Heidi Ruby Miller's Blog, page 52
April 13, 2012
HEIDI'S PICK SIX: Paul A. Toth (RDSP)
HEIDI'S PICK SIX
For the next two weeks I'll be featuring authors from the cutting edge Raw Dog Screaming Press ! Founded in August 2003, RDSP books are entertaining and thought-provoking and span the gamut from surreal and absurd to horror, sci-fi and fantasy.
Paul A. Toth
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
Ray Pulaski from my first novel, Fizz, a true Everyman, only in self-animated form. Second to Ray would have to be Airplane Novel's narrator, the South Tower of the WTC. I almost feel we're friends.
2. Tell me about your travels.
I'm from Michigan. My first move should have been my last, to the overly-popular-to-bash Los Angeles. From there, one mistake led me to Washington, D.C., another to Denver, and the most recent to Florida. I'm trying to escape Florida like a jailed Houdini. The west is the best.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
4. What else can you do besides write?
5. Who are you reading right now?
I like to keep one novel and one nonfiction selection at a time as my pace, but that never lasts long. So at the moment, I'm variously reading Black Money by Ross MacDonald, Celan & Heidegger: An Unresolved Conversation by James K. Lyon, Exercises in Style by Raymond Queneau, and Conquest of the Useless by Werner Herzog. I'm really enjoying MacDonald's novel; I haven't read a page-turner in years.
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
That would have to be the climax, literal and otherwise, of Airplane Novel, i.e., the collision of the plane with the South Tower.
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
Until now, I've conducted research and prepared extensive notes for months before beginning to write, but I never used outlines. I felt that if I didn't know where things were going, the reader couldn't guess. But my next novel will depart from that path. This time, I plan a detailed outline and up to a 50,000 word treatment before writing the first page. There's no way to top Airplane Novel other than to head the opposite direction, so next time the emphasis will rest on pure storytelling. That's why I'm reading the MacDonald novel. But don't think I'm next writing a crime, mystery or even science-fiction novel, because only one guess would be right.
13. Celebrity crush.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Paul A. Toth lives in Florida and, aside from his work as a novelist, writes short stories and poetry, a well as the occasional nonfiction piece. His short fiction and multimedia work have been widely published, with credits including The Barcelona Review, Mississippi Review Online, Iowa Review, and many others.
DESCRIPTION FOR
Airplane Novel
I am the South Tower. This is my story.
You must use extraordinary measures to tell an extraordinary story. This book might be a novel and it might not be a novel. The characters might be real and they might be fictions. Many of the events described happened or they did not.
Rules will be broken.
Our narrator is not a person. It is a building; the South Tower of the World Trade Center, whose height and thousands of windows provide the first truly-panoramic view of 9/11. Sometimes the only way to learn the truth is through fiction.
Comic and tragic, wailing and railing, fantastic and hyper-realistic, Airplane Novel portrays the South Tower to be "more human than human" and the perfect spectator of its own spectacle.
- http://www.amazon.com/Airplane-Novel-Paul-Toth/dp/1935738143
DESCRIPTION FOR
Finale
When Jonathan Thomas receives a threatening letter apparently sent by an ex-girlfriend, he pursues the sender but finds himself unraveling another mystery he would have better left unsolved. Finale tells the story of this wanderer's journey to a faultline deep within himself.
The chapters descend from eight to zero as Jonathan travels from his most recent lover to first, finally reaching zero when he leaps into the fissure that divides him. Between lovers, internal "earthquake" chapters rise in magnitude from 1.0 to 8.0.
The lovers include: Mary Whitcomb, a Zelda Fitzgerald double now selling endangered turtle eggs; Azal, who forces Jonathan to visit her father's grave wearing the dead man's clothes; Kerrie, ex-speedfreak and comic book junky; Marnie, a future soccer mom whose seductive and very white mother has deemed herself an honorary African; Chartrise, a psychic waiting with bad tidings; Caitlin, on the way to nunhood; and Holly, who invites Jonathan and the other lovers to his "funeral." Will the funeral startle Jonathan out of self-deception, or lead to knowledge he never should have gained?
- http://www.amazon.com/Finale-Paul-Toth/dp/1933293853
Find Raw Dog Screaming Press online at these links:
LIVEJOURNAL - http://raw-dog.livejournal.com/profile
WEBSITE - http://www.rawdogscreaming.com
- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Raw-Dog-Screaming-Press/141926985837593
- https://twitter.com/RDSPress
For the next two weeks I'll be featuring authors from the cutting edge Raw Dog Screaming Press ! Founded in August 2003, RDSP books are entertaining and thought-provoking and span the gamut from surreal and absurd to horror, sci-fi and fantasy.
Paul A. Toth
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
Ray Pulaski from my first novel, Fizz, a true Everyman, only in self-animated form. Second to Ray would have to be Airplane Novel's narrator, the South Tower of the WTC. I almost feel we're friends.
2. Tell me about your travels.
I'm from Michigan. My first move should have been my last, to the overly-popular-to-bash Los Angeles. From there, one mistake led me to Washington, D.C., another to Denver, and the most recent to Florida. I'm trying to escape Florida like a jailed Houdini. The west is the best.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
4. What else can you do besides write?
5. Who are you reading right now?
I like to keep one novel and one nonfiction selection at a time as my pace, but that never lasts long. So at the moment, I'm variously reading Black Money by Ross MacDonald, Celan & Heidegger: An Unresolved Conversation by James K. Lyon, Exercises in Style by Raymond Queneau, and Conquest of the Useless by Werner Herzog. I'm really enjoying MacDonald's novel; I haven't read a page-turner in years.
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
That would have to be the climax, literal and otherwise, of Airplane Novel, i.e., the collision of the plane with the South Tower.
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
Until now, I've conducted research and prepared extensive notes for months before beginning to write, but I never used outlines. I felt that if I didn't know where things were going, the reader couldn't guess. But my next novel will depart from that path. This time, I plan a detailed outline and up to a 50,000 word treatment before writing the first page. There's no way to top Airplane Novel other than to head the opposite direction, so next time the emphasis will rest on pure storytelling. That's why I'm reading the MacDonald novel. But don't think I'm next writing a crime, mystery or even science-fiction novel, because only one guess would be right.
13. Celebrity crush.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Paul A. Toth lives in Florida and, aside from his work as a novelist, writes short stories and poetry, a well as the occasional nonfiction piece. His short fiction and multimedia work have been widely published, with credits including The Barcelona Review, Mississippi Review Online, Iowa Review, and many others.
DESCRIPTION FOR
Airplane Novel
I am the South Tower. This is my story.
You must use extraordinary measures to tell an extraordinary story. This book might be a novel and it might not be a novel. The characters might be real and they might be fictions. Many of the events described happened or they did not.
Rules will be broken.
Our narrator is not a person. It is a building; the South Tower of the World Trade Center, whose height and thousands of windows provide the first truly-panoramic view of 9/11. Sometimes the only way to learn the truth is through fiction.
Comic and tragic, wailing and railing, fantastic and hyper-realistic, Airplane Novel portrays the South Tower to be "more human than human" and the perfect spectator of its own spectacle.
- http://www.amazon.com/Airplane-Novel-Paul-Toth/dp/1935738143
DESCRIPTION FOR
Finale
When Jonathan Thomas receives a threatening letter apparently sent by an ex-girlfriend, he pursues the sender but finds himself unraveling another mystery he would have better left unsolved. Finale tells the story of this wanderer's journey to a faultline deep within himself.
The chapters descend from eight to zero as Jonathan travels from his most recent lover to first, finally reaching zero when he leaps into the fissure that divides him. Between lovers, internal "earthquake" chapters rise in magnitude from 1.0 to 8.0.
The lovers include: Mary Whitcomb, a Zelda Fitzgerald double now selling endangered turtle eggs; Azal, who forces Jonathan to visit her father's grave wearing the dead man's clothes; Kerrie, ex-speedfreak and comic book junky; Marnie, a future soccer mom whose seductive and very white mother has deemed herself an honorary African; Chartrise, a psychic waiting with bad tidings; Caitlin, on the way to nunhood; and Holly, who invites Jonathan and the other lovers to his "funeral." Will the funeral startle Jonathan out of self-deception, or lead to knowledge he never should have gained?
- http://www.amazon.com/Finale-Paul-Toth/dp/1933293853
Find Raw Dog Screaming Press online at these links:
LIVEJOURNAL - http://raw-dog.livejournal.com/profile
WEBSITE - http://www.rawdogscreaming.com
- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Raw-Dog-Screaming-Press/141926985837593
- https://twitter.com/RDSPress
April 12, 2012
HEIDI'S PICK SIX: Michael Gills (RDSP)
HEIDI'S PICK SIX
For the next two weeks I'll be featuring authors from the cutting edge Raw Dog Screaming Press ! Founded in August 2003, RDSP books are entertaining and thought-provoking and span the gamut from surreal and absurd to horror, sci-fi and fantasy.
Michael Gills
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
2. Tell me about your travels.
November, the Go Love tour crossed the Mississippi into Carolina, cruised the Outer Banks in a hard rain, down through Wilmington to Sunset Beach where I slept within a rock's throw of the breakers, through all of South Carolina in pitch dark (the best way), hit the Georgia Pig outside Brunswick for killer barbecue, then west toward Dothan, Alabama where the earth's premier peanut-fest went down in full splendor, south to Ocala where the author of Purple Jesus introduced me, then scenic 75 to A1A up to St. Augustine, where I made offering and prayer to Nuestra Señora de la Leche y Bien Parto, sweet lady.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
4. What else can you do besides write?
Say, "I'll shit on you from the highest tree" in Russian; trap and cook rabbit ten ways; raise chickens; eggs any way you like'em; dress road-kill venison into chili; site the four visible moons of Jupiter with the 3X9 scope of a .30-ought six; finish concrete; compose bouillabaisse or curry–what's in between; row whitewater; set, bait and run trotlines; spring and summer garden; run hurdles; shovel; sing Lakota.
5. Who are you reading now?
Lao Tzu, 28 years--about to get it.
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
9. Food you could eat every day.
Mexican + Fish = Fish Taco.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
12. Do you outline...?
Like I said, I trotline.
13. Celebrity Crush.
No.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Michael Gills' first collection of short fiction, Why I Lie, was published by U. of Nevada Press/2002. It won a Utah Book Prize, was a finalist for the Arkansas' Porter Prize and was chosen as a top literary debut by The Southern Review. A second collection, The Death of Bonnie and Clyde, will be out from Texas Review Press in October 2011, the title story of which won Southern Humanities Review's Hoepfner Prize for the best story published there in 2010. A third collection of stories, Eternally Yours, is currently on the market. Gills has published more than forty short stories, received 25 Pushcart nominations, and held the Randall Jarrell Fellowship at the University of North Carolina. He holds additional degrees from the University of Arkansas and the University of Utah where he earned the Ph.D. His fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in New Madrid, Boulevard, The Texas Review and elsewhere. A Utah Established Artist grant recipient, Gills is currently Associate Professor/Lecturer of writing and core faculty for the Honors College at the University of Utah. Go Love is his first novel.
