Jeffrey Ricker's Blog, page 39

Because it’s never too late to give a(n e-)book

It’s Christmas Eve, and you’re screwed, aren’t you?

You waited until now to finish your Christmas shopping, and there’s no way in double-E hockey sticks you’re going to get it all done, is there? You’re at the Walmart/the Target/the “insert name of appropriate store here” and they’re all out of nearly everything, which means they’re all out of whatever you were looking for. If you even knew what to get him/her/them in the first place.

Sigh. You’re probably a straight guy too. You guys never learn.

So, instead of leaving you to plague and torment the holiday retail staff, who are probably on their last nerve and you are not helping, let me suggest something:

E-books.

Now, we all know that I love my paper books. However, I do also like the fact that with an e-reader (or with an app on a phone or tablet), I can browse for and buy a book without getting up from my chair. And—and!—I can do so while still supporting my local independent bookstore, which has an e-book arrangement with Kobo.

So, what should you buy? Here are some of my favorite reads from this past year, as well as some things I’m looking forward to:

KC, at Bat, by Tom Mendicino

I read this novella after finishing Mendicino’s novel Probation, and its story of young longing left me longing for the next installment, which I hope will be coming soon.

Foolish Hearts, edited by Timothy J. Lambert and R.D. Cochrane

Although this anthology isn’t officially released until next month, you can start reading it right now because it’s available to download instantly as an e-book. Even though I will be getting a pair of copies since I have a story in here (ahem), I went ahead and bought the e-book today because I want to start reading it soon. Plus, if you go over to Becky (dba R.D.) Cochrane’s blog, you’ll find she’s been posting snippets from each story in the anthology (this being the most recent one).

This Is How You Die, edited by Ryan North, Matthew Bennardo, and David Malki

The premise behind this anthology is deviously simple: A machine has been invented that, through a simple blood test, will tell you how you are going to die. Of course, the reality is not always as straightforward as the machine’s answer might make it seem. My friend ’Nathan Burgoine‘s story leads off the collection, and it was very amusing this year to see the reactions to his story on Twitter, most of which ran along the lines of “damn it, you made me cry.” Geez, it’s like people don’t like getting in touch with their emotions or something. (Check out ’Nathan’s debut novel, Light, as well.)

The Golden Mean, by Annabel Lyon

Full disclosure: Annabel is a professor in the creative writing program I’m currently attending. Sadly, I haven’t taken any workshops with her, but this book is a wonderfully crafted and beautifully written account of Aristotle begrudgingly fulfilling King Philip of Macedon’s charge to tutor his two sons, one of whom has been rendered mentally disabled, and one who will grow up to be Alexander the Great. The follow-up novel, The Sweet Girl, is on my to-read list.

Detours, by this guy

What, you didn’t expect me to suggest my own darn book? It’s a road-trip/romance/ghost story, which is not a mash-up you come across all that often, is it? (By the way, I’ve got a new book coming out soon.)

So finish up your shopping and go back to spending time with your family, which is a much better pursuit at this time of year. Happy Merry, y’all!

‘Drop-everything’ moments

It’s kind of a weird experience to sit down and read your own novel from start to finish. I sent off The Unwanted to my editor in August, and since then, apart from compiling the front matter and looking at cover options (and one reading from it), I haven’t touched it in a while. Copy edits are one of the (many) times when everything else you’re doing comes to a screeching halt so you can get this done before your deadline. So, coming back to the novel last week felt a little like someone else’s book.

Except that in this case you get to cross words out, fix annoying inconsistencies, ask “What the hell was I thinking when I wrote that?” and thank your lucky stars that you have a stellar copy editor who catches you every time you screw up.

Hug your copy editor, folks.

I’m on my way to Olympia to visit my parents as well as see my other half, whom I haven’t seen since October, so that will be Christmas present enough. I suspect there will be lots of eating and drinking and probably a cat in my lap every night.  Happy holidays, y’all!

My kick-ass writing group

This is just a detail shot from the actual photo. Click to bop over and see the full-meal deal.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that someone in my writing group owns a bat’leth.

If you go over to Terrible Minds, you’ll see a photo of said weapon, along with a number of my partners in crime from Writers under the Arch back in St. Louis. They entered Chuck Wendig’s Kick-Ass Writing Group contest to win some copies of his book titled (you guessed it) The Kick-Ass Writer. Given the arsenal on display in that picture, deciding who gets a copy of the book should be interesting, to say the least.

