Ben Tanzer's Blog, page 58
August 18, 2014
Tietz. Thomas. Jemc. Tanzer. And the Booked. podcast. Chicago. City Lit Books. September 6th. 5:00 pm. Yes.
August 17, 2014
These Books Will Change Your Life - Apocalypticon by the Clayton Smith and Annihilation by the Jeff VanderMeer.
There is vacation, and an isolated strip of beach and marsh and deer and fecund plant life, creeping everywhere, green and moist. There is death in countries far away, and much closer to home in militarized communities, as well as, suicide and disease. There is also read. Specifically, Apocalypticon by the Clayton Smith and Annihilation by the Jeff VanderMeer. These books were not selected as intentional efforts to illuminate the state of the world, much less our choice of where to travel. They were next on pile and they are beach reads. But they are also stories about nature, fear, and violence run amock. Apocalypticon is a Midnight Run for the dystopically inclined. Or, maybe The Road crossed with Some Like It Hot, sans the cross-dressing. All external banter and journey, but fucking A funny, even if built around disintegration, loss, and a sadness that cannot be fully faced.
On the face of it, Annihilation is somewhat its opposite in terms of approach. All internal search in terms of not just the protagonist's journey into her own insulated psyche, but the murky, self-contained, bio-hazard world she explores as well. Both remind us however, that the best speculative work is never very far removed from what we know: scared people do terrible things; there is an ongoing disintegration of family, even as we redefine what family can be; and the environment is morphing into something we cannot hope to contain, much less understand. Further, humor may be one of chief defenses against all of it, but we cannot deny that while we may prefer to avoid making hard decisions, there is a growing, and global, psychic rot of our own creation that we will not escape, unless we are willing to change the way we live, and begin to embrace the belief that the world deserves better.
August 15, 2014
August 14, 2014
No Tears For Old Scratch by the Ken Wohlrob there is. And how did we not mention this sooner?
No idea, yo, but we are now, so do hit it.
August 13, 2014
"My TBR pile got an injection of awesome." Lost in Space. And friends. Tweet hype. Shameless we are.
Special delivery! My TBR pile got an injection of awesome. pic.twitter.com/EuKzUU750W
— SJ Cairns (@SamiJoCairns) August 13, 2014
August 12, 2014
Wherein there is Status Books.
Totally here hit it now please thank you.
August 11, 2014
On suicide and the writing life. "Downbound Train" is at the NAILED.
There is also the death of Ned Vizzini, the need for affirmation, Lost in Space, and appreciations to whole NAILED crew for making it so. Excerpt? Word."What does it feel like before you step off of a ledge? What is that moment like? Do you teeter or plunge? Is it a culmination of steps, moments of constant despair and pain leading to that moment? Or is it impulsive, sudden and volatile, grabbed with ferocity? What does it sound like after that step? Do you feel the wind in your face? Do you wonder if in fact you can float, or fly?"
August 10, 2014
August 8, 2014
The new edition of This Zine Will Change Your Life is live. All So. And full of Vargas.
The new edition of This Zine Will Change Your Life is live, and we are thrilled to have new story, So It Went, by Cyn Vargas, and (almost) as always, photo action from Adam Lawrence, music curation from Jason Behrends and sweeping sxecutive order 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, novel excerpts, and art, and video, yes, video, and combinations there of. And most finally, Kevin Love, yo, and whoa.