DESCRIPTION FOR
Go Love
(novel)
Josephine Stepwell Harvell is certainly not lucky in love; from Buddy Washer, the Arizona mistake, who got her pregnant and then got arrested trying to smuggle weed in the belly of a Santa Claus suit, to O.W., a truck driving brawler who pawns everything including her sewing machine to cover bets, Josephine knows that love isn't easy. Go Love's muddy relationships finally twist together amidst the weirdness of a southern funeral in Lonoke, Arkansas, a place where housewives string cottonmouth water moccasins from tree limbs to tease out rain, or to make a man impotent for cheating. Anything at all's possible in such a place. Just as the African women shout out during the funeral, go love is the command the novel's inhabitants must finally live by, even when life offers up a truckload of reasons to do the contrary. Even if it kills us—go love.
- http://www.amazon.com/Go-Love-Michael-Gills/dp/193573816X
DESCRIPTION FOR "The Death of Bonnie and Clyde" and Other Stories
"The Death of Bonnie and Clyde" and Other Stories follows the trail of its wayward characters down the Delta back roads, crossing paths with Hernando DeSoto--hands bloodied by the indian slaughters--hitchhikers and thieves, UFO's, concrete finishers, naked fishermen, a lusty cheer squad caught and confessing in the midst of a killer tornado, and trash telescope salesmen on the day after Christmas–all saintly guardians of the human heart. From the Florida Coast up through the Carolinas and over to Arkansas' Ozarks, Bonnie and Clyde blazes a trail of love and deceit, hard liquor and the revelation of what it's like to be free and wild and in love on this earth.
- http://www.amazon.com/Death-Bonnie-Clyde-Other-Stories/dp/1933896701
DESCRIPTION FOR
Why I Lie
(story collection)
Why I Lie tells the painful and hilarious story of a down home Arkansas boy's efforts to make good. Jack Smith, the protagonist of this story cycle, is an unwilling ne'er-do-well, from "people who ate roadkill, whose hearts got broken early on and stayed that way," for whom "being poor was a way of thinking, a mindset you couldn't outrun with a suitcase full of money." The ten stories in this powerful collection trace Jack's ongoing attempts to outrun the violence and tragedy of his past and create a viable life-despite a native state that often traps its rural poor.
The road to Jack's future self is as convoluted as a Delta bayou and as colorful as an Ozarks' autumn. He inhabits an uneasy world where memories of the integration of Central High in Little Rock are still raw, and blacks and whites regard one another with suspicion and bitterness; where family ties bind tightly, no matter how difficult to love one's family may be; where freshly fried fish and hushpuppies and sliced tomatoes, washed down with ice-cold beer, constitute one of life's greatest pleasures; and where fate is never generous to the poor. Rich in insight into the human condition and fraught with the shimmering power of Gills' unique voice and perception, these ten linked stories reveal Jack's capacity for sympathy and his capacity-all of ours-to go crooked.
Gills has sipped at the fountain of magical realism, and one can see in his stories the influence of those southern masters from Faulkner through Fred Chappell and Lewis Nordan. But the Arkansas folk he depicts are his own, as is the hard-scrabble, chaotic world they inhabit. Gills is a talent to be watched, and these engaging stories will delight and move their readers.
- http://www.amazon.com/Why-Lie-Stories-Western-Literature/dp/0874175143
Find Raw Dog Screaming Press online at these links:
LIVEJOURNAL - http://raw-dog.livejournal.com/profile
WEBSITE - http://www.rawdogscreaming.com
- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Raw-Dog-Screaming-Press/141926985837593
- https://twitter.com/RDSPress
For the next two weeks I'll be featuring authors from the cutting edge Raw Dog Screaming Press ! Founded in August 2003, RDSP books are entertaining and thought-provoking and span the gamut from surreal and absurd to horror, sci-fi and fantasy.
Michael Gills
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
2. Tell me about your travels.
November, the Go Love tour crossed the Mississippi into Carolina, cruised the Outer Banks in a hard rain, down through Wilmington to Sunset Beach where I slept within a rock's throw of the breakers, through all of South Carolina in pitch dark (the best way), hit the Georgia Pig outside Brunswick for killer barbecue, then west toward Dothan, Alabama where the earth's premier peanut-fest went down in full splendor, south to Ocala where the author of Purple Jesus introduced me, then scenic 75 to A1A up to St. Augustine, where I made offering and prayer to Nuestra Señora de la Leche y Bien Parto, sweet lady.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
4. What else can you do besides write?
Say, "I'll shit on you from the highest tree" in Russian; trap and cook rabbit ten ways; raise chickens; eggs any way you like'em; dress road-kill venison into chili; site the four visible moons of Jupiter with the 3X9 scope of a .30-ought six; finish concrete; compose bouillabaisse or curry–what's in between; row whitewater; set, bait and run trotlines; spring and summer garden; run hurdles; shovel; sing Lakota.
5. Who are you reading now?
Lao Tzu, 28 years--about to get it.
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
9. Food you could eat every day.
Mexican + Fish = Fish Taco.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
12. Do you outline...?
Like I said, I trotline.
13. Celebrity Crush.
No.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Michael Gills' first collection of short fiction, Why I Lie, was published by U. of Nevada Press/2002. It won a Utah Book Prize, was a finalist for the Arkansas' Porter Prize and was chosen as a top literary debut by The Southern Review. A second collection, The Death of Bonnie and Clyde, will be out from Texas Review Press in October 2011, the title story of which won Southern Humanities Review's Hoepfner Prize for the best story published there in 2010. A third collection of stories, Eternally Yours, is currently on the market. Gills has published more than forty short stories, received 25 Pushcart nominations, and held the Randall Jarrell Fellowship at the University of North Carolina. He holds additional degrees from the University of Arkansas and the University of Utah where he earned the Ph.D. His fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in New Madrid, Boulevard, The Texas Review and elsewhere. A Utah Established Artist grant recipient, Gills is currently Associate Professor/Lecturer of writing and core faculty for the Honors College at the University of Utah. Go Love is his first novel.
DESCRIPTION FOR
Go Love
(novel)Josephine Stepwell Harvell is certainly not lucky in love; from Buddy Washer, the Arizona mistake, who got her pregnant and then got arrested trying to smuggle weed in the belly of a Santa Claus suit, to O.W., a truck driving brawler who pawns everything including her sewing machine to cover bets, Josephine knows that love isn't easy. Go Love's muddy relationships finally twist together amidst the weirdness of a southern funeral in Lonoke, Arkansas, a place where housewives string cottonmouth water moccasins from tree limbs to tease out rain, or to make a man impotent for cheating. Anything at all's possible in such a place. Just as the African women shout out during the funeral, go love is the command the novel's inhabitants must finally live by, even when life offers up a truckload of reasons to do the contrary. Even if it kills us—go love.
- http://www.amazon.com/Go-Love-Michael-Gills/dp/193573816X
DESCRIPTION FOR "The Death of Bonnie and Clyde" and Other Stories
"The Death of Bonnie and Clyde" and Other Stories follows the trail of its wayward characters down the Delta back roads, crossing paths with Hernando DeSoto--hands bloodied by the indian slaughters--hitchhikers and thieves, UFO's, concrete finishers, naked fishermen, a lusty cheer squad caught and confessing in the midst of a killer tornado, and trash telescope salesmen on the day after Christmas–all saintly guardians of the human heart. From the Florida Coast up through the Carolinas and over to Arkansas' Ozarks, Bonnie and Clyde blazes a trail of love and deceit, hard liquor and the revelation of what it's like to be free and wild and in love on this earth.
- http://www.amazon.com/Death-Bonnie-Clyde-Other-Stories/dp/1933896701
DESCRIPTION FOR
Why I Lie
(story collection)Why I Lie tells the painful and hilarious story of a down home Arkansas boy's efforts to make good. Jack Smith, the protagonist of this story cycle, is an unwilling ne'er-do-well, from "people who ate roadkill, whose hearts got broken early on and stayed that way," for whom "being poor was a way of thinking, a mindset you couldn't outrun with a suitcase full of money." The ten stories in this powerful collection trace Jack's ongoing attempts to outrun the violence and tragedy of his past and create a viable life-despite a native state that often traps its rural poor.
The road to Jack's future self is as convoluted as a Delta bayou and as colorful as an Ozarks' autumn. He inhabits an uneasy world where memories of the integration of Central High in Little Rock are still raw, and blacks and whites regard one another with suspicion and bitterness; where family ties bind tightly, no matter how difficult to love one's family may be; where freshly fried fish and hushpuppies and sliced tomatoes, washed down with ice-cold beer, constitute one of life's greatest pleasures; and where fate is never generous to the poor. Rich in insight into the human condition and fraught with the shimmering power of Gills' unique voice and perception, these ten linked stories reveal Jack's capacity for sympathy and his capacity-all of ours-to go crooked.
Gills has sipped at the fountain of magical realism, and one can see in his stories the influence of those southern masters from Faulkner through Fred Chappell and Lewis Nordan. But the Arkansas folk he depicts are his own, as is the hard-scrabble, chaotic world they inhabit. Gills is a talent to be watched, and these engaging stories will delight and move their readers.
- http://www.amazon.com/Why-Lie-Stories-Western-Literature/dp/0874175143
Find Raw Dog Screaming Press online at these links:
LIVEJOURNAL - http://raw-dog.livejournal.com/profile
WEBSITE - http://www.rawdogscreaming.com
- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Raw-Dog-Screaming-Press/141926985837593
- https://twitter.com/RDSPress
April 11, 2012
HEIDI'S PICK SIX: Mickey Z. (RDSP)
HEIDI'S PICK SIX
For the next two weeks I'll be featuring authors from the cutting edge Raw Dog Screaming Press ! Founded in August 2003, RDSP books are entertaining and thought-provoking and span the gamut from surreal and absurd to horror, sci-fi and fantasy.
Mickey Z.
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
Well, I'd really like to meet Janie in "CPR for Dummies" but the character to which I'm most attached would be Allie Romano from "Darker Shade of Green." Damn, when you consider how long ago the first version of him came to life, he's probably older than many people who read that book. However, I'm just starting a new novel called "The Girl With the Monkey Wrench Tattoo" and the lead - named Grace, as of now - just may end up being my: Favorite. Character. Ever.
2. Tell me about your travels.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
Organic coffee with coconut milk creamer? Yes, please. Green tea? Yes, please. Cow's milk? No thanks. It's for cows. The biochemical make-up of cow's milk is perfectly suited to turn a 65-pound newborn calf into a 400-pound cow in one year. Personally, I prefer beverages that don't require rape.
