M. Allen Cunningham's Blog, page 21

Funding for the New Book Approaches 75 Percent -- With Your Help!

My illustrated limited edition story collection, Date of Disappearance , continues to gather support through its funding page at United States Artists. I'm astonished and grateful to watch the supporter base grow steadily each week.

Thanks to the folks at Ecotone Magazine, this week's Patron Extraordinaire! perk goes out to TWO Date of Disappearance supporters!

ANONYMOUS #3 (pledged 10/6) and ALF will each receive a year's subscription to Ecotone!
Congrats, Anonymous and ALF!
-- WHERE WE STAND --This week we enter the second half of the Date of Disappearance funding period. I'm extremely pleased to report that after climbing 7 percentage points last week alone, the project stands at just shy of 70 percent funded!
Thank you to all my project supporters for bringing the book to this point. I'm honored by your response.
And to remind those who may have considered supporting the project, but prefer not to pledge online, you can pledge by check using this helpful form.
Here's to rounding the three-quarters bend soon!
-- THIS WEEK'S PATRON EXTRAORDINAIRE! PERK --The past few weeks have provided me the fun opportunity of sharing the things I find most enriching and inspiring. As a gesture of my continued gratitude, I'm sharing another local favorite this week. Anyone who has pledged in the time between this fundraiser's launch and the close of next Saturday, October 22nd will be eligible to receive…
An attractive silver tin of loose-leaf tea: premium, organic, and handcrafted by Portland's premiere teashop, Tea Chai Té, whose staff believes that "tea is a liquid hug for the soul." I can tell you from personal experience, the product they serve proves it to be so! A cup of this stuff perfectly complements a quiet hour with a book.  MINIMUM PLEDGE: $15PLEDGE BY: 11:59 p.m. PT, Saturday, Oct. 22nd
-- AN EASY PASS-ALONG --With $1,500 still to raise in the next 32 days, continued support is indispensable. I'd like to make it as easy as possible to share Date of Disappearance with others, so I've included below a basic message for tacking onto any Facebook link, pasting into an e-mail or onto a blog, or just adapting as you wish. Please use it freely with a simple copy and paste:

Looking to make a tax-deductible donation? Want to find a personal way to support the arts? I just did, by pitching in on a special project at one of America's most prestigious arts organizations.
At the link below you can view a short video about Date of Disappearance, the illustrated limited edition book I'm supporting, and hear the author explain his vision for the project. Pledge any amount from $1 upward, or pledge $25 and receive an autographed copy of the book, plus additional perks. Due to the help of supporters like me, this project is almost 70 percent funded. But the fundraising period is limited, the clock is ticking, and if pledges fall short of the goal the project will receive no funds (and you will owe nothing).
Please consider joining me in supporting a dedicated young artist—and the arts in general. As Oscar Wilde once put it, "What we see, and how we see it, depends on the Arts that have influenced us."    http://www.unitedstatesartists.org/project/date_of_disappearance    

---------------------
With gratitude, and for the love of books,—M
-- THE STATS -- Date of Disappearance Project Goal:             $4,760Amount Raised as of Today:             $3,251 (or 68%!)Remaining Amount to Raise:            $1,509Fundraising Days Remaining:            32
Visit Date of Disappearance on Facebook


Check out ten sneak-peek sentences from Date of Disappearance

Win a Lit-Mag Subscription This Week!

Sundays have been lots of fun here at Date of Disappearance Headquarters lately, thanks to the weekly Patron Extraordinaire! drawing. This week's gift, a short story collection by an acknowledged master in the form, posed me a pleasing decision-making challenge—and in the end I just couldn't narrow it down to a single title, so … I narrowed it down to TWO!

The Date of Disappearance Administrative Assistant (my three-year old son), has just pulled from the hat the names of two Patrons Extraordinaire!

