Ben Tanzer's Blog, page 167

"I continuously found myself lulled into the natural cadence of his writing, only to come to the end where I would find myself helplessly sitting in a pot of boiling water, unable to jump out." So Different Now gets some love from the Jason Fisk. And likes

We love the Jason Fisk. He is a wonderful, sensitive and incisive writer attuned to the ebbs and flows of small town life and intimate relationships how our roles in these kinds of things can almost sometimes maybe work. He is also a This Zine Will Change Your Life contributor and This Podcast Will Change Your Life podcastee. And we say all this in part, because when writers like the Fisk like what we do, it can be more exciting and moving, and sometimes crushing in its way, than any positive or thoughtful reaction we might receive otherwise. All of which is to say, thanks brother, it means a ton, drinks on us when next we meet, and now for some excerpt.

"I am drawn to Tanzer's writing for the same reasons I enjoy getting a beer with him: there is a charm, in both his manner and his writing, which is simply entertaining, yet hints at a much more complex, sometimes dark, psychological underpinning. While reading this collection I continuously found myself lulled into the natural cadence of his writing, only to come to the end where I would find myself helplessly sitting in a pot of boiling water, unable to jump out." 

"I continuously found myself lulled into the natural cadence of his writing, only to come to the end where I would find myself helplessly sitting in a pot of boiling water, unable to jump out." So Different Now gets some love from the Jason Fisk. And likes

We love the Jason Fisk. He is a wonderful, sensitive and incisive writer attuned to the ebbs and flows of small town life and intimate relationships how our roles in these kinds of things can almost sometimes maybe work. He is also a This Zine Will Change Your Life contributor and This Podcast Will Change Your Life podcastee. And we say all this in part, because when writers like the Fisk like what we do, it can be more exciting and moving, and sometimes crushing in its way, than any positive or thoughtful reaction we might receive otherwise. All of which is to say, thanks brother, it means a ton, drinks on us when next we meet, and now for some excerpt.

"I am drawn to Tanzer's writing for the same reasons I enjoy getting a beer with him: there is a charm, in both his manner and his writing, which is simply entertaining, yet hints at a much more complex, sometimes dark, psychological underpinning. While reading this collection I continuously found myself lulled into the natural cadence of his writing, only to come to the end where I would find myself helplessly sitting in a pot of boiling water, unable to jump out." 

"I continuously found myself lulled into the natural cadence of his writing, only to come to the end where I would find myself helplessly sitting in a pot of boiling water, unable to jump out." So Different Now gets some love from the Jason Fisk. And likes

We love the Jason Fisk. He is a wonderful, sensitive and incisive writer attuned to the ebbs and flows of small town life and intimate relationships how our roles in these kinds of things can almost sometimes maybe work. He is also a This Zine Will Change Your Life contributor and This Podcast Will Change Your Life podcastee. And we say all this in part, because when writers like the Fisk like what we do, it can be more exciting and moving, and sometimes crushing in its way, than any positive or thoughtful reaction we might receive otherwise. All of which is to say, thanks brother, it means a ton, drinks on us when next we meet, and now for some excerpt.

"I am drawn to Tanzer's writing for the same reasons I enjoy getting a beer with him: there is a charm, in both his manner and his writing, which is simply entertaining, yet hints at a much more complex, sometimes dark, psychological underpinning. While reading this collection I continuously found myself lulled into the natural cadence of his writing, only to come to the end where I would find myself helplessly sitting in a pot of boiling water, unable to jump out." 

"I continuously found myself lulled into the natural cadence of his writing, only to come to the end where I would find myself helplessly sitting in a pot of boiling water, unable to jump out." So Different Now gets some love from the Jason Fisk. And likes

We love the Jason Fisk. He is a wonderful, sensitive and incisive writer attuned to the ebbs and flows of small town life and intimate relationships how our roles in these kinds of things can almost sometimes maybe work. He is also a This Zine Will Change Your Life contributor and This Podcast Will Change Your Life podcastee. And we say all this in part, because when writers like the Fisk like what we do, it can be more exciting and moving, and sometimes crushing in its way, than any positive or thoughtful reaction we might receive otherwise. All of which is to say, thanks brother, it means a ton, drinks on us when next we meet, and now for some excerpt.

"I am drawn to Tanzer's writing for the same reasons I enjoy getting a beer with him: there is a charm, in both his manner and his writing, which is simply entertaining, yet hints at a much more complex, sometimes dark, psychological underpinning. While reading this collection I continuously found myself lulled into the natural cadence of his writing, only to come to the end where I would find myself helplessly sitting in a pot of boiling water, unable to jump out." 

