Alex Kudera's Blog, page 156

Cyrus at the Inky

Cyrus Duffleman breaks through doors and accesses the hometown newspapers--online and off:

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20110130_PhillyDeals__Should_college_teaching_be_a_full-time_job_.html

Thank you, Joseph N. DiStefano, for your article(s) in the Business section of The Philadelphia Inquirer and http://www.philly.com/.

URL links for Fight for Your Long Day

In theory, a book isn't alive unless it's snuggled comfortably in the reading bin in the bathroom at Oprah's or any sitting President's (so to speak), but here is an imperfect list of URL links to news or mouthings about Fight for Your Long Day:

http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/academe/2011/JF/br/br3.htm

http://southeastreview.org/2011/01/review-fight-for-your-long-day.html

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/09/21/kudera


http://contemporaryhorizon.blogspot.com/2010/12/american-perspectivesperspective.html

http://www.midwestbookreview.com/sbw/dec_10.htm#Fiction (no separate page possible, not much here)

interviews:

http://whenfallsthecoliseum.com/2010/11/01/the-life-of-adjuncts-an-interview-with-novelist-alex-kudera/

http://atticusbooksonline.com/interview-with-the-author-of-fight-for-your-long-day/

http://smartsandculture.com/blog/2010/october/alex-kudera

http://smartsandculture.com/blog/2010/october/alex-kudera-2

blogs:

http://www.stevehimmer.com/notes/3464/fight-for-your-long-day

http://lumpenprofessoriat.blogspot.com/2010/09/fight-for-your-long-day.html

http://freedomfromthings.com/post/2458438021/book-review-fight-for-your-long-day-by-alex-kudera

customer reviews:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8612461-fight-for-your-long-day
http://www.amazon.com/Fight-Your-Long-Day-Novel/dp/0984510508/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1282962542&sr=1-1

http://www.shelfari.com/books/17696955/Fight-for-Your-Long-Day---A-Novel/reviews

Cyrus Duffleman on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/update_security_info.php?wizard=1#!/CyrusDuffleman

Be sure to to friend Cyrus Duffleman if you need one more malaise of a man in your life; well, he does have his moments.

I'll add to these as more links appear.

So I hesitate to call myself a public intellectual, but I'm considering a name tag that asserts as much if I'm fortunate enough to have loitering time at the library or campus-center coffee shops this semester. If it weren't for my increasing need to sit firmly on a chair, I can envision far better placement for the sign. And yes, that would be in honor of all the signs (and "public intellectuals") of the times.

Thank you for taking a look.

Best,
Alex Kudera

Duffleman Does Academe

And so begins Isaac Sweeney, writing for Academe, the journal of the AAUP, in his review of Fight for Your Long Day:

"I laughed at parts of Fight for Your Long Day, a new novel by Alex Kudera. At other parts of the novel, I felt inspired. But most of all, Fight for Your Long Day made me sad. Part of my sadness came because Kudera writes elegantly and has created an insightful, tragic, sometimes comic protagonist (I dare not call him a hero) named Cyrus Duffleman, whom the narrator calls "Duffy." He reminds me of Hamlet—a bit of an introverted whiner, but the kind you love to hear whine. I'm sad when Duffleman is sad. I'm even sadder when he has bits of hope, like when there's the prospect of an affair with an attractive student, because I know it won't work out for him. As with any other effective tragic character, there's something satisfying in watching his tragedy unfold."

Thanks, Isaac.

Cyrus Duffleman is a fictional character. The real tragedies in America concern people like Isaac Sweeney--good teachers and hard workers who risk the worst consequences if they try to defend themselves.

Follow this link for the full review: http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/academe/2011/JF/br/br3.htm

And check out Isaac's short fiction here: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/35484

or here: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/36908

Southeast Review

So if I'm so "extremely talented and driven" why do I feel so fat and ineffectual most days? And, yeah, while we're here, prone to lethargy, paranoia, pessimism, angst, and, well, we'll do a whole blog on hypochondria another day, and add an exclusive interview with my daughter, who decided this evening that her first novel would be about her parents. Well, what she really decided was that she wanted to hear the same children's book nine times on a snow day. Thank you, Charles Dodd White, for your fine review of Fight for Your Long Day.

tanzer top tens

When Ben Tanzer top tens it, he doesn't mess around:

http://bentanzer.blogspot.com/2010/12/tbwcyl-inc-2010-top-ten-lists-are.html

Moving on, here's a great list designed to pump you up to pay cash for hardcovers in 2011:

http://www.themillions.com/2011/01/most-anticipated-the-great-2011-book-preview.html

I'd bet even money I don't read any of them in 2011, but it still warms my heart to know that some lunatic from New York was insane enough to publish fiction at price points above the $20 feeds two at Chili's (http://www.chilis.com/EN/Pages/home.aspx).

two new reviews

Here are two new reviews of Fight for Your Long Day. Both writers have experience teaching college-level classes, but they are about 1000 miles away from each other, three decades apart by age, and have led radically different lives thus far. (For example, one knows tenure whereas the other knows Philadelphia.) Here's a quote I found to be highly relevant:

"Indeed, this middling nature reflects Duffy's life as a whole. He exists purely in the middle, unable to move upward, terrified of sliding down."

