Ben Tanzer's Blog, page 25

This Podcast Will Change Your Life, Episode One Hundred and Ten - Awesome, starring the quite awesome Liz Mason.

So awesome. So podcast. And so Liz Mason. Not to mention Quimby's, zines, Britney Spears, reality television, cancer, C2E2, self-publishing, and so much more. So do hit it, it just might change your life.
 

99 Problems is Runner's Book Bundle. And a fine bundle of books it is.

And what is the Runner's Book Bundle one might ask? It is: 

15 Indie Ebooks in 3 Volumes for 2 Charities

Books by runners, books for runners

And all proceeds go to support the Vermont Foodbank and the 100 Mile Club
 
It is also only happening until July 31st, so do hit it, because while it just might change your life, your support will most certainly change the lives of many others.

The New York Stories is most appreciatedly Chicago Book Review’s Summer 2015 Preview and in ridiculously fine company at that.

For really real, yo, all of that. So do check it out, it just might change your life.

That time that thing happened that we can't quite tell you about yet.

The New York Stories is part of a most excellent line-up indeed on Local Author Night at The Book Cellar on Wednesday, June 17th.

So do hit it. It just might change your life.

This Book Will Change Your Life - Train Shots by the Vanessa Blakeslee.

 
     "Now remember, even though what 
     you're seeing appears to be standing       still, nothing ever is."

This line is from "Don't Forget the Beignets," but really, couldn't it come from any of the stories in Vanessa Blakeslee's most auspicious debut collection Train Shots? Okay, that's a rhetorical question, because yes it could, though more accurately, couldn't it apply to Blakeslee's writing in general? Which is to say, Blakeslee's work reminds us of that old cliche about the duck. They look so calm floating there above the surface of the water, but underneath there's a lot of busy happening. Which is not to say the stories here are cliche. They're anything but. But on the surface there is a sort of calm, even a kind of normalcy - a woman has her dogs stolen, a single mom rents a carriage house from a fundamentalist preacher, an ex-pat doctor's wife dies, a man survives cancer and finds himself in a new relationship - no ghosts certainly, or weird, bizarro fiction, nothing surreal, just lives lived, domestic and otherwise. Yet, underneath, and on the fringes, there are affairs, and death, and crime, and there is busy. Blakeslee's characters are always moving, struggling, fighting, and searching for answers that seem to almost be in reach, just as long as they remember that nothing is standing still and so they cannot either.

"Brilliantly birthed." TNBBC Short Story Month I AM love there is.

Also, quite fine company. Excerpt? Word.

"Tanzer brilliantly birthed each persona, forced their words up off the page, and made each one come alive much like a puppeteer brings life to his marionettes. A quick, enticing collection, clocking in at just under 100 pages, that demonstrates a brand new side of Ben."

The First Annual Curbside Splendor Wild Onion Novella Contest is here!

For real. Details at Curbside Splendor and below. So do check it out, it just might change your life.

We are seeking novella submissions between 20,000 and 40,000 words that exemplify the best of Curbside's style—work that is gritty, experimental, speculative, weird, humorous, or any compelling combination of the above. And as always, we're looking for diverse, extraordinary voices.

We will be accepting submissions from June 15th - July 18th, the winner will be announced in late August, and the entry fee is $10.

The winning entry will be selected by noted Chicago author Joe Meno and published in May 2016 to coincide with Indie Bookstore Day as a limited and numbered print run sold exclusively through our web store, as well as an e-book that will be distributed through Curbside's normal channels. 

The winner will receive $200 and 10 copies of the publication.

This Must Be The Place by Sean H. Doyle is so happening right now, yo.

It really is. Check it out. It just might change your life.

The New York Stories is awesome blurb from the endlessly awesome Michael Czyzniejewski.

"Ben Tanzer's New York is not the New York of Ellis Island or of Times Square. It's not the New York of Warhol or Scorsese or Giuliani. It's not the New York you know or have ever known. It's the New York you should know, the Tanzeriian New York of twisted invention, hilarious compassion, and intricate irony. Ben Tanzer has impossibly written yet another version of the great city, one that's a welcome addition to the proud canon of this salty berg." --Michael Czyzniejewski, author of I Will Love You For the Rest of My Life: Breakup Stories

And more to come. Not to mention more information at CCLaP for those who want it.