Ben Tanzer's Blog, page 173

Bosworth. Crutchfield. Deckfight Press. And The Five Lost Senses of Carl. Yes.

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Everyday Genius. Knabb. Blood.

Check it out, TBWCYL, Inc. favorite and This Podcast Will Change your life podcastee Jacob S. Knabb is at the Everyday Genius, all bloody and Studebaker. [image error]

More The New York Stories roll-out. Szumowski. And Spiderman. In a suit. Sweetness.

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Other People with Brad Listi. Digging it.

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Quite digging it really. Other People with Brad Listi is the new literary podcast from Brad Listi, obviously, and The Nervous Breakdown, and it is quite fun indeed. During the weekend when we decided to riff on the Other People today we even thought we might favorably compare it to WTF with Marc Maron, with its interview by way of personal quirks and needs, yet still targeted questioning of interesting writerly types who are more than happy to share once prodded, but apparently those squirelly bastards at McSweeney's went all Inception, entered our brains, and beat us to the punch. So none of that. But digging it, yes. We particularly enjoyed the episode with the Fathermucker himself Greg Olear, but our favorite thus far, the Jessica Anya Blau, for sure, crazy pants awesome that, and her. Meanwhile, this post might be perceived by some as not only celebrating something we're digging, but a sort of sneaky and hidden agenda-like effort to get Brad Listi's attention and somehow score an invitation to be a guest on the Other People. Let's be clear then, we are digging it, a lot, but have not interest in being sneaky at all. We would totally dig an invitation. Good. Done. Though please note, that none of you may have been thinking any of this, hence adding a sort of, albeit, anti-sort of sneakiness to this whole thread. All that said, do check it out regardless, because the Other People is great fun and will most definitely change your life.

A quasi-mixed media KGB Bar wrap-up wrap-up. Enjoy.

There was wrap-up. Now there is more wrap-up. And big thanks to the video crew at TNBBC for that. Enjoy. 

The Dying Horse. Jason Jordan. Main Street Rag. Pre-order. Fabulousness.

So fabulous indeed. Not only does long-time TBWCYL, Inc. favorite Jason Jordan have a new joint coming out, The Dying Horse, and big congratulations on that brother, but it is being released by the most excellent Main Street Rag. It is also pre-order. Which means discount. Which is goodness. And if all that wasn't enough, and we think it is, we are also fairly confident it will change your life. So there you go. Now hit it. Good.  

These Books Will Change Your Life - Sex Dungeons For Sale! by Patrick Wensink and Don't Smell The Floss by Matty Byloos.

[image error] We know, and probably have even riffed-on the idea previously, we will get the interns on that, that we have a way, both us specifically, and all of us generally, to group things, people, ideas, events, what have you. That there is something inherently human, and maybe even necessary, that drives us to understand and organize things by means of clumping. Personally, we endlessly do this with everything, but certainly with books and writers, and we think this has something to do with the sheer amount we read and our efforts to understand and manage the endless words we consume, and something to do as well with laziness and convenience, two books fall into our laps around the same time and we start thinking almost immediately about their similarities versus say their differences. We want to make sense of the world, we suppose, and so here we find ourselves with two books by two TBWCYL, Inc. favorites, Sex Dungeons for Sale! by Patrick Wensink and Don't Smell The Floss by Matty Byloos, both authors trying to make sense of the world in their own way, yet similarly in that they are absurdist takes on the world, and lean towards the bizarro, a genre we might otherwise avoid, Seinfeld's most excellent bizarro episode not withstanding. The Wensink favors humor, as further evidenced by the recently consumed Black Hole Blues, taking situations that we almost know, or might know, both mundane and scary, buying a house, adultery, corporate marketing, suicide bombers and celebrity, and spinning them through his characters' cracked, and times confused, yet still humanizing, and humane, view the world. Byloos is less focused on humor, yet more absurd in his way in the subtlety of the stories and their ongoing focus on body parts, especially missing body parts, pornography, adultery, again and the ways children view the world around them. He is also different than Wensink in challenging the reader to ask what's real and what's not, with Wensink it's quite real, just off, and different, and manic, whereas Byloos leaves us to weigh what's metaphorical versus real, more darkness than light, and wacked regardless. Both authors though are ultimately about looking at what's around us, but doing so through the lens of fun-house mirrors, charming, but warped, funny, but terrifying, twisted, but filled with the promise of more to come, both on the page and off.

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"Has some weird type of understated elegance that turns this novella into a road map of the soul." My Father's House gets The Nervous Breakdown'd. And likes it. A lot.

Not unlike TNBBC's The Next Best Book Blog, The Nervous Breakdown has been a most kind supporter indeed of our work, and continuing this pattern of awesomeness, they have some most kind things to say about My Father's House as well. Big hugs to the always sublime Nik Korpon and the whole crew at TNB for their kindness, and drinks, many certainly, when next we meet. Now, how about some excerpt? Word. 

"Though the overall tone is a much more somber one than Tanzer usually brings, there's a gutting insightfulness to My Father's House. The characters are flawed and fumble through life, relationships, jobs. They make poor choices and they hurt each other, sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. Even when they lie, though, whether to themselves or each other, they're still telling a version of truth. Their truths are beautiful and painful and sometimes hard to accept, but they're ones that keep us going, day after day, until the day we're not." 

"It's a positive sign, for me, when an author connects with you in such an emotional way." My Father's House gets TNBBC's The Next Best Book Blog'd. And likes it. A lot.

TNBBC's The Next Best Book Blog has been very kind to our work and it's hard to express how much we appreciate it. Maybe we can't, but we do, and here we, they, go again, in a wonderful way, with a wonderful, and moving, review of My Father's House. Big thanks to Lori and the whole TNBBC crew and drinks on us, for sure, when next we meet. Now for some excerpt.

"I felt it was a true reflection of the chaotic feelings that rush through you from moment to moment, day to day, when preparing yourself for the ultimate and unavoidable loss of someone you can't imagine living without."

Cubicle Dad Runs. The interview.

 
Quite awesome we think for TBWCYL, Inc. spokesperson Ben Tanzer to be interviewed about dadding and running by the quite cool Cubicle Dad Runs blog for their Dads Who Run series. It is also a nice bookend we think to the recent interview he got to do at We Who Are About To Die about dadding and writing as part of their We Who Are About To Breed series. Either way, however, big thanks to the Cubicle Dad himself, and drinks on us for sure, and Gatorade as needed, whenever and wherever we get a chance to meet-up. Now for some excerpt.

What are your running goals?
Keep breathing. Ignore all the people passing me. Get out 3-4 times Monday - Friday, 1-2 times over the weekend. Run a minimum of 30 minutes with one run per week of at least an hour. Don't hate myself. Ignore the constant pain in my arthritic right knee. Lower my 5K time every year. Never look at my stomach or run shirtless. Mostly in that order.