4. What else can you do besides write?
5. Who are you reading right now?
No more than two hours ago, I took out "The Bell Jar," by Sylvia Plath, from my local library.
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
I dunno...ecocide, perhaps?
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
One of the greatest joys I find in writing fiction is that - as opposed to all my non-fiction writing - my novels are chaos. They're all about thinking less and feeling more.
13. Celebrity crush.
#Anonymous from Occupy Wall Street.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Born and raised in Astoria, Queens where he currently lives with his wife Michele, Mickey Z . is probably the only person on the planet to have appeared in both a karate flick with Billy Blanks and an anti-war book with Noam Chomsky. Mickey Z. is the author of five nonfiction books, several of which have been translated into Italian: 50 American Revolutions You're Not Supposed to Know, The Seven Deadly Spins, A Gigantic Mistake, The Murdering of My Years, and Saving Private Power. His nonfiction, short fiction, and poetry have appeared regularly in a wide range of online and print publications and anthologies, including: New York Daily News, Veg News, Poets and Writers, Village Voice, Chess Life, Guerilla News Network, Black Belt, What Would Bill Hicks Say?, Tutto in Vendita, Underground, and many others. Mickey has also served as Senior Editor of Wide Angle (2002-04) and Editor-in-Chief of Curio (1996-98). Screenplays he has optioned include A Saint in the City, Second Option, and The Pride. He is the recipient of two writing grants from the Puffin Foundation (2003 and 2005) and a Fellowship in Non-fiction Literature from the New York Foundation for the Arts (1997).
Armed with only a high school diploma, Mickey Z. has spoken and lectured in venues ranging from Yale University and MIT to ABC No Rio and the Broadway Branch of the Queens Library. Newsday calls Mickey Z. a "professional iconoclast." Time Out New York says he's a "political provocateur." To historian Howard Zinn, he's "iconoclastic and bold." He was also known as the "underground poet" for hanging his words in the NYC subways. Mickey Z. maintains a popular blog, "Cool Observer," and can be found on the Web at http://www.mickeyz.net.
DESCRIPTION FOR
CPR for Dummies
Open to any page in CPR for Dummies and you just may read a line like this:
He's a priest; of course he hesitated when he realized he was about to hit someone with a crucifix.
OR
I needed to believe someone higher than the government was in charge of things so I went to church.
OR
"We are here to, like, honor your loins and everything," said Ruth.
The world is creeping towards destruction—no, not theoretically—it's really happening. In these last hours will humanity come together to correct their collective wrongs? Or will there be rampant beatings and kinky sex?
A group of strangers are brought together by synchronicity to answer the age-old question: you lookin' at me, punk? The answer entails the comeuppance of the rich, police brutality, aerobic instruction by the Messiah, sexual slavery, and mutating genes.
(Is this sounding good? I hope so. It's not easy writing these. I'm just a corporate monkey trying to snag your hard-earned dollars but don't let that get in the way of buying this book. Did I mention SEX yet?)
Author Mickey Z's experimental tour-de-force is a funny, challenging deconstruction of the concept of the "novel" as well as life in the United States of America.
- http://www.amazon.com/CPR-Dummies-Mickey-Z/dp/1933293519
DESCRIPTION FOR
A Darker Shade of Green
J.T. is a sensitive but privileged 12-year-old who's runaway to New York City. He soon comes under the guidance of Allie Romano, a homeless man who stays afloat by challenging people to chess and scamming book clubs for free books to sell. Allie quickly becomes a teacher and mentor for J.T. setting off a chain of events that just might explain how an American chess champion could wind up wanted by the FBI for "eco-terrorism." Told in a documentary style, this manifesto/expose weaves internet posts, diary entries, quotes and interviews to tell stories within stories. The reader, much like J.T., has a lot to learn. Award winning author Mickey Z. brings an unrelenting compassion to the troubles of our modern world, pointing us in one clear direction: It's time to embrace a darker shade of green.
- http://www.amazon.com/Darker-Shade-Green-Mickey-Z/dp/1935738100
Find Raw Dog Screaming Press online at these links:
LIVEJOURNAL - http://raw-dog.livejournal.com/profile
WEBSITE - http://www.rawdogscreaming.com
- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Raw-Dog-Screaming-Press/141926985837593
- https://twitter.com/RDSPress
For the next two weeks I'll be featuring authors from the cutting edge Raw Dog Screaming Press ! Founded in August 2003, RDSP books are entertaining and thought-provoking and span the gamut from surreal and absurd to horror, sci-fi and fantasy.
Mickey Z.
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
Well, I'd really like to meet Janie in "CPR for Dummies" but the character to which I'm most attached would be Allie Romano from "Darker Shade of Green." Damn, when you consider how long ago the first version of him came to life, he's probably older than many people who read that book. However, I'm just starting a new novel called "The Girl With the Monkey Wrench Tattoo" and the lead - named Grace, as of now - just may end up being my: Favorite. Character. Ever.
2. Tell me about your travels.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
Organic coffee with coconut milk creamer? Yes, please. Green tea? Yes, please. Cow's milk? No thanks. It's for cows. The biochemical make-up of cow's milk is perfectly suited to turn a 65-pound newborn calf into a 400-pound cow in one year. Personally, I prefer beverages that don't require rape.
4. What else can you do besides write?
5. Who are you reading right now?
No more than two hours ago, I took out "The Bell Jar," by Sylvia Plath, from my local library.
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
I dunno...ecocide, perhaps?
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
One of the greatest joys I find in writing fiction is that - as opposed to all my non-fiction writing - my novels are chaos. They're all about thinking less and feeling more.
13. Celebrity crush.
#Anonymous from Occupy Wall Street.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Born and raised in Astoria, Queens where he currently lives with his wife Michele, Mickey Z . is probably the only person on the planet to have appeared in both a karate flick with Billy Blanks and an anti-war book with Noam Chomsky. Mickey Z. is the author of five nonfiction books, several of which have been translated into Italian: 50 American Revolutions You're Not Supposed to Know, The Seven Deadly Spins, A Gigantic Mistake, The Murdering of My Years, and Saving Private Power. His nonfiction, short fiction, and poetry have appeared regularly in a wide range of online and print publications and anthologies, including: New York Daily News, Veg News, Poets and Writers, Village Voice, Chess Life, Guerilla News Network, Black Belt, What Would Bill Hicks Say?, Tutto in Vendita, Underground, and many others. Mickey has also served as Senior Editor of Wide Angle (2002-04) and Editor-in-Chief of Curio (1996-98). Screenplays he has optioned include A Saint in the City, Second Option, and The Pride. He is the recipient of two writing grants from the Puffin Foundation (2003 and 2005) and a Fellowship in Non-fiction Literature from the New York Foundation for the Arts (1997).
Armed with only a high school diploma, Mickey Z. has spoken and lectured in venues ranging from Yale University and MIT to ABC No Rio and the Broadway Branch of the Queens Library. Newsday calls Mickey Z. a "professional iconoclast." Time Out New York says he's a "political provocateur." To historian Howard Zinn, he's "iconoclastic and bold." He was also known as the "underground poet" for hanging his words in the NYC subways. Mickey Z. maintains a popular blog, "Cool Observer," and can be found on the Web at http://www.mickeyz.net.
DESCRIPTION FOR
CPR for Dummies
Open to any page in CPR for Dummies and you just may read a line like this:
He's a priest; of course he hesitated when he realized he was about to hit someone with a crucifix.
OR
I needed to believe someone higher than the government was in charge of things so I went to church.
OR
"We are here to, like, honor your loins and everything," said Ruth.
The world is creeping towards destruction—no, not theoretically—it's really happening. In these last hours will humanity come together to correct their collective wrongs? Or will there be rampant beatings and kinky sex?
A group of strangers are brought together by synchronicity to answer the age-old question: you lookin' at me, punk? The answer entails the comeuppance of the rich, police brutality, aerobic instruction by the Messiah, sexual slavery, and mutating genes.
(Is this sounding good? I hope so. It's not easy writing these. I'm just a corporate monkey trying to snag your hard-earned dollars but don't let that get in the way of buying this book. Did I mention SEX yet?)
Author Mickey Z's experimental tour-de-force is a funny, challenging deconstruction of the concept of the "novel" as well as life in the United States of America.
- http://www.amazon.com/CPR-Dummies-Mickey-Z/dp/1933293519
DESCRIPTION FOR
A Darker Shade of Green
J.T. is a sensitive but privileged 12-year-old who's runaway to New York City. He soon comes under the guidance of Allie Romano, a homeless man who stays afloat by challenging people to chess and scamming book clubs for free books to sell. Allie quickly becomes a teacher and mentor for J.T. setting off a chain of events that just might explain how an American chess champion could wind up wanted by the FBI for "eco-terrorism." Told in a documentary style, this manifesto/expose weaves internet posts, diary entries, quotes and interviews to tell stories within stories. The reader, much like J.T., has a lot to learn. Award winning author Mickey Z. brings an unrelenting compassion to the troubles of our modern world, pointing us in one clear direction: It's time to embrace a darker shade of green.
- http://www.amazon.com/Darker-Shade-Green-Mickey-Z/dp/1935738100
Find Raw Dog Screaming Press online at these links:
LIVEJOURNAL - http://raw-dog.livejournal.com/profile
WEBSITE - http://www.rawdogscreaming.com
- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Raw-Dog-Screaming-Press/141926985837593
- https://twitter.com/RDSPress
April 10, 2012
HEIDI'S PICK SIX: Larry Fondation (RDSP)
For the next two weeks I'll be featuring authors from the cutting edge
Raw Dog Screaming Press
! Founded in August 2003, RDSP books are entertaining and thought-provoking and span the gamut from surreal and absurd to horror, sci-fi and fantasy.
Larry Fondation
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
My own favorite character is Fish Deebak one of the three leads in my novel, Fish, Soap and Bonds. He lives on Skid Row, but he is always looking for an adventure. He is my homeless Don Quixote.
2. Tell me about your travels.
I enjoy travel very much. I have a lot of "favorite " cities, but two places that have really made a mark on me are Barcelona and Seoul.
Barcelona really moves me. The history of the city and within the city -- both medieval and more recent -- is remarkable. The mix of cultures. The birth of modernity in the Late Middle Ages, the Spanish Revolution, the artists -- Picasso, Miro, Tapies, the wanderings of Jean Genet in El Raval. Struggles for both political freedom and freedom of expression.
I hadn't planned a trip to Seoul, but one of our daughters moved there. So we went, and it was absolutely fascinating. We had thanksgiving dinner 2010 at an Italian restaurant atop Namsan Mountain in central Seoul. The North Koreans bombed the South's Yeonpyeong Island while we were there. It's only about 50 miles away. The South Koreans reacted with incredible stoicism and calm. They are a people who have had to fight to gain and re-gain their independence over and over. And, it shows. At the same time there is this incredible beauty and grace. We'd planned a trip to the DMZ. I still wanted to go, but the officials canceled. But, just a great city: The museums, the nightlife, the whole shebang -- underrated as a place to go, truly.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
Neither coffee, nor tea, nor milk. Diet Coke.
