Richard Lange's Blog, page 3
January 31, 2015
Second L.A. reading/singing
I'll be doing a second reading/signing of Sweet Nothing, this one at Book Soup on Feb. 20 at 7pm. Represent, Westside! http://www.booksoup.com/author-events...
January 30, 2015
L.A. reading
First L.A. reading/signing of Sweet Nothing is Feb. 14 at 5pm and Skylight Books in Los Feliz. http://www.skylightbooks.com/event/ri...
January 27, 2015
Great review for Sweet Nothing
Thank you, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/books/....
January 8, 2015
Library Review Reviews Sweet Nothing
Library Review weighs in on Sweet Nothing: "With one noteworthy exception, which features a prison guard in France's guillotine era watching over 'the Wolf,' a cryptic child murderer, the ten longish stories in this collection are mostly set on the side streets of Los Angeles and infused with an urban realism laced with extraordinary circumstance. The titular tale has two roommates seeking renovation. At 400-plus pounds, Troy wants weight loss and fitness, while Dennis, once prosperous but derailed by addictions, seeks normalcy. Troy loses the weight but dies of a heart attack. Dennis befriends a distraught mother during his Subway night shift, moves up to Best Buy, and is soon a manager, going steadily in what he hopes is the right direction and maybe even renewed contact with his children. Another story finds a gambling addict on a hopeful date, but as his date wins at the ponies he keeps losing, forfeiting even her winnings, until he 'borrows' $20 from a crony and wins a weird superfecta, netting more than $1,000 but losing the girl. VERDICT Utterly believable postcards from the edge; for those who like their realism not so magical but right there at street level."
November 13, 2014
Video of Dead Boys show
Here's a great promo video for Joseph d'Anvers' show based around Dead Boys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nic3H....
November 4, 2014
Quais du Polar
Stoked to be appearing at Quais du Polar, a great festival in Lyon, France, in March: http://www.quaisdupolar.com/en/
October 27, 2014
T.C. Boyle blurb
Kind words about Sweet Nothing from an old friend, T.C. Boyle: "Richard Lange’s stories are a revelation. He writes of the disaffections and bewilderments of ordinary lives with as keen an anger and searing lyricism as anybody out there today. He is Raymond Carver reborn in a hard cityscape. Read him and be amazed."
October 16, 2014
Booklist
Here's the Booklist review for Sweet Nothing:
Advanced Review – Uncorrected Proof
Lange, Richard (Author)
Feb 2015. 272 p. Little, Brown/Mulholland, hardcover, $26. (9780316327541). Little, Brown/Mulholland, e-book, $12.99. (9780316327503).
Lange, author of the award-winning short story collection Dead Boys (2007) and the well-received novel Angel Baby (2013), provides readers with a walk on the dark side, mostly in Los Angeles. He portrays the lives of people struggling to survive, with the focus on families, both blood-related and chance-made. Drug addicts, working folk, and the occasional loner people this collection of skillfully constructed short stories. In “Baby Killer,” Bianca’s fear of gang vengeance is suddenly erased when she sees the gunman, Puppet, in her own home. Campbell, a drug addict, can hardly keep his head above water after his lover Maryrose dies of an overdose in “Instinctive Drowning Response.” In “After All,” a desolate future drives Bear and his son, Benny, into the wilderness to hunt for his grandfather’s Krugerrands to square family debts. In the heartrending “To Ashes,” the solitary Brewster meets a father and son searching for relatives from Mexico who may not have survived a fierce wildfire. These 10 stories will have broad appeal because of Lange’s accessible style and fine characterization.
— Ellen Loughran
Advanced Review – Uncorrected Proof
Lange, Richard (Author)
Feb 2015. 272 p. Little, Brown/Mulholland, hardcover, $26. (9780316327541). Little, Brown/Mulholland, e-book, $12.99. (9780316327503).
Lange, author of the award-winning short story collection Dead Boys (2007) and the well-received novel Angel Baby (2013), provides readers with a walk on the dark side, mostly in Los Angeles. He portrays the lives of people struggling to survive, with the focus on families, both blood-related and chance-made. Drug addicts, working folk, and the occasional loner people this collection of skillfully constructed short stories. In “Baby Killer,” Bianca’s fear of gang vengeance is suddenly erased when she sees the gunman, Puppet, in her own home. Campbell, a drug addict, can hardly keep his head above water after his lover Maryrose dies of an overdose in “Instinctive Drowning Response.” In “After All,” a desolate future drives Bear and his son, Benny, into the wilderness to hunt for his grandfather’s Krugerrands to square family debts. In the heartrending “To Ashes,” the solitary Brewster meets a father and son searching for relatives from Mexico who may not have survived a fierce wildfire. These 10 stories will have broad appeal because of Lange’s accessible style and fine characterization.
— Ellen Loughran
October 2, 2014
"After All"
My story "After All" is now up at Kenyon Review Online. There's a link to me reading it, too, if you're so inclined. This is the last unpublished one from Sweet Nothing, out in February. http://www.kenyonreview.org/kr-online...
September 18, 2014
"Instinctive Drowning Response"
My story "Instinctive Drowning Response" is up at the online journal New World Writing: http://newworldwriting.net/summer-2014/.