A & G McTIGHE will receive the book Dancing After Hours: Stories by Andre Dubus

MARIAN will receive The Afterlife & Other Stories by John Updike

Congrats Marian and McTighes! These books are both masterworks and I'm confident you'll find lots to admire in each. Look for them in the mail soon!

-- PROGRESS --
This week I hoped we could climb well into the fifty-percent-funded margin, but thanks to your tremendous ongoing support, we flew through the fifties and are currently at 62%! I am amazed and full of gratitude. Thank you all.

-- ON-WORD! --
With forty days remaining and roughly $1,800 left to raise, the task of encouraging others' support continues to be Priority Number One. Date of Disappearance now has an official Facebook page, which I hope will offer easy ways for any of you to share (or continue sharing) the project with your own community.

(And/or feel free to pass along the link to those ten Sneak-Peek Sentences from the book that I shared last week)

Thanks for everything you all continue to do to spread news of this project widely!

-- THIS WEEK'S PATRON EXTRAORDINAIRE! GIFT --
Anyone who has pledged in the time between this fundraiser's launch and the close of next Saturday, October 15th, will be eligible to receive:

[image error]A year's subscription to the cutting-edge literary magazine, Ecotone. Bristling with knock-out fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, and comics, Ecotone (not a "nature magazine") is quietly, steadily enriching our cultural life with each new gorgeously designed, inevitably award-winning issue. You're going to love finding this mag in your mailbox—and just see if it doesn't elicit oohs and aahs when displayed on your coffee table!

MINIMUM PLEDGE: $15
PLEDGE BY: 11:59 p.m. PT, Saturday, Oct. 15th

-- SEVEN YEARS ON --
This week marked the anniversary of my first novel's publication seven years ago. It's been a wild, weird ride for me since The Green Age of Asher Witherow first appeared in 2004. In a blog post contemplating this, I wrote of Date of Disappearance :

"It will be a small book, born quietly at midday, and in a limited number of copies—not what they call a 'breakout.' But it will be something lovely, with illustrated pages you can turn by hand." 

I reiterated my long-held belief that "the art of language and story is sustained by the unwavering economics of the spirit," and I gave an appreciative shout-out: "Here's to those who can help me realize my quiet, somewhat old-fashioned idea."

In other words, if you've supported or intend to support the project, here's to YOU! I'm confident we're going to reach that goal together.

With gratitude,
—M
http://www.unitedstatesartists.org/project/date_of_disappearance

-- THE STATS --
Date of Disappearance Project Goal:
$4,760
Amount Raised as of Today:
$2,936 (or 62%!)
Remaining Amount to Raise:
$1,824
Fundraising Days Remaining:
39

Economics of the Spirit

On this day seven years ago, my first novel The Green Age of Asher Witherow was published. Among the good things that happened for that book, the luckiest was the phenomenal support it enjoyed from this country's independent booksellers. The Green Age did not exactly come into the world branded for the bestseller list. In fact the book had a lot riding against it. A few examples:

