Ben Tanzer's Blog, page 59

"He engages the weird." Lost in Space. Small Press Reviews. Dig the weird.

Quite dig the weird. And quite dig this. Excerpt? Word.

"In a way, he shows how sacred fatherhood is by stripping away the facade of anything hallowed and dealing honestly with the funny, wacky, sometimes paradoxical nature of being a dad. He engages the weird, which is engaging the truth of it all."

Quite honored to be all Lost in Space creation essay in The Truth of Memoir: How to Write about Yourself and Others with Honesty, Emotion, and Integrity.

And big thanks to the Kerry Cohen for that. 

"He has a wonderful knack for writing about everyday life with vulnerability and wit." Lost in Space. Goodreads.

Love this we do. Excerpt? Cool.

"He has a wonderful knack for writing about everyday life with vulnerability and wit, thus creating an exquisite, moving collection of essays about fatherhood."

Quite lovely this. And terribly appreciated. Albeit horribly inaccurate in the area of dad coolness. Or so our children say.

Periodic reminder that @BenTanzer is one of my favorite writers around these streets, and probably a really cool dad too?
— Anthology of Chicago (@AnthologyofChi) August 1, 2014

"One big love letter." Wherein we are Lost in Space interview with Left on Mallory and the Jared Rypkema.

And quite appreciative at that. We are also thinking excerpt. Cool? Word.

Jared Rypkema: A common thread that struck me is your desire for your boys to at some point understand you as much as you’ve tried to understand them. Do you have a hope that one day they’ll read these pieces and understand a little more about you as a person? 

Ben Tanzer: It’s funny, but I’m not sure that was a conscious thread at all. Which points to a couple of things. You can discover a lot when you write about yourself, that you might not really understand to otherwise be a constant thread in your own life. But more importantly, that said thread is important to you at all, which in this case it clearly is.

So yes, that is my hope, and yes, I hope that the nuances I found myself exploring in these pieces explain things, decisions, or lack of decisions, shortcomings and obsessions, that may never have the opportunity to be discussed or broached. And yes, this is also a topic that I come back to again and again as a writer as well – how it is we make sense of things as we battle confusion, feel trapped by our self-imposed limitations, and engage in endlessly poor communication.

So, again, I guess I do hope for this, though I also hope they see this collection as one big love letter to them, because that I was definitely conscious about when I wrote it.

"Tanzer is all heart in I AM." I AM. Rave Reviews. Beautious. And most appreciated.

Men's Health and Ridiculous Road-Trip Games we are. And big thanks to the Eric Spitznagel for that.

Yes, that Men's Health. For real. More here.

This Podcast Will Change Your Life, Episode Eighty-Nine - Stories About Kissing, starring the Leesa Cross-Smith.

So insanely Cross-Smith we are. And so podcast. Smitten too, yo. Not to mention the Every Kiss A War, Whiskey Paper, Louisville, marriage, Roxane Gay, and kissing. Always. Can't get away from that. So do hit it, now, yes, nice. It just might change your life.

"It is a book about love." Lost in Space. Heavy Feather Review. Love.

That's all. Though it's not, right? Because very thankful to the Heavy Feather Review and the Leesa Cross-Smith we are. Very. Thankful. And moved, and embarrassingly so at that. Excerpt? Word.

"There is something for everyone here, parent or not, man or not, married or not. There is something for everyone here because most of all it is a book about being human. About how being a human is hard and fun and scary and weird and effed up and freaky and awesome and magical and spiritual and pedestrian and ridiculous and exciting and crazy and romantic and sexy and depressing and shiny and and and. And."

And then there was the time that Lost in Space (and friends) was all City Lit Books, yo.