Congratulations, guys. I always knew you were kick-ass.

10 books that stayed with me, or “I can’t resist a list”

It’s true, I love making lists. I have loads of memos on my phone of movies to see, books to read, musicians to check out. On my computer I use Stickies to keep track of places to send stories, sites to check out when it’s time to promote my novel, and then I have the list below.

Originating apparently in a Facebook meme, the idea is to make a list of ten books that stuck with you after you finished reading them. (Of course, don’t think too long about it while you’re making the list; if you have to think about it too hard, maybe they didn’t stay with you, really.) I read about it on Greg Herren’s blog, and it got me thinking about what might be on my list.

I especially like the bit where he says, “I also decided, when making this list of ten, to not give two fucks what anyone might think of my choices.” (Not that Greg ever gives two fucks what anyone might think, which is part of his charm.) I could have trotted out a bunch of books that would make me look well-read and that I also love—things like Mrs. Dalloway and Jane Austen and James Joyce. (A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man did stay with me a long time, because when I first read it I absolutely loathed it. When I re-read it at age 30, I had a very different reaction.)

But, here’s the list that came to mind:

1. The Hours, by Michael Cunningham

2. Tales of the City, by Armistead Maupin

3. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald

4. Sight Hound, by Pam Houston

5. Dune, by Frank Herbert

6. When You Don’t See Me, by Timothy James Beck

7. The Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller

8. The Brief History of the Dead, by Kevin Brockmier

9. The Swimming-Pool Library, by Alan Hollinghurst

10. Silver Sparrow, by Tayari Jones

(Bonus) 11. The Wounded Sky, by Diane Duane

So, what would be on your list?

It’s the most panicky time of the year

What’s that, you say? You’re not feeling the panic? I envy you, then.

I never thought I’d get finish with grading papers this semester. Since the end of November, I’ve been reading papers comparing and contrasting narrative elements in a variety of video games. Now that I’m done, I have the urge to download BioShock or The Walking Dead.

For now, though, I’m resisting.

In the meantime, I’ve also been working feverishly on PRISM international‘s non-fiction contest. The deadline was last Thursday, and so now the lengthy process of reading is under way.

Oh wait, did I say “lengthy”? Try “we need everything read by Friday so we can start putting together the long and short lists.” Thankfully, I don’t have to do any of the reading—well, actually, I can’t do any of the reading because the contest is judged blind, and I know who everyone is.

No rest for the wicked or the weary (I won’t say which I those I’m copping to), since the fiction and poetry contest deadlines are right around the corner. (In case you’re wondering, the deadlines for both are January 23; go on and enter already.) Coming up this Friday (I hope, if I can get my act together) is a blog post catching up with Eliza Robertson. She won PRISM‘s fiction contest back in 2010 for her story “Roadnotes” (you can read a snippet from it here). How much did winning the contest help her writing career? More than you might expect. But I won’t say anymore because spoilers!

Right, where was I? Oh yes, what’s driving me mental lately. But wait, there’s more! As you’ll no doubt remember (I know I sure as heck haven’t forgotten), I have a book coming out in March, and being (still) a beginning writer published by an (awesome) indie press in a crowded field, I often feel like one of these guys:

You’ll note that there are a lot of them, and it’s kinda hard to tell them apart. What’s an alien to do? Well, try to drum up publicity, which, let’s face it, is not my forté. (Introvert, in case it wasn’t obvious.) I’m looking into blog book tour packages and also trying to figure out where/when/if I can do any in-person promotional things for it. One thing I know I will be doing: in March, I’m reading at Locution, which is the MFA reading series presented by the Creative Writing Program at UBC. It’s held at the Cottage Bistro in Vancouver, so pencil it into your Filofax (March 13th, kids).

Not necessarily promotion-related, but I’m also going to be at AWP in Seattle at the end of February with the rest of the staff from PRISM as well as a boatload of folks from the MFA program. It’ll be my first time and I hear it’s a ton of fun, as well as completely overwhelming, so I’ll be the guy wandering around looking slightly dazed. If you see me, say hi!

You’ll notice that in that list of stuff to do I haven’t made much mention of that other thing. You know: writing. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get back to that (finally) over the next few days. I have two stories I’m trying to revise, another one I’m trying to finish, copy edits for the book coming my way, and then there’s that first draft of the thesis about to land with a frightening thud on my desk….

