Ben Tanzer's Blog, page 27

Lippmann​ Ortiz​ Bustle Wonderbar.

Yup. Excerpt? Totally. And word. Of course.

The voices, too, feel disparate, while both uniquely yours. The voice of Excavation is driving, immediate, while the narrative voice of Hollywood Notebook is more sensual, wistful, even, layered in a different poetry, sometimes more distant, as if not geared for public consumption, and yet not the least closed off, but rather with an awareness of and welcoming the reader. Here, too, it seems that the content is the driver, with the abuse detailed in Excavationdemanding a certain directness, clarity in tone, while HN, which is very much a memoir about writing, could be a bit more playful.

Interesting! I’ve not thought of HN as a memoir about writing. I see it as a slice of a period of time when I struggled with relationships, who I thought I’d become and who I thought I still wanted to become, and yes, writing was part of that. Trying to imagine a process I could rely on was part of that. I agree that content is the driver. Even as I write this, though, I think, what if there had been more playfulness in Excavation? I believe there’s some there — in the smallest of doses. Trying to maintain a certain tone, though, felt more crucial for that book. HN is to me like an amalgamation of voices, trying on ways of being, with a through-line underneath of a woman returning “home” and trying to understand where and how she fits even while she’s transforming.

The New York Stories is awesome blurb from the endlessly awesome (and quite freshy fresh mother) Sara Lippmann.

"In his beautiful and deeply American The New York Stories, Ben Tanzer returns to the upstate place where it all began: childhood, adolescence, the buds of adulthood. Caterpillar guts ooze out on the pavement, as do restless hearts. 'Thirsty's still serves beer, the Susquehanna River still flows, and you are here by the window, watching, waiting, wondering how you got here at all.' Characters may come and go and circle back in the fictional town of Two Rivers, but through it all Tanzer's voice is a transporting constant: intimate, immediate, full of wisdom and grace. Spanning three masterful volumes, brimming with lust and longing, humor and heartbreak and a healthy helping of what-ifs, this collection is for anyone who has lived and loved or loved and lost or any whirling, churning combination of the three. In other words, it's for all of us." --Sara Lippmann, author of Doll Palace

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

(The ARC of) The New York Stories is Jason Fisk and stoked we are.

"Captured by its wonderful essence." Lost in Space has been Cyn Vargas'd. And for a moment anyway, the world became just a little bit brighter.

Indeed. Brighter. Much. Excerpt? Word.

"I bought this book as a Father's Day gift for my husband who absolutely loved it then I read it and was captured by its wonderful essence."

A past future, or is it future past, The New York Stories interview thing.

The New York Stories is 6 Authors Walk Into a Bar... and quite ridiculously fine company on May 16th at the Jimmy's Woodlawn Tap.

For real. More information can be found here. And you can RSVP here. So let's do this, yes? Yes. It just might change your life.

The New York Stories is awesome blurb from the endlessly awesome Dave Newman.

"The millions of unseen things that happen inside the heart finally start to come clear in Ben Tanzer's The New York Stories. Everyone here -- from the teenage girls to the grown men trying to sleep with them, from the guy in therapy to the therapist -- is filled with a desire so painful it will make you ache. Come to Thirsty's and drink a Yuengling because it might be all there is. Ben Tanzer knows that what we love most is what destroys us and what makes us feel most alive. He's reached into our music collections and pulled out the soul and the funk and the loud guitars and set it to prose that pulls us all across the page. Be prepared to laugh and cry and be swept away." --Dave Newman, author of The Factory Poems

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

This Podcast Will Change Your Life, The AWP 2015 Edition Part III - Bittersweet Nostalgia, starring the Robert James Russell.

So bittersweet, yo, but so Russell too. And podcast. So podcast. Not to mention, Midwestern Gothic, nature, so much nature, Michigan, Don't Ask Me To Spell It Out, Cheap Pop, Mesilla, and much, much more. So do check it out, it just might change your life.

"A sense of mastery." The New York Stories. And a much appreciated review from The Atticus Review.

Quite appreciated. And much appreciation to the Chris Tarry as well. Excerpt? Word.

"The New York Stories is a three volume set, each published as separate books across a span of nearly nine years and because of this, the book builds a wonderful grand arc, narrative hindsight in a way that allows the whole thing to function as a story greater than the sum of its parts. We see not only the long protracted march of Two Rivers and its inhabitants, but, because of the time between when the volumes were written, the development of Tanzer as a fierce and world-class writer. This development is a beautiful thing to watch."

Quite humbled to share that Orphans has won the Bronze medal in the Science Fiction category at the 2015 Independent Publisher Book Awards.

We are as surprised as you are. More here. If that's your thing of course. If not, cool.