Ben Tanzer's Blog, page 198

M. Chandler Rodbro "Liar's Inn" debut awesomeness.

Long time friend of TBWCYL, Inc. M. Chandler Rodbro has published his first story "Liar's Inn" at The Molotov Cocktail and we couldn't be prouder or more excited for him. Please do take a look, please enjoy the below excerpt, and when you next talk to him please be sure to congratulate him. And then buy him a drink of course.

"And then she was gone. The man took her to a shelter for young mothers. He told her he had volunteered there with his church group. He gave her a fifty dollar bill. She was back before dark with a bottle. Somewhere the family said a prayer of hope for the poor pregnant girl while we sat feeling victorious and drinking bourbon in the dark. Things were different then. We still had things left to uncover about one another; we still had potential."

Nothing or Next to Nothing. Review. Pank. Whoot.

We are terrifically geeked to check out long time TBWCYL, Inc. favorite and This Podcast Will Change Your Life podcastee Barry Graham's soon to be released novella Nothing or Next to Nothing by the stellar Main Street Rag and are now only doubly so after reading this quite fine early review from the Pank. We hope you will take a look at the review. We also hope you will pre-order the book. And we definitely hope you enjoy the below excerpt.

"Nothing or Next to Nothing works. It doesn't try to be too clever despite the non linear storytelling. It is as gentle-paced as amphetamine and inhabits a universe diametrically opposite from the Waltons. One issue of my old Rebel Inc magazines had a painted barcode on the back page, and instead of numbers, underneath were the words Sharp as Fuck Fiction. History has a habit of repeating."

Interview Sundays? Not sure, either way, check out this fine even undeniably awesome interview with the J.A. Tyler.

We're thinking of a new feature "Interview Sundays" or maybe This Interview on this Sunday Will Change Your Life. Regardless, this is the second Sunday in a row we are posting about an interview with a writer who really excites us, in this case long time TBWCYL, Inc. favorite, This Podcast Will Change Your Life podcastee, and This Zine Will Change Your Life contributor J.A. Tyler talking about his new Mud Luscious Press imprint Nephew. So you know, enjoy some excerpt and then hit it.

ME: The first book is Darby Larson's THE IGUANA COMPLEX. What should we know about this book?

Shit. Impossible to answer. It is fantastic, lickity, it fucks with language, tells stories in stories, builds characters who don't exist, meta-metas the meta. There are portions that are unreadable, literally gone on the page, and there are portions I can't stop reading out loud, even after I've read this book a dozen times. Larson is bleeding here in this book, the best kind of gore blood, and it pools on pages. Know that you want to read this book, it is worth every penny.

We are The Watch List. Hear us roar.

Big thanks to Jason Behrends and the crew at Orange Alert for including our story "Smiling to Himself" on The Watch List. We are most proud, and especially excited to be included on any list with a band called Dad Rocks!

Eggshells. Fisk. Killer. Our final Splendorious post of the day.

Our final Curbside Splendorious posting of the day highlights none other than long time TBWCYL, Inc. favorite and BFF, This Podcast Will Change Your Life podcastee and This Zine Will Change Your Life two-time contributor Jason Fisk and his new most killer piece Eggshells just up at the Curbside Splendor. So, please do hit that, enjoy the below excerpt and good night.

"She sat there in the corner of the room, sobbing, realizing that she had wanted him to find them; realizing that she wanted to rehash everything over and over again. She wasn't ready to let go. As she balled herself tight into the corner, she covered her face with her hands and inhaled with stuttered breath. She wasn't hiding her tears. It wasn't shame that she was feeling, she was scared. At that moment, she realized her collection might cost her marriage. Her husband stood there with the mattress flipped. "What the hell is all of this? Why are you crying? Help me understand what's going on here," he said his voice higher than usual."

More Curbside. More Splendor. And coming soon, The Chap Book: Poems by Charles Bane Jr.