·         It was published just as The Da Vinci Code's years-long chart-topping run began·         It was not topical or terribly plot-driven·         Its author was a total unknown and had received no headline-worthy advance·         Its publisher was a small decentralized press with no prior titles·         It was entitled The Green Age of Asher Witherow (the what of who??)
Nevertheless, independent booksellers got behind The Green Age before it even landed, naming it the month's #1 Book Sense Pick and warmly hosting me in stores from Seattle to Hollywood, from St. Paul to Blytheville, Arkansas in a string of book-signings spanning a good six months.
Because of the indies The Green Age was widely reviewed, because of the indies it saw a second printing within a month of hitting the shelves, and because of the indies a young writer got an actual royalty check.
Times have been tough for independent bookstores since the rise of the chain booksellers, big-box retailers, and the advent of online commerce in the nineties. But probably never have the indies faced a season of famine to match today's. E-books, coupled with general economic woes and other factors, bring down another neighborhood bookstore or two every few days, it seems. These closures, each one of them, do injury to our community-level cultural life (what other cultural life do we really have?). And I'll dispense with dignity a minute in order to tell you first-hand that the injury trickles down. That's to say, authors themselves (those of my "midlist" variety, anyway) don't go unscathed.
A few years back, in a letter to the New York Times Book Review, I wrote some words on behalf of "unhonored and unpaid" fiction writers whose work "goes into the world untrumpeted, unreviewed, and unbought." I argued that "the greater number of literature's real practitioners work under such conditions." Were I to find somebody else writing this today, these few years later, I'd be tempted to say it reeks with misplaced optimism. For increasingly I fear that honorable, obscure work—of the kind the history of literature is built upon—does not "go into the world" at all, or at least not into solid, silent, beautiful print. Instead, I fear such work languishes in the rooms of its creation.
In the absence of essential cultural advocates like our dwindling number of independent bookstores, serious newspaper review columns, and small publishers who can let an idiosyncratic vision guide them and make a go of it financially, what can we expect? Obscure authors of unlikely little books like The Green Age used to get, if not steady pay or renown, at least an airing in print. Today these authors get whatever artistic/democratic access the Internet can offer them (and that is something, yes).
But today, seven years from the outset of my publishing career, as I stand at my own uncertain turning in the path, I wish to publicly redouble my gratitude to our independent booksellers. If/when my current project gets off the ground, I intend in my own small way to shine a light on you all. I'm equally grateful for the existence of United States Artists, the dynamic organization that just may help me bring my new book to light. It will be a small book, born quietly at midday, and in a limited number of copies—not what they call a "breakout." But it will be something lovely, with illustrated pages you can turn by hand.
That letter of mine to the New York Times closed with my impassioned avowal that "the art of language and story [is] sustained by the unwavering economics of the spirit." I still believe it.
Here's to those who can help me realize my quiet, somewhat old-fashioned idea.
—M          

Sneak-Peek Sentences! : An Update on the Illustrated Limited Edition

Illustration by Nathan Shields The Date of Disappearance fundraiser continues strong at United States Artists. The matching-grant segment was a phenomenal success: roughly $800 raised in a little more than a week!

To give everyone a fun glimpse of the book you've supported or are considering supporting, I've prepared a PDF with ten sneak-peek sentences from Date of Disappearance. Take a look.

Renewed thanks to all who continue to share the project, encourage new support, and keep the numbers climbing toward the goal. Date of Disappearance is now 49% funded with 46 days remaining! That's about $2,400 left to go – certainly an achievable amount, considering the progress so far. But this is fund or bust! Please help that percentage get well into the fifties this week!

-- THREE THINGS TO REMEMBER ABOUT THIS LIMITED-TIME FUNDRAISER --

a)      This is "micro-philanthropy." — Anybody can pledge any amount from $1 upward (it's tax-deductible, and every dollar helps)

b)      Your pledge can reserve you a book. — $25 gets you the finished, numbered limited edition. You'll receive a low-numbered copy hot from the printer, plus additional perks!

c)      Support takes many forms. — If you can't pledge monetarily, you can pledge in spirit by helping to spread the word. Embed the Date of Disappearance video on your blog, "Like" it and pass it around!

-- THIS WEEK'S PATRON EXTRAORDINAIRE! PERK --

All supporters who have pledged in the time between this fundraiser's launch and the end of Saturday, October 8th will be eligible to receive, in addition to standard pledge perks …

A short story collection by one of our acknowledged masters in the form. This author's name shall be a surprise for next week (as I narrow it down from several whose work continually inspires), but I guarantee you a meaningful and memorable read!

MINIMUM PLEDGE: $15
PLEDGE BY: 11:59 p.m. PT, Saturday, Oct. 9th

Congrats to Julie Pollastro, winner of this week's PATRON EXTRAORDINAIRE drawing! Julie receives an eye-catching Western Meadowlark coffee mug from Portland's own Powell's Books. Enjoy, Julie!