4. What else can you do besides write?
5. Who are you reading right now?
I'm now reading "Say It Hot," a book of criticism by Eric Miles Williamson, "there's Nothing I Can Do When I Think of You Late at Night," a collection of linked stories by Cao Naiqian, and "The Marbled Swarm" by Dennis Cooper.
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
I do not outline. I'd even like to try, but it just doesn't work that way for me. The story -- as you say -- takes me along for the ride. But, really, I love it that way. It makes the writing process itself exciting.
Flannery O'Connor once said that first she wrote one sentence, then another, and then another. "Good Country People" is one of her most famous stories. The dénouement occurs when a visiting Bible salesman steals the prosthetic leg of the protagonist, who had dreamed of seducing him. At a question and answer session at the University of Georgia, a student asked her when she knew the salesman would steal the leg. "When he stole it," she said. Her book, "mystery and Manners," is one of only two or three books on writing that are worth the cover price.
The best writing comes from the gut.
13. Celebrity crush.
A bit trite, perhaps .... But, Noomi Rapace.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Larry Fondation is the author of the novels Angry Nights and Fish, Soap and Bonds, and of Common Criminals, a collection of short stories. His fiction focuses on the Los Angeles underbelly. His two most recent books feature collaborations with artist Kate Ruth.
Fondation has lived in LA since the 1980s and worked for fifteen years as an organizer in South Central Los Angeles, Compton, and East LA. His fiction and non-fiction has appeared in a range of diverse publications including Flaunt (where he is Special Correspondent), Fiction International, Quarterly West, the Los Angeles Times and the Harvard Business Review. He is a recipient of a 2008-09 Christopher Isherwood Fellowship in Fiction Writing
DESCRIPTION FOR Fish, Soap and Bonds
Fish, Soap and Bonds follows the movements of three homeless people on the unforgiving streets of Los Angeles. Through their eyes we experience both the depths and heights of humanity: hate and discrimination, sacrifice and redemption. This is the third in Fondation's series of "LA Stories."
- http://www.amazon.com/Fish-Soap-Bonds-Larry-Fondation/dp/1933293373
DESCRIPTION FOR Unintended Consequences
Unintended Consequences is the 4th installment in Fondation's "L.A. Stories" series. This new collection reveals with precision the way life can tangle good intentions and trip up even the most sure-footed pedestrians. These are compact city fables delivering an anti-moral, a humbling reminder to judge not. The book includes over 40 illustration by artist Kate Ruth.
- http://www.amazon.com/Unintended-Consequences-Larry-Fondation/dp/1933293756
Find Raw Dog Screaming Press online at these links:
LIVEJOURNAL - http://raw-dog.livejournal.com/profile
WEBSITE - http://www.rawdogscreaming.com
- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Raw-Dog-Screaming-Press/141926985837593
- https://twitter.com/RDSPress
Larry Fondation
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
My own favorite character is Fish Deebak one of the three leads in my novel, Fish, Soap and Bonds. He lives on Skid Row, but he is always looking for an adventure. He is my homeless Don Quixote.
2. Tell me about your travels.
I enjoy travel very much. I have a lot of "favorite " cities, but two places that have really made a mark on me are Barcelona and Seoul.
Barcelona really moves me. The history of the city and within the city -- both medieval and more recent -- is remarkable. The mix of cultures. The birth of modernity in the Late Middle Ages, the Spanish Revolution, the artists -- Picasso, Miro, Tapies, the wanderings of Jean Genet in El Raval. Struggles for both political freedom and freedom of expression.
I hadn't planned a trip to Seoul, but one of our daughters moved there. So we went, and it was absolutely fascinating. We had thanksgiving dinner 2010 at an Italian restaurant atop Namsan Mountain in central Seoul. The North Koreans bombed the South's Yeonpyeong Island while we were there. It's only about 50 miles away. The South Koreans reacted with incredible stoicism and calm. They are a people who have had to fight to gain and re-gain their independence over and over. And, it shows. At the same time there is this incredible beauty and grace. We'd planned a trip to the DMZ. I still wanted to go, but the officials canceled. But, just a great city: The museums, the nightlife, the whole shebang -- underrated as a place to go, truly.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
Neither coffee, nor tea, nor milk. Diet Coke.
4. What else can you do besides write?
5. Who are you reading right now?
I'm now reading "Say It Hot," a book of criticism by Eric Miles Williamson, "there's Nothing I Can Do When I Think of You Late at Night," a collection of linked stories by Cao Naiqian, and "The Marbled Swarm" by Dennis Cooper.
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
I do not outline. I'd even like to try, but it just doesn't work that way for me. The story -- as you say -- takes me along for the ride. But, really, I love it that way. It makes the writing process itself exciting.
Flannery O'Connor once said that first she wrote one sentence, then another, and then another. "Good Country People" is one of her most famous stories. The dénouement occurs when a visiting Bible salesman steals the prosthetic leg of the protagonist, who had dreamed of seducing him. At a question and answer session at the University of Georgia, a student asked her when she knew the salesman would steal the leg. "When he stole it," she said. Her book, "mystery and Manners," is one of only two or three books on writing that are worth the cover price.
The best writing comes from the gut.
13. Celebrity crush.
A bit trite, perhaps .... But, Noomi Rapace.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Larry Fondation is the author of the novels Angry Nights and Fish, Soap and Bonds, and of Common Criminals, a collection of short stories. His fiction focuses on the Los Angeles underbelly. His two most recent books feature collaborations with artist Kate Ruth.
Fondation has lived in LA since the 1980s and worked for fifteen years as an organizer in South Central Los Angeles, Compton, and East LA. His fiction and non-fiction has appeared in a range of diverse publications including Flaunt (where he is Special Correspondent), Fiction International, Quarterly West, the Los Angeles Times and the Harvard Business Review. He is a recipient of a 2008-09 Christopher Isherwood Fellowship in Fiction Writing
DESCRIPTION FOR Fish, Soap and Bonds
Fish, Soap and Bonds follows the movements of three homeless people on the unforgiving streets of Los Angeles. Through their eyes we experience both the depths and heights of humanity: hate and discrimination, sacrifice and redemption. This is the third in Fondation's series of "LA Stories."
- http://www.amazon.com/Fish-Soap-Bonds-Larry-Fondation/dp/1933293373
DESCRIPTION FOR Unintended Consequences
Unintended Consequences is the 4th installment in Fondation's "L.A. Stories" series. This new collection reveals with precision the way life can tangle good intentions and trip up even the most sure-footed pedestrians. These are compact city fables delivering an anti-moral, a humbling reminder to judge not. The book includes over 40 illustration by artist Kate Ruth.
- http://www.amazon.com/Unintended-Consequences-Larry-Fondation/dp/1933293756
Find Raw Dog Screaming Press online at these links:
LIVEJOURNAL - http://raw-dog.livejournal.com/profile
WEBSITE - http://www.rawdogscreaming.com
- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Raw-Dog-Screaming-Press/141926985837593
- https://twitter.com/RDSPress
April 9, 2012
HEIDI'S PICK SIX: George Williams (RDSP)
HEIDI'S PICK SIX
For the next two weeks I'll be featuring authors from the cutting edge Raw Dog Screaming Press ! Founded in August 2003, RDSP books are entertaining and thought-provoking and span the gamut from surreal and absurd to horror, sci-fi and fantasy.
George Williams
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
2. Tell me about your travels.
I am a mental traveler in every sense of the phrase, but in the last two years I've had the opportunity to teach in Provence and visit Paris, so I have been bitten by the wandering bug. In Poe, a wanderer is a lunatic.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
4. What else can you do besides write?
Blow wine through my nose trying not to laugh when my daughter on her 23rd birthday says she feels old.
5. Who are you reading right now?
Rereading Duras' The Lover for a Corra Films project, Robb Graham's The Discovery of France for a novel, Life on the Mississippi for pleasure, and Jerusalem: The Biography for horror. The Prologue alone is worth the price.
6. Pop culture or academia?
Both. But not, if by academia you mean the catastrophe of the last thirty years visited upon English Departments in the name of critical theory, which is neither critical, nor theory.
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
People, phrases, maps, books, coincidence. Laurie Anderson said, "Everything is here already." You have to find it, or be patient enough for the time when you can see whatever you need. Graham Greene said something to the effect that when you are writing a novel, what you need will find you because your mind, consciously or unconsciously, has prepared for its arrival.
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities? 11. What kind of music speaks to you?
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
Better not to know. I don't outline, but I'd hazard those who do leave plenty of room for the unexpected. In her twenties, Flannery O'Connor thought she was retarded because she started with a blank page and line to line, paragraph to paragraph, waited for a character to make a gesture that would show the way. She thought writers sat down with stories in their minds already written and then typed them out. Perhaps unconsciously that's what happens, but nobody knows how or why a story happens or works. Neuroscientists are studying "creativity," but in their lectures I sense they will get nonplussed sooner than later, because that mystery may be beyond their means of understanding it, or they will believe and say things they can't prove. That parts of a brain in an MRI light up might tell us about how the brain was built up over eons and epochs, and what damaged parts effect what cognitive and motor functions, but it's also (an analogy not original with me) like someone pressing a palm to a laptop and by feeling a warm spot saying with certainty what program is running. The disturbing trend in cognitive science: it's in a hurry to get into our legal system. It says it isn't ready yet. Not nearly. But claims it one day will be. Pop cognitive science is becoming scientism. Does anyone remember the promises of Artificial Intelligence? Regarding outlines or not, I recommend Barthelme's essay/story, "Not Knowing."
13. Celebrity crush.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
George Williams was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee and grew up in Birmingham, Alabama and Richmond, Virginia. He is the author of Degenerate, a novel. His stories and essays have appeared in The Pushcart Prize, Boulevard, and The Hopkins Review, among others. He is the recipient of a Michener Fellowship and a grant from the Christopher Isherwood Foundation. He teaches at Savannah College of Art and Design and works as a consultant and writer for Corra Films.
DESCRIPTION FOR
Gardens of Earthly Delight
You really can't read Proust in Texarkana.
A modern alchemist falls prey to a magic darker than his own. The Antichrist's mother goes on the run in Spain. In his garage a physicist builds a tribute to his beloved. An old man and his mule tour the roadside wastelands of the Gulf of Mexico. Sixteen stories span the world from Texas to Paris by way of Damascus. Filtered through the lens of the strange and uncanny, everyday events take on a sinister aspect. These gardens are delightful, but a serpent lurks behind each blushing fruit, beckoning the reader into the shadows.
Ever seen a man crucified?