OK. Here: http://freedomfromthings.com/post/2458438021/book-review-fight-for-your-long-day-by-alex-kudera

and the more recent "Steve" review at goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8612461-fight-for-your-long-day

And yes, "Muriel" on goodreads is the author's mother, but please don't hold that against her.

philly bookstores, Christmas 2010

Bauman's Rare Books has left Walnut Street but still operates out of New York City. Larry Robin's has used books and speaking events but no longer carries new titles. Book Trader finally chased Big Jar off of Second Street, and the latter now operates a smaller store at the corner of 4th and Bainbridge. The Liberty Place Borders Express has been closed for months now, and the bookstore in the basement of the Bourse is long gone, closed down before I left Philly if I'm not mistaken. Skip at Giovanni's Room described holiday traffic as "slow," but he's open and would welcome a visit.

On the brighter side, as in, if there are bookstores in Philadelphia, there are likely more readers, jobs, etc., the chains I went into were bustling. Both Barnes and Noble and Borders downtown seemed to be moving plenty of "product," as in books, gift cards, games, etc. Joseph A. Fox on Sansom was quite busy too on the Tuesday afternoon before Christmas. Likewise, the Borders in Wynnewood had a long line of patrons waiting to purchase as part of Christmas-Eve routine. (It was tempting to stand outside and hawk discount copies of Fight for Your Long Day, but I resisted such extremes.)

In University City, House of Our Own and the Pennsylvania Bookstore, along with their own friendly deathstar neighbor, the University of Pennsylvania Barnes and Noble, are all open and selling new books, textbooks, and more. House of Our Own made my week because they are the first Philadelphia store to order, stock, and display Fight for Your Long Day. It was good to see familiar smiles in both of the independent locations. (When I grew up in University City, the bookstore scene was up on 38th Street, centered between Walnut and Locust, and you could move quickly from Pennsylvania Book Center to Encore Books to an older, smaller Penn Bookstore. House of Our Own came later, and there were also occasional attempts to book further west, such as Lame Duck Books on 45th Street, on the same side between Locust and Chestnut where used-everything Second Mile thrives today.)

And best of all, where I least remembered it, two underground bookstores in the Gallery seemed to be going strong or at least be ongoing. A Books-A-Million, a chain I associate with the Southeastern region has replaced what was a Walden's and then a Borders Book Express in the Gallery's basement, about where the main, middle escalator descends to a section of kiosks, some plants, and a newstand. And if you walk east toward the 8th and Market Elevated Blue Line stop, you'll see an African American bookstore, Basic Black Books, that looks like a lot of fun--positively an exciting place to book!

I may come back to this post and correct some of the details on names and dates. Feel free to drop me a line for adds or corrections if you like. OK, feel free to return to your Christmas kindle. Peace.

European Horizons

Don Riggs's review of Fight for Your Long Day can be read in Romanian and English at our favorite bi- to trilingual literary blogspot (and print journal).

At the end of his journey, perhaps Cyrus Duffleman will rest easy, sigh aloud, but in a pleasant way, acknowledge his great debt to not just Romania but all of Eastern Europe.

Dr. Daniel Daniel, you are floating in a most mysterious way--with the Flying Duffler!

Free Book, No Pay!

Karen the S.P.L. is kind enough to host at her blog's spot a free-for-review contest for three titles from Dan Cafaro's Atticus Books. I'm guessing that if the two books just arrived/arriving are even half as good as Fight for Your Long Day, then this is one contest you can't afford to pass on!

Fight for Your Free Book!

cold kickin' it live with don riggs

I'm headed North on Sunday, home to Philadelphia, and as scheduled, I'll be reading, discussing, and signing Fight for Your Long Day at Larry Robin's Moonstone Arts Center on December 22 at 7 p.m. Discounted books will be available for twelve dollars (cash only). Don Riggs will also be available, introducing the festivities, but I have no information on his price point at present.