Ben Tanzer's Blog, page 84

December 24, 2013

That time the Sundog Lit was looking for reviewers for a group of truly wonderful books including the Orphans.

Truth. The Sundog, the wonderful, the reviewers, and the Orphans. All of it
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Published on December 24, 2013 15:14

December 23, 2013

December 22, 2013

CCLaP love.

And yes that sounded better in our heads. Still there is big end-of-year CCLaP news. And there is love. So do hit it. Cool? Cool.
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Published on December 22, 2013 21:00

December 21, 2013

December 20, 2013

December 19, 2013

Daddy Cool is Limited Time Deal.

So do hit it. It just might change your life.


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Published on December 19, 2013 19:15

December 18, 2013

There is CCLaP Journal #3. And we are CCLaP interview.

Though no need to settle for just our interview, yo, because there is much goodness to digest here. So much. So please do. It just might change your life. Excerpt? Cool.

Tell us how it all came about to begin with.

I’ll give you the abbreviated version. It’s a funny story. Joseph Peterson, who I already mentioned, at one point worked for the University of Chicago Press. He’s the numbers guy, when he’s not writing kick-ass novels. His colleague was leaving U of C Press to go to NIU Press and be the second in command. Part of his challenges was to take their fiction arm and make it cooler, hipper, whatever. So Joseph told this guy, “You should call Ben Tanzer; nobody knows this guy, but he’s maybe one of the people who could help you elevate your fiction program.” And this guy really called me. He was like, “I don’t know who you are...” [Laughter] Very politely. He said, “Send me your books, and maybe there’s something we can do together down the road.” But that road never seemed to materialize. So almost a year passed, and right before the 2012 AWP [Ed.: the second-largest literary convention in the United States, held that year in Chicago], this guy calls and says, “We should get a drink at AWP.” And I thought it was going to be very casual, and in fact I went somewhere else and drank first, which is also part of this story. [Laughter] And I show up, having drank for a long time, and there was the guy, and he was sitting with the head publisher. And I saw them sitting there and I thought, “Oh. Oh, this is not good.” [Laughter] It looked like a job interview. But when I sat down, they were soooo drunk, so the whole thing started becoming like this competition. They started interviewing me like I was going to go work there. And this went on for like an hour, and finally they said, “So what do you got for us?” And I had just finished Orphans and was talking to another publisher about it—and I want to thank that publisher for being so cool—but I thought, “If I leave this discussion, after verbally battling with these guys for an hour, without pitching something, I’m a fucking idiot.” So I explained Orphans to them, and this head guy, who could barely even stand up, says, “What would you think of your first novel with major national attention being a science-fiction novel?” And I said, “I’m sorry, I stopped listening after ‘national attention.’” [Laughter] And I got an email a day or two later, and he said, “Read the book already. This is a go.” And I had a contract on Monday. And then the guys left the company.
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Published on December 18, 2013 18:55

December 17, 2013

This Podcast Will Change Your Life, Episode Seventy-Five - The FCC Won't Let Me Be, starring the Patricia Ann McNair.

Yes, that Patricia Ann McNair. And who better for the seventy-fifth episode of the podcast? No one, yo, not, nothing, no one. So do hit it, and rejoice in our conversation about the triumphant The Temple of Air, the Navy Pier Ferris wheel, Kafka, The Lion King, and much, much more. It just might change your life. 

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Published on December 17, 2013 10:12

December 16, 2013

Shameless, albeit much appreciated, Tortoise Books "really enjoying" You Can Make Him Like You Tweet hype. And big thanks to the Tortoise Books for that.

@BenTanzer Thanks for the RT! Really enjoying "You Can Make Him Like You," BTW.

— Tortoise Books (@TortoiseBooks) December 16, 2013
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Published on December 16, 2013 18:21

The Brian Gresko, Orphans, and Jonathan Lethem.

The Brian Gresko continues to be very kind to Orphans, most recently including it in a reflection on all things Fall lit, that is comprised of some ridiculously cool authors and their acclaimed novels. He also goes so far as to say, "I loved... Orphans, which reminded me a bit of early Lethem, and had some amazing ideas about the effects of space travel on our dreams." Most heady that. And most appreciated. All hail the Gresko.
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Published on December 16, 2013 12:58