Ben Tanzer's Blog, page 61

"This story of love and family survival is a must read." Lost in Space. MONOLOGGING. Moved. Totally.

Quite moved we are. Embarrassed as we may be about that. We are also very appreciative. Endlessly in fact. And that we aren't embarrassed about at all. Excerpt? Word.

"Lost in Space provides many detailed and entertaining anecdotes about raising children, but the book’s best qualities are revealed throughout Tanzer’s introspective monologues illuminating the cognitive processes underlining fatherhood. The author is painfully conscious that when it comes to his children, he is powerless to control the outcomes of their futures or the future of the scary world in which they live. This story of love and family survival is a must read recipe for coping with unpredictable trials, and a reminder to enjoy life’s gifts. The book will inspire many parents and expecting couples, especially those with boys. It’s a heartfelt laugh to pass and share with friends."

This Tumblr Will Change Your Life we are. Follow us. Heart us. Love us.

Totally. Here. Thank you.

Wherein Curbside Splendor is named Best Indie Book Publisher by Chicago Magazine as part of its 2014 Best Of Chicago awards and we try really hard not to scream about it far and wide, though mostly fail at doing so.

More here, so much more, really, and totally.

"His exposure of his own mind and methods is fearless." Lost in Space. Amazon. Humbling and wonderful.

And massively appreciated too. Excerpt? Word.

"The essays in Lost in Space are raw, and not in the way that people like to talk about loud, discordant, thrashy music being raw. They're raw in the sense that when you read Lost in Space, you get the feeling Tanzer has feverishly scrubbed away any layers of gloss-over polish that might otherwise coat these recollections, leaving us with an extremely real, relatable, sometimes-wounded, sometimes-wounding look at his parenthood reality."

This Book Will Change Your Life - Deep Ellum by the Brandon Hobson.

If LeBron James has proven anything this week, it's that you can go home again, even when home has proven to be riven by heartbreak, violence, vitriol, and a sense of filial betrayal worthy of Greek myth. The protagonist in Deep Ellum, the beautiful, nearly poetic, and speedy, both in read and timbre, novel by the Brandon Hobson may not be all-universe, much less all anything. If anything, he is all nothing, no plans, nor center. But he is drawn to home, and once home, he is easily ensared in all of the grime that is his family, and the twisty relationships contained therein. We rarely write about our desire not to spoil anything, and in this case we're not sure which parts would spoil what. It's clear from jump that this is home as fucked-up childhood, damaged siblings, and distant parents. And yet somehow the mood is such throughout the story's dream scape, that we prefer to invite you to jump into its cracked swirls and crusty creases, to saying anything more about said dream scape, beyond this: you can go home again, and so the question is not how is it possible to do so, but should it be so, and even then, knowing what awaits, why do we want it regardless? Some of that is origin, and as LeBron has shown us, we are inevitably drawn from where we sprang forth. But a lot of it, and LeBron knows this as well, is that we can never let go of family. We can avoid it, runf from it, and try to stomp it to death, but we are always of it and connected to it, and this Hobson captures as well as anyone we've recently read who has attempted to do so. So do hit it, and do lose yourself in it, for it will surely change your life as it has ours, if only for a little while at that.

And then there was the time we read Ira Glass Wants to Hit Me at the Truth or Lie reading series while drinking a Three Floyds Jinx Proof and wearing our red Spider-Man T-shirt.

"This week's airplane read." Lost in Space. Tweet hype. Shameless we are.

This week's airplane read, courtesy of @BenTanzer! (This copy's mine, you'll have to get your own. And you should.) pic.twitter.com/9CNlEMWeyx
— Clayton Smith (@Claytonsaurus) July 9, 2014

Biss Stielstra Tanzer Essays Powell's and so much more Chicago Independent Bookstore Day Saturday, July 12th.

And even more information here, yo, for real, so do hit, it just might change your life.

And then there was the time we were a guest writer at the 2014 NEIU Summer Creative Writing Institute and posed for a picture with one of the rock star students while wearing a green T-shirt we bought in L.A. years ago.

"Tanzer’s disarming and addictive prose rules the day." Lost in Space. The Small Press Book Review. Much love. And many thanks.

So many thanks this. Totally. Excerpt? Word.

"Beneath this collection’s levity, and also interspersed with it, are powerful moments that demonstrate a true ease of emotion when it comes to a parent connecting with a child or, as is often the case here, an author with a reader. Both yielding and relentless, the writing itself reflects the core lessons offered within the pages, that life does indeed go on and control is but an illusion."