Ben Tanzer's Blog, page 192

This Podcast Will Change Your Life, Episode Thirty-Five - Not Close At All.

We know, we know, there has been a break in new editions of This Podcast Will Change Your Life, and we are sorry, sad even, but the podcasts have always been about opportunity and availability, ebbs and flows, like life really when you think about, and the opportunities seem to be coming again, meaning all new episodes, starting with this new edition, Not Close At All, starring This Zine Will Change Your Life contributor and TBWCYL, Inc. favorite BL Pawelek, whose name we apparently just can't quite pronounce. Still, good times are here again. Enjoy.

This Book Will Change Your Life - Songs Of Vagabonds, Misfits, and Sinners by Ken Wohlrob.

Work. Travel. Read. Comp time. Read. Weekend. And Songs of Vagabonds, Misfits, and Sinners by TBWCYL, Inc. favorite Ken Wolhrob. It strikes us that when it comes to Ken's work we are supposed to have various associations, New York City, grittiness, diverse and colorful characters, an ear for the street, or neighborhoods certainly, their vernacular, rhythm and flow, and all this is true. It is also strikes us that with Songs Ken continues to pursue the short story that is not quite so short, stories with some heft, and room to breathe, and this excites us, it's not the norm, and not the norm is good, not the norm enriches the form, and this is something Ken reaches for with every new effort. And yet, as we say all this, we really want to say something else, something that lingers as we reflect on not just Songs, but Ken's previous collection The Love Book as well. Interwoven throughout all of these stories is the struggle to hold onto one's identity and who the characters, and readers, think we are in the face of change and loss and disappointment, whether that be neighborhoods or relationships, scams or art sales. Further there is an ongoing calculation in all of Ken's work which grows out of the idea that even as something is slipping away from them, us, or something is being destroyed, the characters, and again the readers, are always being forced to ask themselves, ourselves, is this, this thing that is happening, is it okay, can I live with it, and is this really who I am, or was, or will be? Its a fundamental question, and Ken knows this, as surely as he knows grit and neighborhood and all the things we now think of as Wohlrobian.

We are The storySouth Million Writers Award Notable Stories of 2010.

We are pleasantly surprised, and thrilled, that our story "Taking Flight" in Metazen has been selected as one of the best online short stories published in 2010 as part of the storySouth Million Writers Award Notable Stories of 2010. We are in insanely fine company, and so we should mention that we are thrilled, surprised, and thrilled, did we already mention that? Good, and thanks to the judges and the quite fine Metazen, which was also picked as one of the runners-up for best new online magazine, something we think is terribly sweet indeed.

A Pete Lit You Can Make Him Like You Interview Sundays Chicago conversation.

Yes, Interview Sundays is back baby. We recently had the chance to talk You Can Make Him Like You with TBWCYL, Inc. favorite, This Podcast Will Change Your Life podcastee, This Zine Will Change Your Life flunkee and rock star writer and lunch companion Pete Anderson; and more specifically Chicago sites that make appearances in the book, including, and we suppose in this case, limited to Metro, Old Town Ale House and Billy Goat Tavern. We also got to talk Tom Cruise, Studs Terkel, The Hold Steady and long-time This Blog Will Change Your Life muse Elizabeth Crane. All-in-all much fun indeed, and much appreciated, thanks bro.

An ADP Fatherhood Bundle of love.

It's true, for a mere twenty dollars you can purchase both You Can Make Him Like You and the absolutely sublime and quotidianly moving, at times heartbreaking, Hush Up and Listen Stinky Pooh Butt by Ken Sparling from the Artistically Declined Press in one big loving Father Bundle. Most sweet we know, so hit it. There you go.

61,770.

Compulsive. Compulsion. Both.

The new edition of This Zine Will Change Your Life is live, and full of isolation. Bed. And Michael Lee Johnson. Enjoy.

The new edition of This Zine Will Change Your Life is live. Full of isolation. And bed. We have a new poem, I Know from My Bed from old friend Michael Lee Johnson, which we are way excited about, and, (almost) as always, photo action from Adam Lawrence, music curation from Jason Behrends and budget battle 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, and art, and video, yes, video, and combinations there of. And most finally, the playoffs are upon us, so hit it.

"Exceedingly close to a perfect capture of life's asymptotes." You Can Make Him Like You gets NewPages'd. And likes it. A lot.

Uhmm, wow, we don't know Jeremy Benson personally, but we think, no strike that, know for certain, he is out newest BFF, and maybe we open this post like that, or is it this, joking, almost flip, but not really, not purposefully, because of how much we appreciate, that may not even be right, his fantastic review of You Can Make Him Like You at NewPages.com, and are embarrassed, or maybe it self-conscious in some way about his reaction. Certainly, its all or some of that, and we are appreciative, so, uhmm, wow, and drinks on us Jeremy, whenever, wherever, yes, for sure.

"This is life after all, something the whole of us are fairly familiar with already, and in You Can Make Him Like You, Tanzer comes exceedingly close to a perfect capture of life's asymptotes, with help from the Hold Steady and Arnett or not."

This Book Will Change Your Life - Normally Special by xTx.

Travel. Read. Keep traveling. Keep reading. Riff. And so it is with Normally Special by xTx from the Tiny Hardcore Press. There was travel and there was read and there was this well received and much buzzed collection by its mysterious author, and as we read it we thought the stories here are fleet of foot and flash, sometimes slamming and sometimes tender, or wanting to be, and providing a survey of sorts of both the female experience, violence, burgeoning sexuality, marriage, and parenting, the latter of which we definitely don't see enough of, but also of female writers and styles, some Margaret Atwood here, a touch of Mary Miller realism there, a splash of Kim Chinquee, and as all the pieces swirl around, leaving the reader at time breathless, other times sad, we couldn't help but think that ultimately, these are stories about control, losing it, wanting to gain it, fantasizing about it, having it ripped away, and maybe worse of all at times, having it imposed on us, even in small, but terribly cutting ways, such as the protagonist in "The Art of Folding Towels," who is never going to get it right, can't get it right, won't get it right, because there is no right and never will be.

"Shocked and embarrassed" That, and "Great." You Can Make Him Like You gets Chicago Subtext'd. And likes it. A lot.

Much love to TBWCYL, Inc. favorite and overlord of all things Orange Alert Jason Behrends for the much appreciated review of You Can Make Him Like You he has posted to Chicago Subtext and Goodreads. Coffee on us for sure when next we meet and excerpt for everyone else. Also, and we are speaking to those of you who qualify as "everyone else," we have a request - if you are digging the You Can Make Him Like You, and we hope you are, please do consider posting a shout-out to Goodreads, Amazon and anywhere else shout-outs are sold, because that too will be much appreciated.

"Essentially, Tanzer is exposing the secret inner thoughts of a man as he tries to adopt, grow, move at a reasonable pace through life. At times you relate, and at others you are shocked and embarrassed. This is a honest look at the process every father goes through on some level. It shows the importance of friends, family, and even a good life soundtrack."