"It's refreshing just as it is in film when life is told as it is and not put in a neat package." So Different Now gets The Local Tourist'd. And likes it. A lot.

Quite appreciating The Fem Geek Tiff Tate and The Local Tourist for their most kind words about So Different Now. Big thanks that. And drinks on us for sure when next we meet. Now, how about some excerpt? Sweet.

"Right from the beginning I was able to place myself in every situation. I was able to put faces to each character and had a sense I may have not been far off with my assessment. The stories are very straight forward and not formulaic like so many short stories that aim hard to give you what they believe you want, a moral story where everyone wins. I'm not saying that this is bad and I'm not saying these stories are not giving a moral stance but it's refreshing just as it is in film when life is told as it is and not put in a neat package. Tanzer just gives us what life has thrown at each character...like I said REALITY."

The new edition of This Zine Will Change Your Life is live. All full of message. And Greenspan.

The new edition of This Zine Will Change Your Life is live. We have a new poem Five New Messages by the David Greenspan, which we are way excited about, and, (almost) as always, photo action from Adam Lawrence, music curation from Jason Behrends and payroll extension tax cut 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, Sam Hurd, dude, no, really?

What we talk about when we talk about J. Bradley talking about us and more specifically You Can Make Him Like You and So Different Now.

It is true that we are having a good week. It is also true that we unabashedly love the painfully tweaky poetic awesomeness that is J. Bradley, both a multiple contributor to This Zine Will Change Your Life and a This Podcast Will Change Your Life podcastee. And it is definitely true that we are endlessly biased and subjective when it comes to that which we love, particularly when we lose ourselves in our own boundless self-love. Still, in Bradley's recent post "On Dancing On Graves" regarding his new and very kind serialized novella Dancing with Steinbrenner, he takes a moment to riff on our work this past year, which when somehow coupled with Bradley's impetus for writing the new novella left us feeling quite moved, even teary, happiness and sadness wrapped-up into one contorted ball of slightly hard to grasp emotion, though clearly a weird mix of pride, loss, appreciation and feeling paternal. In other words we were having a J. Bradley moment and it was wonderful. Thanks brother, drinks soon on us, and now how about some excerpt? Goodness.

"Ben Tanzer's latest collection So Different Now through CCLaP Publishing is so fucked up and dark and awesome, an antithesis to my favorite book of 2011, his novel  You Can Make Him Like You . So Different Now is a gorgeous e-book and it's worth kicking in a little money for. You can check out more information about it here."    

A quite lovely and dare we say touching literary homage by the Ryan W. Bradley rife with running, suburbs, tattoos, pregnancy, thongs and slightly more than borderline sordidness. Please file under things we quite dig and appreciate.

At the Metazen. Word.

This Book Will Change Your Life - The Failure by James Greer.

Travel. Work. Planes. Trains. Read. More read. And The Failure by James Greer. Not just read, consumed, and struck by how little we must read about Los Angeles. We say this why, because as we read it we didn't think books, we thought movies, The Limey with less grime, Leaving Las Vegas, sort of, the bars for sure, Shortcuts, sans the ensemble, Magnolia, totally, but with more humor, and we'll come back to the humor, promise, and Exit Through the Gift Shop, yes, too. We know what we think know about Los Angeles, we the staff here at TBWCYL, Inc. headquarters, and we the royal we, Chicago is humble and friendly, New York is aggressive and on the make, and Los Angeles, arty, relaxed, slacker and sunny, both exterior and interior all at the same time. And The Failure hits all that, and gets all noir, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang comes to mind, death and mystery, though not so much death or so much mystery, because ultimately it's about story and journey, jammed with quick, tight chapters, that befit a journalist turned author and screenwriter. The Failure is always moving forward, even as it moves backward, so yes Pulp Fiction as well, and filled with humor, absurdist really, and such a nice surprise because humor seems to be missing in so much of literature these days. Regardless, The Failure is charging and fun, and a reminder that Los Angeles may be just what we think it is, but that whole association is from the movies, and so maybe we need to find some more Los Angeles based authors and novels, maybe, and maybe we need to thank James Greer for that, and maybe you will too, when you read it, consume it, and it just maybe changes your life as well.     

Wherein the incredibly handsome and always kind Mel Bosworth selects My Father's House as one of the 33 greatest things he experienced in 2011 and joy and massive thanks rapidly spread across the land like a gentle wave of goodness.

Here.