‘A Family By Any Other Name’ cover reveal!

A quick update to show you all the cover to an upcoming anthology in which I have an essay: , edited by Bruce Gillespie. It’s coming out in April from TouchWood Editions, but here’s a look at the cover. I like it!

I promise I’ll be back with a real update soon—I’m still trying to catch my breath from the end-of-semester sprint. Or marathon. I can’t remember which race it is that I’m running. Maybe both at the same time.

Oof. No wonder I’m exhausted!

What it feels like for a litmag contest manager

(Because secretly, you’d love to know what it feels like, wouldn’t you?)

Picture it: The deadline for your contest approaches, and the folks out there are writing as fast as they can:

Inevitably, the deadline passes—and maybe some people missed it.

Or maybe the post office was closed right when someone got there to mail their entry:

So you think, “What if we extend the deadline?”

And the typing continues.

Then the deadline extension passes and all the entries are in. You feel like this:

You send them all out for the first round of reading and the waiting starts all over again:

The deadline for PRISM international‘s creative non-fiction contest is December 5. That’s tomorrow! Hurry up and enter!

Sunday Night Chair Dancing

As you’ve probably picked up by now, I’ve been a little… harried lately. Between the end of the semester, a new book coming out in four months, and a thesis draft about to land on my desk, it’s been kind of stressful. Not to mention a magazine contest that if it doesn’t go well it’s going to look less than stellar for me.

(Hey, you’ve still got time to enter the non-fiction contest. Just sayin’.)

Anyway, I try as best I can to remain unflappable (which is challenging at the best of times), but with everything going on, I’ve been, well, flapping.

At times like that I turn to running, and while I went running this afternoon I was listening to an episode of quite possibly the most delightfully offensive podcast known to humanity (seriously, they manage to offend every known group including several I’m a member of and I have never laughed so much at inappropriate times), and they played this song:

I bought it on iTunes once I got home and have played it repeatedly while bopping happily in my chair-based area, as a certain Shark-Fu would call it. Perhaps Sunday night chair dancing should become a habit. I may not be any less stressed, but my spirits are lifted.

Of course, the cinnamon bun I had in the middle of my run might have something to do with that as well.

Oh, and I also did a reading

Among all the other things that were happening last week, I forgot to mention possibly the one that was most fun: I gave a reading! It was Green College‘s 20th anniversary celebration (that’s the place where I’m living while I’m in grad school), so I helped pull together a reading by current and previous residents as part of the festivities. And this was a great group of writers: Madeleine Thien, Laisha Rosnau, Wayde Compton, and Ngwatilo Mawiyoo. (And then there was me.) Seriously, these people are fantastically talented; check out their work.

I read a little from my work-in-progress, which is also my thesis (my first draft is with my advisor; I’m simultaneously eager for and dreading the feedback). That was a first; I can’t think of a time I’ve ever read out loud something that no one else has seen (except in workshop and with my writing group back in St. Louis, but that’s what they’re there for). Luckily, everyone seemed to like the passage I read.

That, or they were being really polite.

Someone keeps blowing out my match

(First of all, congratulations to Donna in Ohio for winning the copy of The Lavender Menace I gave away on Goodreads. If you’re reading this, I hope you enjoy the book!)

I can tell that it’s getting close to the end of the semester, because I’m getting less sleep and drinking more coffee. It feels like I’m burning my candle at the wrong end and someone keeps blowing out the match when I try to light it, anyway. I’m also making more lists—both to keep track of what I need to get done and also because if I don’t it feels like I’m accomplishing nothing. It’s gotten to the point where, if I’ve finished something that’s not on the list, I will write it on the list just so I can have the satisfaction of checking it off.

Hey, I never said that anything I do makes sense.

The pace should start picking up with production of my next novel in the coming month or so. There’ll be page proofs and cover proofs and jeez, how am I going to go about promoting this? Sometimes, it feels like I’ll never get the hang of that.

But, I do have a few ideas.

Meanwhile, I can’t stop watching this one-minute vignette starring Oprah Winfrey. It’s just a couple lines of dialogue written by Sarah Polley, an unassuming set and some gorgeous lighting, and her rather amazing presence. It’s amazing, isn’t it, how much story you can fit into such a short span of time and so few words. All of these vignettes would make good writing prompts.

Which gives me an idea….