Ben Tanzer's Blog, page 88

Dead Stock. The Tim Hall. Wondrous.

Orphans. Booklist. Yo.

"Patently satirical, Orphans is about the reality of responsibility and the limitations imposed on us in adulthood by a capitalist society. Tanzer's setting and scenario owe much to George Orwell and Philip K. Dick, territory that sf fans might enjoy revisiting." - Booklist

This Book Will Change Your Life - The Temple of Air by Patricia Ann McNair.

I think if we take a moment to honestly and objectively acknowledge our crush on Patricia Ann McNair, and recognize that because of said crush, our writing about The Temple of Air, could possibly be warped by said affections, we still honestly believe that The Temple of Air is one of those books that as we read it we realized that there has been a hole in our lives prior to reading the book that we didn't know existed, but have now filled by immersing ourselves in these terribly moving and semi-interlocked fictions. We might also say that metaphors aside, and puns not remotely intended, what McNair has done with these stories is illuminate what it means to live, and mostly cope, with things missing in our lives, hands, parents, children, breasts, love, that are at times violently taken from us, and other times more subtly so, but that regardless, when we have loss, when we are less than, even if we don't try live that way, those losses are compounded over a life time, warping how we view the world, and interact in relationships, leaving us wanting, and hoping that we could just float away, one with the air, and wishing we knew how to change our lives.

Lost In Space. March. Happening.

And more, here, here, or here, if that happens to be your thing.

This Book Will Change Your Life - Commercial Fiction by the Dave Housley.

Truth. It is so Commercial. So Fiction. And so released today. It is also so blurb. So please do hit the Commercial Fiction, all post-haste and such, it just might change your life.

"In Commercial Fiction, Dave Housley demonstrates his gift for literary sleight of hand, first drawing us in with his satirical skewering of corporate branding, before cutting us off at the knees with his nuanced tales of desperate lives, dead-end jobs, and diminished expectations."

Wherein we are Orphans Self-Interview at the TNB and most endlessly appreciative for that.

Quite endlessly TNB we are. Now how about some self-interview excerpt? Cool.

Self-interview, have you?I do.Talk about yourself, you will?Yes. Sort of.What about you, say?I am supposed to talk about a book.Allegiant? Just came out, that did.  Or Hill William, looking forward I am?No, actually, it’s a book I wrote. It’s called Orphans.

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

@BenTanzer Loved the new book, Ben. Imaginative, funny, heart-wrenching. Congrats!

— Steve Karas (@Steve_Karas) November 13, 2013

Wherein we are Orphans excerpt at the TNB and most endlessly appreciative for that.

Quite endlessly TNB we are. Now how about some excerpt of that excerpt? Cool.

"The guy then reaches into his breast pocket and I get ready for the inevitable gun or knife. Instead he pulls out a resume, which is folded, and creased, stiff with coffee and sweat. As he goes to unfold it, a black helicopter swoops in from above.“We will need you to disperse please, immediately,” says the voice booming from the black helicopter, now so close I can feel the heat emanating from its belly.“Fuck you,” the guy screams looking up at the helicopter that remains as impassive as ever, fuck you.”Soon all the guys are screaming “fuck you” and jumping into the air as they futilely try to grab the helicopter and bring it down to the ground."

What Lit have you Seen? Litseen talks Moon Palace Books, the Glorious, the Nerdy, the Orphans, and so much more.

And big thanks to Litseen and the Robert Martin for that yo. Excerpt? Word.
"This heading is the title given to the group reading at Moon Palace Books on Friday, November 8 2013. A strange shindig (three vastly different poets and a novelist, taking place at 4pm rather than the typical evening reading time), it did a better job of living up to the first three words of its name than the ending. Unless you think reading and writing is nerdy in general, which a lot of people do, so. For this audience member, at least, watching BL Pawelek, Carrie Lorig, Seth Berg, and Ben Tanzer read and perform came much closer to simple glory."

New joint. Barely Breathing. At the Sundog Lit.

New joint indeed. And most thankful we are to the Justin Daugherty for running with our newest New York piece in the quite excellent new issue of the Sundog Lit. Excerpt? Word.

"So, we must go to the grave, in this weather, and we have to drive, in my car, though I am not driving. Jack must drive, he is the king, he is back, and this is what we must do, we must be in the car, doing what I don’t want to do, on roads I don’t want to be on, driving in weather I want to avoid.
 
“Where have you been Jack,” I say hoping to calm my nerves.
 
“Everywhere,” he says, “from the deserts to the oceans, the future and the past, to Mars and back.”
 
And maybe he has, he’s Jack, and who I am to question that?"