In gratitude, and for the love of books,
 —M

-- THE STATS --
Date of Disappearance Project Goal:
            $4,760
Amount Raised as of Today:
            $2,336 (or 49%!)
Remaining Amount to Raise:
            $2,424
Fundraising Days Remaining:
            46

Thomas Hardy et Moi

Recently I contributed to the "Art of the Sentence" series they've got running at the Tin House blog. From the many memorable sentences that came to mind, I chose to say a few words about this one:

"But nobody did come, because nobody does; and under the crushing recognition of his gigantic error Jude continued to wish himself out of the world."

Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure
My thoughts on Hardy's sentence can be found here.

Why It's Natural to Need Help

— Here's to The Helpers —

A Lone Wolf Sets Out: 
In my earlier life a driving passion and talent for the theater led me to believe I'd pursue a career as an actor, but in the end it was the written component of drama that drew me into literature. Always somewhat ill at ease in the communal, collaborative atmosphere of the thespian world, I found in the more secret art of writing a quietude, concentration, and privacy that appealed to my solitary nature. Here was something you could do (perhaps had to do?) alone.

Writing required no facilities, no stage lights or auditorium seating, no orchestra pits, no janitors to tidy the lavatories. Most importantly, perhaps, it required no return at the box office. String together a few healthy advances and you were set (after all, you weren't aiming for world domination). As a writer you didn't have to fit your life into a rehearsal calendar or the matrix of personalities (outsized egos amongst them) that make up a theatrical cast. Writing required nobody else's presence. The writer could be cast, crew, director, conductor, usher, and janitor — all in one, and all it took was pen and paper, discipline, and yes, self-reliance.

Given those basic tools plus a strong commitment to excellence, it looked like a writer really could "make it" alone and enjoy the gratification of success earned by pure individual merit as well as the liberty of being one's own man.

I embraced this vision early, and believed that in doing so I was parting ways with the false American Dream, a.k.a.: the rat race. No nine-to-five or gold watch for me, thank you very much (even if I worked full-time to pay the bills — and for periods I did — it would not be my employment that defined me, but my calling as a writer; this I determined early, and so it was).

It was a useful vision in its way, and galvanized me to great productivity. Later on, however, even after successfully completing and publishing numerous works, I developed a lurking suspicion that my Lone Wolf outlook might be a bit flawed. Most prominently, it seemed to engender mild but undeniable feelings of humiliation whenever I filled out grant or fellowship applications. And months later, receiving the form letter containing the phrase "your application was not successful," a strange dejection would dog me for days: Some Lone Wolf you are! Spurned Puppy is more like it.

Something was out of joint.

Recently, upon reading Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers, it occurred to me that my early go-it-alone vision was never really a break with the American Dream, but more precisely a variation upon it. That is to say, I had subscribed to the (western capitalist) idea that one succeeds alone.

Thornton Wilder once described American individualism thusly: 

"The inability to draw strength from any dependency."

I had crept dangerously close to feeling ashamed of myself for seeking, or needing to seek, help.

Success Myths: 
In Outliers Gladwell encourages us to see through our culture's success myths, and presents numerous compelling case-studies to help us do so. It seems to me his message is particularly beneficial in a present moment rife with job loss.

"In the autobiographies published every year by the billionaire/entrepreneur/rock star/celebrity, the story line is always the same: our hero is born in modest circumstances and by virtue of his own grit and talent fights his way to greatness. … [But] people don't rise from nothing. We do owe something to parentage and patronage. The people who stand before kings may look like they did it all by themselves. But in fact they are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot." 

Later he goes on:

"The lesson here is very simple. But it is striking how often it is overlooked. We are so caught in the myths of the best and the brightest and the self-made that we think Outliers [Gladwell's term for the brilliantly successful] spring naturally from the earth."