Yes, you read that right, Curbside Splendor will soon be rolling out The Chap Book: Poems by Charles Bane Jr. and after that, well, all bets are of course.

Curbside Splendor Issue 1.

Quite thrilled we are to not only talk more Curbside Splendor, but be part of the stellar line-up in their first ever print journal due out March 15th and now available for pre-order magic. Enjoy. And more soon. Much more.

All hail the Curbside Splendor. And all day at that.

You ever feel like you're having a Curbside Splendor kind of week? Us too. So we're going to do a day of Curbside Splendoring starting with our Writer on Writer interview at Orange Alert with Curbside Splendor founder, This Podcast Will Change Your Life podcastee and daddy-cool author of Sophomoric Philosophy Victor David Giron. Please check it out. Please enjoy some excerpt. And more to come. Much, much more.

Only somewhat switching gears, I know you published Sophomoric Philosophy through your publishing arm Curbside Splendor and I was wondering what you want us to know about Curbside Splendor, well, you know besides that fact that all authors you publish get free drinks and manicures at Beauty Bar for life?

Well, sure, but only Curbside authors that write nice reviews and publish an interview with me get free drinks and manicures, just to clarify. Curbside Splendor was the name of a band that me and my friend Brian talked about starting when I was at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I could never play an instrument so the dream quickly went up in smoke. However, the name stuck with me. When I thinking of how to publish my book, I decided to start a small press when I learned one could do such a thing and I immediately thought of calling it CS. In the process of working with the editor, the designer, my friend Gabriel Hurier who did the artwork, I really dug the whole publishing process. So now we publish short stories and poetry online, and will also in print starting with our first semi-annual print journal coming out in March. We'll also publish more books. Our focus is urban-themed work, but we publish other stuff. In fact we're publishing a chap book of poems by Chicago native Charles Bane Jr. this May. He's retired, now lives in Florida, writes these fleeting romance poems and though it's something I never thought I'd want to publish, I quite literally fell in love reading his work. I also co-host with my friends Amy & Becca of Two With Water a bi-monthly reading series at Beauty Bar Chicago that is getting better and better. I'm in the process of organizing more a literary-friendly events at the Beauty Bar that will be quite killer, and I'm now selling books and journals by local presses and authors at the Logan Square Farmer's market here in Chicago. To my pleasant surprise, I've just now discovered all the great lit-stuff going on here these days. Do I have a prior time period to compare against? No. But, it's fun, now, and I guess for me that's what matters and I'm eager to support it.

"The more I read, the more smart I felt." You Can Make Him Like You gets 24-hour blurbed by the Mickey Hess. And likes it. A lot.

Bam. Or is that more bam? Because if getting the attention we deserve earlier this week from the Mickey Hess wasn't enough we now get some 24-hour blurb love for You Can Make Him Like You as well. And all that said, its not only officially Mickey Hess week here at TBWCYL, Inc. headquarters, he's by far our newest, yet oldest in a way, and momentarily favoritest, BFF ever. Frankly, it even feels like a bit of a crush.

"Finally someone makes a significant contribution to literature! Ben Tanzer dishes up a wonderful book that makes his family uncomfortable and surprises his co-workers. The more I read, the more smart I felt."

"It made me do some unanticipated introspection." You Can Make Him Like You gets Failure Loves Company'd. And likes it. A lot.

We are so very appreciative of writer J. Bradley's kind and terribly moving review and reflection after reading You Can Make Him Like You and as opposed to saying something incredibly cheesy, we will say big thanks and drinks on us when next we meet.

"I'm working my way down my small tower of literature and I decided to take on Ben Tanzer's You Can Make Him Like You. I appreciated the pace, the accessibility of the story, the font size. I enjoyed it tremendously and would recommend it to anyone to pick up and read (so go order it already). The unexpected surprise I had after reading it is how I related to the protagonist's experiences, doubts, and fears of fatherhood and what it is to really be a man. It made me do some unanticipated introspection, something that has happened a lot more as of late."