Ben Tanzer's Blog, page 171

Chicago Stories is so pre-order.

Curbside Splendor's new joint Chicago Stories by Michael Czyzniejewski is so pre-order and coming so soon and Rob Funderburk's illustrations are so killer,and so yes, just yes, hit it, because it will most certainly change your life.

"Tanzer has a way of being so intimate with his fiction that you feel like you know the people, that you are talking with them face to face, that their pain is your pain." My Father's House gets Big Other'd. And likes it. A lot.

Bring the pain and appreciations. Look, Ryan Bradley is not objective, he is a supporter and champion. He also loves literature though, and the dude is always raw and always honest, and we love him for that and because of this, his writing prowess, and his awesomely damaged self, he is one of a number of writers who's reactions to our work is important to us. All of which is to say, big thanks to the Ryan Bradley for his way thoughtful review, and yes, reactions, to My Father's House at the Big Other. It means a ton. Now how about some excerpt before we start getting all soft? Thanks.

"I consider myself lucky to have had a small role in the glorious publication history Tanzer continues to compile. More than that I consider myself lucky to be able to call him a friend. To say that My Father's House effected me emotionally would be an injustice. My Father's House wounded me as if I were the main character who is losing his father. It spoke to me as if it were my own inner dialogue of dealing with my issues regarding my inherent, perhaps bred, need to be tough. Not for other people but for myself. That to let down those guards I have built up could create a spiraling to an unquantifiable extent."

Quite digging this. The Mark R. Brand. The Lindsay Hunter and Natalie Edwards. And a new Breakfast With the Author. It's like Hanukkah in November.

Breakfast With the Author, Episode 5 from Mark Brand on Vimeo.

More here.

"Ben goes toward the inevitable end for us all and still manages to keep things engaging and light and full of a power that I believe Ben is just starting to open up in his work." My Father's House gets some Goodreads love. And likes it. A lot.

Indeed it does. Big time. And from the quite fine writer, and friend, yes we said it, friend, Tom Williams at that. Many thanks man, drinks on us for sure and now some excerpt. Enjoy.

"Make no mistake, this is an indelibly sad book, but heartwarming and uplifting too, and evidence that Ben has new directions for his fiction. I'm glad to call him my friend, but even if he were just the smiling face on the back cover, I'd still call MY FATHER'S HOUSE the small miracle that it is."

"Spending time with Keith is more like talking to a familiar friend than reading a book, which, as Craig Finn might say, is 'a pretty good feeling.' Indeed, it feels pretty good." You Can Make Him Like You gets some Goodreads love. And likes it. A lot.

Quite honored to see You Can Make Like You receive some quite kind and most thoughtful Goodreads love from rock star punk poet David Tomaloff. Big thanks man, drinks on us for sure when next we meet, and for everyone else, some excerpt.

"In a perfect world, books would have soundtracks the way movies have soundtracks. In You Can Make Him Like You, Ben Tanzer gets about as close as anyone could hope to in achieving the illusion in the meantime. In fact, the closing chapter, aptly titled Stay Positive, begs for the familiar cut-to-credits and black as the opening chords of its Hold Steady namesake fill the theater." 

The new edition of This Zine Will Change Your Life is live. Full of (yet even more) Gospel. And Bushnell.

The new edition of This Zine Will Change Your Life is live. We have a new poem, and video, sweet, Cellular Gospel by Salisbury Bushnell, which we are way excited about, and, (almost) as always, photo action from Adam Lawrence, music curation from Jason Behrends and student Christmas tree tax 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, thank you Salisbury, and combinations there of. And most finally, Stanford and Boise State, what?

This Book (and Podcast - "Frothy") Will Change Your Life - Birch Hills @ World's End by Geoff Hyatt.

There are coming of age tales, how we operate and function as boys, and maybe later men, questions of security and safety in the wake of Columbine, and man, it's weird that we never really thought about the parallels in how the country reacted to both Columbine and September 11th before now. There is also having your head buried in a book with all of these themes bouncing to and fro in your head, while on line waiting to get through security at the airport, as we were, and being so lost in the passage you are reading that you try to walk through security even as they are firmly asking you not to, as we did, which somehow reminds you how things change, get warped and molded and yet still always come back to some basic themes, over and over again, love, confusion, safety and risk, finding oneself, being different, seeking individuality, and how these themes are among the many that make for coming of age tales. Arguably though a goal of any coming of age tale is to make it fresh, both familiar and unfamiliar, or more accurately, familiar, yet new, all of which is to say that Birch Hills @ World's End by Geoff Hyatt does much of this exceedingly well. And yes, freshly. Is there another novel set against Y2K and Columbine, and did we remember they happened so closely together? We did not. Birch Hills @ World's End so much more though, and it pushed so many buttons for us about what it means to be different and young and male, being a freak, or geek, bullying and violence, and so there it is, go read it, because it just might change your life. Also though, when you have a moment, and even if you don't, please go listen to the new episode of This Podcast Will Change Your Life - "Frothy" as well, wherein we riff with the Hyatt on all of this, and more. And do it now. There. Thanks.  

"Brisk, fresh, enjoyable." You Can Make Him Like You gets some Goodreads love. And likes it. A lot.

Word. More. You Can Make Him Like You has received some much appreciated Goodreads kindness from author Caryn Rose whose new joint B-Sides and Broken Hearts is sitting just in the other room and soon to be consumed. More on that soon, now how about some excerpt? Word. More.

"The story is vivid, I could see the apartment and the office and the characters. The language creates a feeling of motion that, to me, synchronized with the mental state of the narrator."

The My Father's House Interview, Part III - A Myles and Ben Tanzer joint production.

More here. Or here.

There is NOUNS OF ASSEMBLAGE trailer. There are writers. The Cool Kids. And big props to the Hazel Cummings.

There is also more here.