Ben Tanzer's Blog, page 91

The new edition of This Zine Will Change Your Life is live. All The Waiting Tide blog tour stop. And full of Bradley.

The new edition of This Zine Will Change Your Life is live and thrilled to be hosting today's blog tour stop for The Waiting Tide, the new poetry collection by Ryan W. Bradley. So, there is new poem, The Waiting Tide by old friend Ryan, which we are way excited about, and, (almost) as always, photo action from Adam Lawrence, music curation from Jason Behrends and glitchy ACA website prose love from Pete Anderson. We hope you enjoy this edition and we appreciate all shout-outs and links. Finally, please note, we are hoping more of you will submit comix, and music, novel excerpts, and art, and video, yes, video, and combinations there of. And most finally, D-Rose yo, he's back.

Wherein we are Loren Kleinman Orphans interview and most endlessly appreciative for that.

Truth. More truth? The Kleinman is totally rock star. Excerpt? Cool.


LK: Did you know the titles of your books before you started writing?BT: No, I had actually briefly fixated on the working title Blue Legs because in the opening scene the protagonist is on a sales call with a potential client who has blue legs. I liked the idea that blue legs would seem weird and imply this book was going to be something different than I usually write, though maybe not exactly so. I also liked the idea that blue legs would be cold to the touch, yet still kind of sexy. To me anyway, I love skin. Later in Orphans the reader learns more about why characters in this story might have blue skin, though by that point, I had moved on to the idea of titling it Orphans, with my focus on the idea that the characters in this book are all orphaned, by family, work, or society.

Massively self-absorbed Orphans love courtesy of the Adam Lawrence.

Wherein we are Orphans excerpt at the WordPlaySound, in fine company, and most endlessly appreciative for that.

Quite endlessly WordPlaySound we are. And yes, in quite fine company we are as well.

Wherein we are Orphans "Blue Legs" excerpt at the Monkeybicycle and most endlessly appreciative for that.

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


"I am staring into the bathroom mirror and I am steadying myself. The fluorescent lights strung overhead are glaring and eerie: exposing every pit mark, chicken pox scar and bump on my cheeks, forehead and neck.Random cobwebs blow to and fro on the ceiling above, dancing on an unidentified breeze. I start to gear up, now bouncing on the balls of my feet, now throwing punches, now repeating my new mantra.“Always be closing.”I watch the words form on my lips. Spittle flies. My face contorts. I can say it louder than that. It doesn’t matter if I’m only saying it in my own head. I can be more amped. I can be more impassioned. I can be more convincing. It is my mantra and I need to sell it.“Always be closing!”

This Podcast Will Change Your Life, Episode Seventy-One - Hot Blooded, starring the Davis Schneiderman.

Very hot and quited blooded we are. We are also [SIC], Foreigner, Hells Bells, and Proust. So do hit it, now, nice, it just might change your life.

Franki Elliot. Typewriter Stories.

Bates Identity Theory Tomorrowland.

So Identity. So hit it. It just might change your life. Excerpt? Word.

In what way do you think literature has the ability to change the way people live their lives?

I’m not convinced that it does, though I’d like to believe. I get hopeful when studies come out showing how fiction lights up the parts of the brain associated with empathy—one study was in the news just in the last few days—and of course that relationship between text and reader is what sets fiction apart from more passively-enjoyed arts like film. In fiction you’re able to share a consciousness with someone else for a time…but does that really make for a more empathetic person? Even if readers have a greater ability to understand and connect with others’ points of view, I’m still not sure they have any greater inclination to do so in real life. If anything, fiction maybe allows for the opposite revelation—when you read a novel or story, from your part of the world or from another, from today or a century ago, and suddenly you realize, Someone out there knows what it’s like to be me. There’s not just a wonderful surprise but a relief in that. I don’t know if that changes the way you live your life, but at least it reassures you that you’re not as alone as you thought.

Bradley NAILED The Waiting Tide Word.

So NAILED it is and all blog tour and such. So hit it. It just might change your life. Excerpt? Word.

NAILED: When was the last time you NAILED it?

BRADLEY: Well, we have been talking about sex and desire, so why not go there, huh? Like 36 hours ago. Oh, wait did you mean writing-wise? Well, I just turned in a manuscript to a publisher, so that was sweet.

Pawelek. Lorig. Berg. Tanzer. A Simply Glorious and Ultimately Nerdy Reading. November 8th. Moon Palace Books. Yes.

So totally glorious and nerdy. And there is more information here. Much, much more. So do hit it. It just might change your life.