcore extractor and tensioned it. I haven't had a problem of any kind, not one, and it's been well north of 1,000 rounds. (Probably more than 2,000.) I clean it about every 300-400 rounds, keep it oiled, and it just keeps banging along. I'm just having so much fun.

And, of course, I'm reading and writing. I finally read Johnny Shaw's Dove Season and highly recommend it. This is crime fiction the way I love crime fiction: a strong, individual voice rooted in place and character. I loved it. And I gotta post the cover, because it's just as great as the writing inside:

[image error]

I also want to give a huge shout out to Matthew McBride, whose Frank Sinatra in a Blender was picked up by New Pulp Press this week. He gives the lowdown here in a wonderfully titled post, "How To Get A Book Deal In 3,285 Days."

That's all I got.