Getting out

This is mainly another book news wrap, so I apologize. But it looks like Satan Is Real is in the New York Times Sunday Book Review again this week, this time as an Editors' Choice. Also, I was very, very excited to see that singer-songwriter Marshall Chapman has recommended it. There's a review from Chapter 16 here, too. And one from Journey with Jesus. It also seems that Noir at the Bar was a hit, in that we made St. Louis' bestseller list in anticipation of the event. (That's what I'm chalking it up to, anyways.)

In the meantime, Pike has gotten a couple of mentions as well. Nik Korpon said really nice things about it in this Booked podcast, and there's a review over at the exquisitely named Dangerous Dan's Book Blog.

I actually feel kind of bad, posting these clusters of press stuff. But I figure it won't be long until they taper out, and then it'll be back to random rants.

One thing I really meant to post about earlier this week was an event I attended featuring Jesse Bullington, Jason Heller, and Stephen Graham Jones. It was a panel discussion moderated by Mario Acavedo, and much of it focused on boundaries of violence in literature, a subject very near to my heart. As an example of a story that uses violence well, Stephen Graham Jones pointed to "The Night They Missed the Horror Show" by Joe Lansdale. You can read it online here, and, yeah, he's right, it's amazing. The event was at the Broadway Book Mall, which I, embarrassingly, hadn't been to yet — something that I have the feeling I'll be compensating for in the near future. It's a great place for new and used books.

I read everything Stephen Graham Jones puts out, of course, but I wasn't familiar with Jason Heller or Jesse Bullington, save some general name recognition and social media interaction. But that'll change, in that I picked up their latest:

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I don't really do life goals very often. Not because I can't be improved, but because most of mine are so simple as to be stupid, running to shit like "be cranky with my kids less." Or "shoot my gun more." Or, most likely, "write more." (Be kind, and don't point out "drink less.") But the one thing I really want to start doing more of is attending book stuff. Readings, panels, etc.

Thing is, I've been very insular for a very long time. Most of that has to do with the nature of writing, of course. I write slow, I tend to over-research — whether or not it shows — and coming by free time is hard to do. But I really need to start carving some out. Denver has a vibrant community of readers and writers, and I want to see more of it.