Gardens of Earthly Delight reaches beneath the surface of simple stories and casts them in an ominous, tragic-comic light. Heists, revenge, a trip to the casino, author George Williams takes all of them and makes them new, exotic and not a little bit disturbing.
- http://www.amazon.com/Gardens-Earthly-Delight-George-Williams/dp/1935738119/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327195549&sr=8-1
DESCRIPTION FOR
Degenerate
A two year old mystery. A missing daughter. A cross country road trip. Chris, an aerospace engineer, is on a mission. He abandons his life in Savannah and drives west. Along the way, first in New Orleans and then in Austin, he picks up passengers. Julia, a Czech woman fleeing a boyfriend and business partner, and JC, the daughter of a Baptist minister, who on a manic whim joins them and leaves her life in Austin behind. Displaced, in flight from their respective pasts, with Chris planning a revenge he may not have the nerve or the opportunity to exact, the three form shifting alliances and friendships as they drive across Texas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California. In Los Angeles, they rent a house in Venice Beach and explore the city—graveyards, art districts, the L.A. County Coroner's Office, Catalina Island, bars, boardwalks, promenades, tar pits, dances clubs, flight museums. On Christmas Eve in a Holmby Hills mansion, the story culminates in a confrontation with the man Chris believes to be partly responsible for the disappearance of his daughter.
Degenerate is a road trip novel out of Kerouac and Nabokov, a comedy of revenge and satire about Los Angeles that brings to mind Nathaniel West and a story of love and loss at turns lyrical, hilarious and heartbreaking.
- http://www.amazon.com/Degenerate-George-Williams/dp/1933896418/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1
Find Raw Dog Screaming Press online at these links:
LIVEJOURNAL - http://raw-dog.livejournal.com/profile
WEBSITE - http://www.rawdogscreaming.com
- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Raw-Dog-Screaming-Press/141926985837593
- https://twitter.com/RDSPress
For the next two weeks I'll be featuring authors from the cutting edge Raw Dog Screaming Press ! Founded in August 2003, RDSP books are entertaining and thought-provoking and span the gamut from surreal and absurd to horror, sci-fi and fantasy.
George Williams
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
2. Tell me about your travels.
I am a mental traveler in every sense of the phrase, but in the last two years I've had the opportunity to teach in Provence and visit Paris, so I have been bitten by the wandering bug. In Poe, a wanderer is a lunatic.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
4. What else can you do besides write?
Blow wine through my nose trying not to laugh when my daughter on her 23rd birthday says she feels old.
5. Who are you reading right now?
Rereading Duras' The Lover for a Corra Films project, Robb Graham's The Discovery of France for a novel, Life on the Mississippi for pleasure, and Jerusalem: The Biography for horror. The Prologue alone is worth the price.
6. Pop culture or academia?
Both. But not, if by academia you mean the catastrophe of the last thirty years visited upon English Departments in the name of critical theory, which is neither critical, nor theory.
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
People, phrases, maps, books, coincidence. Laurie Anderson said, "Everything is here already." You have to find it, or be patient enough for the time when you can see whatever you need. Graham Greene said something to the effect that when you are writing a novel, what you need will find you because your mind, consciously or unconsciously, has prepared for its arrival.
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities? 11. What kind of music speaks to you?
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
Better not to know. I don't outline, but I'd hazard those who do leave plenty of room for the unexpected. In her twenties, Flannery O'Connor thought she was retarded because she started with a blank page and line to line, paragraph to paragraph, waited for a character to make a gesture that would show the way. She thought writers sat down with stories in their minds already written and then typed them out. Perhaps unconsciously that's what happens, but nobody knows how or why a story happens or works. Neuroscientists are studying "creativity," but in their lectures I sense they will get nonplussed sooner than later, because that mystery may be beyond their means of understanding it, or they will believe and say things they can't prove. That parts of a brain in an MRI light up might tell us about how the brain was built up over eons and epochs, and what damaged parts effect what cognitive and motor functions, but it's also (an analogy not original with me) like someone pressing a palm to a laptop and by feeling a warm spot saying with certainty what program is running. The disturbing trend in cognitive science: it's in a hurry to get into our legal system. It says it isn't ready yet. Not nearly. But claims it one day will be. Pop cognitive science is becoming scientism. Does anyone remember the promises of Artificial Intelligence? Regarding outlines or not, I recommend Barthelme's essay/story, "Not Knowing."
13. Celebrity crush.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
George Williams was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee and grew up in Birmingham, Alabama and Richmond, Virginia. He is the author of Degenerate, a novel. His stories and essays have appeared in The Pushcart Prize, Boulevard, and The Hopkins Review, among others. He is the recipient of a Michener Fellowship and a grant from the Christopher Isherwood Foundation. He teaches at Savannah College of Art and Design and works as a consultant and writer for Corra Films.
DESCRIPTION FOR
Gardens of Earthly Delight
You really can't read Proust in Texarkana.
A modern alchemist falls prey to a magic darker than his own. The Antichrist's mother goes on the run in Spain. In his garage a physicist builds a tribute to his beloved. An old man and his mule tour the roadside wastelands of the Gulf of Mexico. Sixteen stories span the world from Texas to Paris by way of Damascus. Filtered through the lens of the strange and uncanny, everyday events take on a sinister aspect. These gardens are delightful, but a serpent lurks behind each blushing fruit, beckoning the reader into the shadows.
Ever seen a man crucified?
Gardens of Earthly Delight reaches beneath the surface of simple stories and casts them in an ominous, tragic-comic light. Heists, revenge, a trip to the casino, author George Williams takes all of them and makes them new, exotic and not a little bit disturbing.
- http://www.amazon.com/Gardens-Earthly-Delight-George-Williams/dp/1935738119/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327195549&sr=8-1
DESCRIPTION FOR
Degenerate
A two year old mystery. A missing daughter. A cross country road trip. Chris, an aerospace engineer, is on a mission. He abandons his life in Savannah and drives west. Along the way, first in New Orleans and then in Austin, he picks up passengers. Julia, a Czech woman fleeing a boyfriend and business partner, and JC, the daughter of a Baptist minister, who on a manic whim joins them and leaves her life in Austin behind. Displaced, in flight from their respective pasts, with Chris planning a revenge he may not have the nerve or the opportunity to exact, the three form shifting alliances and friendships as they drive across Texas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California. In Los Angeles, they rent a house in Venice Beach and explore the city—graveyards, art districts, the L.A. County Coroner's Office, Catalina Island, bars, boardwalks, promenades, tar pits, dances clubs, flight museums. On Christmas Eve in a Holmby Hills mansion, the story culminates in a confrontation with the man Chris believes to be partly responsible for the disappearance of his daughter.
Degenerate is a road trip novel out of Kerouac and Nabokov, a comedy of revenge and satire about Los Angeles that brings to mind Nathaniel West and a story of love and loss at turns lyrical, hilarious and heartbreaking.
- http://www.amazon.com/Degenerate-George-Williams/dp/1933896418/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1
Find Raw Dog Screaming Press online at these links:
LIVEJOURNAL - http://raw-dog.livejournal.com/profile
WEBSITE - http://www.rawdogscreaming.com
- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Raw-Dog-Screaming-Press/141926985837593
- https://twitter.com/RDSPress
March 30, 2012
HEIDI'S PICK SIX: Jolene Perry
HEIDI'S PICK SIX
Jolene Perry
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
2. Tell me about your travels.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
Milk. I know. I'm boring.
4. What else can you do besides write?
5. Who are you reading right now?
Since I usually finish a book in a day or two, I'll just give you the last book that blew my mind - The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin.
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
From EVERYWHERE. I have a harder time blocking inspiration than finding it. It's very distracting when I'm trying to finish a project and not start a new one.
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
9. Food you could eat everyday.
Potato chips and chocolate almonds...
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
All kinds. I could listen to classic rock and alternative all day, though. There's SO much good stuff out there!
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
I start with a VERY loose idea of where the story might go (it doesn't always go there) and then I just write the scenes that come to me, AS they come to me. I've never written a book in order, and I wouldn't have my writing process work any other way.
13. Celebrity crush.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Thanks so much for having me!
~ Jolene
Jolene Perry grew up in Wasilla, Alaska. She graduated from Southern Utah University with a degree in political science and French, which she used to teach math to middle schoolers.
After living in Washington, Utah and Las Vegas, she now resides in Alaska with her husband, and two children. Aside from writing, Jolene sews, plays the guitar, sings when forced, and spends as much time outside as possible.
She is also the author of The Next Door Boys and the upcoming Knee Deep.
Find Jolene online at these links:
WEBSITE - Jolene Perry - http://www.jolenebperry.com
WEBSITE - Night Sky - http://www.night-sky-book.com
WEBSITE - Tribute Books - http://www.tribute-books.com
- Jolene Perry - http://www.jolenesbeenwriting.blogspot.com
- Jolene Perry - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002038196677
- Tribute Books Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Archbald-PA/Tribute-Books/171628704176
- Tribute Books Blog Tours Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tribute-Books-Blog-Tours/242431245775186
- Jolene Perry's GoodReads - http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4944599.Jolene_B_Perry
- Night Sky GoodReads - http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12588673-night-sky
- Night Sky Twitter hashtag: #NightSky
- Jolene Perry - https://twitter.com/JoleneBPerry
- Tribute Books - http://www.twitter.com/TributeBooks
SUMMARY FOR Night Sky
After losing Sarah, the friend he's loved, to some other guy, Jameson meets Sky. Her Native American roots, fluid movements, and need for brutal honesty become addictive fast. This is good. Jameson needs distraction – his dad leaves for another woman, his mom's walking around like a zombie, and Sarah's new boyfriend can't keep his hands off of her.
As he spends time with Sky and learns about her village, her totems, and her friends with drums - she's way more than distraction. Jameson's falling for her fast.
But Sky's need for honesty somehow doesn't extend to her life story – and Jameson just may need more than his new girl to keep him distracted from the disaster of his senior year.
eBook
ISBN: 9780983741862
ISBN: 9781466052338
Pages: 247
Release: March 1, 2012
Buy Night Sky at these links:
- http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007C5TMLE/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=tributebooks-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B007C5TMLE
- http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=dcSBhG3Rj8w&subid=&offerid=239662.1&type=10&tmpid=8433&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.barnesandnoble.com%252Fw%252Fnight-sky-jolene-perry%252F1109102038
- https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/135310?ref=tributebooks
PDF - https://www.payloadz.com/go/sip?id=1567843
Jolene Perry
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
2. Tell me about your travels.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
Milk. I know. I'm boring.
4. What else can you do besides write?
5. Who are you reading right now?
Since I usually finish a book in a day or two, I'll just give you the last book that blew my mind - The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin.
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
From EVERYWHERE. I have a harder time blocking inspiration than finding it. It's very distracting when I'm trying to finish a project and not start a new one.
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
9. Food you could eat everyday.
Potato chips and chocolate almonds...
