Ben Tanzer's Blog, page 143
July 5, 2012
And now we really are final blog tour stop. Really. We are also ARTIFICE. Interview. First Blood. And the Szumowski.
Fifteen stops. Much love. And endless appreciations. Now for some ARTIFICE excerpt.Artifice: Ben and Laura, can you describe the process of working with each other to develop the illustrations? How did you get in touch? How much contact did the two of you have before getting started?
Ben Tanzer: I would really like this answer to be so much cooler than it is. But, I sort of knew Laura personally from different readings and other events, had compulsively zipped around her website, though not in any stalkerish kind of way, really, and was a fan of her and her work and style. That said, it was CCLaPs idea to bring our work together and I think it was a terrific one. For me anyway. Laura may find herself increasingly dismayed by the whole thing and is merely keeping-up a happy face for our public appearances.
Laura Szumowski: I was originally approached by Jason Pettus, the publisher, about an illustration project he had in mind. He sent me one of Ben’s stories, The Babysitter, and I loved it.
Originally, Jason wanted me to do something along the lines of Jay Ryan, style wise, but when I talked with Ben, he mentioned Deer Hunter and First Blood as visual inspiration. My instincts from reading the stories agreed with Ben, so I did a few drawings to see what he thought. He said great, keep going– it was as simple as that. Not a whole lot of interaction, nothing too specific. He was comfortable with me taking artistic license, and I think was interested to see what I would draw from his writing.
July 4, 2012
We are one last tour stop. For now. And that stop is the most excellent WordPlaySound yo.
WordPlaySound is most definitely most excellent and most definitely running with not one, but two live joints from the So Different Now, the No Nothing and That's It, for their July issue and today's tour stop. Big thanks to the WordPlaySound and the Ryan Singleton.
"Tanzer is playing in Haruki Murakami's territory of crafting stories to describe the most complex, wordless emotions in the most graceful way possible." So Different Now gets Dead End Follies'd for "The New York Stories Tour 2012." And likes it. A lot.
We said there would be more and we couldn't be more geeked about this most kind review from the Dead End Follies and Benoit Lelievre. Big thanks sir and drinks on us for sure when next we meet. Excerpt? Totally."SO DIFFERENT NOW left its imprint on me. Because that's what powerful stories do. They scar you and chip away at you, make you a different person."
So behind we are. We are also more "The New York Stories Tour 2012." Where Writers Write. And TNBBC's The Next Best Book Blog.
So true that. Late we are. Away from the office and internet access denied. But we are back. We are Where Writers Write. We are TNBBC's The Next Best Book Blog. There is Szumowski. And we are most appreciative. With more to come.
July 1, 2012
The new edition of This Zine Will Change Your Life is live. All full of Quarry. And Trotti.
The new edition of This Zine Will Change Your Life is live. We have a new story, The Quarry by Patrick Trotti, which we are way excited about, and, (almost) as always, photo action from Adam Lawrence, music curation from Jason Behrends and SCOTUS prose love from Pete Anderson. We hope you enjoy this edition and we appreciate all shout-outs and links. Finally, please note, we are hoping more of you will submit comix, and music, novel excerpts, and art, and video, yes, video, and combinations there of. And most finally, 5-4.
June 29, 2012
June 28, 2012
We are so Murder Your Darlings. Quite Bledsoe. Tour. And Spider-Man.
And big thanks to the Bledsoe for that. And this. All of it. Now how about some excerpt? "I don't know what it is about the Cort Bledsoe that makes me want to talk Spider-Man, Star Wars, video games and nostalgia. Nor am I entirely sure how I am supposed to tie doing so into "The New York Stories 2012 Tour" and today's tour stop.
But I will. Promise. And frankly, I may protest too much, because none of that is so far removed from this tour, much less my obligations to it. Promise.
Just hear me out."
June 27, 2012
"This story reads like a douche bag’s motivational speech to himself." The Terminator of Love gets Smalldoggies'd. And likes it. A lot.
So big thanks to the Smalldoggies and Lavinia Ludlow for that, and drinks, many, on us, when next we meet. Now excerpt, yes? Yes.
"In this piece, no one is innocent, and everyone has a sinister motive whether it’s to cheat or continue cheating, as if they lack the internal compass which regulates empathy and sound judgment. Tanzer manages to paints a vivid and rather graphic picture of just how ugly office politics can get." [image error]
June 26, 2012
Dang. R.I.P. Nora Ephron.
"My mother wanted us to understand that the tragedies of your life one day have the potential to be comic stories the next." Nora Ephron (1941-2012)[image error]