Meritocracy: "Those Worthy of Success Should Need No Help":
America, we are encouraged to believe, is a pure meritocracy. But we do well to remember — especially in tough economic times like now — that faith in meritocracy is often a recipe for unhappiness, for as Alain de Botton eloquently reminds us in his remarkable book Status Anxiety:

"In a meritocratic world in which well-paid jobs [can] be secured only through native intelligence and ability, money [begins] to look like a sound signifier of character. The rich are not only wealthier, it seem[s]; they might also be plain better."

De Botton quotes this creepy sentiment from Andrew Carnegie, written in the latter's 1920 Autobiography:

"Those worthy of assistance, except in rare cases, seldom require assistance. The really valuable men of the race never do."

Anti-Gladwellian myths have long obtained all around us:
The self-made icons of success did it on their ownSuccess is won by individual virtue and determinationTo need help is to be unworthy of successAs these success-myths persist, the following equation too often applies:

Belief in myth of self-made success + Belief in meritocracy = Shame/Disillusionment/Despair/Resignation

The Lone Wolf Was Never Really Alone:
Though it's true that the discipline of writing must ultimately be honed and matured in solitude, the sustainment of this endeavor calls for help, be it moral or financial, from beyond the writer's solitary zone. The bracing encouragement of friends and loved ones, the inspiration of teachers or literary luminaries long dead, and indeed, the material assistance of grants and endowments — all are essential to the writer's survival and vitality.

I may give my best, do my all, and still need help. We all need it sometimes. Without the unfailing support and encouragement of my wife it would have been immeasurably more difficult for me to write and publish two novels before I was thirty. This is just the tip of the iceberg of my moral debts.

This month I've partnered with United States Artists to raise funds for my latest book, which will be something of a special offering: an illustrated, limited edition short story collection. In the two weeks since the fundraiser launched, 27 supporters have come forward to take us 45% of the way to the funding goal. Here's to USA for helping out artists like me — and here's to all those who have so generously lent their support so far, whether by pledging, helping me spread the word, or both.

I have not done and cannot do it alone. That, paradoxically, is a freeing thought.

Date of Disappearance Fundraiser Update

The Date of Disappearance Administrative Assistant has just drawn the name of this week's PATRON EXTRAORDINAIRE!

Ray and Joanna Shields will receive a complete, personalized, downloadable audio version of my short story "Summer." Congrats, Ray and Joanna! I'll be in touch.
Yesterday, in a blog post that contemplated Malcolm Gladwell, Andrew Carnegie, and American success myths, I wrote:

"Though it's true that the discipline of writing must ultimately be honed and matured in solitude, the sustainment of this endeavor calls for help, be it moral or financial, from beyond the writer's solitary zone. … I have not done and cannot do it alone."

Continued thanks to all my supporters for stepping forward to help with what I envision as a beautiful and unusual project. Because of you, Date of Disappearance is now 30% funded.
-- FUND OR BUST! -- We've still got $3,315 to raise in the mere 54 days left until United States Artists pulls the plug on this fundraiser. In effect right now, a special matching grant is doubling all incoming pledges until we've reached the 45% line. If you've intended to pledge but haven't gotten around to it yet, please know your money will go twice as far.
And have I mentioned pledges can be made offline, without a credit card? Here's a helpful link: http://www.unitedstatesartists.org/pdf/USA_Manual_Donation_Form.pdf
-- THIS WEEK'S PATRON EXTRAORDINAIRE! PERK -- All supporters who have pledged in the time between this fundraiser's launch and the end of Saturday, October 2nd will be eligible to receive (in addition to the standard pledge perks)…

An eye-catching Western Meadowlark coffee mug from what is said to be the largest independent bookstore in the world, Portland's own Powell's Books. Impress your friends and stir envy among fellow bibliophiles!

MINIMUM PLEDGE: $15PLEDGE BY: 11:59 p.m. PT, Saturday, Oct.1st
In gratitude, and for the love of books,—M
-- THE STATS -- Date of Disappearance Project Goal:             $4,760Amount Raised as of Today:             $1,445 (or 30%!)Remaining Amount to Raise:            $3,315Fundraising Days Remaining:            54

Announcing the Date of Disappearance Patron Extraordinaire! Program

We're entering week two of fundraising for my illustrated limited edition story collection, Date of Disappearance. Many thanks to all those who have pledged. We're at 15% of the project goal! Now I'd like to add some extra perks to encourage your support.