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
All kinds. I could listen to classic rock and alternative all day, though. There's SO much good stuff out there!
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
I start with a VERY loose idea of where the story might go (it doesn't always go there) and then I just write the scenes that come to me, AS they come to me. I've never written a book in order, and I wouldn't have my writing process work any other way.
13. Celebrity crush.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Thanks so much for having me!
~ Jolene
Jolene Perry grew up in Wasilla, Alaska. She graduated from Southern Utah University with a degree in political science and French, which she used to teach math to middle schoolers.
After living in Washington, Utah and Las Vegas, she now resides in Alaska with her husband, and two children. Aside from writing, Jolene sews, plays the guitar, sings when forced, and spends as much time outside as possible.
She is also the author of The Next Door Boys and the upcoming Knee Deep.
Find Jolene online at these links:
WEBSITE - Jolene Perry - http://www.jolenebperry.com
WEBSITE - Night Sky - http://www.night-sky-book.com
WEBSITE - Tribute Books - http://www.tribute-books.com
- Jolene Perry - http://www.jolenesbeenwriting.blogspot.com
- Jolene Perry - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002038196677
- Tribute Books Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Archbald-PA/Tribute-Books/171628704176
- Tribute Books Blog Tours Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tribute-Books-Blog-Tours/242431245775186
- Jolene Perry's GoodReads - http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4944599.Jolene_B_Perry
- Night Sky GoodReads - http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12588673-night-sky
- Night Sky Twitter hashtag: #NightSky
- Jolene Perry - https://twitter.com/JoleneBPerry
- Tribute Books - http://www.twitter.com/TributeBooks
SUMMARY FOR Night Sky
After losing Sarah, the friend he's loved, to some other guy, Jameson meets Sky. Her Native American roots, fluid movements, and need for brutal honesty become addictive fast. This is good. Jameson needs distraction – his dad leaves for another woman, his mom's walking around like a zombie, and Sarah's new boyfriend can't keep his hands off of her.
As he spends time with Sky and learns about her village, her totems, and her friends with drums - she's way more than distraction. Jameson's falling for her fast.
But Sky's need for honesty somehow doesn't extend to her life story – and Jameson just may need more than his new girl to keep him distracted from the disaster of his senior year.
eBook
ISBN: 9780983741862
ISBN: 9781466052338
Pages: 247
Release: March 1, 2012
Buy Night Sky at these links:
- http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007C5TMLE/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=tributebooks-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B007C5TMLE
- http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=dcSBhG3Rj8w&subid=&offerid=239662.1&type=10&tmpid=8433&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.barnesandnoble.com%252Fw%252Fnight-sky-jolene-perry%252F1109102038
- https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/135310?ref=tributebooks
PDF - https://www.payloadz.com/go/sip?id=1567843
March 28, 2012
HEIDI'S PICK SIX: Ash Krafton
HEIDI'S PICK SIX
Ash Krafton
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
2. Tell me about your travels.
I am a domestic wanderer, a day-tripper, an in-state vagabond. I love travelling with my husband and two kids throughout eastern PA; Philly is our second hometown and we spend a lot of time there. We're drawn to science and technology centers as well as natural history museums. We also like historic sites like Colonial Williamsburg and Baltimore's Inner Harbor. The best part about travelling, however, is the food—my kids are definitely foodies at heart and they love eating their way across the state as much as I do. I just wish I had their metabolism.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
I am a hot tea snob and proud of it. Loose teas only, preferably a first-flush Darjeeling. Tea bags, be damned. I am a lot more forgiving with iced tea and even drink it out of cans. (I know, right? It's so street.)
4. What else can you do besides write?
5. Who are you reading right now?
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
A sex scene for a short story called "Kamikaze Blonde". I usually write sweet romance and all I kept thinking is "I hope my mom doesn't read this." Turns out, she later told me, she's read worse—and then proceeded to gross me out by telling me all about it. Hello, Mom, sounds like a sex talk and it's just as uncomfortable as the one you gave me twenty-five years ago.
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
I can't pin it down to one style, but all my favorites have one thing in common: emotion. I love intellectual Rush, moody Lacuna Coil, battle-raging Blind Guardian, wistful Nanci Griffith, depressing Type O Negative, and maniacal My Chemical Romance. If the music can strike an emotional chord within me, draw me in, submerge me in the experience, then I'll listen. Otherwise, it's just noise.
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
13. Celebrity crush?
Rather than risk being alienated by my husband by answering that, I'll pose a counter question: celebrity sleepover!
I have a circle of imaginary BFFs…Cameron Diaz, Alison Sweeney, Milla Jojovich, Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale, and Sarah Michelle Gellar. Recently I started hanging around with Mayim Bialik because she bumps up the hippie mom factor. We'd stay up all night doing Jello shots, playing the Wii, and crank calling my mother. My husband is still jealous but in a totally different way, now.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Heck, yeah. I have no choice, with two kids in the house (three if you count my husband). Anime in one room, Looney Tunes in another, and Family Guy when the kids finally go to bed. Animaniacs was the best—I still watch them on DVD. I'm proud to say I've watched The Simpsons from their early days on the Tracy Ullman show.
I collect comic books, too, in case you wondered. =)
Ash Krafton is a writer of all things spec fic. She believes spectacular endings make the best beginnings...
Why not? One billion black holes can't be wrong.
Her first novel BLEEDING HEARTS: Book One of the Demimonde was published in March 2012. The manuscript earned finalist distinction in several Romance Writers of America 2011 competitions and has been awarded several other awards.
In addition to novel-length fiction, Ash enjoys writing poetry and short prose, some of which earned big ups by CNW/FFWA in 2008 and 2011 as well as the Abilene Writers Guild in 2010. Ms. Krafton made her publishing debut in Spring 2009 when her poetry appeared in Poe Little Thing; her work has since appeared in several other journals including Niteblade, Ghostlight Magazine, The Skyline Review, and Silver Blade. One of her poems was selected as a Pushcart prize nominee. She's a Published Member of Pennwriters and is co-editor of her area's Wordpress blog. She also contributes to Query Tracker's blog.
Ash resides with her family in a rural town in the heart of the Pennsylvania anthracite coal region.
She'll never leave, either, because coal is just another example of a spectacular ending waiting for a brilliant beginning. (It's kinda fitting.) And because, like a black hole, once you're in...
you can never get out...
Find Ash online at these links:
WEBSITE - www.ashkrafton.com
- www.ash-krafton.blogspot.com
- www.facebook.com/AshKraftonAuthor
- www.goodreads.com/ash_krafton
- www.twitter.com/ashkrafton
DESCRIPTION FOR
Bleeding Hearts: Book One of the Demimonde
Saving the world one damned person at a time—a shy advice columnist-turned-oracle must find a way to save her dangerous demivampire lover from the fate that threatens each of his race: evolution and the destruction of his soul.
When advice columnist Sophie meets dark and alluring Marek, she learns life-changing secrets about them both—he's a demivampire struggling to avoid evolution and she's an empathic oracle destined to save him. Sophie possesses the rare ability to reduce the spiritual damage that causes a demivamp to Fall, making her the only thing that stands between a DV and evolution. However, as Marek's dangerous past propels him toward his desperate fate, his enemies make darker plans for him: once vampire, powerful Marek would be second only to the Master himself. The vamps want to cause Marek's Fall and they intend to use Sophie to do it....
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY REVIEW FOR BLEEDING HEARTS - http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-9829913-6-7
Ash Krafton
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
2. Tell me about your travels.
I am a domestic wanderer, a day-tripper, an in-state vagabond. I love travelling with my husband and two kids throughout eastern PA; Philly is our second hometown and we spend a lot of time there. We're drawn to science and technology centers as well as natural history museums. We also like historic sites like Colonial Williamsburg and Baltimore's Inner Harbor. The best part about travelling, however, is the food—my kids are definitely foodies at heart and they love eating their way across the state as much as I do. I just wish I had their metabolism.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
I am a hot tea snob and proud of it. Loose teas only, preferably a first-flush Darjeeling. Tea bags, be damned. I am a lot more forgiving with iced tea and even drink it out of cans. (I know, right? It's so street.)
4. What else can you do besides write?
5. Who are you reading right now?
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
A sex scene for a short story called "Kamikaze Blonde". I usually write sweet romance and all I kept thinking is "I hope my mom doesn't read this." Turns out, she later told me, she's read worse—and then proceeded to gross me out by telling me all about it. Hello, Mom, sounds like a sex talk and it's just as uncomfortable as the one you gave me twenty-five years ago.
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
I can't pin it down to one style, but all my favorites have one thing in common: emotion. I love intellectual Rush, moody Lacuna Coil, battle-raging Blind Guardian, wistful Nanci Griffith, depressing Type O Negative, and maniacal My Chemical Romance. If the music can strike an emotional chord within me, draw me in, submerge me in the experience, then I'll listen. Otherwise, it's just noise.
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
13. Celebrity crush?
Rather than risk being alienated by my husband by answering that, I'll pose a counter question: celebrity sleepover!
I have a circle of imaginary BFFs…Cameron Diaz, Alison Sweeney, Milla Jojovich, Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale, and Sarah Michelle Gellar. Recently I started hanging around with Mayim Bialik because she bumps up the hippie mom factor. We'd stay up all night doing Jello shots, playing the Wii, and crank calling my mother. My husband is still jealous but in a totally different way, now.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Heck, yeah. I have no choice, with two kids in the house (three if you count my husband). Anime in one room, Looney Tunes in another, and Family Guy when the kids finally go to bed. Animaniacs was the best—I still watch them on DVD. I'm proud to say I've watched The Simpsons from their early days on the Tracy Ullman show.
I collect comic books, too, in case you wondered. =)
Ash Krafton is a writer of all things spec fic. She believes spectacular endings make the best beginnings...
Why not? One billion black holes can't be wrong.
Her first novel BLEEDING HEARTS: Book One of the Demimonde was published in March 2012. The manuscript earned finalist distinction in several Romance Writers of America 2011 competitions and has been awarded several other awards.
In addition to novel-length fiction, Ash enjoys writing poetry and short prose, some of which earned big ups by CNW/FFWA in 2008 and 2011 as well as the Abilene Writers Guild in 2010. Ms. Krafton made her publishing debut in Spring 2009 when her poetry appeared in Poe Little Thing; her work has since appeared in several other journals including Niteblade, Ghostlight Magazine, The Skyline Review, and Silver Blade. One of her poems was selected as a Pushcart prize nominee. She's a Published Member of Pennwriters and is co-editor of her area's Wordpress blog. She also contributes to Query Tracker's blog.
Ash resides with her family in a rural town in the heart of the Pennsylvania anthracite coal region.
She'll never leave, either, because coal is just another example of a spectacular ending waiting for a brilliant beginning. (It's kinda fitting.) And because, like a black hole, once you're in...
you can never get out...
