Ben Tanzer's Blog, page 76

Shameless, albeit much appreciated, James Yates Lost in Space release party Tweet hype. And big thanks to the James Yates for that.

Just a couple hours until the release reading for @BenTanzer's LOST IN SPACE. Can't wait!
— James Yates (@chicagoexpatjy) March 13, 2014

And then there was the time we were drinking ice coffee and talking all things word at 826CHI with the Bill Hillmann and Chris L. Terry.

We had such a blast hanging with @TheBoringStore slash @826CHI today! @bill_hillmann @ZeroFade94 @BenTanzer pic.twitter.com/JzJePeSrIX

— Curbside Splendor (@CurbsidePress) March 12, 2014

This Book Will Change Your Life - I Was a Fat Drunk Catholic School Insomniac by the Jamie Iredell.

Is reading in and of itself a selfish act? It involves time that can be spent on other things. Acts of social justice. Time you might spend with your family. Taking care of yourself. And if you read like we do, all of these things may fall by the wayside along with housework, paying work, and on and on, yo. Now what if we were to read an essay collection like I Was a Fat Drunk Catholic School Insomniac by the Jamie Iredell and think how so much of the work reminds us of ourselves, the insomnia, the substance abuse, the love of superheroes, and the love of our children. Which is not so selfish in and of itself, except that we are struck that there are parallels not just with our own lives, but our own upcoming essay collection Lost in Space, and that in wanting to write that are we in essence backhandedly hyping our own work? Because that may very well be selfish. Now does it make a difference that we love the book? That we love everything Iredell does? And that this focus on nonfiction excites us because it expands the wealth of possibilities he can explore with his gifted, rough-hewn, searching brain? We hope so. We also hope that you take a look for yourself, be that for reasons selfish or otherwise, because it just might change your life.

"Tanzer goes straight for the meat." Lost in Space. Amazon love.

And much appreciated love at that. So big thanks to the Art Edwards, and drinks, many brother, on us, all post haste and such. Excerpt? Word.

"Ben Tanzer is exactly what I like in a male writer. He's not going to inundate you with his get-trashed glory days, or try to convince you how smart he is, or tell you about his past conquests. Life's too short, and that's too easy."

"Skipping across genres into the future." Orphans. Goodreads love.

And much appreciated love at that. So big thanks to the Jason Fisk, and drinks, many brother, on us, all post haste and such. Excerpt? Word.

"I have been a fan of Tanzer’s writing for awhile now; what I have most appreciated about his work is the human element that never fails to be at the core of all of his fiction. I was very pleased to find that human element in Orphans."

Wherein there is much appreciated AWP 2014 “The Author’s Children: The Intersection of Art, Advocacy and Ethics in Writing About Your Kids" panel blog post at the Brevity.

There is, and it is, totally, all of it. Excerpt? Word.

"I thought this panel would offer advice for writing about our kids, and stop there. But it went well beyond that, offering advice for all memoirists. Some told anecdotes about their kids. Others read short excerpts of their work. All of them shared advice in a presentation that was both revelatory and intimate."

Shameless, albeit much appreciated, Amanda Deo Orphans Tweet hype. And big thanks to the Amanda Deo for that.

Almost done @BenTanzer 's Orphans. How awesome is this guy? For real tho.
— Amanda Deo (@AmanderComander) March 7, 2014

Wherein Lost in Space is all excerpt and You Throw Your Life in My Face at the Anthology of Chicago.

Quite excerpt. Endlessly face. And very thankful to the Rachel Hyman and the whole Anthology of Chicago crew for making it so. Excerpt? Word.

"Debbie and I lived in New York City together and never talked about having children. Then we decided to move to Chicago and still didn’t talk about it. We didn’t know Chicago: we had never been there. We went to Burton Place on Burton and Wells because we saw they were showing that night’s Knicks-Bulls play-off game.

We drank with some guys we did not know, and Scottie Pippen refused to enter the game as a decoy. We asked the guys where ex-New Yorkers who didn’t have a car should live and they sketched out the corner of Goethe and Dearborn on a used cocktail napkin.

“There is a coffee shop right there,” they said, “the Red Line and Jewel are around the corner. There are buses. It’s perfect.”

“Okay,” we said.

The next day we went to Relcon, an apartment finding service, and we showed the young woman there our cocktail napkin.

“We want to live here,” we said.

“Okay,” she said.

And after that we got an apartment above The 3rd Coast Coffee Shop."

"Fucking aliens." Untrammeled. Revenge of the Scammed.

And then there was the time we were Lost in Space release party and tour, with additional details still to come.

Like totally all of that we are, and will be, and all of it can be found here. Though in the interim, please do feel free to eyeball the below. Cool? Awesome, that, and we hope to see you somewhere soon.

LOST IN SPACE RELEASE PARTY
PUBLIC CHICAGO HOTEL
1301 N STATE PARKWAY
March 13th - 7:30 PM
FREE

featuring:
DMITRY SAMAROVauthor of HACK: Stories from a Chicago Cab
CHRISTINE SNEED
author of Portraits of a Few of the People I've Made Cry and Little Known Facts 
MEGAN STIELSTRA
author of Everyone Remain Calm and Once I Was Cool
PATRICK WENSINK
author of Broken Piano for President
and the man of the hour, BEN TANZER!

Beginning March 8th, Ben will also be embarking on a Midwest / East Coast tour. See below for dates, locations, and times. 


March 8th
826CHI
1331 N. Milwaukee 
Chicago, IL
(with author Chris L. Terry & Bill Hillmann)
5:30 pm
also:
Uncharted Books
2630 N Milwaukee Ave. 
Chicago, IL
(with Chris L. Terry)
8:00 pm

March 29th
Literati Bookstore
124 E. Washington
Ann Arbor, MI 
(TBD)

April 5th
Three Tents Reading Series
The Big Hunt
1345 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington, D.C.
(7:00)

April 6th
Mellow Pages Library
56 Bogart St.
Brooklyn, NY
(TBD)

April 7th
with Gigantic Sequins
Philadelphia, PA
(TBD)

April 8th
Pen Parentis Reading Series
Andaz Hotel
75 Wall Street
New York, NY
7:00 pm

April 25th
Seminary Co-op
5751 S. Woodlawn
Chicago, IL
(with Bill Hillmann)
7:00 pm

April 30th
Maple Street Book Shop
7523 Maple Street
New Orleans, LA
(with Bill Hillmann)
6:00 pm

June 29th
Sunday Salon 
3614 N Damen
Chicago, IL
7:00 pm