Each week, beginning next Sunday, Sept. 25th, my Administrative Assistant (my three-year-old son) will select by random drawing a Date of Disappearance PATRON EXTRAORDINAIRE! Every person who has pledged $15 or more since the project launched will be automatically entered in the drawing, and each week's Patron Extraordinaire! will receive, in addition to the official pledge perks, an EXCLUSIVE NO-EXTRA-COMMITMENT GIFT!

Make your pledge by the end of Saturday (9/24), and be eligible to receive…

-- THIS WEEK'S PATRON EXTRAORDINAIRE! PERK -- A downloadable audio version of my short story "Summer" in its entirety, including my personal audio greeting and dedication to YOU. Listen in the car, on the bus, or during your workout! This is story #7 in the collection. Here's a two-sentence sneak peek:

"Ingmar came over today. We hung around in the fort and it was like a hundred and ten degrees in there under the fiberglass but we just kept shooting each other with water-uzis."

MINIMUM PLEDGE: $15
PLEDGE BY: 11:59 p.m. PT, Saturday, Sept. 24th

As we move into Week Two of funding, please remember:
a)      This is "micro-philanthropy." — Anybody can pledge any amount from $1 upward (and every dollar helps)b)      Your pledge can reserve you a book. — $25 gets you the finished, numbered limited edition. You'll receive a low-numbered copy hot from the printer, plus additional perks!c)      Support takes many forms. — If you can't pledge monetarily, you can pledge in spirit by helping to spread the word. Embed the Date of Disappearance video on your blog, "Like" it and pass it around!
-- FUN FOR YOUR EARS! -- Now, have a listen to and/or download this audio clip from "We Are Not Civilians Here." It's Story #4 in the book.
We Are Not Civilians Here, a short story excerpt by M. Allen Cunningham

A Special Way to Support the Literary Arts!

I've launched a project page on the Unites States Artists website, in support of my envisioned limited edition short story collection, Date of Disappearance. This book will feature the astonishing artwork of fellow Portlander Nathan Shields.

The video below illuminates. Please take a look and consider following the link to lend a hand. You can donate as little as $1, or choose from several pledge amounts and receive special gifts (right up to an original short story I will write based on prompts you provide).

A $25 pledge gets you a signed and numbered copy of the limited edition, plus additional perks. All donations are tax deductible. If unable to donate, please help me spread the word! I've got until November 18th to rally the resources.

For love of the codex, and with many thanks,
~M

Prime Passage: Great Jones Street by Don DeLillo (1973)

From Chapter 10…
"I continued to breathe, never before conscious of the effort needed to generate this act. People passed supernaturally across the room, leaving contrails of smoke and scented ash. Others settled around me, moving their lips. All were breathing, sullenly pumping blood, embarked together on a perverse miracle. Our moveable parts carried us past the edge of every deathly metaphysic. Our organs, lifted from our bodies, plucked out with silver pincers and left laboring on bright Tiffany trays, would comprise the finest exhibit of our ability to endure. Euphoric with morphine we'd be wheeled among them, noting proportions and contours, admiring the beauty of what we were. … (p.74)
"I thought of all the inner organs in the room, considered apart from the people they belonged to. For that moment of thought we seemed a convocation of martyrs, visible behind our skin. The room was a cell in a metaphysical painting, full of divine kidneys, lungs aloft in smoke, entrails gleaming, bladders simmering in painless fires. This was a madman's truth, to paint us as sacs and flaming lariats, nearly godly in our light, perishable but never ending. I watched the pale girl touch her voluptuous navel. One by one, repacked in sallow cases, we all resumed our breathing." (p.82)