Find Ash online at these links:
WEBSITE - www.ashkrafton.com
- www.ash-krafton.blogspot.com
- www.facebook.com/AshKraftonAuthor
- www.goodreads.com/ash_krafton
- www.twitter.com/ashkrafton
DESCRIPTION FOR
Bleeding Hearts: Book One of the Demimonde
Saving the world one damned person at a time—a shy advice columnist-turned-oracle must find a way to save her dangerous demivampire lover from the fate that threatens each of his race: evolution and the destruction of his soul.
When advice columnist Sophie meets dark and alluring Marek, she learns life-changing secrets about them both—he's a demivampire struggling to avoid evolution and she's an empathic oracle destined to save him. Sophie possesses the rare ability to reduce the spiritual damage that causes a demivamp to Fall, making her the only thing that stands between a DV and evolution. However, as Marek's dangerous past propels him toward his desperate fate, his enemies make darker plans for him: once vampire, powerful Marek would be second only to the Master himself. The vamps want to cause Marek's Fall and they intend to use Sophie to do it....
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY REVIEW FOR BLEEDING HEARTS - http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-9829913-6-7
March 27, 2012
HEIDI'S PICK SIX: T.W. Fendley
HEIDI'S PICK SIX
T.W. Fendley
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
2. Tell me about your travels.
Over the years, I've had the good fortune to be able to travel to many places in Mexico and Peru. I visited the Maya ruins in Tulum, Uxmal and Chichen Itza. Some of the highlights of my trip to Peru were Caral, the Museo Cabrera in Ica, the Nazca Lines, Ollantaytambo and, of course, Machu Picchu. Seeing these amazing archeological treasures made me even more passionate about sharing the legacy of those ancient cultures.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
4. What else can you do besides write?
In 2009, I learned about remote viewing--a scientific protocol to apply precognition that was developed by the military during the Cold War. Since then, I've been active in Associative Remote Viewing and even host a website: www.ARV4fun.com. Yep, I do ARV for fun.
5. Who are you reading right now?
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
I like to make connections, so putting together ideas in new and unusual ways is fun for me. I'm a big fan of cycles (sunspots, history, weather...you name it!) and metaphysics, which often bridges science and spirituality (without getting into religion). And, of course, I'm passionate about the ancient American cultures--particularly the Maya and Inca.
9. Food you could eat everyday.
I'm crazy about guacamole, salsa and chips. Not having chips in the house is a crisis!
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
At the 1997 Clarion workshop, one of my favorite authors, Tim Powers, talked about using colored index cards to plan his wonderful, complex stories. I'd love to do something like that--or at least be able to outline BEFORE I start writing a story instead of after I finish it. I keep trying from time to time, but it hasn't worked yet. I'm definitely a pantser.
13. Celebrity crush.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Watching cartoons is definitely one of the perks of being a grandmother. The kids have introduced me to Pokemon, Phineas & Ferb, Spongebob and Pinky & the Brain. And I've introduced them to a few, too, like Scooby Doo!
T.W. Fendley writes historical fantasy and science fiction with a Mesoamerican twist for adults and young adults. Her debut historical fantasy novel, ZERO TIME, was voted Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Novel in the 2011 P&E Readers Poll. Her short stories took second place in the 2011 Writers' Digest Horror Competition and won the 9th NASFiC 2007 contest. Teresa belongs to the St. Louis Writer's Guild, the Missouri Writers' Guild, SCBWI and Broad Universe.
Thanks, Heidi, for being a Party Host in my Virtual Book Tour Party!
SYNOPSIS FOR
Zero Time
As Zero Time nears, only Keihla Benton can save two worlds from the powers of Darkness. But first she must unlock the secrets of Machu Picchu and her own past.
When Philadelphia science writer Keihla Benton joins an archeological team at Machu Picchu, she learns the Andean prophesies about 2012 have special meaning for her. Only she can end the cycle of Darkness that endangers Earth at the end of the Mayan calendar. As she uncovers secrets from the past, which threaten her life and those she loves, Keihla struggles to keep the powerful Great Crystal from the Lord of Darkness and his consort.
Xmucane leads an expedition to Earth to overcome a genetic flaw that threatens the people of Omeyocan with extinction, but she soon finds herself involved in a very personal battle that pits mother against daughter and sister against sister. With the help of the time-traveling Great Serpent Quetzalcoatl, she leaves the Southern Temples to arrive in present-day Machu Picchu as the expedition's time-window closes.
Xmucane and Keihla work together as Earth and Omeyocan near alignment with the galaxy's dark heart for the first time in 26,000 years. They must seize the last chance to restore the cycle of Light to Earth and return to the Pleiades with a cure, no matter what the cost to their hearts.
GIVEAWAY!!
The ZERO TIME 2012 Virtual Book Tour Party is here!
To celebrate, T.W. Fendley is giving away a Maya-Aztec astrology report, a Mayan Winds CD, ZERO TIME tote bag and fun 13.0.0.0.0. buttons. Check out the prizes and other posts on the Party Page.
THREE WAYS TO ENTER (multiple entries are great!):
1) Leave a comment here or on any of the other PARTY POSTS listed on the Party Page.
2) Tweet about the Virtual Party or any of the PARTY POSTS (with tag #ZEROTIME2012)
EXAMPLE: Join the Virtual Party for historical #fantasy novel ZERO TIME by @twfendley for a chance to win prizes! #ZEROTIME2012 http://bit.ly/x91NgP
3) Facebook (tag @T.W. Fendley) about the Virtual Party. (NOTE: tag must have periods to work)
EXAMPLE: Join the Virtual Party for historical fantasy novel ZERO TIME by @T.W. Fendley for a chance to win prizes! http://twfendley.com/?page_id=510
You can find ZERO TIME at:
Ebook $4.99
Amazon
AllRomance/OmniLit
Fictionwise (multiformat)
Nook
Paperback $16.95
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Main Street Books (St. Charles, Mo.)
Garden District Book Shop (New Orleans)
Octavia Books (New Orleans)
T.W. Fendley
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
2. Tell me about your travels.
Over the years, I've had the good fortune to be able to travel to many places in Mexico and Peru. I visited the Maya ruins in Tulum, Uxmal and Chichen Itza. Some of the highlights of my trip to Peru were Caral, the Museo Cabrera in Ica, the Nazca Lines, Ollantaytambo and, of course, Machu Picchu. Seeing these amazing archeological treasures made me even more passionate about sharing the legacy of those ancient cultures.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
4. What else can you do besides write?
In 2009, I learned about remote viewing--a scientific protocol to apply precognition that was developed by the military during the Cold War. Since then, I've been active in Associative Remote Viewing and even host a website: www.ARV4fun.com. Yep, I do ARV for fun.
5. Who are you reading right now?
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
I like to make connections, so putting together ideas in new and unusual ways is fun for me. I'm a big fan of cycles (sunspots, history, weather...you name it!) and metaphysics, which often bridges science and spirituality (without getting into religion). And, of course, I'm passionate about the ancient American cultures--particularly the Maya and Inca.
9. Food you could eat everyday.
I'm crazy about guacamole, salsa and chips. Not having chips in the house is a crisis!
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
At the 1997 Clarion workshop, one of my favorite authors, Tim Powers, talked about using colored index cards to plan his wonderful, complex stories. I'd love to do something like that--or at least be able to outline BEFORE I start writing a story instead of after I finish it. I keep trying from time to time, but it hasn't worked yet. I'm definitely a pantser.
13. Celebrity crush.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Watching cartoons is definitely one of the perks of being a grandmother. The kids have introduced me to Pokemon, Phineas & Ferb, Spongebob and Pinky & the Brain. And I've introduced them to a few, too, like Scooby Doo!
T.W. Fendley writes historical fantasy and science fiction with a Mesoamerican twist for adults and young adults. Her debut historical fantasy novel, ZERO TIME, was voted Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Novel in the 2011 P&E Readers Poll. Her short stories took second place in the 2011 Writers' Digest Horror Competition and won the 9th NASFiC 2007 contest. Teresa belongs to the St. Louis Writer's Guild, the Missouri Writers' Guild, SCBWI and Broad Universe.
Thanks, Heidi, for being a Party Host in my Virtual Book Tour Party!
SYNOPSIS FOR
Zero Time
As Zero Time nears, only Keihla Benton can save two worlds from the powers of Darkness. But first she must unlock the secrets of Machu Picchu and her own past.
When Philadelphia science writer Keihla Benton joins an archeological team at Machu Picchu, she learns the Andean prophesies about 2012 have special meaning for her. Only she can end the cycle of Darkness that endangers Earth at the end of the Mayan calendar. As she uncovers secrets from the past, which threaten her life and those she loves, Keihla struggles to keep the powerful Great Crystal from the Lord of Darkness and his consort.
Xmucane leads an expedition to Earth to overcome a genetic flaw that threatens the people of Omeyocan with extinction, but she soon finds herself involved in a very personal battle that pits mother against daughter and sister against sister. With the help of the time-traveling Great Serpent Quetzalcoatl, she leaves the Southern Temples to arrive in present-day Machu Picchu as the expedition's time-window closes.
Xmucane and Keihla work together as Earth and Omeyocan near alignment with the galaxy's dark heart for the first time in 26,000 years. They must seize the last chance to restore the cycle of Light to Earth and return to the Pleiades with a cure, no matter what the cost to their hearts.
GIVEAWAY!!
The ZERO TIME 2012 Virtual Book Tour Party is here!
To celebrate, T.W. Fendley is giving away a Maya-Aztec astrology report, a Mayan Winds CD, ZERO TIME tote bag and fun 13.0.0.0.0. buttons. Check out the prizes and other posts on the Party Page.
THREE WAYS TO ENTER (multiple entries are great!):
1) Leave a comment here or on any of the other PARTY POSTS listed on the Party Page.
2) Tweet about the Virtual Party or any of the PARTY POSTS (with tag #ZEROTIME2012)
EXAMPLE: Join the Virtual Party for historical #fantasy novel ZERO TIME by @twfendley for a chance to win prizes! #ZEROTIME2012 http://bit.ly/x91NgP
3) Facebook (tag @T.W. Fendley) about the Virtual Party. (NOTE: tag must have periods to work)
EXAMPLE: Join the Virtual Party for historical fantasy novel ZERO TIME by @T.W. Fendley for a chance to win prizes! http://twfendley.com/?page_id=510
You can find ZERO TIME at:
Ebook $4.99
Amazon
AllRomance/OmniLit
Fictionwise (multiformat)
Nook
Paperback $16.95
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Main Street Books (St. Charles, Mo.)
Garden District Book Shop (New Orleans)
Octavia Books (New Orleans)
March 26, 2012
HEIDI'S PICK SIX: Joyce T. Strand
HEIDI'S PICK SIX
Joyce T. Strand
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
2. Tell me about your travels.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
Unequivocally, without question -- I am a coffee drinker. But not just any coffee -- I prefer Peet's. And not just any Peet's - the best is Garuda. I grind the beans daily -- I'm so sure it tastes better. And no adulteration like cream or milk or sugar. I like it black - the way it was made to be. I love the aroma when it's brewing. I enjoy how the flavor blends with my oatmeal. Oh, I do restrict my intake - I don't allow me to have any coffee after 12:00 noon well, maybe 1:00 p.m. on some days. But I get in 3-4 cups in the morning.
4. What else can you do besides write?
5. Who are you reading right now?
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
The endings of all my books are the most difficult scenes. I write mysteries. I need to solve the puzzle, put the Red Herrings to bed, and fill in the impact of the crime and its solution on all the main characters -- without sounding like a Clue Board game, i.e., Colonel Mustard in the library with the wrench. Since I write a series of mysteries, I also need to leave a few minor events dangling to entice the reader to want to learn more about what happens to the characters in the next book. I struggle mightily to write a compelling final scene and typically rewrite it many times.
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
For me, writing is therapeutic. I become fulfilled when I look a page that I've filled with words. There's little that we can control in our lives -- but on that page with my words I'm in control. Well, OK. Sometimes my characters do get away from me.
Specifically with regard to where I get the inspiration for my mysteries -- each of the Jillian Hillcrest novels was inspired by a real California case. I fill in the background using my own experience as the head of corporate communications at several Silicon Valley biotech and high tech companies for more than 25 years. But I draw the crimes from the news and current cases.
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
Music is a key part of our lives. Both my daughter and son-in-law are professional musicians - she plays French horn; he plays the viola -- and makes a decent living at it! I usually listen to specific types of music based on my mood. Classical music speaks to me any time, no matter what my mood - particularly Copland, Mahler, Beethoven, Prokoviev, and Tchaikovsky. However, I LOVE going to Broadway musicals - my favorites being Les Miserable and Wicked. So Broadway tunes are very high on my list. And I appreciate jazz most when I'm happy -- even the Blues.
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
I enjoy writing too much to be constrained with something so structural as an outline!
However, before I start writing I know the plot -- again, I pull from current California cases. Also, I have envisioned the opening scene, and I know where I want to end. Once I start writing, I let my characters lead me from the opening scene to the end. My problem is typically that I write too much. Therefore when I reach 90,000 words, I start to edit. When I am reasonably satisfied with a first draft, I turn it over to two family reviewers who cause me to write a second, and sometimes a third draft. Then I have 2-3 friends read it, and that causes another new draft. Once I believe I've met their requests, I turn it over to a professional editor -- and you know what happens then -- yet at least another draft. Perhaps if I did an outline, I wouldn't have such an arduous rewriting process!
13. Celebrity crush.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Absolutely I still watch cartoons. Who wouldn't enjoy "Up", "Lion King", "Despicable Me", "Entangled" or "The Princess and the Frog" (GREAT jazz score)? Admittedly I do have two young grandsons. I eagerly introduce them to the Warner Brothers' cartoons -- you remember -- Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, and all the wonderful Looney Tunes characters. But even before my grandsons were born, both my husband and I would sneak into the theater to see cartoon movies, pretending we had a kid somewhere with us. Animation is a true art form, and it can be highly entertaining and memorable. To this day, every time I see a roadrunner scurrying across our front yard, I utter, "Beep! Beep!" And keep a close eye on the coyotes in the area to see them fall flat on their faces as they try to catch the wily birds.
Joyce Strand , much like her fictional character, Jillian Hillcrest, served as head of corporate communications at several biotech and high-tech companies in Silicon Valley for more than 25 years. Unlike Jillian, however, she did not encounter murder. Rather, she focused on publicizing her companies and their products to the media, investors, and the community. Joyce received her Ph.D. from The George Washington University, Washington, D.C. and her B.A. from Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA.
Find Joyce online at these links:
E-mail - joyce@joycestrand.com
WEBSITE - http://joycestrand.com
JOYCE STRAND BLOG - Strand's Simply Tips http://joycestrand.com/BLOG
JILLIAN HILLCREST FACEBOOK - http://www.facebook.com/JillianHillcrest
JILLIAN HILLCREST BLOG - http://jillianhillcrest.com/blog
- @joycetstrand
DESCRIPTION FOR
On Message
Murder intrudes on Jillian Hillcrest's routine as head communications executive at a small Silicon Valley biotechnology company. She is eagerly staying "on message" to inform investors, the media, and the community about her company, Harmonia Therapeutics, and its latest drug candidate in Phase 2 clinical trials for the difficult-to-diagnose and treat autoimmune disease, lupus.
When someone near to her is murdered, a determined San Francisco police inspector involves her in the investigation, convinced she is key to solving the crime. She co-operates fully only to find that solving a murder is more hazardous than writing press releases. On Message is the first of a series of Jillian Hillcrest mysteries.
Joyce T. Strand
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
2. Tell me about your travels.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
Unequivocally, without question -- I am a coffee drinker. But not just any coffee -- I prefer Peet's. And not just any Peet's - the best is Garuda. I grind the beans daily -- I'm so sure it tastes better. And no adulteration like cream or milk or sugar. I like it black - the way it was made to be. I love the aroma when it's brewing. I enjoy how the flavor blends with my oatmeal. Oh, I do restrict my intake - I don't allow me to have any coffee after 12:00 noon well, maybe 1:00 p.m. on some days. But I get in 3-4 cups in the morning.
4. What else can you do besides write?
5. Who are you reading right now?
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
The endings of all my books are the most difficult scenes. I write mysteries. I need to solve the puzzle, put the Red Herrings to bed, and fill in the impact of the crime and its solution on all the main characters -- without sounding like a Clue Board game, i.e., Colonel Mustard in the library with the wrench. Since I write a series of mysteries, I also need to leave a few minor events dangling to entice the reader to want to learn more about what happens to the characters in the next book. I struggle mightily to write a compelling final scene and typically rewrite it many times.
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
For me, writing is therapeutic. I become fulfilled when I look a page that I've filled with words. There's little that we can control in our lives -- but on that page with my words I'm in control. Well, OK. Sometimes my characters do get away from me.
Specifically with regard to where I get the inspiration for my mysteries -- each of the Jillian Hillcrest novels was inspired by a real California case. I fill in the background using my own experience as the head of corporate communications at several Silicon Valley biotech and high tech companies for more than 25 years. But I draw the crimes from the news and current cases.
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
Music is a key part of our lives. Both my daughter and son-in-law are professional musicians - she plays French horn; he plays the viola -- and makes a decent living at it! I usually listen to specific types of music based on my mood. Classical music speaks to me any time, no matter what my mood - particularly Copland, Mahler, Beethoven, Prokoviev, and Tchaikovsky. However, I LOVE going to Broadway musicals - my favorites being Les Miserable and Wicked. So Broadway tunes are very high on my list. And I appreciate jazz most when I'm happy -- even the Blues.
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
I enjoy writing too much to be constrained with something so structural as an outline!
However, before I start writing I know the plot -- again, I pull from current California cases. Also, I have envisioned the opening scene, and I know where I want to end. Once I start writing, I let my characters lead me from the opening scene to the end. My problem is typically that I write too much. Therefore when I reach 90,000 words, I start to edit. When I am reasonably satisfied with a first draft, I turn it over to two family reviewers who cause me to write a second, and sometimes a third draft. Then I have 2-3 friends read it, and that causes another new draft. Once I believe I've met their requests, I turn it over to a professional editor -- and you know what happens then -- yet at least another draft. Perhaps if I did an outline, I wouldn't have such an arduous rewriting process!
13. Celebrity crush.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Absolutely I still watch cartoons. Who wouldn't enjoy "Up", "Lion King", "Despicable Me", "Entangled" or "The Princess and the Frog" (GREAT jazz score)? Admittedly I do have two young grandsons. I eagerly introduce them to the Warner Brothers' cartoons -- you remember -- Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, and all the wonderful Looney Tunes characters. But even before my grandsons were born, both my husband and I would sneak into the theater to see cartoon movies, pretending we had a kid somewhere with us. Animation is a true art form, and it can be highly entertaining and memorable. To this day, every time I see a roadrunner scurrying across our front yard, I utter, "Beep! Beep!" And keep a close eye on the coyotes in the area to see them fall flat on their faces as they try to catch the wily birds.
Joyce Strand , much like her fictional character, Jillian Hillcrest, served as head of corporate communications at several biotech and high-tech companies in Silicon Valley for more than 25 years. Unlike Jillian, however, she did not encounter murder. Rather, she focused on publicizing her companies and their products to the media, investors, and the community. Joyce received her Ph.D. from The George Washington University, Washington, D.C. and her B.A. from Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA.
Find Joyce online at these links:
E-mail - joyce@joycestrand.com
WEBSITE - http://joycestrand.com
JOYCE STRAND BLOG - Strand's Simply Tips http://joycestrand.com/BLOG
JILLIAN HILLCREST FACEBOOK - http://www.facebook.com/JillianHillcrest
JILLIAN HILLCREST BLOG - http://jillianhillcrest.com/blog
- @joycetstrand
DESCRIPTION FOR
On Message
Murder intrudes on Jillian Hillcrest's routine as head communications executive at a small Silicon Valley biotechnology company. She is eagerly staying "on message" to inform investors, the media, and the community about her company, Harmonia Therapeutics, and its latest drug candidate in Phase 2 clinical trials for the difficult-to-diagnose and treat autoimmune disease, lupus.
When someone near to her is murdered, a determined San Francisco police inspector involves her in the investigation, convinced she is key to solving the crime. She co-operates fully only to find that solving a murder is more hazardous than writing press releases. On Message is the first of a series of Jillian Hillcrest mysteries.
March 24, 2012
Appearance: Going Live on FCTV
APPEARANCES
Jason Jack Miller
and
Heidi Ruby Miller
are going to be on the premier of a new local talk show in Uniontown, Pennsylvania--
GOING LIVE with FCTV
. The show will air at 7:00 PM on Friday, April 13, 2012.
Here's a link to the page on the official site:
http://goinglivefctv.com/Going_Live_FCTV/Guests/Entries/2012/4/13_Jason_and_Heidi_Miller.html
Jason Jack Miller
and
Heidi Ruby Miller
are going to be on the premier of a new local talk show in Uniontown, Pennsylvania--
GOING LIVE with FCTV
. The show will air at 7:00 PM on Friday, April 13, 2012. Here's a link to the page on the official site:
http://goinglivefctv.com/Going_Live_FCTV/Guests/Entries/2012/4/13_Jason_and_Heidi_Miller.html
Heidi Ruby Miller's Blog
- Heidi Ruby Miller's profile
- 280 followers
Heidi Ruby Miller isn't a Goodreads Author
(yet),
but they
do have a blog,
so here are some recent posts imported from
their feed.
